‘Impact Wrestling’ Review (July 5th 2018)
Welcome to this week’s Impact Wrestling review here on Nerdly! I’m Nathan Favel and we’ve got lots to get to right now, so let’s do so! Look at all of the exclamation points!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Wow! We really blew the budget on those. I’m fired. Any-way, here comes Impact Wrestling!
Match #1: Fenix beat Rich Swann
My Take: This was the best match on the card. It’s probably not a great sign when the show peaks after the first bout, but these two guys can’t help but steal the show, I would imagine. Swann is so good at every-thing and Fenix is so dynamic. These two were so fluid with each other that you would wonder if Don Callis and Scott D’Amore were going to give these two a few extra opportunities to wrestle each other in the future. Swann and Fenix moved from strength to strength tonight, with a plethora of flips, leaps and dives moving at the ferocity of a rocket at high-speed. This match was every-thing that made TNA/Impact’s X-Division so prominent in its early years and why that wrestling style has become the standard now, for better or worse. I liked this match a lot and I think you will too… if only they had used psychology a bit more.
Match #2: Killer Kross beat Fallah Bahh
My Take: It’s weird seeing some-one who looks like Yokozuna being fed to an un-proven, yet intriguing prospect on his first night. Kross, who looks like he just walked out of UFC fight and got fired for winning (that’s right, we have enough left in the budget for a Mike Jackson reference) was impressive as a competitor who can wear down his opponent with strikes and holds like it’s just a matter of planning. An intense presence, Kross may very well be a name that can be of help in establishing the new era of Impact as a home for a more sports-oriented league, rather than the WWE-lite product Dixie Carter preferred over the years. Overall, this was a squash that gave Kross a good start for his run in Impact.
Match #3: Madison Rayne and Allie beat Su Yung and The Undead Maid Of Honor – Knockout’s Tag Team Match
My Take: This was a pretty good match that got every-body some television time. Rayne came across as a wily veteran here, rather than the way she used to appear to be (Beautiful People runner-up), while Su Yung felt like the big star here. Allie has a great presence that makes up for the fact that her Impact Wrestling persona probably won’t sell any tickets any-time soon. I’m not sure if the goal of Su Yung is to introduce a Japanese Undertaker for the women, but it has a nice effect, even though it is kind of stupid. As far as action goes, these two teams had a nice back-and-forth that kept every-one strong for future matches which seem to be the way things are going.
Match #4: Katarina (with Grado) beat Rebel – Knockout’s Match
My Take: There wasn’t much to this. Katarina, who used to wrestle in the WWE as Katie Lea Burchill as as wrestling for TNA/Impact as Winter, had her latest match with the league and won. This was a squash match and Katarina did a good job here. It’s also nice to see Rebel again, as she worked for TNA/Impact in the last few years.
Match #5: Main Event – Brian Cage beat Kongo Kong w/ Jimmy Jacobs
My Take: This was a quick, explosive match that gave Cage a visually thrilling victory for his high-light reel. I like Kong, but there is some-thing about him that keeps him from reaching the level that Cage is already at. Cage is like a walking, talking tank of octane that explodes on contact with any-one it collides with. It’s amazing that it took Cage this long to get into a major wrestling league with this kind of momentum. Cage was the right man to win and should be getting a title shot of some kind, soon.
News of the Night:
- The oVe/Pentagon-Fenix feud continued with a six-man tag match with oVe fighting Pentagon, Fenix and Rich Swann, next week.
- Killer Kross seems to have a feud with KM in his future, as well as a feud with Petey Williams, who threw a chair in Kross’s face and he just chuckled at the attack.
- Gama Singh is going to coach the Desi Hit Squad to victory.
- Tessa Blanchard continued her feud with Madison Rayne when she tried to cost Rayne and Allie their match with Su Yung.
- The Austin Aries/Moose title feud continued with an Aries vignette that had him piss on Moose’s football career, as well as the XFL.
- Tommy Dreamer will fight Eddie Edwards in a House of Hardcore Match at Slammiversary.
- Joe Hendry is joining Impact to help Grado be a success.
- Eddie Kingston, now known as King, brought back Homicide and Hernandez to destroy Konnan, Santana and Ortiz. The idea is that it’s old LAX versus new LAX.
Final Verdict: This was a good card that was more notable for what it built to, rather than what already had.
