GFW Impact Review - July 13, 2017

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Lashley Saved Unified GFW World Heavyweight Champion Alberto El Patron From Unified GFW World Tag Team Champions LAX

It was pretty apparent based off the ending of last week's episode that El Patron wasn't in fact a part of LAX, and I liked the heated back and forth he had with Konnan here. I could have done without El Patron subtly bashing WWE, again, but the rest of this segment was solid in setting up the main event with Lashley coming to the aid of El Patron. However, it was made clear that he was merely there to get revenge on LAX for costing him the championship last week as opposed to aligning with El Patron.

ACH def. Andrew Everett in a Super X Cup First Round Match

ACH had been one of my favorite competitors in Ring of Honor for the two years he was there while I was watching the product and he always entertained me. Thus, I'm very happy he'll be a part of this Super X Cup and even happier that he advanced here. Everett is an awesome athlete as well, so it wasn't surprising that this was an extremely enjoyable match that featured fun action bell to bell.

Gail Kim Announced Her Upcoming Retirement From the Ring

Kim noted that she's been off TV since last year due to injury, though I'm pretty sure I've heard her say in interviews that he's been cleared to compete for a while and that she wasn't in any rush to return. I can't say I'm shocked that she announced her impending retirement, and while that would normally be a big blow to the Knockouts division, she's virtually faced everyone and done it all, so it makes sense for her to move on. Plus, she's been gone for so long that a lot of people probably forgot she was still a part of the roster.

The Swole Mates Confronted Chris Adonis and Eli Drake

This confrontation was teased last week, and I really wish they would have left it at that because this was completely pointless. It's probably a network executive decision, but GFW has a tendency to promote other shows on Pop TV ad nauseam and this was no exception. The best I can say about it was that it didn't last longer than a few minutes, but it shouldn't have happened at all. By the way, I saw a commercial for "True Swolemates" and the show looks absolutely awful.

Octagoncio def. Demus

I'm pleasantly surprised that Octagoncio's first match in GFW wasn't against fellow mini Swoggle. That would have been labeled as a joke before it even started. On the contrary, this was quite the competitive contest and I was impressed with Octagoncio's offense. I'm not sure whether GFW plans on launching a minis division (and I pray to God they don't), but this was a nice showcase for the new star.

Marufuji def. Impact Grand Champion Moose by Disqualification

Marufuji is a notable name from Pro Wrestling Noah from what I understand and the commentators did a decent job of playing up the star power he brings to GFW. He and Moose produced a well-worked match, but I am so beyond done with the layout of these Impact Grand Championship matches. I'm almost positive that was a Billy Corgan creative decision from when he was in charge, so why bother keeping the division around? Marufuji and Moose tried to make this passable to the best of their ability, but they were limited by the dumb MMA-style rules. If nothing else, Moose's recently rivalry with Ethan Carter III was effectively furthered.

Trevor Lee def. William Weeks

Although Lee promoted this as an X-Division Championship match, let the record show this was not a title match because, well, Lee isn't champion. He merely stole the belt from current champion Sonjay Dutt last week. Obviously, the match was nothing of note with Lee handpicking his opponent and scoring an easy win, but Dutt emerging afterward to chase off Lee was a fine way of continuing their storyline.

Laurel Van Ness def. Ava Storie

I believe Storie's last singles match in Impact Wrestling was against Brandi Rhodes, a bout so bad I don't think either of them had been used since. Thankfully, Storie was slightly better here, but this was still shaky at points and not all that smooth on the whole. Although the match was whatever, I got a kick out of the post-match angle with Grado asking Van Ness out on a date to avoid being deported before Kongo Kong chased him off. Never did I think we would ever hear a "Netflix and chill" chant from a wrestling crowd. 

Unified GFW World Heavyweight Champion Alberto El Patron and Lashley def. Unified GFW World Tag Team Champions LAX (Non-title)

I didn't mind El Patron and Lashley putting their differences aside to fight against a common enemy in LAX, but I was not at all a fan of LAX eating defeat here, being handed their first loss since returning to the company earlier this year. The match itself was pretty good, but the clean finish was not necessary. That said, Lashley choosing not to save El Patron afterward from LAX's beatdown because he already gained a measure of revenge in beating them was perfect.

Overall Show

First and foremost, I'm disappointed (yet not incredibly shocked) that GFW isn't altering these tapings to remove the now-suspended El Patron, but such is life and nothing new from this company. Nevertheless, the last two shows haven't been too strong despite the above-average Slammiversay pay-per-view earlier this month. Definitely go out of your way to check out ACH vs. Everett, but everything else can be skipped.