IMPACT! Wrestling Review - August 16, 2018

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Fenix def. Sami Callihan

I've been loving oVe's feud with Fenix and Pentagon Jr. if only because the matches have been excellent. Despite the rest of oVe attempting to interfere from ringside, this was a very entertaining opening match (Pentagon eventually evened the odds by the end). Fenix never ceases to amaze me with what he can do in the ring while Callihan continues to kill it in every matchup he's a part of. This was a smart way of kicking off the show and setting the tone for the rest of the night.

Johnny Impact def. Jimmy Jacobs by Disqualification

This marked Jacobs' in-ring debut for IMPACT. However, this was more of an angle than an actual match. Impact was ambushed before the bout by Kong and then Kong interfered to cause the contest to be thrown off. Impact was able to get the better of them afterward and specifically injured Jacobs, so it will be interesting to see if he is written out of storylines or not. To be honest, I don't care too much for this rivalry, but it does make sense for Impact to exact revenge on them before moving on to bigger and better things considering they put him on the shelf in the first place.

Impact World Champion Austin Aries and Killer Kross Attacked Eddie Edwards

Personally, I found Aries to be awesome on his own and didn't believe he needed anyone to supplement him. Having a heavy won't hurt, but it's weird that he survived so long as Impact World Champion and only now he's getting someone to do his dirty work for him and help him win matches. Nonetheless, this was a fine segment where they explained their alliance. The Aries vs. Edwards feud is also far from over based off what happened here as well.

Eli Drake def. Joe Hendry

Hendry previously beat Drake prior to Slammiversary, so this gave Drake a chance to bounce back and avenge that loss. The match itself was decent for what it was, but I can't say anything about it particularly excited me. The important thing is that Drake won and hopefully now he can move on. Meanwhile, Hendry, Katarina and Grado teased tension afterward, so I would assume they'll be splitting up soon.

Allie def. Impact Knockouts Champion Su Yung by Disqualification (Non-title)

With Kiera Hogan in her corner, Allie didn't have to worry about the undead bridesmaids, allowing her and Yung to have a fair one-on-one match in the process. It wasn't as strong as their last encounter, but I enjoyed it. They told the story that Allie was coming close to capturing the championship before Tessa Blanchard got involved, so a three-way for the title is looking likely right now and that has plenty of potential on paper.

Overall Show

There were two segments that I didn't discuss above, and that was The Smoke Show with Scarlett Bordeaux, K.M. and Fallah Bahh and the literal street fight between LAX and The OGz. The Smoke Show was fine albeit pointless, but I thought the street fight was well-shot and felt like something straight out of a gangster movie. At any rate, this was a solid show all things considered. The opening match was fantastic, and although nothing else that followed came close to topping it, everything seemed to serve a purpose and moved along nicely as we head into the company's next big special in two weeks.