Impact Wrestling 4.12 Review: Johnny & Taya vs Cage & Grace

All Impact Wrestling (FKA TNA/GFW 2017) Reviews and Discussions
Post Reply
User avatar
cero2k
Site Admin
Posts: 20950
Joined: Dec 16th, '10, 11:32

Impact Wrestling 4.12 Review: Johnny & Taya vs Cage & Grace

Post by cero2k » Apr 13th, '19, 23:16

Impact Wrestling
April 12, 2019
Windsor, Ontario, Canada

Full Recap: https://www.f4wonline.com/tna-results/i ... ace-281556

Moose vs Zachary Wentz (w/ The Rascalz) - 6.5/10
Great opener that made Moose look like a beast, and even in singles defeat, makes the Rascalz look like never give up babyfaces. Finish Moose caught Wentz, hit the No Jackhammer Needed, and pinned him for the 1-2-3.

Rob Van Dam’s official return was announced for the April 29 Impact tapings. He cut a promo about coming back.

Madison Rayne Interivew - Melissa Santos interviewed Madison Rayne about losing to Jordynne Grace and being back in Impact. Rayne said that she unfortunately lost, but she is back to win the Knockouts Championship and take on the competition. Tessa Blanchard interrupted her, talking trash about Rayne coming back to relive her glories and piggy backing on her. Blanchard said Rayne is just like Gail Kim.

Su Yung vs. Rosemary - 5/10
A lot of overbooking with the Bridesmaids and Kiera Hogan all getting involved at one point or another. The match itself was somewhat short, as Su Yung went for the glove really early on. That aside, the action was good, I feel like Rosemary has slowed down a lot after her injury, but Su Yung is still good in there.

Post-match - The Bridesmaids tossed Rosemary back in the ring, where Yung locked in the Mandible Claw. Yung hit the Panic Switch on both Rosemary and Hogan to lay them out.

Ace Austin Promo - He talked about losing the six-way match from last week. He said that he was about to win, and blamed Aiden Prince for his loss. He challenged Prince to a match.

The GWN Flashback Moment of the Week was Rob Van Dam vs. Joey Ryan for the X-Division Championship from TNA Turning Point 2012.

Backstage, Killer Kross met with Willie Mack - Kross asked Mack if he liked jazz music. Kross got in Mack’s head by saying that Rich Swann was playing him for a fool. This is an interesting direction, with Kross trying to intervene in Swann’s affairs.

The Deaners Vignette - They're saying they’re headed to Impact and they’re getting focused. Good promo and promising gimmick.

The North (Josh Alexander & Ethan Page) vs El Reverso & Sheldon Jean - Squash
Commentary brought up Page and Alexander’s history together, but not as Monster Mafia. This match was a showcase for Alexander and the tag team work of The North. Reverso and Jean were actually really good, but the dominance that The North showed was on another level, Josh Alexander actually looks incredible. The North picked up the win over Reverso with a double-team maneuver. Great debut for Alexander especially.

Backstage, Melissa Santos told Gail Kim about Blanchard's comments. Kim said she would go out to the ring for Blanchard vs. Rayne.

The North Promo - They cut a promo about them taking over the tag team division. Good promo by both men.

Madison Rayne vs Tessa Blanchard - 7.5/10
Story of the match was that since Gail was out there, Tessa kept paying more attention to her either buy just talking trash, or straight up taking Rayne to the table to torture her in front of Gail Kim, problem in this plan was that due to all the distractions, Rayne kept getting time to recover or just take over the match. Finish saw Blanchard went for a steel chair and attacked the referee, provoking Kim to take the chair away. It gave Rayne time to recover, and she blindsided Blanchard with a schoolboy to get the upset win. Action was great here, Tessa is amazing and Rayne looke really good.

On commentary, Kim kept putting Blanchard over with comments like Blanchard being able to achieve top level greatness at such a young age and Blanchard reminding Kim of herself. However, Kim said it was unfortunate that Blanchard had a terrible attitude.

Backstage, Eli Drake and Eddie Edwards asked the Lucha Bros for a Tag Team title shot since they beat LAX last week. Suddenly, LAX attacked the Lucha Bros while Drake dragged Edwards away.

We got another vignette for The Deaners. They’re going hard on these guys.

Taya and Johnny Interview - Melissa Santos interviewed Johnny Impact & Taya Valkyrie. They talked about tonight’s match against Brian Cage & Jordynne Grace. Johnny put over Cage as a wrestler, but then buried him for being one-of-a-kind dumb. Valkyrie provoked Santos by implying that Cage and Grace had an affair.

oVe Promo - They were in some back alley. Sami Callihan cut a promo about giving Swann everything and now Swann will have nothing for betraying oVe. At Rebellion, Callihan will take the X-Division Championship.

Tessa Blanchard Promo - She cut a promo backstage on Kim. She said that she was only thinking of beating Kim at Rebellion, but now that Kim decided to interfere in her matches, it will be personal.

Fallah Bahh was backstage looking for Scarlett Bordeaux, who eventually showed up. Bahh thanked Bordeaux for the save last week. Bordeaux told Bahh that she’ll team with him next week against the Desi Hit Squad.

Johnny Impact & Taya Valkyrie vs Brian Cage & Jordynne Grace - 7/10
This had WWE-style mixed tag match rules with the wrestlers having to pair up by gender, and I actually liked how they used that rule to play around Johnny dodging Cage as much as possible, as the story of the match was that Johnny tried to keep Taya in the ring as much as possible to avoid Cage, but he also had to make sure that Grace didn't have the upper hand, stopping her from tagging Cage and forcing him to get in the ring, and to make things more complicated, he had to help Taya keep that corner control WITHOUT actually attacking Grace and getting DQd.

Finish was interesting, Cage went for the Drill Claw. Suddenly, referee Johnny Bravo buckled Cage’s leg, giving Johnny the opening to hit a shining wizard and win via quick count. The referee got a lot of heat.

Post-match - Cage got back up and went after Bravo, but Valkyrie low blowed him and the couple beat up Cage. Johnny Bravo hugged with Johnny and Valkyrie.

Don Callis and Josh Mathews said on commentary that they’ll review all of the recent Johnny Bravo matches since they now suspect Bravo is the only reason Johnny has been able to retain the championship all this time.

OVERALL THOUGHTS
Good show. With two more weeks to go until the Rebellion pay-per-view, this episode was all about escalating feuds. The wrestling was good all around.
Image

User avatar
cero2k
Site Admin
Posts: 20950
Joined: Dec 16th, '10, 11:32

Re: Impact Wrestling 4.12 Review: Johnny & Taya vs Cage & Grace

Post by cero2k » Apr 13th, '19, 23:17

cero2k wrote: Apr 13th, '19, 23:16

Don Callis and Josh Mathews said on commentary that they’ll review all of the recent Johnny Bravo matches since they now suspect Bravo is the only reason Johnny has been able to retain the championship all this time.
someone did the homework for me

Image

User avatar
Big Red Machine
Posts: 27378
Joined: Dec 16th, '10, 15:12

Re: Impact Wrestling 4.12 Review: Johnny & Taya vs Cage & Grace

Post by Big Red Machine » Apr 13th, '19, 23:55

This is certainly competent long-term storytelling, but it's still more f*ck finishes. If I never see another crooked referee angle again, I will still die having seen way too many. So what do they do now? Rematches of all of those matches but with a different referee? That's the right thing to do, but will just make things feel repetitive.

I think at his point it's fair to say that what Callis and D'Amore are going for with TNA is a sort of... Attitude Era-ish product, but not quite. Calling it "Attitude Era-Lite" wouldn't be fair because I think they are purposely avoiding some of the Attitude Era's excesses (they're not going totally overboard on the hardcore stuff and they're obviously treating the women a lot better), but it's definitely an attempt and being Attitude Era-adjacent, if you get what I mean. It's not a bad idea, but I think MLW is doing a better job of filling that space as an actual wrestling product. The one important advantage that TNA has over them, though, is star-power.



Also... Cody Deaner is coming back? Really, TNA?
Hold #712: ARM BAR!

Upcoming Reviews:
FIP in 2005
ROH Validation
PWG All-Star Weekend V: Night 2
DGUSA Open the Ultimate Gate 2013
ROH/CMLL Global Wars Espectacular: Day 3

User avatar
cero2k
Site Admin
Posts: 20950
Joined: Dec 16th, '10, 11:32

Re: Impact Wrestling 4.12 Review: Johnny & Taya vs Cage & Grace

Post by cero2k » Apr 14th, '19, 10:38

Big Red Machine wrote: Apr 13th, '19, 23:55 This is certainly competent long-term storytelling, but it's still more f*ck finishes. If I never see another crooked referee angle again, I will still die having seen way too many. So what do they do now? Rematches of all of those matches but with a different referee? That's the right thing to do, but will just make things feel repetitive.

I think at his point it's fair to say that what Callis and D'Amore are going for with TNA is a sort of... Attitude Era-ish product, but not quite. Calling it "Attitude Era-Lite" wouldn't be fair because I think they are purposely avoiding some of the Attitude Era's excesses (they're not going totally overboard on the hardcore stuff and they're obviously treating the women a lot better), but it's definitely an attempt and being Attitude Era-adjacent, if you get what I mean. It's not a bad idea, but I think MLW is doing a better job of filling that space as an actual wrestling product. The one important advantage that TNA has over them, though, is star-power.



Also... Cody Deaner is coming back? Really, TNA?
Just fine the ref, remove him from the match at Rebellion, or any other Johnny and Taya matches going forward. Cage can give Kross and Moose the title shots if they so think they deserve ones. Later on, make a angle where Johnny berates Bravo and Bravo turns on Johnny and tells him he won't do Johnny's dirty work anymore.

Have you seen The Deaners?
Image

User avatar
Big Red Machine
Posts: 27378
Joined: Dec 16th, '10, 15:12

Re: Impact Wrestling 4.12 Review: Johnny & Taya vs Cage & Grace

Post by Big Red Machine » Apr 14th, '19, 11:50

cero2k wrote: Apr 14th, '19, 10:38
Big Red Machine wrote: Apr 13th, '19, 23:55 This is certainly competent long-term storytelling, but it's still more f*ck finishes. If I never see another crooked referee angle again, I will still die having seen way too many. So what do they do now? Rematches of all of those matches but with a different referee? That's the right thing to do, but will just make things feel repetitive.

I think at his point it's fair to say that what Callis and D'Amore are going for with TNA is a sort of... Attitude Era-ish product, but not quite. Calling it "Attitude Era-Lite" wouldn't be fair because I think they are purposely avoiding some of the Attitude Era's excesses (they're not going totally overboard on the hardcore stuff and they're obviously treating the women a lot better), but it's definitely an attempt and being Attitude Era-adjacent, if you get what I mean. It's not a bad idea, but I think MLW is doing a better job of filling that space as an actual wrestling product. The one important advantage that TNA has over them, though, is star-power.



Also... Cody Deaner is coming back? Really, TNA?
Just fine the ref, remove him from the match at Rebellion, or any other Johnny and Taya matches going forward. Cage can give Kross and Moose the title shots if they so think they deserve ones. Later on, make a angle where Johnny berates Bravo and Bravo turns on Johnny and tells him he won't do Johnny's dirty work anymore.

Have you seen The Deaners?
As far as I'm concerned, any ref who has been shown to be complicit in wrong-doing like this needs to be fired.
It should be the company giving out these rematches, not the wrestlers. The company's goal should be to ensure that competition is on the level, and part of that is ensuring that all matches with disputable results are resolved in the ring with clean finishes.


As for the Deaners... no. But it's Cody Deaner. There are lots of better names to bring in on the Canadian indies. It smacks of D'Amore/Callis bringing in their old buddies from their indy booking days rather than a guy like Brent Banks.
Hold #712: ARM BAR!

Upcoming Reviews:
FIP in 2005
ROH Validation
PWG All-Star Weekend V: Night 2
DGUSA Open the Ultimate Gate 2013
ROH/CMLL Global Wars Espectacular: Day 3

User avatar
cero2k
Site Admin
Posts: 20950
Joined: Dec 16th, '10, 11:32

Re: Impact Wrestling 4.12 Review: Johnny & Taya vs Cage & Grace

Post by cero2k » Apr 14th, '19, 12:54

Big Red Machine wrote: Apr 14th, '19, 11:50

As far as I'm concerned, any ref who has been shown to be complicit in wrong-doing like this needs to be fired.
It should be the company giving out these rematches, not the wrestlers. The company's goal should be to ensure that competition is on the level, and part of that is ensuring that all matches with disputable results are resolved in the ring with clean finishes.


As for the Deaners... no. But it's Cody Deaner. There are lots of better names to bring in on the Canadian indies. It smacks of D'Amore/Callis bringing in their old buddies from their indy booking days rather than a guy like Brent Banks.
Good thing you're not booking Impact then.

if you haven't seen them, then don't diss them already. I could easily point out a ton of shit wrestlers from 5 years ago that now you're raving about.
Image

User avatar
Big Red Machine
Posts: 27378
Joined: Dec 16th, '10, 15:12

Re: Impact Wrestling 4.12 Review: Johnny & Taya vs Cage & Grace

Post by Big Red Machine » Apr 14th, '19, 14:51

cero2k wrote: Apr 14th, '19, 12:54
Big Red Machine wrote: Apr 14th, '19, 11:50

As far as I'm concerned, any ref who has been shown to be complicit in wrong-doing like this needs to be fired.
It should be the company giving out these rematches, not the wrestlers. The company's goal should be to ensure that competition is on the level, and part of that is ensuring that all matches with disputable results are resolved in the ring with clean finishes.


As for the Deaners... no. But it's Cody Deaner. There are lots of better names to bring in on the Canadian indies. It smacks of D'Amore/Callis bringing in their old buddies from their indy booking days rather than a guy like Brent Banks.
Good thing you're not booking Impact then.

if you haven't seen them, then don't diss them already. I could easily point out a ton of shit wrestlers from 5 years ago that now you're raving about.
True, but my bet is that most of those guys were young, aren't people who had history with the promotion in the past that is now being played off of. And Deaner wasn't even a bad worker or anything. He was just a nuisance of a character.
Hold #712: ARM BAR!

Upcoming Reviews:
FIP in 2005
ROH Validation
PWG All-Star Weekend V: Night 2
DGUSA Open the Ultimate Gate 2013
ROH/CMLL Global Wars Espectacular: Day 3

Post Reply

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 17 guests