Impact Wrestling – April 13, 2017: Our Long Orlando Nightmare Is Over
Impact Wrestling
Date: April 13, 2017
Location: Impact Zone, Orlando, Florida
Commentators: Jeremy Borash, Josh Matthews, D’Angelo Dinero
Tonight is all about the announcers as we have an eight person tag between Team Borash and Team Matthews with the winner getting…..it seems just bragging rights actually. This is the top story in the promotion at the moment as we’re still waiting on most other stories to really take off. Let’s get to it.
Opening sequence.
We get a recap of most of last week’s show.
Reno Scum vs. Laredo Kid/Garza Jr. vs. Decay
It’s not a good sign when your tag division is the champs and the three teams they beat to win the belts. Josh starts off by insulting “all the marks and idiots on Twitter” as Adam kicks Garza down. It’s off to Crazzy Steve as Josh talks about all the support he has on social media. The Kid gets dragged in so Abyss can hammer away, leaving Josh to insult the fans some more.
Josh officially confirms that he’s off commentary if his team loses, thankfully followed by Pope talking about the match for a few seconds. That’s too long though so let’s plug Fury being unleashed tonight and the Fite Network app. Luster comes in for a spinebuster on Steve but gets chokeslammed by Abyss. It’s back to Kid for a springboard dropkick to send Abyss outside, followed by a suicide dive from Adam. Luster hits a running Razor’s Edge into the corner and an assisted double stomp ends Steve at 6:10.
Rating: D+. This is going to be a really, really long night with the commentary being way more annoying than it needs to be. At the end of the day, it’s a match about arguing commentators instead of the World Title situation or anything important. The match was nothing special and was your usual calamity, which happens way too often in these matches.
Josh leaves for a phone call.
Andrew Everett thinks he’s earned a title shot but the Helms Dynasty comes in to say not so fast. Instead, tonight it’s a four way with Everett vs. Suicide, Marshe Rockett and someone else. Everett has an idea: Helms himself can fill out the match. Helms is eventually talked into it.
Here’s Bruce Prichard to announce the new #1 contender by way of a fan vote. The choices were James Storm and Ethan Carter III with the fans choosing…..Storm. This brings out a ticked off Carter to say Prichard needs to read it again. Bruce says it was Carter’s idea to put the choice in the hands of the people and that one loss to Alberto El Patron probably stuck in the fans’ heads. Bruce’s suggestion is to go find a mirror and see if Carter can find out what happened to the man that used to run Impact Wrestling. Maybe the fans gave up on him for tapping out to El Patron. Carter is off to ponder.
Good segment here as Carter is really starting to sink into his heel turn, which they’ve allowed to build over time. Bruce was solid here too, which isn’t something you normally get from him. I can get where both of them are coming from and that’s not something you see too often.
Karen Jarrett wants to make Impact great.
Allie/Braxton Sutter vs. KM/Sienna
The guys start things off and here’s Josh back from his long phone call. KM misses a charge in the corner and let’s look at the commentators for a bit. Allie drops to the floor so Sienna yells a lot, allowing KM to run Sutter over from behind. As usual, commentary continues to talk about the main event and ignores Sutter slipping out of a powerslam. A suplex sends KM into the corner and Sienna misses a charge into another corner. Allie tags herself in and hits a crossbody with Sienna tripping over KM for the pin at 3:49.
Rating: D. Not much to see here again but thankfully Allie and Sutter finally won something. This story is starting to go long but at least they won a match here, which isn’t likely to be the blowoff. Allie pinning Sienna makes sense and hopefully they win a few more matches going forward.
Post match Kongo Kong (the Fury that was to be unleashed, complete with his rather large and saggy breasts) comes in and beats up Sutter. Laurel Van Ness comes out and helps beat Allie down.
Josh to JB on what happens after tonight’s main event: “I’m going to beat you and drag you out of here like United Airlines!”
Rosemary vs. Santana Garrett
Non-title and Santana used to wrestle here as Brittany. Rosemary chokes her over the ropes as Josh says he and his team are going to party in the hotel room and watch You’ve Got Mail on Pop TV. What hotel is he staying in that gets Pop TV? Back in and a clothesline in the corner sets up a t-bone suplex for no cover. A Last Chancery lets Santana do the long crawl to the ropes, followed by a handspring elbow in the corner. Josh: “Shades of Muta. Or Matthews!” Garrett misses a Lionsault though and the Red Wedding is good for the pin at 4:57.
Rating: C-. Slightly better match here and having Garrett back would be a good thing for the division. They’re really needing some fresh blood and having a familiar face (even one who wasn’t the biggest deal) back is a good thing. Rosemary doesn’t really have a top opponent to face at the moment, which isn’t good when she’s had the title for six months now.
Angelina Love stops kissing Davey Richards to say everyone deserves the suffering they’ll hand out.
Andrew Everett vs. Marshe Rockett vs. Suicide vs. Shane Helms
Helms is in a jacket, Impact t-shirt and jeans with knee pads. Everett goes after him at the bell but Helms bails to the floor and trips Everett, only to run from Suicide. Not that it matters as everyone else hits a dropkick, leaving Rockett in control. Everett slips on a springboard spinwheel kick but takes Rockett down anyway. Helms makes a save and finally takes off his jacket. A Downward Spiral stuns Everett but he knocks Helms outside anyway. Rockett comes back with a gordbuster, only to miss a high crossbody. Everett kicks Suicide to the floor and hits Rockett with the shooting star for the pin at 6:11.
Rating: C. The match was watchable (Everett’s botch aside) and all my normal X-Division complaints stand. They’ve got something interesting here with the Everett feud but the rest of the division (if you can call it that) is just floating along in their multi-man matches because that’s the only thing this company knows how to do with them. At least there’s a feud, though it hasn’t been the best executed.
Trevor Lee goes after Everett and gets laid out.
Matt Morgan wants to make Impact Wrestling great.
DJZ vs. Davey Richards
Davey kicks him down in the corner to start but stops to kiss Angelina. That earns him a suicide dive but more kicks stagger DJZ. The top rope double stomp misses though and DJZ kicks away before grabbing a jawbreaker. Richards pulls him down with an ankle lock for the submission at 3:22.
Rating: C. Just a squash here and there’s nothing wrong with that. Richards is far more interesting as a singles heel than he ever was as a tag wrestler and I’ve dug his feud with Edwards. DJZ is a talented guy and he’s not going to lose anything from a loss to a bigger star like Richards.
Post match Eddie Edwards and Alisha come out for the brawl but security breaks it up.
The Veterans of War are coming.
The announcers bicker one last time.
Team Matthews vs. Team Borash
Matthews: Lashley, Bram, Eli Drake, Tyrus
Borash: Alberto El Patron, Chris Adonis, Matt Morgan, Magnus
Alberto runs Drake over to start as the announcers are already at it again, though this time it’s a bit more understandable. It’s quickly off to Lashley, who misses an elbow on Adonis as Josh yells about Lashley spearing Pope last year. Bram and Magnus come in and quickly head to the floor for a brawl with Bram getting the better of it.
Drake can’t keep control though and it’s off to Alberto for the house cleaning. Back from a break with Tyrus running Adonis (Josh: “If that’s your real name!”) over from behind. Josh’s team starts taking turns stomping away on Adonis with Drake getting in a good looking slam.
Tyrus misses a Vader Bomb though and there’s the hot tag off to Morgan. House is cleaned and we hit the parade of finishers with Bram breaking up Morgan’s chokeslam. Magnus tags himself in as Morgan adds a Carbon Footprint, setting up the top rope elbow for the pin on Bram at 18:53.
Rating: C+. Pretty good eight man tag and the ending was the right call, which is the whole point of the show. The thing is this match showed the problem with the whole evil announcer idea: it made sense for him to be running his mouth here but it doesn’t mean as much when he’s doing it for the other ninety minutes of the show.
The locker room empties out to bid Josh (who is speechless in a funny moment) goodbye.
Overall Rating: C-. This show was more of a relief than anything else. Josh and JB’s feud has ruined a lot of shows in recent weeks but hopefully this wraps it up (assuming TNA doesn’t find a way around it) for good. The rest of the show was…..well it was certainly there. The Carter turn is going to be good but I’m not really sold on a lot of the other stuff. Maybe the new taping cycle will help but they really shouldn’t be running out of steam five weeks into a relaunch.
Results
Reno Scum b. Decay and Laredo Kid/Garza Jr. – Assisted double stomp to Steve
Allie/Braxton Sutter b. Sienna/KM – Crossbody to Sienna
Rosemary b. Santana Garrett – Red Wedding
Andrew Everett b. Shane Helms, Marshe Rockett and Suicide – Shooting star press to Rockett
Davey Richards b. DJZ – Ankle lock
Team Borash b. Team Matthews – Top rope elbow to Bram
Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up the NXT: The Full Sail Years Volumes I and II, now in PAPERBACK. Check out the information here:
https://kbwrestlingreviews.com/2017/03/24/kbs-history-of-nxt-volumes-1-and-2-now-available-in-paperback/
And check out my Amazon author page with cheap wrestling books at:
Recent Comments