{"id":56464,"date":"2018-03-09T13:35:49","date_gmt":"2018-03-09T19:35:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/?p=56464"},"modified":"2018-03-09T13:35:49","modified_gmt":"2018-03-09T19:35:49","slug":"mcmahons-impact-report-3-8-crossroads-episode-aries-vs-impact-world-title","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/2018\/03\/09\/mcmahons-impact-report-3-8-crossroads-episode-aries-vs-impact-world-title\/","title":{"rendered":"MCMAHON&#8217;S IMPACT REPORT (3\/8): &#8220;Crossroads&#8221; episode, Aries vs. Impact for the World Title"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"pwtor-562215146\" class=\"pwtor-before-content pwtor-entity-placement\"><hr \/><b>SPOTLIGHTED PODCAST ALERT (YOUR ARTICLE BEGINS A FEW INCHES DOWN)... <\/b>\r\n\r\n<iframe src=\"https:\/\/widget.spreaker.com\/player?show_id=3076978&theme=light&playlist=false&playlist-continuous=false&autoplay=false&live-autoplay=false&chapters-image=true&episode_image_position=right&hide-logo=false&hide-likes=false&hide-comments=false&hide-sharing=false&hide-download=true\" width=\"100%\" height=\"140px\" frameborder=\"0\"><\/iframe>\r\n<hr \/><\/div><p>A massive power outage after our second Nor\u2019Easter in four days knocked out my ability to watch Impact Wrestling last night live, and it also KO\u2019ed Andrew Soucek and I on the PWTorch Livecast.<\/p>\n<p>But there\u2019s good news!<\/p>\n<p>First, the results and my reaction to last night\u2019s show are below. Also, this weekend Andrew and I will record a review of \u201cCross Roads\u201d and it will be posted on the Livecast feed.<\/p>\n<h2>Impact Wrestling \u201cCrossroads\u201d<br \/>\nMarch 8, 2018<br \/>\nAired on Pop TV<br \/>\nTaped at Universal Studios (Orlando, Fla.)<\/h2>\n<p><strong>LAX defeated Trevor Lee &amp; Caleb Konley to retain the Impact Tag Team Titles<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>There was a lot of great action in this match, which you would expect between these teams. Despite not a lot of time, they\u2019ve built this story well over the last month or so.<\/p>\n<p>Impact still isn\u2019t using Trevor Lee correctly. He should be a featured singles wrestler on the show, but if they aren\u2019t going to do that, they should at least book Lee and Konley as a more serious team, rather than these goofballs who just can\u2019t seem to get anything right.<\/p>\n<p>LAX is not only the coolest team in Impact, they\u2019re really the only team outside of OVE. It\u2019s still a two-team company, for the most part.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Matt Sydal defeated Taiji Ishimori to win the X-Division Title and retain the Grand Championship<\/strong><\/p><div id=\"pwtor-537254048\" class=\"pwtor-content pwtor-entity-placement\"><div align=\"center\" data-freestar-ad=\"__336x280 __336x280\" id=\"pwtorchcom_test_300x250\">\r\n  <script data-cfasync=\"false\" type=\"text\/javascript\">\r\n    freestar.config.enabled_slots.push({ placementName: \"pwtorchcom_test_300x250\", slotId: \"pwtorchcom_test_300x250\" });\r\n  <\/script>\r\n<\/div><\/div>\n<p>This was an excellent match, and in fact, it was one of the best matches Impact has presented in a while. I\u2019ve become a huge Ishimori fan since his involvement last year, and despite his lack of English, he\u2019s connecting more with the crowd, and it\u2019s because of what he\u2019s able to do in the ring.<\/p>\n<p>These are the types of wrestlers, and this is the type of match, that Impact should be looking to promote. It has to be a variety show, I understand that, but guys like Sydal and Ishimori should be part of the primary focus. Good, athletic wrestling.<\/p>\n<p>It feels like Impact is slowly changing its identity. They\u2019re phasing out guys like ECIII and replacing them with guys like Austin Aries. Brian Cage has the look of a big WWE-level star, but he\u2019s also a skilled performer.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Allie beat Laurel Van Ness to win the Knockouts Title<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>To borrom a term from Jim Cornette, this went over like a fart in church.<\/p>\n<p>The match result is fine. Laurel Van Ness is on her way out of the company, so moving the belt onto Allie is fine. I would rather see Rosemary and Taya Valkyrie feuding over the title, to be honest.<\/p>\n<p>Allie\u2019s character was over huge last year. She was getting great crowd reaction and it was one of the few things Impact genuinely built on their own under Jeff Jarrett (and the regime before him).<\/p>\n<p>But they made this big moment for Allie feel so bland. Josh Mathews was not good on commentary, which made the moment feel stale. Then Impact not long after the win cut away to go to commercial.<\/p><div id=\"pwtor-231912958\" class=\"pwtor-content-1 pwtor-entity-placement\"><!-- Tag ID: pwtorchcom_test_300x600 -->\r\n<div align=\"center\" data-freestar-ad=\"__336x280 __300x600\" id=\"pwtorchcom_test_300x600\">\r\n  <script data-cfasync=\"false\" type=\"text\/javascript\">\r\n    freestar.config.enabled_slots.push({ placementName: \"pwtorchcom_test_300x600\", slotId: \"pwtorchcom_test_300x600\" });\r\n  <\/script>\r\n<\/div><\/div>\n<p>Where\u2019s the fanfare or hype?<\/p>\n<p>The match was good, though. Laurel Van Ness, who was dropping the title on her way out the door, worked hard to get Allie over.<\/p>\n<p>On top of that, I hope the Allie character evolves. She\u2019s the champion now, so booking her as an aloof, gullible teenager isn\u2019t going to work.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Brian Cage &amp; Bobby Lashley defeated OVE (w\/ Sami Callahan)<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Cage was a surprise partner for Lashley, coming down midway through the match and then picking up the win for his team. After the match, Cage refused to shake Lashley\u2019s hand.<\/p>\n<p>Impact had to do something with Eddie Edwards out for the rest of the tapings after the injury suffered against Callahan.<\/p>\n<p>This will likely be criticized, but I\u2019m OK with Impact and Callahan using the bat shot as a way to get heat on Callahan. It was a dumb move (using the bat on the chair) but it happened, so why not capitalize on it? I don\u2019t think it\u2019s distasteful, especially if Edwards is OK with it.<\/p>\n<p>The only issue here was Cage joining mid-match. Wouldn\u2019t that be a DQ? Lashley seemed surprised he had a partner and the announcers made a point of calling the match a handicap match with Edwards hurt.<\/p>\n<p>Cage refusing the handshake teases a match with Lashley. If Lashley is on his way out of the company \u2014 and he was at the end of the taping \u2014 then while it might feel rushed, it makes sense for them to put Cage over Lashley on the way out. Ideally this match would happen at Bound for Glory, or something, but given the restraints of Lashley leaving, I\u2019d rather they do it now than not at all.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Austin Aries defeated Johnny Impact to retain the Impact World Title<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Wow! A good match with a clean finish! A clean finish! Hooray!<\/p>\n<p>They showed Alberto El Patron arriving at the building prior to the match, and that was terrifying. They were setting up an El Patron run-in but it didn\u2019t happen until after the match. I\u2019m not pleased that they\u2019re going to keep him in the title picture \u2014 fool me once, blame on you, fool me twice \u2026 \u2014 but they seem to think it\u2019s necessary.<\/p>\n<p>El Patron is nothing as a character. He\u2019s a name, but that\u2019s about it, and I\u2019d argue even how much name value he has.<\/p>\n<div class=\"pwtor-end-article-groups pwtor-entity-placement\" id=\"pwtor-1482030292\"><div id=\"pwtor-3508741808\"><div align=\"center\" data-freestar-ad=\"__336x280\" id=\"pwtorchcom_medrec_3\">\r\n  <script data-cfasync=\"false\" type=\"text\/javascript\">\r\n    freestar.config.enabled_slots.push({ placementName: \"pwtorchcom_medrec_3\", slotId: \"pwtorchcom_medrec_3\" });\r\n  <\/script>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\nTHANK YOU FOR VISITING<\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div class=\"mh-excerpt\"><p>A massive power outage after our second Nor\u2019Easter in four days knocked out my ability to watch Impact Wrestling last night live, and it also KO\u2019ed Andrew Soucek and I on the PWTorch Livecast. But <a class=\"mh-excerpt-more\" href=\"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/2018\/03\/09\/mcmahons-impact-report-3-8-crossroads-episode-aries-vs-impact-world-title\/\" title=\"MCMAHON&#8217;S IMPACT REPORT (3\/8): &#8220;Crossroads&#8221; episode, Aries vs. Impact for the World Title\">[&#8230;]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":54867,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","itunes_episode_number":"","itunes_title":"","itunes_season_number":"","itunes_episode_type":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[18,21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-56464","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-tvshowsandevents","category-tv_tnareports"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/post\/2018\/02\/Impact-Logo-2018.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56464","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=56464"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56464\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":56792,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56464\/revisions\/56792"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/54867"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=56464"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=56464"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=56464"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}