Andrew’s Impact Wrestling Ratings & Analysis: 11/12/2019

Can Sami Callihan become any more despicable? Have The North bitten off more than they can chew? Find out, on IMPACT!

Well the tag line set up most of the bigger storylines going on tonight.

Our main event has the most build and it’s even received praise from other Impact wrestlers as a way to hype the match. So let’s get to that match!

But before, remember boys and girls, RVD hasn’t changed…you changed.

When you're the Whole F'N Show like @TherealRVD, you have a lot of important responsibilities.

That is abundantly clear in his latest update from vacation… #IMPACTonAXSTV @TheKatieForbes pic.twitter.com/IMxEXIko4g

— IMPACT (@IMPACTWRESTLING) November 13, 2019

Ratings:

• X Division #1 Contender: Brent Banks vs Trey vs Rohit Raju vs Willie Mack vs Aiden Prince vs Petey Williams: Trey wins via Jacknife Pinfall – ** 1/2
• Madison Rayne (w/ Kiera Hogan) vs Alexia Nicole: Madison wins via CrossRayne – **
• Daga vs Jake Crist: Daga wins via Double Underhook Codebreaker – *** 
• Sami Callihan & Madman Fulton vs Rich Swann & Tessa Blanchard: Callihan wins via Title to the Head – *** 1/4
• Crystal Moon vs Havok: Havok via Tombstone Piledriver – N/A (Squash)
• Impact Tag Team Championship: Eddie Edwards & Naomichi Marufuji vs The North (Ethan Page & Josh Alexander) (c): The North retain via Argentine Spinebuster Combo – **** 1/4 

Analysis:

X Division #1 Contender: Brent Banks vs Trey vs Rohit Raju vs Willie Mack vs Aiden Prince vs Petey Williams – Much like we’ve expected, multiman X Division matches are spotfests but normally kinda fun. This however, was a little too much crap and no real story. Banks and Prince had a bad exchange that turned into both of them doing a timed stereo dive that was just corny. So the match didn’t quite have the fire that X Division matches usually do, spam finishers towards the end, and someone wins with an opportunistic pinfall. The match was fine, but nothing close to special.

-Rich Homie Swann (as Chris Platt puts it) has a decent interview about the potential of getting a title shot. Solid promo, nice to see a bit of Swann’s personality.

-After the commercial break, Big Mike also has an interview in the 5 Way Elimination Match. Praising Rich Swann’s heart but will be the next challenger from Callihan’s Title. Solid promo from Elgin hyping himself up.

Madison Rayne (w/ Kiera Hogan) vs Alexia Nicole – Alexia didn’t get in much offense during this match. As soon as she started to put stuff together, Madison powdered for the heel tactics of just walking away. Alexia went to go get her, threw her back in, but Madison took advantage and the match was over. Not much of a match, but it wasn’t offensive either.

-Johnny Swinger gonna die.

Johnny Swinger just took a dump in @ShamrockKen's bag.

Pretty sure he's going to die now. #IMPACTonAXSTV pic.twitter.com/ayRGcvJE5J

— IMPACT (@IMPACTWRESTLING) November 13, 2019

Daga vs Jake Crist – Aside from an awkward exchange on the floor before the commercial break, this was a pretty solid, hard striking affair. Both men caught each other mid leap frog into Death Valley Drivers. Jake’s kick combinations nearly earned him the victory, but Daga being tough as hell, he cut him off in the corner, hits the Super Frankensteiner followed up by a Double Underhook Codebreaker. Pretty solid match.

.@OfficialEGO and @Walking_Weapon will be doing their talking in the ring in our main event. #IMPACTonAXSTV pic.twitter.com/56NQJX5EGd

— IMPACT (@IMPACTWRESTLING) November 13, 2019

Sami Callihan & Madman Fulton vs Rich Swann & Tessa Blanchard – Tessa runs in and the match starts off hot. We get Swann and Tessa working together to wipe out Fulton, and then some back and forth with Swann, Tessa and Sami. Fulton’s size and Sami’s lack of a conscience caught up to Swann and Tessa though. Tessa tried to dive out onto Fulton to take him out, but he caught her and eventually got the best of her on the outside. Swann had a glimmer of hope until Sami clocks him in the head with the title belt and he was down for like a 9 count.

-oVe continue to be jerks and Brian Cage comes out for the save. So Sami’s got a few people chomping at the bit for his title. 

-Moose thinks he’s Mr. Perfect, but damn if it isn’t amusing. 

Roger Federer, Steffi Graf, Pete Sampras, Serena Williams, Björn Borg – @TheMooseNation.

Moose now joins the ranks of the world's best tennis players having instantly mastered the sport. #IMPACTonAXSTV pic.twitter.com/JTXuc5MWLb

— IMPACT (@IMPACTWRESTLING) November 13, 2019

Crystal Moon vs Havok – I mean…come on now. This was a squash match that lasted longer than it should’ve. Poor Moon girl didn’t have a chance. Callis summed up her chances beautifully on commentary with, “She will die soon”.

Impact Tag Team Championship: Eddie Edwards & Naomichi Marufuji vs The North (Ethan Page & Josh Alexander) (c) – This was an impressive match, and not just for TV, just a damn good match. Things built slowly as Marufuji and Edwards showed off a little familiarity and even interesting cues from Marufuji that you don’t see often. Anyone who was unaware, Eddie was trained in the NOAH Dojo, so he knows Marufuji well since Marufuji did help out the Dojo wrestlers. There was a great exchange where Eddie hooks Alexander in a Tiger Driver, Marufuji 5 Hole Kicks Alexander before the Tiger Driver goes off, but Eddie lands on his knees, so Marufuji launches himself off Eddie’s back and lands a KO-OH on Page, while Eddie hits a classic Tiger Driver for only a 2 count. The NOAH team showed a bit more fluidity than I think The North expected, and Eddie showed he was hard to kill after kicking out of the Tandem Inverted Mat Slam. Page looked out of ideas when they were setting up the Argentine Spinebuster. Just a really entertaining watch.

Overall Score: 8/10

A lot of great story movement capped off with an awesome match. Brian Cage inserted himself into the Elimination Match, Suzie’s resurrection got..different, Tessa is still the most over in the company and Johnny Swinger will die. Much like I say with most episodes, there’s a good range of main event and undercard stories that keep moving, and that’s great to see basically the entire cast.

One of the best IMPACT! main events of the year even got the fairly docile crowd to make noise. Hopefully this does well in maintaining interest for the coming weeks. I’m pretty sure the elimination match is next week, then we get their Throwback episode, so next few weeks should be good fun.

Really enjoyable show tonight, from all fronts.