Impact Wrestling preview (Aug. 23, 2018): Death Match

Impact Wrestling returns tonight (Aug. 23) from the Rebel Complex in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is the first episode from the most recent set of tapings.

Here’s what’s advertised for tonight:

• Sami Callihan vs. Pentagon Jr. in a Mexican Death Match
• Matt Sydal in action
• LAX celebrates their win
• Brian Cage speaks
• Kiera Hogan vs. Alisha Edwards

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

1) What are the rules of this Mexican Death Match?

When I heard that they’d be having a Mexican Death Match, I went to Reverend Claire, who knows a little bit of everything about wrestling, and asked her what the stipulation entails. She explained to me that to win a traditional Mexican Death match, you have to pin or submit your opponent and then said opponent needs to stay down for a ten count.

She also had the same idea I did: This is probably just going to be a hardcore match.

I checked Impact’s website to see if they explained the stipulation. They discussed how this is the first time it’d be on network television because of how brutal it was, but didn’t describe any rules. Chances are, it’s going to be a regular ol’ hardcore match.

In the end, there’s nothing wrong with that. These guys had a regular ol’ hardcore match at Slammiversary and it was incredibly brutal. But it is a pet peeve of mine that there are a ton of types of matches that are really just hardcore matches.

2) Is this the last chapter in this feud?

Since Pentagon won at Slammiversary, Sami Callihan has been losing his mind (even more than usual). It stemmed more from the fact his head was shaved post match, as per the stipulation, than the fact he lost.

It’s been eating at him for weeks. He even made Jake Crist shave his brother Dave Crist’s head to try to make himself feel better. It didn’t work.

Impact has been running longer feuds than we may see in other promotions, partially because their roster isn’t very deep so they can’t exhaust their options too early.

With that in mind, is the the final match for this rivalry or will it be just another chapter in their story?

3) Who’s next for LAX?

Santana and Ortiz looked to take care of Hernandez and Homicide for good in their street fight last week. Tonight they celebrate.

But when the fun is all said and done, what’s next for this crew? Or more specifically, who?

They’ve been feuding with themselves for so long. It’s time to bring someone else in the fold. Not that there are a ton of options.

The Desi Hit Squad just took a loss to Petey Williams and Taiji Ishomori so they’ve got some stuff to work out. Petey and Ishimori are a possibility, but there’s less of a feud there. It’s just a match if they do it. Fallah Bahh and KM haven’t even won a match together. The Lucha Brothers and the Crists are the two legit teams that could have an extended feud with LAX. The Crists had a long feud with LAX earlier this year and right now, Fenix is challenging for the X Division title.

4) Why has Cage been silent so far?

Tonight, Brian Cage will speak for the first time. He’s been in Impact for 8 months and has said nary a word.

Likely they were going for the silent killer and it worked. But now he speaks for the first time. After this time, what does he have to say?

I expect a pretty genereic “I’m the man, anyone who wants to step up, step up” type deal. But we’ll see if he’s got something a bit more interesting up his sleeve.

5) Has Sydal found his answers?

After a string of losses, Matt Sydal decided to meditate on it last week. And in the end, we saw his third eye open.

Has the former X Division champion found the answer to his problems in the cosmos? Or do his losses continue despite the extra vision?

Impact Wrestling returns tonight at 8 ET on Pop TV. Who’s watching?