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Csonka’s Impact Wrestling Under Pressure 2018 Review

May 31, 2018 | Posted by Larry Csonka
Austin Aries Impact Wrestling Image Credit: Impact Wrestling
7.5
The 411 Rating
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Csonka’s Impact Wrestling Under Pressure 2018 Review  

Csonka’s Impact Wrestling Under Pressure 2018 Review

OFFICIAL RESULTS
– Eli Drake defeated Scott Steiner @ 6:15 via pin [*]
– Madison Rayne defeated Tessa Blanchard @ 6:20 via pin [**¾]
– X-Division #1 Contender’s Match: Cage defeated Desmond Xavier @ 5:35 via pin [***]
– Knockouts Title Last Rites (Casket) Match: Su Yung defeated Champion Allie @ 11:50 [***¼]
– World Title Match: Austin Aries defeated Champion Pentagon @ 20:00 via pin [***¾]

– Follow all of my reviews at this link.

– Sonjay Dutt addresses the roster about the recent series of attacks, but they don’t buy it. Petey defends him and says management is doing everything they can. He says they need to stick together, and they will find out who it is

Eli Drake vs. Scott Steiner: They talk a lot of trash to being, and then lock up. Steiner overpowers him to begin and they continue to talk shit. Drake takes Steiner to the corner, hid behind the ref and then attacks. Steiner cuts him off with an overhead belly to belly. Drake stuns him off the ropes and hits a slingshot shoulder tackle. The powerslam follows but he misses an elbow drop. Steiner hits a clothesline and elbow drop for 2. Drake powders, but Steiner follows and slams him to the barricade and they brawl on the floor. Drake cuts him off and lays in rights. He gets a chair, but the ref stops him and Steiner attacks and rolls him back in. Drake gets caught with another suplex and Steiner hits the belly to belly for 2. The flatliner follows and Drake misses a springboard moonsault. Steiner locks on the recliner, Drake gets the ropes and then drops him down out of the electric chair, it looked bad. Drake to the floor and hits Steiner with the chair and covers for the win, in a finish just like they lost the tag titles. Eli Drake defeated Scott Steiner @ 6:15 via pin [*] This was bad, Steiner was really slow and largely looked lost, but Drake worked his ass off to make the best out of it. The right guy won, and the finish worked, but this wasn’t good.

Madison Rayne vs. Tessa Blanchard: I miss Rayne’s killer queen entrance. They talk trash, Blanchard pie faces Rayne and Rayne attacks with strikes. The head scissors follows and Rayne gets a cradle for 2. Rayne picks up the pace but Blanchard cuts her off with a tilt a whirl slam. She follows with short-armed clotheslines and covers for 2. Blanchard now pummels her with strikes, and lays in knee strikes. Blanchard finally misses an elbow charge, but keeps attacking Rayne. The dropkick follows for 2. Blanchard is very confident here as she rag dolls Rayne, hitting a flatliner variation for 2. She grounds the action, keeping Rayne down. Rayne slowly fires up, and hits an enziguri. She follows with strikes, and follows with a corner clothesline and sliding clothesline for 2. Rayne hits a northern lights suplex for 2. Blanchard cuts off Rayne as she heads up top and hits a draping flatliner for 2. Blanchard yells at the ref, but Rayne counters the hammerlock DDT into a cradle for the surprise win. Madison Rayne defeated Tessa Blanchard @ 6:20 via pin [**¾] Rayne picks up the surprising win over the overconfident newcomer. This was an overall pretty good outing, I thought they played their roles really well, but the finish came off as a bit flat to me, and I think they needed a bit more time to let the match develop. Blanchard losing is unexpected, as Rayne really felt like she was here to be the established name to lose to the hot newcomer, but now Rayne is suddenly a contender. Interesting.

– We head to the LAX clubhouse and King arrives with money and booze. He then brings in some ladies for Ortiz & Santana. He got them booked against Lee & Konley for next week to get revenge.

X-Division #1 Contender’s Match: Cage vs. Desmond Xavier: Cage is undefeated in Impact, and pinned Xavier in the multi-man match at Redemption. So they have some history. Cage tosses Xavier around to begin. Cage easily overpowers him early on; Xavier picks up the pace and takes him to the floor. Xavier follows with a dropkick off the steps. Cage easily cuts him off, and slams him off of the apron. Back in and Cage starts tossing Xavier around again. It’s all cage until Xavier counters a toss and picks up the pace. Cage cuts off a tornado DDT and hits a butterfly suplex. Xavier starts working leg kicks, hits a spinning enziguri and then dropkicks Cage to the floor. The Sasuke special follows, wiping out Cage. Cage slams him to the apron and tosses Xavier back in. Xavier catches him with a superkick and running kick. He keeps laying in kicks, cage gets pissed but Xavier hits double knees and heads up top and hits the final flash but Cage kicks out at 1. FUCK YO FLIPPY SHIT. Cage now hits drill claw and Xavier is done. Cage defeated Desmond Xavier @ 5:35 via pin [***] This was a good and fun little sprint. Cage walks away with a dominant win and is the #1 contender for the X-Division title. It feels like Cage will eventually be Xavier’s mountain to climb in the end when he finally wins the title, as while he put up a good fight, he couldn’t defeat the machine just yet.

– Post match, Cage shakes his hand and leaves.

– Aries cuts a promo on tonight’s title match. He says that he’s been on a quest to change the industry. Until pentagon beats him one on one, he’s not the man around here. He’s not done breathing new life into this place, and tonight, we find out if Pentagon has what it takes to be the face of Impact Wrestling. Pentagon may have no fear, and after tonight, he’ll have no title.

Knockouts Title Last Rites (Casket) Match: Knockouts Champion Allie vs. Su Yung: Allie arrives wearing Rosemary makeup, dressed in black, and her theme transitions into Rosemary’s; I like. Allie attacks at the bell and runs wild on Yung. She’s all fired up and looks to put Yung in the coffin, but Yung fights back and finally cuts her off. Allie fights off being put in the coffin, and Yung looks to choke her out. Yung then beats her down, laying in the boots and tries to roll her into the coffin. Yung now grounds her, working submissions but Allie keeps fighting. She escapes an hits the sliding D, but Yung avoids the second and looks to roll her into the coffin. They fight to the apron and Allie sends Yung to the floor and hits a clothesline off of the apron. Post break, and Allie is working over Yung. Yung finally cuts her off and lays in rights and hits a knee strike. Allie does the Rosemary sit up but Yung lays her out with an uppercut. Yung gets a chair but Allie fights her off and tries to roll her into the coffin, but Yung hits a strike to the throat. Yung gets her glove and Allie hits a chair-assisted code breaker. Allie rolls her into the coffin but Yung fights her off from closing it and hits a palm strike. Yung looks to mist her, but Allie superkicks her into the coffin, but Yung fights it from being closed and gets the mandible claw. She chokes out Allie, Allie fades, and Yung rolls her into the coffin, closes it, and we have a new champion. Su Yung defeated Champion Allie @ 11:50 [***¼] Yung took out Rosemary and forced Allie to play her game, and while Allie tried to channel the demon, it wasn’t enough to overcome and retain the title. It wasn’t a great wrestling match, and the use of the stipulation was solid, but in terms of drama and character work playing off of the story that was established, this was very good. And now we see where the feud and the championship go from here after Yung definitively won. Will Allie disappear for a while? Rosemary is out with a knee injury/death, and Rayne appears to be the only knockout with momentum right now.

– We get a flashback to the Sting vs. Abyss last rites match where Sting got busted open badly.

– We get a Pentagon video package.

– Diamante says things aren’t all well with King & LAX…

– The creepy attacker symbol appears and Petey finds Sonjay Dutt laid out backstage. I really hope that they have someone cool and interesting coming in off of this.

– We get a video package on the Eddie vs. Sami feud. Eddie meets with Alisha, and Eddie tells her he and Sami are fighting next week in the woods to end and murder Sami, and then, things will be back to normal. I wouldn’t lay out my plans for murder on national TV, but you do you Eddie.

World Title Match: Impact World Champion Pentagon vs. Austin Aries: Aries attacks right away with a suicide dive and they brawl on the floor. Pentagon fires back with a superkick and he lays in chops on Aries. Aries eventually moves and Pentagon chops the post, allowing Aries to take over, hitting a senton atomico for 2. The last chancery follows, but Pentagon makes the ropes. Aries ties Pentagon to the ropes by his mask and beats on him. Pentagon fights out and hits a superkick for 2. He teases the arm break spot, but Aries powders to the floor. Pentagon follows but Aries cuts him off and now hits a missile dropkick. Aries lays in strikes, but Pentagon fires back with chops. He now lays in leg kicks, and grounds the action. Aries escapes and stuns him off of the ropes. Aries hits the elbow off the ropes and covers for 2. Post break, and Aries is still in control but Pentagon fires up with chops and just lays into Aries who spills to the floor. Pentagon suplexes him back in and Aries fires back, but Pentagon hits a pair of sling blades and covers for 2. Aries fights off the Penta driver, Pentagon looks for the package piledriver, but Aries cuts him off and hits a Saito suplex. The corner dropkick follows; Aries heads up top, but Pentagon cuts him off and follows him up. Pentagon looks for a super package piledriver, but Aries fights back and stops that. Aries now hits a sunset bomb and transitions into the last chancery. Pentagon makes the ropes, and Aries is frustrated. Aries looks for the brainbuster, countered and Pentagon hits clotheslines and a backstabber for 2. Aries fires back with a forearm strike, Pentagon counters the brain buster and hits the penta driver for a good near fall as Aries makes the ropes. They work to the apron now, Pentagon looks for the package piledriver, but Aries fights him off and then hits the neck breaker in the ropes. The plancha into a RANA is caught but Aries counters out and gets the last chancery on the floor. We get a double countout @ 17:00. BUT WAIT, Aries wants more time and says they need a decisive winner and Pentagon agrees. Pentagon gets a cradle right away for 2. Aries lays in forearms and hits an apron DVD as both spill to the floor. Back to the apron and Pentagon hits the package piledriver and both are down on the floor. We get another double countout @ 18:40. Pentagon now wants to continue, and they restart. Aries low blows him and hits the brainbuster and we have a new champion. Austin Aries defeated Champion Pentagon @ 20:00 via pin [***¾] Despite being a bit overbooked for my tastes, this was a very good match as these two have really built a nice chemistry. I may not be a big fan of the overbooked finishing stretch, but I feel that it was needed. First of all it gives us the full Aries heel turn that was needed, and also, Pentagon wanted to fight and have a proper winner to prove he was the best and only lost because Aries punted his nuts to Miami. Aries as a newly minted and fresh heel opens up a lot of possibilities, and Pentagon coming for revenge could be really great. The feud will likely continue in some form, but with a fresh dynamic, which should be fun.

– Next week…

* LAX vs. Lee & Konley
* Eddie Edwards vs. Sami Callihan murder in the woods match

– End scene.

– Thanks for reading.

photo fe36ffd0-0da4-4e3b-a2d3-b026b341dd87_zps41ef5d61.jpg
“Byyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyye Felicia!”

7.5
The final score: review Good
The 411
The show started off badly with the Drake vs. Steiner match, but once you get past that, we have a good wrestling show overall. Drake hopefully has a new direction, Madison Rayne appears to be a player again in the knockouts division, Cage continues to roll and will challenge for the X-Division title, Su Yung is the undead queen of the knockouts, and heel Aries sits atop the mountain once again as world champion. If you’re watching on DVR, skip Steiner vs. Drake, but the rest of the show is well worth your time.
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