Impact 1/18/2018

This week on Impact, the X-Division Championship is defended. Plus, the much anticipated no rope, barbed wire match between LAX and oVe takes place!

Impact Wrestling presents Impact
Date: 1/18/2018
From: Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

Opening Contest: Impact X-Division Champion Taiji Ishimori vs. Dezmond Xavier: Ishimori backs Xavier into a corner and they trade shoves in the middle of the ring. The first few moments of the match are the usual feeling out stages. Ishimori dropkicks Xavier to the floor. Xavier sends Ishimori to the floor with a dropkick of his own but Ishimori rolls back in to deliver a dropkcik. Xavier nearly wins with a kick to the face after Taiji faked out a dive to the floor. Xavier continues to work over Taiji with strikes in the corner. Xavier gets a reverse chin lock on the champ but can’t get a submission. Xavier counters a handspring attempt with a dropkick and takes Taiji out with a suicide dive to the floor. The champ’s momentum sent him over the railing. Xavier gets a running start and dives over the ropes and over the railing to take Taiji out with a dive in the crowd! Impact goes to commercial…

They are trading forearms in the ring with Taiji coming off the ropes but is met with a kick to the face. Taiji kicks Xavier and Xavier drops the champ with a cutter after several strikes. Xavier delivers a running uppercut in the corner. Xavier continues with a dropkick to a seated Taiji for a near fall. It appears that the champion is bleeding from the back of his head. Xavier heads to the top rope but Ishimori stops Xavier managing to hook him for a superplex and hits a delayed superplex to the canvas! Xavier blocks a few strikes and punches Taiji a few times. Taiji connects with a handspring kick to the face but Xavier kicks out at two. Taiji delivers a double knee strike in the corner but Xavier blocks a splash with a double boot. Xavier hits the Final Flash but Taiji kicks out at two! Xavier punches Taiji several times but Taiji gets to his feet. Taiji goes for a tombstone but Xavier counters and hits a twisting splash for a two count. Xavier misses an uppercut in the corner. Taiji catches Xavier on a handspring and hits a tombstone turned into a double knee gut buster. Taiji coms off the top to hit a 450 splash for the win. (***1/2. Well, that was a great way to start the show. They quickly got into the highflying part of the contest and I enjoyed the entire match. Xavier was especially entertaining, most notably the insane dive from the ring to the floor. I need more of this kind of X-Division wrestling.) After the match, they show mutual respect for each other.

Backstage, oVe and Sami Callihan cut a promo about their barbed wire match and they say they are going to takeover everything tonight.

I’m not kidding when I say that the next forty minutes of the show is highlight videos promoting feuds in Impact. I’m simply not going to waste my time with covering that. After such a good opener to waste nearly the next hour with zero original programming is mind boggling.

Backstage, Allie is interviewed regarding her title shot next week against Laurel Von Ness for the Impact Knockouts Championship. Allie feels like she is ready and says that she was treated like crap by Laurel. She is going to get her revenge and win the Knockouts Championship.

Second Contest: Kongo Kong vs. Chandler Parks: Jimmy Jacobs is in the corner of Kong while Joseph Parks is out there with Chandler. Chandler tries to punch Kong in the midsection but has zero impact. Kong splashes Chandler against the ropes as Chandler tried to runaway. Chandler avoids a splash in the corner and pummels Kong with right hands. Chandler feels like he has accomplished something but is grabbed by his throat. Kong drops Chandler neck first over his knee. Kong hits a running cannonball in the corner. Kong drives Chandler down with a sit down driver, basically what the Rikishi Driver was in the 2000s. (NR. Kong has such a 1980s feel of a character to me and I am totally fine with that. I’m intrigued to see where they go with the big man.) After the match, Kong comes off the top and splashes Chandler. Joseph is left in shock before getting in the ring to protect Chandler. Jacobs tells Joseph that he is pathetic while Kong is an actual monster.

Third Contest: Impact Global Champion Eli Drake vs. Alberto El Patron vs. Johnny Impact: This match took place in Detroit for Border City Wrestling. I wonder if this is going to be clipped. As per usual, all three men brawl in the ring with each man getting a brief advantage against both opponents. Drake and Alberto send Impact shoulder first into the ring post. El Patron plants Drake with a DDT for a two count. Patron misses a super kick and Drake gets a two count following a power slam. Drake and Patron go to the floor where Drake sends Patron into the ring post face first. Drake is working over Impact as well. Drake whacks Impact over the back with a steel chair. The match has for sure been clipped as Patron and Drake get back into the ring. Patron double stomps Drake in the corner for a two count. Impact was covered with chairs on the floor. Impact returns to the ring and hits Patron and Drake with the chair. Impact clotheslines both men followed by a heel kick on Patron. Drake goes over the top to the floor. Impact hits a side Russian leg sweep and a shining wizard on Patron. Impact nearly pins Patron following a leg drop. Impact rams Drake into the corner back first followed by right hands.

Drake drives Impact down to the mat with a slam but Patron pulls the referee out to the floor to save the match. Drake hammers away on Patron but Patron delivers a kick to Drake’s midsection. Drake drops Patron throat first over the top rope. Patron hits a backstabber on Drake but Impact pulls the referee out to the floor. Impact kicks Patron followed by a neck breaker for a two count as Drake pulled the referee out to the floor. Drake argues with the referee and is shoved by the referee. The referee is pissed at all three guys. All three wrestlers super kick the referee. A second referee comes out as Drake is sent into the ring post. Patron nearly pins Impact following a low blow. Drake slams Patron and connects with a clothesline on Impact for a two count. Drake argues with the second referee and drives him down to the mat. The entire locker room comes out to breakup the fight since the referees are wiped out. (**. So, there actually wasn’t much clipping to the match as I had previously thought. It’s a fine brawl of a match and they avoided having a significant match by doing the referee bumps and the pull-apart brawl.)

Fourth Contest: Rosemary vs. KC Spinelli: Rosemary doesn’t have much of an issue against Spinelli this week. Rosemary goes to spit some mist but Spinelli spins around. Rosemary finishes KC off with the Red Wedding. After the match, Rosemary focuses on Impact Knockouts Champion Laurel Von Ness. Rosemary isn’t angry and says she respects Von Ness for blocking the mist with her own hands. Rosemary talks about Von Ness defending the title at Genesis next week. Rosemary issues a challenge to whomever walks out as champion next week. Rosemary is attacked by a female from behind. The announcers don’t know who she is. It’s apparently Hania. She continues to beat on Rosemary on the floor. Rosemary blocks being sent into the ring post and brawls with Hania on the floor. Hania hits a spine buster on the aisle way. Hania continues by sending Rosemary into the ring steps. Hania isn’t done and plants Rosemary with a reverse DDT on the ring steps! Officials and security finally come out to escort Hania to the backstage area. Those officials and security should be fired for taking so long.

The next ten minutes of the show is a hype video promoting the barbed wire match. The match isn’t event happening on Pop TV but rather on Twitch. So, at this point, the TV show is actually over. It is time to check out the match on Twitch.

Main Event: Latin American Exchange (Homicide, Ortiz, & Santana) vs. oVe (Dave Crist & Jake Crist) & Sami Callihan in a no rope barbed wire match: LAX goes on the attack hammering away on oVe. They are just stopping and going with punches which is kind of weird. oVe avoid being sent into the barbed wire and they roll to the floor. Ortiz takes oVe out with a somersault dive over the barbed wire to the floor. Santana hits them with a trash can lid. Sami and Homicide are in the ring while the other four brawl on the floor. Sami and Homicide both have forks and they are digging into each other. They both avoid the barbed wire until Sami sends Homicide chest first into the barbed wire! Santana hits Sami with a trash can lid several times. Sami is sent into the barbed wire and Ortiz hits him as well. Santana goes chest first into the barbed wire. Dave drives Ortiz down with a back suplex. Dave is sent into a barbed wire board and Ortiz misses a running attack hitting the barbed wire board. Homicide and Jake trade strikes in the ring with Homicide getting the momentum. Homicide kicks out of a rollup and Jake goes chest first into the barbed wire. Homicide uses a fork on Jake. Santana has gotten a table while Sami is pressing Homicide forehead into the barbed wire. A table is slid into the ring. Dave hits Ortiz with a barbed wire board on the mat. Jake and Sami hit Homicide with a steel chair a few times followed by a double suplex on the floor.

A barbed wire board is laid over two chairs on the floor. Sami nails Santana with a trash can lid. Homicide dumps alcohol on Dave in the middle of the ring. Sami plants Homicide with a DDT on a trash can lid for a near fall. Ortiz puts Jake through the barbed wire board on the floor with a suplex. Homicide hits a cutter on Sami landing on the barbed wire board. Homicide goes for the Cop Killa on Sami, but Sami breaks free and low blows Homicide. Sami drops Homicide gut first on the barbed wire, essentially collapsing one side of the barbed wire. LAX takes Sami down with a double suplex but the referee was out of position. We go to another commercial.

Jake is sent into the barbed wire and Jake flips over the barbed wire and falls to the floor. LAX cuts the barbed wire and they wrap Jake up in the barbed wire in the corner! Jake is being taken out of the match it looks like. Ortiz hits Sami with a trash can lid. Santana puts Jake through the barbed wire board in the corner with a Death Valley Driver! Jake kicks out at two! Santana attempts a piledriver but Jake is able to spear Santana out of the ring and they crash through a table on the floor. Dave hits Santana in the midsection while Sami grabs Santana to deliver a tombstone on a barbed wire chair. Sami goes for the cover but Santana kicks out at two. Sami sets up two tables in the ring. Half of the barbed wire ropes are gone. A ladder is sent into the ring as Sami plants Santana with a piledriver. Santana is laid on top of the tables and Dave heads to the top of the ladder. Konnan gets in the ring and low blows Sami. Konnan decks Sami with barbed wire. Santana gets on the ladder and trades right hands with Dave. Santana has wooden skewers and digs them into Dave’s head. They are stuck to Dave’s forehead. Santana hits a superplex off the top of the ladder and through the tables. Santana covers Dave and wins the match. (***1/4. This delivered a good brawl, hardcore match. I don’t know what I was expecting from them to warrant the “too violent of TV” deal they had been hyping for the week leading into it. There did the usual spots involving barbed wire. I actually didn’t notice much blood, if any, in the match. I think part of me was hoping for a bloodbath. I mean, that’s what barbed wire usually leads to. Regardless of that, it was a good main event and likely a feud ender.)

Final Thoughts:
Two good matches, but there the usage of so much hype video really dampers the viewing experience. I’d say just watch the opening X-Division match and the barbed wire match and call it a day. Aside from those two matches, there isn’t much depth to the show this week. If they had attempted to present a complete show and not overload with promotion videos, this could have been a great episode. I mean, the forty minute video package isn’t needed, really.

Thanks for reading.