Impact Wrestling results, review, & video (Nov. 16, 2017): The Destroyer that didn’t Destroy

Impact Wrestling returned last night (Nov. 16) from the Aberdeen Pavilion in Ottawa, Ontario. You can find the results at the live blog here.

The Destroyer that Didn’t Destroy

Eli Drake defended his championship successfully against Petey Williams in the main event. It was a really good match.

The main focus was whether or not Petey Williams could hit his Canadian Destroyer. That’s his ace in the hole. In fact, Impact built it up on their Twitter this week as a move no one has ever kicked out of. (Wrestling likes to bend the rules when it comes to things like that so I don’t know how accurate a statement that really is.)

After enduring a sustained offensive run by Drake, and a few shots from Adonis when he could find an opening, Petey came back and tried multiple times to lock in his big finish. And time after time Eli would have an answer.

Until he didn’t.

Finally, Petey was able to hit his big finish.

One. Two. Kick out.

That’s right, the move they built up to be an automatic finish didn’t get the job done this week. When he tried it one more time, Eli was able to reverse it into the Gravy Train for the win.

This was a really enjoyable main event. Eli acted the heel by getting a little help from Adonis but not where it was over the top/over booked. Playing up the Canadian Destroyer only to have Drake kick out was a good touch. It helps build up their champion nicely. And Petey comes out of this match looking as good as he did going into it, if not better. That’s how a match should be.

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ATT Returns

Dan Lambert returned with another attempt to get Lashley out of his professional wrestling contract. He came out alone and cut a promo about how they proved MMA was better than pro graps at Bound for Glory. And now it’s time for Impact to let the Destroyer out of his contract.

But instead of an Impact exec, it was Moose that responded. He wanted to take advantage of Lambert being dumb enough to come alone and finally get a measure of revenge for all Lambert and his Team has done to him. However, Lambert wasn’t really alone and yet again, Moose found himself getting pummeled by American Top Team. It’s what he does.

This time it was James Storm who made the save, including casually crushing a bottle into one idiot who thought it’d be wise to slap him.

The Cowboy then cut a passionate promo about what professional wrestling means to him.

James Storm fits into this story way better than Stephan Bonnar did. In fact, Storm was one of the first people to confront Lambert and his team after their first assault months back. Being an Impact/TNA long timer, he’s perfect in the role to defend the business. He cut a strong promo explaining what pro wrestling means and how American Top Team doesn’t understand that.

This feud looks to continue, and time will tell if that’s good or bad, but plugging Storm into it could help the story they’re trying to tell.

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Retirement

Gail Kim officially retired and relinquished her title last night.

With Allie in the ring with her, Gail thanked Impact, the women who paved the way, those who made the journey with her, and the fans.

It was a nice little goodbye, but I can’t help help but think that her retirement tour was underwhelming. She had a title match against Sienna at Destination X in August, where Taryn Terrell cost her the bout. That was her last single’s match in Impact. Since then, it was tag matches and multi-woman matches.

When I heard retirement tour, I figured we’d see some one on one matches with the likes of Rosemary, Allie, and Taryn. We didn’t get any of that. Much of what was taped last taping had to be removed when they learned Taryn wasn’t going to return. That also cost us any one on one bout with Terrell. So there may have been some circumstances beyond their control affecting things, but it doesn’t mean it’s any less disappointing.

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Killer Instinct

Hey, remember the Grand Championship? EC3 had to defend it last night against the big Fallah Bahh.

In the first round, Carter had absolutely no answer for the size of his Sumo like opponent. He lost that round. (They stopped saying if it was a 2-1 or 3-0 victory for the round winners. I liked that detail.)

Carter fought back in the second round, avoiding a Bahh charge in the corner and then kicking his opponent’s head against the ring post. That’s all it took for Carter to control the second round.

They went into the third tied and it looked like Bahh was winning that one on points. That was when EC3’s win at all cost instinct kicked in. He used a rake of the eye to avoid a Samoan Drop. When the big man went to top rope, perhaps looking for a Vader Bomb, Carter ripped him off the turnbuckle and then pinned him, using his feet on the rope for leverage.

Last week, Carter told Matt Sydal that he doesn’t have the killer instinct to win when it counts. Ethan proved tonight that he does. Or at least that he’s willing to do whatever it takes to win. We’ll see if Sydal took note of Ethan’s tactics.

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The Rest:

Chaos

LAX (Santana, Ortiz, and Homicide) defeated oVe and Sami Callihan. It was pure chaos much of the time.

The demeanor change of oVe now that they’re teaming with Sami continues. In fact, this week, the announcers made a point to mention how much more ruthless they are. No longer at they the babyfaces of this feud. In fact, this match was structured with LAX as the team fighting from underneath.

oVe and Callihan work better as more of a heelish unit. It fits their demeanor, especially with Sami’s attitude. I don’t think this is a double turn because as long as Konnan is at their helm, LAX are going to be heels too. But perhaps both teams are meeting towards the middle.

Random X Division

Dezmond Xavier, Sonjay Dutt, & Garza Jr defeated Caleb Konley, Trevor Lee, and Taiji Ishimori. It was the definition of a random tag match. There was no reason that these guys were paired together (outside Lee and Konley). It doesn’t mean it was a bad match. It was pretty fun. But it’d be nice to have a reason for a match like this.

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Pros of the Show:

• Fun main event
• The Grand Championship match worked playing up the size discrepancy
• James Storm fits the Lashley story better than Bonnar did

Cons of the Show:

• Gail’s retirement tour ended up being disappointing (this was more of a realization tonight than actually happened tonight)
• X Division match was really random

Overall, a solid show.

Grade: B-

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