By John Moore, ProWrestling.net Staffer (@liljohnm)
Impact Wrestling on Pursuit (simulcast on Twitch TV)
Taped January 7, 2019 in Nashville, Tennessee at the Fairgrounds (a.k.a. The Asylum)
Impact started off with the prior-week recap teaser and intro theme…
Josh Mathews and Don Callis were on commentary. Josh welcomed viewers to “Impact on Pursuit” emanating from the old TNA Asylum in Nashville Tennessee…
KM and Fallah Bahh made their entrance. KM’s opponent looked like a local enhancement wrestler, but it was actually Caleb Konley who now wears pants…
1. KM (w/Fallah Bahh) vs. Caleb Konley. Josh said that KM and Fallah Bahh are accomplished authors because they released a children’s Christmas book. KM ran through Konley with shoulder blocks.
Josh Mathews cut away from the match and yelled to the camera people to cut to a different feed. Brian Cage was shown beating up random people backstage. Josh said “Cage is on a rampage”. Cage asked the random people backstage “Where’s Impact?” (I’m guessing this is a question a lot of people are asking after Impact moved to the deer hunting network). Cage shoved more people asking “Where’s Johnny”. Cage asked the production people “where’s Johnny”. The production guy pointed to the ring. Cage clotheslined KM for the apparent DQ.
KM defeated Caleb Konley via an apparent DQ in 1:40.
Cage tossed KM out of the ring and gave Konley an Uppercut and enzuigiri combo. Cage gave Conley a German Suplex. Cage then lifted Fallah Bahh up and gave him a power bomb. Josh asked “Why is he doing this”. Callis said that Cage is incredibly angry at Johnny Impact. Cage gave KM an F5 on the entrance ramp. Cage then entered the ring and revealed that he wasn’t only looking for “Johnny Impact” but he was also targeting “Johnny Bravo” the referee who cost Cage the match at Homecoming. Cage gave Bravo a short-arm lariat. Cage followed up on Bravo with the Drill Claw.
Josh said “Cage can’t take justice in his own hands. This is not the wild wild west”. Cage took a mic and soaked up “Next world champ” chants from the crowd. Cage yelled for Johnny Impact to come out. Cage said all of Cage’s carnage is on Johnny’s hands. Cage said Johnny promised Cage the next title shot yet Cage just found out that Johnny is putting his title on the line in a match against Killer Kross in Mexico next week. Cage held back from calling that bullshit. Cage said he’ll be in Mexico City to take a close look at Johnny’s title defense.
Johnny Impact then made his entrance. He was shirtless and wearing jeans. Before Johnny could get words out, Killer Kross ran out and smothered Johnny with Kross’s jacket. Moose and Killer Kross double teamed and beat up Johnny Impact while Cage watched from the ring. Josh said “this is like the Rise of the Villains”. Cage walked to Johnny’s prone body as Kross and Moose politely backtracked to the back. Cage dragged and manhandled Johnny into the ring. Johnny escaped an F5 attempt. Moose and Kross came back. Moose gave Cage a flip spear while Kross hit Johnny with the Doomsday Saito. Moose and Kross stood tall in the ring as Kross’s theme played… [c]
John’s Thoughts: Another strong segment involving these four men in the main event of Impact. Cage is finally coming off as cool and connecting with the fans. This was the kind of stuff he did in Lucha Underground against Ricochet which forced LU to turn him babyface. Kross and Moose’s involvement worked and established them as strong heels. The only person who gets the short end of the stick here is Johnny, who’s the cannon fodder guy who’s getting everybody else over. So far, it’s working. So no complaints there.
Cage was getting checked on by a medic. Cage shoved the medic saying, “I don’t need this stinking tape!”. Cage said he only cares about Johnny Impact and the world title. Cage then called out Moose for a match later in the night and threatened to Drill Claw Moose into next week…
Josh Mathews and Don Callis checked in from ringside. Josh announced Rich Swann vs. Trey Miguel. Josh also hyped up other segments happening later in the show including Moose vs. Cage…
Eli Drake’s entrance cut off Josh’s plugs as Josh said that Drake was not scheduled to come out. Callis called Drake an arrogant fool. Callis then sucked up to Drake when Drake went to the announce table to call the next match…
2. “All Ego” Ethan Page vs. Eddie Edwards. Drake complained about Eddie calling himself “hardcore”. Drake said that going hardcore has done Edwards “absolutely nothing” when before he was a world champion and tag team champion (good point). The camera focused on the commentators with Drake yelling at Josh. Once back in the ring. Edwards hit Page with a Belly-to-belly. Edwards chopped Page around at ringside. Edwards then hit Page with a baseball slide. Drake was in bootleg Dwayne Johnson mode again.
Page managed to launch Edwards into the guard rails. Page then threatened Drake saying that Drake better be saying good stuff about “All Ego”. Callis said that he’s observing that Drake has heat with a lot of people. Drake talked about how he didn’t like Ultimate X because it had a bunch of “Jumping J-Brones”. [c]
Page was dominating Edwards. Josh talked about how Don Callis supposedly created Ultimate X. Edwards escaped the corner with a Frankenstiner. Edwards hit Page with a Blue Thunder Bomb. Edwards and Page traded elbows. Page reversed a Tiger Driver attempt with a vertical suplex. The camera kept cutting to Eli Drake and the commentators were Drake was still in Rock mode. Drake was mumbling the American Wolves TNA Entrance Music. Callis and Drake argued over high flying moves and how Drake does them himself. Edwards brought “Kenny” in the ring. Page hit Edwards with a pump kick which caused Drake to yell the South Park “he killed Kenny” line. Edwards then hit Page with the Kendo stick. The crowd booed.
Ethan Page defeated Eddie Edwards via DQ in 7:40 of TV Time.
Josh noted that the match ended in a DQ. The camera continued to show the commentary table at points. The ring announcer formally announced the DQ in favor of Page. Eli Drake grabbed a mic to point out that Eddie Edwards is starting to look out of shape like Tommy Dreamer. Drake brought up Eddie’s honorable history before the “hardcore” run. Drake said it might be time we see the “old Eddie Edwards” instead of the half-wit Eddie we get now. Drake said Edwards’ New Years resolution should be that Eddie finds his old inner self because new Eddie is a “hardcore loser”…
John’s Thoughts: A lot of poor booking and bad characterizations have come to roost in this segment. First of all, All Ego has turned into an afterthought after whatever he was doing with Matt Sydal. Maybe that’s for the better? Anyway, Eddie Edwards and Eli Drake are floundering as characters. This whole “Anti-ECW” reeks so much of the old TNA watered-down ECW throwback trips. Drake’s also pointing out how Eddie’s new “hardcore” character is failing, which it is. On top of that, Drake and Edwards are not getting any reaction, positive or negative, from the crowd which is one of the worst reactions you can get as a performer in entertainment.
A Global Wrestling Network match of the week aired. It was some sort of cage match where Raven, CM Punk, and Julio Dinero were against Abyss’s team in a steel cage. To quote Colonel Sandurz from Spaceballs, prepare to fast forward!!!
Sami Callihan, Jake Crist, and Dave Crist did one of their camcorder promos. Sami continued to try to convince Rich Swann to “come home to Ohio”. Jake Crist was acting like a dork with his mime routine while Dave was rolling his eyes. Dave was seen in the background poking Jake telling him to “come on man”. Sami then went on to hype LAX vs. OVE as the main event of this episode. Sami referenced their long running feud back in 2017. Sami brought up Konnan talking about “Family” and how Sami’s family is Ohio. Sami said the only family walking out tonight is Ohio vs. Everything… Everything…. Everything!!! [c]
John’s Thoughts: Good to see Sami cutting promos again because the guy is so good at it. I also like what I’m seeing from Dave Crist these days. The guy was so bad as a character when he came into the company but has improved a lot. He’s really benefiting being the straight-man to Jake’s dorky little brother act.
Back from the break, The Rascalz were shown in their That ’70s Show weed circle. They were cutting bad jokes while Zachary Wentz was trying to do his best Michael Kelso impersonation. There was also a loud laugh track playing which overpowered some of their jokes. They even tried a fart joke…
John’s Thoughts: Part of what’s killing Impact these days is their watered-down perception. After we got bootleg Rock and Bootleg Tommy Dreamer, we get bootleg That ’70s Show. What makes this lame is out of the three, Zachary is the only one who seems high. Dezmond Xavier and Trey Miguel look like they are “acting” high. Matt Sydal does a better job coming off as a stoner than Dez and Trey. Anyway, this sucks. Can somebody send Red Forman over to Impact to stick his foot up the creative team’s asses?
It’s Dark Allie time…
John’s Thoughts: To Allie’s credit, she’s doing a pretty good job in terms of facial expressions and going all-in on the dark character. There’s also an added sex appeal aspect to her now which will keep the Impact diehards happy. What hurts is this story has been written so badly. Seriously, I’m not trying to be a shill for Lucha Underground (check out my Season 4 reviews, Season 4 was not good overall and I pointed it out), but if Lucha Underground’s creative team wrote the Undead Realm it would be way better than what Impact is giving us. Again, more of this “watered down” crap, this time of the Lucha Underground variety…
3. Dark Allie (w/Su Yung) vs. Jordynne Grace (w/ Kiera Hogan). Josh said Grace and Kiera have formed a frindship. Allie was making throw up noises at Grace. Suddenly the lights flickered which confused everyone (did Aunt Dixie forget to pay the electric bill again?). Grace hit Allie with a German Suplex. Grace gave Allie a delayed Vertical Suplex. Su Yung got on the apron for the distraction which allowed Allie to hit Grace with a lungblower. Grace no sold a corner splash. Grace then gave Allie a whip to the corner. Graced blocked a codebreaker and no-sold an Allie lariat. Grace hit Allie with a Michinoku Driver for the victory.
Jordynne Grace defeated Dark Allie via pinfall in 2:38.
Josh said the move Grace used reminds him of the Pentagon Driver and he’s never seen a woman use it (wait? A lot of women use Michinoku Drivers including Su Yung who’s right there at ringside). Callis said that Kiera has picked a good friend. Kiera and Jordynne Grace walked to the back to Grace’s movie trailer entrance music. Su Yung entered the ring to try to help up Allie by holding her hand out. Suddenly, the lights went out and turned on to reveal that Rosemary has taken the place of Su Yung. Josh asked “what happened to Su Yung?”. Allie acted like she saw a ghost and rolled to the ramp and headed to the back. Rosemary wore a purple coat as she stood tall in the ring. She also had skull face paint…
Josh Mathews hyped up Scarlett Bordeaux’s talent search winner… [c]
John’s Thoughts: Well, at least it looks like they’re not dragging Jordynne Grace into this undead realm crap because she’s seemingly shrugging it off. That’s good. I still feel bad that a good portion of their women’s division is trapped in this poor and pretentious creative void. Even Rosemary, who has a nihilist character, seems way too good for this. If anything, I implore the current Impact creative team to look at Dave Lagana and Matt Conway’s take on the Rosemary character back in 2016 where in addition to the cinematic approach, there was logic and ethos behind the dark characterization of Rosemary and Steve. Hell, that team even managed to make Abyss seem fresh.
Scarlett Bordeaux was shown sitting on a couch, wearing more clothes than she usually does on Impact because she wore a red pants suit with her cleavage showing. Scarlett talked about bringing sexy back to wrestling and helping many talents. Scarlett announced that the winner of her talent search is Scarlett. Scarlett said she’s the most over knockout in the Knockouts Division and she hasn’t even wrestled yet. Scarlett said she’s getting in the ring soon…
John’s Thoughts: Welp, that was a dud (while I like that it logically fits with the ego of her character, the fact that this was stretched out so long was what hurt it). I heard rumors that she was supposed to end up with Trevor Lee, but he’s in NXT heaven now. Going the cop-out approach with this tells me that at least they noticed that it was dragging out too long, but they decided to not put any creative effort into putting her as a part of an act. I’m also not a huge fan of putting Scarlett in the ring because all it would do is make her blend in just like everyone else on the roster.
An ad aired for more Impact Wrestling tapings at the Sams Town Casino in Las Vegas February 15-17…
Moose made his entrance to Austin Aries’s entrance theme. Josh Mathews noted that former Atlanta Falcon Quarterback Michael Vick came up with the name “Moose” for Quinn Ojinnaka. Don Callis said that Michael Vick is a dirt bag and Moose is following in Vick’s footsteps…
John’s Thoughts: While I do like what Vick did as a player on the Eagles and Stealers, Callis cracked me up there! Line of the night.
4. Moose vs. Cage. Cage tackled Moose early on and dominated him for the first stretch of the match. Callis said that Cage out-tackling a NFL player shows how impressive Cage is. Moose managed to turn the tables on Cage for a bit. Moose went for a chop but then chopped the ringpost. Josh Mathews noted that this happens in Moose matches a lot. Cage followed up by twisting Moose’s injured hand. Cage beat up Moose around ringside. Moose tried to chop Cage but the chop hurt Moose.
Moose staggered Cage with a pump kick. Cage caught Moose and tossed Moose into the ring post. Cage posed for the crowd. Moose took advantage by hitting Cage with a thrust kick and then targeted Cage’s injured knee with a myriad of strikes. Josh said that Moose could still be in the NFL if Moose wanted to. Don Callis said he wishes Moose was on the Minnesota Vikings last year.
John’s Thoughts: As a fellow Viking fan, Callis has a point (I’m a Viking fan via my love for the Los Angeles Lakers. Trust me, there’s a correlation in my mind). The Vikings spent a buttload of money signing Kirk Cousins when they could have kept Case Keenum or Teddy Bridgewater for less money and then focus that signing money on improving their offensive line. Sorry, guys, I love football and I digress…
Callis said Moose targeting Cage’s knee is a strategy that Moose got from the NFL. Callis said that Moose is a jackass. Moose hit Cage’s leg with a hesitation dropkick. Moose continued to elbow drop and focus his attack on Cage’s injured knee. For some reason, a loud and annoying fan was chanting “bring back, Russo” with no context. Cage kicked his way out of Moose’s attack. Moose and Cage then traded standing Strong Style kicks. Moose hit a nice low kick and a dragon screw legwhip. [c]
Moose chopped Cage’s chest but Moose sold the pain due to the ring post spot earlier in the match. Cage tried to come back but Moose caught Cage and hit Cage with a pop-up power bomb and running senton. Moose did a kip up and posed while Cage no sold Moose’s offense. Cage then hit a rally of strikes while also selling his knee. Cage hit Moose with a power bomb and buckle bomb. Cage hit Moose with the Tornado Claw for a two count. Cage pounded on the mat to incite a Terminator clap. Cage called for the Drill Claw but Moose drove Cage in the corner.
Cage tried to go to the top rope but Moose staggered Cage with a high dropkick followed by the Go To Hell (Sky High). Moose went to the timekeeper and said “get up nerd!”. Moose took the timekeeper’s steel chair. Moose swung and missed with the chair shot. The reverberations hurt Moose’s injured hand. Cage hit Moose with a high knee and Drill Claw for the win.
Brian Cage defeated Moose via pinfall in 12:00 of TV Time.
Cage did his Cage poses in the ring wile also selling his knee injuries. The crowd chanted “next world champ” at Cage…
John’s Thoughts: A really entertaining match with good selling by both men. Moose in particular has been doing a great job of late telling stories in the ring, and it’s not just his heel work. I really liked the story of Moose pinpointing his attack on Cage’s injured knee. I could have done without Moose chopping the ring post again which Josh pointed was Deja Vu (he’s also done this in his Impact House Show matches). It did work out in the end because the injured hand cost Moose the match. Nice added touch by Callis and Mathews for adding Moose’s NFL journey in their commentary. As for Cage, Cage is looking more like the Lucha Underground Cage that got over so well in the Los Angeles “Temple”. Cage is coming off as a badass and the crowd finally connecting with him.
The show cut over to a picture to signify that we were getting a Taya Valkyrie “health update”. This was audio only as the viewers heard a phone call between Josh Mathews and Taya Valkyrie. Spliced into the graphic, was clips from Homecoming. Taya talked about how she’s not medically cleared to wrestle after Kross attacked her (but she was caught by indie wrestlers? People have seen Taya have matches with Brian Cage and she’ll end up fine the following week). Josh Mathews brought up Tessa crediting Gail Kim with Taya’s victory. Taya talked about how Tessa has been bullying referees for months and this time a referee just hit back. Taya said she’s ready to have another match against Tessa. Taya hyped showing up in Mexico where the “Wera Loca” persona was born…
Killer Kross cut a cinematic promo. Kross said Johnny’s mad because Kross attacked Johnny’s wife in public. Kross then spoke his rhetoric to hype up his match against Johnny Impact next week. Kross said he’s going to be the next world champion. “Tick Tock”…
John’s Thoughts: They’re really rushing to this Impact vs. Kross title match? When Austin Aries was champion, part of the draw with Aries as champ was Aries having long meaningful builds towards his title matches. I get that they’re going with the cliche “fighting champion” bit with Johnny, but it would do Johnny and Johnny’s opponents some good to have an actual program every once in a while.
Josh hyped up next week’s show coming from the Fronton Mexico entertainment center…
McKenzie Mitchell interviewed Tessa Blanchard. Tessa yelled and ranted about Gail Kim costing her the championship. Tessa then intimidated McKenzie and dared McKenzie to hit her. Tessa then went up to one of the production ladies and started to choke the lady with her headset. Tessa also punched a random production guy. Gail Kim tried to pull Tessa off but Tessa shoved Gail to the ground. Tessa said it’s all Gail’s fault and she threatened to hit Gail with an adjustable wrench. Gail recovered and attacked Tessa with some ground and pound.
Tessa escaped by hitting Gail with a trash can lid. Tessa then tossed Gail into a chain link fence. Tessa then started to choke Gail with a power cord. Sonjay Dutt and some office guys ran out to separate Tessa and Gail from their brawl. The random guys pulled Tessa away while Sonjay was checking on Gail to see if Gail was okay… [c]
John’s Thoughts: A great backstage brawl. More strangulation than you’d see in pro wrestling these days, but that added to the intensity. Tessa’s a star and Gail’s a legend. Not to mention, they’re actually building to a match as opposed to having limited build.
Scott D’Amore and Sonjay Dutt were shown chewing out Tessa Blanchard at the interview set. Scott yelled that Tessa can’t put her hands on Impact management. Tessa said that management shouldn’t be putting their hands on Tessa. Tessa complained about Gail Kim costing her the title. Tessa kicked a trash can. D’Amore said that Tessa needs to be a professional and she’s now suspended. D’Amore yelled “Get out of here! COOL OFFFFFFFF!!!”. Sonjay shrugged and said “enough is enough, man”…
Josh Mathews and Don Callis talked agreed over Tessa’s suspension. Callis said he applauds Impact management for their decision. Josh Mathews then ran through some hype for next week’s Impact in Mexico…
5. X Division Champion Rich Swann vs. Trey Miguel in a non-title match. Josh said that Trey hasn’t earned a title shot so this isn’t a title match (I like that. Impact’s folly over the years is not having matches and credibility mean anything). Miguel and Swann started off with some wristlock chain wrestling. Miguel sued an armdrag to escape the wristlock. Swann and Miguel then had a cruiserweight stalemate sequence. Miguel did his Rascalz pose. An “X Division” chant ensued. Josh said that reminds him of all the great X Division wrestlers like AJ Styles, Christopher Daniels, and Sonjay Dutt (?).
Josh and Callis then joked that Dutt’s title reign was a fluke and that Dutt only won because Impact was luckily in India that night. Callis said Dutt won the title because everyone other than Sonjay was jet lagged and Sonjay took advantage.
John’s Thoughts: I’m not a huge fan of inside jokes, but Callis and Josh are doing a fun job ribbing Sonjay over him being mentioned as one of the X Division greats in various promos during Sonjay’s creative run.
Miguel hit Swann with a suicide dive. Miguel and Swann then traded fatigued punches and forearms in the ring. Miguel hit Swann with a spinning slap. Kicks were exchanged. Swann took Miguel off the top rope with a jumping Frankenstiner. Swann hit Miguel with a Five Star Frog Splash for a nearfall. Miguel snuck in a pin attempt. Miguel got another pin attempt after a scorpion kick. Josh said that Rich Swann is trying to bring back “no limits” to the X Division. Swann and Miguel traded more pin attempts.
Swann fought out of the corner with a sunset flip. Miguel and Swann rolled around on the ground in playful fashion. Swann got to his feet and hit Miguel with a cross kick. Swann picked up the win after a 450.
Rich Swann defeated Trey Miguel via pinfall in 5:48.
Sami Callihan and the Crist Brothers interrupted Swann’s celebration. Callihan ripped up fan signs. Callihan then intimidated Don Callis to play off their feud from about a year ago. Jake Crist pulled out an OVE shirt from his pocket. Callihan tossed it at Swann and told him to put it on. The LAX trio of Santana, Ortiz, and Konnan then made their entrance for their upcoming match against OVE after the break. Swann walked to the back holding the OVE merchandise in hand… [c]
John’s Thoughts: A fun cruiserweight spot-fest. I prefer matches with more storytelling, but this was short and harmless enough. I did like that Rich picked up the quick win with a move that’s not his regular finisher (the Phoenix Splash). I can’t say the Callihan and Swann thing intrigues me at this point. What reason does Swann have to join Ohio vs. Everything? It’s not even in the mysterious way because Callihan is just walking out there saying “wear my merch!”…
6. “The Latin American XChange” Santana and Ortiz (w/Konnan) vs. “Ohio vs. Everything” Dave Crist and Jake Crist (w/Sami Callihan) in a non-title match. The show came back with the match already in progress. Jake Crist was paired off with Ortiz while Dave was paired off with Santana. Jake dragged Ortiz into the ring. Mathews said he was uncomfortable with Callihan hanging out near the commentary table. Dave distracted the referee so Callihan could get a cheap shot on Ortiz. Jake hit Ortiz with a Northern Lights Suplex for a nearfall.
OVE traded tags and played isolation on Ortiz. Jake implemented some of his Savate kicks in OVE’s tandem offense. Dave made sure to knock off Santana during their double-team onslaught. Ortiz escaped the corner by crotching Dave on the top rope while also hitting Jake with a front Missile Dropkick. Santana got the hot tag. Santana hit Jake with a Claymore. Callihan distracted Santana enough for Jake to avoid the double stomp. Ortiz tagged and LAX went rapid fire with their tandem offense. Ortiz got a nearfall after a standing freefall splash.
LAX took out OVE with dives to the outside. Jake fended off Santana with his Savate kicks. OVE send Ortiz to ringside. OVE then hit a sweet double team move with Dave hitting Santana with a Superplex right into a Power Bomb by Jake in one fluid motion.
John’s Thoughts: Ahhhh… OVE should have won there!
Dave and Jake Crist had shocked faces after Santana kicked out of that move. Santana and Ortiz ended another double team moev. Santana and Ortiz got Dave out of the ring. LAX hit Jake with several big moves. LAX then hit Jake with a reverse Thunder Valley for the win.
LAX defeated OVE via pinfall in 7:13.
LAX did their usual celebration with Konnan in the ring. Josh said LAX is the best tag team in the world and they call Impact Wrestling home…
But wait? There’s more. LAX headed to the back with the roving camera person following them. LAX was approached by Pentagon Jr. and Rey Fenix. The two teams shared handshakes and pleasant small talk. Right after the Lucha Brothers walked away, Ortiz threw in a line saying “mater of fact? Yo! If you guys want another ass whoopin’, just let us know!”. Konnan’s demeanor instantly changed as he yelled “WHAAAAAAAAT! What are you doing!?!”. The Impact signature closed the show…
John’s Thoughts: I will fault Impact just a tiny bit for giving away a Pay-Per-View main event on television with only ten second segment build. They could have gotten to their next PPV with LAX vs. OVE and then maybe pivot back to LAX vs. Lucha Brothers if they wanted to at Slammiversary. That said, this match delivered as expected. OVE and LAX have great chemistry and this match was no exception. That superplex into a power bomb was sick. Again, I like the winners winning without ten false finishes and without their finisher. Hopefully, the next time they go to LAX vs. OVE, OVE is a bit more credible because the Crist Brothers have a terrible win-loss record. They always lose. Sami loses a lot too, but he gets big wins. I mentioned how we rarely see OVE hit their finishing move.
The post-match segment was short, sweet, and efficient in building back to another Lucha Brothers vs. LAX match. That feud has the time put into it and we know the match can deliver. We found out a few weeks ago that Ortiz is a next-level talker, so his line about kicking the LB’s ass was great. Konnan snapping back into concerned father mode was cool too. Looking forward to LAX vs. Lucha Brothers II. Overall, a solid show. This creative team isn’t great in writing cinematics without Jeremy Borash around so it’s cool to see them start pivoting away from the cinematic approach. Impact has a lot of great pro wrestlers, so allow them to tell their stories in the ring without smoke and mirrors. Impact focused on in-ring tonight and the in-ring was good.
Check below for the new Pro Wrestling Boom Podcast with Jason Powell and WOW head writer and lead voice Stephen Dickey discussing his career and the launch of the weekly WOW television series that airs Fridays at 8CT/9ET on AXS TV.
I’m not saying I enjoy the hocus pocus stuff they’re doing, but I dig the edgier “Dark” Allie character.
I heard Scarlett was supposed to be paired with Trevor Lee, too. That’s why I’ve never bashed the company for continuing with the comedy bits, and dragging the talent search out. They had a plan, but Lee decided to bolt at the last tapings, I heard. When you’re taping weeks of tv at a time, what do you do there? A pairing with Kross might’ve made sense, since they work together elsewhere, but then some will say that’s more of a copy feel.
That said, have you seen any of Scarlett in the ring recently? She’s really, really good. So I like the idea of her stepping into the ring. Her picking herself, as you said, fits the character, too. I believe they could write her to where she still stands out as a character too by flirting with, and manipulating refs and officials, true to the character.
I’m with you on Allie (and hell, throw in Su Yung and Rosemary). The writing with all of this hocus pocus stuff is just so bad with no explanation. When Rosemary was doing magic spells and talking to magic trees back in 2016, the creative team put a lot of effort into making the supernatural stuff seem logical in their universe, so I won’t blame it on just Cinematics on pro wrestling. With the right people this approach can work. Triple H told me a few months ago how WWE’s really benefiting from Jeremy Borash’s talents in this field. In Impact you get “Oh! Su Yung can shoot lightning now” or “Oh, Allie has suddenly lost her soul! Whatever that means?”
Yeah, I would have stayed away from a Kross and Scarlett pairing. It might come off as forced just for the sake of mimicking AAA. Johnny and Taya as champions is already pushing a similar negative button and the Impact crowds are letting Impact (the show) know that.
I’ve seen some of Scarlett’s work and yes she’s good, but I wouldn’t mind seeing Impact trying to make her better than good. More like a spcecial, big time attraction. I’ll go back to the Gail Kim, Maria Kanellis, and Allie feud back in 2016 in Impact as to the approach they should be taking with Scarlett. Impact did a stellar job back then having Maria avoid the ring at every turn to really build up to an encounter with Gail. Also to add, that was what turned annoying heel Allie into the lovable bunny babyface.
Ay chance you watch on Twitch, by the way? It’s very cool what they’re doing with the viewing experience there.
Mixed bag on the Twitch stream. And I did put my thoughts on that on my review last week.
I do like the live feedback, positive and negative, from the viewers. Because I’m reviewing the show, I don’t speak in the chat because I don’t want my opinion to be swayed positively or negatively either way.
What I don’t like is one, they replaced all the Pursuit commercials with “Classic TNA matches” and moments. I’m not alone in this thought because I was watching the chat stream bash this aspect too. I also don’t like that Impact is putting out there that you CAN NOT watch the show on their Twitch “past broadcasts” on demand. I’d understand if this were on Pop, but they dictate things more with Pursuit (which is why they’re allowed to simulcast to begin with). This get’s compounded with the fact that they’re having Josh Mathews go out there and ask people to spend $5 per month just so you can type in a Scott Steiner emoji when you’re watching your favorite League of Legends or Dark Souls streamer.
Bootleg Rock Bootleg Dreamer that would carry weight if there never was a bootleg Nature Boy. Anyway loved the show!