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wrestlingisfake · 5 years

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Bound for Glory preview

Hey, remember Impact Wrestling!? They used to be TNA back in the day. Then in 2013 Dixie Carter’s parents stopped pouring money into the company, and then Spike TV canceled them, and then they bounced around really crappy channels until Dixie finally had to sell, and they almost merged with Global Force Wrestling but now they’re just Impact.

Anyway, they’re finally moving to a halfway decent station this week (I mean, it’s just AXS, but it’s better than they’ve been doing) and for once it feels like they might actually have some forward momentum. They’re not out of the woods yet, but after five years of toiling in obscurity has caused an almost complete turnover in the roster and office, so it’s almost a completely different company. I’m curious to see if they can ride the wave of big wrestling moves this month to improve their fortunes, so let’s see what they’ve got cooking on pay-per-view.

Brian Cage vs. Sami Callihan - Cage is defending the Impact world championship. Cage looks like a big wall of muscle, and it’s actually kind of surprising none of the bigger companies managed to steal him away from here yet. Callihan is probably best known for his runs in CZW and Lucha Underground, if not his altercation with security at a 2018 AAW show. Basically, Cage is the kind of blue-chipper Impact has been lucky to hang onto during their dark age, and Callihan is the kind of hooligan that Impact has had to make do with for lack of any better prospects.

The last I heard, Cage was coping with nagging injuries that forced him to wrestle sparingly during his title reign. This appears to be only his third one-on-one match since winning the championship in April. I haven’t heard an update on his status, but if those injuries are still bothering him this may be a formality to get the title off of him while he takes time off to heal. Or, for all I know, he’s 100% and this match will be about proving it. I guess we’ll see.

Callihan and his stable, OVE, has been feuding on and off with Tessa Blanchard, and I’ve heard rumblings that they’re going to build to her either pinning Callihan or winning the men’s world title. With that in mind, it would make sense for Callihan to go over here to set up doing both of those things in one match. Frankly I haven’t paid enough attention to Impact to read the tea leaves on this one, so we’ll just have to wait and see what happens.

Ken Shamrock vs. Moose - Shamrock, 55, is a pioneer of mixed martial arts and a former WWE intercontinental champion. In a sense he was this promotion’s first world champion, because TNA originally used the NWA world title as their top belt and awarded it to him on their first show in 2002. Moose, a former NFL player, spent a couple of years in Ring of Honor before jumping to Impact in 2016. I don’t really know how this thing started, but Moose has been a total dick heel for a while now, so I assume he dissed Shamrock or something.

From what I can tell, Shamrock has done very little pro wrestling between leaving TNA in 2004 and working some indies over the past year. In the interim, he returned to MMA and fought way, way, way past his prime, until his license was revoked in 2016. I often wondered why he didn’t return to WWE, where he still had enough badass credibility for a run as a legend, but I guess this is the closest we’ll come to that. He looks to be in good shape, but that’s mainly in the sense that Stallone and Schwarzenegger look amazing for 70.

In the Dixie Carter era, I would expect the returning legend to go over just because management was grateful he even agreed to come back. With Don Callis running things, I would expect a more pragmatic attitude. Moose can get a bit of a rub from beating Shamrock, but it doesn’t do Impact any good to put Shamrock over, especially if he’s only in for this one shot. I expect this to be short, bowling-shoe-ugly, and full of heel shenanigans, leading to a Moose victory.

Jake Crist vs. Tessa Blanchard vs. Daga vs. Ace Austin vs. Ace Romero - This is a ladder match for the Impact X division championship. The title belt will be suspended above the ring, and ladders will be provided at ringside; the only way to win is to be the first to climb up and retrieve the belt.

The X division was at one point TNA’s attempt to have a cruiserweight division without calling it a cruiserweight division, back when there were more stigmas about pushing little guys. Technically it’s an openweight championship (in case you were wondering why the 400-pound Romero is in this match), so it basically functions as Impact’s secondary men’s title. Blanchard is in the match because she’s out to prove she can hang with the men.

Crist is a member of Sami Callihan’s OVE stable, which has spent much of the past year a) feuding with previous X champion Rich Swann and b) feuding with Tessa Blanchard. Daga is a Mexican star and basically all that’s left of Konnan’s LAX stable now that Ortiz and Santana have jumped to AEW. Ace Austin and Ace Romero are probably best known from people getting their names mixed up, so it’s probably just as well that they’re both in the same match.

The most novel thing Impact has had going for it this year is the idea that Tessa Blanchard--the daughter of wrestling legend Tully Blanchard--is so damn good that she can dominate the men’s division. At a time when WWE, AEW and ROH won’t touch intergender wrestling, this is probably the one thing that can put them on the map in the US, and it feels like they’re going to go all the way with it. So I get the feeling the whole story of this match is the inevitable coronation of Tessa on her way to a world title match next year. Maybe they get cold feet and move the title to one of the other guys. But none of them strike me as having any momentum. I think this match is already Blanchard’s to lose.

Michael Elgin vs. Naomi Marufuji - Marufuji is the ace of Pro Wrestling Noah, pretty much like Hiroshi Tanahashi has been for New Japan. His presence on this card represents the working relationship between Impact and Noah, which is kinda interesting coming after the recent news that WWE was trying to buy Noah.

Elgin is basically a journeyman from ROH an New Japan, but at this point he’s probably best known for the 2017 PR disaster where he declined to take action after learning one of the wrestlers for his Glory Pro promotion was accused of sexual assault. The US indy wrestling fanbase turned hard on him, and he’s been persona non grata in a lot of places ever since. I’m not sure if that has affected his Impact run, although the controversy could get stirred up again now that people will be reminded that Elgin still exists.

Assuming Elgin doesn’t get literally booed out of the building, the match itself should be a showcase of Japanese style. I assume the point is to introduce the Impact audience to Marufuji, so that should make him the favorite to win. On the other hand Elgin is still fairly new here, and maybe shouldn’t be losing so much. I’m cautiously picking Marufuji to win, though.

Taya Valkyrie vs. Tenille Dashwood - Valkyrie is defending the Impact women’s championship; she’s also the AAA women’s champion, but that title is not at stake. Tenille may be best known as Emma from WWE, and all those hot-ass photos people post of her on the “impact wrestling” Tumblr tag.

The problem with promoting Tessa Blanchard as a once-in-a-lifetime prodigy who can dominate men’s and women’s wrestling is that she’s effectively left the women’s division behind as though it’s beneath her. That makes the rest of the women in Impact look second-rate, like Valkyrie and Dashwood are fighting for this belt because the best woman wrestler in the company has better things to do than be the women’s wrestling champion. I would like to see Impact address that. I somehow doubt that they will, any more than WWE dealt with it when they pushed Chyna and Jacqueline as contenders for men’s championships.

Dashwood came to Impact because she was frustrated with her booking in Ring of Honor, so I suspect she was signed to be pushed as a top star. It makes sense for her to win the title right out of the gate. Valkyrie could retain, but it wouldn’t hurt her to drop the belt for a few months to help Tenille get over.

Ethan Page & Josh Alexander vs. Rich Swann & Willie Mack vs. Rob Van Dam & Rhino - This is a three-way tag team match for the Impact tag team title, currently held by The North (Page and Alexander). There can be no count-outs or disqualifications, and the first man to score a fall on any opponent wins the match for his team.

Swann is probably best known for leaving WWE following a 2017 domestic dispute with his wife (Su Yung, who also works for Impact). If you’re getting the sense that every wrestler who gets in too much trouble for the big leagues ends up here, I wouldn’t blame you. Willie Mack reminds me of Junkyard Dog if he was a better wrestler, but his career advancement has been limited by a restrictive Lucha Underground contract he hasn’t yet gotten out of. RVD and Rhino, of course, as ECW originals and well known for their runs in WWE and TNA over the past 20 years. I’m not sure it matters which team wins the titles here, but I could see them indulging a nostalgia pop for Van Dam and Rhino.

Dr. Wagner, Jr. & Aero Star & Taurus vs. Dezmond Xavier & Trey Miguel & Zachary Wentz - Wagner’s team represents AAA. Although AAA has a working relationship with AEW, that deal isn’t exclusive and they’ve also partnered with Impact. Impact was instrumental in salvaging AAA’s New York show last month by co-promoting it, so I would imagine the AAA guys are here as a thank-you for that. Wagner is old as balls, Aero Star has done a couple of highspots that almost got him killed this year, and I could have sworn Taurus was a heel last time I looked. AAA doesn’t make much sense to me, though, so maybe it’s just as well.

Dez, Trey, and Wentz are the Rascalz, with a “z” so you know they’re supposed to be cool. I haven’t actually seen much of them but they sound like little dudes that do cool flips, and their gimmick seems to be that they get high backstage. I don’t think they’re going to get a win over Dr. Wagner, Jr.

Call Your Shot Gauntlet Match - This is a gauntlet battle royal, in which two wrestlers start the match and the rest of the participants enter one-by-one at timed intervals. I haven’t seen the exact rules for this one, but typically eliminations occur via exiting the ring over the top rope directly to the floor. In some promotions pinfalls and submissions count for eliminations as well, but I don’t know if Impact has adopted that idea. The last participant left after everyone else has entered and been eliminated is the winner.

The winner is entitled to challenge for the championship of their choice...and since that apparently includes the women’s title, I presume this will be an intergender match and the entrants will include men and women. That leads me to believe that literally every wrestler on Impact’s roster that isn’t already booked will be in this match--that’s about nine men and seven women, unless they pull in old-timers like Tommy Dreamer and Scott Steiner.

Assuming the winner chooses to go for a world title match, you’d want a potential main eventer to win. If it’s someone on the existing roster that makes me think Eddie Edwards (unless they mend fences with Killer Kross, and I doubt it). It’s more likely Impact has signed someone they want to debut in this spot, so I have to pick a total surprise to win. Whether a total surprise will be any good remains to be seen.

#impact wrestling #bound for glory #brian cage #sami callihan

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