I just watched the October 11 edition of the show.
First of all, I love Ace Austin. Dude comes out with an Ace Austin 3:16 shirt that says "I just banged your wife" on the back. Then he makes out with a couple of plants in the crowd on the way down. Of course, the shirt is in reference to the storyline where Austin is trying to sleep with Alisha Edwards. This match has been a long time coming. It wasn't anything special, I have to say. Mostly a brawl that ended up with Reno Scum coming out and interfering to help Austin win and keep his place in the X Division ladder match at BFG. Meh.
I don't really get what Impact sees in the Desi Hit Squad guys to be putting them in a fairly prominent position. I mean, they got a win here over The Rascalz who I feel are a much more appealing act. And I don't understand it because The Rascalz are competing at BFG but the Desi Hit Squad are not. So why not give that momentum to The Rascalz? Hopefully The Rascalz will at least win their six-man tag match against the luchas at BFG and in line for bigger things.
Still not feeling Moose. Don't think I'll ever see him as a major player. He's had a few matches I've liked but he seems like the exact kind of guy who, if he was in WWE, people would say he was only getting pushed because of his size. Which I think is possibly the case here as well. But it's also probably a result of Impact just not having that many marketable guys in the last few years. They're doing better now with the rise of Callihan and Blanchard, and bringing in the likes of Cage, Elgin, Swann and Ace Austin. So hopefully he stays in that midcard level. But honestly, I just don't think he's got much to offer me. Shamrock was awesome in the staredown on the October 4 show, but seeing him here, coming down to the ring and fighting with Moose, the dude was stiff as a board. And I don't mean he was throwing stiff punches, I mean he looked damn near immobile. I can't see that match going well at all.
The Knockout's division is interesting to me. I mean, you've got this group of like 'dark' ladies, such as Rosemary, Su Yung and Havok who kind of occupy the same lane. There's Taya Valkyrie and Tenille Dashwood who I kind of lump together as the more traditional "big names" in the division. Then we've got the likes of Jordynne Grace, Kiera Hogan and now Katie Forbes joining the fold. I think they all have their positives but will any of them be consistent factors? I'm not sure. Grace seems most promising. She's like a female Michael Elgin, almost. Kiera seems a little green, but I like her. I didn't get much of a read on Katie Forbes in her debut, but she showed some decent moves. Her whole gimmick right now seems to revolve around twerking, so I feel like that's gonna limit her quite a bit. But then again, Megan Thee Stallion is pretty huge in pop culture right now, so maybe riding that same wave isn't such a bad idea. Anyways, what I'm saying is the Knockout's division could use a little work.
Main event of Tessa and Daga vs. Fulton and Dave Crist was pretty good stuff. The match, as well as the segment before it, sold me a little more on Daga. Tessa was great as always. Fulton looks like a total beast but really, if you had to face anyone in oVe, you'd probably want Fulton. He's obviously the bottom of the dog pile. The little post-match beatdown oVe put on Tessa and Daga didn't really change that perception for me.
Crazy how Brian Cage shows up to end the show, having just got out of jail or whatever, goes to the ring to whoop oVe's asses and the crowd just totally no-sells his arrival. They gotta put the title on Callihan at BFG because he at least gets a rise out of the fans anytime he shows up.
This episode was another pretty enjoyable one for me. Two weeks in a row of watching the show, I'm thinking I'll keep it up. I'm really looking forward to Bound For Glory, which they've been calling the culmination of their redemption story. I think that's quite accurate, as they've seemingly finally ironed out what they're trying to be and built a stable roster. I mean, there's still room for improvement, as you can tell by my review, but for the most part I feel things are in a much better place than they've been in a while. The move to AXS could be a game changer for them and hopefully that increased exposure will result in more and more people giving them a chance again.