REVIEW: IMPACT! WRESTLING – January 3, 2019: Go-Home Show Before Homecoming.
Welcome to 2019, and what changes have happened since we
last convened on this page. First and
foremost, IMPACT has found a new home on the PURSUIT CHANNEL. Starting next week, January 11th,
at 10 PM Pacific Time, IMPACT will begin its run on their new network. And that means BAD NEWS for me and you. I, sadly, do not have the Pursuit Network,
and thus, this will be the last regular blog review for the show. I know, I know…it sucks. Sucks for ME, too. I’ve begun to find things about the show that
I enjoy, and was hoping that with the talent available, they could become more
successful. This is the 4th
network that IMPACT has been on in 4 years.
Not a good sign for a promotion that’s trying to compete with the likes
of Ring of Honor, WWE, MLW, and the soon-to-be All Elite Wrestling. They have really good talent----just not
always used properly. This seems like a
make-or-break year for IMPACT, and I would like to see them succeed, but they
have A LOT of work to do.
But as I have said, this is more than likely the last
regular show I’ll review. I have
appreciated all of you for stopping by this blog and allowing me to voice my
opinion about this show, and this promotion.
However, I WILL do a blog that will be my predictions for HOMECOMING,
and maybe a review of that show, but we’ll see.
Outside of that, I thank you all for dropping by this blog---but I have
several other shows I review, and I hope you check them out as well. I’d be eternally grateful. Subscribe, and I’ll be your buddy
forever!
Either way…with all of that out of the way, this was the
go-home show prior to HOMECOMING, which is happening on Sunday, January 6th. We got the two IMPACT Championship combatants
teaming up against the high flying Lucha Bros., Kiera Hogan must face her
former friend, the new Dark Allie, and Eli Drake gives his Stately address…
The show kicks off with Rich Swann & Willie Mack, and
The Rascalz facing off against Ethan Page, Matt Sydal, and the OVE in a 10 man
tag team match. I’ll say this for
IMPACT---they don’t waste about 30 minutes of airtime for long overbloated
promos…they get right to it. Mack is
especially looking forward to this match because he’s got a score to settle
with OVE after they cost him a chance to head to Ultimate X at HOMECOMING. The Rascalz are the ones taking the early
offense to Jake Crist. This is a good
forum to see just how good ALL of these guys are. They keep the early advantage of Callahan,
using quick tags and fast offense, with a couple of high spots, including a
bronco buster. Eventually, all ten men
enter the ring, and it becomes a free-for-all.
Bodies start falling out of the ring, battling with each other. Callahan then lands a vicious lariat to Tre Miguel
to stem the tide and get the advantage.
They head outside, and Miguel lands a hurricanrada on Callahan, Crist
then lands a suicide dive, then everyone gets their shot at the bodies outside,
including Mack. Zack Wentz then lands a
dive on the outside. Dez then lands an incredible tiger drop OVER the rope and
onto the crowd. Crist then grabs Miguel
and lands a Cutter ONTO the bodies on the outside. Okay…everybody’s gotten their high spots in…let’s
get the action BACK into the ring here! Back
from the break, and the match has slowed down as Callahan starts working over
Tre Miguel. The teamwork for the OVE
side come in as Crist comes in to work Tre over, then tags out to Sydal. Sydal continues the offense. Tre throws a few forearms to get some
offense, but Sydal lands a spinning side slam.
Tre gets the hot tag to Rich Swann, and he goes to work, clearing
everyone in the ring. Page comes into
the ring to try and land a bulldog, but Swann blocks it, lands a superkick,
then goes for a 450, and the pin, but Sydal makes the save. Dez Xavier is now in the ring, and starts
clearing everyone, but Page lands a nasty neckbreaker that sends Dez out of the
ring. Willie Mack comes in and it’s him
and Page going at it. Page and Swan
battle on the top turnbuckle, but Page throws him onto the others outside the
ring. Jake Crist now in, and he tries to
pull off a move on the top rope, but Mack lands a Stunner, and gets the
pin. However, Callahan attacks Mack
after the match with a baseball bat, and OVE are going to attack him with a
chair. Callahan lifts Dave Crist up,
while Jake Crist has Mack on his shoulders.
They then land a Cutter onto the table, taking out Mack. Rich Swann comes in to save Mack, and
Callahan has the bat---but then decides to take OVE out of the ring. This isn't over between OVE and Willie Mack,
that’s for sure.
We get the backstory for Eddie Edwards and Moose, recounting
their history prior to their Falls Count Anywhere match at HOMECOMING.
We next get Eli Drake, who requested time to rap with the
audience, and to say his thing to Abyss just before their Monster’s Ball match
Sunday. He’s out with an oar, recounting
what he did to Joseph Park and Tommy Dreamer.
And saying that Aybss has been NOWHERE to be found. He’s complaining about how he now hast to be
in this Monster’s Ball match. He still
throwing shade at IMPACT Management. But
he plans on putting an end to Abyss. He
says he will beat Abyss by going hardcore…the thing he hates…in order to prove
that he’s great at everything, and beat them at their own game. Tommy’s music hits and he comes out with a
chair, hops into the ring, and they go at it.
Drake swings at Dreamer, but he hits the chair, and the oar flies out of
his hand. Dreamer then hits him with the
chair, and drops him with a DDT. All of
the sudden, Raven appears! He and
Dreamer have words, and Drake tries to induce them into a fight, knowing the
history between Raven and Dreamer. But
both of them nail Drake with two right hands, and Drake rolls out of the
ring. Dreamer and Raven stand in the
ring. Both will be watching Sunday as
Abyss takes on Drake.
Gama Singh is in the ring dedicating the upcoming match with
the Desi Hit Squad against Fallah Bahh and KM to Scarlett Bordeaux. Both teams have tried to impress the
seductress over the last few weeks. Just
to add to the festivities, Scarlett makes her appearance to watch the match.
There have been 12,000 submissions to her contest to find talent to
manage. The bell barely rings when the
Desi Hit Squad attacks Fallah Bahh and KM.
They get a couple of tags and a little offense, but Bahh recovers a
little bit, but not enough as Singh’s son goes to work and Bahh. Raj and Rohit work a double team on Bahh to
keep him away from KM. They continue
until Bahh fights back and gets the hot tag to KM. KM comes in, and both get their offense in,
and Bahh lands his big booty to score the pin.
He looks at Scarlett, and says something to her. Obviously, she’s seen enough, and heads
backstage.
The Lucha Bros. are in a pre-recorded promo, talking about
how LAX is weak now that Konnan is gone, and that they broke the line of
respect when Santana pushed Pentagon. They
said that this will NOT be a friendly fight on Sunday. I’m telling you right now…THIS is going to be
the match of the night.
Dark Allie makes her way to the ring with Su Yung by her
side as the now soulless one faces her former friend in Kiera Hogan. I gotta say this: Hogan has a TREMENDOUS look. Like her outfit, love her hair…it’s a great
gimmick. Anyway, Kiera goes right after
Allie with a flurry of kicks and forearms. She tosses Allie into the corner,
and she lays in the offense with some dropkicks and a couple of knee
smashes. She goes to the ropes to get to
Allie, but Allie moves out of the way, and Kiera suicide dives onto Su Yung
outside the ring. Kiera is then taken
back into the ring, and Allie aggressively goes to work on her former best
friend. Allie lands some kicks into the
corner, drags her out for a pin, but Kiera kicks out. Then she slaps herself. Her and Kiera then trade blows, and Kiera
gets the offense back, but can’t put Allie away. Allie eventually lands the codebreaker to
score the win. After the match, Allie
and Su go to work on Kiera some more, but Jordynne Grace comes out and destroys
both Allie and Su Yung, saving Kiera Hogan.
Thick Momma Pump has now entered the fray. And we STILL have the Demon Assassin’s
essence still floating about this rivalry.
We get a promo for the Knockouts Championship between Taya
Valkyrie and Tessa Blanchard. That’s
going to be the 2nd best match on the card Sunday…book it! After that, we have Trevor Lee busting into
the IMPACT Management offices, demanding to be on TV, saying he busts his butt
week in and out. They say he’s a great
worker, but that’s not enough for him.
He doesn’t care WHO they throw at him, he just wants to be on TV.
LAX cut a promo where they talk about Konnan, and when he
wasn’t there, they went on a losing streak, but that they were able to pick
each other up. They go on to say that
Konnan tells them the old war stories about the family falling apart because
they got too competitive. They feel they’ll
do it themselves. They’re ready for
January 6th. This is THE
match on this card, I’m telling you.
Trevor Lee comes out for his match, and he gets…KILLER
KROSS! Kross comes into the ring and
just starts laying waste to Trevor Lee.
You can see Kross enjoying himself as he continues to beat him down. He gets him into a suplex, and locks him into
a chicken wing like lock to score the submission and the win. He then demands the mic, and wishes Johnny
Impact good luck. He hops out of the
ring, and grabs the time keeper, telling him he’s going to do what Kross
wants. Kross grabs a cinderblock from
under the ring and has the timekeeper hold it up against Lee’s face has Kross
delivers a bare handed blow to the block, smashing it against Lee’s face. The camera then closes in on Kross, telling
John to be ready. I have a feeling he’s
going to stick his nose in the Main Event on Sunday. Lee is in need of medical help. Not the way I’d
say Trevor Lee wanted to end his IMPACT tenure, but it is what it is.
Two matches have been added to HOMECOMING: Willie Mack will take on Sami Callahan, and
Kiera Hogan & Jordynne Grace will take on Allie & Su Yung.
Main Event time as The Lucha Bros. make their way to the
ring to face Johnny Impact and Brian Cage.
I don’t know WHY you have two men who are going to face off WITH EACH
OTHER be stuck in a tag match on the go-home show before the PPV. Just stupid.
But that seems to be rampant throughout wrestling no matter WHAT
promotion you work for. The match
begins, and Fenix tries to get Cage off his feet, but no avail. No way Fenix OR Pentagon can get The Machine
off his feet. Cage goes to work on
Pentagon, and has him on his shoulders when Johnny gets the blind tag, and goes
to work himself. Johnny and Pentagon
trade moves until Pentagon lands a backstabber on Impact. Pentagon slows the match down and starts to
inflict pain on Johnny. Fenix tags in,
and continues the offensive flurry.
Johnny is out of the ring, and Cage comes in, only to be met with a
Cutter by Fenix. Pentagon then suicide
dives outside onto Johnny. Johnny
recovers, and lays the offense on Fenix, then hits a moonsault outside on
Pentagon, Cage, and Fenix.
Fenix and Cage are battling in the ring. Fenix goes for a hurricanrada, but Cage
catches him and powerbombs him. Blind
tag by Johnny, and Cage isn’t impressed.
Johnny lands a Spanish Fly, and goes for the pin, but Pentagon breaks it
up. All four men are in the ring, and it
becomes a superkick fest until Cage nails Johnny with a clothesline by
accident. This allows the Lucha Bros. to
set up their finisher for the win. Lucha
Bros. roll into HOMECOMING for their match against LAX, while Johnny and Cage
will now put their friendship aside.
Johnny asks what the hell happened, and Cage tries to explain to him
that it was not intentional. They get
into each other’s faces, and as Cage looks to leave, Johnny grabs him, and a
brawl is on! The refs try to break it
up, but they get cleared of the ring by the two combatants. Security eventually comes in to try and separate
the two. Cage powers his way through to
get to Johnny, and the melee continues.
They are all over each other, and eventually the locker room comes out
to try and break it up…but Johnny leaps off the top rope for a spinning dive
onto the resf of the locker room, but the fight rages on as the show ends.
This show was an alright show for a go-home. I would NOT have put Cage and Impact in a tag
match with them having to face each other just a mere few days away from a
PPV. But it’s formulaic, and it means
that something breaks down in the match, and we get a donnybrook prior to the
Main Event at the PPV…just kind of takes the steam out of the match, you
know? But the match between Cage &
Johnny vs. the Lucha Bros. wasn’t bad.
The 10 man tag was a tad sloppy, with far too many high spots happening
far too early in the match. I don’t know
who booked this, or who the agent was laying out the match, but it wasn’t as
solid as it could have been. I will say
this: The Rascalz are NOT a bad
team. They show promise.
I have a feeling that Allie & Kiera’s story was far from
finished. While I STILL keep expecting
Rosemary to return and the “Dark War” to begin, Jordynne Grace inserting
herself into the mix is interesting. It
gives Kiera a VERY powerful ally, and someone I don’t think either Allie or Su
Yung REALLY wanna deal with. Make no
mistake, though---I’m still holding out hope that now that this match is signed
for the PPV, I expect Rosemary to make an appearance. Long overdue for the Demon Assassin to
return.
The feud between Willie Mack & Sami Callahan has just
begun. I expect OVE and Swann & Mack
to be at war with each other for a bit.
It’ll also give these two teams a chance to climb the ladder for an
eventual title shot down the road.
Desi Hit Squad looked fairly good against KM & Fallah
Bahh. Both are trying to impress
Scarlett Bordeaux…not sure EITHER team did much if she walked out just after
the match.
Will Konnan show up for the match between LAX & The
Lucha Bros.? Will he try to prevent
another part of the family breaking up?
Or is he just done?
Was nice to see Raven and Tommy Dreamer make an appearance
and teach Eli Drake a lesson. Fans
obviously didn’t forget the legendary feud between the two legends as chants of
“ECW” emanated through the crowd.
Trevor Lee---ouch.
Not a way I would’ve wanted my tenure at IMPACT to end---to get utterly
destroyed by Killer Kross in a huge squash match AND take a cinderblock to the
face. But he’s now a free agent, and I
have a feeling that his talents will land him somewhere---either ROH or MAYBE
All Elite Wrestling. I still feel that
Kross will play a part in the Main Event on Sunday. I think his feud with Johnny is far from
over. There’s still more story to tell
there.
Nothing on the Ultimate X this week, but we did get a promo
for the Knockouts Championship, as well as a promo for Eddie Edwards &
Moose. I will say this: IMPACT is a tad smarter than WWE, in making
sure it spreads its time for talent around.
We don’t need to see EVERYBODY every week. And they’re not thrown into ridiculous tag
matches or some nonsense like that.
Tessa & Taya said their thing, Eddie & Moose need to be kept
apart until Sunday. That’s good! It gives more weight to these matches come
Sunday. So, with that in mind…we now
have the final lineup for Sunday’s PPV—HOMECOMING. Here’s the rundown:
IMPACT WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP:
Brian Cage v. Johnny Impact (C)
KNOCKOUTS CHAMPIONSHIP:
Taya Valkyrie v. Tessa Blanchard (C) **GAIL KIM – Special Guest Referee
IMPACT TAG TEAM CHAMPIONSHIP: The Lucha Bros. v. LAX (C)
ULTIMATE X MATCH (For the X-DIVISION TITLE): Ethan Page v. Rich Swann v. Jake Crist v. Trey
Miguel
NO HOLDS BARRED MATCH:
Eddie Edwards v. Moose
MONSTER’S BALL MATCH:
Eli Drake v. Abyss
Kiera Hogan & Jordynne Grace v. Allie & Su Yung
Willie Mack v. Sami Callahan
8 matches seems like a pretty stacked enough card. And as I predict…the biggest match of the
night—to ME, anyway---is going to be the Lucha Bros. and LAX. I expect this match to be exceptional. Both teams are two of the best in the
business, and will lay it on the line come Sunday night. Taya v. Tessa I expect will be pretty good as
well. My sleeper match will be the
Ultimate X match…I expect some crazy ass stuff to happen in that match. But overall..seems like a solid card. I’ll post a blog within the next 24 hours,
giving my predictions on who will win.
So keep an eye out for that.
Well…this is the last regular episode of IMPACT! I’ll get to
cover for your guys, what with the switch to the Pursuit Network, and I’m not
able to get the streaming service as yet, but I will work on it. Until then, I’ll just have to possibly give
you updates on what’s going on, without going into full reviews…just to keep
you guys in the loop as to what’s happening in the promotion. Anyway, I thank you for checking THIS blog
out during its short little run, and subscribe to my blog, and pass it around
to the others. I’d be extremely
grateful. And don’t be afraid to leave
comments…good or bad, as long as you keep it civil, we’re cool.
COMING UP: HOMECOMING
Predictions!
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