By John Moore, Prowrestling.net Staffer (@liljohnm)
Impact Wrestling on PopTV
Taped April 2018 from Orlando, Florida at Universal Studios
Impact started off with Josh Mathews in his blue screen studio. He was talking in his somber voice. Josh talked about how his broadcast partner Don Callis was attacked by Sami Callihan at an independent wrestling event an Toronto, Canada where Santino Marella was supposed to give him award. Josh said Callis was gone from wrestling for 12 years and is now on the Impact Executive team. Josh Mathews gave Don Callis credit for setting up Chris Jericho vs. Kenny Omega at Wrestle Kingdom. Josh Mathews said Sami Callihan attacked Don Callis due to Don Callis throwing in the towel for Eddie Edwards at the Impact Wrestling vs. Lucha Underground event (so we’re counting this show as canon?).
The show cut to a cinematic selfie promo from Sami Callihan. Callihan said Callis robbed of the moment of ending Eddie Edwards’ career. Callihan said Callis stuck his nose in Callihan’s business. Callihan called Callis “booker man”. Callihan said to look in his eyes and say he’s not serious. Callihan said he’s going to make an example out of Callis and the Booker Man is about to pay…
John’s Though: Ughhhhhh. Why does the bad logic have to return? This bad logic makes me want to throw up (and I feel bad for the talents involved because on any other show they would be utilized much more intelligently. See NWA’s YouTube for what Impact should be). For starters, Don Callis throwing in the towel shouldn’t have stopped Sami Callihan from smashing in the head of Eddie Edwards. As the world remembers, Sami Callihan smashing the head of Eddie Edwards in the Impact Zone took place after the match. Believe it or not, if they just had Callihan attack Callis and then have Josh Mathews not know why he attacked Callis, it would have made more sense. What also would have been more logical is Callihan attacking Callis as revenge for Eddie Edwards almost “f—ing killing” him (to use Eddie’s words). Are they dropping the weird Eddie Edwards story? That was weird, but this is weirder? Dammit, TNA! Impact’s being very TNA with this.
Josh Mathews cut to an award ceremony at the Destiny Pro Wrestling promotion where Anthony Carelli (Santino Marella) presented Don Callis with the “comeback award”. Josh said the footage was “graphic in nature”. Santino said Callis has been in the business for over 30 years and is a part of what is happening in the business now. Don Callis accepted his award plaque and told the crowd about how he’s currently the Executive Vice President of Impact Wrestling. Callis said he’s happy to work with an executive team that has turned Impact to the hottest wrestling promotion around (hahahaha, nope). Callis interrupted Callis and called him Booker Man. Callihan said Callis is out here speaking bullshit (well… Callihan has a point). Callihan then beat up Callis with a baseball bat and hit him in the head (Triple H sledgehammer style). Callihan started to choke Callis with the bat. Don Callis bladed and was bleeding. They cut to another Callihan cinematic selfie promo where he talked about taking over everything.
John’s Thoughts: Again, we’re retconning now? Like the last three weeks of Eddie Edwards doing criminal things and Callihan looking like crap in a hospital didn’t happen? That storyline was bad, but you don’t retcon. If they wanted to move away from that corny crap they should have did a storytelling pivot. It’s not like this new story centered around Callis is intriguing in its own right.
Josh Mathews said due to the brutal assault, the senior Impact officials were having a meeting to discuss the future of Callihan. Mathews said that there will be a camera pointed in front of the Impact office all night to provide the viewer with an update once the officials come up with a decision. Mathews said Callihan should be worried about his job. The show cut to the Impact intro teaser which hyped the Pentagon Jr. vs. Eli Drake match for the World Championship. The promo was mostly Eli Drake hyping up a potential win. After the teaser, the Impact intro theme aired…
The Bro Man noise happened, which means it’s time for DJ Z. DJ Z came out with Andrew Everett to introduce the new tag team of “Z and E”. Santana and Ortiz were still without their fellow LAX members. Josh Mathews noted that Konnan was “taken out” at the Redemption show… [C]
1. “Z and E” DJ Z and Andrew Everett vs. “The Latin American XChange” Santana and Ortiz. The camera cut to a random door with the “Impact” logo on it to show that someone really cares about this oddball Sami Callihan storyline. LAX used some tandem offense on Zema early on. Josh Mathews was distracted and kept telling viewers that he was waiting for an update on what was happening behind the Impact door. Zema tagged in and Everett surprised Ortiz with a slingshot dropkick. Ortiz countered Everett with a springboard armdrag. Both men traded counters until Everett nailed Ortiz with a Frankendriver. Everett kept hanging his tongue out.
John’s Thoughts: The new team is looking good, but someone tell Everett to keep his tongue in his mouth.
LAX hit an innovative wheelbarrow and cutter tandem move. Santana kept Everett isolated in his corner. Josh Mathews said he thought the meeting was ending because the door opened a crack but it was still going because someone closed it (oh my lord). Sad Josh is still sad. Everett staggered Ortiz with a front kick. Everett then gained breathing room with an enziguri. DJ Z tagged in but LAX hit a few chops on him. DJ Z hit his weird move where he gets his opponents to DDT each other. Everett caught both LAX members with a waterfall kick.
Everett caught Ortiz with a triangle moonsault and a springboard spinning wheel kick. Ortiz planed Everett with a powerbomb into a DDT. Zema hit Ortiz with a tornado DDT. Santana hit Zema with a superkick. LAX hit an assisted moonsault on Zema. Zema helped Everett do a corkscrew moonsault on one of the LAX guys. Everett hit Santana on the outside with a Asai Moonsault. The crowd is dead at this point despite all of the cool acrobatics (worse than a bad 205 Live crowd in 2017). LAX sent their opponents outside. Ortiz hit both opponents with a Cannonball Suicide Dive. Zema prevented Santana from doing a Tope. Santana and Ortiz hit a double flapjack on Zema. LAX went for their finisher on Zema but Zema used a headscissors to land a victory roll which successfully led to the victory for Z and E.
Z and E defeated LAX via pinfall in 8:35.
Zema and Everett tried to pump up the crowd but had no success. Even the regulars in the front row looked a bit dejected. Speaking of dejected, Santana and Ortiz shared great dejected looks in the center of the ring…
John’s Thoughts: Good work as expected from these men especially Everett, who looks like he hasn’t missed a beat. Everett is a potential star and I wouldn’t mind seeing him on 205 Live, a show which would likely utilize him much better than this. One criticism I have with the match is Zema’s lack of selling. He must be too used to those pointless X Division spotfests. Anyway, to be positive, what I am starting to like is that they are telling a redemption story with LAX. The reason I have more confidence that they will do justice with LAX is because they’ve allowed LAX to exist in a separate pocket universe away from a lot of the crappiness, which is the rest of the show. As for Z and E, I’m happy for them. Anything is an upgrade over the now dead-again X Division.
YAY! It’s Joe Park and Grado Time. Joseph Park was assisting Grado in doing squats while Grado wore black sunglasses. Park hyped Grado for his first Impact match in 6 months. Joe was curious of Grado’s “girlfriend” that he mentioned last week. Grado started making excuses for her not being at the Impact Zone due to her walking dogs. Joseph Park wondered if this was an imaginary girlfriend. Suddenly former Knockouts Champion Winter (a.k.a. Katie Lea Burchill) showed up. Joseph Park told Winter that America’s Next Top Model tryouts were in the studio next door. Grado said Winter was his girlfriend.
Grado was calling Winter under the name “Katarina” now (her real name is Katarina Winters). Joseph asked Katarina, “What are you doing with him”? Katarina said it’s what’s on the inside that counts. Grado said the outside isn’t too bad neither, ey. Katarina told Grado to not wear sunglasses to make a good impression on the crowd. Katarina said it was a pleasure to meet “James”. Park told her his name was Joseph as she left. Park then made some of his signature comical facial expressions and said “wow… hubba hubba”. Josh Mathews then ran through the upcoming card and they showed that a camera was still pointed at the Impact door (who the f— cares?)… [C]
They cut to an Austin Aries backstage promo. Aries said he hope Drake wins and he has a lot of interest in the main event because Drake is going to be the person that Aries beats for the “other” World Title…
Back to the Impact Zone, Impact’s resident enhancement wrestler, Rohit Raju made his entrance. Grado came out to new theme music. Grado also brought out Katarina with him. He no longer uses the instrumental to Madonna’s Like a Prayer. Wait a sec? Let me rewind this, this music is pretty good! He’s using a Pop R&B theme from a random girl group. Grado and Katarina were acting very cute on their way to the ring. The Impact Zone regulars in the front row woke up to dance with Grado…
John’s Thoughts: That Dale Oliver bootleg version of Like a Prayer was fine, but I ab-soul-lutely love this new theme. Don’t hate on me for this. I’m also really liking the pairing of Grado and Katarina so far. It’s good to have Grado back and he doesn’t have to carry around Mahabali Shera anymore. Anyway, Grado’s new club entrance theme has now jumped up there to one of my favorite in all of pro wrestling. It’s up there with Shane Strickland’s Chaka Khan.
2. Grado (w/Katarina) vs. Rohit Raju. Josh Mathews was still acting sad on commentary and told the viewers that they were going to get an update of the Sami Callihan situation. Josh Mathews kept mentioning the Desi Hit Squad (who?). Rohit Raju beat up Grado with his back turned. Grado managed to land the punches that lead to the Bionic Elbow but Raju reversed him. Raju went for a German Suplex on Grado but Grado was dead weight to him. Grado used some of his Keijo on Raju’s gut. Raju managed to regain control and put some boots to Grado. Josh Mathews tried to hype up Gama Singh and the Desi Hit Squad.
Raju managed to hit Grado with a basement dropkick to get a nearfall. Two rows of fans started to cheer for Grado (which is a success). Raju hit a series of boots on Grado to get another nearfall. Grado escaped a cravate and then tapped Raju to the ground with some light taps. Grado hit a corner splash and sidewalk slam on Raju. Grado then hit a freefall splash on Raju. The camera then did a picture-in-picture to the dumb Impact Wrestling door (because why the hell not! my lord!).
Raju raked the face of Grado. Grado took down the straps and started to hulk up. Josh Mathews was distracted again and talked about Sami Callihan. Raju hit a high tiger knee and a swinging Fisherman Buster for a nearfall. Grado caught Raju with a standing bionic elbow. Grado then finished off Raju with a cannonball.
Grado defeated Rohit Raju via pinfall in 5:42.
After the match Katarina kissed Grado on the lips which caused him to faint. Katarina revived him by waving some air in his face. Grado, Dezmond Xavier, and Katarina danced up the ramp to Grado’s awesome new theme music…
John’s Thoughts: A surprisingly good match. Grado got to look dominant over the enhancement wrestler in the end and Rohit Raju (f.k.a. Hakim Zane) got to get some convincing moves in there which will help his credibility whenever they decide to repackage him again. About a year ago, I didn’t write about it but I had the thought that former Knockout Ava Storie would have made a good dorky Girl Next Door girlfriend for Grado. Katarina is playing that role well so far with really good a-dork-able mannerisms. I like that this is a good next chapter to his “finding a girlfriend” story arc. Anyway, give me more Grado and his awesome entrance music every week, please.
Mathews told us there was some urgent news and he was a bit disappointed that it wasn’t an Impact door update. They cut the camera to the area near Gorilla Position where Joseph Park was laid out with the mystery “X” calling card left on his chest. Grado and Katarina checked on Joseph Park. Grado yelled “GET A DOCTORRRRRRR!!!”…
John’s Thoughts: If this was a dumb Vince McMahon storyline, we would find out that Joseph Park beat up Joseph Park and the production guys leading to the return of Abyss. Let’s hope that’s not the case in Impact.
Back from the break, there’s still a camera in front of the Impact door. Also, Sad Josh Mathews is still sad. He reluctantly cut to a Tessa Blanchard vignette…
The Tessa Blanchard video package was well done. Tessa talked about how she was born in Charlotte, North Carolina and now resides in Orlando, FL (I believe she’s roommates with Ricochet and Apollo Crews). Photos from Tessa’s life was shown. Tessa went over her family history and also talked about her stepfather, Magnum TA. Tessa moved on to her inspiration to do well at wrestling and fitness. Tessa talked about how she wrestled in the first women’s match in China. Tessa said Impact is a platform for her to show that she’s the best in the world. She said the Knockouts don’t have the pedigree that she has. She said she’s going to run through the division and win the championship. She said she is better than everyone in the locker room. An ad aired for the upcoming Impact Tapings in Canada…
John’s Thoughts: That was great. More of this, please. They need to do one for Pentagon, Aries, Fenix, Matt Sydal, Andrew Everett, Trevor Lee, Brian Cage, OVE, Eddie, Fantasma. Hell, the whole roster needs these vignettes.
Eli Drake and Scott Steiner were interviewed by McKenzie Mitchell. Drake said it was time to talk to ya. Drake said he and Steiner were the best tag team in Impact Wrestling history. He also bragged about cashing in on Pentagon. Drake said only one thing means more than the tag title to him, the World Title. Drake said he was going to become the new belt collector. Scott Steiner said some Scott Steiner things. He said he had Drake’s back. Drake said he appreciates it and Michael Jordan always had Scottie Pippen but tonight Pippen (Steiner) has to sit on the bench. Steiner talked about having a freak last night which doesn’t mean she won’t come back tonight and that you can’t have too many friends (this sounds incoherent, but it’s Steiner). Steiner was emotional and asked Drake if he didn’t need help tonight. Drake said he could use the help from the freaks but he thinks he can do it by himself tonight…
John’s Thoughts: Are they teasing an Eli Drake face turn? It wouldn’t be the worst thing.
Drago made his entrance followed by his eternal rival Aerostar. Josh Mathews told the viewers that Lucha Underground fans know that Aerostar lives and is “from the cosmos”. Next was the newest Bullet Club member, Taiji Ishimori. Last was El Hijo Del Fantasma who wore a new blue mask…
3. Drago vs. Aerostar vs. Taiji Ishimori vs. El Hijo Del Fantasma for an X Division Championship title shot. Sad Josh Mathews is still sad and he really wants you to know it. Josh talked about how he expects an answer on the Sami Callihan situation. Aerostar and Drago had an encounter where they ended up in a stalemate. Josh Mathews Fantasma and Ishimori broke up the battle between the rivals and started their own lucha sequence with each other. Fantasma hit a tilt a whirl backbreaker for a nearfall. Because the dumb door is more important than the match in Impact, they did the picture-in-picture shot to show the viewers that the camera was still looking at the door (Josh just mentioned that they’ll update him on the headset. Why in the F’n hell do they have to hold a camera in front of a door. This must be a rib on the viewer.).
Ishimori hit a seated senton on Fantasma and then hit a Golden Triangle Moonsault on him outside of the ring. Aerostar tossed Drago outside. Then Aerostar almost died because he went for a springboard crossbody but instead fell on the ground and landed right on his neck. That was bad. Drago was worried and checked up on Aerostar. They showed a replay. [C]
Thank God, Aerostar was fine and doing some high risk moves. Aerostar hit a trust fall on Ishimori. Fantasma hit Aerostar took over control and hit Aerostar with a high dropkick. Fantasma hit a Jumping Sobat and went for an Indian Deathlock. Dragon broke up that move. Drago kicked Fantasma and hit a reverse huracanrana. Ishimori broke up a kneebar by Drago. Ishimori hit Drago with a Cartwheel DVD and running kick. Madness ensued. Drago hit a swinging STO. The Impact regulars started to chant the Lucha National Anthem that they just learned. Fantasma hit an awkward Michinoku Driver on Drago. Ishimori landed an awkward rollup. All four wrestlers took each other out with all men lying on the ground. Josh Mathews was still worried about the Impact door opening.
Drago almost botched a Flip Dive on the outside. Fantasma didn’t botch on the Arrow from the Depths of Hell. Aerostar hit Fanrasma with a springboard senton bomb to the outside. Sad Josh Mathews is still sad (this commentary is killer). Ishimori broke up a huracanrana by Aerostar and hit his signature double knee driver. Drago took control. Ishimori kicked him off the top rope. After an exchange, Fantasma hit Aerostar with the Trill of the Kill for the victory.
El Hijo Del Fantasma defeated Aerostar, Drago, and Taiji Ishimori via pinfall in 12:11 of TV Time.
John’s Thoughts: Not the best X Division showing here. There were a lot of botches and miscommunication which hurt the psychology of the match. This was out of character because I’ve reviewed and witnessed live many great matches involving Aerostar, Fantasma (King Cuerno), and Drago. This was the first Drago match I’ve ever seen where he’s looked not-so-great. A huge part of Lucha Libre is the crowd and I wondered if the dead Impact Zone hurt the timing of the luchadores. What added to the pain of the television viewer was the dead-ass “sad Josh Mathews” routine. Moving along, I like Fantasma going over here. The guy is a main eventer waiting to happen but Impact doesn’t know what the hell to do with him (he speaks English very well so that’s not an excuse). I’ll post a promo below that will tell you more info on Fantasma in under two minutes than Impact has done in over a year.
Oh, oh. Josh Mathews is excited because Eddie Edwards was running to the Impact door to open it. Edwards ran into the office saying “no” a bunch of times… [C]
Eddie Edwards begged the unseen authority figure not to fire Sami Callihan. We can clearly hear that the authority figure is Scott D’Amore. Eddie said he almost lost his “f—ing eye” for Impact. D’Amore said Callihan is fired. Eddie said the office screwed him over at the New Orleans event by throwing the towel and are screwing Eddie now. D’Amore told Eddie it was fine and Callihan stays. D’Amore said whatever Eddie is going to do, to please don’t do it in the Impact Zone.
John’s Thoughts: Do I have to say all the plot holes? Why doesn’t Callihan have to be employed by Impact for Eddie to get revenge? He already threatened to beat up two Crist brother wives in Ohio and we saw that Eddie knows the Ohio indie promotion that Callihan works at? There’s more, but what the hell?
Mathews recapped the segment where Eddie Edwards prevented Sami Callihan from getting fired. Josh Mathews tried to recap the whole feud and it only confused things. Mathews said Impact won’t sanction a match between Edwards and Callihan and if Edwards wants a match they have to do it somewhere else.
John’s Thoughts: Dammit, TNA! So if Eddie Edwards wants to wrestle Sami Callihan, he has to do it in another promotion, yet somehow Callihan needs an Impact contract to do this? I’m not even going to try to rationalize. This is ass.
4. Moose vs. Kongo Kong (w/Jimmy Jacobs) at the House of Hardcore promotion at Fort Wayne, Indiana. After the initial lockup, Moose hit a series of strikes on Kong. Kong took down moose with a push. Moose did a kip up. Kong tossed over the top rope and brought the battle to ringside. Moose hit a pump kick on Kong outside. Kong took over and put the boots to Moose back in the ring with Jimmy Jacobs taunting Moose on the outside. Moose tried to fight off Kong but Kong locked Moose in a bear hug. Moose used some thunder claps to escape the hug but he couldn’t body slam Kong. Kong tossed Moose into the ringpost. Kong missed a cannonball. Moose hit a series of corner lariats on Kong. Josh noted that Moose couldn’t get Kong off his feet. Moose finally got Kong off his feet with a running axe handle. Moose hit a running senton on Kong. The match ended with Jacobs hitting Moose in the back with a chair for the DQ.
Moose defeated Kongo Kong via DQ.
Moose no-sold the chair to the back and grabbed Jacobs by the collar. Kong saved Moose and was clotheslined to the outside. Jimmy Jacobs held back Kong as they left the arena… [C]
John’s Thoughts: To give House of Hardcore a bit of credit, their camera setup isn’t bad and the crowd is an upgrade over the Impact Zone. The downside here is house show indie matches don’t mesh well with active television storylines. If they are going to accept a chickenshit finish as canon, then all that does is hurt Kong’s mystique (not like he’s had the best of runs in Impact though). Moose still means nothing of importance yet until Impact is willing to do the huge reboot on the guy.
KM was acting like an inspirational speaker with Fallah Bahh replying to all of KM’s questions with the word “Bahh”. A funny training montage ensued. KM was inspiring Bahh while eating ice cream. He was talking and chewing on his ice cream cone with his mouth open…
John’s Thoughts: It sucks that the only attention to detail that Impact is giving is to the comedy storylines, but they are doing well with the comedy tonight. KM’s has been underutilized like a lot of people and I really wanted them to stick with that character that was beating up civilians on the street. This was fun though and Fallah Bahh is a great ball of charisma. I really needed that piece of levity after all that bad TNA logic before.
5. Brian Cage vs. Takashi Sugiura from Pro Wrestling Noah. They cut to the match already in progress. Cage did squats while doing a delayed vertical suplex on Sugiura. Cage hit a standing moonsault on Sugiura. Josh Mathews semi-spoiled the end to Infinity War by saying that the Avengers need new members after Infinity War and should hire Cage to help defeat Thanos. Cage and Sugiura had a strong style battle in the center of the ring. Cage grounded Sugiura with a dropkick. Cage hit Sugimura with a deadlift apron Suplex. Cage tapped the mat and the crowd responded by clapping to the Terminator theme song (Take that Impact Zone!!!).
Sugiura escaped a Drill Claw. Cage ran into Sugiura’s foot and Sugiura hit him with a suplex into the bottom rope. Sugiura hit some stiff forearms on Cage in the corner and followed up with a running knee. Cage fought out of the top rope with a headbutt. Sugiura met Cage back on the top rope and hit a nice Frankensteiner on Cage. Sugiura went for a running knee on Cage and was caught and laughed with a Buckle Bomb. Cage hit Sugiura with a F5 and got a nearfall. Cage started another Terminator clap. Josh said this was shades of Kenny Omega with the clap (no, this was made for Cage in Downtown Los Angeles). Sugiura dodged a Tornado Claw and hit a stiff running knee on Cage.
Cage showed off his fighting spirit by eating a bunch of stiff forearm shots from Sugiura. Cage responded with the Tornado Claw. Sugiura kicked out of the move that Cage uses as a finisher. Brian Cage hit a spike Drill Claw on Sugiura for the win.
Brian Cage defeated Takashi Sugiura via pinfall
Brian Cage’s Lucha Underground entrance theme played (the one that has him saying “I’m a Machine!!!”…
John’s Thoughts: This was not bad. It helps when Impact is showing footage from a national wrestling promotion vs. bad footage from local indies. I looked up this Sugiura guy on Wikipedia and it said he’s their current GHC World Champions and their longest combined reigning champion. He’s 47 years old and like their version of John Cena it seems. He looked good. Cage looked good too and this was the type of match that I’ve gotten used to seeing him have in Lucha Underground. Dare I say, this was better than the Lashley series, but it helps that they had a crowd that wanted to watch pro wrestling (albeit, the respectful Japanese crowd can be silent at times out of respect).
They cut to the Global Wrestling Network match of the week. It was yet another Ultimate X Match between Jay Lethal, Chris Sabin, Alex Shelly, Suicide (I forget if this was Chris Daniels or TJ Perkins), and Consequences Creed (a.k.a. Xavier Woods). Suicide won… [C]
After the commercial they cut to a cinematic involving Allie. Allie was staring into a mirror as memories of Rosemary’s “Death” scene flashed on the screen. Allie was saddened at Rosemary’s death. She heard a knock at her door and there was a random Voodoo Dall on the floor with a random scroll pinned to it. Allie unpinned and read the scroll. We didn’t see what was written on the scroll but Allie started to twitch into the mirror like she was being possessed (?)…
John’s Thoughts: Interesting. I wonder if they are going to go with the angle of Rosemary’s soul taking over the body of Allie? The reason I think of this is because they ran that great cinematic series of Rosemary giving her backstory to Bram. In those cinematics, Rosemary would write letters in blood and do black magic. That black magic led to her dead brother Montgomery’s soul possessing a tree. I’ll post that cinematic below from when Impact was good and under the Matt Conway and Dave Lagana creative team.
Eli Drake made his entrance first. He was followed by the current Impact Wrestling and Lucha Underground World Champion, Pentagon Jr… [C]
6. Pentagon Jr. Vs. Eli Drake for the Impact World Championship. Pentagon yelled in Drake’s face, “Listen to me, puto!!! Cero Miedo!”. Drake caught Pentagon’s hand during the Miedo part and then did his “E…Li…Drake” Catchphrase. Good stuff. Drake was caught with a back kick but Drake came back with a lariat and elbow drop. Pentagon regained control after landing a pair of Sling Blades on Drake. Pentagon tried to do his signature arm break sacrifice move. Drake escaped and hit Pentagon with a cutter. Austin Aries was shown watching the match and eating a banana. Drake put the boots to Pentagon. Josh Mathews had some “Breaking News” and said that Eddie Edwards will be facing Sami Callihan in a hardcore match at House of Hardcore.
John’s Thought: Wait? Hold up. So Eddie begged for Impact not to fire Callihan so he can have a match with him. Now we’re getting Eddie Edwards vs. Sami Callihan at Tommy Dreamer’s non-Impact promotion where it could have happened if Sami was fired from Impact? Only in TNA! It also sucks that Josh Mathews and crew don’t care about the title match on the screen. The only person who seems to care is Aries.
Drake hit a popup power slam on Pentagon. Mathews said we were getting Brian Cage in Canada next week. Josh also hyped a funeral for Rosemary. Pentagon escaped a chinlock with a huracanrana. Drake responded with a forearm. Pentagon caught a flying Drake with a thrust kick to Drake’s stomach. Pentagon hit his signature loud slaps to the chest of Drake. He then followed up with a lungblower. A “break his arm” chant ensued (good job, ten people that care in the Impact Zone). Pentagon caught Drake with a superkick. Drake caught Pentagon and almost hit the Gravy Train but Pentagon rolled out. Drake caught Pentagon with an elbow. Drake missed a moonsault. Pentagon hit the Pentagon Driver for the win.
Pentagon Jr defeated Eli Drake via pinfall in 7:11 to retain the Impact World Championship.
Josh Mathews ran through the highlights from the match. They showed Austin Aries eating a banana backstage. Impact ended without the usual Pentagon Jr. arm break spot that he does everywhere…
John’s Thoughts: Drake showed up today and Pentagon put in some good work too. The most disappointing part of this was that the match ended right as it was about to get real good. This also wasted the briefcase gimmick that they wasted an actual storyline. I get that they’re writing Drake to be more honorable, but why did he need the briefcase again? Pentagon’s a fighting champion who would have given it to him in exchange for the potential to break Drake’s arm. We also didn’t get Pentagon’s arm break spot post-match. Are they tossing Drake aside because he might actually be leaving?
This was a very odd episode of Impact. It had the piece to be a very good episode. The Impact Zone hurt the atmosphere. Not only that, but for some reason the creative team decided to overbook the hell out of this show and focus 100% on some angle involving Don Callis. They spent most of this episode with Josh Mathews acting sad and a camera pointing at a door. Seriously. There was some good. The Cage match in Noah was good. The tag match was good. The Tessa Vignette was solid. The Grado’s new theme is wonderful. The bad TNA style logic just killed the show and they are forcing people like Josh Mathews and Sami Callihan to play along with this crap. I’m giving up on this taping. Most of these episodes are hurting my head. Holding out hope that the Canada taping would be better. How soon will that get here? Jason Powell will be by later with his Hit List and Member’s Exclusive Audio. I wonder if he’ll drop one of those NSFW ones?
Be the first to comment