IMPACT WRESTLING HITS & MISSES 10/20: Final hype for Bound for Glory, Jacobs interviews Moose, Sami vs. Edwards, North vs. Anderson & Gallows

•Final impact – PUSH: Sadly, I wasn’t too fond of the go-home show prior to Bound for Glory. There were too many instances of WWE-like screwy finishes to avoid getting a clean ending prior to the PPV. The video packages they aired to promote the matches were top notch as usual, but I felt Victory Road and the last batch of episodes that followed were all better than this one. Some of the storylines felt like they peaked during that span instead of at the go-home show.

•Heath vs. Cousin Jake vs. Hernandez vs. Alisha vs. Rhino – PUSH: The winner of this match goes in last in the Bound for Glory Call Your Shot Gauntlet match while the one taking the pin goes first. Since Slater and (unbeknownst to Slater) Rhino’s future with Impact Wrestling rides on one of the two winning the gauntlet, it made perfect sense that one of them would take the pin. Distracted after Rhino killed Alisha with an errant Gore, Hernandez schoolboyed Rhino for the win. This was fine and it moved the story along.

•Jimmy Jacobs interviews Moose – HIT: Jimmy Jacobs tries to interview Moose, but Moose loses it at the questions and bails. Then Jacobs gets kidnapped by three guys. He is taken to an undisclosed location, no mentioned if that’s where the match is taking place, where he comes face to face with EC3. EC3 forces Jacobs to interview him and EC3 lays out his motivations. I rather enjoyed this. EC3 performance was unnerving enough to have me worry for Jimmy Jacobs’s well-being.

•Bravo wedding plans – PUSH: John E. Bravo is losing it as the wedding plans are falling apart. The comedy and delivery were rather weak from everyone except Taya who is as unself-aware as always, though she does seem legitimately concerned for Bravo. Maybe she ends up saving the wedding in the end.

•Purrazzo and Rae promos – HIT: Deonna Purrazzo comes across as a despicable, yet very capable wrestler in her promo while Kylie Rae showed anger and fire in hers. This should be and exciting match between these two with what Purrazzo has done to poor Susie.

•Rosemary vs. Havok – PUSH: Massive stakes were on the line for this match. If Havok wins, Rosemary would leave her alone. If Havok loses she would give Rosemary the requisite permission to resurrect Father James Mitchell for him to preside over Rosemary’s wedding. The match was passable but Havok’s look of despair as it sunk in what was about to happen after she lost was great. I actually felt bad for her which marks the first time I’ve felt anything towards her character. If she can be more than “The Kaiju Queen” and shows a little more emotion than “grrr… smash” I can finally get on board with her character.

•Sami Callihan vs. Eddie Edwards – MISS: This entire program feels like two guys who had nothing better to do for Bound for Glory and being put together again since they have prior history, only with a twist in the form of Ken Shamrock to change things up a bit. It was yet another Sami/Eddie match, ending when Sami got his phone and “hacked” (commentary is calling it “glitched”) Shamrock to the ring who applied the anklelock as he lost his mind.

•Willie Mack & Trey Miguel & TJP vs. Chris Bey & Jordynne Grace & Rohit Raju – HIT: The six people fighting over the X Division championship were split into teams of three to compete in a tag team competition as a preview of some of the action we’ll see at Bound for Glory. My mocha-skinned-manimal (he needs to get that printed on a shirt) Rohit Raju was betrayed by his teammate Chris Bey leading to Trey getting the pin on poor Rohit. This was what it needed to be and I’m looking forward to seeing how Rohit weasels… I mean, heroically overcomes the odds to retain his championship.

•Gia Miller interview Eric Young – HIT: Eric Young explains away his action claiming that others are responsible for what he does, blaming Rich Swann for not walking away, and Scott D’Amore for getting in his business, basically rationalizing his crazy. Rich Swann put an end to the interview by attacking. Young. Fine stuff.

•The North vs. The Good Brothers – MISS: “Doc” Gallows and Karl Anderson faced Ethan Page and Josh Alexander in yet another preview for Bound for Glory. If you thought this was going to have an ending, then I welcome you, New Wrestling Fan. The match was fine until the referee lost control and THIS TIME he calls off the match. This triggered a run in from the rest of the participants, Ace Austin & Madman Fulton and the Motor City Machine Guns. I’d be fine with this if it didn’t feel like this is has happened on nearly every episode of Impact for a while now. Hopefully after Bound for Glory we can get back to team vs. team instead of multi-team matches.

RECOMMENDED: 10/20 IMPACT WRESTLING TV REPORT: Anderson & Gallows vs. The North, Rosemary vs. Havoc, Heath vs. Cousin Jake vs. Hernandez vs. Alisha vs. Rhino