Impact Wrestling preview (June 15, 2017): Sonjay’s best shot

Impact Wrestling returns tonight (June 15) with the second episode taped from Mumbai, India. Here are our five questions about tonight’s episode.

1) Is tonight finally Sonjay Dutt’s night?

Sonjay Dutt has never won the X Division title. He’s been in and out of the promotion for pretty much 15 years, mainly working in that division. Yet he has never claimed its top prize. That has become a focal point of his current feud with Low Ki.

Low Ki won the title in a multi-man match that included Sonjay. To make matters worse for Dutt, Low Ki landed a shot to his eye that caused some major swelling. Since then, anytime the champion mentioned Sonjay, he made sure to note that Sonjay can’t get the job done when it comes to claiming the title.

But tonight, when Sonjay challenges Low Ki for said title, it may be his best shot. Performing in front of a home crowd (Dutt was born in DC but his family moved from India soon before) will give the challenger an advantage. Can Sonjay finally get that monkey off his back? We’ll find out tonight.

2) Is EC3 facing James Storm at Slammiversary?

Ethan Carter was only briefly on Impact last week. He beat up a local talent with a belt until James Storm came out to chase him off.

A bit over a month ago, these two were feuding. Carter cost Storm the Impact title when he hit the Cowboy over the head with a bottle as Storm was facing Lashley. This lead to a match between the two that was interrupted by Magnus and Bruce Pritchard.

Suddenly, they were part of a triple threat match to main event Slammiversary which EC3 won. Then Carter lost that right to Alberto El Patron. So now is he back to facing Storm?

It’s not a bad story but the detour in the middle definitely hurt its momentum. But if Lashley and Patron are definitely the main event of Slammiversary (and we don’t know that for sure), Carter and Storm would make sense for another big match at the PPV.

3) So Mahabali Shera has to be winning the Sony SIX Invitational, right?

Tonight, there will be a gauntlet style over-the-top battle royal they are dubbing the Sony SIX Invitational. (Sony SIX is the station that airs Impact in India and where they are taping these episodes.) The winner gets a trophy.

There are ten people in this match, but the one that likely matters most is Mahabali Shera. Shera is from India. They even showed a sweet video last week of him welcoming his father and brother to the Impact taping. This would be the perfect spot to get him some spotlight.

Both Wolves are also in the match, but they will probably end up concentrating on each other so much that they’ll end up eliminating themselves because of it. Rockstar Spud and Swoggle are both in the match too. They wouldn’t be favorirtes, but their feud has been hilarious.

4) What’s next for the oddest friendship ever?

The last two weeks Rosemary and Allie have saved each other from attacks by Sienna and Laurel Van Ness. It seems like they may be a friendship brewing. There’s no doubt Knockouts champion Rosemary and Allie are very very different. Rosemary is a bit demonic and believes she’s part of an unseen “Hive” that makes decisions. Allie is innocence personified. She’s still learning to wrestling (the character is) and is just happy for the opportunity.

This is a great pairing and could be one of the best things in Impact currently. So it’ll be interesting to see what path this travels. And how long it lasts.

5) Who’s still on the Impact roster?

I randomly thought about Eddie Kingston the other day and thought “Is he still on Impact?” If you don’t remember, he played the wild card of the failed DCC trio. The DCC weren’t good but Kingston surely was entertaining.

Of course, that got me wondering if Bram is still with Impact. They had sent him to Japan to work Pro Wrestling NOAH but he hasn’t been seen on TV in a long time. (Apparently, he was suspended from Pro Wrestling NOAH and it’s very possible that has affected his use by Impact.)

According to their webpage, both men are still on the active roster. So is Robbie E and Grado. But have they just not been removed yet or are they still technically with the company.

Matt Morgan has only had a couple appearances since returning so his status is also curious. His one match with Magnus was a bit of a dud and we haven’t seen him since. But they made a fairly big deal bring him back.

Impact Wrestling airs tonight at 8 EST on Pop TV. Who’s watching?