Impact Wrestling Review - May 4, 2017

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Matt Sydal def. Eddie Edwards

Due to both men being babyfaces, the crowd didn't have much of an incentive to chant for either Edwards or Sydal, but it was still an extremely well-wrestled match and a ton of fun. The crowd rallied behind Edwards at the end, but they didn't reject Sydal after he won. Edwards is the bigger star of the two, so while I would have had him go over, it depends on where Sydal rides this wave of momentum from here. I am glad the Edwards vs. Davey Richards feud doesn't appear to be over based off what happened afterward, though.

Sienna def. Christina Von Eerie to Win the GFW Women's Championship

Sienna is one of the division's better all-around workers, yet she hasn't been given too many chances to showcase her skills until now. She and Eerie worked well together and produced a nice little match, but it was far too brief to be anything of note. Also, putting the GFW Women's title seemed like a random move, not that it matter anyway since the title means nothing. What was weirder was that Eerie lost her second match in the company in clean fashion. What a way to get over the new talent!

Ethan Carter III def. John Bolin

Bolin appeared on one other episode of Impact Wrestling not too long ago in a brief squash against Alberto El Patron, so it was no surprise that EC3 made short work of him here. The match was exactly what it needed to be and I liked how he showed more aggression than usual in decimating Bolin and in his post-match promo. That was the serious side of EC3 I was looking for in his verbal exchange with James Storm last week. My only issue with this was the obvious piped in boos when he was talking. That was pretty pathetic.

GFW World Champion Magnus def. Matt Morgan

Similar to the GFW Women's Championship, I don't understand why Impact Wrestling is bringing in the GFW World Championship without establishing it first. I mean, why the hell should anyone care who holds the belt? Furthermore, Magnus and Morgan are familiar faces to Impact Wrestling, but it wouldn't have hurt for the company to reintroduce them to viewers through a video package or two. This was a decent match with a solid story of Magnus working over on Morgan's knee, and at least Magnus is officially a heel after cheating to retain his title here.

Kongo Kong def. William Weaks

Apparently Laurel Van Ness' gimmick is that she has Kong go after any man that turns her down. That and she's still psycho. Anyway, William Weaks is one of the better names I've heard for a jobber in recent memory, so props to whoever came up with that. This was yet another short and sweet enhancement match for Kong and his arsenal is never any less impressive. Furthermore, his first full-fledged feud will be with Braxton Sutter, which makes perfect sense considering Van Ness' bad blood with Allie.

Alberto El Patron def. Eli Drake in a GFW World Championship No. 1 Contender's Match

With Drake being among my top favorites in Impact Wrestling at the moment, I was glad to see him in the main event slot for a change against a top-tier talent. He fared very well for himself in looking like an equal to El Patron throughout, even if the ending outcome was never in doubt. El Patron bores me as a character, but he is an excellent worker, and he and Drake put together a quality main event match. Here's hoping Drake ends up in more main event matches in the future.

Overall Show

I've been enjoying the direction of Impact Wrestling by and large these past two months, but this wasn't one of their better shows in my opinion. As much as I enjoyed the main event and the opener, the rest of the episode was just kind of there for me and hardly anything in the middle was particularly memorable or must-see. Check out the beginning and end, but nothing else is worth your time.