I love the concept of the Call Your Shot battle royal. But really, they didn't have enough interesting roster members left to fill it out and make it interesting. I mean, I have no interest whatsoever in Reno Scum, The Desis, Tommy Dreamer or Swoggle. Especially Swoggle. I guess I appreciate that they actually made Fulton look like a monster here but both he and Mahabali Shera are boring ass monsters. I'll take Eddie winning this even though I long for his American Wolves days and don't have much love for this Tommy Dreamer Jr. shit.
Of all the title matches, I was happy to see Taya retain. I do not get any of the hype for Tenille. I have to say the only thing I really like about Tenille is the fact that she uses the Tarantula. Taya isn't the greatest or anything but I'll take her over Tenille. She gets a lot of heat so she at least has that going for her.
I thought the tag match was very good. The match was carried by The North, Mack and Swann I felt. It was fantastic to hear some "this is awesome" chants during the match since I've become conditioned to Impact crowds being nearly silent. I have no issues with the champs retaining. They remind me a lot of The Revival and they've really giving some of the better promos over the last few weeks leading up to the show. The story of the match is of course the RVD heel turn. But at the same time, do I care? Ehh, I don't think so. And I definitely don't care if this is about to become a Rhino vs. RVD program. The ECW presence is easily one of the biggest negatives of Impact for me. On a separate note, Mack and Swann are fun as a team but I really think there's so much potential with both those guys as singles stars. I hope there are better things in their futures.
Elgin vs. Marufuji didn't live up to the big time expectations Impact built for it. I mean I really liked parts of it. The fans were into it. But so much of the match was just phoned in and the movements were so exaggerated that it came across really phony to me. Cool to see a Burning Hammer I guess? Obviously they pulled it out as a "this is what it's gonna take!" spot but I don't think it came across nearly as epic as intended. Shame. Fine match, like I said, but it was more of a 2.5, maybe 3 star match, when Impact and Elgin were building it up as a 5 star classic.
The ladder match was awesome as I expected. No shortage of memorable spots, good flow, good result imo. I mean, Blanchard would have been a great shout but at the same time, I think she's passed the point where that title would be a feather in her cap. At this point, it's World Title or bust imo. Also, Ace Austin is fantastic. Dude has a good gimmick and a ton of star potential. He's perfectly suited to hold that belt right now as he continues to rise through the ranks. Have to say, this match also sold me on Daga much more than I was before. He reminds me of Adam Cole in terms of his wrestling style, while his look and aura is more like Andrade. Anyways… I loved Romero going through the table. That was just insane. But also shout out to the Canadian Destroyer off the apron through the ladder. I think I liked that better than the one off the ladder at All Out. The X Division is honestly looking the best I can remember it being since the days of Styles, Daniels, Kaz, Lethal, Dutt and MCMG.
Shamrock vs. Moose was just as rough as I imagined it would be. Moose saved Shamrocks fucking life on that first dive to the floor. All of the heel antics of Moose and Trigg didn't help me care about the match any more than I did before. If anything it was all just so contrived and hokey. Shamrock kept trying all these crazy high flying moves for some reason. I mean, at his age, it's fairly impressive that he's able to execute it at all, but it was shitty looking and totally unnecessary. Bad match. I am not a fan of Moose at all.
Brian Cage's entrance attire gets two thumbs down from me. Looked tacky and didn't really fit for me when this match is supposed to be fueled by utter hatred. I thought the match was okay, with a perfectly adequate amount of carnage. Hated the finish though. Cage takes a piledriver on the thumbtacks, kicks out at one because HE'S A MACHINE~! then immediately finishes Callihan with a Falcon Arrow on the tracks. Pretty shit imo. Bad enough they didn't pull the trigger on Callihan here but that ending? Ugh.
Grading the whole show, I thought it was good. Moose vs. Shamrock was a total dud for me. The Call Your Shot Battle Royal and Women's Title matches were pretty much "meh". Didn't think Elgin vs. Marufuji or Cage vs. Callihan was as good as they should have been. The tag title match and X-Division title match definitely hit for me. The biggest positive I have for the show was the fact that the fans were actually vocal and actually quite loud at times. We need more of that Impact. The biggest negative was easily Cage retaining when Callihan is on top of his game and as hot as he's going to get. But they do have a rematch coming up on the next Impact so maybe they can make things right by putting the belt on Callihan there. Let's hope.