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Impact Wrestling returned last night (Oct. 25) two hours later emanating from the Melrose Ballroom in Queen, New York. Let’s jump right into it.
Sami Callihan def. Trevor Lee with a piledriver with help from Jake Crist. Scarlett Bordeaux watched this match from the stage, her presence at points distracting Dave Crist when Sami asked for his help.
After the match, Brian Cage walked down to the ring. He powerbombed one Crist into the other, and then allowed Sami take his best shot with the baseball bat. Sami tried but Cage ducked and delivered an F5.
Sami Callihan’s feud with Cage continues, and it’s enjoyable watching Cage dismantle the Crists. Cage handing Sami his bat to give him his best shot was badass. It could be a good feud as it rolls along. But I want to talk about Trevor Lee instead.
This man is firmly in the role of glorified enhancement talent, putting over the wrestlers who are actively in stories. It’s part of his narrative. Josh Mathews mentioned multiple times how he “needs a win badly.” Which is better than not mentioning that but still disappointing to see him in that role.
However, it won’t be hard to get him back on track. His fire up at the end when he was neutralizing the Crists and getting damned close to picking up a win was electric. The crowds want to cheer him and the beginning of a redemption story won’t be hard.
In their clubhouse, King was ranting about the boss’s ruling to Homicide and Hernandez. Suddenly, he believed he figured out a way they can get their hands on Konnan’s boys without breaking the rules.
LAX def. the Heavenly Bodies
LAX and Konnan were walking backstage when they came across Matt Sydal and Ethan Page. Sydal gave his spiel about enlightenment. LAX called them scrubs before walking off.
So we had a few things involving the tag team champs to touch on.
The fact King has a plan to get their hands on the LAX without defying the boss’s orders elicited a major eye roll. I’m fine with the OGz sticking around, but not if it’s to continue to feud with LAX in any way. If they want to feud with someone else, I’ll deal with it. But I have no desire to see this story continue at all.
Then LAX had a match against an enhancement team, but a team that got enough offense in to make the match enjoyable. Santana and Ortiz are always a blast to watch but a straight squash isn’t going to allow them to open up the playbook. This is the type of match where they can shine.
Even if the OGz are continuing to gun for LAX, thankfully another team is looking at those titles. Sydal and Ethan Page haven’t had a tag win yet. They’re 0-1 as a team. Normally, I’d like to see The Enlightened earn the shot by beating a couple teams (teams like the Heavenly Bodies), but that doesn’t look to be in the cards as the title match is announced for next week.
Rohit Raju def. Gama Singh when he was attacked by a large man resulting in a DQ. The mystery man then helped him up and Gama held both of their arms up. Rohit was very confused.
This was quite weird
Rohit didn’t want to fight the 74 year old Gama. There were a couple moments when he got angry but then he stopped himself. Gama got his student in a couple headlocks, but likely because Raju had no desire to actually fight.
That’s when he was attacked by someone who may very well be his next partner?
Gama Singh has been playing mind games with Raju (and his former partner Gursinder Singh) for awhile now. It feels like this is to set up Rohit finally standing up to Gama and if that’s the case, they’re doing a pretty good job getting there.
It’s one of the less important stories on the card, but it’s one of the small ones that sometimes take off.
Killer Kross & Moose def. KM & Fallah Bahh despite Eddie Edwards dragging Moose out of the arena by a kendo stick around the neck.
Edwards and Moose brawled from backstage out onto the roof of the Melrose Ballroom. Moose looked like he was going to try to throw Eddie off the roof but Edwards escaped from that. Moose ended up running when Eddie got his hands back on his kendo stick.
Eddie was sitting on the roof after that brawl talking to his kendo stick. Alisha Edwards came out chastising him for fighting on the roof. He plants a kiss on his estranged wife and walked off.
This match has me hopeful for the tag scene in Impact, even though it’s entirely possible that LAX and the OGz are still feuding. (Insert heaviest of sighs here.)
The announcers didn’t mention anything about KM and Fallah looking for revenge after Moose, Kross, and Austin Aries put KM out of action for weeks. That’s a miss by the announcers. It’s entirely possible they didn’t mention it because they didn’t want to mention the former champion at all, but it was a plot point that could add to this match that wasn’t addressed.
KM started the match with a fire that would play into that idea anyway, so it would make sense to fans who happen to remember something that happened a month ago.
I’m almost surprised that Impact found a role for KM that works so well. For most of his time on the roster, he was that guy I just never cared about. Whether it be KM the cousin of Sienna, KM the bully, or KM of American Top Team, he just didn’t interest me. But this role does. He meshes with the charismatic Fallah Bahh very well. It helps that they took time to get us there via a story arc and not just doing it.
On the other side, Kross and Moose continue to benefit from being on their own and not henchmen for the champ. Killer Kross’ character really shined through. He feels dangerous. When he smiles, you feel creeped out. The way he moves around in there is methodical, fitting the character he debuted as. Picking up a win even though he lost his partner sure helped.
Speaking of that, I have no idea why the referee didn’t throw the match out when Eddie took Moose off the apron and dragged him away. Maybe he wasn’t looking but the cameras didn’t catch that and the announcers didn’t address it. That detracted from the moment, but the rest of the match delivered more than expected.
Su Yung def. Kiera Hogan with the Panic Switch. In the middle of the match, Allie attempted to help Kiera when the fight spilled out onto the ramp. However a long stare from Su Yung scared Allie off to the point she literally nervously walked off, telling Kiera “I can’t help you.”
What is going on with Allie?
Last week against Alisha Edwards, she snapped and viciously attacked her opponent. But this week, that side of her wasn’t there. It was the opposite. She was scared. Does Su have a hold over her after her trip to the Undead Realm or is she just scared of her foe after all that’s happened?
I’m curious to find out why, but at the same time, I am still of the opinion that the Undead Realm video was too out there; that the fantasy aspect requires a balance of showing and implying. Since that’s the basis of the story now, I find it difficult becoming engrossed in it.
Plus, it’s hard to go from hatchets to the neck to a standard wrestling match.
Johnny Impact def. Fenix with Starship Pain to retain the Impact world title.
After the match, the OGz attacked Fenix (which Johnny left in the ring) until Pentagon Jr. made the save.
Meanwhile, Johnny was laid out by Killer Kross backstage.
The main event title match was good for what it was. It was a flashy match that got the “This is awesome chants” and was a hook to hopefully get people to tune into the later time slot. It wasn’t a bad match by any means. I enjoyed it. But I also think world title matches should always have a rather significant build and play as more than an exhibition.
That is why the post match angles intrigued me more than the match itself.
How does attacking Fenix let King and the OGz get their hands on LAX? Plus they had to know that it’d earn them the ire of the dangerous Pentagon. Whatever the reasons, at least that mean they’ll at least be a detour until the OGz are feuding with LAX again.
Meanwhile, Killer Kross laid out Johnny Impact. Does that mean a future title shot for Kross?
Those are questions we’ll have to tune in later to find out.
Other tidbits:
- Eli Drake is apparently suing Impact because of an unsafe work place. He also bullied Don Callis off of commentary for a match. Lawsuit angles never do talent any favors.
- Taya’s little plan worked. Tessa Blanchard barged into her locker room claiming she didn’t care if Taya respected her or not. But then said she’d prove she doesn’t need shortcuts by putting the title on the line again next week. So apparently she does care. Their Bound for Glory match was really great so I’m happy we’re getting a rematch.
- Willie Mack and Rich Swann shared a drink backstage. Willie requested that his first singles match be against Swann next week. Rich accepted it and they both seemed into it.
- Scarlett Bordeaux watched some of the fan submissions, which we saw, in her search for a client while taking a bath. Scarlett’s role in Impact is an interesting one, but at least there’s no more Bobo.
Pretty good episode this week. Outside the tag match, nothing felt like a standout, but nothing that dragged the show down either.
Grade: B-
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