Csonka’s Impact Wrestling Review 6.07.18

Csonka’s Impact Wrestling 6.07.18 Review

OFFICIAL RESULTS
– Impact Tag Team Title Match: Champions Z&E defeated Drago & Aerostar @ 17:01 via pin [***½]
– LAX defeated The Cult of Lee @ 7:27 via pin [**¾]
– Cage defeated Rohit Raju @ 0:44 via pin [NR]

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– We get highlights from last week’s show.

Impact Tag Team Title Match: Champions Z&E (DJZ & Andrew Everett) vs. Drago & Aerostar: I love Z&E as champions as they give us a ton of fresh matches. Drago and DJZ start us off. Drago looks to ground the action, but DJZ escapes and backs off. DJZ now grounds the action, frustrating Drago. Drago lay in strikes and tags in Aerostar and Everett tags in. They do some random flippity doos and shake hands. Aerostar attacks, Everett chases and they work into some counters, and Aerostar hits aback breaker. They pick up the pace and Everett hits a RANA. Aerostar cuts him off and tags in Drago. Drago grounds things, and Aerostar tags in and the luchas work double teams, and Drago covers for 2. He takes out DJZ, but Everett fights back and tags in DJZ. He runs wild, working over both men. DJZ is so much fun. He finally gets cut off by double teams, and Aerostar covers for 2. Drago now grounds the action, DJZ fires back and gets dumped to the floor. Post break, and Aerostar tags in. DJZ fights him off and tags in Everett. Everett takes control and hits a springboard kick and running shooting star press for 2. Drago fires back with a knee strike and hits a powerbomb for 2. DJZ cuts him off and DJZ hits a sunset bomb off the ropes and takes out Aerostar. Aero star flies back in with a missile dropkick and then a meteora. The champions cut him off with double teams, take Drago to the floor and DJZ hits a suicide dive. Everett hits a moonsault to the floor. Aerostar now hits a step up high cross to the floor. Back in and Aerostar hits a ropewalk RANA on Everett for 2. DJZ sends Drago to the floor and Aerostar cuts him off with a slingshot DDT. Aerostar then moonsaults into the feet and the ZDT and 630 finishes him. Champions Z&E defeated Drago & Aerostar @ 17:01 via pin [***½] This was a very good and tremendously fun match to kick off the show.

– We get a video package on the Edwards vs. Callihan feud.

– Sonjay & Petey talk about last week’s attack, and Sonjay is seemingly blaming Petey for his attack last week as they argue. Petey opts to go home.

– We get a video package on new knockouts champion Su Yung.

.@realsuyung has conquered Demon Bunny. She rules the Knockouts division now. #IMPACTonPop pic.twitter.com/HwntgFVr4D

— IMPACT (@IMPACTWRESTLING) June 8, 2018

– We now get a flashback match featuring Tommy Dreamer & RVD.

– At the LAX clubhouse, Diamante arrives and reunites with Santana & Ortiz. She questions what’s happened to Homicide & Konnan, and also questions King’s arrival and motivations. King is now here and there is tension with he and Diamante. She’s not buying what he’s selling and King isn’t thrilled she’s back.

.@DiamanteLAX is BACK!

And she has some words of caution for @SantanaLAX and @Ortiz5150 about @MadKing1981. #IMPACTonPop pic.twitter.com/z0OMfRk0CD

— IMPACT (@IMPACTWRESTLING) June 8, 2018

LAX (Santana & Ortiz) vs. Trevor Lee & Caleb Konley: King is out with LAX. LAX attacks at the bell and they all brawl. LAX takes out Lee and isolated Konley. Konley fires back and then gets cut off and LAX work double teams. Lee in and they work him over. Lee rakes the eyes of Santana, but he cuts off Konley and Lee then attacks and takes down Santana as Konley works over Ortiz on the floor. Lee works over Santana, Konley joins in and hits a knee strike for 2. Santana fires back, but gets tripped up and Lee now tags back in. Konley in and continues to ground Santana. Santana needs a tag as Konley keeps him grounded. Lee back in and he rakes at the eyes on Santana. Santana hits a desperation cutter and that leads to a double down. Wholesale changes to Konley & Ortiz. Ortiz takes control, and wipes out Lee with a suicide dive. LAX then double team Konley, covering for 2. Lee trips up Ortiz, double teams follow and Konley covers for 2. Lee & Konley tease a street sweeper, LAX cuts them off and hit a double team cutter for the win. LAX defeated The Cult of Lee @ 7:27 via pin [**¾] This was an overall pretty good match, with LAX finally ending their losing streak as they look to work back to the titles.

Eli Drake’s Fact of Life: Eli Drake has arrived for the return of his Fact of Life segment, dummies will be named. Drake welcomes us to the show and reminds us that he took care of Steiner last week. He’s here to name the top 5 dummies in Impact Wrestling. They are: 5) the fans of Impact, 4) Austin Aries, 3) Impact Management, 2) the fans of Impact again, and 1) Moose. Well number one is hard to argue with. Drake reminds us that he tricked Moose into putting up his world title case and that he won it from him. Drake says next week, he and Moose face off, and the winner faces Aries at Slammiversary. Moose arrives and runs down Drake and his stupid list, and reminds Drake that he lost the tag titles and his world title match. He calls Drake a dummy and a loser. Drake attacks and Moose cuts him off with a bicycle kick. Drake low blows him and hits the gravy train. He then slams his lectern onto Moose. This was a solid segment to set up next week’s #1 contender’s match, which will set up the Slammiversary main event. Credit to Drake for getting the crowd to make some noise.

Cage vs. Rohit Raju: Raju makes the mistake of attacking Cage, so Cage kills him with a lariat. Weapon X follows and that’s that. Cage defeated Rohit Raju @ 0:44 via pin [NR] Rohit Raju was 38.

– Matt Sydal arrives to hype next week’s title match. Sydal puts over Cage’s strength and says he sees inner weakness through his third eye and says he can make Cage a complete machine, promising to show him the path if Cage gives up his title match and stand by his side. Cage then lays out Sydal with an F5 and poses with the X-Division title.

– Eddie drives to his murder fight in the woods and tells the cameraman to film it all, even if he “fucking dies.”

– Josh Mathews interviews World Champion Austin Aries via Skype. They start off with a shitty connection. Aries says he’s great because he’s a three-time champion. He refuses to give his location, and Mathews asks him about Slammiversary and that he will face either Drake or Moose for the title. Drake is 0-2 against him and calls Moose mediocre. Mathews asks Aries about his underhanded tactics from last week, and Aries says all that matters is that he won. He thinks that Drake has the advantage next week, but that Moose is a tremendous athlete. But adds that Moose doesn’t have the mental game to overcome.

.@AustinAries had some strong words for his potential challengers @TheEliDrake and @TheMooseNation as he spoke to @realjoshmathews. #IMPACTonPop pic.twitter.com/UChgNvmFLq

— IMPACT (@IMPACTWRESTLING) June 8, 2018

– We get clips from the Slammiversary press conference in Toronto.

– We get a Madison Rayne video package, she came back to have fun and do commentary, but Tessa did what Tessa does, and that brought her back. She had to do what was right, and thinks Tessa is a bully, a brat, and entitled. She’s talented, but far from humble. She’s happy to be back, and to shut her up. Rayne is glad to step back into the ring and feels this is happening for a reason, because the knockouts title isn’t far out of reach. She has a new drive, and nothing will stop her in getting the title for a 6th time.

– Tessa is interviewed. She says she didn’t really lose, and she’s a winner. She makes things happen and calls Rayne insecure. Kiera Hogan arrives and Tessa kicks her ass. Hogan fights back and they continue to brawl. Tessa lays her out.

– We see an angry Moose backstage. He says Eli fucked up and now next week, he will beat him and hurt him.

Unsanctioned Street Murder Fight IN THE WOODS: Eddie Edwards vs. Sami Callihan: Edwards searches for Sami and finds a Crist. Sami arrives and Jake attacks as Sami runs away. We’re getting an ultimate deletion style presentation here, very cinematic as Edwards fights off Jake and chokes him out. Edwards now hears a car alarm as he searches for Sami, and Dave arrives from the trunk of a car as they brawl. Edwards chokes him out and puts him back in the trunk. Edwards now finds Sami and attacks. They brawl in a dirt road, threatening to kill each other. Sami gets a bull’s skull and tries to stab Edwards with it, but Edwards fights him off and the brawl continues. Edwards slams him into a tree and grabs a horn off of the skull and stabs Sami with it, busting him open. Edwards says its time to die and Dreamer & Alisha arrive to try and stop him, allowing Sami to disappear. Edwards throws a fit over his disappearance as Dreamer & Alisha say it’s over, but Edwards attacks Dreamer and yells that it’s not over, leaving Alisha with Dreamer as he leaves to search for Sami. This was an overall very good angle and use of the cinematic style that the company has used in the past. I enjoyed it, but can see some hating it. The feud appears far from over, as Eddie becomes more unhinged, even attacking Dreamer, as he’s hell bent on murdering Sami. They’ve done a good job with the angle as a whole, trying some different things, which is appreciated.

– Next week…

* #1 Contender’s Match: Moose vs. Eli Drake
* X-Division Title Match: Champion Matt Sydal vs. Cage
* Tessa Blanchard vs. Kiera Hogan

– End scene.

– Thanks for reading.

“Byyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyye Felicia!”

6.8

The final score: review Average

The 411

Tonight’s episode of Impact Wrestling was a pretty good show overall. The opener and main event angle were the strong points of the show, they mixed in some good video packages, and set three matches for next week. The LAZ angle is also coming along nicely with them finally picking up a win and the dynamic between King & the returning Diamante. This was a really solid follow up to last week’s Under Pressure even as we now look to build to Slammiversary.