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Impact Wrestling Winter/Spring 2020-21: Swann Diving Into a New Era

King Kamala

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Josh is fine? He is a perfectly average PBP guy as long as he isn’t doing his condescending heel schtick. Which found a way to somehow take Michael Cole’s condescending heel schtick and make it worse.

I don’t get rush to replace Madison Rayne. Besides Veda Scott, how many female announcers are there?
 

Baby Shoes

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I didn’t mind Josh in the past but I feel he seems phony and forced. I hated his heel run but he was more natural in that role, which may be where my indifference to his current style lies. I also think of his canned promos whenever I see how popular Schitt’s Creek has become.
 

King Kamala

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He seems to be extra shill-y tonight but this is kind of definition of throwaway show.

I can’t believe Impact is still trying to make Crazzy Steve a thing after all these years. Crazzy.
 

King Kamala

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Man, if Impact Wrestling jobs Blake Christian to Crazzy Steve... we will put in on a list of LOLTNA/Impact moments in five years months.
 

Baby Shoes

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The real play would be after Steve beats him that Christian morphs into a real-life avatar for Steve’s monkey.
 

King Kamala

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Update: Christian won and he kicked Steve’s monkey off the mat which is as big of a push Impact will give to an unsigned wrestler.

Also I am amused by the ringside doctor (or whoever is sitting next to David Penzer) wearing a gaiter pulled up to his eyeballs while Penzer sits there maskless. Although maybe having spent so much time with Wild Cat Willie gave Penzer an immune system of steel.
 

King Kamala

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Go out of your way to watch Ace Austin Vs Blake Christian Super X Cup Finals.

But the Super X Cup itself looked like a trophy AWA would have given out in 1989 (sorry @BruiserBrody )
 

Baby Shoes

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Ok. I had to wonder if they were turning Ace babyface if they had Blake kick the monkey before facing Austin.
 

King Kamala

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One last minor note about last night. I was going to comment how the new backstage interviewer (well new to me since I've barely watched them in Axs era beyond tuning into last few PPVs/Impact Plus special) had the look and speaking tone of an above average '70s/early '80s adult film star. I had to stifle a chuckle on Twitter when I saw her pop up on my Twitter feed and saw who she was dating IRL.

Makes perfect sense.
 

Big Beard Booty Daddy

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I’ll probably be watching the show tonight, but I read the results. I’m excited to check out the tournament and Jazz vs Grace, which I read was a really good match.

I don’t care about Moose, I actually really like the end of that match, on paper. He’s so obsessed with getting a title shot, he’s willing to quit in his match just to get that shot. I don’t know if I’ve ever seen that before.
 

King Kamala

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I’m not a fan of Moose personally but I really like his character rn (like an understated Clubber Lang) and the main event was really good and 2nd best MOTN behind Austin/Blake Christian. I really enjoyed the finish and thought it was a really unique twist on a stereotypical I Quit Match ending.
 

Big Beard Booty Daddy

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I’m not a fan of Moose personally but I really like his character rn (like an understated Clubber Lang) and the main event was really good and 2nd best MOTN behind Austin/Blake Christian. I really enjoyed the finish and thought it was a really unique twist on a stereotypical I Quit Match ending.
I also really like his theme music. If he wasn't such a piece of shit, I'd be a fan of his (being a life long Syracuse fan, I'd love to root for a Syracuse guy).
 

RedJed

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That Genesis show was fuckin great stuff for Impact standards, quite frankly I think I enjoyed the show much more than any 2020 ppv Impact ended up doing. From a complete in ring perspective, this was a well above average show for this company and well worth checking out. I truly hope they sign on Blake Christian as he fucking has it. Between this and his work in the Super J Cup (he had a phenomenal match with Rey Horus there) he's going somewhere big in the future. I think Impact would be a perfect springboard for him at this point. All three of Blake's matches on here were impressive enough, and Ace Austin really brought it here too, as well as the other few newcomers. The final tournament match with Ace/Christian quite frankly is a U.S. match of the year contender to me at this point. Grace/Jazz was surprisingly tremendous as well (maybe the best match I've seen Grace have in Impact) and that main with Moose/Mack was brutally physical. How Willie Mack didn't get fully concussed from that really brutally rough looking chokeslam drop from the top rope to the table on the floor, goddamn that was a car crash bump if there ever was. Both of these guys were bumping hard as fuck all over the place. Loved the finish too. So when will Moose/Swann be booked for? They've done a good job slow building that program.

Impact seems to have some momentum going here so will be interesting to see how that rolls into the big ppv on Saturday that I would imagine will have more eyes on the product than usual.
 

King Kamala

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I'm assuming Moose/Swann will be the main event for the February Impact Plus special. Maybe do a schmozz finish to save a blowoff for the next actual PPV which I don't think is until late April/May?
 

RedJed

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I'm assuming Moose/Swann will be the main event for the February Impact Plus special. Maybe do a schmozz finish to save a blowoff for the next actual PPV which I don't think is until late April/May?
I could see that, but I still tend to wonder where Omega fits in with all this (or if he fits in at all in the world title picture). Will they eventually be doing a Swann/Omega title for title match (would that be at the April ppv?), but maybe the extent of that will just be the six man on Saturday, as the Moose aspect kinda muddles that direction. This is a long shot, but could they keep this angle with Moose pissed off he doesn't get a world title shot going if Omega somehow gets shoehorned by D'Amore/Callis to challenge Swann before Moose, and then Omega gets an Impact title run from there, and Moose gets screwed out of the opportunity? While Moose vs Omega doesn't sound appealing at all, maybe there would be a way they could make it work somehow if Moose turned face down the road after getting screwed out of and held back from a world title shot?
 

King Kamala

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I'm not so certain that Omega's appearance on Sunday won't be his last, at least for a while. I think if they do Swann/Omega, I see them saving it for Slammiversary or Bound for Glory where there's a chance of there actually being fans in attendance.
 

Baby Shoes

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I’m intrigued to D’Lo in but pairing him with Striker seems to be giving a difficult partner to a new broadcaster
 

Laz

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Eddie is from Boston. Sami is from Ohio. Which one slips and says something borderline racist first?
 

Laz

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Let's be honest here, that match was going to be meh anyway, but at least Moose subbing in aids his World title angle a little bit more. Super bummed that Shelley had to drop out, but any match focusing on Doc Gallows wasn't going to be a classic regardless.

Also, the Nashville area is expecting some bad snowstorm tonight into tomorrow. Nothing that would close a school back home (NEW ENGLAND FOLK are wired differently), but the southern states have no real prep for winter storms and things go nutty real quick. That could be a factor.
 
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