By Jason Powell
Impact Wrestling Hits
Allie and Rosemary vs. Sienna and Laurel Van Ness: It was good to see Allie get some mic time prior to the match. She was shown backstage trying to convince herself that Rosemary would show up for this match, which was a nice hook in that it was done in a way where she was anything but confident about the Knockouts Champion showing up. The oddball pairing of Rosemary and Allie continues to be fun, and I remain curious as to whether they are serious about turning Rosemary or are simply setting up a major betrayal that will lead to a feud between her and Allie. Laurel continues to look like something off of GLOW. Perhaps that will become a positive now that the Netflix series based on the television show is out. The match outcome was logical in that they gave the win to Sienna over Rosemary heading into their unification match.
LAX: The LAX crew obviously didn’t make the trip to India, but they have remained relevant on the show thanks to the first run videos from their clubhouse or, in this case, at an independent event. LAX continues to be the coolest act on the Impact Wrestling television show. There was no guarantee that would happen with the addition of threw new members, but this has gone very well thus far.
Sonjay Dutt and Low Ki: The celebration had a bit of a “been there and done that” feel thanks to WWE beating Impact Wrestling to the punch via Jinder Mahal, but the primary differences were the setting and the fact that Dutt is a babyface. The Indian fans made this click. The same segment would not have packed the same punch had it taken place in Orlando. The Indian fans/extras were behind Dutt throughout the celebration and Low Ki got good heat even before he attacked Dutt and Mahabali Shera. As much as I find Low Ki wrestling in a suit to be ridiculous, he is still terrific in the ring and I am looking forward to their best of three falls match at Slammiversary.
Jeremy Borash and Joseph Park training videos: More silly fun heading into the most uniquely intriguing match on the Slammiversary card. Their tag match against Scott Steiner and Josh Mathews won’t be pretty, but it should be fun.
DeAngelo Williams announcement: Moose’s setup left something to be desired. It was also odd that everyone other than Eli Drake and Christopher Adonis knew who Moose’s partner would be to the point that Impact ran a video package immediately after the announcement. Even so, the video package was effective in showcasing some of the media attention the story has garnered and in showing that Williams is working out in the ring. Impact could still do more to sell Williams as an NFL star. Hopefully they will utilize the Slammiversary play-by-play voice and former ESPN personality Robert Flores on the go-home show by having him run through some of Williams’s credentials in a way that will help casual football fans have a better idea of who he is and what he’s accomplished.
Impact Wrestling Misses
Alberto El Patron and James Storm vs. Lashley and EC3: This should have felt bigger than it did. We didn’t hear from the teams throughout the night even though this was a showcase for the Slammiversary main event and arguably the semi main event strap match. The in-ring action was solid, though things felt more heated between Storm and EC3 than between the pay-per-view main event players. There was nothing about the interactions between Lashley and El Patron that left me feeling more excited about the Slammiversary main event than I was going into the show.
Mahabali Shera vs. KM: The idea of a bully character is that fans want to see him/her put in their place. We saw that too quickly with an injury Shera defeating KM in short order. Yes, it’s India, but Impact has done more than enough to cater to the country’s fans via Shera and Dutt already. The post match attack by Kongo Kong was decent, but it’s hard to be excited about any followup involving Shera.
Trevor Lee vs. Davey Richards vs. Suicide vs. Braxton Sutter vs. Eddie Edwards vs. Matt Sydal in a Sony Six-Way elimination match: I was fine with the Sony Six Cup gauntlet battle royal. Impact really pushed it by coming up with a second trophy as a meaningless reward for a random six-way elimination match. Isn’t there a way to kiss the ass of the high paying network partner so that it airs exclusively on their network? Fortunately, the match was entertaining and the in-ring action was Hit worthy even if the random nature of the match was not. It was odd to see Edwards and Richards competing in the X Division again. Edwards won the TNA Championship, which seemed to signify that they were attempting to move him out of the X Division. I realize there’s no official rule that Edwards can’t do both, but I would prefer to see both men presented as heavyweights and kept out of the X Division as it feels like it defines them down to a degree.
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