FEATURE: Josh Boutwell reviews 9/3 Impact Wrestling

The Final Impact
September 3, 2014
By: Josh Boutwell of Wrestleview.com

Tonight’s Impact was chock full of just fun wrestling from start to finish. If you like hard hitting, stiff wrestling there was something for you. If you like fast paced, high flying wrestling there was something for you. If you like back and forth, technical based wrestling there was something for you. If you like women’s wrestling there was damn sure something for you.

The opening promo with Lashley and company and Joe was very well done and set up nicely for the match with Joe. I loved this match for multiple reasons. First both the X-Division and World Titles were getting new #1 Contenders tonight so neither guy really had much to do so this gave them both something, and it also gave us a chance to see the X-Division Champion in the same ring and standing toe to toe with the World Champion. That alone helps elevate the X-Division Title and it was something TNA did a lot of in the early days. One of my favorite moments from those days was when Low-Ki faced Ron Killings in a champion vs. champion match which was the first time the X-Division and World Champion faced each other. Stuff like that also led to AJ Styles eventually moving into the World Title picture. The match itself was hard hitting as hell and excellent, and I think this was the first time that Lashley blatantly cheated to win a match. That gives Joe a reason in the future to say “hey, you needed your boy to beat me” and it also makes any challenger to Joe look good when they can hang with the guy that almost beat the champ especially with how dominating Lashley has been of late. I have to say kudos all around to TNA for all of that.

Terrell and Gail had yet another excellent match and it kind of came full circle. They have been known for having the wild, violent matches and this one was just a good wrestling match even though they still did at least one vicious spot. It put a nice little bow on this feud for now. Now Gail can move on to something else (Havok) and Terrell can as well before coming back together for round 2 of this feud. Havok looked menacing and dominant which is exactly what she needed. TNA tried to recapture the Awesome Kong aura with Lei’D Tapa but that failed miserably. Tapa was green and just not very good. Havok is a veteran and good as hell in the ring. She is bigger than most women wrestlers (around 6’ and 170 lbs.) but she isn’t as big as Kong so she can still move really well but be dominating.

Spud was fed to the lions and was done so it seems as punishment for not doing more to save Aunt Dixie. I like how dark the EC3 character is getting and looking forward to seeing more.

Aries bringing in Tajiri was cool to see and I’m looking forward to seeing more of him in TNA. The obvious match for now is Storm and Sanada against Aries and Tajiri, but I’m expecting Storm and Sanada against Muta and Tajiri at BFG. Actually they may include Manik and Aries into that match as well.

Speaking of Manik, the X-Division Match was way too short but still entertaining and full of fast paced action. Manik being dragged away by Storm and Sanada was cool to see them adding to this “Revolution” and I expect a new look for him. Will he get rid of the mask though? I hope not.

Roode and EY was terrific from start to finish. The started a story before the match with MVP tried to plant the seed of doubt in each man, playing with their head thinking the other would cheat in the match. Then Roode went after EY’s arm and attacked it the entire match. They had several nearfalls and just some terrific counter wrestling down the stretch. Roode gets another strong win and the showdown with Lashley should be excellent.

– Segment/Promo of the Night: Joe/MVP/Lashley
– Match of the Night: Joe vs. Lashley/EY vs. Roode (****)
– Overall Grade: A

Until next week… PEACE!

Follow me on Twitter: @BamaBoyJosh

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