Impact Wrestling Review - May 25, 2017

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Ethan Carter III, Magnus and James Storm Confronted Impact Wrestling World Heavyweight Champion Lashley

It's been a while since Lashley last appeared in front of the crowd if my memory serves me correctly, and although I wish we would see more of him, he definitely comes across as one of Impact Wrestling's sole special attractions. He carries himself like a world champion, and his promo here was solid in addressing his upcoming challengers. EC3, Magnus and Storm cut good promos as well in hyping their No. 1 Contender's Triple Threat match for later in the night. By the way, doesn't Bruce Prichard know that Triple Threat matchups automatically feature no disqualifications?

KM and Kongo Kong def. Braxton Sutter and Mahabali Shera

As I've noted before, Shera does absolutely nothing for me, as it doesn't look like he has improved at all in his few years with Impact Wrestling. That said, I'm not surprised he's being pushed at the moment with the company beginning their tour of India in two weeks. The match itself was decent enough and everyone played their roles well for the most part (including the women at ringside) with the heels furthering their recent momentum by picking up the victory. Rosemary coming to Allie's aid afterward was interesting, though I'm sure it will lead to a title unification match between Rosemary and Sienna at Slammiversary.

Veterans of War def. Fallah Bahh and Mario Bokara in a GFW World Tag Team Championship Tournament First Round Match

We've seen Bahh and Bokara compete on Impact Wrestling a handful of times in the past, but they've largely been utilized as enhancement talent and this match was no different. I honestly found them to be more impressive than Veterans of War, who feel generic beyond their patriotic gimmick. They are quite the powerhouses, though, so there is that. Them advancing was predictable, and I expect them to go all the way by beating LAX to become the new GFW World Tag Team Champions considering LAX already have gold in their possession.

Joseph Park vs. Josh Mathews Went to a No Contest

You had to know Mathews' apology to Jeremy Borash wasn't genuine based off the nature of his character, and Borash was the only one who bought into the act at first. Basically, the first half of this segment was a total waste of time (much like this entire feud between commentators). The crowd was shockingly silent for Scott Steiner's return, unless they were poorly mic'd or something. The Pope played him up as a major badass on commentary, but it fell flat because no one knew who he was. What a train wreck.

Eddie Edwards and Alisha def. Davey Richards and Angelina Love

This has easily been my favorite feud in Impact Wrestling as of late and I thoroughly enjoyed this mixed tag team match. Of course, both teams (who are legitimate married couples in real life) had great chemistry together and the in-ring action was entertaining. I liked that Alisha pinned Love to score the win and earn some credibility for herself in the process, only for the heels to then avenge the loss by attacking Edwards and Alisha and putting the latter through a table.

Ethan Carter III def. Magnus and James Storm in a Impact Wrestling World Heavyweight Championship No. 1 Contender's Three-Way Match

Most of this match consisted of the two heels being up on Storm until tension was teased and then the alliance went to hell. It was a simple formula, but it was a nice change of pace from what we usually see in three-way matches with each of the competitors cycling in and out. Due to Prichard laying the No Disqualification stipulation (although it's implied in every multi-man match) earlier in the evening, they broke out some weapons and used them to their advantage. The final few minutes were excellent with all three men going back-and-forth and the best part was that any one of them could have come out on top. I won't say EC3 vs. Lashley is set in stone for the title at Slammiversary until the situation with Alberto El Patron and his previously announced title shot is cleared up.

Overall Show

It was interesting that they did the top two matches back-to-back in the second hour, so the last half of this show was very good. There wasn't too much to write home about in the first hour that didn't involve the world title picture, but it was an average episode on the whole. Next week's edition of Impact Wrestling will feature Low Ki vs. Andrew Everett for the X-Division Championship and the finals of the GFW World Tag Team Championship tournament, and then they're off to India, so I appreciate how they've been advertising several matches in advance to give viewers something to look forward to.