Impact Wrestling
Date: November 16, 2017
Location: Aberdeen Pavilion, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
Commentators: Jeremy Borash, Josh Matthews

We’re still in Ottawa, as will be the case for several more weeks. Tonight is about some followups to Bound For Glory as Gail Kim will be in the house for her first comments after winning the Knockouts Title, plus the return of American Top Team. I’m sure these won’t be bad segments that accomplish nothing and get us nowhere. Let’s get to it.

Gail Kim and American Top Team arrived earlier today.

Johnny Impact and Alberto El Patron have been banned from the building.

Eli Drake is ready to face Petey Williams, who should stick with the X-Division.

Taiji Ishimori/Caleb Konley/Trevor Lee vs. Sonjay Dutt/Dezmond Xavier/Garza Jr.

Lee uppercuts Dutt to start and Ishimori comes in to spin out of a wristlock. Dutt dropkicks Konley down so it’s back to Lee for the heel dominance. That goes nowhere so it’s off to Garza who cleans house and TAKES OFF HIS PANTS! Xavier hits a dive of his own but Ishimori hits running knees in the corner. Konley gets kicked in the ribs and Xavier’s Final Flash gives him the pin at 6:45.

Rating: C-. I’m running out of ways to say the X-Division guys aren’t interesting. This was your run of the mill match with some dives and nothing much else. I still have no reason to care about any of these people and Lee continues to be champion for no adequately explored reason. It’s good to start the show with a match though, especially something a little more entertaining than the other options.

OVE is ready to continue the fight against LAX.

Grand Championship: Fallah Bahh vs. Ethan Carter III

Carter is defending as I try to remember that the Grand Championship is a thing. Ethan tries some technical stuff to start before slapping Bahh in the back of the head. The huge Bahh sends him into the corner before easily shouldering him down. For some reason Carter tries a slam and gets slammed down for his efforts. A really bad rolling splash (as in Bahh gets a jogging start, drops, and rolls over Carter) puts Carter in the corner to end the first round. Bahh wins round one and runs Carter over to start the second.

A second charge only hits post though and Carter kicks him in the head. While Bahh regains his senses, Josh says you can go back sixteen years on the Global Wrestling Network. No Josh, you can’t. We hit a chinlock for a bit before a Stinger Splash has Bahh in more trouble. Another chinlock keeps Bahh down to end the round, which is won by Carter.

The third round starts after a break with Bahh winning a slugout until Carter hits a clothesline. It can’t take the big guy down but Bahh is barely standing. The required Samoan drop is enough for Josh to give the first minute of the round to Bahh. A belly to belly gets two on the champ, followed by a crossbody for no cover. Bahh goes to the middle rope but gets pulled down, allowing Carter to grab a rollup with his feet on the ropes to retain at 15:14.

Rating: D+. As usual, there is no reason whatsoever to have the rounds save for fake drama. Bahh is every fat monster who can’t do anything out of the ordinary while Carter is stuck waiting around for a better story. I’d be thrilled if they just turned the title back into the TV belt, assuming they’ll actually do anything with it. The specifics mean nothing if you can’t get anyone wanting the thing, which has always been the problem around here.

OVE/Sami Callihan vs. LAX

It’s a brawl to start with Ortiz hitting a cutter on Callihan and a backbreaker on Dave Crist, only to have Sami come back in to send Ortiz outside. That means a suicide dive and the brawl continues on the floor. Back in and Homicide can’t hit the Gringo Killer on Callihan, who kicks him low for a breather. Jake actually bothers with a tag as we take a break.

Back with Santana getting pummeled in the corner but fighting over for the hot tag to Ortiz. Everything breaks down again with LAX making the face comeback, including a Tower of London out of the corner to Dave. Callihan comes back in to help with a Stunner on Santana, followed by Jake’s tombstone for two. Ortiz comes back in for the Street Sweeper and the pin on Dave at 13:16.

Rating: C. So they can get rid of the Veterans of War (another team with a three letter nickname) because the tag division is just so deep at the moment. It certainly feels like LAX has turned face but without much of a moment to get them there. It also isn’t much of a face group when they have the numbers advantage, though why bother making sense when you can do a double turn for the sake of a double turn?

Here’s Dan Lambert with an envelope. He brags about how awesome MMA fighters are and how pathetic wrestlers are before going into a rant about the company moving to Canada. See, Canada has weak currency and Impact Wrestling wants some of that lame money. As for the point, Lashley was granted a release but for some reason the company never signed onto it.

Lambert has drafted a new release and just needs an executive to come sign off on it, otherwise the destruction will continue. Cue Moose to call Lambert dumb for giving his boys the night off, leaving him all alone here. Lashley comes out for the save, along with American Top Team, who you would have thought Moose would have noticed in the back. Cue James Storm to clean house without much effort, including a beer bottle over the head of one of the MMA fighters.

Storm grabs a mic to say he’s been training since 1996 and was told he would never be here. His mama told him to never give up and that’s what professional wrestling is. He mentions some of the tag teams he’s been in and that’s what wrestling is too. Storm talks about how awesome this place is to wrap it up.

Post break, KM wants to be part of American Top Team. Lashley tells him to prove himself.

Chris Adonis and Eli Drake tell Williams to try to make himself a Canadian hero. If Petey can last three minutes with the champ, he’ll be a Canadian hero. He won’t be World Champion though and that’s just a fact of life.

Allie thanks Gail Kim for being awesome.

Long video on Kim’s career. They’re really going to just send her out there, have her give a speech, and get no one else over aren’t they?

Gail comes out for her speech and Allie comes out as an invited guest. Kim talks about wanting to wrestle eighteen years ago and finding a wrestling school so she could do just that. We get the required YOU DESERVE IT chants, even though no one deserves as much praise as Gail gets around here. She thanks the women who helped pave the way to get her here (Trish Stratus, Lita, Molly Holly, Awesome Kong) and she’s at peace with her decision.

She’s vacating the title and can’t wait to see where things go from here. No interruption, nothing for anyone else and just Gail. I’m so glad she got this one last moment to add to her collection of other moments. There’s no denying that Gail is great but this company seems to think she’s Austin and Rock combined. Did I miss it when she became the biggest star the company has ever had?

Joseph Park comes up to catering and scares everyone off, save for Grado. Park begs forgiveness and blames Abyss. He gives Grado his visa because TNA doesn’t understand the idea of immigration either. A Mountie comes up to say Grado’s visa only counts in America so he’s being deported. Well that happened.

JB is in the ring to announce the main event so Jimmy Jacobs pops up on commentary. He takes a selfie with Josh and says he’ll stay as long as he feels welcome.

Impact Wrestling World Title: Petey Williams vs. Eli Drake

Drake is defending. Feeling out process to start with Drake bailing from the threat of a Canadian Destroyer. Back in and a headscissors takes the champ down, followed by the O Canada spot in the corner. We come back from a break with Drake getting two off a belly to back suplex and Adonis choking on the ropes.

A tilt-a-whirl powerslam and a jumping elbow get two on Petey and we hit the reverse chinlock. Drake cuts off a comeback with a clothesline, only to miss a middle rope knee drop. The slingshot Codebreaker gives Petey two and a running knee to the face drops Drake again. The Canadian Destroyer doesn’t work so we hit the Sharpshooter in the middle of the ring instead.

Drake makes the rope so Petey hits a DDT on the champ, followed by a suicide dive to Adonis. A slingshot is countered into a failed Gravy Train attempt and now the Canadian Destroyer connects…for two, which is said to be the first time anyone has ever kicked out. Another Canadian Destroyer attempt is countered into a kneeling reverse piledriver, followed by the Gravy Train to retain the title at 17:31.

Rating: B. Good match, albeit one without much drama. As soon as Drake kicked out of the one weapon Petey had, any doubt went flying out the window. I’m fine with Williams getting a one off title match but I really don’t need him getting a spot in the main event scene because “hey, he’s Canadian”.

Overall Rating: C+. There were some problems here and there but this was one of their best shows in a long time. First of all, everything was about Impact, as in there was no footage from other promotions to pad things out. Couple that with a good main event and some angle advancement (Storm as Moose’s partner is completely acceptable) and Grado being gone and it’s a good night. Unfortunately I have no reason to believe this will last but I’ll enjoy it while I can.

Results

Sonjay Dutt/Dezmond Xavier/Garza Jr. b. Taiji Ishimori/Caleb Konley/Trevor Lee – Final Flash to Konley

Ethan Carter III b. Fallah Bahh – Rollup with feet on the ropes

LAX b. OVE/Sami Callihan – Street Sweeper to Dave

Eli Drake b. Petey Williams – Gravy Train

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up the Updated History of the Intercontinental Title in E-Book or Paperback. Check out the information here:

http://kbwrestlingreviews.com/2017/10/02/new-paperback-kbs-history-of-the-intercontinental-title-updated-version/

And check out my Amazon author page with cheap wrestling books at:

http://www.amazon.com/Thomas-Hall/e/B00E6282W6

Impact Wrestling
Date: November 9, 2017
Location: Aberdeen Pavilion, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
Commentators: Jeremy Borash, Josh Matthews

It’s time for a new year for Impact and that means we’re on a new taping cycle. Things should be a lot more energetic this week as we start to see what the latest new brain trust has in store for us. Eli Drake is still World Champion and we’ve proven that MMA is better than wrestling so let’s get to it.

Josh and JB are in the ring to run down some of the card.

We see a package from Bound For Glory.

Here are Eli Drake and Chris Adonis for the victory speech. Adonis has to tell the fans to stop cheering for Drake so he can introduce him as Canada’s favorite wrestler. With a bit of an echo in the arena, Drake says this was exactly how the plan was supposed to go. Now a JOHNNY chant cuts him off (sounds like they’re People Power fans) but he’s tired of hearing about Alberto El Patron being mistreated by the company.

It’s nothing compared to being mistreated by Eli Drake, who has tonight off due to his injuries from Bound For Glory. Cue Petey Williams we as begin catering to the live crowd instead of everywhere else. Petey wants a title shot tonight because Drake has never faced him. Drake agrees but for next week, which brings Petey down to the ring. Adonis gets dropped by a single kick but Drake escapes a Canadian Destroyer attempt.

Jimmy Jacobs comes out for commentary for the opening match.

Sonjay Dutt vs. Matt Sydal

They take each other down to the mat to start and let’s cut to a shot of the commentary! After confirming that they are in fact doing commentary, we go back to Dutt armdragging him into an armbar. Jacobs leaves commentary as Sydal takes Dutt down into something like a reverse Muta Lock (with Dutt on his back and his knee being bent). That goes nowhere so it’s off to a half crab with Dutt quickly making the rope.

Sydal goes up top but gets superplexed back down and we take a break. Back with an exchange of kicks to the leg until Sydal kicks him in the face for two. A leg lock has Dutt in trouble until he crawls over to the ropes for the save. Dutt grabs a tornado DDT and heads up top, only to miss…I think a splash. Sydal flips him down and hits the shooting star for the pin at 15:34.

Rating: C+. Well that was long. I can appreciated the idea of the X-Division guys getting to showcase themselves a bit more, though I still would love some stories in these things. Sydal wants the title, though after seeing him challenge Lashley a few months back, it’s kind of hard to care about him going after the dead X-Division Title.

Post match Ethan Carter III of all people comes out, which hopefully means the AAA nonsense is over. Carter says it’s another win for Sydal, but that’s what he always does, at least until we get to the big moment where he always chokes. Ethan knows he’s the best around here but Sydal is just another talented guy who doesn’t have the whole package. Maybe Sydal can be reborn again, this time as a winner.

And now, here’s a good chunk of a six man tag from 2004 with Team Canada vs. Amazing Red/Sonjay Dutt/Hector Garza. This is an ad for the Global Wrestling Network and suggests to me that on the first show after the biggest show of the year, they already need filler because they can’t film enough at their tapings. That’s not good.

GHC World Title: El Hijo de Fantasma vs. Eddie Edwards

Eddie, an American, is defending the Japanese title against a luchador from Mexico in Canada. Before the match, we have to confirm that this is in fact a sanctioned match, complete with a Pro Wrestling Noah representative. Feeling out process to start with Eddie’s hammerlock getting nowhere. Instead he goes up top, only to get pulled down with a hurricanrana for two. A superplex gets Eddie out of trouble but he’s a bit too banged up to do anything with it.

Eddie’s Blue Thunder Bomb gets two and he kicks Fantasma in the mask to stop a suicide dive. Fantasma has to stomp Eddie’s feet to break up a tiger driver on the apron but Eddie is right back with a suicide dive. Back up and Fantasma scores with one of his own but still can’t put Eddie away. The tiger driver gives Eddie two more but the Boston Knee Party is blocked by a dropkick. Fantasma heads up again but misses whatever he was trying, setting up the Boston Knee Party. Die Hart Flowsion retains the title at 9:54.

Rating: B. Good, hard hitting match here with Eddie showing how good he really can be. That being said, I’d still love an actual story for some of these bigger matches. Having the GHC Title defended here is fine, but could we have a reason someone wants to face Eddie other than it’s a title?

OVE/Sami Callihan vs. Phil Atlas/Marcus Burke/Ray Steele

The lights are way down now to hide the small crowd. Sami charges right at Atlas to start and it’s a triple kick to the head in the corner. It’s off to Steele who eats a triple boot to the face, followed by Sami putting him in an electric chair. Dave does the same to Jake, who grabs Steele in a cutter for the pin at 1:54.

Post match here’s LAX to keep the fight going. The beating is on and OVE and Sami bail after getting beaten down. So it really was a double turn.

Global Forged winner Hakim Zane tries to talk but Johnny Impact runs in to say he’s coming for Alberto.

From Border City Wrestling in Windsor, Ontario, Canada.

Allie vs. KC Spinelli

Spinelli gets in a few shots to start but Allie speeds things up to send her into the corner. That’s fine with KC, who whips her around the ring without much effort. Allie avoids a charge and a dropkick to the back sends Spinelli into the corner for two. A neckbreaker drops Allie for two more, followed by a fisherman’s suplex for the same.

Not that it matters as Allie grabs a Codebreaker for….just two actually. They’re working a lot harder than I would have expected here. Spinelli misses a moonsault though, allowing Allie to grab a Death Valley driver for the pin at 7:08. Thankfully that means we get to hear her incredibly bubbly music for a nice bonus

Rating: B-. This was much better than I was expecting and I wouldn’t be surprised if Spinelli didn’t get some more bookings out of this. Allie is sch a breath of fresh air to all the serious wrestlers around here and feels more like what Bayley should have been on the main roster. Really nice little match here too.

Alberto tells Johnny Impact to bring it.

Allie is worried about Gail Kim’s big announcement next week. She’s still insanely adorable.

Alberto is sitting down when Johnny Impact DIVES at him, looking almost like a spear. The fight is on in catering with Alberto getting away, only to have Johnny get into a fight with Braxton Sutter of all people. Caleb Konley shows up and fights Sutter instead, leaving Johnny and Alberto to brawl out the door and into the loading area, where a camera just happens to be waiting. Johnny gets in a few more shots until they head inside again with Impact trying some chokes.

Alberto comes back with a wet floor sign as this has been going for over five minutes. After throwing Johnny through a door, Alberto climbs a ladder for no adequately explored reason. With Alberto sitting on top of a restroom, Johnny throws the ladder down….and then climbs up the Pepsi machine to knock Alberto off. Alberto hangs onto the roof until falling down (only a few feet) and security FINALLY grabs him. That’s fine with Johnny, who hits a huge dive, taking out Alberto and security as we go to a break.

Back with the brawl still going as Alberto beats him down some more, only to have it spill into the arena with the fans not sounding pleased. Security comes out for another save attempt and Alberto grabs a mic to say this is his company. He calls Johnny a crazy guy and security actually holds Johnny back for a change. Alberto rips on the company for holding him back and screwing him but he’s willing to continue the battle in the ring.

Security lets Johnny get in and Alberto bails, only to have Johnny say Alberto calls himself the pride of Mexico but he’s not even the pride of his own father. The fight is on again with security taking another beating until Alberto gets in a cheap shot. A DDT plants Johnny and Alberto tells security to get out of here if they want to get paid tonight. The cross armbreaker over the ropes has Johnny screaming until the referees break it up to end the show after SEVENTEEN MINUTES between these two.

Overall Rating: C+. This was a really tricky one to grade. For one thing, the wrestling tonight was quite good. The title match was solid, the women’s match was a nice surprise and the fifteen minute X-Division match worked very well. What didn’t work for me though was how little we seemed to actually have move forward. LAX vs. OVE is still going, Impact vs. Alberto is likely going to include Drake soon and be a continuation of the World Title feud from the last month and a half and the X-Division is still about the same.

What’s getting on my nerves is how much time they have to spend on stuff other than Impact Wrestling. Allie vs. Spinelli was good, but how many of those matches from outside the company are going to be? It’s obviously them filling in as much time as they can with their limited content, but when they do it over and over again, it gets a little annoying. Throw in the brawl that went longer than any match and it really does feel like they’re just trying to fill in the show without having actual wrestling, which is rarely a good sign.

That being said, I’ll take a show with some good matches and a lot of energy over the boring, dull, mostly unnecessary TV shows we’ve been having in the last few weeks. At least we had some good matches this time around and that’s a lot more than I’ve been able to say since…..August maybe?

Results

Matt Sydal b. Sonjay Dutt – Shooting star press

Eddie Edwards b. El Hijo de Fantasma – Die Hard Flowsion

OVE/Sami Callihan b. Ray Steele/Phil Atlas/Marcus Burke – Elevated cutter to Burke

Allie b. KC Spinelli – Death Valley Driver

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up the Updated History of the Intercontinental Title in E-Book or Paperback. Check out the information here:

http://kbwrestlingreviews.com/2017/10/02/new-paperback-kbs-history-of-the-intercontinental-title-updated-version/

And check out my Amazon author page with cheap wrestling books at:

http://www.amazon.com/Thomas-Hall/e/B00E6282W6

Impact Wrestling
Date: November 2, 2017
Location: Impact Zone, Orlando, Florida
Commentators: Jeremy Borash, Josh Matthews

It’s the go home show for this year’s Bound For Glory and that really could mean anything tonight. The big question is how much action will actually take place in this country, which has been up and down over the last few months. They need to set up some stuff for Sunday though and that needs to be done in a hurry. Let’s get to it.

Opening sequence.

Video on Rosemary vs. Taya Valkyrie.

From Border City Wrestling in Canada.

Rosemary/Allie vs. KC Spinelli/Sienna

Well at least most of them are from GFW. The villains jump Rosemary and Allie to start and Allie gets choked in the corner. It’s quickly off to Rosemary for a crossbody and a kick to Sienna’s head. A cheap shot from behind puts Rosemary in trouble as the announcers talk about everything on Sunday.

Rosemary’s choke over the ropes has Sienna in trouble but she has to let it go and falls to the floor. The lights are so dark that she’s hard to see out there, suggesting that there are very few fans at the show. A double collision allows the hot tag to Allie so house can be cleaned. Everything breaks down and Sienna kicks Spinelli by mistake. A Codebreaker from Allie sends Sienna into a German suplex, allowing Allie to grab the pin at 6:20.

Rating: C. This was a noted improvement: three of the four people involved actually work for the company putting on this show. They tried to tie something in with Allie pinning Sienna but that title match is so entirely focused on Gail Kim that these two are really just details. Passable match, but I’m really hoping we get something else to hype up the title match.

Video on Lashley/King Mo vs. Moose/Stephan Bonnar.

Here are Lashley and American Top Team to yell about how fake wrestling is. The men they’re fighting on Sunday are athletes, but Moose isn’t a fighter and Bonnar is famous for losing. On Sunday, they’ll be exposed as fake fighters and everyone will know that wrestling isn’t legit. Then they’ll stop coming and wrestling is destroyed for good. Again: Lambert is a good heel, but he’s stuck in this story which is both really downplaying wrestling and is also the show’s main event. I wouldn’t be shocked to see Moose and Bonnar lose either, because TNA really is that dumb.

Recap of Grado vs. Joseph Park.

From Pro Wrestling Noah in Tokyo.

Moose/Yuji Okabayashi vs. Katsuhiko Nakajima/Masa Kitamiya

Yuji and Masa trade some shots to start before it’s off to Moose to clean house with a dropkick and bicycle kick. Kitamiya gets dropkicked off the top rope and out to the floor and a hesitation dropkick in the corner gives Moose two. Moose and Kitamiya get in a hoss fight until Moose sends him shoulder first into the post.

Josh says this is strong style you’re only going to see in Impact. Well, save for IN THE NOAH PROMOTION WHERE THIS IS TAKING PLACE BECAUSE GFW CAN’T EVEN GET TV RIGHT. Moose gets sent outside and a double bulldog gets two on Yuji. A spear gets two on Yuji but he pops up to slug it out with Kitamiya. Yuji takes him down and hits a top rope splash for the pin at 8:32.

Rating: D+. Same problem on a different show: this focused on the three Japanese guys, none of whom I’m supposed to be paying to see in a feature match on Sunday. The commentary was more about hyping up the GFW Network so you can see more of this kind of wrestling there. The match was fine enough with four big guys hitting each other hard, but it does nothing to set up the match that matters.

We run down the Bound For Glory card.

LAX is in their clubhouse when Eli Drake and Chris Adonis show up. They bring guacamole as a peace offering and an agreement is made for one night only. They’ll help take out each others’ opponents for Sunday in a six man tag tonight.

Video on OVE vs. LAX.

Video on the six people in the X-Division Title match on Sunday. What title match you ask? Eh don’t worry about it, as this is the first time it was mentioned.

Trevor Lee vs. Dezmond Xavier vs. Sonjay Dutt vs. Petey Williams vs. Matt Sydal vs. Garza Jr.

Non-title and one fall to a finish. It’s a huge brawl to start (of course) with Williams dropkicking Garza in the back of the head. Stop though, because GARZA HAS TO TAKE OFF HIS PANTS! Sydal comes back in to drop Xavier and Garza at the same time, followed by a standing moonsault for two on Dezmond. It’s Lee coming in to take Sydal down and we take a break.

Back with Lee getting kicked in the face by Dutt as we hear about THE EXACT SAME MATCH taking place at Bound For Glory. Not an Ultimate X match, not an elimination match, not even a match with tags etc. No, it’s the same match and it happens to be for a title. In other words, they had two chances to come up with an idea other than “throw everyone in there at once” and couldn’t manage to do so.

Dutt dives onto a pile of people at ringside, leaving Garza to hit a powerbomb on Xavier and a World’s Strongest Slam on Williams at the same time. That’s only good for two though as Sydal comes back in, only to have Petey hit the Canadian Destroyer for two. A powerbomb gives Lee two on Petey but Xavier comes back in with his moonsault kick to put Lee away at 11:30.

Rating: C+. That’s all well and good but, as announced during this match, NONE OF THIS MATTERS EVEN A LITTLE BIT. Yeah quite literally, this match will be repeated on Sunday with the title on the line. Watching the match happen was supposed to make me want to pay to see the match happen again. That’s what I’m sitting through with this company people. It’s not easy on Thursday nights.

Long recap of Team Impact vs. Team AAA.

Video on Gail Kim and the other women in the title match with her.

Here’s Gail Kim to talk about what her journey has meant to her. She’s ready for both opponents and promises to take the title back where it belongs as she ends her career.

Global Forged video.

We run down the pay per view card. Again.

Video on Eli Drake vs. Johnny Impact.

LAX/Eli Drake vs. OVE/Johnny Impact

The tag teams start brawling in the aisle before Impact shows up. Drake waits for Impact at the entrance and gets in a belt shot from behind. The beating is on outside the ring with the villains in full control. Johnny is finally thrown in where he has to take care of Adonis before we get an opening bell. Impact hits a big corkscrew dive to take out all of the bad guys and we take a break.

We come back joined in progress with Johnny superkicking Ortiz into a double spinebuster for two, only to have him come back with a flapjack. Jake gets beaten down in the corner and Santana gets belly to back suplexed for two. Drake’s over the shoulder powerslam drop gets two more and it’s time to plug a movie on Pop! Jake fights up and makes the hot tag as everything breaks down. A big flip dive sends Jake crashing onto Ortiz as we hear about LAX going to Germany. Is that where we’re going next week? Johnny sunset flips Santana for the pin at 5:13.

Rating: C-. Not enough time to mean much here but we’ve got important stuff like Canadian tag team matches to air instead of the World Title feud. Johnny pinning a member of LAX makes the most sense and sends him into the pay per view with some momentum, but there’s no hiding how unimportant the World Title match really is going into Sunday.

Post match the villains beat the winners down with Johnny being sent back first into an exposed buckle. Drake and Adonis pull back the mat and expose the wood, setting up a Gravy Train to leave Impact laying to end the show….at 9:57, with another Bound For Glory ad ending the show.

Overall Rating: D-. I don’t know what they were going for here but it really didn’t work. This taping cycle, which has now gone on over several months, has completely ruined their biggest show of the year. The fact that they can’t even fill in a two hour show every week without bringing in nothing matches (like that Moose tag) to cover the rest of their time shows what a mess this place is in.

You can give whatever excuses you want (it’s cheaper this way, it’s showcasing other promotions etc) but there’s a simple fact: GFW looks like a joke right now and that’s been the case with whatever you want to call this promotion for a very long time. At this point I’m wondering how many of the outsider teams are going to win on Sunday as you can almost guarantee at least one screwup of that nature.

I’m almost completely fed up with this company (again) as they’ve managed to turn this show into a showcase for the rest of the world without giving us a reason to care. If they can’t run a two hour show on their own (and I’m curious to see how they’re going to do that without the GFW talent), just stop running the thing already. I don’t want to watch Noah, I don’t want to watch the Crash, I don’t want to watch Border City Wrestling and I don’t want to watch Global Forged. I want the wrestlers I watch the show to see featured rather than thrown into cards around the world.

This promotion has been bad before but now they’re being bad in other countries and making me not want to see them either. How many times are the fans expected to just stick with it for the sake of loyalty to this place? We’re coming up on what is likely to be another two month long taping cycle and it’s likely going to be even more of a mess this time around. I’m so thrilled.

As for the show itself, it wasn’t a terrible go home show but how much other stuff could be built up in exchange for the Japan and Canada matches? It’s certainly not the worst I’ve ever seen (I’m sure TNA has put on a worse one before) but it comes at the end of one of the most miserable set of taping I can remember, which showed off every deficiency this place has, which is covering A LOT of ground. The worst part: Sunday’s show will likely be fine as the wrestlers will be fresh and just wrestling instead of trying to keep going when the energy is all gone. At least it’s finally something fresh, but that might make things even worse.

Results

Rosemary/Allie b. KC Spinelli/Sienna – German suplex to Sienna

Moose/Yuji Okabayashi b. Katsuhiko Nakajima/Masa Kitamiya – Top rope splash to Kitamiya

Dezmond Xavier b. Trevor Lee, Sonjay Dutt, Petey Williams, Matt Sydal and Garza Jr. – Moonsault kick to Lee

Johnny Impact/OVE b. Eli Drake/LAX – Sunset flip to Santana

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up the Updated History of the Intercontinental Title in E-Book or Paperback. Check out the information here:

http://kbwrestlingreviews.com/2017/10/02/new-paperback-kbs-history-of-the-intercontinental-title-updated-version/

And check out my Amazon author page with cheap wrestling books at:

http://www.amazon.com/Thomas-Hall/e/B00E6282W6

Impact Wrestling
Date: October 26, 2017
Location: Impact Zone, Orlando, Florida
Commentators: Josh Matthews, Jeremy Borash

We’re back in Orlando and whatever other city/country they’re using material from this week. That’s the major issue at this point: a lot of Impact isn’t so much from Orlando but rather from all over the world. It’s nice once in a while but it’s mainly just showing how horrible the Impact Zone is. Let’s get to it.

Dan Lambert, Bobby Lashley, Moose and Stephan Bonnar arrived earlier today.

Johnny Mundo arrived earlier.

Opening sequence.

We recap Team AAA vs. Team Impact.

From AAA in Mexico.

James Storm/Ethan Carter III vs. El Hijo de Fantasma/Texano

It’s a brawl to start with Fantasma being double teamed in the corner. Texano pulls Carter outside and posts him as the brawling continues. Storm beats on Fantasma against the barricade as Carter stomps on Texano inside. The announcers recap why this feud started, which all began when Hector Guerrero didn’t vote for Fantasma in a Grand Championship match? Remember that? Remember the Grand Championship? Remember Hector Guerrero being involved in this feud? You shouldn’t, as he hasn’t been mentioned since that initial appearance.

Storm hits Carter by mistake and Fantasma takes over with an enziguri. The vill…I have no idea who the villains are supposed to be here actually, as you would think the guys from Mexico would be faces in Mexico. Anyway they crotch Storm with the bull rope and Carter gets kicked in the head. Texano trips Fantasma to continue a feud taking place in AAA but Fantasma comes back with the kneeling tombstone on Carter. Fantasma kicks Texano in the face but gets Last Called for the pin at 7:14.

Rating: D. This was barely a match and was much more about advancing Fantasma vs. Texano, which is a feud I didn’t even know existed coming into this show. The story continues to be a combination of uninteresting and bad here as apparently it’s over that Grand Championship match from a few weeks back. I’m sure this is leading to a six man tag at Bound For Glory, even though there’s next to no interest in this whole thing (which to be fair could apply to the company as a whole at this point).

Eli Drake is on the phone when he runs into Dutch Mantel. Apparently Eli is missing media appearances and marketing calls so Dutch wants to know what’s up. Drake blows them off and says those things aren’t important before returning to the phone. It’s not clear who he’s talking to but Drake thinks it’s time they came back.

After a break, Jim Cornette, Scott D’Amore and Mantel yell about Drake. Scott leaves to make sure they have a show tonight. Cornette comes up with an idea: if Drake loses the title, this whole thing might work itself out.

From Border City Wrestling in Windsor, Ontario, Canada.

GFW Tag Team Titles: OVE vs. Phil Atlas/Brent Banks

OVE is defending and we’re joined in progress with Dave and Atlas coming in off hot tags. Phil is taken into the corner and kicked in the face for his efforts. Jake gets two off a dropkick as the announcers talk about almost anything else. Not that it matters as Brent comes in again with a dropkick of his own and a front flip into a nip up. Dave sends the champs into each other but Banks hits a falling cutter. A top rope elbow gives Banks two but it’s the spike tombstone to Brent to retain the titles at 5:10 shown.

Rating: C-. Who are Phil Atlas and Brent Banks and why does GFW think I’m interested in them? Better yet, what is Border City Wrestling? AAA and Pro Wrestling Noah are big deals but the Crash and Border City aren’t exactly household names, or really even big time indies. They’re just promotions that are included occasionally and it’s not like this is outstanding action or anything like that. It’s another match that doesn’t do anything for me and that’s been the case since these international matches started.

Another long recap of Moose/Bonnar vs. American Top Team. By the way we’re 24 minutes into the show and we haven’t seen any wrestlers in the Impact Zone arena.

Drake won’t do an interview and texts someone instead.

From Pro Wrestling Noah in Tokyo.

GHC Title: Eddie Edwards vs. Naomichi Marafuji

Edwards is defending. Feeling out process to start as they run the ropes with neither being able to get much of an advantage. It’s a standoff and we’re clipped to Eddie hitting a Blue Thunder Bomb for two. An enziguri knocks Marafuji off the top but he comes back with a no sold Saito suplex. A hard shot to the chest drops Marafuji and we’re clipped to Edwards not being able to hit a suplex.

Clipped again to Marafuji kicking Eddie in the head to stop a dive. They head outside with the pads being pulled back. Eddie can’t hit a piledriver on the concrete but settles for a superkick instead. Another clip takes us to Eddie hitting a nasty suicide dive. Clipped again to Eddie getting piledriven on the apron (good looking crash) and yet again to Marafuji hitting a top rope C4 for two.

Another clip has Eddie grabbing a super hurricanrana, followed by another clip into the Boston Knee Party getting two. A tiger bomb gets two more and it’s an Emerald Fusion to retain Eddie’s title at 6:36 shown. Way too many clips to fairly rate this but this looked to be a heck of a match, which ran about twenty six minutes in full.

Marafuji shakes his hand post match.

OVE is sick of LAX and has a friend to help them out. We don’t see his face but he gives a thumbs up, which switches to a thumbs down. That’s the pose of Sami Callihan, who has been rumored to be coming to the promotion.

Drake says he doesn’t have time to talk but is ready for his tag match against Johnny Impact and Garza Jr.

Laurel Van Ness is in the arena with two glasses of champagne. She’s the first GFW talent in the arena tonight and we’re 47 minutes into the show.

Back to Border City Wrestling in Windsor, Ontario, Canada.

Petey Williams vs. Idris Abraham vs. Tarik vs. Kiyomiya

One fall to a fall and it’s a brawl to start with Kiyomiya getting knocked down, setting up a brawl between Abraham and Tarik. Abraham gets put in the Tree of Woe for O Canada and we’re clipped to Petey hitting running corner dropkicks. Petey dives onto Kiyomiya and grabs a crucifix for two on Tarik.

Back in and Abraham starts cleaning house with some forearms, only to have Tarik send him into the corner for a running elbow. What looks to be a Cross Rhodes is broken up and it’s Tarik hitting Ricochet’s Benadryller for two on Kiyomiya. Petey comes back in with a bicycle kick and it’s the Canadian Destroyer to put Tarik away at 5:55.

Rating: C. Pretty standard four way match and I’m not even going to bother making the same complaints that I’ve made so far. The other problem here is this was a way to showcase Petey Williams. That’s all well and good, but is there NO ONE else that could get this kind of a spotlight? I mean, of course that would suggest actually putting the focus in the arena and on GFW, which isn’t the point of this show, at least in the first half.

Recap of Impact vs. Drake.

Eli Drake/Chris Adonis vs. Johnny Impact/Garza Jr.

Adonis shoves Garza into the corner to start and Garza TAKES OFF HIS….shirt. Dang it that’s quite the tease. An enziguri puts Adonis down and it’s off to Impact for some double chops. Chris pulls Impact’s hair from the apron though and Drake comes in to hammer away. Everything breaks down for a big and Drake clears the ring without too much effort.

Adonis adds a clothesline to take Johnny down but he sends the villains into each other, allowing the hot tag to Garza. That means IT’S TIME FOR GARZA TO TAKE OFF HIS PANTS, followed by a superkick to Adonis. Stereo moonsaults get two on Drake but Garza gets knocked down as we take a break.

Back with Garza getting double teamed in the corner and Adonis doing his biceps pose (This guy might have fewer moves than Kevin Nash). We hit a camel clutch for a bit before it’s off to Drake for a bad looking powerslam. Garza kicks him away though and it’s the hot tag to Johnny. A running knee to Adonis sets up the springboard corkscrew crossbody with Drake making the save. Everything breaks down and Adonis hits Drake by mistake, allowing Johnny to grab a rollup for the pin at 14:02.

Rating: C. Just a tag match here though they made a point of having Drake avoid Impact. They’ve set up a nice little story for the title match, but the company is kidding themselves if they think this is the top story going into the pay per view. The World Champion shouldn’t be taking a huge backseat to something that isn’t a really important feud and that’s not something Bound For Glory has.

Alberto El Patron is returning at Bound For Glory.

Video on Trevor Lee coming to the Crash and wondering who he’s facing for the X-Division Title.

From the Crash in Tijuana, Mexico.

X-Division Title: Trevor Lee vs. Ultimo Ninja

Lee is defending, which shouldn’t be that surprising as we haven’t seen Ninja (Garza Jr.’s brother) before. Ninja wastes no time in taking Lee down for a dropsault. Lee sends him outside and scores with the running apron kick to the chest. Back in and things slow down again with Lee slowly stomping and posing a lot. Ninja fights back with a missile dropkick for two, followed by a running flip dive to the floor. A spinning kick to Lee’s face gets two more on Lee but he raises his boots to block a moonsault. The standing double stomp retains Lee’s title at 6:00.

Rating: D+. It’s not a good sign when the fans who know Ninja didn’t seem to care about him either. This was a short match with two guys not doing much of anything special. There was no reason to believe that the title was changing hands, making it just a step ahead of an old school squash.

Global Forged.

King Mo doesn’t like Moose or Bonnar. You remember King Mo right? He’s that MMA guy who shows up every few years, doesn’t do anything important and leaves again without most people realizing he’s gone. But he a Bellator mainstay so he’s always being brought back. His history with TNA isn’t mentioned here so if you don’t know that stuff coming in, he’s just an MMA fighter with a big mouth.

Moose vs. Bobby Lashley

Bonnar and Lambert are the seconds here. They don’t waste time as it’s Moose taking him into the corner to start for some hard forearms to the chest. Lashley sends him into the corner as well for some forearms of his own. Moose puts him on the top for a dropkick out to the floor as we take a break.

Back with Lambert grabbing Moose’s leg so Lashley can kick him to the floor. Lambert gets in some choking with a boot as he’s holding some kind of trophy. Lashley hits some posing on the floor and stomps away on Moose back inside. There’s something to be said about someone who can do all the power stuff and wrestle a strong amateur style going with a simple offense instead.

It’s quite the heel move as he’s basically saying he doesn’t need to go to the good stuff when simple offense is more than enough. A chinlock doesn’t last long and it’s Moose coming back with the bicycle kick. Moose’s hesitation dropkick connects but Lambert comes in for the DQ at 11:41.

Rating: C. Something that has gone under the radar in this feud: Dan Lambert is a pretty good heel manager. He’s obnoxious and condescending and can talk fairly well, but he’s stuck in this terrible story. Kind of a shame really. Anyway this worked well and they were smart to do the non-finish with less than two weeks before Bound For Glory. Lashley and Moose are good choices for power guys and you can almost guarantee a tag match at the pay per view. I have no idea why we’re not just seeing this singles match there, but I’m assuming it’s something about the company thinking wrestling fans care about MMA.

Moose and Bonnar clean house post match with Moose powerbombing one of the American Top Team guys onto the pile. The MMA guys bail to the stage and Moose throws out a challenge for Six Sides of Steel at Bound For Glory.

A promo for LAX vs. OVE wraps us up.

Overall Rating: D-. They do know that Bound For Glory is in less than two weeks? You really could have cut this show down to about thirty five minutes and no one would have noticed the difference. There were seven matches on this show and three of them (one of which was heavily clipped) involved wrestlers with matches actually on the pay per view card. It really does feel like they’re throwing whatever they can out there and hoping people watch.

I know they have some issues with filling in so much content over the way too long marathon taping sessions but filling it in with this isn’t working. There’s a good chance that they’re going to do the exact same thing with the Ottawa tapings and that’s going to make for some very, very long episodes in the future. This show was hard to sit through and that’s with a goal in sight. How bad is it going to be when they don’t have a pay per view for another eight months?

Results

James Storm/Ethan Carter III b. El Hijo de Fantasma/Texano – Last Call to Fantasma

OVE b. Phil Atlas/Brent Banks – Spike tombstone to Banks

Eddie Edwards b. Naomichi Marafuji – Emerald Fusion

Petey Williams b. Tarik, Idris Abraham and Kiyomiya – Canadian Destroyer to Tarik

Johnny Impact/Garza Jr. b. Eli Drake/Chris Adonis – Rollup to Adonis

Trevor Lee b. Ultimo Ninja – Standing double stomp

Moose b. Bobby Lashley via DQ when Dan Lambert interfered

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up the Updated History of the Intercontinental Title in E-Book or Paperback. Check out the information here:

http://kbwrestlingreviews.com/2017/10/02/new-paperback-kbs-history-of-the-intercontinental-title-updated-version/

And check out my Amazon author page with cheap wrestling books at:

http://www.amazon.com/Thomas-Hall/e/B00E6282W6

Impact Wrestling
Date: October 19, 2017
Location: Impact Zone, Orlando, Florida
Commentators: Jeremy Borash, Josh Matthews

Hopefully with more wrestling this week. We’re less than a month away from Bound For Glory 2017 and that means it’s time to really crank things up. The big story is Johnny Impact becoming #1 contender to Eli Drake’s World Title. Well at least that’s the big story on the wrestling side. On the MMA side, Moose has been joined by Stephan Bonnar to go after American Top Team. Let’s get to it.

Moose and Stephan Bonnar arrive with everything they stole from the American Top Team facilities.

American Top Team is here as well. It’s going to be another one of those shows.

Recap of Chris Adonis attacking Johnny Impact last week.

Chris Adonis vs. Johnny Impact

Adonis slugs away at Johnny to start but gets kicked in the ribs. We hit the bearhug on Impact for a bit before a spinebuster gets two. The Adonis Lock goes on but Johnny is able to dive over the top for the break in a unique idea. Back in and Impact slugs away in the corner, including a kick to the head. The flip neckbreaker gives Impact two, followed by a springboard corkscrew kick to the head for another near fall and we take a break. Back with Impact breaking up a superplex attempt and hitting the countdown 450 (Countdown to Impact) for the pin at 10:15.

Rating: C. Impact looked fine here, albeit about as bored as you’re going to be against Adonis. At least this match made sense for Impact as he was fighting Eli Drake’s lackey instead of fighting Garza Jr. for no logical reason. The match was more about advancing the story than anything else and that’s what this story needs.

Post match Eli Drake runs in but gets his pants ripped off. The double teaming takes Impact down but Garza Jr. runs in for the save because HE is the one who rips the pants off around here.

Alberto El Patron is back at Bound For Glory. Again I say: PLEASE NO!

Hijo de Fantasma vs. James Storm vs. Texano vs. Eddie Edwards vs. Ethan Carter III

This is from Cancun, Mexico, the winner goes on to a match we won’t be seeing and it’s one fall to a finish. It’s a brawl to start with Storm being sent outside as JB talks about how Team Impact needs to work as a unit. Again, one fall and singles matches of course so let’s talk about teamwork. Carter clotheslines Texano down and it’s time for some triple teaming until Carter doesn’t want Storm to get the pin. Fantasma crossbodies Eddie for two but it’s Storm up again to take over.

That’s still not cool with Carter, who says he should be getting the fall. We hit a parade of big moves until Carter and Texano hit a double clothesline to put everyone down. Back up and Texano posts Edwards, leaving Fantasma to piledrive Carter. Storm and Texano tease going after Fantasma’s father at ringside but the distraction just lets Texano pin Carter at 8:22.

Rating: C-. I’m running out of ways to say I don’t care about this story. They’ve run the same people fighting in Orlando over the promotion invasion and now they’re fighting in Mexico for a spot in a match we won’t be seeing. These matches are watchable but I need more of a story to make me care whatsoever.

OVE is in Tijuana, Mexico to find Konnan, who agrees to meet with them in exchange for a title defense in the Crash promotion.

Carter, Storm and Edwards bicker about the loss in Cancun.

American Top Team yells at Jim Cornette over the stolen property. You have breaking and entering, destruction of property and theft on tape/national TV and you go to the wrestling boss?

Dezmond Xavier vs. Andrew Everett

Everett takes him down by the neck for two to start and a snap suplex gives him the same. Xavier is sent outside as we hear that Taryn Terrell won’t be in the Knockouts Title match at Bound For Glory. Sounds like an injury or someone else leaving the company. That’s enough talking about the Knockouts so the announcers discuss Alberto El Patron returning.

Xavier makes his comeback with some kicks and a backdrop to the floor, followed by the running flip dive to take out Everett and Trevor Lee. Speaking of Lee, he offers another distraction but Xavier misses a charge into the corner. The moonsault kick to the head gives Xavier the pin at 4:37.

Rating: D+. Yeah this happened. It was your usual flip match with the announcers ignoring the action because the X-Division doesn’t mean a single thing in this promotion. As usual, it’s the vaguest of issues (Lee thinks he and his boys are the best, the rest of the division disagrees) and odds are they’ll be thrown into Ultimate X for the title match. That’s lazy writing and I’m not a bit surprised.

Preview of Lee going to Tijuana next week to defend the title. GOOD GRIEF ENOUGH WRESTLING FROM MEXICO ALREADY! These are just matches for the sake of having matches and this is now the third story on the show set in Mexico. I get that a partnership is cool but this is taking over the show.

Oh hey let’s go to Mexico again where OVE is looking for Konnan. They’ll have to defend the titles tonight.

Bonnar and Moose have the Bellator gear in the back. Yes they really brought it here with them and we’re supposed to believe this is real.

Long recap of the issues between Grado and Joseph Park with Park exploiting Grado and taking his money.

Here’s Grado to call out Park. Grado is ready to prosecute Park for stealing from him (or maybe just taking whatever Grado agreed to give him in the contract) and he’s going to be Park’s executioner. We hear a rant about how Grado has been worked ragged for Park’s benefit and Grado doesn’t want to hear any jokes. Park admits that the money was too tempting for him and he gave in. However, the visa keeps Grado in the country so he pretty much has nothing to say right now.

Grado wants the visa handed to him but Park has a better idea: a match at Bound For Glory for Grado’s freedom. Grado immediately signs and Park is rather happy. See, Grado still hasn’t learned about reading the fine print. It turns out that the match is going to be Monster’s Ball and against the monster Abyss.

Recap of Moose/Bonnar vs. American Top Team. My goodness this show loves its recaps.

A panicked Grado gets in his car when someone changes the radio to Abyss’ theme. It’s Father James Mitchell of all people, who scares Grado away.

Tag Team Titles: OVE vs. Black Diamond/Black Danger

OVE is defending and this is in Tijuana for the Crash promotion. Jake, in most of a suit, crossbodies Diamond to start and it’s OVE firing off some kicks to the ribs. We finally settle down to Danger being sent into Diamond, only to have Danger catapult Jake into a spear out of the air. Cool spot if nothing else. A superplex into a powerbomb gets two on Danger and it’s a spike tombstone (with a top rope double stomp) to put Diamond away at 3:44.

Rating: C. Points for having OVE get a win but, again, the focus was this being in Tijuana than anything else. I get that the company thinks going to these other promotions is the coolest thing in the world but all it does is make me think that the Impact Zone is a joke and that the company doesn’t think much of their own talent because they need to go elsewhere to make the show work.

JB is in the ring for what sounds like the Hall of Fame announcement when American Top Team interrupts. Dan Lambert says this isn’t how it was supposed to be. This was supposed to be a thing with Jeff Jarrett but now he’s the villain in the story, despite being a huge wrestling fan for forty years. He got into MMA through Japanese shoot professional wrestling promotions and has the biggest collection of wrestling memorabilia in the world.

Lambert pulls out Bruno Sammartino’s first WWWF World Title belt, the National Tag Team Titles from Georgia, the Mid-Atlantic Tag Team Titles, and Jerry Lawler’s AWA World Title (which I believe Lawler said he still had on the AWA documentary). Lambert talks about Moose and Bonnar taking their stuff and showing no respect.

Therefore, at Bound For Glory, we should have a fight with the two of them facing King Mo and Lashley. That’s a fight that wrestling can’t win because they’re not real fighters. Cue Moose and Bonnar with the Bellator titles but they’re quickly beaten down. Lambert runs his mouth about how horrible wrestling is and American Top Team beats down security and the invading roster.

This was a better segment than any other from the MMA guys but EGADS the level of focus this story is receiving is getting very old. It’s a bunch of guys who aren’t going to wrestle plus Lashley and King Mo, who wrestled like three times and wasn’t interesting. Lambert is a decent heel manager but I get really, really tired of hearing about how awesome mixed martial arts is every single week. As usual, this company has no idea what draws fans in and just goes with an idea that they like for months on end, probably leading to a tag match which should be a regular match, but that would imply that the wrestlers are the interesting ones.

OVE gets to meet Konnan and want their pay for the night. Uh, Konnan never said he’d pay them. He said he’d talk to them in exchange for them wrestling. Konnan basically says as much and here are the Crash guys to beat OVE down. Who decided to have two beatdown segments in a row?

Global Forged videos, as we continue to have ANYTHING but Impact on this show.

Recap of Taya Valkyrie vs. Rosemary.

Taya Valkyrie vs. Rosemary

Rosemary wastes no time in charging at Taya in the corner and throwing her across the ring. Taya chokes her in the corner a bit and we take a break. Back with Rosemary stomping in the corner as the announcers make a not so subtle reference to Sexy Star injuring Rosemary in Mexico. Rosemary’s modified Tarantula slows Taya down but Valkyrie throws her into the corner to take over again.

A quickly broken chinlock keeps Rosemary in trouble but she grabs a release German suplex. They loudly slug it out with Rosemary screaming a lot, only to be taken down by some hard kicks to the chest. Rosemary is dropped with her legs bent underneath her, only to come back up with an Undertaker style situp. Not that it matters as Taya hits a double stomp for the pin at 10:55.

Rating: C-. Well that was surprising. I would have bet on this being saved for Bound For Glory but we got it here instead. Having Rosemary lose here shows how strong they’re making Valkyrie, who will probably be Knockouts Champion when we’ve praised Gail Kim enough. I mean, that’s been the case for years now but why change what’s working so little over the years?

Post match Taya loads up the Road to Valhalla but gets misted for her efforts. Rosemary says they make each other see red so it can be a different shade of red at Bound For Glory: blood red. That sounds like a first blood challenge, though I’m more curious about why Taya’s face looks completely normal after taking red mist to the face.

Overall Rating: D+. What is Impact Wrestling? I know it’s supposed to be this promotion that has a bunch of international talent coming in but it feels like a place that has been taken over by that international talent and showcases it’s own talent when they’re given the chance. On this show, we saw the Team Impact guys, the X-Division Champions and the Tag Team Champions in Mexico, along with a woman who calls herself lucha royalty in the main event, the AAA World Champion challenging for the World Title and the main story on the show being built around something that started in Mexico.

As I’ve been saying for weeks now, this show is about everything other than Impact Wrestling. I’m having real issues caring about most of this stuff because I have no real reason to care about them. The MMA stuff continues to bore the heck out of me (pick a reason why, starting with the fact that it’s almost ALL about the MMA people with Moose feeling wedged in there to make it a wrestling angle) and the World Title feud feels like a midcard match. This show is really frustrating as they seem to be charging in the wrong direction as we had into the biggest show of the year.

Results

Johnny Impact b. Chris Adonis – Countdown to Impact

Texano b. Hijo de Fantasma, James Storm, Eddie Edwards and Ethan Carter III – Piledriver to Carter

Dezmond Xavier b. Andrew Everett – Moonsault kick to the head

OVE b. Black Danger/Black Diamond – Spike tombstone to Diamond

Taya Valkyrie b. Rosemary – Double stomp

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up the Updated History of the Intercontinental Title in E-Book or Paperback. Check out the information here:

http://kbwrestlingreviews.com/2017/10/02/new-paperback-kbs-history-of-the-intercontinental-title-updated-version/

And check out my Amazon author page with cheap wrestling books at:

http://www.amazon.com/Thomas-Hall/e/B00E6282W6

Impact Wrestling
Date: October 12, 2017
Location: Impact Zone, Orlando, Florida
Commentators: Josh Matthews, Jeremy Borash

We’re less than a month away from Bound For Glory and some of the card is starting to come together. You can pretty much guess a lot of the things they’re going to do, though one question is will Moose manage to do something dumber than walk into an MMA gym alone and pick a fight. Let’s get to it.

We open with a recap of Eli Drake and Chris Adonis attacking Johnny Impact, only to have Garza Jr. interrupt. This sets up Impact vs. Garza for the Bound For Glory title shot.

Garza says he’ll win. No dude, you won’t.

Opening sequence.

We look at Eddie Edwards winning the GHC Title and Garza trying to win the title. As usual, GFW is really, really overestimating how interesting these other companies are.

Eli Drake is defending the title in Japan this week.

Here’s LAX with something to say. They want their title match right now and don’t care what rules they have to abide by. This brings out OVE to say bring it, even if it’s a 5150 street fight. The champs don’t care but Diamante says it’s all of LAX vs. OVE at the same time. The match, and the brawl, is on with the champs getting beaten down, including Dave being sent through a table at ringside.

We look at a press conference announcing GFW wrestlers going over to Tokyo to invade Pro Wrestling Noah. Is it really an invasion if you announce a working relationship and hold a press conference announcing the matches? More on this later, because we’re just that lucky.

Video on American Top Team, including them attacking various GFW employees and Moose going to their gym and getting beaten down. This is a compilation of clips and packages we’ve seen before.

Another video on Garza Jr. By the way it’s 8:31 and we haven’t had a match yet. I’m not sure if that’s a complaint or not.

Rosemary vs. Hannah Harper

Red Wedding ends Harper in 59 seconds. Nearly half of that was them staring at each other.

Post match Rosemary calls out Taya Valkyrie for a dance with the demon. Taya comes out and mists Rosemary for a change of pace, followed by the Road to Valhalla.

We look at Moose getting beaten down at the American Top Team facility.

Moose is going back to the facility, but this time he has backup.

Here’s Taryn Terrell to tell us all to shut up. She’s got a Knockouts Title shot at Bound For Glory but now she wants to focus on Gail Kim. Taryn talks about Gail’s husband Robert Irvine and says after she’s done, they’ll be heading appearing on Divorce Court. Gail comes out and says she won’t be attacking Taryn, only to slap her anyway.

Alberto El Patron is back at Bound For Glory. DANG IT MAN JUST GO AWAY ALREADY!!!

Sienna is ready for a mixed tag tonight and can’t wait to beat up Allie. One of her partners, Texano, says AAA is awesome. The other partner, Caleb Konley, says North Carolina is awesome.

Grado is very tired and says no more. Joseph Park comes up in an expensive car with a bunch of good looking women. They’re just interns, though one of them calls Grado the meal ticket. Grado isn’t happy as Park leaves with the ladies.

Wrestlers talk about the importance of Bound For Glory. This is probably the fifth promo for the show in the first hour to go with the 53 seconds of in-ring action.

We’re an hour into this show and it’s been little more than a recap show so far. 53 seconds of wrestling and an announcement of a tag match for the pay per view. Wrestling Challenge was run better than this.

Sienna/Caleb Konley/Texano vs. Allie/Dezmond Xavier/James Storm

We finally break a whole minute of wrestling an hour and nine minutes into the show. Sienna stomps Allie in the corner to start but gets taken down with a clothesline. It’s off to Texano vs. Storm but Konley comes in instead. Some villainous cheating has Storm in trouble but Storm is quickly out of a chinlock. A leg lariat gives Texano two and Sienna stomps away as well.

Texano gets dropped again and the diving tag brings in Xavier. Kicks abound and a standing corkscrew moonsault gets two with Sienna making the save. Everything breaks down and it’s a Codebreaker from Allie into a Backstabber from Storm. Konley comes back in with a swinging slap, only to have Xavier hit a 619 around the post. Lee breaks up something off the top but it’s the Last Call to end Konley at 6:38.

Rating: D+. Normally I’m a fan of throwing a bunch of feuds into one match but what happens when the feuds aren’t interesting in the slightest? This was more evidence that Bound For Glory isn’t an interesting show as the TV building it up isn’t compelling in the slightest. There’s no reason for AAA and GFW to be feuding and Xavier feels like he hasn’t been around in weeks. I’m sure he’ll be in the X Title match at the pay per view because that’s what they do with that title most of the time. More uninspired booking here, which is becoming a trend.

Here’s a slightly different package on the wrestlers in Japan. Some of the quotes and clips are the same.

Yet ANOTHER video on Garza Jr., this time of him in Japan.

This week’s Global Forged as this show is allergic to wrestling. This one focuses on Jon Bolen, the head trainer.

LAX is ready for the street fight.

Moose went to the American Top Team facility again (we’ve seen the clip of him on the phone at least five times now), though this time he has backup. Fellow MMA fighter Stephan Bonnar (not named until after the segment is over) is there this time though and they have pipes. They walk in and that’s all for now.

Garza Jr. vs. Johnny Impact

The winner faces Eli Drake at Bound For Glory. Feeling out process to start until Impact takes him down with a headlock. Garza sends him outside for a suicide dive as the announcers promise more American Top Team stuff later tonight. Johnny is back up with a flipping elbow off the steps and we take a break. Back with Garza forearming Impact in the corner but LET’S TAKE OFF THOSE PANTS!

Some kicks to the face have Johnny in trouble and they slug it out, followed by a crossbody to put both guys down. Back up and Johnny kicks him down for two more but he has to bail out of Starship Pain. A second attempt completely misses and Garza gets two off a standing moonsault. Garza’s missile dropkick gets another near fall but a pinfall reversal sequence goes to Impact for the pin at 13:50.

Rating: C+. I don’t know how else to say it but no one cares about Garza. He’s just a guy who was in the lucha tag team and then he’s randomly in the #1 contenders match. A bunch of packages on him for one night isn’t enough to make me care about him in this spot, especially when they weren’t hiding the fact that Impact was winning.

Post match Cornette comes in to interview Impact but Adonis comes in and breaks a board over his head.

And now, back to the real story with American Top Team and UFC LEGEND (yes UFC LEGEND I say, along with JB who says it multiple times) Stephan Bonnar. Everyone is gone (it’s the middle of the night) so they just break stuff with the pipes instead and Moose steals some MMA belts. They also wreck the merchandise area. This is the way they’re hyping up the biggest show of the year people. It’s the best idea they have. Moose leaves a note with the receptionist (who didn’t say a word while in the same room where all this was happening) to end the show.

Overall Rating: D-. This is only above a failure because the main event wasn’t bad. I just sat through two hours of Bound For Glory ads, the same clip of Moose on the phone saying he needed help, videos that didn’t make me interested in Garza Jr. and GFW in Japan. If you take out the commercial from the main event, there was less than twenty minutes of action on the show and less than two minutes out of the first seventy were spent on wrestling.

I know they’re strapped with all the taping marathons and such but with this many wrestlers running around, there’s really no excuse to have almost no one to put on the shows. Come up with something better than a squash, a six person tag and a really obvious main event. With as many people as they have, including all the talent they bring in, there’s not much of an excuse for this. This show wasn’t so much bad as it was unacceptable, which is much worse.

Results

Rosemary b. Hannah Harper – Red Wedding

James Storm/Dezmond Xavier/Allie b. Sienna/Caleb Konley/Texano – Last Call to Konley

Johnny Impact b. Garza Jr. – Rollup

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up the Updated History of the Intercontinental Title in E-Book or Paperback. Check out the information here:

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Impact Wrestling
Date: October 5, 2017
Location: Impact Zone, Orlando, Florida
Commentators: Jeremy Borash, Josh Matthews

We’re closing in on Bound For Glory and fresh off another show that ended in chaos with the American Top Team guys cleaning house. World Champion Eli Drake actually got to do something though as he and Chris Adonis got to beat down Johnny Impact and Garza Jr., who is now involved in the main event scene for some reason. Let’s get to it.

In Memory of Lance Russell.

We get a Pray For Vegas graphic.

We open with a recap of Johnny Impact vs. Eli Drake last week with Impact getting cheated out of the title. Johnny wants a fair rematch.

Opening sequence.

Here are Drake and Adonis to open things up. Drake talks about driving down Victory Road last week and pulling straight into Slam Town. He turned the ghetto into a parking lot and built Eli’s Cakes on top. Eli: “YUMMY! YEAH!” Johnny isn’t here tonight and there’s a good chance he won’t get back after that Gravy Train he took last week.

Drake turns his sights to Jim Cornette, whose golden boy couldn’t get the job done. Cornette has brought up every challenger he can and next week he’s sending the champ to Japan. Since he has to go halfway around the world next week, he’s getting the night off tonight. As for Adonis though, he wants to fight so let’s get an opponent out here right now.

Chris Adonis vs. Garza Jr.

Adonis is in street clothes and Drake joins commentary. Garza scores with a series of kicks for two but Adonis takes over on the arm. Back up and a hurricanrana takes Adonis out to the floor but he drops Garza onto the barricade as we take a break. We come back with Garza fighting out of a chinlock but getting caught in a butterfly suplex.

Adonis cranks on both arms as this match just keeps going. Seriously it’s Chris Masters vs. the local luchador. Why is this getting ten minutes? A spinebuster plants Garza but we cut to the back where Johnny Impact arrives. The Adonis Lock doesn’t work as Garza sends him into the corner. Drake bails to feed the parking meter and THERE GO GARZA’S PANTS!!! The Lionsault misses and Impact runs in for the DQ at 12:00.

Rating: D-. We just sat through Chris Masters vs. the luchador whose big spot is taking his pants off for twelve minutes with a run-in DQ. That’s the best thing they have to open the show? Horrible stuff here as Adonis really isn’t interesting and hasn’t changed a bit since he was in WWE. Find something more interesting than this.

Post match Impact beats up Adonis but gets in a fight with Garza. Cue Jim Cornette to make Impact vs. Garza Jr. for next week (yay). He throws in a bonus: the winner will be facing Drake for the title at Bound For Glory. So Garza goes from a midcard tag guy to possibly #1 contender for the World Title in the main event of the biggest show of the year in a few weeks? Even Jinder Mahal would think that’s extreme. Garza and Impact brawl some more. By the way, the total time between Cornette coming up and the music playing after his announcement: 87 seconds.

Recap of Moose vs. Bobby Lashley, which of course features the American Top Team guys. Good grief why do they think we care?

Moose is in a parked car looking for Lashley. He’s heading for the American Top Team headquarters.

Wrestlers are ready for Bound For Glory.

We look at OVE winning the Tag Team Titles last week.

Konnan yells at LAX for losing so Santana gets in his face. The card table is turned over.

OVE vs. Jon Bolen/Trey McGill

Non-title. Jake starts with Bolen but gets waistlocked for his efforts. A high crossbody and neckbreaker drop Bolen and McGill is sent outside as well. Jake drops both of them with a double suicide dive, followed by Dave’s Asai moonsault. Back in and OVE kicks McGill in the head a few times and let’s plug those Pop TV sitcoms. A High/Low puts Bolen away at 3:38.

Rating: D+. Just a quick win here to further establish OVE as stars. It would be nice if they established some other teams though as I’m not sure who OVE is supposed to feud with after they presumably defeat LAX in the rematch at the pay per view. The tag division is one of the company’s weakest points and that’s really covering a lot of ground.

We recap James Storm/Ethan Carter III vs. the AAA guys, who completely hate this company because the script tells them to.

Here are KM and Sienna with the latter complaining about not having a match on Bound For Glory. No one has a match on the show yet you nitwit. She says she’s going into the Hall of Fame this year so here’s Gail Kim to interrupt. Gail wants her show at the Knockouts Championship Title (still such an odd way to word it) at Bound For Glory.

Cue Taryn Terrell to say she was the longest reigning Knockouts Champion in history and wants a chance to get the title back. Now it’s Allie coming out with Josh seemingly liking her look this week. The other three might be former Knockouts Champions but she’s Allie and deserves another chance to become champion. Cue Karen Jarrett to say Sienna isn’t going into the Hall of Fame. Yes, they actually felt that we needed that explained to us. It’s also a four way for the title at Bound For Glory.

Joseph Park has a meet and greet scheduled for Grado but Grado thinks the prices are a little high. Park says you can charge these marks anything. He pays Grado what seems to be a small amount of money but Grado again seems happy with it.

Caleb Konley/Andrew Everett/Trevor Lee vs. Sonjay Dutt/Petey Williams/Matt Sydal

Remember like three weeks ago when Sydal was getting a World Title shot? Or remember like fourteen years ago when people cared about Petey Williams? I mean you should, as it’s the only reason he’s in this spot at the moment. Everything breaks down just a few seconds in with the villains taking over early on, only to be sent into each other. A triple dropkick sends them outside, followed by an apron moonsault and a double suicide dive.

Back from a break with Dutt and Sydal legsweeping Lee and Konley to set up stereo standing moonsaults. Dutt gets kneed in the back and kicked in the face as the beating begins. Konley works on the arm as the announcers talk about the villains’ unity for wearing all black gear. Or they want to make sure no one recognizes them on this show.

Dutt grabs a tornado DDT while dropkicking everyone else, setting up the hot tag to Petey so house can be cleaned in a hurry. Everything breaks down and Sydal’s top rope double knees takes Lee down. Matt throws Lee into Everett on the top, followed by the shooting star to end Everett at 14:31.

Rating: C. I’m not even going to bother with the sarcasm here. It was a completely watchable cruiserweight match that means a grand total of nothing because they’re going to be thrown into an Ultimate X match for the title where no one gets to showcase any individuality and the whole thing is about crazy spots that we’ve seen before and we hear about how important the X-Division is despite it never getting any focus. We’ve heard the same thing for the better part of ten years now and I’m tired of pretending it’s going to change.

Dutt wants the title shot at Bound For Glory and the winners get in an argument over who should have the chance. Just announce Ultimate X already so it can be over hyped.

Here’s this week’s Global Forged.

Sydal, Dutt and Williams argue in Cornette’s office. Cornette storms out.

Laurel Van Ness is back in the audience looking a husband.

Moose arrives at the gym and shoves Dan Lambert away. He gets in a cage but a fighter punches him in the face so the beatdown can be on. They throw Moose out of the building.

Ethan Carter III/James Storm vs. El Hijo de Fantasma/Texano Jr.

In what is becoming a trend, this is getting nearly half an hour. Storm takes Texano down to start as JB hypes this as main eventers vs. main eventers. Carter and Storm get in an argument over a tag though and it’s Fantasma sneaking in for a cheap shot to take over. Storm slips over and makes the tag to Carter for a flapjack on Texano.

The TK3 gets two but Fantasma gets the same off a dropkick. Carter is taken into the heel corner for some stomping, followed by a hard kick to the chest for two. It’s off to the chinlock for a bit until Carter fights up, only to have Pagano come strolling down. Back from a break with Carter still in trouble via some more choking on the ropes.

Texano adds in a jawbreaker and shouts in Spanish for Fantasma to go up. That means a missed splash though and a cutter allows the hot tag to Storm. Everything breaks down again and Storm starts to clean house. It must not be a very big house though as Fantasma superkicks him down, only to get crotched on top. He hasn’t had much luck up there.

The Tower of Doom takes everyone down and thing slow a bit. Carter is thrown outside and then into the post by Pagano as Eddie Edwards not being here to even things out is likely going to be a plot point. Storm loads up a suplex, only to have Pagano trip him up and hold the leg so Fantasma can get the pin at 19:50.

Rating: D+. This one boils down to whether this story interests you or not. It doesn’t in my case as I still have no reason to care about any of the AAA guys, nor do any of them have any motivation to be heels other than they’re from another company. That’s not enough of a story for my taste and I really didn’t need to see a completely average at best tag match going on for twenty minutes.

We go back to the LAX club house where Konnan has a big idea: a street fight at Bound For Glory. Everyone leaves to party and Low Ki is shaking his head.

Overall Rating: D. The show still feels completely flat as almost nothing interesting happened all night long. A big part of that is the roster being filled by so many outsiders, be they from MMA or AAA. It’s one thing if the matches are tearing the house down or something (like the lucha libre in ECW where they were a bunch of outsiders but stealing the show in a way no one had seen in America before) but that’s not what we’re getting here.

Instead it’s a bunch of average matches with very weak stories that aren’t drawing in any special interest. Odds are the MMA guys get in the ring at Bound For Glory, which hasn’t been interesting before and won’t be this time either. Either way, I’m sure we’ll be told that it’s the most thrilling thing we’ve ever seen and how the company is changing wrestling.

What GFW doesn’t seem to get is that changing wrestling isn’t always a good thing and just being different for the sake of being different doesn’t work. They need a focus and I really haven’t seen that in a long time. Figure out what you want to be and go with it, but just bringing in a bunch of people from another promotion whose entire characters are “this person is from this promotion and they’re awesome” isn’t enough. The show wasn’t terrible by any stretch but it also was one of the least interesting ones they’ve done in a good while, which is the case way too often around here.

Results

Chris Adonis b. Garza Jr. via DQ when Johnny Impact interfered

OVE b. Jon Bolen/Trey McGill – High/Low to Bolen

Matt Sydal/Sonjay Dutt/Petey Williams b. Trevor Lee/Caleb Konley/Andrew Everett – Shooting star press to Everett

Texano/El Hijo de Fantasma b. James Storm/Ethan Carter III – Crossbody to Storm

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up the Updated History of the Intercontinental Title in E-Book or Paperback. Check out the information here:

http://kbwrestlingreviews.com/2017/10/02/new-paperback-kbs-history-of-the-intercontinental-title-updated-version/

And check out my Amazon author page with cheap wrestling books at:

http://www.amazon.com/Thomas-Hall/e/B00E6282W6

Impact Wrestling
Date: September 28, 2017
Location: Impact Zone, Orlando, Florida
Commentators: Jeremy Borash, Josh Matthews

We’re still in the invasion period as stars from both AAA in Mexico and the American Top Team fighters are around, making lives rather difficult for the Impact Wrestling crew. With less than two months to go before Bound For Glory, things are starting to pick up and that means some stuff needs to start being set up. Let’s get to it.

The opening video looks like the World and X-Division Title matches tonight.

Opening sequence.

X-Division Title: Petey Williams vs. Trevor Lee

Williams is challenging because he doesn’t like how Lee stole the title and wants to return the title to its glory days. You know, like when you cheated by using a hockey stick or various other Canadian things. In other words, this story is a stretch at best and unnecessary at worst. Williams hurricanranas him down to start as the announcers debate the wrestlers’ IQ’s.

Lee sends him into the steps to take over though and another hard whip into the corner gets two on Petey. As Josh takes shots at fans/news talking about the company being in trouble, Lee grabs a quickly broken chinlock. A Canadian legsweep gets two but Caleb Konley gets on the apron for a distraction. Now the Canadian Destroyer connects but Lee pulls the referee out at two. Petey begs for it to not be a DQ and settles for Konkey being ejected instead. The distraction lets Lee hit a belt shot for two but the standing double stomp puts Williams away to retain at 8:09.

Rating: C. I’m still waiting on a reason to care about Williams other than nostalgia. He’s a one move guy and nothing else he does really stands out. Yeah he used to be a big deal around here but that was over ten years ago and it’s hard to care about him now when I didn’t care about him in the first place. Lee retaining is good though I’m not looking forward to them just throwing the title up in an Ultimate X match instead of having a story put together.

LAX is ready to retain their Tag Team Titles.

Taya Valkyrie/Taryn Terrell/Sienna vs. Gail Kim/Allie/Rosemary

Sienna and Rosemary start things off with the latter throwing the champ around like she’s nothing. It’s off to Taryn who runs from Gail and brings in Taya instead. Everything breaks down with the villains being sent outside as we take a break. Back with Gail getting triple teams and Taryn hitting a swinging faceplant for two. The Road to Valhalla is broken up though and the hot tag brings in Allie to clean house. Not that it matters as Sienna rolls Allie up and puts her feet on the ropes for the pin at 9:34.

Rating: C-. Just a match here with a good chunk being spent on a commercial. The Knockouts division is starting to pick up steam again but it’s not going to matter if we just hand it right back to Kim for the sake of a big retirement present. Allie has become just another person too and that’s quite the shame after everything she did over the spring. There’s still time for her but sweet goodness it’s gone down hill in a hurry.

Eli Drake says he’ll retain and that’s just a fact of life.

An exhausted Grado goes to dinner with Joseph Park and is given his first royalty check. Without looking at it, Grado offers to take care of dinner but Park has to leave to answer a call. Grado opens the envelope and really isn’t happy.

Johnny Impact has stolen Drake’s couch and says he’ll take his title tonight too.

Here’s James Storm for a chat. He doesn’t like the AAA guys coming in and disrespecting him like so many other wrestlers have done in the past. This is GFW (not for long dude) and Storm has the fans stand up and chant the letters with him. He doesn’t care what the AAA guys think because he’ll be here beating people up and drinking beer. Cue Texano but Storm says cut the music.

Storm doesn’t have a problem with Mexicans but he has a problem with Texano. A Taco Bell joke is made and the fight is on. Fantasma runs in to beat on Storm with Texano beating on him with the bullrope and hitting his own Last Call. Fantasma calls AAA the best company in the world but Ethan Carter runs in to break up a beer bottle shot to Storm’s head. House is cleaned and Storm offers a handshake, which Carter finally accepts.

Post break Storm and Carter demand a match from Jim Cornette even though they hate each other. Cornette makes it for next week but tells them not to screw up the AAA deal.

Another video on Global Forged. I still have no idea why this is supposed to be interesting.

Tag Team Titles: LAX vs. OVE

OVE is challenging and goes straight at the champs during the entrances. Dave rolls Santana up for two to start as the announcers talk about the World Title match. Santana is right back up with a middle rope Russian legsweep and we take a break. Back with Dave in trouble and Ortiz dropping a middle rope legdrop for two.

A double suplex drops Dave again but he rolls away and brings in Jake for the house cleaning. Jake powerslams Santana into the corner (cool) for two, followed by a super hurricanrana for the same. A Death Valley Driver sends Dave into Jake for a rather near fall. Back up and Dave grabs Search Encompass (a snap DDT) for the pin and the titles at 11:14.

Rating: C. The match was fine but they didn’t have time to do much with it. OVE winning makes sense and they’ve been built up well enough though I have no idea who they’re supposed to feud with other than LAX. In other words, get ready for the big gimmick rematch at Bound For Glory.

As usual, we speed away from the title change to get to what matters: a video on Lashley deciding if he wants to be a fighter or a wrestler. Dan Lambert brags about how awesome of a fighter Lashley can be and tells the cameras to get out of here. Can someone please explain to me why an MMA gym owner is the top heel in this promotion?

Johnny Impact is ready to win the title.

GFW World Title: Johnny Impact vs. Eli Drake

Drake is defending and unless there’s something else to end the show, they have nearly half an hour. Eli sends him into the corner to start but gets tossed outside for his efforts. Back in and a neckbreaker drops Impact again. Impact slugs away until Chris Adonis pulls him down from the floor, earning Adonis an ejection.

Back from a break with Drake teasing walking out and getting suplexed on the ramp for his efforts. Johnny charges into an elbow in the corner though, followed by an elbow on the apron for two. A chinlock keeps things slow with Josh saying it’s not boring because it’s how Drake wins matches. Fair enough.

Johnny fights up with a neckbreaker and the breakdancing legdrop, followed by the standing shooting star for two. Back from a break with Drake getting two off Blunt Force Trauma. The referee gets bumped so there’s no one to count the pin off the Flying Chuck. Adonis comes back as Drake hits Impact with the belt for two from another referee.

Drake punches the second referee as Adonis helps beat Impact down. The belt shot hits Adonis though and Johnny’s flip neckbreaker gets two more from the first referee. Drake shoves the first referee and kicks Johnny low, setting up the Gravy Train to retain Drake’s title at 25:23.

Rating: C-. So did Cornette just skip off to Wendy’s and miss the entire main event? Of all the things he complains about seeing, this is the kind of thing he would likely stop in a heartbeat but all this stuff is just allowed to happen? The match was fine, albeit completely overbooked of course, which tends to be the case in so many of these main events. You can probably pencil this in for the main event of Bound For Glory too, which isn’t the worst idea in the world.

Post match Adonis holds Impact so Eli can talk trash to him. Of all people, freaking Garza Jr. runs in for the save but LAX comes in to beat everyone down. Konnan shoves a fan and LAX takes down an Impact official. Adonis and Drake beat up some referees as Cornette and Scott D’Amore come out to end the show. Of all the people you could put into that spot, GARZA JR.??? REALLY?

Overall Rating: C. The show wasn’t terrible for the most part but the lack of personalities is getting worse every week. Drake and Impact (to a lesser degree) can talk quite well but for the most part, people just come in, do their matches and leave without making any kind of connection to the fans. It doesn’t help that the big villain is an MMA guy and the second villains are all from AAA for a lame invasion angle.

Overall, the show just feels lifeless at times and boring the rest of the time. There’s very little that stands out as impressive on the show and it feels like a combination of unoriginal stuff with uninspired characters. The wrestling is watchable but they really need to work on their storytelling, which is a disaster at the moment.

Results

Trevor Lee b. Petey Williams – Standing double stomp

Taya Valkyrie/Taryn Terrell/Sienna b. Gail Kim/Allie/Rosemary – Rollup to Allie with feet on the ropes

OVE b. LAX – Search Encompass to Ortiz

Eli Drake b. Johnny Impact – Gravy Train

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up the Complete 2002 Monday Night Raw Reviews in either E-Book or Paperback. Check out the information here:

http://kbwrestlingreviews.com/2017/07/21/new-e-bookpaperback-kbs-complete-monday-night-raw-2002-reviews/

And check out my Amazon author page with cheap wrestling books at:

http://www.amazon.com/Thomas-Hall/e/B00E6282W6

Impact Wrestling
Date: September 21, 2017
Location: Impact Zone, Orlando, Florida
Commentators: Jeremy Borash, Josh Matthews

It’s time for whatever this promotion is called this week, though I would recommend MMA Pro Wrestling at this point as the American Top Team fighters are the undisputed top stars of the show. Lashley’s release has been revoked due to getting in a big fight with Moose to end last week’s episode. Let’s get to it.

In Memory of Bobby Heenan.

We open with a recap of last week with Johnny Impact becoming #1 contender and the MMA fighters beating down Moose.

Here’s a mad Johnny Impact to open the show. He wants Eli Drake out here right now for his title shot but it turns out that Drake is in Mexico defending the title (because GFW thinks we still believe this is live every week). Instead it’s KM and a referee to interrupt. KM doesn’t want to hear this but Johnny still wants to fight Eli because he saw the champ’s car in the parking lot. KM: “YOU FANS IN THE IMPACT ZONE SUCK!” And this man is a professional ladies and gentlemen. After some insults, Johnny agrees to put up his #1 contendership right now.

Johnny Impact vs. KM

Johnny kicks him in the face at the bell and gets two off a standing shooting star. KM drapes Johnny over the top rope to take over and hammers away at the head. A sitout full nelson slam gets two but Johnny is right back with a leg lariat. KM takes a knee to the face and the breakdancing legdrop gets two. The countdown 450 puts KM away at 2:59. KM might be the most worthless member of the roster.

Pagano is ready to do bad things and tells someone that they know what to do.

Ava Storie vs. Taya Valkyrie

Taya throws her down without much effort and the beating is on in a hurry. The Road to Valhalla (a great name for the double chickenwing facebuster) is good for the pin on Storie at 1:19.

Taya says lucha royalty has arrived and she wants the Knockouts Title. Cue Rosemary to say there is laughter in her head. The Hive thinks it’s funny that Taya should get a title shot first. How dare anyone think Rosemary would lose without help from the evil bride or the champ’s speed bump of a cousin. Sienna comes in to turn this into a big brawl with Allie and Taryn Terrell following her out soon thereafter. Gail Kim finally comes in for the save to clean house.

It’s back to Mexico where OVE is refusing to leave until they get a fair title shot. A spy calls someone (presumably Konnan) to say they’re coming. Post break Konnan tells his women to show OVE a good time until LAX is ready. This is little more than an excuse for strippers to dance. LAX comes in for the showdown and a match is made for next week.

We meet some names in Global Forged. As usual, none of this has a chance to sink in because we need to get to whatever is next.

Gail, Allie and Rosemary want a six Knockouts tag. Rosemary wants the blood and gore, which seems to excite Allie more than you would expect.

We recap Trevor Lee stealing the X-Division Title last week. Petey Williams really isn’t cool with that and he wants to bring some prestige back to the title.

Bound For Glory is coming to Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.

Video on Grado performing at an indy show in Cleveland on his first assignment as a member of Joseph Park’s sports management group. It’s a fairly well attended show and Grado says he was well paid. I think you know where this is going.

El Pagano/El Hijo Del Fantasma vs. Eddie Edwards/Ethan Carter III

So yeah, Carter is just kind of a face now. Eddie starts fast with a sitout F5 to Fantasma and it’s off to Carter for some right hands in the corner. Carter makes the mistake of going after Pagano though and Fantasma kicks him in the face to take over. A running corner dropkick from Pagano gives Fantasma two, followed by a running Blockbuster to give Pagano the same.

Carter runs over both luchadors but Pagano breaks off a hot tag attempt. A quick TK3 drops Pagano and now the hot tag brings in Eddie to clean house. Everything breaks down and a modified 1%er plants Fantasma, followed by the Blue Thunder Bomb. There’s no count though as the referee decides to enforce the rules for a change. Cue fellow AAA wrestler Texano to powerbomb Eddie, giving Fantasma the pin at 6:36.

Rating: C-. I just do not care for invasion angles as these three are just people attacking GFW wrestlers. Why? No particular reason really other than they’re outsiders. I don’t have any reason to care about any of them and the match was nothing special in the first place. On top of that, I have a big issue buying the idea that GFW wrestlers who might have had issues in the past are just suddenly all friendly for the sake of standing up for the promotion.

The beatdown is on until James Storm makes the save. The announcers point out that Carter and Storm were bitter rivals just a few months ago, making this story all the less logical.

Johnny Impact is looking for Eli but runs into Fantasma and Texano. They don’t like him being in AAA so they want to fight him here, with Impact being willing to put up his #1 contendership tonight.

Kongo Kong vs. Mahabali Shera

Josh: “This is like Godzilla vs. the other big thing!” Shera hammers away but gets powerslammed down for his efforts. Kong throws him around a bit more before having to block a slam attempt. A running splash staggers Kong and a springboard….I guess clothesline that was left short puts Kong down for two. Back up and Kong scores with a headbutt, followed by the Cannonball. The top rope splash ends Shera at 3:49.

Rating: D. This would be another good example of just throwing people out there because they need to fill in time. Neither of these two have anything interesting and Kong continues to be more embarrassing than anything else. Shera is somehow the more interesting of these two, which has probably never been said before.

Eli Drake is in Mexico to find Johnny Impact but it turns out Johnny isn’t here. That gravy train is coming down the tracks to run Johnny over and no one is taking this title from him. As usual, Drake is one of the best things about this promotion by several, several miles.

We look at Lashley and the MMA guys beating Moose down. Moose isn’t happy.

Texano vs. Johnny Impact

For the #1 contendership. Felling out process to start with Texano slapping him in the chest, only to be taken down with some right hands to the face. A running knee to the jaw and the standing shooting star give Johnny two so Texano bails to the floor. Back in and Johnny hits three straight flip neckbreakers for two but the 450 misses. Texano gets in an enziguri to put Johnny on the floor and we take a break.

Back with Texano sending him into the steps and a variety of other things in lieu of actual wrestling. Texano grabs a reverse Figure Four, which goes as far as a submission hold from a heel is going to go. Johnny is back up with an Asai moonsault to the floor but loses another brawl. Back in and Texano hits some chops/clotheslines in the corner but Johnny scores with the Flying Chuck. The sliding German suplex sets up Starship Pain to give Johnny the pin at 14:35.

Rating: C-. Just another example of a match where if you don’t follow either AAA or Lucha Underground, you’re watching Johnny fight some random guy. Texano is a talented performer but he’s another name on a list of people being brought in and it’s getting really old in a hurry.

Laurel Van Ness is in the crowd looking for a man.

Sienna, Taya and Taryn go into Karen Jarrett’s office and demand a match next week. Karen is smug (ala Stephanie McMahon again) and the match is made.

For our main event, we go to AAA where Drake defended the title against Bronce.

GFW World Title: Eli Drake vs. Bronce

Drake is defending and clotheslines the much smaller Bronce down to start. A middle rope hurricanrana is countered into a powerbomb so Drake can start choking away. The pop up Big Ending gives Drake two as this arena, which doesn’t seem to be anything huge, already feels entirely better than the Impact Zone. Bronce gets two off a hurricanrana but the Gravy Train retains the title at 4:35.

Rating: D. It was watchable enough while it lasted but this was just a step above a squash. There were two big positives here though. First of all, as mentioned, the arena felt big for a change. Instead of just having the same 500 or however many bored fans, this felt like people there to see a wrestling show. That’s so much better than the norm. Second, it was nice to have a full match instead of just clips. I could live with this going forward instead of seeing about three minutes of a probably fifteen minute match.

A Victory Road ad takes us out.

Overall Rating: D. Here’s the thing: this was WAY better than last week’s show as it at least had a point and some stories running throughout the show. They have a direction (at least for now) and that’s an upgrade. However, the problem is that direction not being interesting. If you don’t REALLY like the AAA story or the MMA guys, you might as well just wait until after Bound For Glory as you’re not going to like the show until then at the earliest.

The AAA/Crash guys were all over this show, being featured in nearly every match. As mentioned, I’m not a big fan of invasion angles in the first place and I’m even less of a fan of just bringing people in and being told to care about them because they’re awesome. Without watching AAA (or Lucha Underground, which is starting to see a very similar cast of characters), I have no idea who most of these newcomers are. Therefore, I have no reason to care about them or what they’re doing. Throw in the fact that they’ll likely be gone after this taping cycle and Bound For Glory and it’s a big waste of time.

As usual, the problem is having one story dominate the show. It’s what they did in Immortal, Aces and 8’s and a host of others. While it’s not to that level yet, just wait until Alberto El Patron is back to be the big star of the AAA wrestlers (if they stick around that is). It’s a really annoying tactic and if you don’t like the story, you’re just kind of stuck waiting around, which is hardly a good way to run a TV show. Anyway, this week was less boring, and that’s about the extent of the positives.

Results

Johnny Impact b. KM – 450

Taya Valkyrie b. Ava Storie – Road to Valhalla

El Hijo Del Fantasma/El Pagano b. Ethan Carter III/Eddie Edwards – Sitout powerbomb to Edwards

Kongo Kong b. Mahabali Shera – Top rope splash

Johnny Impact b. Texano – Starship Pain

Eli Drake b. Bronce – Gravy Train

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up the Complete 2002 Monday Night Raw Reviews in either E-Book or Paperback. Check out the information here:

http://kbwrestlingreviews.com/2017/07/21/new-e-bookpaperback-kbs-complete-monday-night-raw-2002-reviews/

And check out my Amazon author page with cheap wrestling books at:

http://www.amazon.com/Thomas-Hall/e/B00E6282W6

Impact Wrestling
Date: September 14, 2017
Location: Impact Zone, Orlando, Florida
Commentators: Josh Matthews, Jeremy Borash

We’re closing in on Bound For Glory though nothing has actually been mentioned about the show yet. The big match this week is OVE vs. LAX for the Tag Team Titles….from the Crash in Tijuana, Mexico. In other words, it’s more footage from another promotion instead of here at Impact Wrestling. This is starting to feel like Ring of Honor and that’s really not a good thing. Let’s get to it.

Lashley and American Top Team arrive and beat up a backstage guy.

Quick video on Johnny Impact vs. Low Ki for the #1 contendership.

Opening sequence.

Garza Jr. vs. Braxton Sutter

Fallout from Sutter talking to Allie last week. Sutter headlocks him to start but stops to let Garza take off his shirt. A slam gives Garza two, followed by a sunset flip out of the corner for the same. Sutter gets two off a powerslam but again stops so Garza can take off his pants, but not before blowing a kiss to Allie. Her jaw drops as the pants come off and Garza superkicks Sutter for good measure. A powerbomb gives Sutter three straight near falls but he gets superkicked for a second time. Garza adds a Lionsault (minus the running start) for the pin at 4:53.

Rating: D+. So the story now is about Garza hitting on Allie and Allie causing Sutter problems. That’s quite the shame as they seem to be teasing a breakup here, despite the two of them being such an awesome team just a few months ago. Allie is incredibly talented and it’s kind of a shame that she’s been relegated to a really standard story instead of letting the two of them run with what they had earlier in the year.

Post match Sutter yells at her but then apologizes. Allie doesn’t seem to accept it at first but eventually leaves with him.

Grand Championship: Ethan Carter III vs. El Hijo de Fantasma

Carter is defending and gets a decisively face pop. Hector Guerrero is one of the judges and Josh accuses him of being biased. Fantasma is forced into the corner to start but comes right back with an armbar to slow things down. Naturally the announcers talk about Lashley and MMA because that’s what this wrestling show is now about. Some chops get Carter out of trouble and he drops an elbow for two. The TK3 connects but sends Fantasma to the floor as the round ends.

Round one goes to Carter so Fantasma starts round two in a hurry. A right hand puts him back down though and the pace slows again. Fantasma jumps over him in the corner and snaps off a hurricanrana. A jumping knee to the face sets up running knees in the corner as Carter is rocked. Fantasma gets two off a top rope hurricanrana and frog splash. The 1%er is broken up and it’s a surfboard hold to take us to the end of round two.

Fantasma wins to tie things up and we take a break before the third fall. Back with Carter powerbombing him twice for another near fall and both guys being a bit spent. A slugout goes to Fantasma but Carter flips out of a Fujiwara armbar. Another TK3 gets two but Fantasma sends him outside for a suicide dive. Back in and a hanging 1%er plants Fantasma as the time expires at 9:00. Carter wins via split decision.

Rating: B-. Good match, and another great example of one that completely doesn’t need the round thing. It’s a good enough match and they were beating each other up but it was really hard to buy the near falls when they just love these judges’ rulings. I liked the match enough but this just needs to be the TV Title again with this whole nonsense dropped.

Post match Fantasma gets in a shoving match with Hector, who was the deciding vote. That dies down and it’s Pagano debuting (in a very weak moment) to beat Carter down. Eddie Edwards runs in for the save, which Carter doesn’t seem to care for.

We go to Mexico where Homicide reunites with LAX. They hit a club and Konnan says the fix is in because they’ve paid off the referee and gives OVE tainted water.

Tag Team Titles: Ultimo Maldito/Hijo de Pirate Morgan vs. Black Boy/Arkangel Davino vs. LAX vs. OVE

Don’t know who these guys are? Well that’s just your fault because you didn’t do your homework by watching a promotion from Mexico to study up on things. Jeremy says one of their names is Black Diamond but when I looked up some of the names to see how they were spelled, it was listed as Black Boy. Much like the matches during the Hardys’ World Tour, this is a bunch of clips instead of the full match. There are some good looking dives and near falls, followed by what seems to be a three count but the referee is pulled out. Homicide adds a Gringo Killer and LAX retains after less than three minutes shown.

We see OVE going up to I believe the Crash locker room and Konnan says that’s like signing your death certificate.

Grado vs. ???

Grado is leaving due to visa issues and wanted one more match. The Wee Boot gives him the pin at 47 seconds.

Post match Grado says he’s leaving on a coach flight at 10am but he wanted to perform in front of the best fans in the world one more time. Joseph Park interrupts and he has a surprise. He’s going to be sponsoring Grado’s visa so Grado can stay! Park is going to be his agent it seems, promising him booking, in-ring Polaroid shoots and podcast appearances.

Johnny Impact says Low Ki is a dream opponent and tonight, Low Ki goes to Slam Town.

Lashley and American Top Team goes in to see Jim Cornette and demands his release. Cornette grants it but the fighters have to leave, but before Lashley leaves he wants him to face Moose one on one.

X-Division Title: Sonjay Dutt vs. Trevor Lee

Dutt is defending and this is falls count anywhere. Lee gets two on the floor off a baseball slide but Dutt sends him into the barricade for a breather. They head inside for the first time with Lee kicking him in the face, only to get dropped again. Dutt throws in a chair but Lee throws it right back out.

They hit kicks to the head at the same time for a double knockdown. Why there’s no count when Dutt’s leg is over Lee isn’t clear, but I’d guess it’s because that’s not in the script and the referee doesn’t know any better. Dutt’s tornado DDT plants Lee but a superplex plants Dutt just as fast. They head outside again with Lee throwing a chair at his head before fighting into the crowd.

We take a break (of course we do) and come back with the fight heading into the back. Caleb Konley jumps Dutt, because falls count anywhere now means No DQ. A trashcan to the head gives Lee two but heel miscommunication lets him get a breather. Dutt is busted open and it’s time to hit Lee in the head with a trashcan lid. A tornado DDT off the wall is countered with a crotching onto a barricade and Lee rolls him up (with tights) for the pin and the title at 13:57.

Rating: C+. It never ceases to amaze me how much they’ve sucked the soul out of this division. This was a fast paced match and I couldn’t bring myself to care about it no matter how hard I tried. It’s just not interesting no matter how hard they try (and the wrestlers are trying) and so much of that is due to how worthless the X-Division is now. They’re treated like an afterthought and have been for years now. Why would I care if the company doesn’t?

American Top Team beats up Richard Justice for general purposes.

Clip of Global Forged, GFW’s version of Tough Enough/Breaking Ground.

Taya Valkyrie vs. Amber Nova

Taya slams her down to start and sends Amber into the corner. A raised boot in the corner staggers Taya as JB mentions Bound For Glory, perhaps for the first time. Taya gets two off a sitout powerbomb and pulls Amber up before three. A double chickenwing facebuster (Beth Phoenix’s Glam Slam) ends Nova at 1:20.

Eli Drake and Chris Adonis smell desperation from the people trying to reach his level with their little T-Rex arms. Drake has spotted two marks in the main event and he’ll be watching.

Johnny Impact vs. Low Ki

The winner faces Drake at Victory Road, whenever that is. Ki tries some shots to the face but gets swatted away as they seem to have a lot of time here. They hit the mat for some grappling before Impact blocks a kick and grabs a dragon sleeper over the ropes. We take a break and come back with Impact fighting out of an abdominal stretch and kicking Ki down.

The breakdancing legdrop gets two and Ki is placed on the middle rope for a sliding German suplex (cool). Impact’s split legged moonsault is broken up though with Ki grabbing a hanging dragon sleeper. The Flying Chuck puts Ki down but he comes back with a shotgun dropkick into the corner. Back up and Ki crotches himself while trying the Warrior’s Way, setting up Starship Pain to give Impact the title shot at 11:14.

Rating: C. Hopefully that’s it for Low Ki as I’m sick of his stupid ultra serious yet still paying homage to/ripping off a video game look. At least he’s toned down the kicks a bit and learned to do something else for a change. Impact winning was obvious and at least they didn’t have the match go on twenty minutes for the sake of going on twenty minutes.

Post match Adonis sneaks in to put Impact in the Adonis Lock. Drake comes out to add the Gravy Train.

Lashley tells Cornette to watch what’s about to happen to Moose.

Taya yells at Karen Jarrett and tells her to pay attention to what happens in that ring.

Here’s Lashley as this show’s run time has been extended to approximately nineteen hours. Lashley talks about being forced to choose between wrestling and MMA, even though he’s doing pretty well at both. American Top Team has been begging him to come there full time and win that “mixed martial arts heavyweight championship”. He’s going back to MMA full time but first, he wants to call out Moose. The announcers are surprised by this, despite seeing what Cornette said and mentioning it during the show.

Moose comes out and immediately punches him in the jaw, only to get clotheslined to the floor. A powerbomb on the floor keeps Moose in trouble but he cuts off the spar with a boot. They fight into the crowd because this needs to fill in more time. This just keeps going as they head into the back with the announcers continuing to name drop Dan Lambert every chance they have.

A neckbreaker drops Moose on the apron as the announcers talk about how Lashley leaving might cost them their Christmas bonuses. Moose kicks him down and hits a spear at ringside. They get back inside and of course here are the MMA guys to beat Moose down to end the show after a nearly seven minute brawl.

Overall Rating: D. This show felt as long as Wrestlemania and my goodness we’ve got how many weeks left in this taping cycle? I don’t even know where to begin on what was wrong with this show. Above all else though, it’s the same problem I have watching Ring of Honor when they’re in their New Japan phases: I don’t watch the show to see other promotions. I watch it to see GFW, not whatever other promotion they can fit in this week. Last week it was twenty minutes of AAA and this week it’s the other AAA guys plus the Crash.

If that’s not enough, the big story, with the last segment of the show and a lot of time, is still the MMA stuff. Combine that with all the international material and it feels like A, GFW doesn’t have enough content of its own to fill two hours a week or B, they don’t think their own stuff is good enough. It’s like they keep having to show you something else to entertain you instead of paying attention to what they have and that gets very, very old in a hurry.

The wrestling is decent at best, the stories are dreadful, the talent isn’t all that great and the focus is all over the place. It’s such a mess anymore and I have a feeling this is going to be how things go all the way to Bound For Glory in November. The worst part is that the show wasn’t completely terrible but rather just exceedingly boring. Nothing caught my attention and almost nothing felt special. It’s just stuff going on for two hours with a bunch of segments and matches that you might like. Not a good show, but much worse, not a good sign for the weeks to come.

Results

Garza Jr. b. Braxton Sutter – Middle rope moonsault

Ethan Carter III b. Hijo de Fantasma via split decision

Grado b. ??? – Wee boot

Trevor Lee b. Sonjay Dutt – Rollup with a handful of tights

Taya Valkyrie b. Amber Nova – Double chickenwing facebuster

Johnny Impact b. Low Ki – Starship Pain

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up the Complete 2002 Monday Night Raw Reviews in either E-Book or Paperback. Check out the information here:

http://kbwrestlingreviews.com/2017/07/21/new-e-bookpaperback-kbs-complete-monday-night-raw-2002-reviews/

And check out my Amazon author page with cheap wrestling books at:

http://www.amazon.com/Thomas-Hall/e/B00E6282W6