Impact Wrestling Review - April 27, 2017

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Josh Mathews Had Jeremy Borash Removed From Commentary

As expected, Borash striking Mathews at the end of last week's episode led to JB being "suspended" indefinitely, and only after two weeks, Mathews is officially back on commentary. That's terrible. I know this might be a part of something Slammiversary-related, but the fact we have to suffer through Mathews' commentary even longer is unbearably bad, not to mention it makes that main event from a few weeks ago completely pointless. This whole angle reeks of Michael Cole vs. Jerry Lawler from 2011.

Matt Sydal def. Trevor Lee

Sydal was advertised by Impact Wrestling ahead of time on their social media accounts, but I still would have treated his debut like a bigger deal. The commentators didn't exhibit any excitement when he came out, which is a shame because Sydal is a hell of a pick-up for them if he's under contract now. However, I don't think that's the case considering he will be challenging Marty Scurll for the ROH World Television Championship at an event soon. At any rate, this was a fun little match, but it was weird Lee didn't show any signs of wanting to get his X-Division Championship back after losing it last week.

Ethan Carter III Attacked James Storm

As popular as he was as a babyface, EC3 turning heel was long overdue because he is far more comfortable in that role. He cut a good albeit unspectacular promo here, and the same can be said for Storm. I liked the aggression from both men and it was a solid segment, but it wasn't as strong as it could have been. EC3 was laughing at his own jokes, so I hope he stops doing that and stays serious because that's when he's total money on the mic. That said, I'm looking forward to this feud and the matches they'll produce.

GFW Women's Champion Christina Von Eerie def. Ava Storie (Non-title)

Von Eerie previously wrestled for Impact Wrestling years ago as Toxxin and I believe is the real life wife of former star Jesse Neal. I haven't seen too much of her work prior to this point, but she had an impressive outing here and I've heard she's one of the better women's wrestlers on the independent scene today. My only complaint is that she relied a little too heavily on the "Oy!" chants, which would be fine if Reno Scum wasn't already doing that. She is undoubtedly the best addition to the Knockouts division of all the recent signings and could be a real threat to the Knockouts Championship sooner rather than later.

Davey Richards def. Impact Grand Champion Moose by Disqualification

I'm not sure whether Chris Adonis was actually injured or not, but the match was better off with Richards as his replacement. They told a great story with Richards targeting Moose's injured knee throughout and Moose surprisingly made for a believable underdog babyface. The non-finish was fine because it protected both guys, kept the title on Moose, and furthered the feud between Richards and Eddie Edwards. Obviously, NFL players DeAngelo Williams and Gary Barnidge roughing up Richards afterward was designed to get mainstream attention. I didn't agree with it, but I understood why they did it.

Kongo Kong def. Matt Sigmon

Kong continues to kill his opponents and he has grown on me with each passing week. This squash was effective in getting over his dominance and awesome-looking offense for a guy of his massive size. KM currently does nothing for me (that video package of him being a dick at a restaurant was poorly acted), but aligning Kong with him and Sienna helps them elicit heat as well.

Veterans of War def. Fallah Brah and Mario Bokara

One of the Veterans of War previously wrestled as Crimson for Impact Wrestling years ago, though I'm not certain he has improved a ton in his absence. In other words, this was not pretty, at all. The babyfaces didn't sell for the heels whatsoever and the two tandems just didn't have any chemistry. Crimson's post-match promo introducing themselves to the audience was decent, but I'm not sold on this duo quite yet.

Impact Wrestling World Tag Team Champions LAX def. Decay in a Street Fight

What's the difference between a Street Fight and a Monster's Ball? They seem like the same type of match to me. At any rate, this was an entertaining hardcore brawl that played to Decay's strengths and LAX shined as well. I questioned last week why they would rush into doing this match so soon after the feud, but now we know why: Crazzy Steve apparently is WWE/NXT bound. Thus, this might have been his final televised appearance for Impact Wrestling, and if so, he went out on a high note. We'll see where this leaves the rest of Decay.

Overall Show

It's crazy when you think about how well over half of the roster now in Impact Wrestling consists of returning stars or fresh faces. Whether that's for the better or for worse is debatable, but as I've said in the past, I've been enjoying the latest creative direction for the company by and large. There were a handful of enhancement matches on this show, but all of them served a purpose, while the two title matches were well-wrestled. As long as they keep the crap with the announcers to a minimum, Impact Wrestling may be able to maintain this momentum.