Fyah
Pardon the pun, but the gloves are off! We endured a six-woman tag match waiting for the shoe to drop. I got to get down to the details of the match first, though; it is obvious that the chemistry between Ember Moon and the Riott Squad is most likely the reason she’s chosen to participate this week. Well that and the fact that she’s fire hot right now regardless of the fact that she’s not involved in any story line. She was Switzerland on a team with featuring the two woman power trip in Sasha Banks and Bayley. The Riott Squad also provided enough of an obstacle to keep the two apart. If you didn’t think the powers that be wanted to get to the business, just look at the finish of the match. Sasha was rolled up off a non-existent distraction. Bayley slid in that thang so fast to issue the beatdown of all beatdowns to The Boss. I did say that Ember was involved in this match didn’t I? Oh yeah, and Alicia Fox is back.
To build any member of the New Day means the whole team is better, and that’s my take on their current booking. There have not been as many in-ring antics as they have been relegated to cut scenes before commercial breaks. Once the bell rings, it’s all business between the ropes. Xavier Woods took to putting over the new WWE Title contender, Rusev. The match was no squash with Woods doing some heavy listening, but it was not shrouded in a lot of outside interference.
The beat down of the Usos was setup to be avenged by Jeff Hardy’s US Open Challenge, which you had to see coming once it was known that Eric Young was accepting the challenge. The other members of SANity got involved in the one-on-one match until Jimmy and Jey found the perfect time to sneak attack them. The brawl was then reset as a six-man tag serving as SANity’s first team match. Jimmy Uso caught all of that Killian Dane and Alexander Wolfe heat until he scored a hot tag to his brother. Super kicks were on the menu to work the heel team over until Jeff Hardy picked up the blind tag for the grand finale. Let’s see if these six will work an assortment of matches over the next three weeks until the next event.
Jay Lethal is in search of a title shot at Ring of Honor, and to do so, he’s getting his Oliver Queen on and avenging his past losses. How far back is he going? It doesn’t matter; this week Chuckie T is on the menu. If you know a Chuck T match, you know there will be plenty of antics. Lethal landed a brutal cutter on the floor that led to a 19-count. Later, the lethal injection served as the main course sending Chuck to the house.
The UK was blessed with a mesh up tag match that featured the Velveteen Dream against two men he’s posted some great matches in Ricochet and Aliester Black. Dream would tag with EC3. The match was short in time but heavy in action. There was a trade of kicks, springboard dives, and fake outs. Dream checked out selling an injury, and Ricochet tagged out after being the recipient of EC3’s power offense.
Lucha Underground debuted XO Lishus in its opening match. LU is the perfect promotion to introduce a performer such as XO with it being one that already allowed for inter-gender matches. XO is a very gender fluid wrestler for those who may be unfamiliar; he gives you all the high flying action that you expect from lucha wrestlers. He traded spots with Jack Evans using a series of moves, both offensively and defensively, showcasing flexibility. The finishing move was a split legged X-factor from the top turnbuckle. Look for more progression into more mainstream promotions.
Meh
We did not wait to get to the business between Roman Reigns and Bobby Lashley. The multi-man match is a no-go, but these two still have no shortage of words for one another. We can’t get in them to face off just yet my friends; enter the Revival for part two. Bobby sold as much of a beat down as Roman. The Revival worked over both until Lashley turned the tide. In a reversal of last week, Reigns tagged himself in, and ultimately cost his team the match when he got caught barking at Lashley.
There was something about time, and the time is now for Lio Rush to get in this ring to show the folks the work. They booked him opposite non-205 talent, which means we got a small sample size of his routine. The biggest take away is the fact that he’s most likely to be another heel to the list, but I would not be surprised if he’s the answer to TJP’s cruiser-great campaign.
I know wrestlers are caricatures; I totally understand that. This caricature that Rich Swann introduced to Impact is more the same as the last time we saw him except for the hair. Shall I say the lack there of. My dude running with the half Jerry Rice, half King Booker ‘do. He faced Trevor Lee, and they announced Swann as a former Cruiserweight champ. It’s good to see Swann back in a ring, and I hope it’s not to spite the reason he was missing in the first place.
Boo
Titus Worldwide tried to run up to get done up when the Authors of Pain put a lil icing on their squash match with the Gomez (?) Brothers.
There was a brother in the UK tourney by the name of Ashton Smith. He advanced to the second round to be defeated by a kiwi driver. That took about 10 minutes of a 3 hour show.
What is your purpose, Dezmond Xavier? Are you here to pursue titles? Do you want to out class your opponents? You cannot continue to be the guest star in other guys’ character development.