Andrew’s Impact Wrestling Ratings & Analysis (4/5/2019)

Andrew goes straight from NXT Takeover to Impact Wrestling! How does the show follow up the mediocre Against All Odds?

We’ve got Gail Kim and Tessa Blanchard building for the next few weeks, Rosemary will be dealing with the death of Allie and Cage should be out for Johnny Impact’s blood.

There’s a lot of storylines to build this week, so let’s hope things start to build.

Time to start the show!

Ratings:

• X Division Scramble: Aiden Prince vs Idris Abraham vs Ace Austin vs Trey vs Petey Williams vs Jake Crist: Williams wins via Avalanche Canadian Destroyer – *** 1/2
• Mad Man Fulton & Sami Callihan vs Rich Swann & Willie Mack: Callihan wins via Piledriver – ** 1/2
• #1 Contender’s Match: Jordynne Grace vs Madison Rayne: Grace wins via Grace Driver – *** 1/4
• Rohit Raju vs Fallah Bahh: Rohit wins via Dirty Pin – **
• Eli Drake & Eddie Edwards vs LAX: Eddie wins via Boston Knee Party – ***

Analysis:

A 6 way crazy X Division match kicks things off quickly. Everyone had a decent bit of offense, and Petey ends up getting the win by pinning Jake Crist. So I’m guessing since Impact is in Canada leading to Rebellion for TV tapings, they went for home country pop. Does feel a little left field, but it’s a good match and Petey is still fantastic.

LAX have a bit of a ranting segment about the Lucha Bros after the match.

"You didn't lose me in the Undead Realm, I've been somewhere MUCH worse…" – @MadisonRayne

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

— IMPACT (@IMPACTWRESTLING) April 6, 2019

This tag match continues the saga of Rich Swann against oVe. Willie Mack and Rich get in some good offense, but eventually the numbers and monstrous Mad Man Fulton put oVe over the top. It’s always nice to see Sami get victories with a Piledriver. Dreamer came in to stop the continued beat down, so this might be the angle they use for the RVD return since we all know he’s back with IMPACT. Between the Rascalz and Dreamer’s involvement, RVD has a few angles into the show.

Rolando Melendez – Menendez? It’s his time to be annoying, Johnny Last Name is being condescending and douchey, and that covers his lack of charisma nicely. Killer Kross enters into frame and shuts down Johnny’s verbal massage of the situation, and is just generally creepy, sadistic and scary as hell…all while enunciating beautiful. He’s such a great Sociopath.

Rascalz have a great ridiculous moment with Moose backstage. It’s just funny, find the clip.

GWN Flashback: Su Yung vs Rosemary May 3, 2018 IMPACT!

Grief-stricken and guilt-ridden – @WeAreRosemary is reeling from the loss of her bunny. #IMPACT

WATCH NOW – https://t.co/jyZYT6QL46 pic.twitter.com/H58jioUBp8

— IMPACT (@IMPACTWRESTLING) April 6, 2019

Well now, as we see in the earlier inserted video, Jordynne took  umbrage with Madison trying to jump the line. So Taya planted the seed of a number 1 contender match, and this wasn’t bad. Madison was never high on my list, but her time in the WWE PC and maybe even ROH (even though she threw shade in the interview) seems to have helped. Nothing looked too bad, and was obviously working from underneath since Jordynne is a powerhouse. So again, surprisingly solid match. Good job Madison!

Josh Alexander and Ethan Page have a segment in the back where they declare their teaming again and gonna destroy all of the things. Somewhere Greg DeMarco is giddy like a school girl.

Fallah and Rohit actually wasn’t bad. Decent pace from both men, even given Fallah’s size, but the rest of the Desi Hit Squad being around the ring paid off for Rohit. Scarlett Bordeaux comes out after the injustice to distract the Hit Squad, then Fallah lays them out, flings them in the corner. Scarlett stopped Fallah and hit them with a hip attack and Stink Face (is it really a bad thing from Scarlett?). Scarlett then hops on Fallah’s back and the celebrate. Is this a thing now? I’m not against it, just want to know.

…Cody Deaner is back…apparently with a cousin named Jake? Okay…you have my curiosity.

Gail Kim highlight reel/hype package. She is one of the best of the previous generation of women’s wrestlers, so I’m hype for the match. Followed by Tessa saying similar things to last week, just running down the “bra and panties match” era. Good angle, just nothing new was said on Tessa’s part.

Well Eli takes a swing at Konnan before the bell, causing Konnan to retaliate. So the referee throws out Konnan. What ensues is a pretty decent match. A lot of the typical LAX stuff we’ve grown to expect, Eli and Eddie pulling out a few tricks and then the Lucha Bros come out to distract LAX after they were embarrassed at Against All Odds. Eli sneaks in with Kenny the Kendo stick, hits Ortiz, Eddie hits a Boston Knee Party and the upset happens!

Lucha Bros put Santana through a table to make a point after the match.

Overall Score: 7/10

Solid show. Coming off an odd Against All Odds, this had some good action, moved storylines along well and was just generally an easy watch. Given that NXT Takeover bled into the start time a little and could’ve bit into live viewership, it’s nice they put up a good show for the hardcore fan that wanted to consume as much wrestling as possible on a Friday.

Like I said last week, I’m not doing the Twitch views until after Rebellion so we have a basis of comparison coming off the second PPV of the year.