By Jason Powell, Prowrestling.net Editor (@prowrestlingnet)
Impact Wrestling Hits
Eli Drake vs. Johnny Impact vs. Alberto El Patron in a cage match for the Impact Global Championship: This was much better than the independent show they were featured in last week. I still have no clue whether viewers are supposed to like or dislike the El Patron character. It’s also frustrating that the company continues to rely on cheap finishes for Drake’s title matches rather than building him up as a strong, competitive heel champion. But this was the Genesis themed show and if we’ve learned anything about Impact pay-per-views over the years it’s to expect cheap finishes in the main event and this was no exception with Chris Adonis catching Impact to prevent him from reaching the floor before Drake.
Moose vs. Lashley: This should have felt like a bigger showdown match than it did. Impact tried to position it that way during the broadcast, but Lashley sadly became a background player when Dan Lambert showed up and dominated the television time. We saw a couple of subtle looks from Lashley that showed he was getting frustrated with the antics of the Lambert character and that boiled over here. In fact, the real payoff wasn’t Moose pinning Lashley, it was Lashley putting Lambert through the table.
EC3 vs. Matt Sydal for the Grand Championship: A Grand Championship match without rounds? As someone who has rolled his eyes at the lack of creativity shown by multiple creative teams when it comes to the rounds format, the Grand Championship is built around the rounds system. And if you take away the round system then what purpose does this championship serve? Impact may need a secondary championship and I’m not referring to the X Division Championship. Sure, the company has gone back and forth on whether there is a weight limit for the X Division, but it’s a cruiserweight division that has allowed a few non-cruiserweights take part over the years. With all of that out of the way, this was a quality match even if it was for a title that few people actually care about. The story was told going into the match that Sydal wanted EC3 in a regular match and they delivered. Now here’s hoping this title goes away or the latest creative team does a better job with the rounds system.
Laurel Van Ness vs. Allie for the Knockouts Championship: A minor HIt. The women worked hard, but this match overstayed its welcome a bit. Van Ness seemed to have a tough time staying in character while working a longer match and she looked like a regular wrestler with smeared lipstick more than the crazed character she typically plays. Van Ness scored a cheap win and that would have been fine if it was the only one on the show, as it protected Allie and set up the need for a rematch. Unfortunately, Impact felt the need to deliver another one in the main event.
Impact Wrestling Misses
Taiji Ishimori vs. Andrew Everett from Japan: The show being dubbed Genesis left me hopeful that Impact would present a full episode of first-run material from their own tapings. Instead, they cut to this match from Pro Wrestling Noah without any build. The match quality was good. It just felt out of place on a show that carried pay-per-view theme. Why not dedicate this time to character and match building promos with the three men in the main event? Overall, though, it was refreshing to see an edition of Impact that put the emphasis on the in-ring action. They didn’t fill time with long video packages and flashback matches, and this was their only outside match.
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The Grand championship was a bad idea from a previous administration. Everyone knows the company is under new direction. It’s transition time once again. Seeing sudden changes to the conventional way of doing things should be expected. Soon, the company will suddenly have a 4 sided ring again, the Grand championship will vanish and a flood of new wrestlers will appear. We should be able to grasp that all has something to do with management change.
You can’t review Impact like WWE, where everything is unceasingly static and paint by numbers. Impact just isn’t financially, creatively or functionally stable enough to be as consistent.
We got an explanation why the GC match had no rounds. That’s good enough. The title was a mistake to begin with. Hopefully, they’ll introduce a more sensible title through a legit tournament to finally establish a credible secondary championship.