Impact Wrestling Review - June 15, 2017

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Mahabali Shera Won a Sony Six Invitational Gauntlet Battle Royal

Impact Wrestling is famous for its Gauntlet Battle Royals and this one in particular was as meaningless as any other. Sure, they presented the winner (Shera) with a little trophy, but it was merely their way of honoring the hometown hero without actually giving him a championship. For those unaware (and I don't blame you because he was hardly on television prior to this point), he's very limited in what he can do, and that was quite evident during his mini match with Kongo Kong and KM. The live crowd loved it, but this felt like a giant waste of time.

James Storm Attacked Ethan Carter III

I honestly found EC3 mocking the Indian culture by calling himself Ethan Singh III and wearing Indian attitire hilarious. He then cut an entertaining albeit slightly formulaic promo ripping into the audience, who where obviously directed who to cheer and who to boo based off their mannerisms. There was nothing redeeming about the dastardly EC3 here as he beat up the translator before Storm made the save, so I assume they will be resuming their rivalry heading into Slammiversary.

Josh Mathews def. Sandeep Dakar

I thought this would be a bait-and-switch with Scott Steiner or someone else filling in for Mathews, but he actually wrestled, and as much as I hate to admit it, he wasn't half-bad. Then again, that shouldn't be too surprising considering he does have a wrestling background from years ago. That Swanton Bomb he executed was especially impressive. Shera resurfaced yet again afterward, so it's apparent officials desperately want him to look like the biggest star coming out of this taping. Lashley and Alberto El Patron got involved as well, so they were able to further their feud.

Braxton Sutter def. Trevor Lee

It's such a shame Lee has turned into just another guy on the roster since dropping the X-Division Championship. This was a well-wrestled match and decent while it lasted, and Sutter needed the win more considering he's currently embroiled in a feud with Kong and KM, but I was disappointed by how Lee was put away in quick fashion. Shane Gregory Helms wasn't in his corner for this match, but that could be a case oh Helms not making the trip as opposed to the two breaking up. Sienna's post-match promo was fine and set up next week's tag team match with her and Laurel Van Ness against Allie and Rosemary.

Eli Drake and Chris Adonis Interrupted Impact Grand Champion Moose

Why was Moose a part of that Gauntlet Battle Royal earlier and tossed like a loser if he was going to appearing later in the show? Nevertheless, it's great to see Drake being used effectively for a change in this feud with Moose. He easily outshined Moose on the mic in this segment, though Moose overpowering him and Adonis was slightly strange. Moose teasing who his partner will be for his Slammiversary match versus Adonis and Drake for next week was a nice hook, but I expected Adonis to be facing Moose one-on-one at the event. Perhaps he isn't 100 percent healed from that injury he seemingly suffered recently?

Sonjay Dutt def. Low Ki to Win the X-Division Championship

I loved how this bout was built up over the course of the night with the focus being on how Dutt has never been X-Division Champion and this was his last shot in his native India. While the match was good, it was far from as excellent as I hoped it would be considering the athletes involved. I was waiting for it to reach that next gear and it never did, and thus Dutt's pinfall victory felt anticlimactic. I know Impact Wrestling wanted to create a special moment in India with this win, but it would have been better saved for Slammiversary in my opinion.

Overall Show

The second week of Impact Wrestling's India tapings was as underwhelming as last week, unfortunately. It wasn't a bad show by any means, but in addition to there being absolutely zero buzz surrounding the product right now, it came across like a house show that just so happened to be taped. The main event was the only match I was looking forward to ahead of this episode, and even that managed to fail to meet my expectations. The build-up for Slammiversary has left a lot to be desired and I can't say I'm all that excited for the event.