Impact Wrestling – June 7, 2018: There’s Too Much Attempted Murder Around Here

IMG Credit: Impact Wrestling

Impact Wrestling
Date: June 7, 2018
Location: Impact Zone, Orlando, Florida
Commentators: Josh Matthews, Don Callis

So tonight is all about attempted murder. Over the last few weeks, Eddie Edwards has vowed revenge against Sami Callihan and tonight they’re meeting in an unsanctioned street fight. Since Eddie is a little nuts, he’s promised to, and I quote, murder Callihan in the woods. This could be fascinating so let’s get to it.

Here are last week’s results if you need a recap.

The opening recap covers most of last week.

Tag Team Titles: Drago/Aerostar vs. Z and E

Z and E (DJZ/Andrew Everett) are defending. Drago takes DJZ down by the leg to start but has to fight out of an armbar. Aerostar springboards in and flips forward around the ring about six times in a row. Back up and a whip into the corner lets Aerostar walk around the ropes as Callis wants to know how Aerostar’s mask stays lit up. Also, why doesn’t Everett throw water on him for an electrocution? There’s way too much attempted murder around here.

Some flips allow the tag off to Drago for a double elbow to the face as the champs stay in trouble. DJZ comes back in and hits an armdrag and headscissors but his double flip attempt is thrown down in a heap to put the champs in trouble again. We hit the chinlock on DJZ before a backdrop puts him on the floor for a break. Back with Everett coming in for a double handspring elbow and a dropkick for two on Aerostar.

The champs miss a double Lionsault (cool) and get double springboard dropkicked down for their efforts. DJZ suicide dives onto Drago and Everett adds an Asai Moonsault for another big crash. Of course Aerostar is right after them with a double springboard dive, followed by a rope walk hurricanrana for two on Everett. The moonsault hits raised feet though and the ZDT sets up a 630 from Everett to end Aerostar at

Rating: C+. If Z and E are an indication of how things are going to go around here with the new regime, I’m all for it. They’re a pair of talented guys who didn’t get to do anything before so let’s throw them together and give them something to do. Not everyone needs to win a title but when you have these talented guys in the X Division, why shouldn’t they get a title run? It’s not like the division is full of teams so make one and let them see what they can do. I mean, if this run winds up being a failure (and there’s no sign that it will be), is that much worse than Scott Steiner as a champion in 2018?

The announcers recap/preview.

Long recap of Callihan vs. Edwards, with Callihan being insane and driving Eddie crazy with him, bringing out a violent edge in Eddie which has turned his own wife against him. Eddie as a little unhinged is a good idea and I’m digging what they’re doing with him at the moment.

Sonjay Dutt and Petey Williams argue over the X attacker and Williams leaves.

Video on Su Yung winning the Knockouts Title last week.

This week’s classic clip: Rob Van Dam vs. Tommy Dreamer from Turning Point 2010.

The returning Diamante comes to the LAX clubhouse and wants to know what’s going on. So they’re really bad at communications? King comes in and things get a little more serious. Homicide comes in as well and leaves with a briefcase as tensions rise.

Cult of Lee vs LAX

LAX has King with them. The Cult gets beaten down in short order and Santana’s dropkick gets two on Lee. Some double teaming puts Santana in trouble and the announcers talk about the idea behind the Cult, which still doesn’t quite work. I mean, they’re just not really cultish and Lee doesn’t seem to be ahead of Konley in superiority.

Santana rolls out of a rollup attempt and backflips into a cutter, allowing the double tag to bring in Ortiz and Konley. Everything breaks down and Lee German suplexes Santana so Konley can get a quick rollup for two. Ortiz is back in though and it’s a wheelbarrow faceplant into a cutter to give Santana the pin on Konley at 7:24.

Rating: C-. LAX getting back on the winning track is the right move and that should mean good things for both them and the division. There’s a story to be told there with Konnan missing and the team falling apart but getting back together when King is around. If Konnan comes back later on, it could get very interesting very fast.

Here’s Eli Drake with the returning Fact of Life. Since it’s been a long time, he’s going to name the Top Five Dummies in Impact Wrestling. First up at number five, the entire crowd, who is just jealous of Eli. Number four, the man who eats bananas, Austin Aries. More on that later. Number three is Impact management. Number two….it’s the Impact fans again, YEAH! That leaves us with number one and it’s Moose. Eli wants to face Moose next week in a #1 contenders match so here’s Moose to respond. The fight is on and Drake hits a low blow and a Gravy Train before turning the podium onto Moose. The match is on for next week.

Brian Cage vs. Rohit Raju

Raju gets all fired up and kicks Cage in the face, only to eat Weapon X for the pin at 1:16.

Post match here’s X-Division Champion Matt Sydal to say his third eye shows him weakness in Cage. An F5 leaves Sydal laying.

Preview for next week’s card, including Moose vs. Drake and Sydal vs. Cage.

Edwards is in the woods and tells the cameraman to film everything, including death.

Austin Aries joins Josh via Skype and won’t say where he is on vacation. Aries doesn’t care who he faces at Slammiversary and says it doesn’t matter how he won the World Title because all that matters is he won. While Aries doesn’t care who he faces at Slammiversary, he expects Drake to win because of his experience.

Last week was the Slammiversary press conference. Johnny Impact is back after getting married and, of course, GAIL KIM WAS THERE! Yeah she’s from Toronto where the show will be held but what’s the excuse the rest of the time?

Madison Rayne talks about what a big deal it was to beat Tessa Blanchard last week. She wants to get the title for the sixth time.

Tessa Blanchard says she didn’t lose last week because she’s not a loser. Kiera Hogan comes in to laugh a bit and gets thrown down. Hogan shoves an anvil case into her legs and gets stomped down next to a garbage can.

Moose is all fired up to win the title shot next week.

Eddie is hunting through the woods and demands that Sami, who can be heard shouting, come out and face him. Sami appears but Jake Crist jumps Eddie instead, earning him a choking with a branch. Eddie pulls a big piece of wood out of his car but Dave Crist pops out of the trunk to jump him. That earns him a hood slam onto his back and now it’s Sami for the big showdown. Eddie strikes first but Sami uses the bat to block the stick. Sami goes for the eyes and tries to stab him with a bull skull but gets rammed into a tree and monkey flipped.

A branch to Sami’s head draws blood (with the camera cutting in good time to show the branch touching the head, then Eddie screaming, then Sami gushing blood) but before Eddie can kill him, cue Alisha and Tommy Dreamer (in a Lucha Underground shirt) in a car (How did they know where this was happening? And how did Eddie and Sami know where to be? “In the woods” is a pretty generic location. How formal was the agreement for the attempted murder?) but the distraction lets Sami get away. Eddie hits Tommy with the bat in frustration and screams that it’s never over to end the show as Alisha tends to Tommy.

This felt like something similar to the Final Deletion matches but nowhere near as over the top. Eddie continuing to snap and get further and further into his obsession with Callihan is a good story but I’m not sure how far it can go. There has to be a blowoff at some point and that’s likely to take place at Slammiversary, though I’m not sure how it’s going to end.

Overall Rating: C-. This definitely wasn’t a wrestling heavy show (at least in the second half) and focused more on storylines and getting things ready for Slammiversary. Therefore it’s not a great show on its own but it’s a show that will do them something good for the future. This company has a good history of succeeding on the bigger shows and if they build it up well, Slammiversary could be no different.

Results

Z and E b. Drago/Aerostar – 630 to Aerostar

LAX b. Cult of Lee – Wheelbarrow Cutter to Konley

Brian Cage b. Rohit Raju – Weapon X

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up the paperback edition of the NXT The Full Sail Years Volume III (also available as an e-book) from Amazon. Check out the information here:

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