Impact Wrestling 19/07/19

[AxB]

Must have sucked to be at this taping, they're all playing to the hard camera and there's like five fans on that side. They were all facing that side, seeing all the Wrestler's backs.

The idea is it's teams of people who hate each other, rather than the old Lethal Lottery 'random' draw. But Moose and Eddie Edwards, they were best friends before they feuded, so the idea that they start clicking as a unit in their match makes sense. The whole tournament had a 'rushed TV match' feel to it though, with the OVE matches being primarily angle-based. Poor Rich Swann. Stone Rockwell is usually super over in Ontario, but maybe him being too much of a jobber in his previous Impact appearances has hurt his appeal. Although why Ace Austin was teaming with him rather than TJP who he's feuding with, I don't know. And both Crist brothers were teamed with Rascalz, even though they've not actually feuded yet. They were on opposite sides of the Thanksgiving comedy match, but that's probably Impact feud of the year 2020, rather than something that's already happened.

John E Bravo still hanging around Taya even though Johnny Impact is gone seems a bit forced. Although what they're supposed to do with him other than that, I don't know. He can't really go back to reffing now. Havok's combination Samoan Drop/ Fallaway Slam is a hell of a strength spot.

Jimmy Jacobs being the backstage interviewer gets him on TV, but I would prefer him to still be a heel manager. You don't want your interviewer to be more charismatic than the interviewee. But if neither of their usual interviewers were at the tapings, someone's got to do it.

Anyway, nobody posted spoilers, so:

• Moose & Eddie Edwards beat Rohit Raju & Cody Deaner
• Wentz & Jake Crist beat Rich Swann & Madman Fulton (Fulton turned on Swann to lose intentionally)
• Willie Mack & Michael Elgin beat Ace Austin & Stone Rockwell
• Sami Callihan & Tessa Blanchard beat Dave Crist & Trey Miguel (who was dressed as Sami Callihan (and wrestled as him) for some reason). They tried to do a fingerpoke of doom at the bell, but Trey broke it up.
• Jessica Havok vs Madison Rayne vs Taya Valkyrie ended when Taya walked out and Havok pinned Rayne with a Tombstone.
• The finals of the Mash Up tournament is a four way match. I'd have done semi-finals and had a two on two final, but they wanted it to be a one night thing I suppose. The winning team face each other for a shot at the World title. Might have been more interesting if they were offered a choice between that, or a tag title match as partners. Anyway, Elgin pinned Edwards with a Powerbomb, then Callihan pinned Mack when Elgin turned on his partner. Finally Tessa pinned Jake Crist with the Magnum. Tessa vs Sami rematch for a shot at Brian Cage upcoming.

The free match from the archive was Eddie Edwards, Tommy Dreamer & Moose vs Sami Callihan & Dave & Jake Crist in a hardcore match from sometime last year I think. Sami still had long hair, so it's before he lost the hair match with Pentagon. It was a bit mad. I think it was the start of the 'Eddie goes too far' angle.

Edited July 20, 2019 by AxB

[DreamBroken]

Fun different show/concept, battle bowl style. The ending felt a bit obvious as this always seemed built around being the Sami and Tessa show since they were the first team announced for it. Opening tag was my favorite of the night with Eddie & Moose and I've enjoyed the Desi Hit Squad/Deaners feud. I'm assuming Tessa wins the rematch vs Sami, but as much as I like Tessa, the idea of her headlining BFG and potentially winning the world title feels a bit odd still. Taya/Havok should be solid but I hope Taya's reign continues on, she is always a highlight.

[Hail Sabin]

Tessa & Sami were the story of the night and were the highlights of the show. I will probably look into Impact plus to see the match on Aug 2. A cool thing they did on the Twitch stream to tie in with the mash Up was have Melissa & Sami on together. Melissa Santos is really, really bad at Fortnight and Sami for 100 mins kept asking for her shoes like he has in their previous encounters.