By Jason Powell, ProWrestling.net Editor (@prowrestlingnet)
Impact Wrestling Hits
Doc Gallows and Karl Anderson vs. Mike Bennett and Matt Taven for the Impact Tag Team Titles: A necessary title change to open the show. With The Good Brothers leaving the company, Impact made a good choice by putting the titles on Bennett and Taven. As frustrating as it has been, it actually works to Impact’s favor that they put Honor No More in so many throwaway ten-man tag matches, because Bennett and Taven haven’t worked with many teams and therefore have fresh challengers. I also give Impact creative credit for knowing how to make a title change feel important by not just rushing on to the next thing.
Mike Bailey vs. Kenny King for the X Division Title: It was a nice touch to have this match follow the tag title change. It created the possibility of back to back Honor No More title wins. The false finish was well done. Bailey is doing a really good job as the X Division Champion, so I’m happy they stuck with him despite the obvious goal of building up Honor No More heading into Eddie Edwards challenging for the Impact World Championship at Bound For Glory.
Mickie James promo: A top notch promo. It really is amazing that a strong in-ring wrestler who is as well spoken and versatile as James was so poorly utilized in WWE. She did an exceptional job of setting the table for her quest for the championship. The added stakes that she will walk away if she fails gives meaning to all of her upcoming matches.
Masha Slamovich vs. Deonna Purrazzo for a shot at the Knockouts Title at Bound For Glory: The big build of Slamovich continued with a win over a former dominant Knockouts Champion. The match was entertaining and it was the first time that Slamovich has had a competitive match on Impact. The post match angle with Jordynne Grace beating Slamovich to the punch by handing her a crossed out Slamovich photo was a nice touch.
Mascara Dorada vs. Alex Zayne: A good debut match for the former Gran Metalik. It’s a shame that Zayne loses most of his Impact matches, but it’s understandable if he’s not signed to the company.
Impact Wrestling Misses
None: Another week of quality matches and logical storytelling. Even the recent return to the Undead Realm was brief and was done to shake up Havok’s character. Granted, there were other ways they could have done that, but the point is that Impact is keeping the silliness to a minimum while producing a consistently good, traditional pro wrestling television show.
Mickie James needs to get over her wwe release. It was a garbage bag, not the fucking Montreal screwjob
FIRST off, despite being SO offended by the “garbage bag” incident, she suddenly got over it and accepted the payday to go on their PPV.
Secondly, am I the only one who remembers when she originally came back to the NWA she said her in-ring career was done and she was there to promote the other women, and people actually believed a narcissist such as she is was capable of NOT needing to be in the spotlight?