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

[Epic Springs]

Just finished watching this week's show:

- The Swoggle/AJ thing was funny I thought. I'm actually fine with Swoggle sticking around in a light comedy role HOWEVER him going over Ethan Page was dumb as fuck considering he's one of the best wrestlers in the company and shouldn't be jobbing to comedy dudes.
- Lee/Deonna going over makes sense as Renee and Kelly aren't likely sticking around though I would LOVE Killer Kelly in Impact to add to their already stacked women's divisons.
- Sea Stars didn't really impress me as a team but one of the ladies showed potential (the one with the blue boots. Was that Vox?)
- Young and Doering are growing on me. Wonder who their first feud will be with.

 

[Baby Shoes]

I am starting to believe Ethan may be on the way out. His contract was coming up and I figured he would stay in Impact and feel that is probably the best place for him but jobbing to Swoggle and dissension in The North makes me think otherwise. Hopefully I‘m wrong because I feel Impact would book him best.

One of my big takeaways was Jazz being a better talker than I realized. Then again, I can’t remember WWE ever letting her talk and I didn’t see any of her NWA title reign people enjoyed.

 

[Lazgistics Supervisor]

Ashley Vox is the shorter of the two Sea Stars.

Jazz was a decent promo for the little bit she was allowed to speak in ECW, so I could see her being better 20 years on.

 

[King Kamala]

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1331747553193447428

 

[Epic Springs]

I thought Shelley's injury was more severe but great to have one of my all-time favorite teams back. Jazz still looked crisp in the ring which is good. Glad she's getting some TV exposure at the tail end of her career. Anybody else think Kimber Lee reminds them of Nicole Sullivan? Just me? Ok.

 

[King Kamala]

Do you mean Nicole Sullivan from MadTV? If so, yes, I can see it. I don’t see a resemblance to Woman tho.

 

[Epic Springs]

Yeah, the comedienne/actress. Didn't even think of Woman.

 

[King Kamala]

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1334546039328493570

Beautiful. Who says aging has to be all bad?

 

[Epic Springs]

You can stream this week's Impact for free on YouTube.

 

[King Kamala]

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1336481696242339841

 

[RedJed]

Last nights show was fucking fun! I can't recall an Impact I've enjoyed more in years quite honestly. Just felt like they put their best foot forward a bit. No really dumb pointless filler segments in the back that are more lame than funny typically, matches were generally pretty decent overall, and then the subtle and not so subtle seeds of what is obviously going to be a decent interpromotional feud here at least the tag champs and world champs squaring off in some capacity at some point here.

That AEW "paid ad" with the Tony's was fucking gold.

The Omega/Callis stuff as well was a good start to this, the explanation for the turn and alliance with Omega and Callis was there fully, and it planted a Swann/Omega match impending for sure. Khan also teased tag interaction which to me sounds a lot like Good Brothers vs Young Bucks in the way he went about it.

So will these interpromotional matches possibly be set for the Impact ppv in January? Or will they air on a regular Impact or a normal Dynamite? I would not be shocked if possibly AEW brings in Swann and Good Brothers for the January 6 show possibly? Lots of intriguing points here and potential.

The only really negative I can say about the show was that they took promoting the Final Resolution show as a backdrop to this AEW stuff bigtime. I wasn't even sure what exactly the lineup is by the end of this show, a nice two minute runner listing the matches quickly would have helped greatly.

 

[Big Beard Booty Daddy]

I liked last night's show, too. Solid matches from top to bottom. They had a great Knockouts tag match to showcase the division. They put over Bey at the end and had a good main event.

I loved the end segment because they really fleshed out why Kenny did what he did. In typical heel fashion, he believes he's right. He was protected his "dad" with what he did. And saying the seeds were planted from the first time they met were great. Kenny is 100% a heel now, in case anyone was wondering, and he was full Cleaner with hair coloring and all.

The Tony/Tony commercial was so good.

Larry D, while that segment was dumb, is pure gold. I want to see he and Acey get more time, because Larry is SOOOOO good.

 

[Lazgistics Supervisor]

Solid enough show, but hot damn were these the wrong Knockouts to showcase in what ended up being their largest live audience in months. Rosemary is all character, Taya is trash, and Kimber Lee makes half the AEW Dark women look gifted. I'm not even sold on Deanna, to be honest. It doesn't help the cause for new viewers to see really sloppy "brawling" that makes Big Swole look like she could main event a major PPV.

Biggest positives (IMO):
-Josh Alexander only gets better every time I see him and I am so happy that the visa issues that hampered the Monster Express from gaining US traction years ago are taken care of.
-Chris Sabin may not be as good as he was back in 2004-2010, but he's the best he's looked in a long time. Super excited that he and Shelley reformed the MCMG, who were involved in some of my favorite tag matches when they were full-time. The idea of a MCMG/Bucks continuation is very appealing to me.
-Eric Young's entrance music is fucking awesome.
-Chris Bey is getting more comfortable in front of cameras. His match was one of the only positives from the free GCW show this past weekend, and he seems more willing to show some personality instead of running through spots.
-Sami/Eddie again? Yes please.
-Tommy Dreamer warning Scott D'Amore about what happens when "invasions" between companies occur. He really is the best person to make that speech, too, since ECW invading Raw led to Jerry Lawler smashing his testicles and then the InVasion storyline killing the entire fucking business for years.

 

[King Kamala]

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1336706820879085570

And this Impact Wrestling show this weekend barely qualifies as a PPV. Sad.

 

[Valeyard]

No love for Moose and Lashley.

 

[King Kamala]

Darius corrected himself and mentioned that match in the comments. Still 3 out of however many hundred PPVs is not great.

 

[Valeyard]

Last POC main event I remember was Jinder vs Nakamura a few years back, actually. That's the closest I think WWE has gotten since 2001, which isn't surprising but deserved way more hype.

 

[Epic Springs]

Reigns/Samoa Joe headlined Backlash 2018, though it wasn't for the world title. Does that count?

 

[HSJ]

"You mean I can get off of attempted murder if I win a wrestling match?" is such an underrated storyline, I laughed so hard.

 

[King Kamala]

Not sure. Jinder Vs Nakamura never main evented a PPV. Had to double check cause I thought they may have main evented the Clash of the Champions (shitty WWE version I saw) but it was Jinder Vs AJ Styles. Shows how memorable that show was lol.

Anyway reading that tweet guilted me into spending $10 on that PPV so thanks for that, Darius!

 

[Valeyard]

I just see main event titles being at least now a double main event based on being conditioned. I'm counting HITC 2017 but I 100% get why someone wouldn't.

Didn't Roman and Jey have a legit main event a few months ago?

 

[Brocklock]

I just see main event titles being at least now a double main event based on being conditioned. I'm counting HITC 2017 but I 100% get why someone wouldn't.

Didn't Roman and Jey have a legit main event a few months ago?

Yeah at whatever the PPV was called before Hell In A Cell.

 

[Big Beard Booty Daddy]

"You mean I can get off of attempted murder if I win a wrestling match?" is such an underrated storyline, I laughed so hard.

This is why I mentioned how much I love Larry D. His delivery was perfect. I might not give a shit about the murder story, but that was just so good.

 

[King Kamala]

Yeah at whatever the PPV was called before Hell In A Cell.

Looking at tweet, Darius Lockheart definitely specified he was talking about PPVs between black men. No matter how much Shinsuke loves Michael Jackson, he is still Japanese.

 

[Valeyard]

That's why I specified the only main event I remembered involving two POC was Jinder and Nakamura.

 

[King Kamala]

Anyway reading that tweet guilted me into spending $10 on that PPV so thanks for that, Darius!

I had enough credits on FiteTV to purchase the show so I guess my guilt wasn’t strong enough to spend actual money on the show. #FakeAlly

On a personal level, I am glad cause I would have been like “Well, why am I paying $10 when I could just subscribe to Impact Plus for $8 a month and pester Laz about ‘03 TNA at 5:30 AM?”

 

[Big Beard Booty Daddy]

I'll be skipping this show, even with my boy in the main event. I'm going to a show Saturday night, and then I have NJPW to catch up on. I just don't have time to watch it right now.

 

[King Kamala]

To add to aside. It is crazy that even in the midst of a crippling global pandemic, I still have too much wrestling to catch up. After June or so, it seemed like schedule returned maybe not to normal but relatively close to it (and even before then WWE cucks would have plenty to watch). Only thing that has been effected really badly after first few months is indies. Wrestling industry's kind of opposite of how the actual economy is going during COVID-19. People who need to work cause they're on the low end of totem pole are the only ones not working (and tbh, a lot of them are probably working frontline day jobs during this!)

 

[King Kamala]

PPVs Impact Plus Live Events That Don't Warrant A Thread

Impact Wrestling Final Resolution
December 12th, 2020
From Skyway Studios in Nashville, Tennessee

Impact World Title Match
Rich Swann (c) Vs Chris Bey

Ethan Page (with Josh Alexander) Vs Karl Anderson (If Ethan Page wins, The North earn an Impact World Tag Team Titles shot)

Impact Knockouts Title Match
Deonna Purrazzo (c) (with Kimber Lee) vs. Rosemary (with Taya Valkyrie)

Open Challenge for the Impact X Division Title
Rohit Raju (c) Vs ?

Eric Young (with Joe Doering) Vs Rhino

Old School Rules
Tommy Dreamer Vs Larry D (If Tommy Dreamer wins, Larry D goes to jail for attempted murder of John E. Bravo. If Larry D wins, he walks away a free man)

Havok and Nevaeh Vs The Sea Stars

Intergender Tag Team Match
Eddie Edwards & Alisha Edwards Vs Kaleb with a K and Tennille Dashwood

Special Guest Referee Kiera Hogan, Special Guest Referee Tasha Steelz
Hernandez Vs Fallah Banh (winner receives the wad of cash stolen from them by Hogan and Steelz)


Overabundance of dumb comedy matches starring washed dudes aside, this card looks fine but really predictable. Psyched to see my gals Sea Stars get another shot.

 

[Baby Shoes]

Ethan is working this show? Last I knew he cancelled all remaining Indy dates for the year as he was in contact with someone exposed to COVID. Unless the window has passed for that and he just has no independent dates booked further out now.