Impact wrestling thread - It's a Don West tribute thread now!

[garynysmon]

Laredo Kid posted this picture on Twitter from yesterday's TV tapings, which apparently was another 1,000-ish sell-out.

I really wish they'd light up the arena better on TV. Fair enough if there's only 200 in, but if they have a decent crowd in then show it and embrace it! 

 

[BomberPat]

50 minutes ago, garynysmon said:

It seems to have split opinion, but Moose as a heel champ and being chased by Josh Alexander? Yes please!

That's sort of where I'm at - I wasn't happy with it as a finish to the PPV, but the direction moving forward makes sense. Before, people wanted to see Josh Alexander as champion, but I don't think they really wanted to see him beat Christian Cage to win it. Now, he has a feud with some genuine heat behind it en route to getting the belt, and there's something that you can get your teeth into a little more in a feud with Moose than over the fairly one-sided "Josh Alexander has worked really hard and wants to be champion" angle he had going beforehand. The problem is if they leave it too long, or just never pull the trigger on Alexander at all.

I'm curious where they go with the women's division now - a lot of it is very stale. Havok was abysmal, stumbling all over the place, in the opening match, and Rosemary's as stale as it gets - hell, all of Decay bar Black Taurus, who they seemingly never use, feel like they've been doing the same thing forever, and it's made worse when you've got Su Yung et al doing the spooky gimmick far better. Mickie as champion is a change of pace, but I expect it's a bit of a "lifetime achievement award" deal and that she'll drop it back to Deonna reasonably soon - the alternative, given there was a fair chunk of the audience on Deonna's side, is that they turn Purazzo babyface to give her a new set of opponents. 

I got swerved somewhat by the Rhino match - my guess was that he'd show up, take out VBD, but then walk out on Heath as well as a kind of "I did this for me, not to help you" deal and keep that angle going. The one outcome I hadn't expected was smiley fun times babyface Rhino.

Laredo Kid wrestled The KISS Demon on pay-per-view. What a year this is.

38 minutes ago, jazzygeofferz said:

Strowman and Bray etc won't have turned up as their no compete isn't up yet. I think it ends this week, but I don't know whether that means they can be involved in the taping that went on yesterday and today. 

 

Strowman's no compete is up - he was released earlier than Bray, and he's already wrestled for EC3's promotion. 

 

As for the AEW/Impact relationship, it's something that served them both well during a time of no-fans shows, that I imagine will quietly be put to bed now. It's going to be even harder for them to match schedules in any meaningful way. I don't think it means there's no chance at all of seeing Christopher Daniels and Christian Cage in Impact or the Good Brothers in AEW any more, I just don't think it'll be a focal point for either company.

[Jazzy G]

Maybe Strowman will be at this set of taping. I think they'd possibly want to hold off on debuting Bray or whatever he's going to be called until their next special. 

Mickie as champion does give a few fresh matchups, or they could roll the clock right back and stick her in a feud with Madison Rayne. As you said, It gives us options going forward. 

[garynysmon]

30 minutes ago, BomberPat said:

As for the AEW/Impact relationship, it's something that served them both well during a time of no-fans shows, that I imagine will quietly be put to bed now. It's going to be even harder for them to match schedules in any meaningful way. I don't think it means there's no chance at all of seeing Christopher Daniels and Christian Cage in Impact or the Good Brothers in AEW any more, I just don't think it'll be a focal point for either company.

Yeah, that's what I was thinking really. It makes no sense to slam the door shut completely. If you're Tony Khan and need some surprises for a Casino Battle Royal, or what have you, why would you take that option off the table?

But the potential on the women's side of things, in particular, throws up some very intriguing matches. After all, both companies' women rosters are much more equal in terms of quality and star power than the men's side.

But yeah, the days of AEW talent holding Impact world titles is over, which overall is no bad thing really as much as I enjoyed having Kenny Omega around. It can't be good for anyone when you're having to consult with Tony Khan over major booking decisions in your own company.

God knows that bookers usually have enough headaches to contend with as is.

Edited October 25, 2021 by garynysmon

[DavidB6937]

A long term relationship was always going to have its difficulties. We've seen with Ring of Honor how you can get too wrapped up in talent from other companies. I know people may think there was a lot more potential for the Impact/AEW relationship but both companies are doing well on their own. It's impossible to book it too intricately and long running I'd say, especially when you're still trying to run your own individual companies and keep your own talent happy.

There's definitely a lot more options there and I'm sure they'd be open to it in the future but it's just not sustainable on a regular basis.

[JNLister]

Apologies if it's mentioned earlier in this thread, but just seen someone with the trivia note that *technically* (by being in the Rumble match), Christian has main evented PPVs for WWE, AEW and Impact in the same year.

[PowerButchi]

8 hours ago, BomberPat said:

.

Laredo Kid wrestled The KISS Demon on pay-per-view. What a year this is.

 

 

No brother, Laredo Kid had to get in there with Johnny Swinger daddy! He taught those young boys everything. 

 

Johnny Swinger being the biggest babyface not called Josh Alexander in the crowd's eyes just shown how great a gimmick it is. I'm kind of gutted he didn't win Call My Shot, so I never heard "loosen up on that ankle lock Shamrock daddy" or getting suplexed with "calm down, Gotch" 

[PowerButchi]

8 hours ago, BomberPat said:

.

Laredo Kid wrestled The KISS Demon on pay-per-view. What a year this is.

 

 

No brother, Laredo Kid had to get in there with Johnny Swinger daddy! He taught those young boys everything. 

 

Johnny Swinger being the biggest babyface not called Josh Alexander in the crowd's eyes just shown how great a gimmick it is. I'm kind of gutted he didn't win Call My Shot, so I never heard "loosen up on that ankle lock Shamrock daddy" or getting suplexed with "calm down, Gotch" 

[RIDDUM_N_STYLE]

I noticed that for one of their tapings, maybe tonight, they've announced that one of the matches being taped is Alexander against Suzuki which is another brilliant moment for him after being put over by Christian at the weekend

[Jazzy G]

Holy crap. What a match that has the potential to be. 

[Loki]

When I saw a spoiler about the Demon on Impact PPV, I genuinely assumed this was Bray Wyatt's new character.  I was not expecting the Kiss Demon!

Impact looks really low budget still in comparison to AEW and WWE.  And compared to its own Spike TV era.  Bad lighting, cramped ring surroundings, and awful awful commentary.   I'm impressed it still exists, but atm there's not a lot to entice me to watch.

[Jazzy G]

The stuff in the ring is generally good. It's better with Matthews than it is with Striker, but they keep pushing on with him. 

[garynysmon]

I actually prefer Striker to Matthews, he doesn't annoy me as much as he does some people. I think he's fine.

That said, Matthews seems to be a lot better since he had a few months' break from commentary.

[Jazzy G]

They both have their moments, but neither are as good as Tenay & West were. 

I think the reason Matthews is sounding better nowadays is because he and Striker have the same scripts but the delivery is totally different. Since Striker came in Matthews has been saying a lot of stuff that doesn't sound like stuff he'd say. I wonder whether it's written with the inte tion of Striker delivering it, and then he gets called away to his other commitments so Matthews steps in and reads his lines at the last minute. 

[garynysmon]

Lad.