By Jason Powell, ProWrestling.net Editor (@prowrestlingnet)
Impact Wrestling Hits
Tessa Blanchard vs. Faby Apache for the Knockouts Championship: A strong match. I agree with John Moore’s comments in his Impact Wrestling TV Review that the women deserved more time. Still, Apache’s offense looked crisp and I really liked the way she worked into the reverse figure four. Blanchard continues to shine and it’s nice to see her get a clean win over a quality challenger. Tessa’s boasting post match promo was strong and Taya Valkyrie came off well in challenging Blanchard to the Knockouts Title match at Bound For Glory.
Brian Cage vs. Jake Crist: The OVE promo that set up this match was fun. Jake is the blind follower of Sami Callihan. Sure, he was reluctant to face Cage, but Callihan pumped him up and then it was all systems go. Meanwhile, Dave Crist is entertaining with his facial expressions that show he’s bemused by his brother’s over the top dedication to Callihan. It’s nice that they slowly developing separate personas for the Crists, though hopefully they realize that Dave mouthing the words that Sami says is too distracting from Callihan’s promos. That match itself was what it needed to be. I have no doubt that Cage and Jake could have filled out a longer match nicely, but Cage is the badass of Impact while Jake is cast as a lackey, so the brief length of the match was perfectly logical in this case.
Scarlett Bordeaux’s talent search: I was wrong in guessing that Bordeaux’s big announcement would be in regards to her first mach on Impact television. Apparently they intend to position her as a manager. It’s not a bad thing to have a non-wrestling character. Years ago, Maria Kanellis was shining as a non-wresting personality in WWE when she put in the ring. She went from being a standout personality to being just another wrestler. If Impact creative doesn’t have big plans for Bordeaux as a wrestler then this is the best approach to take with her.
Impact Wrestling Misses
Johnny Impact and Eddie Edwards vs. Moose and Killer Kross: It was a strange night for Moose. He aggressively hit on backstage interviewer McKenzie Mitchell, then during the match he reached down his pants to presumably touch his little Moose before chopping Impact. So Austin Aries is teamed with a sociopathic killer and now his other partner is a character who may or may not be headed down the sexual predator path. That oddness isn’t even the cause of the Miss. Rather, it’s the babyfaces doing stupid things. Johnny looked to the crowd and celebrated with the Impact World Title belt for a moment after fighting off Aries, which led to Kross taking him out with a suplex. Edwards then hit Kross with his kendo stick and then looked to the crowd only to have Moose spear and pin him. I realize creative is trying to build up their new heel faction, but they are running out of time to get viewers invested in Johnny’s quest to win the Impact World Championship at Bound For Glory. With only two shows to go before BFG, I’m just not feeling it.
Allie and Kiera Hogan vs. Su Yung and The Undead Maid of Honor: What is the purpose of the UDMOH if she’s not there to take losses in situations like these? Young had great monster heel potential when she arrived in Impact, but the creative team just can’t stop booking her to lose needlessly. I like Hogan’s work and this isn’t about her. Plus, this didn’t even feel like a major win for Hogan because Young has lost so often lately.
LAX vs. The Desi Hit Squad: The match just didn’t click with me. There was a mix of good spots along with some clunky moments, but it ultimately felt flat. Speaking of which, the lousy Gama Singh introductions need to be put out of their misery. I’m not sure what he brings to the act, but he’s been a poor mouthpiece. On the plus side, the Eddie Kingston promo on Konnan that followed was really good both in terms of content and delivery.
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