Impact Wrestling preview (Oct. 25, 2018): After Dark

Impact Wrestling returns tonight (Oct. 25) at their new time of 10 pm from the Melrose Ballroom in Queens, New York. It is the second episode from the most recent set of tapings.

Here’s what’s advertised for tonight:

• Johnny Impact (c) vs. Fenix for the Impact world title
• Su Yung vs. Kiera Hogan
• Killer Kross & Moose vs. Fallah Bahh & KM
• Tessa Blanchard responds to Taya Valkyrie
• Gama Singh vs. Rohit Raju

As per usual, here are our five questions about Impact tonight:

1) With the show be edgier at 10 pm?

Impact didn’t move back two hours because they wanted to be edgier. More likely it was due to floundering ratings in prime time so the station switched things up. But will they use the later out to be more edgy?

They certainly could. They knew about this prior to the tapings since word of the change was out prior to Bound for Glory. They could have booked the shows a bit differently given the change if they wanted to make it feel any different.

The real question is should they?

For my money, the answer is no. Impact isn’t missing edginess. They’re fine in that category. Sami Callihan pissed on a dude when the show was at 8 pm. The time slot was also fine for some premature ejaculation jokes with Grado.

They can call it “Impact After Dark” all they like, and I’ll laugh at that moniker each time. But they should just continue to work on their stories and not try to alter anything because they’re airing two hours later.

2) What’s the angle on this title match?

Title matches are great, and this one should be very good as soon as the bell rings, but it feels a bit shoehorned.

The story behind this is pretty much Fenix asked for a title match and Johnny, who was just talking up how he’ll be a fighting champion, said yes. Fenix didn’t do anything to earn it. His last single’s title match (an X Division title match against Brian Cage) was a loss. His team lost at Bound for Glory. He’s talented, but in Impact, he really hasn’t earned this.

Johnny just won the title, and it’ll be quite shocking if he loses it two weeks after winning it. So what will this serve? Is it just a title match to try to lose less viewers with the time change? To frame Johnny as a talented, fighting champion now that Aries is gone? Will there be a post match angle that really lets us know what’s next for the champ and maybe the challenger?

All of the above?

3) Where is this Su Yung arc headed?

Su Yung and Allie have been feuding for a long time. More recently, Kiera Hogan has found herself involved. She has Allie’s back, but she paid the price for it with a trip to the Undead Realm.

The final destination is likely a feud between Rosemary and Su. We don’t know if that’s around the corner or a ways away. (Rosemary was getting physical at a SHIMMER show last weekend so hopefully the former.)

Meanwhile, Allie’s trip to the Undead Realm to retrieve Kiera Hogan, which we learned about during a video played during their PPV, has left her a bit broken. Last week, she snapped and viciously attacked her opponent in a way that was very uncharacteristic for the bubbly Allie.

Tonight, Kiera Hogan faces Su Yung looking for revenge for that one way ticket to the Undead Realm. Will we see Allie get involved? Will it be helpful or harmful given she doesn’t seem to have full control over herself any more?

4) What’s the next tag title feud?

Last week, LAX had a celebration for their BFG victory and we learned that the OGz are allowed to keep doing business in New York but they and LAX need to stay to their separate territories. Hopefully that means that feud is over (even though that likely the OGz are sticking around) and not a way for them to keep feuding. (Please, don’t be a way for them to keep feuding.)

If that’s the case, then LAX may finally need some new challengers for those titles. And there are some teams to consider as threats. Two of those teams are in action against each other tonight when Moose and Killer Kross face KM and Fallah Bahh. This isn’t about title contention as much as it is revenge for Bahh and KM after Kross, Moose, and Aries attacked them rather viciously weeks back. But a win could mean a short line for a shot at the gold.

5) Was Taya full of crap last week?

Last week, Taya cut a promo acting upset that Tessa Blanchard had to resort to some shady tactics to hold onto the Knockouts title at Bound for Glory. The takeaway? That she lost respect for the champ.

This didn’t sound like a standard Valkyrie promo. Taya is brash and opinionated. It’s what we love about her. Last week she sounded like she was actually upset someone cheated. It felt out of character.

Probably because it was.

If I were to venture a guess, this was Taya trying to bait the champ into a rematch by playing some games. Tonight, we’ll learn if Tessa is buying it or not. Hopefully she does because that match was superb.

Impact Wrestling returns tonight at 10 ET on Pop TV. Who’s watching?