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MCMAHON’S IMPACT WRESTLING REPORT
Jan. 18, 2018
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
— Highlights from last week’s episode were shown.
(1) TAIJI ISHIMORI vs. DEZMOND XAVIER — X Division Championship match
Xavier and Ishimori hit the ground running with some fast-paced action at the start of the show. Mathews pointed out that this was Ishimori’s first title defense. The match slowed down after palm strikes and then a rear chinlock from Xavier. Xavier cut off Ishimori with a dropkick to the gut and then a suicide dive to the outside. Xavier went back in the ring and Ishimori went into the crowd for a breather. Xavier jumped out of the ring, over the ropes and flipped into the crowd on top of Ishimori.
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Back in the ring, Ishimori hits Xavier with a dropick. Ishimori looks like he’s bleeding a little from the back of his head after the dive from Xavier. Ishimori down in the ring but he got up in time to cut off Xavier on the top rope, hitting a superplex for a two count. Ishimori landed a handspring roundhouse kick for a two count. Xavier hit a Final Flash for a believable near fall. Ishimori caught Xavier and then hit knees to the chest. Ishimori went to the top rope and hit Xavier with a 450 for the win.
WINNER: Taiji Ishimori retains in 18:00.
After the match, the crowd was giving both guys a standing ovation and Xavier and Ishimori hugged and shook hands. Xavier then gave Ishimori the ring.
McMahon: Wow! That dive by Xavier out of the ring and into the crowd was incredibly impressive. He dove over the ropes without using them to spring himself, and cleared them as well as the barrier and into the crowd. This match was excellent all-around. Honestly, the only thing that brought this match down was the robotic and emotionless commentary. You almost knew the near fall after Xavier’s Final Flash wasn’t going to be the finish, because no one was excited about it.
Aside from that one negative (and it wasn’t the fault of the wrestlers) this match was excellent. Xavier is super athletic but his stuff was believable. He wasn’t running spots for the sake of running spots. Everything had a purpose, and he slowed down the match when he needed to with palm strikes or chinlocks.
Impact/TNA has never explained the X Division … but that match should be what it’s about. That was a match you could put in NJPW, ROH, WWE and anyone would be proud of it. This was better than their Super X Cup final, and that was a very good match. I don’t know what D’Amore and Callis have planned in the future, but Ishimori needs to be a part of it.
— A video package aired on OVE winning the Tag Team Titles over LAX. After that, there was a long hype video that aired with comments from Sami Callahan and Konnan, interjecting new comments into past video clips.
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— A video package aired on American Top Team.
— A GWN Flashback match aired between Aron Rex and Eddie Edwards for the Grand Championship from Bound for Glory 2016. They aired a big portion of the match
McMahon: The last 30 minutes has been all filler, likely because Pop TV declined to show the barbed wire match. Not Impact’s fault. Honestly though, Impact seems to go out of its way to help out Pop, promoting dumb shows like that Swole Brothers over the summer. They promote whatever dumb movie is coming on after Impact. They don’t have to do that stuff on a barter deal, Pop isn’t paying them any rights fees. Then Pop gives them a hard time about airing content? We’ll see how brutal the match is later on Twitch, but Impact needs to stop playing so nice with Pop.
— A video package aired on Matt Sydal vs. ECIII at Genesis for the Grand Championship.
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— A video aired on Gail Kim relinquishing the Knockouts Title and the tournament that followed to crown Laurel Van Ness as the new champion. The video then centered on the feud between Laurel Van Ness and Allie.
— McKenzie Mitchell interviewed Allie, who said she was ready for LVN next week. Allie said she’s proven herself. Allie said that she hasn’t forgotten what LVN did to her, pointing out all the bullying with Maria.
McMahon: Didn’t Allie steal LVN’s husband at the altar? Just asking for a friend …
(2) KONGO KONG (w/Jimmy Jacobs) vs. CHANDLER PARK (w/Joseph Park)
Mathews talked about Jacobs “bringing this beast to Impact.” Are we supposed to forget that Kong was here before Jacobs? Kong missed some tie ups at the bell. Park tried to punch Kong in the midsection but he no-sold it. Park realized he wasn’t inflicting pain and tried to run away but Kong chased him and splashed him in the corner. Kong missed another splash and Park climbed the turnbuckle and threw punches. Kong grabbed Park by the throat and hit him with a modified AA into his knee. Kong squashed Park in the corner and then finished him off for the win.
WINNER: Kongo Kong in 2:00.
After the match, Joseph Park looked concerned at ringside as Kong and Jacobs celebrated in the ring. Jacobs told Kong to go to the top rope and splash Park, which he did, as Joseph Park looked on from the aisle. Joseph Park ran in the ring to check in Chandler, and Kong began to tower over him. Jacobs pointed at Kong and said he was a monster, before calling Park pathetic. Park put up the “X” sign, which they zoomed in on camera, to indicate Chandler was hurt.
McMahon: Good squash for Kong. Park putting up the “X” sign was a little silly, and reminded me too much of Vince Russo’s WCW garbage, where they tried to make everything a “shoot, bro.” Anyone watching who knew what the “X” sign meant, also knows enough to know that if they’re showing it on camera like that, Park isn’t really that hurt. Aside from that though, this was a good way to get Kong back into the fold. I do think it’s a little funny that the narrative is that Jacobs “brought Kong to Impact.” I guess they want us to forget about how they used him before!
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— A video aired on a One Night Only that premieres on GWN this week.
(3) ELI DRAKE [c] vs. JOHNNY IMPACT vs. ALBERTO EL PATRON — Global Title match from Border City Wrestling
The cut to various points in the match instead of airing the whole thing, but it was more than a music video (we saw a good portion of the match — it seemed they chopped some stuff at the beginning before showing most of the match after that). Impact brought a chair in the ring and began swinging it on both guys before hitting clotheslines on both. Drake fell over the top to the floor. El Patron almost had a pin but Impact pulled out the referee. Impact almost had a pin but Drake pulled out the official. The referee tried to gain control and all three wrestlers decided to superkick him at the same time. El Patron hit a low blow on IMpact for a two count (with a new referee). Drake hit the Gravy Train on the new referee. El Patron and Impact teamed up on Drake. The entire locker room emptied out to break up the match. Borash said the match was thrown out and there was no winner.
WINNER:
McMahon: Those pre-match promos were awful. They didn’t turn the lights on for El Patron’s apparently. Impact’s was in some cinder block hallway. The optics were just really, really bad. Drake’s promo was in front of a plain white wall with a microphone that had no logo on it. It just looked low-rent, and not what you would expect from a national television product. If you want to put the show in different environments, then fine, but you can’t make yourself look like a small indie company, and that’s how this came across.
As for the match itself, the ropes were sagging and weren’t tight. The crowd was small and it was in a dingy building. You want to know why? Because Border City Wrestling is a small indie company, and that’s fine, but Impact should portray itself as being above their World Title match being defended at a show like that. If you want to do it to spike a crowd locally, then fine, but don’t air it. It makes them look like minor league.
Why not record this match in Ottawa and air it then? They talked about it in Ottawa in the promo last week, so they knew they were going to do the match. Why not air it in your own setting, with your better lighting, better ring, and everything that goes along with that? To put over Border City Wrestling? Please …
(3) ROSEMARY vs. K.C. SPINELLI
Rosemary had control of the match early, throwing Spinelli into the turnbuckles. Spinelli would later get some control, but Rosemary got the momentum back after faking the mist and then hitting Red Wedding for the win.
WINNER: Rosemary in 3:00.
Rosemary put a promo after the match on Laurel Van Ness. Rosemary said that LVN has a “shiny new toy.” Rosemary said that someone crazy enough to stop acid mist with their bare hand deserves some respect. Rosemary said that Laurel defends the title against Allie at Genesis. Rosemary said the entire hive is proud of Allie, but if Allie is worthy of victory, the alliance will not save her. Rosemary said whoever stands victorious after Genesis will have to face her for the title.
As Rosemary played to the camera, a woman ran in from the crowd and attacker her. Borash said that was Hania. She beat up Rosemary for a while in the ring and on the outside of the ring before finishing her off with a move on the steps. That brought out Impact officials to send her off.
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— Another preview package on LAX vs. OVE aired. Abyss talked about his Barbed Wire Massacre match from 2005. LAX talked about Abyss, Mick Foley and Terry Funk in past matches like this. LAX and OVE talked about the match in past tense, which suggests these promos might have been recorded over the past week in Orlando. They also showed clips of them coming to the ring and getting into the ring.
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— A video package aired on Genesis next week, hyping LVN vs. Allie for the KO Title, ECIII vs. Sydal for the Grand Championship, Moose vs. Bobby Lashley and El Patron vs. Drake vs. Impact in a cage for the Global Title.
— Borash and Mathews hyped Genesis from the announce table.
— Another video package aired on Barbed Wire Massacre, with Borash saying that it was serving as a countdown to the match on Twitch.
— OVE and LAX made their ring entrances.
[Impact Wrestling on Pop ended]
I usually don’t agree with the reviews of this show, but I really can not find anything to disagree with here. The first match was excellent, the show just went downhill from there with all the clip footage and build up to a match that did not even happen on Tv. I would guess a lot of people had no idea what “Twitch” was? I know Impact’s tv demographics show that it has an older crowd, I doubt my father, who watches both WWE and Impact pretty regularly, had any idea what they were talking about regarding where to find the match. They didn’t explain it very well either. If you take out the first match, this show was about a 2 on a scale of one to 10.
I understand why they showed the Border City Match. They wanted to set up the same match for Impact the following week with the cage stipulation, but they sure could have gone about it a little differently. Could anyone have used the top rope in that match? There were points in which I thought if someone got thrown too hard to the ropes they would fall through the 2nd rope. The optics were terrible.
If you watched the show, you would know Joseph Park likes to use “insider” terms, phrases and signs. Him using the “X” was just another example of this. Pretty basic stuff here.
I agree, they shouldn’t show a Title match that looks that bad, optic wise. I can see using footage for other promotions for some of the undercard guys, to maybe help get some more exposure on TV.
Impact becomes more and more like Russo booking WCW every week. And to use Border City Wrestling only because the owner just ‘happens’ to be on the booking committee for Impaxct? Doesn’t help a company that’s supposed to be considered a ‘national’ promotion. Could I do better booking? Knowing that I have worked in wrestling and watched true bookers like the late Killer Kowalski, Dory Funk Jr. and more do it and watched and learned from watching them? Yes, I damn well can do it better. I still can name a half dozen indy groups whose product blows Impact out of the water, easily.
Bill,
I usually don’t agree with you but when it comes to this weeks show you are pretty much right on the mark. I don’t know how much of the episodes you saw, but the match from Border City, the ropes were very loose. It reminded me of some of the really indy indy shows, if you know what i mean. The ones on local cable at 3am. I don’t think anyone could have safely come off the top rope. I’ve seen worse, like duct tape for turnbuckles, but not from any promotions that have a national contract.
This show has not made me totally disinterested in the product, but if they can’t show particular matches due to Pop ( and I really don’t know if that was the case or it was a bait and switch) people are going to tune out. You can’t promise a match and say oh this is too gory for tv. The match itself wasn’t even that bad. Next week they are supposed to have a steel cage match. Is that going to be taken off the air by Pop and do we have to find it on YouTube or Twitch? YOu can really only pull that stunt once every blue moon. I hope this doesn’t become a habit.
I know what youm mean by the ‘indy indy’ groups. There was one in NH ran by a guy named “Lobsterman” (that was his gimmick, dressed in a lobster costume). I’ve been disinterested in the product for weeks bvut tune in because there ‘were’ (note I said were) talents there I still liked. BUT, those talents have now left and other than Trevor Lee( who I can see used better on CWF Mid-Atlantic shows on YouTube), Eli Drake and LAX (mostly cause Konnan’s mic work and their videos in the clubhouse), what do you have? Patron? Sydal? Kongo Kong? Austin Aries(who doesn’t do anything for me as a fan). They can’t book week to week consistently and this show using a ring with loose ropes showed all there is to know about D’Amore’s company, and how he is doing what Jarrett did with GFW. Faces change, the bullshit stays the same.
Lobsterman. Hahahah. That is pretty bad. That has to be one of the funniest gimmicks I have ever heard of so far.
The booking really is all over the place at the moment for Impact. El Patron was a face before he left. I understand him coming back as a hell that made sense, but then a couple weeks later it appears he is the face in a match against Eli Drake. Now, I think he is a hell again? I really don’t know.
Then we have the wrestlers leaving the company in the middle of angles. I a going to give it some more time, just because I have been a fan of Impact from the days of Fox Sports, but this is really bad. In all honesty, I find WWE’s product not good at the moment either. I keep tuning in, waiting for things to improve and they don’t. Maybe Jim Cornette is right? Maybe wrestling is truly gone?
Wow, that should read heel, not hell. My apologizes.
I wonder if Del Rio is heel or face this week. Will they even show the steel cage match? Is it “too violent for tv?”
Bill W, do you even believe that POP really pulled the plug on that match or do you think that was just a marketing ploy for people to tune in to “Twitch” If I had to vote, just based on a guess, it sure seems fishy that it was deemed “too violent for tv.” I saw the match, it really wasn’t that violent. I view at as bait and switch. If they pull that again, I think I am done watching.
Outside of the Xavier-Isiimori match, the rest of the show as a waste of tape. The ring for the triple-threat match was so cheap, it looked like it would fall over just by looking at it. I hate wrestling programs that babble on with no conclusion. Wasn’t it TNA in it’s eatly days that used the promo. “We wrestle”? Nine weeks of tapings from Ottawa was just too much.
Way too much filler the last couple weeks, I agree. Then, they hide a match for the entire show and do not deliver the match. Lame. 🙂