Impact Wrestling Final Thoughts
April 27, 2016
By: Josh Boutwell of Wrestleview.com
Fresh off my Honeymoon we were treated to a special “Sacrifice” edition of Impact. These specials are meant to be more than just a typical episode of Impact and in recent times TNA has done a good job of making them feel more special and important than a weekly Impact, but “Sacrifice” just felt way too much like a typical episode of Impact. And you could definitely tell they were throwing a lot of things out there just to simply wrap things up quickly with the departure of Roode and EY.
The opening match with Tyrus and Drew was really good and probably Tyrus’ best match in TNA, but it felt like a waste to be just thrown out there as the opener. It could have done a lot more good for Tyrus had it been built up for a couple of weeks and let them headline an episode of Impact rather than curtain jerking this episode.
Gail and Rosemary was way too short to accomplish anything and Eli Drake’s interview segment was just awful. It was corny and did nothing for me. They could have easily just gave the Bro-Mans a tag match rather than waste time on that segment.
The “Valley of Shadows” gimmick felt very Russo-rific and was just unnecessary. A Street Fight or Monsters Ball would have worked just fine. They had a fun, brutal match that I enjoyed and Roode went out on his back like the pro he is. It’s horrible for TNA to lose such an incredible talent but that is the wrestling business. Hopefully he gets to shine in WWE the way he has in TNA and the way he deserves to on a much more grand stage.
They have been building up the tension between Bram and EY for some time but considering the psychotic characters that the two play this culmination was a letdown to me. I really enjoyed their team and I think there was so much more for them to do together. EY has really proven himself as a true great wrestler in the past few years dragging himself from “joke comedy character” to one of the top, most believable heel characters in wrestling over the last three years. I don’t think his loss is as great as Roode’s but he may also be the most underrated wrestler in the business right now.
EC3 and Bennett had a really good match, could have been excellent given more time, and they tried to really get over how big of a win this was with it being the first time EC3 had ever been pinned clean. I almost want to bitch that it happened on a real throw away feeling Impact, to me, but moments like this are the type of things TNA wants to do with these special episodes of Impact. They are really pushing Bennett and doing a good job to try and make him their next EC3-like breakout star. TNA’s roster is as thin as it has ever been so it is important for them to use the star power that they do have (Jeff Hardy, EC3, Lashley, etc.) to help make some of these young guys into the next stars for the company. They no longer have old reliable stars to lean on like AJ Styles, Roode, Samoa Joe, Daniels, and even Eric Young anymore so it is time for this next crop of “homegrown” guys to be pushed and hopefully lead a revival for TNA.
-Promo/Segment of the Night: Jeff Hardy
-Match of the Night: Tyrus vs. Galloway (***)
-Overall Grade: B-
Twitter: @BamaBoyJosh