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Csonka’s Impact Xplosion Review 7.14.18
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Csonka’s Impact Xplosion Review 7.14.18
OFFICIAL RESULTS
– Austin Aries defeated Aiden Prince @ 6:50 via pin [**½]
– From Slammiversary 2012: Bobby Roode defeated Sting @ 10:50 via pin [**]
– From Impact (7.12.18): Sami Callihan, Dave Crist, & Jake Crist defeated Pentagon, Fenix, & Rich Swann @ 17:51 via pin [***¾]
– Follow all of my reviews at this link.
Austin Aries vs. Aiden Prince: Prince is the hometown guy. They lock up and Aries grounds things and then celebrates. They lock up again and work into some counters. Aries now hits an arm drag and grounds things. Aries follows with a basement dropkick. Prince now works a side headlock, they pick up the pace and Prince hits a RANA and dropkick. Aries powders and then comes back in with a lariat. He follows with kicks, and follows with strikes. Aries follows with chops and chokes out Prince in the corner. Aries hits the elbow off the ropes and covers for 2. Prince counters out of a brainbuster and they trade strikes. Prince fires up and dumps Aries. The suicide dive follows. Back in and Prince heads up top, but he misses the 450. Aries laughs and slaps Prince around, but Prince gets a roll up for 2. Aries hits the corner dropkick and brainbuster for the win. Austin Aries defeated Aiden Prince @ 6:50 via pin [[**½]] This was a solid little match, with Aries giving Prince enough to keep the crowd interested and also made it fun.
– Time for Around the Ring with Stone Rockwell. Stone Rockwell is an action adventurer. He’s gloriously wacky. They show footage of Rockwell getting a manicure. Rockwell is from Jones, Indiana. Mathews says that doesn’t exist and questions Rockwell’s credentials as an adventurer. Rockwell questions Mathews’ credentials as a journalist, since he only works in “sports entertainment.” Rockwell keeps calling Mathews “pebble.” They discuss adventures, and Rockwell says he arrived in Orlando via boat. Mathews wants to touch Rockwell’s whip and Rockwell takes issue with him fondling it. Mathews says Rockwell is afraid of revolving doors and escaladers. It was completely wacky and I loved it. Rockwell is a fun dude.
Bobby Roode vs. Sting: This match came off flat and like a run of the mill TV match. I am not sure if Sting was injured, but they did a lot of stalling, some brawling and kept it short, so he may have been. In many ways, and this is something I have talked about for ages, it was the same TNA main event finish we always see. Short cuts, the “controversial ending” and fans feeling unsatisfied. They had Sting “get his heat back” after the loss by beating Roode up, and then taking him at the ramp and giving him the death drop off of the stage, through the very obvious crash pad. I am not complaining about the crash pad, but you have to shoot that better. The positive here is that the crowd was into it, and that Roode continued his run as champion. I would have aired the very good Aries vs. Joe match from this show instead, especially since Aries won and he’s about to main event Slammiversary. Bobby Roode defeated Sting @ 10:50 via pin [**]
Sami Callihan, Dave Crist, & Jake Crist vs. Pentagon, Fenix, & Rich Swann: This is a tornado tag match, which I approve of. Pentagon & Sami go face to face to start, they talk shit and play to the crowd and it immediately breaks down into a superkick party. Swann and Sami work some fun back and forth; Fenix & Pentagon then work over the Crists with double teams. They run wild and isolate Dave, covering for 2. Sami cuts off Pentagon and suplexes Fenix into him. Fenix fires back with kicks, but Sami cuts him off with a lariat. He dumps Fenix but Swann hits a tope. Jake works over Fenix and he then hits a tope onto the pile on the floor. Fenix follows with a springboard tornillo to the floor. Dave and Swann work up top and Dave superplexes him onto the pile of bodies on the floor. Post break, and Sami lays in chops to Fenix. Dave joins in and they tease a superplex, and we instead get a tower of doom as Jake catches Fenix with a powerbomb on the way down for 2. Jake and Fenix battle up top, Fenix fights him off and knocks him to the mat and hits a swanton. Dave cuts him off with a DDT as it breaks down into the big move buffet. Sami spikes Swann with a piledriver, but Pentagon makes the save. Sami and Pentagon trade chops now, and Pentagon hits the penta driver but Sami kicks out at 2. Sami rakes the eyes, but runs into a cutter. Dave hits a cutter on Pentagon, Fenix hits a cutter, Sami hits a cutter and Swann is then double teamed until he hits cutters on Sami & Jake. Jake up top, Swann as well and Jake hits a cutter out of mid-air and that gets 2 as Fenix makes the save. Pentagon & Fenix look to attack Sami, He spits at them and fights, but the double stomp/package piledriver combo connects, but Sami kicks out. Pentagon hits an apron package piledriver on Jake. Swann is back, superkicks Sami, heads up top and Sami cuts him off, hits the big boot and they work back up top and Sami hits a superbomb and get out of here for the win. Sami Callihan, Dave Crist, & Jake Crist defeated Pentagon, Fenix, & Rich Swann @ 17:51 via pin [***¾] This was an overall very good and fun main event with an invested crowd. It was a complete car crash style match, with a ton of wild moves. Some will absolutely love it and some will hate it, but I think it works when it’s the only match like this on the show. What holds it back from being great for me is that there was no real story in the match linking all of the cool moves together, and I absolutely hated that they burned double stomp/package piledriver finish as a near fall on TV. Still, this was a ton of fun and added some more heat to Pentagon vs. Sami.
– End Scene.
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“Byyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyye Felicia!”
