Impact Wrestling – June 22, 2017: They’re Building to Slammiversary….But They’re Building to Slammiversary
Impact Wrestling
Date: June 22, 2017
Location: Film Studio 7, Mumbai, India
Commentators: Jeremy Borash, Josh Matthews
It’s week three in India and one of the last two shows before Slammiversary. Nothing major has been announced for this week but you can almost guarantee some more build towards the World Title match, along with the epic saga of the battling announcers. This likely means more comedy from Joseph Park, who is trying his hardest to make this half joke/half possibly biggest match of the show work. Let’s get to it.
We open with a recap of Sonjay Dutt’s X-Division Title win last week. Dutt is very emotional and seems so happy to have won in front of his countrymen.
Sienna tells Laurel Van Ness to focus on Allie tonight because it’s their chance for revenge.
Opening sequence.
Sony Six X-Division Invitational: Trevor Lee vs. Davey Richards vs. Suicide vs. Eddie Edwards vs. Braxton Sutter vs. Matt Sydal
Elimination rules for another trophy. Eddie and Davey go straight to the floor and the other four brawl, leaving the announcers to threaten each other (Josh: “They’ll delete your Twitter!” JB: “I’m worried about Steiner!”). Sydal and Suicide are left alone in the ring as there’s so much going on at once. Suicide does his backwards fall onto most of his opponents and we take a break.
Back with Sutter hitting a neckbreaker on Suicide but Lee rolls him up with a handful of tights for the elimination (Can we PLEASE find something for Sutter? He was white hot just two months ago and now he’s any given X guy.). Eddie comes in and is knocked outside in a hurry, leaving Davey to kick Suicide in the head.
The top rope double stomp misses but Lee hits the standing double stomp to get rid of Suicide, leaving us with four. All four get back inside with Davey sending Eddie into a chair wedged in the corner, which is good for a DQ. Davey loads up some chairs on the floor but gets caught in a fisherman’s buster through an open chair.
That’s a DQ on Edwards (For beating up someone no longer in the match?) and we’re down to two as we take another break. Back with Sydal hitting a standing moonsault for two, followed by a standing hurricanrana for the same. Trevor hits a Superman Forearm but gets dropped again, setting up the shooting star to give Sydal the pin at 19:02.
Rating: C. Well at least it wasn’t thirty minutes long. This was every multi-man X-Division match you’ve seen for a long time: a bunch of spots, little flow, no real elevation for the winner. The match was perfectly fine as a way to fill in time but it’s not like this is anything important or anything we haven’t seen multiple times before.
Sydal receives a trophy.
Josh brags about his MMA skills.
Spud was on the street earlier today when he ran into Swoggle. A fight nearly broke out but Spud wanted a woman to film it, only to have her steal his phone. Another small guy breaks it up, leaving Spud and Swoggle confused.
Allie is panicking because Rosemary isn’t here.
Joseph Park is worried about the Slammiversary match and even frozen pizza doesn’t make him feel better. JB goes into an Animal House style speech to inspire him and things seem better. We even get a Mega Powers handshake.
Sienna/Laurel Van Ness vs. Rosemary/Allie
There’s no Rosemary to start but here she is from underneath the ring. Allie and Sienna get things going with Allie sending her into the corner. Hang on a second though as here’s KM with a kendo stick for a distraction. Braxton Sutter comes out for the save but Laurel suplexes Rosemary, allowing Sienna to hit a curb stomp for the pin at 1:48.
Dutt had a parade with the X-Division Title.
Clip of LAX going to an indy promotion to beat people up and take their money.
Mahabali Shera is in the ring when Dutt comes out for a full on Indian celebration of his title win. Dutt thanks the crowd and talks about how awesome it is to be champion. This brings out Low Ki, who calls Dutt’s title win luck. He wants a rematch so Dutt agrees to the match at Slammiversary but we’ll make it 2/3 falls. Dutt offers a handshake but gets punched in the ribs. Shera gets beaten down as well and takes a Warrior’s Way until Sydal comes out for the save.
KM vs. Mahabali Shera
Shera has heavily taped ribs and has to shove the doctors away to get to the ring. KM sends him into the steps before the bell as Josh is already talking about his sparring session last week. Shera can’t get him up for a fireman’s carry but KM misses a slingshot splash. The Sky High ends KM at 1:36.
Kongo Kong comes out to destroy Shera, including a top rope splash on the bad ribs.
JB and Park get serious about training, complete with a short montage.
Here are Eli Drake and Chris Adonis to find out who Moose’s partner at Slammiversary will be. They don’t think he has any friends so get out here and make the announcement. Moose comes out and makes the most obvious announcement ever: his partner is DeAngelo Williams. As in the football player who was announced as having a match at Slammiversary and was brought in by Moose. But people say WWE treats its fans like idiots. Moose gets beaten down and hit with the Grand Championship.
Josh threatens JB some more.
E Singh 3/Lashley vs. James Storm/Alberto El Patron
The fans chant for Singh, who tells Lashley that he’ll be starting. Naturally this means tagging in Lashley to face Storm instead. James takes over with a running clothesline in the corner, followed by some standing ones for a bonus. It’s off to Alberto, in a shirt, vs. Singh but Storm takes out both villains with a dive as we take a break.
Back with El Patron in trouble until he gets over to Storm for the hot tag. A Sling Blade drops Lashley but a cheap shot knocks Storm out to the floor. Lashley hits a delayed vertical suplex and chokes Storm on the ropes as the announcers hype Spud vs. Swoggle in a street fight next week. There’s a powerslam for two on James and more choking keeps him in trouble.
Storm finally breaks free and brings in Alberto for the showdown with Lashley. A Backstabber gives Alberto two but Lashley is right back with a double powerbomb out of the corner. Two straight superkicks have Lashley in trouble and there’s the cross armbreaker. That’s enough for Carter, who grabs the strap and whips the referee for the DQ at 18:09.
Rating: C-. Impact has done a good job building up Alberto vs. Lashley but I don’t feel the slightest bit of energy or heat between them when they’re in the ring. There’s nothing personal between them and the GFW Title aspect hasn’t added anything to the match. It’s just two wrestlers having a title match and that’s not the most interesting thing in the world. I’m sure the match will be good but I need more reason to care.
Alberto cleans house and poses with both titles to end the show.
Overall Rating: D+. Well, they built to Slammiversary…..but they built to Slammiversary. The show is looking like another weak effort as so much of the final TV taping cycle has been built around the live Indian crowd, meaning Impact has even time to devote to the pay per view. It wasn’t a horrible show at all and was entertaining at times but everything felt rushed, which is so often the case around here.
Results
Matt Sydal b. Trevor Lee, Braxton Sutter, Eddie Edwards, Davey Richards and Suicide last eliminating Lee
Sienna/Laurel Van Ness b. Rosemary/Allie – Curb stomp to Rosemary
Mahabali Shera b. KM – Sky High
Alberto El Patron/James Storm b. Lashley/E Singh 3 via DQ when Singh used the strap
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I understand taping in India. It’s a huge market, I get that. They spent a lot of time though building up two guys (Dutt and Sheera) who don’t mean much anywhere else. It would be one thing if this taping took place at a different time of year, but it taking place leading into a big PPV is just poor planning.
I to want to root for Impact, but they just continue to shoot themselves in the foot that even WCW never considered.