By Jason Powell, Prowrestling.net Editor (@prowrestlingnet)
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Impact Wrestling Hits
Pentagon Jr. and Fenix vs. The Crist Brothers: A very good match between two top notch teams. The strong match made the Crists feel stronger than usual. I hope creative finds a way to make them feel like players in the tag division, not just as Sami Callihan’s henchmen.
Austin Aries vs. Dustin Cameron A good segment with the heel champion ruthlessly working over his inexperienced foe. The post match angle with Aries and Anthony Carelli was entertaining and it’s nice to see Carelli move away from the Santino Marella comedy act. The angle with Eddie Edwards that followed was less compelling even though it was good to see an effort made to promote his match with Aries for next week.
Scarlett Bordeaux and Bob Kapoor: The Josh Mathews line that “JB’s aged horribly” in regards to Kapoor was my favorite line in pro wrestling this week. I’m enjoying the Scarlett character thus far. In the age of female empowerment, a gloating Diva type who wants to get by based on her looks is a very creative heel persona if they do it right.
The OGz squash match: This is simple and effective. The OGz should be destroying opponents rather than trading offense with some of the regular tag teams.
Eli Drake, Grado, Joe Hendry, and Katarina: A minor Hit. I think we all assumed that poor Grado would lose his girlfriend Katarina to Hendry. And perhaps he still will, but what if that’s simply a swerve and Katarina ultimately ends up with Drake instead? Granted, she rejected Drake’s advances in the past, but it seemed like she took a subtle look back toward him while walking off the interview set. Perhaps I’m misread the meaning of that look, but it would help to explain why Drake is in this storyline when it feels like he should be doing something more significant.
Impact Wrestling Misses
Allie and Kiera Hogan vs. Su Yung and Undead Maid of Honor: It’s not that the match was poorly worked or lacked entertainment value. The Miss goes to the Yung losing some of her luster. The concept of having one of the undead bridesmaids wrestle seemed like a good idea initially with the idea being that it could protect Yung from taking key losses. I’m all for the pageantry that the bridesmaids add to the Yung act, but the wrestling Maid of Honor cheapens Yung’s act. The maid feels like an inferior version of Yung who is simply there to take losses. Even worse, Yung actually took the pin in this match. Why? This character needs to be protected and all of this felt counterproductive.
LAX attempt to use an ax as a weapon: I get the idea that they are trying to establish the LAX vs. OGz feud as being personal and dangerously violent. Pro wrestling fans have been conditioned to accept wrestlers using weapons with the goal of injuring their opponents. This felt way too over the top to the point that it won’t feel right if there’s not a severe storyline punishment. The man wanted to commit murder with ax inside a pro wrestling ring. I’m not a fan of a lot of the crazed antics of the Eddie Edwards character, but at least his most over the top moments have taken place away from the arena.
Matt Sydal promo: A heel wrestler who views title belts as material objects that don’t matter? I was hopeful last week that Sydal was going to snap after losing the rematch. Instead, it looks like they are doubling down on the third eye persona that is doing more harm than good for Sydal. His serious line at the end about needing to question everything left me mildly optimistic that things will improve, but the verbiage that led up to it was more of the same.
The Desi Hit Squad vs. KM and Fallah Bahh: The miss is all about the Desi Hit Squad act, which just isn’t clicking with me. Gama Singh’s promos are flat and there’s a bush league look and feel to act (even though I continue to feel Rohit Raju has good X Division potential). That said, the heels going over was at least logical in that they are trying to put a little heat on them to make this program with the comedy duo matter.
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