IMPACT! Wrestling Review - October 18, 2018

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Fenix Challenged Impact World Champion Johnny Impact

Impact has never been the greatest talker, though I thought some of his heel promos in Lucha Underground were excellent. Although he's a babyface at the moment in IMPACT, he's playing the role well and this was a decent promo from him, setting the stage for what we should expect from his reign as champion. Fenix is a logical first challenger for him and although there's no chance Fenix is taking the title, the match should be nothing short of stellar.

Taya Valkyrie def. Katarina

Katarina is fine as a character, but I've never cared for her much as a wrestler, whether she was in WWE or during her previous or current runs in IMPACT. Thus, it was perfectly acceptable for Valkyrie to run right through her here as a way for her to bounce back from her loss to Tessa Blanchard at Bound for Glory. In a post-match promo, she played up Blanchard's shady antics at the pay-per-view and admitted to not respecting her, so of course, the rivalry will continue.

Ethan Page def. Trevor Lee

I haven't seen too many matches of Page's, but between this and the showing he had at Bound for Glory, he can certainly hold his own and is impressive. Plus, he has an awesome opponent to work with in Lee who made him look even better in victory, so that helped as well. It is cool that Page and Matt Sydal seeming to finding a direction despite their loss last Sunday, but the same can not be said for Lee and Caleb Konley right now.

Killer Kross def. Tommy Dreamer by Referee Stoppage

It's weird that Kross hasn't been showcased a ton in recent months after all the heavy hype he received upon arriving in IMPACT earlier in the year. Obviously, most of that is due to how he's been cast as a bodyguard for Austin Aries and not much more than that, but it appears he might be breaking out on his own (alongside Moose) now that Aries is out of the picture for the time being. I was honestly surprised that he and Dreamer had as well-wrestled of a match as they did, and the dominant win was absolutely the right call. Fan chanted for Eddie Edwards to make the save afterward, but it was explained that injuries he sustained at Bound for Glory prevented that from happening.

Allie def. Alisha Edwards

Alisha is slowly but surely getting better in the ring and having her wrestle against someone as established as Allie will only help her cause. The match itself was solid, but the real focus was on Allie's change in attitude. In addition to sporting black hair, she was much more aggressive than usual. Following her victory, she proceeded to viciously attack Alisha before snapping out of it, so clearly her trip to the "undead realm" has affected her in some way.

Impact X-Division Champion Brian Cage def. Rich Swann

It's been a while since Cage last defended the X-Division Championship, so I was glad the title took center stage on this show in the main event. They weren't given a ton of time to work with, but what we saw in the 10 minutes this lasted for was action-packed and incredibly entertaining. Furthermore, they did a terrific job of playing up Cage's injured leg from Bound for Glory and telling that story throughout the bout. The post-match angle confirmed that Sami Callihan will be Cage's next title contender.

Overall Show

This post-pay-per-view edition of IMPACT! Wrestling featured plenty of fallout from Bound for Glory as well as some quality wrestling and angle advancement. Aries was nowhere to be seen, but from what I've heard, he won't be around for a while. The rest of the important storylines from the event were touched upon and it already looks like a few new feuds are starting to take shape. I appreciated that everything served a purpose, thus making this the perfect possible follow-up show to Bound for Glory.