Impact Wrestling 5.31 Review: Under Pressure

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cero2k
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Impact Wrestling 5.31 Review: Under Pressure

Post by cero2k » Jun 4th, '18, 23:08

Impact Wrestling: Under Pressure
May 31, 2018
Orlando, FL

Opening Segment - Sonjay Dutt is addressing the X-Men's attacks on the talent to the roster, kinda just telling them that everything is going to be ok. Caleb stirs shit up and Petey Williams calms everything down saying that if this is someone in the locker room, they're all gonna stop them. If the the X-Men doesn't turn out to be the Swolverine himself, i'll be highly disappointed.

Under Pressure Cold Opening Video - Ok, it was just a quick recap of all the matches tonight, no special music video like they usually do.

Eli Drake vs Scott Steiner - 6.5/10
The dream is over! Big Bad Gravy Daddy IMPLODES! Drake is not as tall as Steiner, but muscle-wise, he does look somewhat bigger than Steiner. There was a lot of sizing each other up, a lot of Steiner suplexes, but for the most part, Drake selling his ass for Steiner and making him look good.

Steiner was all babyface, dodging Drake's intents of using a chair, doing a lot of counters. There was what it looked like a botch with Drake reversing a Steiner Recliner and kind dropping him on the ropes, but Steiner didn't hit the ropes and just landed on his feet. Josh sold it as Drake dropping Steiner on his ankles, which kinda works with an older guy like Steiner. Finish saw Drake hit Steiner with the chair the same way that Steiner hit Drake in the Z&E match, and immediately pin him. This may arguably be the best Steiner match I've watched in about 10+ years.

Blanchard vs Rayne Build Up Video - Tessa is a hell of a promo, lots of character.

Tessa Blanchard vs Madison Rayne - 6/10
Rayne' s current song sucks, not sure why she didn't keep the Queen B's theme. This was a brutal beatdown from Tessa on Rayne, she was vicious, and even though they're about the same size, this was power vs speed match. It's hard to call this a squash since it lasted a good amount of time and well, Rayne did take the win with a super upset roll up, but Tessa's dominance was way too much, that even in defeat, Tessa comes out super strong.

LAX Promo - King brought Santana and Ortiz some drugs and women, but he also got them a match with the Cult of Lee for next week. Eddie Kingston is amazing in this roll, not Konnan amazing, but an easy second. Kingston, Konnan, Low Ki, Homicide, if Impact could manage to get them all to work together, LAX could easily rank top 3 stables in the business.

Dezmond Xavier vs "The Machine" Brian Cage - 7/10
This was like a shorter slower version of a PWG match these two had, mostly Cage throwing Xavier around, but Xavier getting some offense in via speed. The match was pretty generous with Xavier, it was kinda back and forward, but at the end, Cage just killed Xavier with the Drill Claw. Good match for the time it got.

Cage seems to have earned himself an X-Division match with Sydal with this victory.

Austin Aries Interview - He says that tonight, he reclaims his championship and that he is still the man that matters in Impact. He's still trying to put over the Grand Championship, which would had been cool if he had at least defended the title once since he lost the world title. Good stuff by Aries as always.

Knockout's Championship First Rites Match
Allie (C) vs Su Yung - 5.5/10
Allie made the closest intent to become Rosemary during her entrance, which was kinda cute kinda cool, she was acting all weird, but Allie nonetheless. Su Yung was all surprised, so she doesn't watch the show, but then again, she's undead, why would she watch the show?

Allie came in really hot, but Su Yung immediately started kicking her ass. Allie would have hope spots, but every time she would, we saw Yung dodge her some way. They brawled for a while around the ring, Yung brought a chair and was going for the ugly socks when Allie hit a codebreaker into the chair and got a near fall, but Yung blocked the casket door and kinda came back with a palm strike. Yung was going for the Mist when Allie superkicked her, this was another near fall, but Yung would still block the door. Yung grabbed Allie with the Mandible Claw and choked her out to win the title as she caged her in the casket. The Allie title reign is over, begin the reign of the undead!

Nothing against Allie, but she is better chasing the title and the real money at the end is with Rosemary and Yung anyway.

X-Men Attack Again! This time, they attacked Sonjay Dutt (who was talking about catching them), and it was Petey Williams who found him and asked for help.

Eddie and Alisha talk - Eddie says he's gonna fight Callihan in the woods. He straight up told her he is gonna 'murder' Callihan. Should we call the police? I should had reviewed this live, Callihan may be dead already.

Impact World Championship Match
Austin Aries vs Pentagon Jr (C) - 7/10
Aries started the match strong, attacking Pentagon all around the ring. Pentagon made a comeback and they started going back and forward for a while, both men chasing their finishers. Pentagon got a near falls after some Slingblades and a Penta Driver, but Aries got his foot on the ropes. They went outside and Aries locked in the Last Chancery, but he didn't let go and both men ended up getting counted out (well, Aries let go, he just didn't do it soon enough to make it back).

Aries grabs a microphone and calls bullshit and calls to restart the match. They fight around the apron, they exchange some big spots, and they both fall to the floor, for yet another countout. This time, Pentagon grabs the mic and calls to restart the match, but right in between this and the bell ringing again, the ref turns his back, Aries lands a low blow, brainbuster, and the 1-2-3 to recapture the championship.

This was a good match until the finish which I don't think it's necessarily bad, but sudden death stuff like that sometimes kills the momentum we already got going and it kinda did it for me. This should build to a 2-out-3 falls match in my opinion.

OVERALL THOUGHTS
An ok show by Impact, it's hard having a Steiner match and two KO's matches in the same show and exceed expectations. We had two title changes tonight, the latter which i'm not sure what to think, Pentagon's reign was bad, he was barely there, he never really talked that much, and never defended it against anyone anyway, so it never really felt like he became part of the roster. New tapings start next week, so we'll see if he indeed comes back for a rematch.
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