iMPACT! 28 - 06 - 2012

Welcome to the very first Wrestling Without Bias! This blog was born out of a desire to show iMPACT! in a less negative light than others tend to view and portray the show. There’s no hiding the fact that WrestlingWithText.com is the inspiration for this blog, and I am not - in any way, shape or form - trying to steal the thunder from CWMonkey’s effort, the guy’s comedic timing is something I don’t think I could ever parallel here. I merely feel there is some negative bias when it comes to reviewing the show and so here we are. I don’t plan on reviewing any WWE programming.

And so, on with the show! (Quick note: press Ctrl and + to boost the size of the page, and in turn, the gifs.)

Dis gon be gud!

Match 1: Anderson vs. RVD

Dis gon be gud!

All in all, a pretty forgettable match. In fact, other than Starship Pain (Whoops, I mean… Split Legged Moonsault), the only highlight was negative. Aw sheet, that doesn’t bode well for my first positive review of iMPACT!

Winner: RVD



Segment: Austin Aries explaining the reasoning behind, what many are saying, the burying of the X-Division title. I think we can all agree that the X-Division hasn’t gained much in the way of respect much over the past few years, and I for one think this is a good opportunity to display the title as a solid stepping point in going for the Heavyweight Title. Most titles don’t really have much meaning. “Hey look, that guy has the T.V. title… so… what now?”. Now, every year at the X-Division branded PPV, the holder of that title will be able to use that leverage to gain a shot at being the man in the company. If you look at it, it’s actually a great move.

Afterwards, we had our typical interruption from the champ, Bobby Roode. Shirts are off, titles are waved around, and the champ walks away with a smile. Funny thing here is, it really felt like Roode was going through the motions. Austin was throwing out retorts left right and centre, and Bobby simply ignored him and continued to recite his script. Was a little disappointing on Roode’s part.

Match 2: Sonjay Dutt vs Rubix (Destination X qualifier)

Sonjay is back! Fuck yeah! Not sure who this Rubix bloke is, but it’s great to see some real X-Division matches again.

Pretty spots. So many pretty spots.







Side note: There’s a good reason why post-match interviews directly after a match aren’t good. Something about corners and swagger. Idk.

Winner: Sonjay Dutt

Segment: Gut Check, deciding Taeler Hendrix’s fate.

This segment wasn’t about Taeler. It was about that douchebag porn-star wrestler and how much Taz hates him. Me too, buddy. Me too.

Match 3: Bully Ray vs Samoa Joe

3 years ago, we would have never thought Joe was the fatter of the two.

I love these guys individually, but together they’re kind of a bit lacklustre. But perhaps that’s just because it came off the back of an amazing X-Div match.

Winner: Samoa Joe (After some help from Joseph Park)





Abyss vs Bully Ray in two weeks. Please tell me this isn’t at Destination X. When is Destination X, anyway?

Give it a few weeks and it will be dropped. Please be dropped!

Match 4: Rashad Cameron vs Mason Andrews

Dude looks like D-Ray 3000, or what?

“You don’t see that much in MMA”. You don’t say… ^_O

People can say that TNA “squashed” the X-Division, but in my honest opinion, they made it stand out even more. Gone are the spot matches on every iMPACT!. Now, we have legitimate wrestling matches most of the year, and a build up to a PPV once a year dedicated to the X-Div. This allows us to enjoy some epic moments without it burning out and getting repetitive.

Winner: Rasheed Cameron with the Little Jimmy.

Segment: Gutcheck

Her name is shit, her wrestling is average, but she’s cute as fuck. So going into this I was hoping for a “Yes” all around. JB was a bit over excited for this, “Taeler Hendrix, this is you li… err.. Gutcheck!”.

Oh for fuck sake… WHY DID THIS HAVE TO BE A WORK?





I think I’m in love.

And Pritchard says… YES! YES! YES!

Umm… brb.

—

And we’re back.

Match: Daniels/Kaz vs AJ Styles/Kurt Angle (Tag Team Title)

Kaz is pissed at Daniels for withholding the true meaning behind the AJ/Dixie bullshit. I expect either a turning on Daniels or a fake out, and then realigning himself with Daniels to cement his heel status.

Kurt has really made a comeback as of his pairing with AJ. The guy was looking pretty beat up, and many of us were pretty concerned with his health. Now look at the guy go.

Kaz is arguably TNA’s Dolph Ziggler. Week in and week out, he sells the shit out of his opponents moves.

I marked out hardcore for this move. This has to be my second favourite diamond cutter ever. The first being that epic one DDP delivered to Eddie.

Here we have Kaz turning on Daniels, as predicted.

—-

Here we have Kaz faking out, as predicted.

“Because we are, the world tag team champions of the world… And I meant to say that”.

Winners: Daniels and Kaz, new Tag Team Champions

Final thoughts:

All in all, this was probably one of the best iMPACTS! this year. And this no doubt outshone RAW this week. I’m a fan of both shows but this is by far the better of the two this week. If you get a chance, catch an encore or watch it on youtube.

Let me know if I should continue this or not. I enjoy doing it, even if it does take me 3 hours to watch a 2 hour show :D