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Impact Wrestling returned last night (Oct. 18) from the Melrose Ballroom in Queens, NY. You can find the results at the live blog here.
Elephant in the Room
The biggest story coming out of Bound for Glory was Austin Aries pretty much no-selling the finish, telling off Don Callis, and leaving.
It led to a nice game of work or shoot.
I didn’t expected them to outright address it, especially if it is a shoot. (Part of me is still wondering if they’re playing this as a long work to build Aries as some rogue while always leaving fans to believe there was a shoot aspect to the finish.) Either way, it wouldn’t make sense to draw attention to it right now. But it still left a hole in the show.
Johnny Impact opened the show with a championship address, and he didn’t even mention Aries by name. He alluded to him, but their rather personal feud was not mentioned.
Killer Kross and Moose didn’t mention the man who put them together as a team at all. This show was pretty much like he never existed.
Whether it’s an elaborate work or a shoot, ignoring Aries as much as they did leaves a continuity issue. Austin was a major player in the promotion. It pretty much revolved around him. To lose such a gravitational force in the storytelling so suddenly leaves things feeling adrift.
Learn to Fly
This week, Tommy Dreamer challenged Moose to a match to avenge what he and Kross did to Eddie Edwards on Sunday. Killer Kross accepted the challenge instead.
Surprising, I don’t hate watching Dreamer wrestle. Given his age and his physical limitations after all the years of violence (taking it and innovating it), he’d be a wrestling I have zero interest in seeing. But his matches are booked in a way that they’re still pretty good, and he’s such a big part of the growth of Edwards’ character that it makes sense when he does.
Of course, he did the job for Kross, putting the younger guy over. In fact, the match was stopped after two Doomsday Saito Suplexes, putting over the devastation of Kross’ finisher. And then he took a beating post match from both Kross and Moose, who the crap out of a guy who was so incapacitated that the ref had to stop the match.
While Austin Aries’ absence leads to a continuity issue, it’s probably better for Moose and Kross. Prior to this, they were mainly there to service Aries as champion. They’d take the punishment from people who were eventually going to face Aries.
But now, they’re their own thing. Two dudes hellbent on destruction and not hellbent on walking in the champ’s shadow. That’s better.
Psycho Bunny
Allie has snapped after her return from the Undead Realm.
She had a pretty standard match against Alisha Edwards this week, but then after escaping a legal choke, Allie snapped. Her face morphed into a snarl when she slapped herself. Then, the Psycho Bunny started assaulting Alisha before finishing her with a Code Breaker.
After the match, she was right back on the attack, this time choking her opponent. Her friend Kiera Hogan ran into stop her, and suddenly, Allie returned to her senses. She was immediately regretful.
The announcers put over that this is secondary to her trip into the Undead Realm. As I mentioned in my Bound for Glory recap, that segment at the PPV was too out there for me. I dig fantasy in my wrestling, but I think much of it needs to be alluded to and not rolled out like it was at the PPV. Since I didn’t care for that, I need to divorce this from that before I can really enjoy Allie’s character work.
All the Rest:
Rematch Coming?: Taya Valkyrie defeated Katarina this week. After the match, she was interviewed in the ring by McKenzie Mitchell. Taya said that she is disappointed that Tessa had to resort to using the ring apron to distract the ref to help keep her title. And now she doesn’t respect her.
The most interesting thing about the promo was how Taya delivered it. She played it innocent and she seemed legit upset that Tessa disappointed her. But that’s not Taya Valkyrie. She’s the gal flipping off Aries on Twitter and talking trash. I think she’s still that person but playing this up to piss off Tessa to get herself another match.
Future Feud: Brian Cage defended his title successfully against Rich Swann. Then Sami Callihan walked out and gestured at the title and then the video tron, which played the clip of him pinning the champ on Sunday, implying he deserves a title match. oVe tried to attack Brian Cage but instead Jake Crist got laid out. It’ll be interesting to see how Cage, who is booked super strong, and the oVe unit mesh.
Eye Wide Open: Ethan Page and his open third eye defeated Trevor Lee. The announcers have started talking about Lee’s long losing streak, meaning that’s part of his story now. It’s probably better than way compared to just losing and everyone just expecting it.
Pros of the Show:
- Strong X Division title match
- Moose & Kross better without Aries
Cons of the Show:
- Going from all Aries to no Aries without explanation was abrupt
- Not a bad fallout show, but not too exciting either.
Grade: B-
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