MCMAHON’S IMPACT WRESTLING REPORT 11/16: Eli Drake vs. Petey Williams for the Global Title, Gail Kim announcement

MCMAHON’S IMPACT WRESTLING REPORT
Nov. 16, 2017
Taped from Ottawa, Ont. (Aberdeen Pavilion)
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 Impact signature aired.

— Jeremy Borash casually told us that Johnny Impact and Alberto El Patron were banned from the building. Gail Kim was shown entering the arena and she would have a big announcement tonight. American Top Team was also shown entering the building.

– A video aired on Eli Drake vs. Petey Williams.

— The Impact open aired.

(1) TAIJI ISHIMORI, TREVOR LEE & CALBEY KONLEY vs. SONJAY DUTT, DEZMOND XAVIER & GARZA JR.

About four minutes into the match, Sonjay was stuck in the heel corner but he fought his way out and tagged Garza Jr. Xavier avoided a 619 and then hit a Final Flash off the top on Konley for the win.

WINNER: Dezmond Xavier, Sonjay Dutt & Garza Jr. via pinfall in 7:00.

After the match, the winners celebrated on corners and stared down the heels as they walked up the ramp.

— Later tonight: Eli Drake vs. Petey Williams.

— Petey Williams was shown arriving at the building.

(McMahon: The commentary was slow during this match. It almost sounded like they had people in their ear. I can also do without Mathews claiming that everything was “trending” all the time. It’s tiring. The match itself was OK, but again was just an X-Division spotfest. I wish they would just settle on a couple of X Division guys to push, and push them. When every man is a six-way or a six-man tag, it all starts to feel lame.) 

[c]

— OVE aired a vignette hyping tonight’s six-man street fight.

(2) ETHAN CARTER III [c] vs. FALLAH BAHH

Round 1: ECIII mocked Bahh with a sumo pose. ECIII grabbed a waistlock and Bahh practically laughed it off before sending ECIII backwards to the ground. Bahh hit a shoulder tackle and tried to stomp on ECIII, sending him rolling out of the ring. ECIII tried to slam Bahh but he reversed it into a bodyslam on ECIII. Bahh rolled over ECIII with a steamroller. ECIII kept charging Bahh and Bahh kept taking down ECIII with shoulder tackles. (Winner: Fallah Bahh – no scores were shown)

Round 2: The wrestlers locked up and Bahh began throwing punches. Bahh missed a charge in the corner. ECIII was in control after that, grabbing a chinlock and also trying to wear down Bahh, who came back with a palm strike. ECIII hit a splash in the corner. (Scores: ECIII – no scores were shown)

[c]

Round 3: Bahh threw punches and ECIII came back with a kick. Bahh connected with a Samoan Drop. Bahh hit a really weak looking charge on ECIII and then a belly-to-belly suplex for a two count. Bahh tried for another Samoan Drop but ECIII wiggled out and tried for a One Percenter, but Bahh countered and hit a cross body. Bahh went to the top and ECIII suddenly was alive again. He rolled up Bahh and put his feet on the ropes to get the win.

WINNER: ECIII via pinfall in the third round.

ECIII celebrated on the ramp after the match and told the camera, “whatever it takes.”

(McMahon: Bahh hasn’t been on the program in weeks, so what exactly did he do to earn a title shot? Impact needs to show the journey to the title opportunity, not just the title opportunity. Or, make it up. Tell us that Bahh has been picking up wins around the world at Border City Wrestling and wherever else. Every time they showed the judges, they didn’t appear to be even watching. I’m pretty sure Masayuki Uchida was doodling on his paper at one point. Also, they didn’t show the scores for some reason? By the end of the match, it would appear Bahh is a babyface now? Again, why? You watch things like this, with no explanation or reason, and then you watch what someone like Dave Lagana and Billy Corgan are doing with their storytelling building up the NWA Title, and it’s night and day. Lagana said it in his interview with Wade Keller last week … you can have a match, but give people a reason to care. On top of that, if someone says, “they explained this on social media,” well that’s not good enough. Maybe they did, but if they did (and I have no idea whether they did or not), it was never referenced on the television show.)

(3) LAX vs. OVE

The bell rang as OVE hit the ring. After some brawling, the ring cleared and it was Callahan vs. Santana inside the ring with others brawling on the outside. Callahan dove through the ropes on Ortiz. Homicide dove through the ropes onto everyone. Homicide threw a chair at Callahan. Callahan hit a low blow on Homicide.

[c]

Back from the break, Callahan and Homicide were brawling in the corner as the match settled down into a typical six-man tag. Dave Crist choked Homicide and raked his eyes. Homicide avoided a suplex and made a tag. Santana hit a dive on Dave Crist and Jake Crist was dropped with a cutter off the top rope. Callahan gave Santana the finger, which was blurred out. Jake Crist hit Santana with a tombstone after Callahan kicked him in the head, but Santana kicked out. OVE went for their finisher but Ortiz and Homicide made the save. Santana covered Jake Crist for the win.

WINNERS: LAX via pinfall in 14:00.

After the match, Callahan threw chairs in the ring as Konnan celebrated. LAX returned the fire, throwing a chair back at OVE and it hit Callahan in the head.

(McMahon: They’re at least sticking with this story, and it makes sense. OVE and LAX have been feuding over the title for a while, and realistically, there aren’t any other teams in the company. That being said, the double-turn at Bound for Glory was sloppy and everything else feels that way. They need to add some heat to this feud.)

[c]

— Dan Lambert said that he had a deal with Impact Wrestling, and they reneged on the deal. Lambert said that Impact was supposed to release Bobby Lashley. Lambert demanded than an Impact official come to the ring to sign the release, so that Lashley can leave and go to MMA. Lambert said that Impact is bleeding and he demanded that someone come down to sign the release, or else they would bury the company so far down that not even a Canadian would come watch it. Moose came to the stage. Moose asked Lambert if MMA was better than pro wrestling? Moose pointed out that it took “six of his boys” to take down one Moose.

Moose said that he thought Lambert was smart, but he’s not. Moose said Lambert gave his fighters the hight off, but Moose is here, and he asked the crowd if they wanted to see him beat up Dan Lambert. Lambert tried to get out of the ring as Moose ran in and grabbed him. Lashley and the rest of American Top Team hit the ring and attacked Moose. Storm ran down to help Lashley and hit some superkicks. The neckbrace guy yelled at Storm that no one touches Lambert, and then he slapped Storm, so Storm smashed the bottle on the guy’s head. Storm said that pro wrestling has been around longer than Lambert, and he has no right to talk about pro wrestling. Storm said he’s the only one who can talk about pro wrestling. Storm said he’s been a wrestler for 20 years.

Storm talked about his accomplishments. The entire time Storm is talking, the kid who took the bottle shot laid dead on the ground. Storm said he takes pride in being a pro wrestler. Storm talked about the production people and all the backstage personnel who “make him look good.” Storm said that the wrestlers demand respect.

Lashley circled ringside as Storm’s music played.

(McMahon: I liked that the guy who took the big bump had a neck brace on, and he was selling the bottle shot like no one else. That part of it was really good. Storm’s promo had good fire, but the message was a little cloudy. It just sounded like a lot of yelling. I also have no idea where Lashley, Moose, Storm and American Top Team go from here. There doesn’t seem to be a logical next step, unless Lambert is just going to keep showing up asking for Lashley’s release.)

[c]

— The Pluto TV rewind featured Chris Rock.

— Borash highlighted what happened before the break.

— Backstage: American Top Team was leaving the building. KM stopped them and said he liked their style and he wanted in. Lambert told him to go back to the circus. Lashley told him to prove himself.

— Backstage: McKenzie Mitchell interviewed Eli Drake.

— A video aired on Petey Williams’ return to Impact, and him challenging for the Global Title tonight.

— Allie approached Gail Kim backstage. Allie told Gail how much it meant to her to share a ring at Bound for Glory. Allie told Gail she was a huge inspiration. Gail told Allie she hopes that she likes what she has to say tonight.

[c]

— Jeremy Borash introduced Gail Kim. As soon as Borash introduced Gail, Allie came out from the back to stand in the ring with her. Gail, with her voice cracking, said she loved wrestling growing up in Canada. Gail said that her dreams came true. The crowd chanted, “you deserve it!” She said she couldn’t have done it without the women who have paved the way, mentioning Awesome Kong, Taryn Terrell, Trish Stratus, Lita and Molly Holly. Gail said her heart is at peace. She announced she was relinquishing the title. She said it was an honor to be champion one more time. She wished the division good luck and raised the title.

Allie and Gail hugged in the ring and then Gail hugged Borash.

(McMahon: Even more so now, cutting away from her title win at BFG was a disappointment. We’ll see what they do with the title, but I would assume some sort of tournament. With Taya Valkyrie out for this set of tapings, I wonder if they wait and hold off until January.)

[c]

— Grado was shown at catering. Joseph Park said hello, and everyone at the table left. Park said that everything he did was mean but that was Abyss. Park gave Grado his visa. A Canadian Mountie showed up. The mountie said that the visa was OK in the U.S., but not in Canada. The mountie was deporting Grado. Park said he could only help him in the U.S.

— Jimmy Jacobs walked on set and took a headset. Jacobs asked why Mathews didn’t post a selfie online? Was he afraid for his job? Mathews and Jacobs took another selfie. Jacobs said he would stay as long as he feels welcome.

(4) ELI DRAKE (w/ Chris Adonis) [c] vs. PETEY WILLIAMS — Impact Global Title match

Mathews said that no one has kicked out of the Canadian Destroyer in Impact. Williams controlled most of the early portions of the match.

[c]

Back from the break, Drake whipped Williams into the rope and then lifted him, dropping him across the top rope and covering him for a two count. Drake distracted the referee and Adonis choked Williams on the bottom rope. Drake slammed Williams and hit a standing elbow. Adonis again choked Williams. Jacobs said that Williams needs to be aware of that and avoid the ropes. Williams called for the Canadian Destroyer but Drake caught his leg. Williams hit a Codebreaker into a German Suplex. Williams again tried for a Canadian Destroyer but Drake countered. Williams tried for another Canadian Destroyer that Drake countered, and Williams went into a sharpshooter. Williams locked Drake’s arm as he tried to grab the rope. Drake fought free and caught the rope to break the hold. Williams hit a DDT and dove to the outside to take out Adonis. Williams tried to springboard back into the ring but Drake caught him. Williams fought out. Williams hit a Canadian Destroyer and Mathews screamed, “no one has ever kicked out!” as Drake kicked out at two for a believable near fall. Williams tried for a second Canadian Destroyer but Drake countered it into a pin and Williams kicked out. Williams countered a Gravy Train into a rollup for a two count. Williams tried for a second Canadian Destroyer but Drake hit the Gravy Train for the win.

WINNER: Eli Drake via pinfall in 18:00.

After the match, Adonis brought the title into the ring and they celebrated.

(McMahon: This was an excellent match, and elevated both Williams and Drake. They told a good story with no one kicking out of the Canadian Destroyer, and this was a necessary clean win for Drake, even if it was over someone positioned the way Williams has been positioned (he’s not Lashley). Really solid match.)