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Impact Wrestling waltzed back into our lives last night (Oct. 12) from the Impact Zone in Orlando, Florida. You can find the results at the live blog here.
It’s happening!
While they didn’t exactly made it official, Rosemary vs. Taya Valkyrie at Bound for Glory is most definitely happening.
After Rosemary squashed enhancement talent Hannah Harper while Josh Mathews rattled on about Marvel comics, she invited Taya to the ring to accept a dance with the demon. Taya made her way to the ring and after a brief stare down, she misted Rosemary! And then delivered Road to Valhalla!
(Red Wedding. Road to Valhalla. These ladies have the best names for finishers.)
There’s not much set for the PPV yet, but this match is easily at the top of whatever they’re going to set up.
There’s a good amount of talent in Impact, but no one jumps off the page like Rosemary does. (That’s men and women.) Her demonic charisma is infectious. She’s one of the talents you just want to watch. And the fact that she transitioned an inherently heel character into a babyface with ease is impressive.
Taya Valkyrie is new, but she already is standing out just like Rosemary does. Her royalty personal, with her ring garb and entrance can rival Rosemary. It’s a mixture of fantasy and ass kicking.
This may not be for the title, but hopefully, it will be in the future.
(After the show, the posted a YouTube video of Jim Cornette saying these two will fight next week, but I have to imagine that ends in a no-contest or another way to get it to the PPV. It’d be weird if this doesn’t end up at Bound for Glory.)
5150 Street Fight
The show opened with a build to the Bound for Glory tag team rematch. LAX came to the ring and Konnan started t his shtick. However, he was soon cut off by his own man, Santana, who just wanted to fight oVe.
And oVe were eager to oblige. They waltzed out wearing their sick masks, grabbed a couple of chairs, and slid into a ring where they were outnumbered 4-2. When Konnan told them it’ll be a 5150 street fight at Bound for Glory, the Crists were not concerned.
But maybe they should have been.
Diamante took the microphone and told the champs that this 5150 street fight doesn’t just mean it’ll be Santana and Ortiz. It means all of them. Then this broke into a brawl. Of course, given a two person advantage, LAX put down the Crist brothers.
This segment will make us wonder if oVe really can overcome the odds at BFG. Just the quick brawl was fun and had some fun spots, including Jake Crist getting tossed over the top rope through a table. If that’s just the teaser, I look forward to seeing what they have planned for the actual match.
Moose’s revenge
Moose got his revenge on American Top Team this week after they beat him up again last week. In the process, he was kind of a dick.
He showed up at the American Top Team facility, parking his car in not one but two handicapped spaces as he waited for his backup. UFC fighter Stephan Bonnar joined him, and they both took pipes into the facility.
Unfortunately, they got there really late and the only person there was the poor lady working the desk before close. Since King Mo, Bobby Lashley, and Dan Lambert weren’t there, Moose and Bonnar destroyed stuff with their pipes and stole some titles. Now that poor girl had to call the cops and probably have to stay late. And who knows if she’s going to get in trouble for this happening under her watch!
This is partially in jest, though it was a pretty goofy scene for a feud they’re trying to sell as a bit more serious. The inclusion of Stephan Bonnar fell flat, at least for this writer. As someone who does not follow UFC, his inclusion meant nothing to me. Does he have history or issues with King Mo or someone else on Top Team? Without knowledge of that, this feels a bit out of no where.
They obviously included Bonnar for some cross promotion and to hopefully get some extra eyes on their big pay-per-view. But storyline wise, the inclusion of Bonnar needs some explanation. Maybe we’ll get that, but very possibly we won’t. And without an explanation, this quickly becomes just the celebrity match.
All the rest:
New #1 contender
Johnny Impact defeated Garza Jr. in the main event to earn the right to face Eli Drake at Bound for Glory for the title. After the match, Chris Adonis attacked Johnny with a board. Eli Drake watched this on his iPad from Japan.
The match between Johnny and Garza, which ended with a roll up, was pretty fun. It feels like there should be more to say about the main event angle, but there really wasn’t much outside the match.
Personal issues
Taryn Terrell and Gail Kim aren’t going to fight one on one at Bound for Glory. But it may very well happen prior. Taryn cut a promo goading Gail, which brought the Hall of Famer out to the ring. Gail said that she doesn’t buy into Taryn’s mind games, but soon slapped and and unloaded on her.
With a few more weeks prior to the PPV, running this match on TV to hype the 4-way would be something I certainly wouldn’t complain about.
Tag action
The team of James Storm, Allie, and Dezmond Xavier defeated Texano, Sienna, and Caleb Konley. It may or may not have been an intergender match. Josh Mathews made sure to say it was not when Sienna tagged in to lay the boots to James Storm, but then referee Earl Hebner didn’t allow Allie into the ring so who knows. It’s a small detail, but a detail they should be able to fix.
Otherwise, the match was pretty good. Dezmond Xavier is a blast to watch, Sienna will kick anyones ass, and Allie is such a fun character.
NOAH
They played many clips from their time at Pro Wrestling NOAH, including Eli Drake, Eddie Edwards, and Garza Jr. We saw a couple clips from matches, but unlike the one from Triple A with Eli Drake, they were just clips
Pros of the Show:
- Taya vs. Rosemary!
- Johnny vs. Garza was pretty fun
Cons of the Show:
- Terrible pacing and too much filler
- The inclusion of Stephan Bonnar is out of no where and needs explanation
Impact has a problem with pacing, and that’s not something specific to just last night. This episode was a ton of filler. While the Japan stuff was OK, it’s still filler unless we’re watching a full match. They recapped a ton of stories via video package. They played that Scott D’Amore bit where they are trying to find wrestlers.
This lead to long lulls of the show. The first 30 minutes was the opening tag segment (which was fun) and video packages. There were three matches in two hours and one was a 30 second squash. That’s a problem.
I don’t know if it’s because they taped three months of shows at once and can’t figure out this far in advance how much they have to air. But even if that’s the case, it’s not a good excuse. These shows don’t feel at all meaty. It feels like I watched an hour wrestling shows in two hours.
Grade: C
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