SPOTLIGHTED PODCAST ALERT (YOUR ARTICLE BEGINS A FEW INCHES DOWN)...
Overall – HIT (but barely): I’ve suspected for a while that Moose was slowly being built up to go after the championship (while on the heel side) and it’s during moments like these when your plans fall apart due to circumstances beyond your control that things get accelerated and Moose end up your new (interim?) champion. So, I was not surprised when the results of the main event were spoiled for me since I was unable to watch it live. Instead I was curious if they can build a somewhat logical reason to get to that point and that is what edged the second night of Rebellion into “HIT” territory despite Josh Mathews (who I don’t even hate) doing everything in his power to make me hate life. To be fair, this is not necessarily all on Josh, and can be the fault of how he was produced. At the end of the day, you can safely skip the first hour and get straight to the main event.
Suicide vs. Chris Bey vs. Rohit Raju vs. Trey – PUSH: Man, it’s got to suck to wrestle in the “Suicide” outfit. This is a decent indie-style match with some light humor spots early on before it escalates into a spot-fest. I generally don’t mind these kind of matches… except, with no crowd present, there are moments where the match felt flat. Add to this really annoying commentary by Josh Mathews and it pulls this down to “meh” territory for me. Chris Bey, who looked good, won by kicking Rohit in the back of the head.
Joseph P. Ryan vs. Cousin Jake – HIT: A stark contrast to the previous indie-style match, this was a throwback treat. Ryan worked over Cousin Jake’s arm throughout the match in a fun “wrassling” match, with Ryan pinning Cousin Jake with “help” from the ropes (they were too far from the ropes for Ryan to get a grip, and by the time he repositioned he already was at the three.) Commentary still sucked though.
Havok vs. Rosemary, Full Metal Mayhem Match – MISS: Originally scheduled to be Taya Valkyrie versus Jordynne Grace, we now get Havok and Rosemary adding an addendum to their recently concluded Undead Realm chronicle. To set the stage My favorite odd couple, Rosemary and Taya, talked about the changes to the match, and Rosemary agreed to face Havok again for Taya in return for a future favor. For Havok’s part, she is unhappy with the ending of the Undead Realm story, since it ended with the three women, Rosemary, Havok, and Su Yung resolving things without violence amongst each other. Havok wants to add another chapter by destroying the Demon Assassin. As far as the match itself goes, it was Rosemary, with a pipe, in the center of the ring. As for the rest of it, we got the usual staples (pun intended), chairs, chains, trash cans, street signs, et cetera, in a mostly unimaginative brawl. Nevaeh (Heaven, I see what’s going on there) makes her Impact debut, appearing to watch the match. At this point, instead of putting over the barbarism of two people trying to kill each other with metal weapons, the conversation between Josh and Madison on commentary was over Nevaeh. Josh not knowing who she is and Madison knowing but never saying. Back and forth they went, barely calling the in-ring action. While I really like the development with Rosemary’s character (she is reluctant to start things back up with Havok, even trying to weasel her way out of the match, but she eventually gives herself over to the fight, possibly reawaking her inner Demon Assassin), and I also like new blood being injected in Neveah, commentary ruined this for me. I’m noticing a pattern emerging.
Michael Elgin vs. Moose vs. Hernandez, TNA World Heavyweight Championship match… wait… what? – HIT: “Big” Mike Elgin wants to be declared the Impact champion due to Tessa Blanchard and Edie Edwards not being available. Right before David Penzer, forced by Elgin, can announce him as the new champion, Moose appears with the defunct TNA World Heavyweight Championship. During pretty good back and forth conversation, Moose declares that he has spent the last few months destroying TNA originals making him the defacto TNA champ. Then a wild Hernandez appears, Moose not having beaten him. This starts a three-way, presumably for the TNA championship. Commentary never really spelled it out, so I spent most of the match wondering if it was on the line, as Josh incessantly questioned what was going on, continuously drawing attention away from the action. Despite that, I really enjoyed the match, Moose and Hernandez forcing me to put quotation marks around the “big” in Elgin’s nickname, there was a lot of beef in that ring. I really would have liked to see this match happen in front of a crowd, curious as to how it would’ve been received by a live audience. Still, these three put on a good show and Impact was able to salvage and pull together a decent main event.
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