IMPACT! WRESTLING - November 22, 2018

IMPACT! WRESTLING - November 22. 2018:  The 2nd Annual Eli Drake 10 Man Gravy Train Turkey Trot

This Thanksgiving installment of IMPACT! Wrestling was more a specialty show than a regular program that featured any storylines or matches.  It was all pomp and circumstance for their annual show where you had a 10 man tag match, and the loser who took the pin or tapped out wore a turkey outfit.  We also got recaps from previous Thanksgiving shows past, as well as a history of "Option C", as we begin the preparation for Homecoming on January 6th.

This year's edition featured Eli Drake once again as captain of one team, while Fallah Bahh was captain of the other team.  The object was for each man to pull 4 names from a drum, and that would be their tag teams for the match.  Bahh went first, and he drew his tag team partner, KM.  Drake then chose Katerina.  

We then get a flashback to the 2007 Turkey Bowl.  AJ Styles was the loser in that one.

We then see Scarlett Bordeaux saunter in with a beavvy of beautiful dancers.  They then show clips of fans showing off their so-called "talents" to Scarlett, as she is still conducting her search.

Bahh draws again, and gets Kikutaro.  Drake draws Jake Crist, who shows up with Sami Callahan and the rest of oVe. Callahan wants this over with so they can get back to Dayton.  And says that if Crist loses, he gets no turkey, just onions.  Bahh then draws Dezmond Xavier of the Razcals, and it takes him a bit to get on the same page as Bahh and KM.  Drake draws Rohit Raju, who is joined by the rest of the Desi Hit Squad. Gama Singh promises to ruin Thanksgiving, but Rohit would like some turkey.

Some of the IMPACT starts give their favorite Thanksgiving memories.

Bahh draws Alisha Edwards---who comes out with so much make up on, she looks like a hooker on Fremont Street (I should note that this show was pre-taped in Las Vegas last week).  Bahh tries to tell her a joke, but she doesn't get it.  But she DOES promise to stuff Katerina into the turkey suit and drag her back to England.  Drake draws Glenn Gilbertti - AKA Disco Inferno - who comes out and promises that he's going to win the match, and make Fallah Bahh wear the turkey suit.  Plus...he's out to impress Scarlett Bordeaux.

There's a short history of the X-Division's Ultimate X match, where Gilbertti comes in and claims HE created the match, whereas Don Callis claims credit.  Gilbertti insists it's him.  On top of that promo, we set the stage for the main event of Homecoming as we see a history of X-Division Champions invoking the "Option C" clause.

We see both teams backstage giving final preparations to each other before the match begins.  Bahh keeps giving encouragement in simple "Bahh" which is all the guy says, and Eli reminds them that this is a Drake family tradition, and he refuses to lose.  With that, introductions are made and the match is set to begin.

Josh Matthews comes into the ring, and all the wrestlers line up to invoke the oath...that the loser cannot back out of wearing the turkey suit.  Thus, the match begins:

Alisha and Kateria start.  Couple of takedowns each.  A couple of tosses into the corner.  A flying head scissors by Alisha.  Quick kick out.  A tag out to Drake and Dezmond.  A little back and forth, and Dez comes off the 2nd rope, but Eli catches him and nails him with a side slam.  2 count, and back up.  Rohit now in, gets a few shots, but Dez fights back.  Tags in Bahh.  Bahh with a couple of chops, and a legdrop.  Gama then interferes, and takes out Bahh's legs, which allows Rohit to take advantage.  Rohit tags in Gilbertti.  Gilbertti goes to work with a couple of shots, and tags in Drake.  A little double team goes on, and Fahh breaks it up, tags out to KM.  KM and Rohit go at it.  KM tosses Rohit around, and puts him into a head scissorlock.  Jake Crist comes in and puts a leg scissorlock on KM.  At this point, everyone else jumps in and applies the same hold, and end up being rolled over when Bahh comes in and applies a boston crab to the last person at the end of the centipede.  At this point, Scarlett Bordeaux's music hits, and she's strutting out in a makeshift sexy pilgrm outfit.  The match completely stops cold as most everyone in the ring--ref included--all gape at her with jaws dropped.  Show goes to break. 

Back from the break, we see Bordeaux sitting sultry across a chair at the top of the ramp and to the side, watching the match as it continues.  The ref is still gaping at her, while Drake takes advantage of Kikutaro with a neckbreaker.  Ref comes around enough to give a pin, but Kikutaro kicks out.  Kikutaro's head is on the bottom rope afterwards, as Crist is tagged in.  He lays a flying leg on top of Kikutaro's head, and while he distracts the ref, Callahan starts choking him.   Drake is tagged back in, lands a couple of more shots, tags Raju back in, who misses a splash in the corner.  Kikutaro tags in Dez, who dropkicks Raju in the corner, then hops onto the apron, where he avoids attacks from the outside with a cartwheel.  Avoids a clothesline by Gama Singh's son, whom he pushes into Gama himself, then delivers a solid superkick to him.  Dez hops back into the ring, and there's commotion going on the outside, and Dez does a flying 450 leap over the rope onto the crowd of wrestlers at ringside.  Bahh is tagged in after Drake cheap shots him.  They battle a little before Katerina is tagged back in.  Her and Alisha go toe to toe, exhanging blows.  Alisha tags in KM, and Gilbertti is tagged in as well.  Bahh is tagged back in once again, and delivers an elbow to the former Disco Inferno.  Kikutaro comes in an rolls over Gilbertti.  Dez follows, then Alisa with one of her own.  Then, Bahh has the referee do it.  Bahh goes for a splash, but Gilbertti rolls out of the way.  He gives side russian leg sweep to Bahh, and goes for an elbow off the top rope.  He misses.  Into the corner he goes.  Bahh gets up on the 2nd rope and delivers a butt slam for the 3 count and the win.  Drake's team loses the Turkey Trot again.  As Drake's team leaves Gilbertti to his fate and heads to the back, he refuses to put on the turkey suit.  He tries to head out of the ring, but Bahh's team won't let him.  He continues to protest until Scarlett Bordeaux comes down and encourages him to put on the suit, saying she loves a man who doesn't take himself seriously.  He then does it, only to have Bordeaux tell him he looks ridiculous, and she walks off.  The former Disco Inferno says she's just playing hard to get and does the strut as instructed as the show goes off the air, with chants of "Gobble, gobble" permeating from the crowd.  

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This was pretty much a holiday throwaway show with nothing at stake, and no storyline movement.  It was silly in the sense that they spent an hour to build up the entire match and dragged out the drawing of the names, but I guess they had to fill 2 hours of content, so this was their way of doing it.  The match itself wasn't anything special, and just seemed to come off as silly.  So, in terms of quality---it wasn't great.  They did have packages that showed Thanksgiving shows from the past that seemed more entertaining than tonight, but it was what it was. 

The did start doing the major build of the card toward Homecoming with video packages showing Brian Cage invoking "Option C", and several past X-Division champions who'd done the same.  As well as talking about the Ultimate X match, which I believe will be at the PPV as well.  So, as it looks, we have 3 matches set for this PPV....2 confirmed as we have:

IMPACT! CHAMPIONSHIP:  Brian Cage v. Johnny Impact (C)

KNOCKOUTS CHAMPIONSHIP:  Taya Valkyrie v. Tessa Blanchard (C)

ULTIMATE X MATCH - Winner to be the next X-Division Champion

The last one I'm unsure about, but that seems to be the direction they're going.  We know that Cage and Impact should be a great match, and we've already seen what Taya and Tessa can do in the ring, and this will be the 3rd match in their story, so we'll see how this feud goes from there.  The PPV is going to be January 6th.  So, we'll probably get more build starting next week.

That's all for this week, guys!  Hope you have an amazing rest of your holiday weekend, and don't forget to subscribe to this page, and leave a comment.  I'd love to hear from you!  

Until next week!