IMPACT! Wrestling Review - November 16, 2017

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Dezmond Xavier, Sonjay Dutt and Garza Jr. def. X-Division Champion Trevor Lee, Caleb Konley and Taiji Ishimori

Once again, six X-Division wrestlers were thrown into one multi-man match with no storyline explanation, and it was difficult to care as a result. The in-ring action was entertaining as always, but the X-Division continues to lack focus. Dutt has had his opportunities at the title, so Xavier and Garza would be fine challengers to the championship. Speaking of Garza, props to him for getting through the match despite having an injured shoulder.

Impact Grand Champion Ethan Carter III def. Fallah Bahh

Bahh was given a shot at the strap for no apparent reason, though I am happy EC3 is back to working heel after being a babyface for his feud with Team AAA. Because Bahh hasn't meant anything during his time in IMPACT!, I couldn't take him seriously as a threat to the title, but I appreciated the effort he put forth along with EC3 in attempting to make this good. I didn't hate it, but these Impact Grand Championship matches follow the same predictable formula every time.

LAX def. oVe and Sami Callihan

oVe was about as interesting as watching paint dry before Callihan came to IMPACT!, and his involvement made this match more enjoyable. It was a largely chaotic six-man tag team match with everyone playing their roles well and the final few minutes were fun. Obviously, LAX going over was necessary in giving them a boost of momentum and setting them up for a future Impact Tag Team Championship match.

James Storm Saved Moose From Lashley and American Top Team

I didn't care too much for Lambert's previous promos, but I thought this was super strong in eliciting genuine heat from the Canadian crowd and following up on Lashley and King Mo's victory at Bound for Glory. He really knows how to piss people off. Moose was also solid with his response and Storm saving Moose from an attack from American Top Team seemingly sets up another program with him and Lashley. He cut one of his best and passionate promos in recent memory afterward, and I'm looking forward to seeing him go out on top in the remainder of his appearances in IMPACT.

Gail Kim Relinquished the Impact Knockouts Championship

I love Kim and she is without a doubt one of the best women's wrestlers in the last decade, but I felt like I've heard this promo before... like during her Hall of Fame speech last year. For those who can't recall, she won the Knockouts title at Bound for Glory in 2016 as well and vacated the belt soon after, so this was no different. I would have rather she lost that Triple Threat match earlier this month to Sienna or even Allie, because while this was a cool moment, she didn't help put anyone over on her way out.

Impact Global Champion Eli Drake def. Petey Williams

It's been great to have Williams back in IMPACT! these past few months and I'm glad he got the chance to challenge for the Global Championship in his native Canada on this show. The crowd was very much behind Williams throughout, even though the bout didn't really pick up until the second half. I did like the story they told that it would be over if Williams connected with the Canadian Destroyer (apparently no one has kicked out of it in IMPACT!), so when Drake did kick out, it came across like a big deal. Drake carries himself like a world champion, so keeping the title on him (and giving him a clean win to boot) was the right move.

Overall Show

This edition of IMPACT! Wrestling was slightly newsworthy thanks to the quality Global Championship main event and Kim's retirement from the ring, but everything else was mostly average in my opinion and failed to generate excitement about the product's future (Storm's great promo is worth seeking out, though). With so many departures from the company, they're obviously going through a massive changeover at the moment, so hopefully it leads to more compelling programming going forward.