Impact Wrestling Review
September 2, 2016
By: Gerald Bocook of Wrestleview.com
I’d like to start off by saying that, top-to-bottom, this episode of Impact was much more enjoyable than Turning Point last week. I think it was a combination of in-ring action and storyline movement that kept everything nicely paced, along with clear communication to the audience as to the goings on. The only parts I wasn’t too terribly keen on were the Hardy Compound scenes, but I think that might be because I just do not like Reby.
So, let’s start there. I get the idea that Reby is at the homestead with the gardener and the drones and the kid, and she wants to defend her family, but she’s portrayed like a moron at times here. She’s told that crazy people might come to the house, so the first time the opportunity presents itself, she leaves her phone with the baby and does stuff halfway across the house. If you were really that worried, that baby would be sitting within arm’s reach while you do laundry. So would that cutlass. And you sure as heck shouldn’t go outside the house when the crazy kidnappers are INSIDE THE HOUSE. I do like that she’s determined to get revenge, but if she hadn’t made poor decisions beforehand it wouldn’t have come to that.
I loved the viewpoint from Vanguard One. The little info bits were great humor that most people’ll miss. The height and weight we were given for the “Decay Nero Zombies” seemed to be the combined stats for the entire group, so Vanguard was on the hunt for an 18 ft tall, 700 lb entity. Loved it.
DELETE OR DECAY next week should be fun! I wonder if it’s going to be a Tag Team Championship match, or if that’ll take place in the Impact Zone at Bound for Glory.
Okay, moving on.
Lots going on with the Bennett’s. Maria shows she’s just the worst with bullying Allie into laying down for her to become Knockouts Champion, and then her attacking Lashley in the main event with the belt was a nice touch. It’ll be interesting to see if Allie actually gets her revenge on Maria. I’d personally prefer a slow burn on that, have their match at, say, Slammiversary, but I have a feeling that it’s gonna happen at Bound for Glory and that’ll be that.
The tension between Bennett and Moose was nice, but I felt like I knew the way things were going to go from the interactions between the two. That could’ve been done better going from the opening of the show all the way to when Moose pulled the pipe away, but it was still fun to watch. Bennett put on a heck of a show, but, man, he just stood no chance.
The X-Division Gauntlet was good, and the format of the match made much more sense than I thought it was going to. I was really worried that it was going to be completely convoluted, and was glad to be wrong. They also had Matthews explain it right at the start to avoid any confusion. And I liked the threat that the match could end before everyone was even out for the match. Nice touch. I’m sure we’ll be seeing more of these in the future.
The result, however, I’m less fond of. You’re supposed to take the Championship off the X, right? So shouldn’t either Andrew Everett or Trevor Lee be X-Division Champion? Or both? But, nope! DJZ literally steals the Championship from their hands to win. I’m just not a fan of the rule apparently being “pull the belt off the X and make it to the ground!” I also feel like this isn’t the first time they’ve done this kind of ending.
Drew Galloway’s reasoning for attacking Aron Rex was pure, distilled pro wrestling nonsense. The fans were cheering someone that wasn’t him, so he had to make that person pay. Beautiful. Good brawl between Galloway and Rex, and Galloway was absolutely correct about the parallels between them. This should be a good feud and some good matches.
Even with the reason being dumb, it was a fine piece of work. Even Billy Corgan was actually engaging during his bit with Galloway (I’m not sure I “get” the need for him to use weird fancy words, cuz isn’t he supposed to have fan support and not just be jerkwad authority figure #7081239847907341520234?) and the promo wasn’t as… obtuse and weird as his interaction with Maria, Sienna, and Allie last week.
I have nothing really to say about the Drake/Carter match. It was solid, as both guys are good at what they do. It wasn’t anything special, but it was not offensive. Pure vanilla pro wrestling. I liked the promo where Drake suggested that Carter lie down for him (lots of that in this episode,) like that was ever gonna happen.
The main event, as previously mentioned, was a good, solid bit of wrestling. Lashley can go, Bennett can go, and with all the shenanigans to make it exciting and maybe give you that thought that he really might beat Lashley. Until Moose decided that Bennett wasn’t his friend, after all. Which was the point. Lashley murdered Bennett with a Spear, and then Moose put Bennett in his place. That’s gonna be a good match for Bound for Glory, too.
So, yes. Lots of work on this episode shaping up Bound for Glory, and I’m glad they’re finally doing that. It seemed to be a long wait for it. There was solid promo work from just about everyone. Solid wrestling, too. Nothing came even close to the bad Abyss/Nero match last week. A definite thumbs up and TNA continues to trend upwards.