‘Impact Wrestling’ Review (August 30th 2018)
Welcome to this week’s Impact Wrestling review, right here on Nerdly. I’m Nathan Favel and I hope this is better than last week’s Impact card. Tonight is the ReDefined event and this should be the last major card before Bound For Glory. Let’s get to the action!
Match #1: Brian Cage beat Fenix – X-Division Championship Match
This was an excellent match that was a real thriller. Cage was every bit the dominant beast as always and always seems like a man possessed by pure rage. Can you tell I think Cage is a tough cookie? Chips Ahoy! Fenix is one of the most fluid wrestlers working today and has become one of the most consistent athletes in any sport, fake or real. I really enjoyed this match and it definitely started the card of on the right foot.
Match #2: Eli Drake beat Brandon Tidwell
This was a quick squash that favored Drake. This match felt like a waste of time for both fighters. Shouldn’t Drake get a match with some-one of note by now?
Match #3: Tessa Blanchard beat Su Yung and Allie – Triple Threat Match For The Knockout’s Championship
This was an excellent match that put over the right person. Tessa has been the best woman in Impact for some time and has a lot of potential to be the catalyst for the Knockout’s becoming a more prominent part of the company. The action here featured more feats of strength than usual for the women, which I loved. Tessa came across like a powerhouse with an axe to grind and was able to channel it into her wrestling. Allie was more intense than usual and felt very formidable when compared to the creepy Yung, who looked like she wanted to eat her opponents. This match felt like what the WWE women’s revolution wishes it could be.
Match #4: Rich Swann beat Petey Williams
This was a fine match that worked very well. Swann and Williams feel like a natural pairing that could go far as a great bout to use to hold up an entire card, if only for the work rate. Williams always feels like the ring general, which is great for some-one like Swann, who is a star but has that temper that reared it’s ugly head when he and his wife, Su Yung, got in that fight while driving home, I believe. The incident itself may eventually be proven to be a bit exaggerated, but his potentially volatile nature is some-thing he needs to continue working on. Swann is very lucky to have been given this second chance in professional wrestling and if he proves to a consistently dangerous person, then Impact would have to release him. It’s imperative that Swann gets to work people like Williams, who has always been one of the smart ones. Hopefully, Swann will learn the psychology of both wrestling and life from Williams and his ilk so he can avoid becoming a source of controversy and remain a name of value in wrestling that can wrestle in wonderful little matches like this one.
Match #4: Main Event – Austin Aries and Killer Kross beat Eddie Edwards and Moose – Tag Team Match
The idea here was that Moose was attacked and kept out of the match. The action was good and went back and forth at a nice pace. The twist was that Moose ran out at the end and turned heel on Eddie, costing them the match. Overall, this was a good match that ended the night with a cheap yet effective surprise.
News Of The Night:
- LAX and The OGz were both contacted by mystery phone callers.
- Rich Swann wants an X-Division title shot.
- Brian Cage helped Pentagon and Fenix fight off oVe and Sami Callihan.
- Another awful episode of The Smoke Show aired with Scarlett Bordeaux trying to drive a wedge between Joe Hendry, Katarina and Grado.
Final Verdict: 3 out of 5 – This was far better than last week. The wrestling was excellent and apart from the bad vignettes and shortage of actual matches in a two hour card, it was still a good night.
