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Csonka’s Impact Xplosion Review 8.11.18

August 16, 2018 | Posted by Larry Csonka
IMPACT XPLOSION 81118
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Csonka’s Impact Xplosion Review 8.11.18  

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Csonka’s Impact Xplosion Review 8.11.18

OFFICIAL RESULTS
– Petey Williams defeated Jake Crist @ 6:20 via pin [***]
From TNA No Surrender 2011: Champion Kurt Angle defeated Ken Anderson & Sting @ 15:25 via pin []
From Impact (8.09.18): World Champion Austin Aries defeated Eddie Edwards @ 17:11 via pin [***]


– Follow all of my reviews at this link.

Petey Williams vs. Jake Crist: They lock up, working into some standing switches, and battling for position. Petey grounds the action, but Crist quickly fights back to his feet but Petey hits a head scissors. The RANA follows and then the dropkick connects. Petey takes things up top, puts Crist into the tree of WHOA but Crist counters the oh Canada nut stomp into a Spider German. Crist lays in strikes and hits a pair of neck breakers to pick up the near fall. Crist now lays the boots to Petey in the corner, and covers for 2. He grounds the action now, Petey fights to his feet, and they trade strikes. Petey fires up and lays in rights, and the Russian leg sweep follows for 2. The complete shot connects and Petey fires up; Crist counters the destroyer, and Petey transitions into a sharp shooter, but Crist makes the ropes. They work up top and Crist fights him off and hits a super cutter for a good near fall. Petey fights back, hits the powerbomb, but Crist battles back and hits a superkick. Petey avoids the spin kick, cuts him off again and hits the destroyer for the win. Petey Williams defeated Jake Crist @ 6:20 via pin [***] This was a good, fun, back and forth match, and better than the usual Xplosion outing.

We go around the ring with Joe Hendry. He jokes about being fiends with Grado, and says he’s a lot of fun and if you hang out with Grado, you always have a story about him. He started training in 2013 and is excited to be with Impact. He’s done extra work for WWE (as a Russian presenting Rusev), and also worked with ROH, Defiant, & Smash Wrestling. He just wants to be himself and be creative and Impact has allowed him to do that; they have shown him trust and now he has to deliver. When not wrestling, helices to broadcast on Twitch and does freestyle amateur wrestling. But he’s not good at relaxing. He’s been close to setting up an MMA fight, but hasn’t had the time to focus on that like he needs to. On the UK indie scene, it’s red hot and there is a ton of talented people working. The standard is very high now and it’s made him better.

Champion Kurt Angle vs. Sting vs. Mr. Anderson: Unfortunately this was every TNA main event during this time, filled with some potential and talented guys that under the right setting can deliver. The match felt long, it was largely boring, the structure never felt locked in and featured a completely overbooked finish where Hogan blinded the ref, leading to Sting almost taking him out, only to be low blowed so that Angle could retain. I have absolutely no idea why you would pick this match to feature here; it’s the exact opposite of the kind of match you should be showing. Champion Kurt Angle defeated Ken Anderson & Sting @ 15:25 via pin [*¾]

Champion Austin Aries vs. Eddie Edwards: They lock up, work into some back and forth and Aries outwrestles Eddie early on. They lock up again; Eddie hits an overhead belly to belly and wants a handshake. Aries slaps the shit out of him and Eddie demands he shake his hand and Aries bails to the floor. Eddie chases Aries, but Aries cuts him off back in the ring and dumps him to the floor. Eddie cuts off the suicide dive and follows with chops, just lighting Aries up. Aries fights back, raking the eyes, but Eddie maintains control. Aries rolls back in and Eddie follows. Aries then dumps him to the floor and hits the suicide dive. Back in they go and Aries follows with a knee drop for 2. Aries lays in kick and again covers for 2. Aries now lays in forearm strikes, and follows with chops. Eddie gets fired up and likes it so Aries pokes him in the eyes. Aries quickly fights back and hits a blue thunder bomb. Eddie now hits a toss slam and chops, and the cover gets 2. Aries counters the tiger diver into a RANA, but Eddie fights back and hits it anyway, covering for 2. They work up top and then back to the mat and Aries locks on last chancery. Eddie bites his way out, and Aries rolls to the floor. He grabs the belt, the ref takes, it, and Aries looks for a low blow, but Eddie blocks and he hits a low blow ad cradle for 2. Aries counters the backpack stunner and they trade strikes and we get a ref bump. Aries hits a rolling forearm, grabs the title again, and misses. Eddie hits future shock and covers for eternity but no ref. Eddie gets the kendo and hits the ref, Aries low blows him and Eddie fights back and hits Aries with the kendo. Eddie chokes out Aries with the kendo but Killer Kross arrives and hits a Saito suplex on Eddie. Aries hits the brainbuster and retains. Champion Austin Aries defeated Eddie Edwards @ 17:11 via pin [***] This was an overall good main event match, but I don’t feel that the overbooking did anything to add to the match’s quality. I will say that the good thing about it is that there was no definitive finish, so they can revisit the match again down the line, which I am all for as they showed good chemistry overall. I don’t feel that Aries needs a heavy as he’s so good on his own, but I am willing to see where it goes from here.

– Kross lays his calling card on Eddie and poses with Aries to close the show.

– End Scene.

– Thanks for reading.

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“Byyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyye Felicia!”

6.0
The final score: review Average
The 411
This week’s episode of Impact Xplosion ended up being a perfectly solid show, thanks to a better than usual Xplosion exclusive, and a good match from Impact. Unfortunately, the throwback match was again picked only for the names involved, because I cannot fathom someone watching it and thinking it was going to be a good addition to this show.
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