GFW Impact preview (Sept. 7, 2017): South of the border, down Mexico way

GFW (maybe?) Impact returns tonight (Sept. 7) with their forth episode in the most recent of tapings.

Advertised for tonight:

• Eli Drake (c) vs. Matt Sydal for the GFW Global title
• Taya Valkyrie debuts
• Gail Kim & Allie vs. Sienna & Taryn Terrell
• Clips of GFW at TripleMania, including the Rosemary/Sexy Star incident

As usual, here are our five questions about Impact tonight.

1) How will they handle the Rosemary/Sexy Star incident?

While the Drake/Sydal title match is something I’m excited for, this is what I’m most curious about.

It’s been a pretty hot story the last week plus. If you aren’t aware, Sexy Star supposedly applied a shoot armbar onto Rosemary, injuring her arm. Rosemary has commented on it. Sexy Star denies it but Triple A still felt the need to strip her of the title.

There’s been speculation that they’re going to turn this into an angle. I highly doubt that, at least in the sense that they’ll be doing any work with Sexy Star. I can’t imagine a world where Rosemary would agree to do any business with her. I suppose it’s possible that they can work an angle with other Triple A wrestlers but I’m going to doubt that too.

I think it’s more likely that they already had cameras there and they decided to try to capitalize a bit on the buzz the situation caused. I actually don’t blame them for it either. It’s the wrestling business. Anything that’s somewhat buzz worthy is going to turn into an angle or used to drum up interest in their product.

That’s not the only thing of interest from their time at Triplemania. This is also DJ Z’s first big match back from when he fractured his colon.

2) Is Eli’s title reign going to be really short?

Eli Drake faces his first challenger tonight in Matt Sydal, just two weeks after Eli won the title in a 20-man gauntlet match. Is he going to be a transitional champion?

If I were to guess, I’d say no, but you never know. Clearly they look at Sydal as a big deal, though I thought they wanted him atop the X Division. But with a win over Bobby Lashley, he’s showed he can certainly be a player in the heavyweight division as well.

I expect this match to be really fun tonight no matter the outcome.

3) How different will the Taya Valkyrie be compared to the one we see on Wednesdays?

Taya Valkyrie was recently on Talk Is Jericho and pointed out that they last filmed Lucha Underground well over a year ago. She discussed that she’s always trying to change and improve her game. This means that she could be even better than we see on Wednesdays nights. (If you watch Triple A, you’ll have a better idea.)

Taya is a great addition to the Knockouts division and it’s really cool for her to be able to show off on more US television.

We don’t know who she’s facing tonight or if she’s facing anyone. Perhaps she’ll make her presence known in the women’s tag match.

4) How involved is Jeff Jarrett in this Lashley/American Top Team issue?

The last few weeks, the GFW officials have had on screen issues with Lashley’s MMA team American Top Team. Those issues have included Jim Cornette and Jeff Jarrett. While Jarrett’s stuff has been mainly backstage taped, he has been the one arguing most with Dan Lambert, the head of the Team, and therefore seems to be a somewhat sizeable part of this story.

Now we learned that GFW officials may have off screen issues with Jeff Jarrett. While the official word is he’s taking time off for personal issues, the rumors floating around tell a different story. Are rumors always correct? Absolutely not. But they are correct often enough to wonder about them.

How does this connect? Impact taped up to Bound for Glory. If Jarrett has a heavy presence in this feud, will that affect the story with Lashley and his MMA team? We have a few months to find out.

5) What’s up with the Grand Championship?

EC3 is still Grand Championship and still has issues with Moose. Maybe.

After winning this title prior to the latest taping, this secondary title has gone into hiding. Are they planning something with it? Or are they planning to phase it out?

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