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MCMAHON’S IMPACT WRESTLING REPORT
Oct. 25, 2018
Taped from The Melrose Ballroom (New York, N.Y.)
Aired on Pop TV
By Mike McMahon, PW Torch Contributor (@TorchMcMahon)
Announcers: Josh Mathews & Don Callis
Immediately following Impact on Pop, join Mike McMahon and Andrew Soucek on the PW Torch Livecast as they discuss the show. Listen at www.pwtorchlivecast.com or email the show impactlivecast@gmail.com
— Impact opened with a highlight package on last week’s show.
— Scarlett Bordeaux made her entrance and then sat in a chair on top of the stage.
(1) Sami Callihan (w/ oVe) def. Trevor Lee (7:00)
Scarlett Bordeaux left the stage in the middle of the match. The finish came when oVe interfered and it allowed Callihan to hit Lee with a piledriver.
After the match, oVe was about to beat down Lee but Brian Cage made the save. He hit the ring and cleared out oVe, stealing Callihan’s bat. Cage gave Callihan his bat back and told Callihan to hit him with his best shot. Callihan went for it but Cage ducked and dropped Callihan with a Death Valley Driver. Cage went for a Drill Claw, but oVe pulled Callihan out of the ring.
McMahon’s Analysis: Considering Impact has buried Trevor Lee over and over again, he got in a good amount of offense against Sami Callihan, who is one of the company’s top stars. Mathews even said Lee winning would be a “huge upset” and Callihan needed oVe’s help to get the win. Cage’s involvement at the end of the match was fine, especially where it seems like Callihan-Cage is the net feud for both men. Even though this match treated Lee better, he was still used as a means to an end rather than in a more featured spot, which he deserves.
— King was backstage with the OGz and he was upset about Konnan and “the bosses.”
— Gama Singh was warming up backstage. Rohit Raju was massaging him, and he asked how this would help Raju get ready to wrestle Gama Singh?
— Mathews and Don Callis were resetting the show and Eli Drake appeared. He put on a headset and Callis said that Drake has a lawsuit against Impact, so he can’t be there. Drake intimidated Callis, who took off his headset and said that Drake should do color commentary tonight.
(2) LAX (w/ Konnan) def. The Heavenly Bodies (5:00) — non-title match
During the match, Mathews asked Drake about his lawsuit. Drake said Impact had become an unsafe work environment. Drake said the violence between LAX and the OGz was a theme in Impact, and things with no padding and chairs made it unsafe. Drake said he was a victim of violence at Bound for Glory and in Mexico, and he wasn’t going to take it anymore. Drake said, “with everyone filing lawsuits against Impact, I figured I’d join the crowd.”
McMahon’s Analysis: So, they’re going to try to get heat on Drake as a heel by having him resist the edgier approach Impact is taking. Drake said the company had become too violent and it’s not what he signed up for. Basically, I think this is a modified reincarnation of Mick Foley’s anti-hardcore stuff from ECW before he went to the WWF in 1996.
— Tessa Blanchard approached Taya Valkyrie backstage. Tessa said Taya likes to run her mouth and she likes to make excuses. Tessa said she’d put the title on the line next week so she can prove that she can beat Taya any way she wants.
— Backstage, Konnan was congratulating LAX on a win. They were stopped by Matt Sydal and Ethan Page. Sydal said they weren’t afraid of the tag team champions. Konnan said Sydal was consuming too many mushrooms.
— McKenzie Mitchell interviewed Moose and Killer Kross about their match against Fallah Bahh and KM tonight.
— Impact aired a video package on Fenix, highlighting his rise and Fenix spoke about why he wanted to win the championship.
McMahon’s Analysis: Yes! This was perfect! More of this, please! That video package accomplished more in 60 seconds than anything else Impact has done with Fenix, and that includes him wrestling in a World Title match at Redemption. This package explained who Fenix is, and he told us why winning the title was important to him. This was perfect!
— Rich Swann and Willie Mack were backstage, toasting to Bound for Glory.Willie Mack asked Swann to be his first singles opponent next week.
— Mathews narrated highlights of Gama Singh.
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(3) Rohit Raju def. Gama Singh via disqualifcation (2:00)
Don Callis is back on commentary. Gama Singh introduced himself, taking about 45 seconds to run down all of his accomplishments. Then Singh said, “and my opponent, Rohit Raju.” The finish came when Gama’s new wrestler — we don’t know his name — hi the ring and beat up Raju. Gama climbed in after the bell rang for the DQ and covered him, and Gama’s new wrestler counted three. Then the new wrestler helped Raju to his feet and Gama hugged him. Gama hugged the new wrestler as well.
McMahon’s Analysis: Gama introducing himself was comical. We don’t know the new wrestler paired with Gama Singh, but he did look impressive, albeit he was in there against the much-smaller Rohit Raju.
— McKenzie Mitchell interviewed Johnny Impact backstage. Impact said that Fenix was in his wedding party and got him an outside grill, because he knows that Impact likes to grill chicken outside. “He cares about my macros! That’s family!” Impact said.
McMahon’s Analysis: Oh, the cheesiness! Most of this promo was really good, but the “my man cares about my macros!” line felt very forced and didn’t come across as being cool. Impact did get it back on track pretty quickly, though.
— Scarlett Bordeaux was in the bathtub reviewing video submissions.
(4) Moose & Killer Kross def. KM & Fallah Bahh (10:00)
Eddie Edwards returned mid-match and attacked Moose, brawling with him to the back and leaving Kross alone. Kross locked in a choke on KM and the match was called off by the official.
McMahon’s Analysis: If you listen to the Thursday Livecast, you know I’m a big fan of KM and Fallah Bahh, but this match still felt odd. Perhaps they had big plans for Moose and Killer Kross if they were aligned with Austin Aries … now with Aries gone from the company, those big plans seem to be thrown out the window. Sure, they got the win, but Bahh and KM had a ton of offense here (and the crowd ate it up, by the way). But Moose and Kross have been positioned so much higher on the card, this felt like it should have been a 3-4 minute match, not a 10-minute competitive match where the losers actually looked better (they had more offense) than the winners. At one point in the match, Moose told Bahh, “I’m Mr. Impact Wrestling and you’re just a fat piece of shit!”
— Cameras caught up with Moose and Eddie Edwards, who were brawling on the roof of the Melrose Ballroom. Moose told Eddie it was “time to fly.” Moose went to throw Eddie off the roof but he got off his shoulder. Moose choked Eddie while trying to push him over the roof. Edwards raked Moose’s eyes. Moose finally escaped back into the building.
— The GWN Flashback moment aired.
— A vignette aired on Jordynne Grace.
— Back from a break, Alisha Edwards was yelling at Eddie Edwards again. Edwards stopped her with a big kiss.
McMahon: All we see Alisha do is yell at Eddie … it’s getting annoying.
(5) Su Yung def. Kiera Hogan (w/ Allie) (5:00)
Kiera Hogan met Su Yung on the entrance ramp and they began to brawl. Allie saved Kiera from a Panic Switch on the ramp, and then when she went to attack her, Allie became paralyzed just because of Su Yung’s stare. She went to the back and told Kiera she couldn’t help her right now. Su Yung dragged Kiera back in the ring and hit a Panic Switch for the finish.
McMahon’s Analysis: More supernatural nonsense.
(6) Johnny Impact (c) def. Fenix (16:00) — Impact World Title match
After the match, Impact grabbed the belt and had his hand raised. Impact hugged Fenix in the corner and then left the ring. Mathews threw to highlights of the match. Suddenly, the OGz attacked Fenix after Impact had made his way to the backstage area. The OGz came in through the crowd. Homicide had a fork. Pentagon’s music hit and he ran down to make the save for his brother, clearing the ring with a chair.
McMahon’s Analysis: As you would expect, this was a very good and very athletic match. Impact and Fenix put on a pay-per-view quality main event, that if it weren’t for commercial breaks, I think would have had a lot more flow and back-and-forth to it. Knowing they had the ability to speed the action up at the drop of a hat, Impact and Fenix actually began the match slow with some holds before breaking into some more athletic spots about 90 seconds into the match.
— Backstage, Killer Kross was talking to someone backstage, but we couldn’t say who. He said people think he’s crazy. He doesn’t like that. Kross said that he believed the person was crazy, because that person thinks they can change things, but only Kross can change things. As Kross walked off, the camera panned down and showed Johnny Impact laying with the title draped over his chest.
NOW CHECK OUT LAST WEEK’S REPORT: 10/18 IMPACT WRESTLING RESULTS: Brian Cage vs. Rich Swann, Trevor Lee vs. Ethan Page, BFG fallout
I can’t help but be baffled by the fact that when these wrestlers are working for Lucha Underground, almost every match was interesting and “must see.” Now that they are working for Impact, it doesn’t seem the same. Maybe Impact needs to hire Chavo Guerrero as booker, and Matt Striker and Vampiro as its announcers (or just merge with AAA and let them have it as their American division). Another thing they need to do is move the TV tapings back to Orlando, which has a fan base that is familiar with the talent and cares about them. Finally, as much as I love the GWN Flashback, all it serves to do is show how great this product once was and likely never will be again. Impact is treading water and has been for months. It’s been passed by ROH, and could well be passed by MLW and the revived NWA before long.