By Jason Powell, ProWrestling.net Editor (@prowrestlingnet)
Impact Wrestling Hits
Rob Van Dam vs. Tommy Dreamer: The idea of another ode to ECW match didn’t do much for me on paper, but the live crowd absolutely loved it. RVD is being built as the returning star while Dreamer puts over everybody, so RVD going over after a competitive match was the logical move. The post match attack by Moose and The North was solid, and the appearance by Sabu was surprising even though he worked Impact’s WrestleMania weekend show. This sets up a nice six-man tag match with the ECW legends facing Moose and The North for a future show.
Sami Callihan vs. Fallah Bahh: A more serious and competitive match than I anticipated. This was a good opening match and it was nice to see Bahh do something more serious than usual. Bahh is a lovable comedy figure, but he’s shown the ability to flip the switch when the situation calls for it. I’m with John Moore, who mentioned in his weekly live review that he misses KM as Bahh’s sidekick. Scarlett Bordeaux is a star and there’s definitely a place for her in this act, but Bahh and KM have real chemistry and I hope we get to see more of them together. KM stated publicly that his left knee is shot, but the real fun of the team comes from their unique verbal exchanges so it would be nice to see Impact bring him back even in a non-wrestling role.
LAX vs. The North for the Impact Tag Titles: A Hit for the match quality. It was surprising to see The North duo of Ethan Page and Josh Alexander lose clean given that the tag division isn’t very deep. Alexander has now taken losses in back to back matches against LAX.
Taya Valkyrie vs. Madison Rayne for the Knockouts Championship: Impact told a nice story going into this match by having Rayne score some meaningful victories since returning to the company, and by having Valkyrie hide behind the mandatory 30-day title defense rule. The match itself was entertaining. Here’s hoping that Impact officials will position the Knockouts Title as being significant enough to headline future shows. Impact has a really good Knockouts Division, especially if they ever opt to pull the plug on the Undead Realm silliness and work its participants back into the regular mix. I was hoping that this was the idea behind the post match angle with Rosemary, but her scene with Jim Mitchell left me assuming there’s more supernatural nonsense to come.
Glenn Gilbertti vs. Ashley Vox: Disco’s ongoing Andy Kaufman and Bobby Riggs chauvinist routine continues to get good heat and makes for entertaining television. Detractors feel this is a step back for women’s wrestling, but the key continues to be that the real Knockouts beat Disco in the end. I would feel differently if I felt that the fans in the crowd were getting behind Disco’s chauvinistic comments, but that just hasn’t been the case. Disco is getting as much heat than anyone in Impact, meaning the fans want to see the Knockouts put him in his place.
Dez vs. Petey Williams vs. Rohit Raju vs. Ace Austin in a four-way: A minor Hit for a well worked match that simply felt random without anything at stake. I’m surprised they didn’t give the winner an X Division Title shot. Nevertheless, I enjoyed the action down the stretch with Raju breaking up Petey’s finisher on Dez with a double stomp to the back, which allowed Dez to come back and get the win.
Impact Wrestling Misses
Eddie Edwards and Kenny: Eddie’s explanation for his love of his kendo stick was channel changing material. It’s the same story for Impact again this week. They lose me with the Undead Realm, smoke circles, and Kenny, but the product is very good when they take a more traditional approach with the rest of the show.
Check below for the latest Pro Wrestling Boom Podcast with Jason Powell and guest Gursinder Singh (a/k/a Tony Gill), who explains why he asked for his release from Impact Wrestling. He also discusses his background, being trained by Lance Storm, being in the Desi Hit Squad, his future, and more.
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