The rebuilding of Impact Wrestling continues. In a week where four former TNA performers received some of the biggest reactions at WrestleMania (AJ Styles, The Hardy Boyz, Kurt Angle), the newly-rebranded Impact Wrestling continued ploughing its new path with a mixed show.
This week’s Impact episode had one great matches and a couple of stories of note, but the issues with the announcers and the feeling of too many cooks in the kitchen continue to undermine the show.
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Here are the full results.
#1 Eli Drake vs. Caleb Konley
The show opened with in-ring action, as Eli Drake took on Caleb Konley. As expected Tyrus consistently got involved throughout the match, a distraction that Konley seemed to be able to ignore until one interference too many. Drake cut Konley off with a superplex before hitting Blunt Force Trauma for the win.
Winner – Eli Drake
After the match Jeremy Borash and Josh Matthews’ bickering soon got out of control, leading to Bruce Prichard coming down to ringside to sort things out. Prichard booked a 4 vs. 4 match for the following week, with Borash and Matthews tasked with choosing their own sides.
This didn’t stop the bickering between the two, but at least this story seems to be going somewhere after weeks of nothingness.
#2 Knockouts #1 Contender Gauntlet Battle Royal
Ava Storie and Madison Rayne started off the gauntlet battle royal, although the continued bickering on commentary completely took away from anything that was happening in the ring. Rebel and Amanda Rodriguez were the next two to enter, followed by MJ Jenkins and Diamante of LAX.
Amanda Rodriguez was the first woman eliminated, shortly before TNA alumni ODB entered the ring as the 7th participant.
ODB quickly got rid of Ava Storie, before Brandi Rhodes sauntered out to the ring to round out the participants, eliminating Diamante almost immediately. Rebel, Jenkins and Rhodes were eliminated leaving just ODB and Madison Rayne, with ODB eventually prevailing to become the number one contender to the Knockouts Championship.
Winner – ODB
The formula of a match being followed by a long talking segment continued, as the DCC came out to the ring to address their issues. The break-up of the trio was inevitable from the moment the new management took over, and this segment achieved that aim.
Eddie Kingston gave his best Impact promo to date, breaking down James Storm and spitting in the face of The Cowboy before receiving a superkick for his troubles. Storm followed this up with one on Bram. The DCC is no more.
Andrew Everett was interviewed backstage, covering his recent history and issues with Gregory Shane Helms and X-Division Champion Trevor Lee. Helms showed up to tell Everett that he was in a triple threat match next and if he wanted a shot at Lee’s title.
#3 Andrew Everett vs. Marshe Rockett vs. Suicide
If you’ve seen one X-Division triple threat match then you’ve seen them all, and this match served as a showcase for the aerial ability of Andrew Everett. Although all three men looked good it was Everett who shined, eventually picking up the win after hitting Rockett with a gorgeous Shooting Star Press.
Winner – Andrew Everett
#4 Last Man Standing match – Eddie Edwards vs. Davey Richards
The break-up of The Wolves continued with an absolutely brutal Last Man Standing match. The chemistry between the former TNA Tag Team Champions is unreal, and they got plenty of time here to put on as good a Last Man Standing match.
The duo battled through the crowd and up into the balcony, Richards threatening to suplex Edwards off of it before Die Hard fluffed on a dive and found garbage cans instead of Davey.
The match built to a real frenzy, the wives of both men getting involved, and Edwards seemed to have it wrapped up when he hit a sick double stomp on Richards, who’s head was prone in a steel chair. For reasons that make no sense, Edwards stopped the referee’s count, wanting instead to inflict more punishment on his former tag team partner.
This allowed Richards to recover, and it was Davey who prevailed after hitting Eddie with a chain-assisted kick.
Richards showed a little bit of compassion before knocking his partner out, resisting the temptation to do so until wife Angelina Love popped up and implored him to do it. A great match that was probably the best of Impact Wrestling’s new era to date.
Winner – Davey Richards
LAX were up next with a video package showing their post Impact Tag Team Championship win celebration. Konnan cut a promo with his group around him, stating that ’you can stop a revolutionary but you can’t stop a revolution’. LAX continue to be one of the highlights of the new Impact.
#5 Alberto El Patron vs. John Boland
The former Alberto Del Rio was up next in squash action, making short work of John Boland. El Patron hit the double stomp in the corner for the easy victory.
Winner – Alberto El Patron
Alberto called out Bobby Lashley following the match, but Lashley was nowhere to be seen. Allie and Braxton Sutter were interviewed backstage, only to be interrupted by KM and Sienna. A brawl almost broke out between the four before Karen Jarrett turned up to book a mixed tag team match for next week’s Impact.
This was followed by a video package hyping a new faction called The Veterans of War before yet another video promo hyped the unveiling of the ‘Fury Unleashed’ vignettes. Impact sure does love its reveals.
The main event of the show saw Bruce Prichard mediate the final decision regarding the participants in next week’s 4-on-4 match. Josh Matthews won the coin toss and as such gets the first pick, surprising nobody by choosing Bobby Lashley.
JB countered this by announcing Alberto El Patron as his first pick. Bram is Matthews’ next pick before Borash surprised everyone by announcing Chris Adonis as his second competitor. Adonis was formerly known as Chris Masters in WWE and was making his Impact Wrestling return after his first stint in 2015 (when the company was still TNA).
Eli Drake and Tyrus round out Matthews’ team, before Borash keeps the surprises coming with the announcement of Matt Morgan’s return to Impact Wrestling. The show goes off the air with the suspense of who Borash’s fourth pick is, with The Pope urging fans to head to Impact’s website to find out. The fourth man turns out to be none other than former TNA World Heavyweight Champion Magnus (Mickie James’ husband), making his grand return to the company.
So next week it will be Team Matthews (Bobby Lashley, Bram, Tyrus & Eli Drake) against Team Borash (Alberto El Patron, Chris Adonis, Matt Morgan & Magnus). Who will prevail? More importantly, will this be the end of the irritating announcer arguing? We can only hope.
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