Andrew’s Impact Wrestling Ratings & Analysis 4/19/2019

Impact Wrestling’s penultimate show leading toward Rebellion! Andrew goes through the show and lends his analysis!

Scarlett and Fallah debut as a tag team today! Tessa and Gail’s story continues to bubble up and Eddie Edwards & Eli Drake get their shots at the Tag Team titles!

The whole oVe story and Rich Swann continues as Tommy Dreamer apparently is getting sacrificed to Madman Fulton. Are we about to watch a murder?

.@THETOMMYDREAMER has fought bigger, fought more dangerous and he will get violent on @FultonWorld TONIGHT! #IMPACT

WATCH NOW – https://t.co/jyZYT6QL46 pic.twitter.com/ce3ctkWfU1

— IMPACT (@IMPACTWRESTLING) April 20, 2019

Ratings:

• Scarlett Bordeaux & Fallah Bahh vs Desi Hit Squad: Scarlett wins via Tandem Banzai Drop – * 1/2
• Moose vs Dez: Dez wins via Body Scissors Cradle – ** 1/4
• Madman Fulton vs Tommy Dreamer: Fulton wins via Lifting Reverse STO – ** 1/2
• Madison Rayne vs Taya Valkyrie: Rayne wins via Roll-Up – N/A
• IMPACT Tag Team Titles: Eddie Edwards & Eli Drake vs Lucha Bros (c): Lucha Bros retain via Spike Fear Factor – ***

Analysis:

Okay let’s be serious for a minute. This wasn’t a great match, but it was entertaining. The crowd enjoyed singing along to Scarlett’s music, Fallah did most of the work since the Hit Squad didn’t want to interact with Scarlett at first. Amusing spot was after Raj got hit with a Stink Face from Scarlett, Rohit pulled him out and sat in the corner asking for the Scarlett Stink Face. They pulled the bait and switch since she told him to close his eyes. Scarlett jumps on Fallah’s back and Tandem Banzai drop with Scarlett pinning Raj was the finish. It was amusing, not a great match, but told a story and was entertaining.

Step aside Rocky, this is the greatest training montage of all time. #IMPACT @CodyDeaner @JakeSomething_ pic.twitter.com/ShPGqXV6ga

— IMPACT (@IMPACTWRESTLING) April 20, 2019

A couple backstage segments with Lucha Bros and Eli & Eddie hyping the tag match. Eddie is still imbalanced singing “We are the three best friends” song, of course referencing Kenny the kendo stick as the third.

The final leg of Moose’s revenge against the Rascalz. Moose took the match lightly, and controlled the majority of the match. Lawn Darting Dez into the corner was cool. Hell Dez tried to do a Dragonrana on the outside, Moose caught him smooth as butter and then smashed his head into the steps, before throwing him into the other Rascalz. After rolling him back in, the other Rascalz get involved for the first time and allow Dez to roll through with a Body Scissors into a Cradle.

After the match we see Rosemary and Kiera Hogan arguing. Kiera says as long as there’s two of them, two of them will fight Su Yung. So Rosemary proceeds to beat the crap out of Kiera and choke her with the chain leash that held the Bunny before she was killed in the Undead Realm. Yes, I know what I just wrote.

GWN Flashback Match: Tag Team Title 5150 Street Fight: LAX vs OGz, Slammiversary 7/22/2018

After the flashback we get a decent length segment of Tessa going to one of Robert Irvine’s restaurants where she runs down Gail, says she’s most famous for screwing a famous chef. Then she proceeds to terrorize different people all while looking for Robert Irvine. She doesn’t find him, has some interesting lines, and she sells things well. Not everyone acts well in the segment, but it wasn’t completely awful. A few amusing moments.

Not really sure why Madman and Dreamer are in a non-Hardcore match. It’s an alright match. Dreamer gets most of his offense in when Fulton takes too long to go to his next move. After hitting the DDT, Dreamer goes out to get a kendo stick…in a normal match, misses and Fulton hits a Reverse Lifting STO (think Corbin’s End of Days). Not sure what Fulton is calling it, but that was the end. Then a brawl between oVe and the rest of Dreamer’s little rag tag team of Willie Mack and Rich Swann.

Taya ran down Canada, said she wasn’t gonna do the match, but Madison jumped her before she could leave. Then after surviving the initial flurry, Taya tries to powder out, but Jordynne Grace throws her back in. Taya is mad and distracted, School Girl Roll-Up. So nothing to rate, but I guess this is comeuppance for one half of the douchey championship couple.

.@LanceStorm will be the special referee for @TheRealMorrison vs. @MrGMSI_BCage Rebellion main event! #IMPACT pic.twitter.com/LUss9Sl3J9

— IMPACT (@IMPACTWRESTLING) April 20, 2019

Interesting match even though it felt to be less than 10 minutes long. Lucha Bros start fast and spotty, but eventually Eddie and Eli slow it down. LAX tries to cost Lucha Bros the match, but they fail. Eddie tries to throw Kenny to Eli, but Eli misses. Eddie gets wiped out and they pin Eli with the Spike Fear Factor. Afterwards Eli turns on Eddie and beats him with Kenny.

Overall Score: 6/10

Above average. Not a bad show, but it definitely felt like an episode to try and put more focus on the smaller stories. Lance Storm getting involved in the main event story does add a little more star power. Given that D’Amore insulted Cage before the confrontation, it makes me wonder where management’s feelings lie.

So again, the show wasn’t exactly a blow away, but there were plenty of entertaining moments. Ideally next week should finish the hype for Rebellion, and I’m really hoping Rebellion returns to the good wrestling form that Redemption and Slammiversary had last year.