'%20x='0'%20y='0'%20height='100%25'%20width='100%25'%20%0A%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20xlink%3Ahref='data:image/jpg;base64,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'%3E%3C/image%3E%3C/svg%3E)
Another week, another Impact that doesn't disappoint. The latest installment gave us an incredible Tag Team Championship match, some follow-ups on the stories of Brian Cage, Michael Elgin, Johnny Impact & Rich Swann, and an incredible Knockouts match featuring Kiera Hogan and Jordynne Grace.
It really was two hours of great programming that left little to be desired. Still, there were a few things that bugged me as Impact went off the air. Overall, though, these minor issues weren't able to outweigh a stellar episode of Impact. And if all I can do is nitpick a show to find something I didn't like, it clearly did something right.
Best #1: A returning Knockout wreaks Havok
In the first thirty minutes of tonight's episode, we saw Taya Valkyrie and Rosemary reignite an old feud. Valkyrie, now the one at the top of the division, looked to crush the hopes of the Demon Assassin, who finally decided to put her eyes on the prize that was taken from her last year.
Trending
Valkyrie has stated before that since she only has to defend her Knockouts Championship once every thirty days, she wouldn't be racking up title defenses like her husband Johnny Impact did with the World Title earlier this year.
She recently fulfilled that obligation when she defeated Madison Rayne in a title bout last month. That didn't keep her out of the ring, though, and it didn't take long for her match with Rosemary to heat up. The old rivals connected with their patented offense fast and early. Near the end, it looked like Rosemary was going to knock off the champion with a gogoplata.
However, before she could lock it in, she was interrupted by none other than former Knockouts Champion Jessicka Havok. The Death Machine made quick work of both Rosemary and Valkyrie, leaving them laying as James Mitchell finally freed Su Yung from her chains.
Mitchell is amassing a new stable now, bringing me back to the old days of Impact/TNA where he was terrorizing the then-upstart company with The New Church.
With Su Yung and Havok by his side, who can stop Mitchell?
Worst #1: Ace Austin slows down for the Deaners
Ace Austin is an incredible talent. Seriously, his acrobatic style, his evasiveness, and his unique offense make him a perfect star for the X-Division and someone that could be putting on killer matches with Rich Swann right now.
Sadly, since Johnny Impact has been placed in that slot, Austin has been relegated to one-off matches with random talent. This week, he took on one half of the Deaners, Cousin Jake.
Jake isn't a bad performer by any means. In fact, he's got a ton of potential, and Impact seems like a great home for him. However, when Ace Austin debuted all those months ago, I was kind of expecting to see him rise to the top of the X-Division quite soon. He even managed to defeat X-Division legend and former champion Petey Williams.
Yet, here we are. Instead of chasing the gold, Austin is stuck in the opener of the show, facing off against Cousin Jake. A few times in the match it looked like they were completely out of sync. It seemed like Jake was unable to keep up with Austin's pace, especially early on in the bout when the One True Ace was flying around the ring and avoiding Jake's powerful strikes with some unique acrobatics.
They didn't seem to have a lot of chemistry, and it was kind of obvious tonight. The match also ended with a wonky finish when the Desi Hit Squad jumped Cody Deaner from behind, allowing Austin to connect with the Fold on Jake for the win. Overall, not a great opener for Impact.
Best #2: Jordynne Grace continues to dominate
If I've said it once, I'll say it again. It's hard to find a better women's roster than Impact's Knockouts division. Taya Valkyrie, Rosemary, Su Yung, and Madison Rayne are just a few of the top Knockouts who are running the show at this point. However, Impact has several great talents that can step up and enter the championship scene whenever they need it.
And if we're going to talk about who could be a future Knockouts Champion, it's hard to put any name above Jordynne Grace. While she wasn't able to break the title away from the grasp of Valkyrie earlier on this year, she definitely has what it takes to carry the division on her back.
Tonight, she got a chance to remind the Knockouts that she's here to dominate. In a match against Kiera Hogan, someone who could also easily hold the title in the not so distant future, Grace nearly controlled it from beginning to end.
With Hogan transitioning to the role of the cowardly heel, she and Grace told a great story tonight, which even showed us the new aggressive side of Hogan.
Grace's power was just too much to overcome, though, and she ended the match with an absolutely stunning Grace Driver. With Havok returning to Impact Wrestling, it's going to take a serious amount of muscle for someone else to tear their way into the top of the division. My money is on Thick Mama Pump.
Worst #2: The 30 Day Rule doesn't make sense
Recently, Taya Valkyrie has taken advantage of a classic rule that most wrestling companies have regarding their champions. Namely, titles only have to be defended once a month. If the champion can't keep up that end of the bargain, they must forfeit the championship.
Valkyrie plans on following this rule perfectly, only defending the belt once a month and no more. It's actually a great thing to focus on, and something we're happy to see when certain other companies fail to adhere to the rules that they themselves set in place.
Still, though I'm praising Impact for following through on this with Valkyrie, they're not exactly doing the same for the Impact World Championship. Brian Cage has been absent from TV since winning the belt back on April 28th at Rebellion. A back injury suffered at the event prevented him from competing for a while, missing two days of TV tapings.
It would've been a serious downer for Impact to pull the championship off of Cage right after he won it, and considering he plans on defending at Slammiversary, it didn't seem to be a major injury.
That being said...it's really a glaring inconsistency that's hard to ignore. TV wise, Cage has been absent for well over a month, meaning that, by their own rules, he should vacate the championship.
Though it hasn't been explained, in essence it's more of a nitpick than anything. Still, it would be nice to hear some reasoning behind this from Scott D'Amore or Don Callis. All it would take is someone saying that he's going to defend the title at Slammiversary, and they'd rather give him that chance than simply take the belt away from him.
Again, it's a small issue on what was yet another great episode of Impact, but what's the point of using certain rules if you end up writing yourself into a corner?
Best #3: The Tag Team Titles main event again
There are several teams around the globe that wrestling fans like to claim are the best in the world. The Young Bucks, the Revival, the Usos, the Guerrillas of Destiny just to name a few. However, if I were forced to pick one team to stand above the rest, it would be LAX.
As Santana listed earlier tonight, he and Ortiz have knocked off the who's who of great tag teams. From oVe to the Lucha Bros, the duo hasn't missed a beat, and their whole run with Impact has been nothing short of superb in-ring action.
So when it was revealed that they'd be putting their titles on the line against another fast paced high flying team in The Rascalz, it was hard not to let this match get overhyped.
These are the best teams in Impact Wrestling right now. That's saying something, considering the ever-growing list of talent that the company continues to bring in. The Rascalz and LAX are the most exciting wrestlers in the company, and putting them in a feud seemed like a no-brainer.
Tonight, we got a glimpse of what's to come. In a match that lasted close to twenty minutes, we saw Des and Wentz take Santana and Ortiz to their limits. LAX was off-put several times in the match by the pure speed of their challengers, trying to find them only to turn into a handspring knee strike or a springboard cutter.
We never got to see a real ending, though. Trey had been busy sipping on Ortiz's moonshine, and after a little back and forth, the drink ended up in the eyes of the referee. As Wentz spiked Santana with the cutter, Trey went up top for a meteora. Though he wasn't officially a part of the match, a second referee came in and declared the Rascalz the new champions.
Eventually, the decision was reversed, awarding LAX the win by disqualification. Still, it looked like things weren't over between the two teams, and we could be building towards something epic at, say...Slammiversary?
Time will tell, but with the Lucha Bros finally out of the tag team division, it looks like the Rascalz have stepped up as the next rivals of Santana and Ortiz. And that's something to get excited about.
