Hola Knockout fans and welcome to this week’s Impact Write-Up. Of course, before anything, I need to apologize for completely missing out on not getting a Write-Up to last week’s show. It was just one of those weekends where I just kept putting Impact on the back burner and too much time had passed before things felt ‘so late’. But enough about my poor excuses, the biggest thing that we were able to confirm last week was the Knockouts Title match set to this year’s Bound for Glory!
Sadly neither the Champion Tessa Blanchard or challenger Taya Valkyrie make an appearance outside a hype video on this week’s show. Instead, we are treated to a match pitting Kiera Hogan against Su Yung which came together after Kiera was able to pin Yung on last week’s show during a tag team match.
But first, let’s check in with Eddie Edwards backstage as he receives a phone call from his wife Alisha Edwards…or so we think! Eddie’s current rival Moose is the one making a phone call to Eddie using Alisha Edwards’ phone. Moose assures Eddie that his wife is just fine but orders Eddie to meet him in an old shutdown bar. Am I the only one who is just not sold on Eddie’s acting during this first segment?
Next we have Ms. Scarlett Bordeaux coming out to join the commentary team. Last week, after taking credit in successfully someone like Fallah Bahh get a shot at the Impact World Championship, Ms. Bordeaux announced that she was on a talent search to find someone to manage.
She is greatly welcomed to commentary table by Don Callis and throws a small diss to Josh Matthews as they oversee a match where Eli Drake defeats La Parka as part of an open challenge.
Our next Knockouts sighting comes from Katarina Leigh who last week, introduced everyone to her new monster of a friend/associate Murder Clown. This week, Leigh is out for some payback against Joe Hendry after he humiliated her from a few weeks ago. Despite another fun music video and landing in a fallaway slam on the monster guest, Hendry is no match for Murder Clown, who picks up the win following a top rope splash.
Even after the match, Murder Clown and Leigh continue their rampage ! Leigh low blows Grado, sending him to the outside ring as Murder Clown sets up a table. They place Hendry onto said table and Murder Clown delivers a second top rope splash , this time smashing Hendry through the table I actually feel bad for Hendry – he was just sticking up for his friend!
We check back in with the dramatic encounter between the Edwards and Moose. As requested, Eddie meets Moose at an abandoned bar. Alisha yells to her husband to obey Moose’s demands, which include dropping the kendo stick he brought and having a seat across from him.
Moose accuses Eddie of being a selfish guy – who never appreciated every time Moose was there for him and Alisha. Eddie admits to being a bad friend and tries to reason to let Alisha go. Eddie steps out of line when he addresses Moose by his first name and orders to sit back down. Eddie gives Alisha the word to splash water in Moose’s face and the Edwards make an escape, even with the interference of Killer Kross.
Despite being out to overlook just one match, talents are lining up to meet with Bordeaux to display why she should pick them as the talent to manage. We see guest appearances from Jack Evans and Puma King.
During this week’s Smoke Show, Petey Williams tries to prove his worth teaching her his finisher, The Canadian Destroyer. Trevor Lee disproves of what he is seeing. Bordeaux asks that they take their fight to the ring instead of on The Smoke Show.
And finally, our featured Knockouts match of the week:
Shortly after completing her entrance, Yung charges after Kiera at a corner with strikes to the back. Kiera breaks away from Yung’s offense and backs her to a corner with forearm shots. Kiera follows up with a combination of speed attacks that include a running forearms, hip attack and sliding kick from the corner for a two count.
Yung reverses an Irish Whip and manages to take control of the match after knocking Kiera off a turnbuckle. Yung proceeds to grab handfuls of Kiera’s hair and tosses her across the ring. She whips Kiera to a corner for a spider crawl attack but Kiera blocks it and mounts a comeback with running forearms, a snapmare a kick to the head. When Yung retreats to the outside, Kiera runs the ropes and takes Yung down with a suicide dive.
The Knockouts make it back to the ring where Yung sets up for the Panic Switch but Kiera reverses this to a powerbomb for a two count. When Kiera decides to climb the top of a turnbuckle, Yung’s Undead Bridesmaid interferes but Allie is quick to neutralize things. Yung knocks Allie off the ring apron, sets up for another Panic Switch, which connects this time to pick up the win.
Post-match, Yung orders for the rest of her Bridesmaids to bring out a coffin with bad intention in mind. Allie tries to fight off Yung off but the Mandible Claw allows for Yung to wear Allie down. Just as Yung is able to nearly place Allie inside the casket, Kiera runs up to the entrance ramp to save Allie. In doing, Kiera became the latest victim to Yung’s reign of terror as Yung manages to stuff Kiera in a coffin.
Having failed to keep her promise of never seeing another friend be placed inside a coffin at the hands of Yung, Allie has a breakdown backstage and declares she knows what she has to do.
And as mentioned at the start of this Write-Up, we have our hype video highlighting our upcoming Knockouts Title match at Bound for Glory.
Thoughts: So we have a couple of things to discuss. I’ll start off with Scarlett Bordeaux’s current run and recent announcement.
Bordeaux still being placed in a non-wrestling role and searching for a new talent to manage doesn’t exactly excite me. Of course I think wrestling has a place for managers but some of her segments have been over the top and have hardly involved other women. Seeing that she only came to see one match with Eli Drake, I’m going to assume he will be the to ‘win’ her service.
It was cool to Katarina get some payback against Kendry and Grado but I’m going to bet this partnership with Murder Clown was a one-off thing. He isn’t a regular talent on Impact and is based in Mexico. With Impact’s final episode from Mexico coming next week and the Bound for Glory, I think everyone in this storyline will move on to something else unless Katarina is paired with a signed talent for Impact. I’ll still campaign for a chance to bring back the Winter persona!
I won’t lie, I’m not exactly that excited for Tessa Blanchard vs. Taya Valkyrie at Bound for Glory. I appreciate both women but this match seems so randomly thrown together for the sake of just having a KO title match on the BFG card. And it pains me to say that knowing that Taya was set to compete in a big match at last year’s Bound for Glory across Rosemary but ultimately had to sit out. This match is going in with a two week build where neither women will have interaction with one another until the day of the PPV.
My concern is that Blanchard’s reign as Knockouts Champion will hit a plateau post Bound for Glory – of it hasn’t already. There aren’t a lot of strong contenders that have been built to take on someone like Blanchard, who I think has been an awesome signing for the Knockouts division/Impact. She’s run through most of the women in the division already and has only been fed outside talent, including next week where its already been announced she’ll take on local Mexican talent Keyra.
Overall, the Allie/Su Yung feud needs to come to an end. It started off okay when Allie came in touch with her inner darkness but after that, I felt this storyline has dragged out too long with repetitive singles/tag team matches involving Allie/Kiera/Yung/Bridesmaid.
Allie’s breakdown was makes me believe a second Knockouts match will be added to the BFG card. What does Allie have to now? Does she need to compete in another casket or stipulated match? What happens to Kiera now? She put on a fun match this week and I would hate to see this be a way of writing off Kiera after she’s building momentum.
What did you think of this week’s Impact? Who would you like to see Scarlett paired with? Do you think a match-up between Allie and Su Yung will be confirmed next week? Let us know in the comments below!
