By Jason Powell, ProWrestling.net Editor (@prowrestlingnet)
Impact Wrestling Hits
LAX vs. Pentagon Jr. and Fenix for the Impact Wrestling Tag Titles: Another tremendous match from two of the best teams in the world. The match had crazy spots, excellent near falls, a hot crowd, and it resulted in a title change. What’s not to love? If you go out of your way to watch one match televised by any U.S. promotion last week, make it this one. The post match tense handshakes with LAX putting the title belts on the shoulders of their opponents was well done and I’m already looking forward to the next match between these teams.
Rich Swann and Willie Mack vs. Jake Crist and Dave Crist: A strong opening tag match. It looked good on paper and yet it still exceeded my expectations. I hope Impact starts to feature the Crists as more than just Sami Callihan’s henchmen. They are a top notch tag team that just haven’t been positioned as meaningful players within the division. For instance, they took the loss in this match and were quickly beaten by LAX in another match recently.
Trey Miguel vs. Rohit Raju: A minor Hit for a well worked match. I continue to like the work of Raju. It’s just too bad the Desi Hit Squad act comes off so mid-card in its presentation. Meanwhile, I continue to enjoy the work of Miguel, Dezmond Xavier, and Zachary Wentz despite not having much interesting in The Rascalz gimmick.
Impact Wrestling Misses
Johnny Impact reacts to the news of a four-way title match: Maybe a Miss? Impact’s reaction to the news that he will defend the Impact World Championship in a four-way rather than in a singles match with Brian Cage was over the top and campy. That said, I can’t rule out that it was intentional, meaning that Impact overreacted because his character is actually happy to avoid facing Cage in singles match. By the way, did Cage drop an uncensored f-bomb when he confronted Impact? I couldn’t make out what he said, but the subtitles listed it as an f-bomb.
Dark Allie vs. Kiera Hogan: Even if we put aside the Undead Realm silliness, the women involved in this program feel like they are just spinning their wheels with various combinations of matches involving Allie, Hogan, Su Yung, and Jordynne Grace. Obviously, they are building to the return of Rosemary, but this feud has gone from over the top wonky to feeling tired and repetitive.
Sami Callihan vs. Puma King: A Hit from a match quality standpoint, but a Miss in terms of entertainment value. The goal of the match was to build up the World Cup eight-man tag match. So while I understand making it competitive, the long match just didn’t hold my interest despite the fact that I’m a big fan of Callihan’s work. I agree with Dot Net staffer John Moore, who took issue in his review of the show with Puma King’s attire. It presumably works for him in Mexico, but it strikes me as minor league.
Check below for the new Pro Wrestling Boom with Jason Powell and Will Pruett discussing the All Elite Wrestling rally in Las Vegas, the potential fallout from the partnership with Mexico’s AAA promotion, Kenny Omega signing, and much more.
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