By Jason Powell, ProWrestling.net Editor (@prowrestlingnet)
Impact Wrestling Hits
“Subculture” Mark Andrews and Flash Morgan Webster vs. Ace Austin and Chris Bey for the Impact Tag Team Titles: A strong tag team match with a more mystery regarding the outcome than usual coming out of a title change. I don’t believe Impact has announced whether Subculture are under full-time deals, so it felt like there was a chance that they would have a brief title reign before heading back home to the UK. I’m happy they are sticking around, as they definitely add to the company’s growing tag team division. I continue to feel like Austin and Bey being tied to Bullet Club is a mistake for Impact. They are two of the coolest young wrestlers on the roster. They can do their Bullet Club schtick when they work for New Japan, but I’d rather see them come up with something fresh that they and the company can share ownership of as opposed to being one of the many Bullet Club spinoff acts.
Josh Alexander promo segment: I had to go to YouTube to watch this segment because the audio was muted on my DirecTV feed until the last two minutes for some reason. Strange. Anyway, Alexander delivered the expected promo about wanting to regain the championship he had to forfeit due to injury. The rest of the segment with Alex Shelley, Lio Rush, Bully Ray, Moose, and Brian Myers was solid and set the table for some upcoming matches. I like that Rush didn’t join the other heels in attacking the babyfaces and simply walked out as his own man.
Jake Something vs. Kevin Knight: Another highly competitive loss for Knight. I really hope this is leading to something big for him, but it feels like he’s on loan from NJPW and isn’t really in Impact’s creative plans. I hope that’s not the case. It’s great to see Something back in Impact. I wish he and the company would have taken the time to change his name because it feels needlessly quirky, but he has a good look and was even better in the ring than I remember him being in his previous run with the company.
Jonathan Gresham sit-down interview: Finally, some character development for Gresham. As previously noted, everything I know about Gresham’s persona comes from his time in Ring of Honor. It looks like Impact is finally going to change that and I look forward to seeing what they have in mind.
Dirty Dango vs. Santino Marella: The live crowd wasn’t as hot as expected for this match. I don’t know if they were hoping for more Santino comedy spots or if the nostalgia thrill is gone for Santino in Windsor. But I actually appreciated the more serious style, which fit the storyline of Santino being outraged by Dango’s comments about his family. The return of John E Bravo was unexpected fun and I hope it’s a sign that they are adding to Dango’s act with the intention of moving him up the card.
Rich Swann and Sami Callihan vs. Jason Hotch and John Skyler: Tom Hannifan framed this perfectly by saying that it was a bounce back win for Swann and Callihan. As much as I would like to see Hotch and Skyler booked to be a more meaningful team, they played their parts in putting over the higher profile team.
Impact Wrestling Misses
Courtney Rush vs. Savannah Evans: I was initially excited about Rosemary reverting to her previous name and character because it felt like she needed a change. But Rush comes off like something that carried over from the silly Impact Provincial Wrestling Federation throwback shows and it’s just not clicking with me. I get that the character was pulled out of the Undead Realm and all of that nonsense, but it feels like they would be better off making the character feel and look more modern. Meanwhile, Evans continues to follow in the footsteps of Madman Fulton in that she’s playing an enforcer character for another wrestler, yet inexplicably loses most of her television matches.
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