By Jason Powell, ProWrestling.net Editor (@prowrestlingnet)
My apologies for the Impact Wrestling Hit List going up so late this week. DirecTV dropped the HD feed of Pursuit, so my DVR did not record the show as scheduled. John Moore’s weekly review of this week’s Impact Wrestling television show will be available on Saturday morning. Join me for live coverage of Impact Wrestling Slammiversary as the pay-per-view airs Sunday night beginning at 7CT/8ET.
Impact Wrestling Hits
Michael Elgin attacks Brian Cage: The Cage return promo was nothing special, but the attack by Elgin was great. It helped make up for the odd choice of having Cage get the better of Elgin when he first returned. Elgin’s powerbombs looked punishing, and Cage looked like the machine he’s billed as by getting to his feet and fighting him as the show went off the air. I’m really looking forward to seeing their Slammiversary title match.
LAX and Laredo Kid vs. “The Rascalz” Dez, Trey, and Wentz: This was fun while it lasted. John Moore did not list a time for this match in his weekly review of the show, but it felt about the same length as the opening match between The North and The Deaners. Or maybe the time just flew by during this enjoyable spot fest? Either way, I like the call to give The Rascalz a win over LAX member heading into the tag title match at the pay-per-view. They could have taken the easy way out by having Laredo Kid take the pin, but they did the right thing by building to the Slammiversary match instead.
Taya Valkyrie and Rosemary vs. Su Yung and Jessika Havok: A logical tag match to continue the build to the four-way Monster’s Ball at Slammiversary. They did a good job of continuing to build friction between Jim Mitchell’s duo throughout the match. It was also a nice touch to show Valkyrie remain consistent with her edict that she will defend the title only once every 30 days only to have Rosemary force her into it via the agreement they made when Valkyrie had Rosemary watch her back. I’m not really sure why the Rosemary character would want her title shot in a four-way when she could have a singles match, but I guess crazy characters do crazy things.
Sami Callihan vs. Fallah Bahh: A quality television match. Bahh has shown some versatility by being involved in some of the company’s best comedy moments while also working good straight forward matches like this one.
Ace Austin and TJP: Austin delivered a solid promo in which he chalked up his loss to TJP to not knowing he was on the roster. TJP snuck in and delivered a WWE 205 Live insult by noting that he’d been chained in a basement for the last three years and proposed a rematch for next week. TJP still strikes me as a natural heel and I liked character he was playing late in his 205 Live run, so it will be interesting to see how long he remains in the babyface role.
Impact Wrestling Misses
Sami Callihan attacks Tessa Blanchard: I’m not telling anyone how they should feel about intergender wrestling. Some fans enjoy it and thus it’s hard to imagine them taking issue with Callihan violently attacking Blanchard. To each his own. While I suspect Callihan and Blanchard will have a good match on Sunday and that Blanchard will end up getting the last laugh, it still makes me uncomfortable to see a man violently attack woman as we saw in this angle. I enjoyed Glen Gilbertti’s feud with Scarlett Bordeaux because it was rooted in comedy, but I found the Callihan and Blanchard angle to be a turnoff.
“The North” Ethan Page and Josh Alexander vs. Cody Deaner and Cousin Jake: A well worked match, yet a minor Miss for a match that went on longer than it needed to given the comedic nature of the mid-card Deaners. The North got a needed win after losing singles and tag matches recently, but it would be nice to see them showcased as strong contenders who can plow through mid-card teams. Perhaps I see more in The North than Impact’s creative team does at the moment?
Check below for the latest Pro Wrestling Boom Podcast with Jason Powell and Bruce Mitchell of PWTorch.com discussing WWE naming Paul Heyman and Eric Bischoff as executive directors of Raw and Smackdown, why Paul Levesque isn’t taking on a bigger role, AEW Fyter Fest, and much more.
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