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MCMAHON’S IMPACT WRESTLING REPORT
Victory Road 2017
Sept. 28, 2017
Taped from Orlando, Fla. (Universal Studios)
Aired on Pop TV
Announcers: Josh Mathews & Jeremy Borash
Immediately following tonight’s Impact Wrestling, tune in to the PWTorch Livecast. Mike McMahon and Andrew Soucek will discuss tonight’s show with callers. Listen at www.pwtorchlivecast.com and call the show at 515-605-9345 or email impactlivecast@gmail.com
— The GFW signature graphic aired.
— Johnny Impact was shown arriving at the Impact Zone.
— A video aired hyping tonight’s matches.
(1) TREVOR LEE (w/Caleb Konley) [c] vs. PETEY WILLIAMS — X Division Championship match
Five minutes into the match, Lee had Williams locked in a side headlock. Mathews and Borash plugged Bound for Glory tickets. Lee ate a boot after charging Williams in the corner. Lee and Williams trade shots on the apron. Williams sets up Lee for a Canadian Destroyer at the 7-minute mark, and as the referee was about to count to three, Konley broke up the pin by pulling the referee out of the ring. Konley argued that he should be disqualified. Konley slid the X Division Title into the ring for Lee. The referee threw out Konley and told him to go to the back, but as he argued with Konley, Lee hit Williams with the belt but Williams kicked out at two. Williams and Lee trade forearms and kicks. Williams came off the rope but Lee hit the double stomp for the win, grabbing tights on the pin.
WINNER: Trevor Lee retains in 9:00.
McMahon: Good opener. Lee and Williams worked really well together and the Canadian Destroyer still looks ultra-impressive. The interference was a bit of a waste, though. I’m usually a believer that outside interference should lead to a finish, or else it diminishes the importance of it later on. That being said, it did result in a believable near fall, and I think it’s excusable here because it’s not like Konley is a future main-eventer. The best example I can remember is the way the WWF treated Kevin Nash in the early-90s, when he was the bodyguard for Shawn Michaels. Everything Nash did resulted in a finish. Obviously, Konley isn’t Kevin Nash, but the Nash example is what I mean when I say outside interference should usually lead to a finish, for it to have any sort of impact in the long run.
[c]
— LAX was talking about their title defense tonight from their clubhouse.
(2) GAIL KIM, ROSEMARY & ALLIE vs. TAYA VALKYRIE, TARYN TERRELL & SIENNA
Rosemary and Valkyrie began the match. Gail Kim tagged in and Valkyrie had her trapped in the corner. Gail came back with a boot. Chaos then ensued, with everyone jumping into the ring.
[c]
Back from the break, Sienna was battling Gail Kim and had thrown her into the ring post, leading with her shoulder. The heels had a 3-on-1 on Gail as Allie tried to argue with the referee. Gail was dominated in the corner by Valkyrie. Allie hit a dropkick on Terrell. Rosemary and Sienna tag in. Allie hit a codebreaker on Sienna, knocking her into a german suplex from Rosemary. Valkyrie dove on Rosemary from the top rope to the outside. Gail dove off the apron onto Valkyrie on the outside. In the ring, Sienna rolled up Allie and got the win with her feet on the ropes.
WINNER: Sienna, Valkyrie and Terrell in 10:00.
McMahon: Between Gail, Sienna, Valkyrie and Rosemary, the Impact women’s division is really strong and there is the potential for some really good 1-on-1 matches here. That’s my biggest takeaway from this match. We got little hints of a lot. They should build towards a Valkyrie-Kim match at Bound for Glory, but they need to find a way to get the title involved. On a side note, it’s interesting to see the heels win the first two matches, both with heel’ish tactics.
— Backstage: Eli Drake said that he is being disrespected as champion.
[c]
— A vignette aired on Grado and Joseph Park. They were eating diner as Grado was in his wrestling gear. Park gave Grado his first check. Grado said he would pay for dinner. Park got a phone call and had to leave. Grado opened the check and looked bewildered by the amount before tucking it away in his shoulder strap.
— McKenzie Mitchell was backstage with Johnny Impact, who was sitting on a zebra print couch. He said it was supposed to be Eli Drake’s, but he took it. Impact said Drake will go to “slam town” tonight.
McMahon: Nothing is cheesier than “slam town.” And Impact insists on saying it at least 2-3 times per promo/interview. Does he think that sounds cool?
— James Storm came to the ring. Storm said there are wrestlers from AAA trying to leapfrog him, and no one can come in from another country and leapfrog him. Storm then made the Impact Zone stand up and yell, “GFW!” over and over, saying that was respect. Storm said AAA has no respect for anyone. Storm said that he was going to beat ass and drink beer.
Those words brought out the AAA team. El Texano Jr. Storm said that this has nothing to do with USA and Mexico because they’re all human beings. Right after that, Storm said that there are Mexi-cans and Mexi-can’ts, and Texano is just plain stupid. He called Texano Chihuahua and then told him to get his “Taco Bell ass” in the ring. The crowd chanted “Taco Bell!” as Texano charged the ring and a brawl began. Fantasma came to aide Texano. Texano took his bull rope and whipped Storm. Texano took Storm’s beer bottle and was about to smash it over his head, but ECIII hit the ring and cleared it of the heels. Storm extended his hand and ECIII walked away without shaking it. After a moment on the apron, ECIII returned to the ring and shook Storm’s hand.
Fantasma said that they respect GFW, but AAA is the best company in the world. He told the crowd to chant for AAA.
McMahon: Storm’s promo felt like it was mildly racist. Maybe even more than mildly, calling him a chihuahua and Taco Bell? Really? You couldn’t come up with any other material? Whoever wrote that promo should be fired. Talk about how the AAA wrestlers have come in and are trying to run the company. Talk about how they think they are better. Fantasma said that they respect GFW, but AAA was better. If not for the 2-on-1, I’d say that the AAA guys came across more as the babyfaces. Storm came across as a mildly racist hillbilly. Not a good look, especially nowadays. Creative needs to be a lot smarter than that.
[c]
— Backstage: James Storm grabbed Jim Cornette by his neck and screamed at him to get the AAA guys in the ring against Storm and ECIII. Storm and ECIII said they hate each other but they’re willing to team. Cornette booked the tag team match for next week. Storm asked how keen they are on the AAA partnership? Storm said that AAA wasn’t going to be happy the way they send their boys back to them. Cornette told him to win the match, but not screw up the deal. Storm apologized.
— They aired the next edition of Global Forged.
(3) LAX [c] (w/ Diamante & Konnan) vs. oVe — GFW Tag Team Championship match
The match began on the outside with all four wrestlers brawling. The match hit the ring with Dave Crist and Santana the legal men. Meanwhile, on the outside, Ortiz and Jake Crist were still brawling.
[c]
Jake landed kicks on Ortiz and Santana and tried for a spinning neckbreaker on Santana but he got out of the way. Crist powerslammed Santana into the corner for a two count. oVe hit Santana with a superplex into a powerbomb, but Ortiz broke up the pin and then chopped both members of oVe. After a few seconds, oVe took control again but Ortiz came back with kicks. Ortiz hit a death valley driver on Jake Crist, into Dave Crist. Santana hit a senton into the corner for a two count. Ortiz was prone on the middle rope and Dave Crist hit a DDT for the win.
WINNER: oVe wins the GFW Tag Team Titles in 13:00.
After the match, oVe celebrated on the ramp while Konnan looked on in disbelief at ringside. oVe celebrated on the stage as Konnan tried to calm down Santana.
— Lashley was shown training at American Top Team in Colorado. Lashley was shown sparring with King Mo. … King Mo said that Bobby was back as other members of ATT said that Lashley needs to stay there. Dan Lambert said it was nice that Impact sent cameras to say goodbye to Lashley. Lambert said he makes champions at ATT, and called Impact a circus. Lambert said that now that Lashley is exclusively into MMA, he will go to the top. Lambert shoved the camera and said to go back to the circus, because the “big boys” had work to do.
— oVe was shown celebrating their title win backstage with Johnny Impact and Scott D’Amore was there congratulating them.
[c]
— Borash and Mathews were shown. The announce table was now up near the stage, similar to Raw, and away from ringside. Mathews ran down matches scheduled for next week.
(4) ELI DRAKE [c] (w/ Chris Adonis) vs. JOHNNY IMPACT — GFW Global Title match
Early in the match, Impact kicked Drake out to the floor. Adonis and Impact argued as Drake was bought some time to get back into the ring. Impact clotheslined Drake and hit a neckbreaker. After Adonis interfered from the outside, Brian Hebner ejected Adonis.
[c]
Back from the break, Impact was still in control of the match. Impact landed a kick but Drake hit a big right elbow that sent Impact to the outside and the floor. Drake worked over Impact and leaned on him slowly with a rear chin lock. Mathews said that the match might look boring when Drake is on offense, but this is how he wins matches. Impact fought back with a kick across the chest. Impact hit a Russian leg sweep and a leg drop for a two count. Impact set up Drake on the top and hit a Spanish Fly for a two count.
[c]
Back from the break, Drake and Impact were trading right hands. Drake poked Impact’s eyes and hit a clothesline for a two count. After a ref bump, Adonis came back to ringside and got Drake the GFW belt. Drake hit Impact with the belt and made a cover. A second referee made the count but Impact kicked out. Drake argued with the referee for a few seconds and then blasted the referee with a punch. Adonis came into the ring and Drake/Adonis double-teamed Impact in the corner. Impact tried to fight back butt here was no referee. Drake grabbed the title belt again and he went to hit Impact, but he ducked and Adonis was hit with it. Impact hit a swinging neckbreaker on Drake, on top of the championship. A referee came back to life and made a count but Drake kicked out. Impact dragged Drake over to the corner. Borash continued to say that Drake should have been disqualified. Impact went to the top rope, counted down (wasted time) and Drake rolled away, hiding behind the official. Impact jumped off the top and Drake hit him with a low blow (the referee didn’t see it) and then picked up the win after a Gravy Train.
WINNER: Eli Drake retains in 26:00.
After the match, Drake said to cut his music. Adonis picked up Impact and Drake told him to get Impact on his knees. Drake said that Impact was just inches away, as he held the title in front of Impact’s face. Drake said that’s as close as Impact will get. Drake and Adonis continued to kick Impact. Drake was about to hit Impact with the belt again but Garza Jr. hit the ring and cleared out the heels. LAX came to the ring and attacked Garza Jr. and Impact. Konnan shoved a fan at ringside. Konnan shoved an Impact official who came to ringside. In the ring, Adonis put an Adonis Lock on a referee. Drake threw a referee out of the ring. Jim Cornette and Scott D’Amore came to ringside as Drake celebrated over Impact’s body in the ring.
McMahon: Drake worked good as a heel. Mathews was right that his offense wasn’t exciting, but that was so the fans didn’t get on his side. He slowed the match down and made people want to see Impact make a comeback with his high-flying energy. The post-match stuff was hectic and, while different, also felt a little confusing. There was just a lot going on. This was a good match, though, and it seems like they’re headed towards a rematch at Bound for Glory in a little more than a month.
Everything is racist!