GFW Impact Wrestling 8.24 Review: Gauntlet for the Gold

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GFW Impact Wrestling 8.24 Review: Gauntlet for the Gold

Post by cero2k » Aug 24th, '17, 20:16

GFW Impact Wrestling
August 24, 2017
Orlando, FL

Show recap mainly focused on the whole situation between the MMA guys and GFW oficials. Jarrett and Storm backstage almost got in a fight with Lashley's camp. Lashley was the one trying to keep them apart. Earl Hebner at one point got in Lashley's trainer's face defending his kid that got choked out at the end of last week.

Today, Lambert and co are back, Jarrett offered a hand shake but Lambert acted like a dick. Also earlier today, Cornette addressed the whole roster, pretty much saying that they need to up their shit, nobody gets a free paycheck, nobody gets their life all over TMZ, and hypes thema ll up. Patron is completely gone from the intro.

The Heatseekers vs Ohio Versus Everything - Squash
OVE came out with a better look of their masks, horrible looking masks. This was a far better planned squash than last week, at least neither of the heatseekers looked better than OVE this time.

Jim Cornette/Drake/Adonis segment - Before Drake and Adonis come in, Cornette is fining someone and says that if it makes TMZ, they're fired. Drake and Adonis want a number change, Cornette agrees to give him #2 so Drake will shut up. Awesome reaction by Drake. There is also a mystery participant tonight.

Gail Kim/Sienna Promo - Good stuff, recapped the Sienna and Kim match, and Taryn's hot return.

Taryn Terrell In-ring promo - She came out in pretty much lingerine. She's technically back to the whole Dollhouse gimmick and talking shit about Kim and Robert. The promo was good, especially in content, she says that if Gail is here to retire, she is here to help her do it.

Gail Kim obviously comes out and wants to fight, but JB tries to stop her giving Taryn enough time to run away to an ALMOST wardrobe malfunction. Dammit!

They showed footage of the northeast tour, which not only did it show Mundo and Taya before they debut, but it also kinda made them see like an indie since they're running smaller places and outside venues.

Pre-GOTG Promos - Low Ki was awesome, ECIII was awesome. Moose was bad, Edwards was ok, Adonis was good, KM was intense and pretty good. Sutter was meh, Drake was great, Lashley was ok. They recorded them all walking, so they looked kinda cool and busy.

Lashley & Co Talk with Cornette - Seems like we're back to taping Impact like a sitcom, the camera angles look like a sitcom. Lashley addresses Cornette not giving him the title when Prichard was already announcing it last week. Lambert keeps bringing up that Impact don't value Lashley.

Taya Valkyrie Vignette - Good, she feels like the biggest female name in the US.

Grado's Farewell - We first got a full recap. Looking back, Grado really deserves to be deported, he completely mishandled this whole thing. Grado and Park come out. Grado says good bye, Joseph apologizes that Park, Park, & Park couldn't do more for him. Grado says he's really gonna miss food and fans. He gets a 'Thank you Grado' chant.

Suddenly no longer "Hot Mess" Laurel Van Ness, back to her normal self! Hotter than ever! She can talk again and says that this last few weeks have been the best of her life. Van Ness says tons of nice things and asks Grado to marry her! Grado obviously says yes! Kiss him and they all dance together. This was actually a really nice pay off to this whole thing.

Wait, we're not done. Kong Kong comes out, but before he makes his way down the ramp, Mahabali Shera cuts him off and makes KK back off and allow Grado and Van Ness have their moment.

Eddie Edwards/Cornette Talk - They talk about the Ladder War between the Wolves and Steenerico. Apparently Eddie has a crappy number, but Cornette motivates him to not give up.

LAX Club Vignette - Homicide is gone (for now). Konnan gives Low Ki a pep-talk. Ok stuff.

Gauntlet For The Gold for the GFW World Heavyweight Championship
Eddie Edwards vs Eli Drake vs Mario Bokara vs Eddie Kingston vs Braxton Sutter vs Dick Justice vs ECIII vs Kongo Kong vs Suicide vs Mahabali Shera vs Chris Adonis vs El Hijo del Fantasma vs Johnny Impact vs Garza Jr vs Fallah Bahh vs KM vs Taiji Ishimori vs Lashley vs Moose vs Low Ki - 7/10

This is starting with a full hour left in the show, so it seems they're giving it enough time. New Championship belt also looks nice with exception of the GFW logo. Rules are normal Rumble rules except first entrant comes after 2 minutes, then it's all 90 second spaces. Last two must fight to pinfall or submission.

Match started with Eddie chopping Drake all over. Entrant number 3 was Mario Bokara, who is really lacklusting when Bahh is not around. Kingston is number 4 making his return since The DCC broke up, hits a backfist to the future on Bokara and goes for Eddie. Number 5 is Braxton Sutter, wrestling as a babyface. At this point I must point out that Bokara has a hell of an Everest German Suplex.

Number 6 is Dick Justice! The stand by wrestler, so i'm guessing someone didn't make it? No one wants to fight with Justice, everyone is just like, get out of here, i'm punishing someone! So instead he just started doing squats. I liked this.

Number 7 is ECIII. He fakes making a partnership with Justice, but instead low blows him, and throws him out. Eddie Kingston in the back is applauding this with a huge smile on his face. Number 8 is Kongo Kong, with his broken heart, but he got the Kane treatment, coming in, killing everyone. He eliminates Bokara and Kingston. Everyone gangs up on him while Suicide (number 9) makes his entry. After running wild, Kong kills Suicide.

Number 10 is Mahabali Shera, he goes straight for Kongo, they face off and start the crappiest fight ever ending with a crap elimination of Kong. Good riddance, but Jesus, crap elimination. Number 11 is Adonis who saves Drake from being eliminated and together, they eliminate Shera. Number 12 is El Hijo del Fantasma, good to see he's still here.

Number 13 is I'm guessing Cornette's surprise. Johnny Impact, a day after he told Dario Cueto that if his match with Rey Mysterio didn't go well, he jump to another promotion. Johnny comes in, kicks ass, does Johnny things and eliminates Adonis and Suicide. This suddenly opens up some interesting matches, Impact vs ECIII, Impact vs Edwards, Impact vs Marufuji.

Number 14 is Garza Jr. His uncle Hector Garza once won a 20 man gauntlet in the old World X Cup. Garza and Fantasma go at it. Eliminates Sutter. Number 15 Fallah Bahh!! They kinda do the old Rikishi/Yokozuna spot where everyone works togehter to eliminate him but fail. Number 16 is KM, he is irrelevant to this match.

Number 17 is Taiji Ishimori, that makes NOAH, AAA, Crash, LU, Bellator, and Impact all represented. Number 18 is Lashley, he straight up eliminates Bahh, KM, and Ishimori. By order of elimination, 19 is obviously Moose. At this point, Garza finally takes off his pants, but is eliminated by Moose via powerbomb to the outside. Last number as previously announced is Low Ki. He came in and was literally kicking ass, he was dodging Lashley, facing off with Impact, dropkicking ECIII.

At this point, several of these guys are totally worthy of taking the title going forward. Fantasma was the first eliminated by ECIII, who followed closely by when Eddie and Moose kick him out. Lashley eliminates Low Ki, who had a sleeper on Moose, so Lashley just kinda pushed him out saving Moose at the same time. Who afterwards were left in the center of the ring facing off. Moose and Lashley went at it with Lashey dominating, and here everyone started to hit their finishers.

Moose eliminated Lashley with a dropkick when Lashley was on the top rope. Lambert and Co. are at ringside and don't like it.

Edwards eliminates Moose with a headscissors. Drake and Edwards are still in the match! Drake is almost eliminated leaving Impact and Edwards to fight for a bit. In a bit of a confusion, Drake is on the floow and pulls Impact to eliminate him. Edwards and Drake will now go for a pin or submission. The first two are the final two.

Drake and Eddie went about 5 more minutes overall, mostly trading roll ups and quick moves for quick pins. Finish saw Drake reverse a plancha into a Celtic Cross for the clean win!

AND I CALLED IT! Hop on the E-LI-DRAKE-TRAIN! Your new GFW Champion!

Overall the match was good, most names were main event or upper midcard, and the ones that weren't were to have those eliminations to make guys like Kong look strong. About the final 8, all wrestlers looked like good candidates, so the match didn't feel predictable.

Noticeable absences I'd say were the rest of the champs since ECIII was here. Trevor Lee, VOW, Storm, and Laredo Kid. Sydal and Xavier I take it are not here since they're already No 1 contenders on their own.

Post-match - Once again, one of the roid friends of Lashley attacks a ref, Lambert attacks Scott D'Amore. Even Josh said fuck these guys and let Eli Drake have his moment.

OVERALL THOUGHTS
Really newsworthy show. The gauntlet took most of the show, so the rest only touched on two big stories going on and a quick show for OVE, so overall I'd say it was a well used show. This MMA vs Wrestling thing seems to be getting interesting, hopefully it doesn't become like the MMA vs wrestling shows that NJPW almost died for.
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