By Jason Powell, ProWrestling.net Editor (@prowrestlingnet)
Join me for my live review of Impact Wrestling Bound For Glory on Sunday night. Dot Net Members will hear my exclusive audio review after the show. Join us on our ad-free website and enjoy all of our audio content via PWMembership.net.
Impact Wrestling Hits
Ken Shamrock and Moose video package: The video package was the best thing on the go-home show for Bound For Glory. Aside from last week’s unnecessary physicality, Impact Wrestling did a tremendous job of building up the Shamrock vs. Moose match. The video package was excellent and it’s hard to imagine that WWE will be able to top the job that Impact has done overall with their own build for the Brock Lesnar vs. Cain Velasquez and Braun Strowman vs. Tyson Fury matches. I just hope the actual Shamrock vs. Moose match can live up to the great build.
Michael Elgin vs. Fallah Bahh: A good opening match with Elgin going over clean. The match didn’t have anything to do with Bound For Glory aside making Elgin look strong, but there’s not much the company could have done beyond this given that he is working with Naomichi Marufuji, who was not at the Vegas tapings. Elgin roughed up TJP afterward, so I assume we’ll be seeing what should be a good match from them after BFG.
X Division Champion Jake Crist vs. Chris Bey in a non-title match: Crist has been a real breakout talent for Impact in 2019. The Crist Brothers emerged as a good tag team, but Jake’s personality has really stood out since becoming The Golden Draw. And this was more than just a simple squash match, as Bey was given a chance to show off some of his impressive offense. Bey was here to put over Crist, but he has upside and it will be fun to watch him develop in Impact or elsewhere.
Rich Swann vs. Rhino vs. Josh Alexander: A three-way involving a member from each of the teams that will be working the Triple Threat match for the Impact Wrestling Tag Titles at Bound For Glory. Swann pinning Alexander gave a boost to Swann and Willie Mack going into the title match while also making the champions look vulnerable. I like the move of having Ethan Page pull the referee from the ring while Rhino had Alexander pinned and then blaming Mack for it, as that creates some tension between the babyface teams.
Sami Callihan promo: A strong promo with Callihan blaming his most heinous heelish moments on his desire to be accepted and then blaming the fans for making him what he’s become. Callihan is one of the best talkers in the game when he has something he can sink his teeth into and this was a strong example of that.
Tessa Blanchard promo: A good promo that may have featured too much foreshadowing. John Moore laid out the booking scenario in his live review of the show when he predicted a Blanchard win at BFG followed by her cashing in the X Division Title as Option C (presumably at Destination X) for a shot at the Impact World Championship. If that’s the plan, then Sami Callihan will end up with the Impact World Championship either at Bound For Glory or shortly thereafter.
Impact Wrestling Misses
Sabu vs. Rohit Raju in the final qualifier for the X Division Title match at BFG: Sabu threw a chair at Raju right in front of the referee. Sabu’s Super Genie then ran in and performed a dive off the chair and onto Raju in front of the referee. A short time later, Genie threw a chair to Sabu, who slammed it onto the head of Raju at ringside while the referee watched from the ring. None of this led to a disqualification, but the referee counted out both men and thus it was announced that neither man qualified for the X Division Title match at BFG. Weird.
Battle Royal: I like the idea of the concept of the wrestlers taking a chance at earning the No. 20 spot in Sunday’s gauntlet match while risking the possibility of becoming the first entrant. Mahabali Shera going over was a good call in that he’s being portrayed as a powerhouse type, plus being the final entrant in the match will limit his involvement. Likewise, Eddie Edwards being the first entrant is also logical, as he is more than talented enough to go the distance if called upon. All of that said, this battle royal just felt flat and lifeless.
Brian Cage: Where was he? This was the go-home show for Impact’s biggest pay-per-view of the year and the Impact World Champion didn’t even deliver a promo. Sami Callihan hit Cage’s wife over the head with a champagne bottle two weeks ago and then gave her a piledriver last week, yet we heard nothing from Cage going into their title match?
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