Impact Wrestling remains on TV as of now, and will continue to be for at least of the rest of the year – despite the best efforts of hurricane Matthew. Albeit still under the control of Dixie Carter. Nonetheless, as there is still Impact on TV, this weekly article remains active. This week was the fallout show from Bound for Glory. My predictions were hit and miss, I really didn’t expect Lashley to retain his World Heavyweight Championship, although that did allow for what happened on this show, which I was a fan of.
We start at the top, with Eddie Edwards defeating Lashley to become the new World Champion. When Edwards was challenging Lashley back at Destination X, I felt him winning the title would be something I’d love to see. It just wasn’t the time though. Now we sit just after Bound for Glory and as unexpected as it was, now is the right time.
The way the change was executed was very well done, Lashley has been presented as a beast for months, not only that, but he is a legit fighter. Although just like with any good fighter, Lashley was while almost impossible to dominate, yet always one well-placed hit away from a loss. Edward’s finisher – ‘The Boston Knee Party’ – is excellent, it can be hit at any time, out of nowhere or with a setup, on an opponent of any size or skill set and it aims at the chin, the best area to knock a man out. This made Edward’s win believable, Lashley has been a dominant force for the past year, but he had to be defeated eventually and he was defeated due to one well-placed shot.
Edwards as champion could be really interesting, specifically because of the amount of really top class matches we could get. Additionally, this also sets up an interesting situation, when Edward’s partner in the Wolves, Davey Richards, returns to the Impact zone. A short lived reunion, followed by a feud between the two is something I’d love to see. I’d specifically want to see Richards playing the villain in such a storyline however. This is purely based on what I have seen from the two, being all of their work in TNA and a bit of their work from ROH. The other way round may work well, although my gut feeling is for Richards to be a villain in such a story.
As I mentioned last week, I have hopes that Cody Rhodes will remain on Impact even after he makes his Ring of Honor debut. However, at this point it does seem as though Cody will not continue to be on Impact, at least for the time being, once he comes into ROH in December. Of course this may still change, yet I’d settle for Cody being written off Impact for a while, to return once he has accomplished what he is aiming to do in Ring of Honor.
While it may seem like a small thing, Cody’s music was something I really liked. Music and a good entrance, just like good attire, can really help out a wrestler. Cody has got all of these aspects down, plus we already know he is fantastic in the ring and on a microphone. Of course Cody’s wife Brandi has also become a part of the Impact roster, so I am very interested in seeing her get in the ring. Feuding with Mike Bennett and Maria seems like a great starting point.
I’d talk about the concept of team X gold, although the concept really just seems to be six man tags, between X Division competitors with rules enforced more strictly. The whole concept is confusing, as it seems like there should be more, so I’ve been skimming through Impact to see if I missed something, but I can’t find if there are any rules or aims of this concept. That’s the main problem, what are they fighting for? Is there an aim of team X gold? Hopefully there is and we are informed of it soon.
It’s interesting in pro wrestling how a feud can be made via wrestlers varying fortunes. EC3 has basically hit rock bottom, he lost his match for the world title and now he is going to have to try and find out what he needs to do, to become world champion again. On the other hand, Eli Drake has been pushed to the back quite a bit recently, however, he now has a world title shot whenever he likes. Eli Drake is in a position of power, a position of success and happiness. Eli, in my opinion, really does have the potential to be a world champion. He is incredibly entertaining and as I’ve mentioned before, really works to get booed rather than being a villain who gets cheered. A feud with EC3 in the meantime seems fun, it also gives the potential that EC3 could win this feud, allowing Ethan to get some steam back after his loss on Sunday, plus Eli still has his title shot, so can afford to lose.
Impact seems like it will be real interesting over the next week weeks. Hopefully TNA the company continues to be active, as the future of the TV show itself seems bright. There are a lot of really talented parts of the Impact machine. I’m pretty excited for the rest of the year in TNA.
