IMPACT HITS & MISSES (10/19): Final Bound for Glory PPV build, Mailey vs. Samuray Del Sol, Rhyno & PCO vs. Moose & Bryan Myers, Alex Shelley, Josh Alexander

IMPACT WRESTLING HITS AND MISSES
OCTOBER 19, 2023
MEMPHIS, TENN. AT GRACELAND LIVE
AIRED ON AXS TV
BY JOHN LASLO, PWTORCH CONTRIBUTOR

(1) “SPEEDBALL” MIKE BAILEY vs. SAMURAY DEL SOL – HIT

This was a nice little morsel of a match to whet one’s appetite for the rest of the show, and it was well worth it. Mike Bailey has been doing this thing where he’s doing a lot of respect matches with other really good wrestlers, and it works. This was a great showcase to build up Bailey before his match with Will Ospreay and to give Samuray Del Sol a bit of room to work and show off his moves. In all honesty, I think that with the day after Bound for Glory being a celebration of Lucha, this was a really good call to contrast lucha and highflyer. An excellent match, but then, I would expect nothing less from these two.

DIRTY DANGO AND CREW BACKSTAGE SEGMENT – HIT

Okay, I’m digging how Oleg Prudius has evolved.

ABC BACKSTAGE- HIT

Nice little promo to add even more reasons to buy BFG.

(2) KENNY KING (w/Sheldon Jean) vs. HEATH – MINOR HIT

Kenny King seems to always be drawing the short end of the stick. Losing the DMC from inference from Heath, and not getting an automatic rematch. While Kenny King got his revenge, it felt like it was a bit shorter of a match than it actually was. Not in the ‘I lost track of time’ way, but in a ‘so that was nine minutes’ way. It was good, but a bit of a quick blow off for what could have been a really interesting feud.

FRANKIE KAZARIAN BACKSTAGE – MINOR HIT

A nice little capstone on the Eddie Edwards and Frankie Kazarian feud, which had an amazing finale, but seemed to have a million places where it could have ended.

(3) BLACK TAURUS vs. CRAZZY STEVE – HIT

This was a perfect choice of a match; it highlighted the split of Decay, Crazzy Steve’s descent into forking everyone, and gave more platform to a luchadore before the post-BFG luchadore event. The match itself was really great, Crazzy Steve and Black Taurus have been tagging for a while and have really good chemistry, and it was nice to see that carry over to a match between each other.

BOUND FOR GLORY ONE LINERS – HIT

Alright, this was a throw back not to anything that Impact/TNA has done, but those old WWE Royal Rumble one liners. It was a lot of fun, and kinda neat. It is the exact embracing of the sillier parts of wrestling that Impact does that I really enjoy.

TRINITY AND MICKEY JAMES BACKSTAGE INTERVIEW WITH GIA MILLER – HIT

Another nice little promo to get me to buy Bound for Glory.

(4) RHINO & PCO vs. MOOSE & BRIAN MYERS – MINOR HIT

This is a thing that Impact does all the time. Give me a close cousin of the match that is going to happen at the PPV or Special. I get it, it’s a way to build hype for the match, and give people a little of what they want, but this one I had a hard time keeping my interest. It was still a decent match, and I dug it, but I just couldn’t get into it.

MK ULTRA VIGNETTE – HIT

Not going to lie, I love it when Masha Slamovich speaks Russian at me. I have no idea what she’s saying, it just seems like it is something threatening.

ALEX SHELLEY AND JOSH ALEXANDER BACKSTAGE – HIT

I love Alex Shelley as the insecure heel in the face of the true champion. It is a great twist from his ‘it’s time for me to be selfish’ act in the beginning of his championship run. Wanting Josh Alexander to be at full health, and being so easily provoked into violence is almost what we would have expected out of Josh Alexander before his second (and long running) title reign. This works on so many levels. At the end of the day the Motor City Machine guns have been slept on by the wider wrestling fandom, and current era Alex Shelley is proving why the MCMG have been shaping the industry as a whole for a long long time.

(5) TRINITY & MICKIE JAMES vs. GISELE SHAW & SAVANNAH EVANS – MISS

Alright, I’m going to say it straight off the bat. I’m biased in this. I like Savannah Evans. I think she’s pretty great. I’ve seen her in several Indie matches, and she always does really well. I think her time with the SHAWntourage should come to an end. Anytime I see her paired with Gisele, I know that Savannah is going to be eating the pin. It’s dumb and too predictable and it causes me to lose interest in tag team matches she’s in. It’s not her fault, she’s great. Shaw is great, Trinity is great, and Mikie James is great. It’s just that Savannah Evans has lost so much credibility that she once had. The point of pro-wrestling is that ANYONE could win at ANYTIME, and if she’s booked so consistently to lose, the anticipation is gone. Add her to the Tasha Steelz and Deonna Purrazzo team and have them Freebirds it up.

FINAL THOUGHTS – HIT

A decent go home show, but overall, I think it worked. While there isn’t a ton of things for Impact to do to build up for the Bailey vs.Ospreay or the Chris Sabin vs. Kenta matches, they did a pretty good job building up a lot of other matches for Bound for Glory, especially the Shelley vs. Alexander match.

RECOMMENDED NEXT: IMPACT WRESTLING BOUND FOR GLORY RESULTS (10/21): Lilly’s report on Shelley vs. Alexander, Trinity vs. James, and Ospreay vs. Bailey

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