What Worked, What Didn't - Impact Wrestling's "Bound For Glory"
Full disclosure .. at some point in the PPV, Josh Matthew's pissed me off with one of his comments and I turned commentary off and listened to Justin Timberlake tunes in place of play-by-play.
What Didn't Work - The stream.
For the first fifteen minutes I buffered for what seemed an eternity; transplanting me back to 1996 and a 56k modem. It's funny how frustrated I get these days when my internet is less reliable then most the human beings in my life are. I need the internet ...
What Worked - Surprises galore.
Both Kylie Rae and Joey Ryan made appearances in the opening salvo. I'm not going to lie - seeing Kylie come out took me out of the match for a minute or two. I'm still bothered by the silence - something I'll get over, but ... it's still there and i'm not going to lie about it. Seeing Ryan was cool as hell. I love Joey. The fact that he's now signed with Impact is very interesting to me as well.
What Worked - Taya retaining.
Valkyrie has had an amazing run as the Women's champion, and it doesn't look like it's ending anytime soon. Going into the match, I really thought Dashwood was coming out with the strap - a precursor to Valkyrie's leaving (not that I think she's leaving or know that she's leaving, just speculation).
Dashwood isn't ready for the belt - she's got some things to prove first: Like, will she be here in six months. She's been in a different company every year for the past four years. Dependability is lacking.
Keeping the belt on Taya was key.
What Worked - Elgin/Marufuji
Never seen a Naomichi Marufuji match before. LOVED this match. This is as close to an NJPW match in the states that isn't promoted by NJPW themselves that you'll get. Elgin is just a fucking bad ass too.
What Didn't Work - The ending of the X-Division match.
Now, i'll preface this by saying that Ace Austin is deserving. Absolutely deserving. But tonight should have been Blanchard's night. You cannot keep dangling these historic victories and cutting her just short before fans start not giving a shit. When Austin won, the crowd was killed. That's a fact, Jack.
What Didn't Work - Shamrock Mistakes
Looked gassed quick, and almost left in a wheelchair several times from botched moves. That's all I'll say. Let's just hope this was a one and done.
Main Event ended with Cage retaining. I'm not bothered by the decision, nor would I have been upset had he dropped it. His title reign really hasn't been much of anything yet. With the injury and what not.
This was the first Impact PPV that has really kind of underwhelmed me, in a long while. The ending of the XDivison title match really took my energy out of the show - the last two matches were kind of duds, anyways.