SPOTLIGHTED PODCAST ALERT (YOUR ARTICLE BEGINS A FEW INCHES DOWN)...
HITS
Impact vs. Garza: I was really down on this match happening (and it is still absurd that Garza Jr. was given this shot), but the two delivered with the time and spot they were given. Garza looked like he belonged in the main event and Johnny Impact made him look strong in defeat. The key now is the follow up. Matt Sydal was given a big push and nothing came of it. Dezmond Xavier looked like he was getting one and then he disappeared (glad to see he’s alive!). If they want fans to get invested in the individual journeys of wrestlers, then they need to stop giving up on people so suddenly.
Rosemary’s Squash: The match itself was a little sloppy, but Rosemary badly needed the chance to look dominant again. She’s clearly one of the most popular wrestlers in the Impact Zone, so highlighting her in matches like this is a smart move. While heels have continually been getting the best of her, it made sense for Taya Valkyrie to get in the cheap shot with the mist to set up a Bound For Glory showdown. Simple but effective.
Konnan on the Mic: A hit for Konnan’s mic work. A miss for OVE’s. I’m not sure if the Ohio dudes are just nervous, but they feel incredibly bland when they speak. They yell like stereotypical wrestlers and don’t have much to say. Meanwhile, Konnan was dancing circles around them. There may be no one in the business right now who feels as real as he does on the mic.
MISSES
Impact = Video Packages: It’s hard to fill out the hits and misses on this episode, because it felt like half of what we saw were video packages. All we got were three matches in two hours and one of them was a minute long! They had this problem about a month ago as well, where after Triplemania, they devoted 20 minutes straight to videos. On this episode, not once, but twice did we see highlights of Moose’s attack from last week, and it wasn’t any good the first time around! Did they forget to record enough footage? On the Impact Livecast, Mike McMahon floated the idea that perhaps some sort of Jeff Jarrett/Alberto El Patron footage had to be scrapped due to the backstage problems. If that’s not the case, then it’s baffling how much of this show was devoted to videos.
Edwards vs. Marufuji: What we saw looked good. We just didn’t see enough of it. Look at the miss above, they could have used that footage from Japan and aired the entire match on Impact. They just did it a few weeks ago with Eli Drake! And without putting in enough context, it feels bizarre to have Eddie Edwards win a title that has never been seen on Impact TV before.
Global Forged: I can imagine Scott D’Amore walking into a creative team meeting a couple months ago and saying “Hey, remember Gut Check? You know that segment that wasted a lot of time time, was confusing, broke the fourth wall, and created absolutely no stars? Well guess what? I can do a quicker and cheaper version of it every week!”
J.B. Continues to Baffle: I might as well make Borash’s work a weekly miss here. Maybe I should just rename the column “Impact Hits and Jeremy Borash’s.” When LAX beat the crap out of OVE and threw one of the members off the top rope and through a table, Borash sounded like he was was witnessing a snapmare takeover. When everything on the show is greeted with the same amount of enthusiasm, everything feels the same. I’m not asking for Don West over-the-top zaniness (though I would prefer that right now), I’m just asking for some passion from the commentary team.
NOW CHECK OUT LAST WEEK’S COLUMN: IMPACT WRESTLING HITS & MISSES 10/7: Dumb babyface, LAX is mad, Gail Kim’s farewell, BFG rematches, Garza, Borash, Things Should Matter
I notice you left out the Moose segment at the end. You know the one you bashed and called Moose stupid for not taking a weapon with him to ” talk” to American Top Team. Because he cleary said he just wanted to talk last week and he got jumped. This time he wasn’t about to talk he had Stepan Bonnar and a weapon. Not surprised you didn’t mention it though because you would have had to it your words.
More Jarrett is Russo shit. I’ll be glad when Bound For Glory comes around because the, hopefully. Some consistency in the booking can start taking place, and storylines/angles that make some fucking sense.
Another great show. Better than anything that WWE put on this week.
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Konan on the mic is stale. He says the same thing every time. He references menstrual cycles and Viagra. Boring.
Gut Check was more entertaining than Tough enough. Did Tough Enough get cancelled?