Oh yeah they do pay per views around here. Impact is in a promising place for a change as they move to AXS TV later this month and have one big show to get through first. There are some good looking matches on the card and that means the show should work. This company’s pay per views have a tendency to be pretty good and this is their biggest of the year so hopefully the trend holds. Let’s get to it.
Rascalz vs. Dr. Wagner Jr./Aero Star/Taurus
This is one of those matches that should follow a pretty logical path but you never can tell with this company. The idea here is simple: take an Impact trip and have them face three luchadors, but it might not be as obvious as it seems. The Rascalz lost a trios match last week on Impact, so would it be that crazy to see it happen again? Given the amount of international guest stars this show has, they certainly seem to be important around here.
The confidence seems a bit low here:
Call Your Shot Gauntlet Match
So this is a match where the winner gets the title shot of their choosing. That’s a fine idea, but there is one problem here: it isn’t clear who all is in the match. We know a few names though and that should be enough to make some sense of the thing. The problem though is there is always the chance of some kind of a surprise twist, which won’t make a lot of sense but they’ll go with it anyway.
A battle royal to set up a battle royal:
Ken Shamrock vs. Moose
So yeah, this is something that is taking place too, because we need that seventeen year old nostalgia for someone who was in the company for….what a few months or so? I’m not sure how bad this is going to be but there is a chance of VERY bad, which is about what you have to expect at this point from Shamrock. He has wrestled a handful of matches this year so he won’t be entirely rusty, but this still has the potential to be a terrible result.
I hope he’s ready:
Tag Team Titles: The North(c) vs. Rich Swann/Willie Mack vs. Rob Van Dam/Rhino
Much like Moose vs. Shamrock, this is a case where they’ll be fine if they don’t do something stupid. I really wasn’t feeling the idea of Van Dam and Rhino getting a title shot but as long as they don’t walk out as champions, it really doesn’t hurt anything. The North have turned into a treat and one of the better tag teams going today, which I never would have bet when they first showed up.
They’re already fighting:
X-Division Title: Jake Crist(c) vs. Daga vs. Tessa Blanchard vs. Rohit Raju vs. Sabu vs. Ace Austin
This is a ladder match and WHAT THE HECK DID I DO TO DESERVE THIS ONE??? Of all the people in the world, we need Raju and Sabu in this thing? Was there any need to have those two in here instead of just going with the other four and having a fun match as a result? Sabu will likely get in his big dive and the people can chant ECW and hopefully he doesn’t die. Now with the nostalgia out of the way, we can move on to something else.
This screams bad idea:
Knockouts Title: Taya Valkyrie(c) vs. Tenille Dashwood
I’m really not sure what to expect with this one as Valkyrie has held the title for a long time but I can’t picture Dashwood being the one to take it from her. Dashwood is the kind of star who should be the big breakout deal but ever since her debut outside of WWE, the spark just hasn’t been there and I’m not sure they’ll make her champion here.
Monsters and challengers afoot:
Michael Elgin vs. Naomichi Marufuji
It’s another guest star here as Marufuji is a big deal in Pro Wrestling Noah and since Elgin has a long career in Japan, this is what we’re getting. The match is likely to be very good, though it brings up the most common problem with this kind of match: why should I care about Marufuchi? Other than “he’s from Japan”, there isn’t much to go on with him here and it shows badly.
This could be a heck of a fight:
Impact Wrestling World Title: Brian Cage(c) vs. Sami Callihan
Now this one is actually intriguing as the story of Callihan attacking Cage’s new wife is something that has some legs to it. Cage is a physical freak and should be able to destroy Callihan, but with the OVE lackeys and Cage being so furious, maybe they can pull off some kind of a surprise here. If nothing else, it’s nice to see Cage actually defend the belt after he won it six months ago.
It’s going to get very ugly:
Overall Thoughts
There really are a lot of guest stars on this show and I’m not seeing that as a good sign for the future. It’s like they don’t believe in their own talent enough and that isn’t exactly encouraging. What matters here though is getting a good show out there so we can move into the AXS TV era on a high note, and there is a good reason to believe that they could pull it off. Things will have to go right in a very specific way, but there is a path here and that’s as good as anything else. I’m curious about this one and that hasn’t been the case with Impact for a long time.
Thomas Hall has been a wrestling fan for over thirty years and has seen over 50,000 wrestling matches. He has also been a wrestling reviewer since 2009 with over 5,000 full shows covered. You can find his work at kbwrestlingreviews.com, or check out his- Amazon author page with 30 wrestling books. His latest book is KB’s Complete 2004 Monday Night Raw Reviews.
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