Again, Impact Wrestling starts the show without having a main event scheduled, booking it in the first segment after authority figure Bruce Prichard booked two title matches for later in the show.
All three guys in this opening segment were fine, but the premise is what doesn’t add up. First, we’re to believe they started the show without enough time filled or matches booked? Second, there should be a clear and identifiable road to earning a title shot. It shouldn’t be Bruce Prichard just “going in the back and finding two challengers.” It’s wrestling, so the fact that the champions aren’t going to know their challengers until the match begins is forgivable, but the lack of road to get there isn’t.
This was also Impact’s first show from India. Instead of that being the featured part of the opening segment, the focus was on a tired gimmick of the authority figure booking matches. It doesn’t work in 2017, clearly, as Impact’s viewership suggests.
The focus of the show’s first 15 minutes should have been the history being made, as Impact became the first U.S. wrestling company to tape television in India. Then, the focus should have switched to the four title matches on the show, all of which should have been booked ahead of time and advertised on Impact’s social media channels and web platforms.
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Instead, the man running the show, Prichard, is made to look like he kicked off a two-hour broadcast without having even considered the main and semi-main event! Well, then if this were “real life,” Bruce Prichard is an idiot and should be fired.
Booking on the fly makes everyone look unorganized and unintelligent. It’s not the way they should be presenting their product, especially not on a night where Impact could boast legitimate history it was making.
As for the crowd, they had a lot more energy than usual, but you could tell that some of the production elements were post-produced. During El Patron’s promo, they would cut away to the crowd going nuts, chanting “Si! Si! Si!” but when they would cut back to El Patron in the ring, the crowd behind him was sitting silent.
Low Ki beat Caleb Konley to retain the X Division Title
Speaking of clear and identifiable road to earning a title shot, what exactly did Caleb Konley do to deserve a championship match against Low Ki? That aside, Low Ki’s run, although short, is doing a lot to rebuild the prestige of the X Division Title. It could be that he has a strong lineage within the division, going back to its early days, but the title feels more important now than it did when it was being traded between D.J. Z and Trevor Lee, etc.
Off topic, there doesn’t appear to be an announce table at ringside? So I would assume that the commentary for these shows is being done live to tape. But, Pope also isn’t on commentary, so perhaps it was done live? It’s hard to know for sure
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Davey Richards beat Vikas Kumar
Wow, some of the spots in that match were scary. It’s hard to figure out how Kumar’s head is still connected to his body after the stomp and kick from Richards. He sold them great, and they were delivered with a lot of velocity. The live crowd seemed to enjoy Kumar’s brief hope spot, where he hit the dropkick, but this match was all about Richards kicking butt
A video aired on Mahabali Shera in India
They haven’t treated him like anything special, but that package made Shera look like a legitimate star. Fans were all over him and he talked about the importance he felt being the first wrestler from India in Impact. He also showed his father and brother arriving to the show, and Shera mentioned his father had never seen him wrestle before. It’s a cool human-interest insight into who Shera is. It’s how pro wrestling companies should focus on building talent in 2017. That’s how UFC does it. They tell you who these people really are. Shera was natural, because he was himself. It worked
Bobby Lashley beat Moose to retain the Impact World Title
Very good, competitive match. Moose elevated himself with the loss, hanging in there every step of the way with Lashley. Impact has kept Lashley off TV in a wrestling capacity for a while now, and it felt like a big deal to see him wrestle on this show. There’s something to keeping his in-ring appearances few and far between. It would be wise for them to hold him out of the ring for the next month, ahead of Slammiversary. There are other ways to build the match with El Patron
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Rosemary beat Laurel Van Ness to retain the Knockouts Title
Rosemary has turned babyface, but not much about her character has changed. She’s more open to outside help, I guess, and seems to have embraced Allie as her newfound friend
Alberto El Patron beat Chris Adonis to retain the GFW Global Title
The match was fine, and the post-match angle suggests a tag match is coming between El Patron & Moose against Eli Drake and Adonis. In the end though, it bugs me that Jeff Jarrett believes there is any legitimate equity in the GFW brand, which was never really a company to begin with.
