IMPACT! Wrestling Review - November 30, 2017

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Laurel Van Ness def. KC Spinelli and Madison Rayne in an Impact Knockouts Championship Tournament Semifinal Three-Way Match

Van Ness definitely owns the crazy character well, but her matches leave a lot to be desired as a result. Thankfully, there were two other reliable workers involved in this match, Spinelli and Rayne (who sadly received zero reaction from the crowd for her return), and they carried a majority of the matchup for her. It wasn't an exciting three-way by any means, but they got through it and the woman who is the most active on the roster went over as she should have (despite my reservations regarding her in-ring ability with this gimmick).

Taiji Ishimori def. Hakim Zane

Apparently, Zane won that Global Forged show that has been airing on IMPACT! in recent weeks. I either always skipped over those segments or simply didn't pay attention because it looked like a rip-off of Tough Enough, but Zane had an impressive showing here and scored some offense over the established Ishimori, who is easily one of the best in the X-Division right now. He picked up a nice victory and it looks like he'll be Trevor Lee's next X-Division Championship challenger. Those matches should be a ton of fun.

JAmes Storm def. Texano

The rivalry these two had going between Team IMPACT and Team AAA wrapped up weeks ago, so while the bad blood wasn't really there anymore, it was a very well-wrestled outing and more entertaining than I figured it would be, largely thanks to Storm. Afterward, American Top Team attacked Storm before Moose made the save, so next week, it will be Storm and Moose against Lashley and Dan Lambert in a tag team match. The angle was well done all around.

Matt Sydal def. Tyson Dux

The only other appearance Dux has made on IMPACT! programming recently was at Bound in a Glory in a losing effort against Ishimori, so to my knowledge, he isn't a regular on the roster. That said, why have this be a competitive contest when it didn't need to be? Don't get me wrong, I liked it for the most part because it had a nice pace, but it should have been more of a showcase for Sydal. Nevertheless, his win helped him build momentum ahead of challenging for the Impact Grand Championship next week.

Johnny Impact def. Alberto El Patron

I always enjoyed the chemistry Impact and El Patron had in WWE and Lucha Underground, so I wasn't surprised that the first half of this match was pretty good. Unfortunately, it went downhill after the referee bump and then Eli Drake got involved. It's such a tired troupe in IMPACT! that they need to ditch as soon as possible if they want fans to take their main events seriously. Obviously, the feud isn't over, but it was weird that even after all the cheating, El Patron was still pinned for the three count. On the bright side, I love that Petey Williams isn't done in the main event scene just yet and that he made his presence felt afterward by hitting a Canadian Destroyer to an awesome reaction.

Overall Show

Well, a three-way feud between Impact, Patron and Drake appears to be what's next for the Impact Global Championship. I'm not exactly thrilled about that, but to be honest, the company doesn't have many other stars to put in that position. Storm is on his way out, but I have been digging what they've been doing with him for now in the angle with Lashley, Lambert and Moose. The X-Division is also heating up with Lee vs. Ishimori, not to mention Ethan Carter III vs. Sydal in a title match is set for next week. So, outside of the last portion of the main event, this was a solid show on the whole.