By Jason Powell, ProWrestling.net Editor (@prowrestlingnet)
Impact Wrestling Hits
Deonna Purrazzo vs. Jordynne Grace in a 30-minute Ironman Match for the Knockouts Championship: This was another well worked match following their highly entertaining Slammiversary pay-per-view match. The ref bump spot would have been okay if we didn’t see so many ref bumps in pro wrestling, and it’s especially irritating in Impact because of the company overuse of ref bumps throughout its history. Still, it told a good story as far as Purrazzo evening up the fall count by cheating while the referee was down. It gives Grace an out for losing to some extent, though her tapping out to Purrazzo’s submission finisher moments before the time expired was a questionable move. I was actually waiting for the time to expire and to have Purrazzo be content to keep her title in a time limit draw while refusing to grant Grace an overtime session. Putting aside the creative issues, this was a really well worked match and I am anxious to see the next chapter of their feud.
Eddie Edwards vs. Rob Van Dam for the Impact World Championship: Impact opened strong with a quality world championship match. Van Dam has been defined down in recent months, but this was a nice reminder that he can still rise to the occasion and could still be valuable if positioned properly. The post match attack by Eric Young led to the wise announcement of him challenging Edwards for the title next week. Eddie’s open challenge series has worked out nicely thus far, but there are some matches that need to be advertised at least a week ahead of time, and this is one of them.
EC3 promo: Another strong promo from EC3, who continues to shine in his new persona. EC3 destroying the Impact World Championship title belt would make him the biggest babyface in the business in my mind, so here’s hoping he follows through on that tease. I also like the way he’s tearing into Moose by pointing out the things that have held him back. I hope Moose gets the message. Moose is talented and he is valuable to Impact, yet it feels like he hasn’t reached his full potential because he tends to get quirky with his act at the worst possible times.
Willie Mack vs. Brian Myers: Viewers who are hung up on the way Myers was booked in WWE may grumble about him going over in this match. But those same viewers would also need to take issue with the way Impact is using EC3, Doc Gallows, Karl Anderson, and Eric Young. Impact creative is wisely booking this as a fresh start for these wrestlers rather than showing trepidation over booking them strong simply because their previous employer didn’t book them well. I just wish that Heath was in on the new beginning rather than rehashing his old WWE storyline. I hope there’s a twist coming at some point because the stroll down memory lane has been disappointing.
Impact Wrestling Misses
Wrestle House: I wish Wrestle House was half as much fun to watch as the wrestlers seem to have while making it. I have more than made it clear that the sports entertainment style silliness isn’t for me. I will concede that it’s fairly well done for what it is. It’s not what I’m looking for out of a pro wrestling product and I suspect that it turns off more viewers than it turns on, but I can at least see how it would be appealing for viewers who like this sort of thing. Different strokes for different folks.
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