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It was indeed Super Tuesday for wrestling fans this week, as they witnessed two impressive shows, both featuring a world title match as their main event. While the NXT Title match failed to determine the champion, that wasn't the case with IMPACT Wrestling, as this week's episode saw Eric Young come out as the IMPACT World Champion.
While the finish saw Young using a distraction to his advantage, the title change was quite shocking, given that IMPACT Wrestling was coming off a very successful two-week event in Emergence and is heading towards Bound For Glory. So why exactly did IMPACT book Young to win the World title?
Here, we look at five possible reasons why Eric Young beat Eddie Edwards to win the IMPACT World Championship
#1 To grow IMPACT Wrestling's audience
IMPACT Wrestling has seen a rise in its popularity recently due to years of hard work along with the company's tease of bringing in ex-WWE stars for their Slammiversary pay-per-view garnering interest from non-IMPACT fans as well. There has been no looking back since then, with the company booking intriguing storylines and making perfect use of all former WWE stars to introduce the new audience to the IMPACT roster. As a result, the fans who decided to tune in to find out which ex-WWE stars showed up on IMPACT chose to continue to follow the product.
While Eric Young didn't have a great showing on the main roster of WWE, he was still able to become more popular than ever before due to WWE's reach. IMPACT was able to rectify the errors in Young's presentation by booking him as a force to be reckoned with, and his World Championship win would have made even more non-IMPACT fans curious about the product.
While this is not a knock on Eddie Edwards, who has been one of the cornerstones of IMPACT Wrestling, Eric Young was the more popular star in this case, and giving him the World title allows IMPACT to broaden their fanbase.
#2 A loss would have derailed Young's momentum in IMPACT Wrestling
Eric Young made a surprise return in the main event of IMPACT Wrestling's Slammiversary pay-per-view, challenging right away for the IMPACT World Championship. While the World Class Maniac wasn't able to win the gold then, he went on to retire Rich Swann with his vicious attacks, which only solidified his Maniac gimmick. From his match with Willie Mack to the mind games Eric played with Eddie Edwards, Young was more than ready to win the World title. But, had he lost this match, all the effort put in by IMPACT Wrestling to build Young's momentum (which included Rich Swann's retirement) would have gone down the drain.
With Young as the Champion, the whole Eric Young/Eddie Edwards feud gets a refreshing boost, which allows it to stretch until Bound For Glory, IMPACT Wrestling's next pay-per-view. We have seen in the past how losing big matches have affected the career trajectories of many superstars and IMPACT Wrestling was able to avoid that with Young.
#3 The IMPACT Wrestling World Championship Open Challenge was getting stale
Ever since Eddie Edwards won the IMPACT Wrestling World title at Slammiversary, he defended it almost every week, with Night 1 of Emergence being the only exception. While this did add some credibility to Eddie Edwards' championship reign, portraying him as a fighting champion, it did little for the championship itself.
First, it was the return of the TNA World Heavyweight Championship that was harming the importance of IMPACT Wrestling's World Championship, and the Open Challenges further reduced the aura around the title. What would have the fans looked forward to at Bound For Glory if the World Championship was being defended on a weekly basis?
Moreover, Edwards dropping the idea of defending the title in open challenges would have negatively affected his image, and so the best option was to have Eric Young win the title. The IMPACT Wrestling World Championship can now be defended only on pay-per-view, restoring the belt's prestige.
#4 To give IMPACT Wrestling a heel World Champion
Both Tessa Blanchard and Eddie Edwards (who held the title before Eric Young) were clear-cut babyfaces, which has led to a stagnant main event picture. The main event scene of IMPACT Wrestling in 2020 has mainly been a cowardly heel trying to cheat his way into winning the World Championship, only for the face champion to overcome the odds. Also, a face champion meant that there were no opportunities for the good guys to break into the main event picture.
Young is one of the most sadistic heels of not only IMPACT Wrestling but of the entire wrestling industry, and him winning the World Championship shakes up the landscape. Wrestlers like Willie Mack, Cody Deaner, and Cousin Jake, who aren't a part of any storyline, can work magic with Young over the World Championship, elevating all involved in the process.
Also, this gives IMPACT Wrestling enough time to pull off the inevitable face/anti-hero turn of Ace Austin organically, before allowing him to go over Young and win the IMPACT World Championship.
#5 To book a IMPACT Wrestling title program with more casual appeal
Why is it that, even though WWE boasts a plethora of world-class performers, they bring in stars like Brock Lesnar and Tyson Fury for their big pay-per-views? The answer is simple: wider appeal. While wrestling has a vast fanbase all around the globe, there is potential to increase this base exponentially. Every wrestling promotion tries to expand its reach in an attempt to bring in new fans. The same is true for IMPACT Wrestling, who have been quite successful in doing the same with their tease of ex-WWE stars during the build-up for this year's Slammiversary.
But now, Slammiversary is in the rearview mirror, and IMPACT Wrestling has to find new ways to not only reach out to new fans but also retain their loyal fanbase as they move towards Bound For Glory, IMPACT's biggest annual pay-per-view event. That was the reason why Tenille Dashwood was inserted into the Knockouts Championship picture upon returning.
With Eric Young, who is known to both the non IMPACT viewers from his WWE run and the hardcore IMPACT fans, seeds have been sown for an Unsanctioned Match with Rich Swann. There are other matches that can be booked as well, like pitting Young against EC3, which has a high casual appeal due to the time both men spent in NXT.
It is no wonder why the Bound For Glory pay-per-view announcement video was centered around Eric Young, who is the perfect heel champion for IMPACT Wrestling while interest in the company is high.
