IMPACT Wrestling: Bound For Glory 2020 (Oct. 24, 2020) -- Results & Afterthoughts

Bound for Glory was a professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by Impact Wrestling. It took place on October 24, 2020 at the Skyway Studios in Nashville, Tennessee. It was the 16th event under the Bound for Glory chronology.

Eight matches were contested at the event, including one on the pre-show. In the main event, Rich Swann defeated Eric Young to win the Impact World Championship. In other prominent matches, The North (Ethan Page and Josh Alexander) defeated The Motor City Machine Guns (Alex Shelley and Chris Sabin), The Good Brothers (Doc Gallows and Karl Anderson), and Ace Austin and Madman Fulton to win the Impact World Tag Team Championship, and Su Yung defeated Deonna Purrazzo to win the Impact Knockouts Championship.

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The pre-show/countdown to BFG special held the induction ceremony for Ken Shamrock being inducted into the IMPACT Hall of Fame, where The Rock/Dwayne Johnson appeared on IMPACT Wrestling (via satellite) to give a few words into his honor. I'm sure a few people in the IWC and over in WWE's heads exploded to see him on an IMPACT show of all places. 

Never say never in 2020, folks. 

Tag Team Match
The Deaners (Cody Deaner and Cousin Jake) def. The Rascalz (Dez and Wentz)

Six-way Intergender Scramble Match for the Impact X Division Championship

Rohit Raju (c) def. Chris Bey, Jordynne Grace, TJP, Trey, and Willie Mack

This was a fun match to kick this show off to a great start. IMPACT never seems to disappoint with these X-Division openers for their annual Bound For Glory events, and this match was no different. This match served to highlight the athletism of everyone involved in the X-Division with a lot of back and forth action, where I was honestly convinced that anyone could walk away from this match as the champion at one point. Jordynne Grace even held her own against the boys and didn't look like a stranger in paradise doing it either. I loved Rohit's spot where he shouted, "EQUALITY!" before giving her a Ropehung Diving Double Foot Stomp. I was a little scared at first from Jordynne's landing afterwards, but she seemed to be fine.

After jobbing for the better part of a year or two, I have to admit that Rohit Raju is turning me into a fan of his character from his ongoing success as this chicken shit heel that seems to slip out of every close call to capturing his precious X-Division Championship. 

20 wrestler Intergender Call Your Shot Gauntlet Match; where the winner could choose any championship match of their choice.

Rhino won by last eliminating Sami Callihan

Since Rhino won, then Heath also won a full time contract with Impact Wrestling. Had neither Heath nor Rhino won, Rhino would be fired.

This was your typical Royal Rumble-esque over-the-top-rope battle royal with a few surprise entrants, such as Shawn Daivari (who I was surprised that he wasn't going by his previous IMPACT name of Sheik Abdul Bashir), Swoggle (formerly Hornswoggle in WWE), and Tommy Dreamer (who was paying a homage to the late Road Warrior Animal by wearing his merchandise and signature face paint. There were reports going around stating that Heath Slater was originally set to win this match, but Slater ended up getting injured shortly after hitting the ring. Fortunately, Rhino was able to pick up the win instead and save face for this match stipulation. Outside of that, this match easily forgettable, even though it was no less entertaining. 

Singles Match

Moose def. EC3

IMPACT Wrestling was the company that first popularized these "cinematic" matches back with the infamous "Final Deletion" segments with Broken Matt Hardy, so you know they weren't going to allow themselves to be upstaged by WWE and All Elite Wrestling's attempts over the past few months.

I can't say that this is my favorite cinematic match of the year, but this match definitely served it's purpose as I was wondering where they were going with this feud between Moose and EC3. EC3 ultimately became the sacrificial lamb to give Moose the hardened edge that he needed instead of parading around on delusions of grandeur while hanging onto relics of the past. 

Control the narrative. 

If they want to direct Moose towards the IMPACT World Championship in the coming months, then I'm all for it. I'm ready to see what this new and improved Moose can do with this new direction. As for EC3, I don't think this was a burial either. I think he did this to steer Moose towards his true purpose - the IMPACT World Championship. As long as Moose was content with parading around with that relic of the old regime, he would be forever disregarded as a contender and a threat to the proper IMPACT World Championship.

Singles Match

Ken Shamrock (with Sami Callihan) def. Eddie Edwards by submission

The newest member of the IMPACT Wrestling Hall of Fame bested Eddie Edwards in a match that I could have seen them doing on this upcoming episode of IMPACT Wrestling on AXS TV. It wasn't a bad match, just nothing that I could have seen as PPV worthy. The match played to both men's strengths and it didn't look like Shamrock wasn't gassed like he normally looks in singles matches like this nowadays. Plus, the interference from Sami Callihan during the finish gives Edwards the excuse for a rematch too so it's win-win all around. 

Four-way Tag Team Match for the Impact World Tag Team Championship

The North (Ethan Page and Josh Alexander) def. The Motor City Machine Guns (Alex Shelley and Chris Sabin) (c), The Good Brothers (Doc Gallows and Karl Anderson), and Ace Austin and Madman Fulton

This match started off with an injury angle to write Alex Shelley out of the contest, forcing Chris Sabin to go the entire title defense alone. He put up a good fight and definitely proved why he's one of IMPACT's only Triple Crown winners in company history, but in the end, the numbers game got the best of him. I'm still iffy about the pairing of Madman Fulton and Ace Austin, but I thought they did fine with their spots in this match. I really liked how Madman Fulton was chopped down to size while he had Austin on his shoulders. I popped huge for The North picking up the win with everything right again in the world with them as the IMPACT World Tag Team Champions. 

If I could be selfish, I wish The North could have faced The Revival/FTR in this company over going to AEW. That match would have ruled too.

Singles Match for the Impact Knockouts Championship
Su Yung def. Deonna Purrazzo (c) (with Kimber Lee)

Going into this match, IMPACT continued to air the promotional packages and promos from both Deonna and Kylie Rae leading up to the actual match, but when it came time for the match, Kylie Rae was nowhere to be found. Watching this live, I thought it was strange that Deonna came out first being the defending champion, but what was going on was made painfully clear when Kylie Rae was nowhere to be found. I know that a lot of people were upset that this match didn't transpire, despite IMPACT putting a lot of time into promoting the match. Various news outlets are reporting that Kylie Rae suffered some sort of undisclosed injury and wasn't cleared to compete. Su Yung serving as the impromptu replacement was a clever move as they can EASILY write this off as Su Yung reemerging as part of the storyline between Suzie and her best friend, Kylie Rae. 

Whatever they do to explain Kylie Rae's absence, they have an easy and ripe storyline sitting there for the taking with the built-in narrative already established about Suzie and Kylie's friendship over the last few months. 

Suzie has been having "episodes" of Su Yung coming out for months in her matches and it makes absolutely perfect sense that Su Yung would reemerge after the vicious beating that Deonna and Kimber Lee gave Suzie on IMPACT a few weeks ago. Plus, there's no denying that Su Yung fits the occasion with Halloween right around the corner. That's why I wasn't upset that Deonna lost the title here, even though it was announced that she had recently signed a long-term deal with the company despite working without one for the last few months. Hell, she was lucky to be promoted and pushed this high within the division for this long without a contract period. I wouldn't be worried though as they could easily put the title back on her on the next set of TV tapings, depending how they play out the aftermath of this match.

Singles Match for the Impact World Championship

Rich Swann def. Eric Young (c)

After the excellent build to this match over the course of the last few months, we finally have come down to Rich Swann and Eric Young headlining this PPV. Who would have called this as the main event for Bound For Glory 2020 a year or two ago before the pandemic swept up the world? IMPACT has done a masterful job of rehabilitating Eric Young after WWE completely neglected and misused him on the main roster. If I'm perfectly honest, I wasn't too crazy about his NXT run as the leader of Sanity either, but that's besides the point. EY played the part of a sadistic maniac, willing to do anything and everything to put Rich Swann on the shelf for good. Swann put his livelihood and his career on the line and kept coming back for more and more punishment until he was finally to put EY away. That was the narrative of this match and it just worked. My only knock against this match is that it dragged on a little longer than I would have liked, but I get it - it was the final chapter in this monumental feud and they wanted to drive the point home before Swann got his fairy tale ending. 

Not a bad show from start to finish. Both Swann and his real life wife, Su Yung, can both go home happy as IMPACT's resident married couple both holding championship gold.

That was definitely a positive note to end on tonight. 

IMPACT Wrestling - Emergence Night 1 & Night 2 (Aug. 25, 2020) -- Results & Afterthoughts

On Tuesday, August 18 and Tuesday, August 25, IMPACT Wrestling’s Emergence took over AXS TV for a two-week special event. Personal rivalries will be settled and championships will be on the line.

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Emergence Night 1 (Aug. 18, 2020) Results:

X-Division Championship
 Rohit Raju def. Chris Bey (c) and TJP
Winner: Rohit Raju pins Chris Bey after a double foot stomp to become the NEW Champion!

Rohit Raju picking up the win and stealing the title away from Chris Bey was the upset win of the evening. I thought TJP had this thing pegged to win from how he was dominating this match from bell to bell.

One hell of way to get you pumped for this show in terms of action. The X-Division never seems to disappoint in that regard, despite the fact that almost EVERYONE in modern wrestling works this style nowadays. It's a constant struggle for those guys to continue being innovative and still find ways to stand out in this environment.

Instead of the tagline being "You'll Never See It Coming" for Summerslam, it should have been for Night 1 of this show. Like who seriously saw Rohit winning this match?

TNA World Heavyweight Championship

Moose (c) def. Trey

Winner: Moose retains with the Lights Out Spear

Trey TRIED to put up a good fight against Moose, but the tale of this match was that despite the fact that Trey gave it his best shot, it was ultimately not enough to take Mr. Impact Wrestling down.

EC3 showed up post-match and laid out Moose again, only to take the TNA World Championship into his own hands.

The Good Brothers, Karl Anderson & Doc Gallows def. Ace Austin & Madman Fulton

Winners: Karl Anderson & Doc Gallows with the Magic Killer

Decent match, but I can't say that I wanted to see these two teams fight each other again.

WrestleHouse

Kylie Rae def. Taya Valkyrie (w/ Rosemary as Special Guest Referee)

I get what they are trying to do with Kylie Rae. They want to present her as their "bubbly" babyface like Bayley that has an "edge" about her when the going gets tough. I like that, but her matches tend to be a very hit or miss. The right woman went over here as Kylie Rae is still technically the next number #1 contender for the IMPACT Knockouts Championship before everyone was "trapped" in WrestleHouse

I haven't talked about the Wrestle House concept much if not at all, but I actually really like it. A lot of modern wrestling has a lot of "stupid" things on these shows whether it comes from AEW or WWE that simply insults my intelligence for even tolerating it. This is "stupid" too, but it's not presented as serious. It's a sitcom of sorts presented as a sidebar to the rest of the actual wrestling show, so I don't mind it in that regard. Besides, this makes for a lot of hilarious interactions with a lot of IMPACT's current personalities that wouldn't happen normally otherwise, so I'm all for this in that regard.

As much as I like WrestleHouse as a concept/diversion to what is usually going on the main program of sorts, even I have to admit that a lot of these matches are easily forgettable. I can't knock them too much as these matches never seem to overstay their welcome.

World Tag Team Championship
Motor City Machine Guns (c), Chris Sabin & Alex Shelley def. The North, Ethan Page & Josh Alexander to retain

There were a ton of points in this match where I could have seen this going either way, but I was glad to see the Guns retain. The North can bounce back from this loss and climb back up the tag team ladder that got them to the tag titles in the first place. I doubt they are done with the Guns - not by a long shot. My fear going into this match was that the Guns' victory was just a one-off for the Guns to simply drop the titles back to The North in another month or two at the next PPV.

The Guns can bring some more eyeballs and lapsed fans back to the current product who are curious to see them back with the company. Nothing against The North, but it wouldn't hurt them to work a few non-title feuds in the meantime. Those guys have proven time and time again that they are one of the best tag teams in modern day wrestling right now.

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Emergence Night 2 (Aug. 25, 2020) Results:

Impact World Championship

Eddie Edwards (c) def. Rob Van Dam (w/ Katie Forbes)

I wasn't feeling the idea of putting the title onto Edwards following Tessa Blanchard's impromptu departure from the company, but I can't deny the guy is a work horse. These open challenges are already starting to feel stale, despite the fact that RVD can still go like time has stood still for the guy at times. That just can't be helped when AEW already dragged that concept into the ground with the TNT title open challenges with Cody.

.@TheKatieForbes sets them up, @TherealRVD knocks them down. #Emergence #IMPACTonAXSTV pic.twitter.com/AXZ7eBcd0t

— IMPACT (@IMPACTWRESTLING) August 26, 2020

I did get a laugh at Katie Forbes' porn star-esque antics at ringside for distractions, but I am more intrigued with what they are going to do with Eric Young's heel run this time around. It makes perfect sense to have him jump Edwards after the match and shoehorn himself into the World title conversation after putting Rich Swann on the bench - seemingly for good.

WrestleHouse

Loser Has To Dress Like The Winner Next Week

Crazzy Steve def. Johnny Swinger

(w/ Cousin Jake as a special guest referee)

Can't say that I have ever have been a fan of these blindfold matches as they tend to be a clusterfuck instead of good in any capacity - no matter what company it is. I didn't care who won this one in either capacity.

Locker Room Talk
Madison Rayne w/ her co-hosts Wentz and Dez.

The Rascalz co-hosted Locker Room Talk with @MadisonRayne but they didn't exactly get along with the guests @The_Ace_Austin and @FultonWorld. #Emergence #IMPACTonAXSTV @DezmondXavier @zachary_wentz pic.twitter.com/lfo2SjKPch

— IMPACT (@IMPACTWRESTLING) August 26, 2020

I would pop to see Rayne in the Clubhouse and she's TOTALLY a Karen.

EC3 vows to destroy the TNA World Heavyweight Championship

Can you blame the guy for wanting to destroy his past? His entire 2nd run of WWE was defined by hype and anticipation of people expecting him to be the same as he was at the height of his popularity in IMPACT, but it never happened - neither in NXT nor on the main roster.

"Destroying this title is the only way I'll be free."

The destruction of the TNA World Heavyweight Championship is the only way @therealec3 can leave the past behind. #Emergence pic.twitter.com/b8bjNgt3hO

— IMPACT (@IMPACTWRESTLING) August 26, 2020

If EC3 truly wants to reinvent the wheel then he has to burn the book and start over anew.

Brian Myers def. Willie Mack

After seeing him job out for so long on WWE programming, I tend to forget that Myers is actually a decent worker. I totally didn't see him going over Mack here at all. I wonder where they are going with this, especially with Myers taking the Brodie Lee approach to his arrival in terms of referencing the "senile old man" who held him down.

WrestleHouse

Larry D def. John E Bravo

(w/Acey Romero as their guest referee)

This was over QUICK. Larry D dropped Bravo like ton of bricks.

This was ultimately just to get to the icing on the cake where Bravo has the balls to confess his feelings for Rosemary, much to the ire of Taya.

.@JohnEBravo1st FINALLY declared his feelings for @WeAreRosemary but @TheTayaValkyrie is NOT happy. #Emergence #IMPACTonAXSTV pic.twitter.com/ycTdXEkgIM

— IMPACT (@IMPACTWRESTLING) August 26, 2020

Rosemary made an interesting post on social media shortly afterwards though. In either case, I'm anxious to see Taya and Rosemary rekindle their old rivalry next week. Maybe this will bring an end to WrestleHouse as it was a nice diversion, but everyone here should be moving onto other things sooner more than later instead of wearing out the welcome of this unique concept.

30-Minute Ironman Match for the Knockouts Championship

Deonna Purrazzo (c) def. Jordynne Grace with the score of 2-1 to retain

Nice pair of info cards/tale of tape that they made for this match. 

This was easily the best thing on Night 2 of Emergence and rightfully topped off this show. I can't say that this was a full 30 minutes because this match started roughly 9:32PM after the introductions and I'm sure there was some sweetening and clever editing throughout the commercial breaks to make this fit within the remaining time on this broadcast.

Going into this match, I was convinced that Deonna was dropping the title right back to Jordynne since she's working "per appearance" and hasn't signed an actual contract with IMPACT at the moment. With that being said, I was genuinely shocked to see her retain the gold here. I'm guessing this means that she is set to defend the title against Kylie Rae at Bound for Glory in October.

I wouldn't mind another match between these two women as they have been doing some great stuff here in this feud so far. Jordynne's new ring gear looked great as well. Thicc Momma Thicc (or is it Pump in homage to the jokes that she's Scott Steiner's unofficial daughter?) always lookin' good.

AND STILL Knockouts Champion - @DeonnaPurrazzo!

She defeats @JordynneGrace 2-1 in a GRUELING, HISTORIC Ironman WAR! #Emergence #IMPACTonAXSTV pic.twitter.com/rwMN2Z81Ax

— IMPACT (@IMPACTWRESTLING) August 26, 2020

Given the way that Deonna won the match, I'm sure Jordynne could argue that Deonna didn't beat her clean and had to cheat to win, but at the same time, Deonna has the bragging rights to claim that she's bested Jordynne not once but twice now since her debut in IMPACT Wrestling. They could easily go to a third set in this series.

My only knock on this match is that it would have benefited with an uninterrupted format on a PPV instead of on free television, but the Knockouts rarely disappoint and I was definitely pleased with what we got here.

NXT TakeOver: Orlando (April 1, 2017) -- Results & Afterthoughts

NXT TakeOver: Orlando was a professional wrestling event in the NXT TakeOver series. It took place on April 1, 2017, at the Amway Center in Orlando, Florida, as part of the WrestleMania 33 weekend festivities. The event was produced by WWE for its NXT brand, the event was streamed live on the WWE Network.

Five matches were contested at the event. In the main event, Bobby Roode defeated Shinsuke Nakamura to retain the NXT Championship. On the undercard, Asuka retained the NXT Women's Championship against Ember Moon and Authors of Pain retained the NXT Tag Team Championship against #DIY (Johnny Gargano and Tommaso Ciampa) and The Revival (Scott Dawson and Dash Wilder). The event also saw the debut of Aleister Black. Also, all of the championships were given new belt designs.
Note: This article was posted AFTER my WrestleMania 33 write-up, so I'll be mentioning stuff from after the fact.

SAnitY def. Tye Dillinger, No Way Jose Kassius Ohno, Roderick Strong & Ruby Riot

You guys can go back to one of the earliest entries I've wrote about women's wrestling for here or for the archives from Let's Talk Wrestling, but DAYUM Heidi Lovelace/Ruby Riot isn't easy on the eyes. She's even uglier to me in HD. That being said, it was cool to see what she brought to the table against Nikki Cross. I still feel like she needs to change her ring gear as it looks like she belongs in Sanity instead of against them. Her and Cross didn't do much other than deliver their own unique brands of crazy while the guys did most of the work.

No Way Jose was written off in an injury angle during the preshow so Kassius Ohno was made to be his replacement. Thank god he changed up his ring gear to some more flattering colors to hide his fat. That white NBA jersey wasn't doing him any favors. Now you can focus on his offense instead of seeing his gut and cellulite jiggling around during everything that he does. Can someone tell Roderick Strong to SLOW THE FUCK DOWN? This isn't Ring of Honor anymore so he doesn't have to go a million miles per hour in his matches. I'm sure one of the coaches/road agents chewed him out about that post-match. A part of me hopes Dillinger gets called up just for he doesn't have to be burdened with this feud much longer. I rather see NXT go in a different direction with everyone involved here (except for Ruby and Cross) out of the guys as it just seems to be redundant at this point.

This wasn't a bad match at all and definitely got everyone hyped to kick off the show, but I rather see most of the guys on Dillinger's team in singles feuds than in a huge stable war against Sanity, who could be in the tag team division conversation, especially in a division that's going to be lacking bodies once Revival get called up.

Aleister Black def. Andrade “Cien” Almas

I had no idea who this guy was supposed to be from the vignettes until I read up on message boards and social media to find out that this is the debut of Tommy (FUCKING) End in NXT. The guy definitely lived up to his reputation and I appreciated that NXT presented him like a megastar right off the bat. That's something I'm still shaking my head at how they failed to do with Roderick Strong. That guy was a fucking main eventer for Ring of Honor (which you can pretty much call an unofficial feeder system for WWE nowadays) and they just brought him in like a regular guy with little to no fanfare. Some of the Full Sail folks knew who he was but it wasn't made into a big deal like End's debut here. I've seen Almas work matches at NXT house shows, so he was the perfect opponent to put End over in his TakeOver debut.

If memory serves, isn't this the same guy who had that stellar exhibition match against Neville during the UK Championship Tournament?

NXT would be crazy not to push this guy to the moon. Then again... this is the same company that's deadset on doing NOTHING with guys like Sami Zayn, Cesaro, Dolph Ziggler, etc. at a main event level...

NXT Tag Team Champions The Authors of Pain def. #DIY and The Revival

I've been hearing people call this a MOTY candidate all weekend and I don't know about that. I'm usually biased towards the Revival's matches because they are that damn good at tag team wrestling, but at the same time, this wasn't as flawless as Revival's last few TakeOver outings. Don't get me wrong, Revival and DIY made the Authors of Pain look like a million bucks by enduring their arsenal of moves being laid on them, but the second DIY got eliminated this match went to shits. The Authors of Pain went back to being sloppy and green as grass. You could see that in how sloppy they finished off the Revival for the win here. Everything up to that point was superb though from DIY and Revival.

I was personally pulling for Revival as three time NXT Tag Team Champions but whatever, if they want to keep pushing AoP, I hope they learn something from Paul Ellering in the long haul as they got a LOT to learn about tag team wrestling.

I'm sad that we didn't get a special one night only appearance of Jim Cornette managing The Revival since he raves about them so much on his podcast.

NXT Women’s Champion Asuka def. Ember Moon

This was a great back and forth match with Ember Moon matching and one-upping Asuka move for move and counter for counter. They have fought each other previously prior to signing with WWE, so this was a highly anticipated rematch of sorts for fans who have followed both the former Kana (Asuka) and Athena's (Ember Moon) careers up to this point. I was ready to call this the match of the night until the finish.

I get that NXT are toying with the idea of making Asuka a heel but it really doesn't work when everyone is going to cheer for her anyway when she's beating the shit out of everyone thrown her way. Besides, it doesn't make much sense that she has to cheat when her whole gimmick to this point has been she's been an unstoppable striking machine. The whole referee bump spot just seemed like a cop out since they want to milk this feud until the next TakeOver event or even longer. I seriously doubt they are calling up Asuka to the main roster any time soon anyway. From the way it looks currently, I wouldn't be surprised if they call up Ember Moon before they call up Asuka.

That being said, NXT needs to do something drastic to pull this women's division out of being on life support. I was hoping that this Ember/Asuka feud was going to be the shot in the arm that it has needed since all of the Four Horsewomen left, but I was kinda let down here. Sure, Ember was the first opponent in a long time where she could go all out against instead of holding back (looking at all of you - Eva Marie, Aliyah, Liv Morgan, Billie Kay, and Peyton Royce), but it seemed like they were told to not play all of their cards at once. I don't know what it is about NXT and wanting to wear out something good (the Joe/Balor feud, any feud involving Revival, etc.). Start doing some one-off feuds and a rematch tops after a title change. No need to force feuds to go on and on to bore people to no end. Besides, NXT has a TON of talent that hasn't even debuted on TV yet, so you would think they would be trying to cycle in as many people as possible to get them TV ready for the main roster before they raped clean like last year's draft again.

NXT Champion Bobby Roode def. Shinsuke Nakamura

I'm going to be in the minority here and I'm starting to get bored by these bouts between Nakamura and Roode. They are both amazing wrestlers, but this is getting stale to watch. It's starting to bore me as much as the Nakamura/Joe and Balor/Joe feuds where they blew their load on everything that you can expect them to do. This match felt like the Asuka match before it whereas it's starting to become a chore to watch these repetitive rematches since audiences have become used to what to expect from these two. At least Ember Moon/Asuka was something new, but this was the exact same thing that we saw at the previous TakeOver event without the whole injury angle at the end. I'm honestly ready for both Roode and Nakamura to move onto other things. Wouldn't be surprised if Nakamura gets called up to SmackDown! tonight. At the same time, I don't see why they wouldn't call up Roode for either brand. You got an instant main eventer here that can talk and work solid bouts, so why keep him in NXT? He's not getting any younger.

I forget which podcaster said it best, but WWE need to start worrying about how many guys they have on their roster that are mostly "entrance props" and that's it. The more it carries on, I fear that Roode's music will be more over than he actually is in the eyes of WWE fans. Wrestling fans that have seen him elsewhere in TNA and GFW know better, but I'm skeptical that he's just over because his music is freakin' awesome.

I have to ask at the end of this NXT TakeOver review, but where do we go from here? Solid show as usual that we've come to expect from these events, but what's next for this brand in terms of storylines? It just seems like a lot of feuds have stagnated.

WWE NXT Takeover: San Antonio (January 28, 2017) -- Results & Afterthoughts

NXT TakeOver: San Antonio was a professional wrestling show in the NXT TakeOver series that took place on January 28, 2017, at the Freeman Coliseum in San Antonio, Texas. The event was produced by WWE for its NXT promotion, and was streamed live on the WWE Network.

Five matches were contested at the event. In the main event, Bobby Roode defeated Shinsuke Nakamura to win the NXT Championship.

Sanity's Eric Young def. Tye Dillinger

Tye REALLY needs a better look for these Takeover events. That vest thing looks fucking stupid.

Watching this opener, I was having deja vu back to their match on the weekly NXT tapings a few weeks ago. There really wasn't much to write home here about this. The match left a bad taste in my mouth where they did the two-man interference spot and finisher reversal to the near-fall, which should have been the finish yet they continued with the match anyway.

I don't know what was more moronic here - the fact that it took interference from BOTH members of Sanity at ringside or the fact that Dillinger lost another one of these Takeover matches. Who's dog did Dillinger kill in the front office that they are holding a grudge not to give this guy the ball and run with it? Good lord man, after Toronto I thought that NXT would scrap the rocket on this guy's back and shoot him up to the moon but nope, he continues to be the Dolph Ziggler of NXT, having stellar in-ring bouts but never winning when it matters the most. I dunno where they are going with this next. I hope WWE knows that if they keep doing this that people are going to give up on him JUST LIKE FUCKING ZIGGLER.

As for Sanity, I get that they are heels and EY is supposed to be building these guys up but holy shit they looked pathetic here, collectively as an unit. If you can't beat a guy with a shitty of a win/lose record as Dillinger without help then something is CLEARLY wrong.

The whole wannabe Aces & Eights thing with Sanity still isn't doing anything for me by the way...

Roderick Strong def. Andrade 'Cien' Almas

This was easily the second best match of the night. I remember seeing a lot of people saying on social media this past week that Almas would get a great match out of Strong and they weren't lying at all. Even though I tire of that rope resting spot from Almas (TJ Perkins does it, Dragon Lee in Ring of Honor/CMLL does it, a few guys in Lucha Underground do it, and even one guy in TNA did it a few months ago, so yeah it's pretty stale at this point...), you can't deny that Almas is one hell of a worker even though his gimmick isn't worth writing home about. Roddy started busting out the backbreaker variations that he's known for and that's when I really was getting hyped about this match. A few sloppy spots here and there, but it still came together nicely by the time it was all said and done.

Sad to say but there were a lot of sloppy performances on this show tonight worse than what was seen here.

The Authors of Pain def. DIY (c) to become the NEW NXT Tag Team Champions

Good grief, AoP got exposed as being green as grass here. DIY were wrestling circles around them to the point those guys were CLEARLY winded and DIY had to slow down to accommodate. DIY was carrying them from bell to bell here which managed to be AoP's best match to date here in NXT, but that's not saying much when those guys have been in majorly squash matches up until the Dusty Classic finals back in Toronto.

I figured that DIY were going to lose the gold here, as NXT has a history of the babyface tag champions losing the gold shortly after winning them. LuchaDragons, Vaudevillains, American Alpha, and now DIY.

Seth Rollins calls out Triple H

While most people were shocked at this turn of events, I was sitting here laughing during this segment. So it took Rollins MONTHS after the fact to realize that if he wanted to reach HHH he had to show up at NXT? Of course, HHH ignored Rollins and sent out his henchmen, err security goons to do his handiwork.

(Sighs) At least WWE is starting to care about continuity...

NXT security in a nutshell #NXTTakeOver pic.twitter.com/drkkwMuRUh

— Let's Talk Wrestling (@LetsTalkWrestle) January 29, 2017

Asuka (c) def. Peyton Royce, Billie Kay, and Nikki Cross to retain the NXT Women's Championship

I mentioned this on Twitter for the past week, but I had like no faith nor passion about this match in the least. NXT did absolutely NOTHING to make me care about the build-up to this match. Nikki Cross' gimmick is still in its infancy, so you know she wasn't getting a title shot - thank god she wasn't the one pinned. Billie Kay and Peyton Royce as wannabe Adam West Batman-themed villains crossed with Mean Girls weren't winning either, so who cares? The marks on social media rave so much about Billie and Peyton's gimmick but it's fucking stupid and just the same as almost every other dime a dozen female heel duos. I would love to know what is up with WWE Divas' fixations on being inspired by Batman's female villains for their heel personas. The only person who isn't pulling that shit is Charlotte but she's ripping off her dad and Stephanie McMahon enough as it is, so I guess she doesn't have to.

Speaking of Billie Kay and Peyton Royce, here's the thing that just ruined the ENTIRE narrative to this match for me where I pretty much mentally tuned out for most of this match. Right off the bat, it was established that Billie and Peyton didn't care which one of them won the title, but not for ONE FUCKING SECOND did these two "geniuses" think about pinning each other, especially while Asuka and Nikki Cross were out cold at ringside.

The double suplex through the table on Nikki Cross (who didn't really do much here at all) and the double team moves from Royce/Kay weren't bad either but this was another match wasn't really much to talk about either. They could've done this match on the TV taping for NXT this past week if they were going to do that.

Most people were complaining on Twitter that the in-ring segment with Rollins/HHH took away some of the time for them, but I doubt that when the show is on the Network and they could go as long as they wanted tonight.

Bobby Roode def. Shinsuke Nakamura (c) to become the NEW NXT Champion

The best match of the night, without a shadow of a doubt. While I have openly expressed that Bobby Roode has bored me since his last run in TNA, I have never said that he wasn't a talented worker. That was shown off here why he's one hell of a hand to have on any roster. The guy carries himself like a main eventer, but I still feel like the guy has stagnated since his days in TNA. I fear that if his entrance wasn't so over, the same people who didn't give a flying fuck about his World Heavyweight title runs and main event push in TNA yet are dick-riding him hard right now wouldn't care about him right now in NXT either. He would be in the same collective rut that Aries and Strong are in post-ROH and TNA where their hype levels have fizzled out.

Major props to Nakamura to playing out the injury angle in the finish flawlessly. I have to wonder why did they go with this again when they just did an injury angle during the feud with Samoa Joe a few months prior? Roode barely worked Nakamura's legs until that point and just kept hitting his finisher (which targets the head more than the legs...) and then that Single Leg Boston Crab, but Roode and Nakamura's facial expressions were on point. I cannot stress enough how valuable that aspect is important to ANY wrestler selling a narrative.

Nakamura tonight during that finish ROTFLMAO xD. #NXTTakeOver pic.twitter.com/RrWNvYue1d

— Let's Talk Wrestling (@LetsTalkWrestle) January 29, 2017

Closing Words

I felt that this show was pretty average at best, with the finish to the main event saving it from being entirely mediocre from start to finish. There was flashes of brilliance here, such as how well the injury finish was executed in the main event and the hard-hitting, back and forth contest between Strong and Almas was, but this show struggled with a lot of VERY predictable and questionable booking decisions. If I were to give it a grade, I would give it a C+ until the main event, whereas the finish bumps it up to a strong B-. For once, I'm confident that the main roster will actually outperform NXT on the following night with the Royal Rumble.

Where do they go from here? Well, they have a lot of options, I'll say that much.

Anyone who thinks that Nakamura will be in the Royal Rumble tomorrow night, or rather tonight as you're reading this, are fucking stupid as he just played up this major injury and lost the title. He's not getting a main roster call up after that. They are setting him up for a rematch after benching him for a few weeks or months to lead up to the Takeover rematch during WrestleMania weekend in Orlando.

For Asuka, I say it's now or never to pull that trigger on the next few tapings to have her feud with Ember Moon. They've put that off long enough. They could do a singles feud between her and Nikki Cross for filler between these months between now and April, but after tonight I'm under the impression that Nikki Cross would want revenge on Billie Kay and Peyton Royce more than anything else to get her credibility back.

DIY losing the tag titles here doesn't hurt them in the long run as they function better when they are in the chase for the gold as it gives the fans someone to cheer for as the "underdogs" since they are still in the title hunt. I'm guessing that NXT will set up a triple threat between the Authors of Pain, DIY, and The Revival for WrestleMania weekend since TM61 are derailed with that injury to one of their own. With both DIY and Revival (alternatively, Sanity) in that match, it would help hide the Authors of Pain's lack of experience MUCH better there than they did tonight.

Impact Wrestling Presents Bound For Glory 2015 -- Results & Afterthoughts

Despite the potential hurricane on the horizon and flooding throughout the Carolinas, Impact Wrestling held their annual Bound for Glory event on Sunday, October 4, 2015 from Charlotte, North Carolina. Many fans believe that this could potentially be the last Impact Wrestling Pay-Per-View event. Let's keep our fingers crossed and hope for the best, right?

Ultimate X Match for X-Division Championship – Tigre Uno def. DJ Zema Ion, Manik, and Andrew Everett to retain the title

Great opening match with a ton of exciting spots to get fans invested for the rest of the show. Everyone busted their asses off in this match. I’m glad that they are using Tigre Uno to legitimize the X-Division again. This division doesn’t need to be on the back burner, it should be at the forefront of TNA programming if they want to regain their former glory in the eyes of wrestling fans.

To the snarky wrestling fans on Twitter who had something to whine about that the match started without a bell, I have a question for you - why watch Impact Wrestling or any wrestling PERIOD if the only thing you're going to do is fucking complain about it. Fans like you are the eye sores of professional wrestling and why the state of the sport is in the mess that it is in currently anyway.

A hurricane swept through the Carolinas last weekend in more ways than one...

Of course, there were people who had something to complain about Gregory Helms showing up too after the match. Sure, the guy works backstage at TNA now and I didn't see it as a way to shoehorn himself into the show. He is a Carolina native as well, much like the Hardy Boys, plus it was a nice "endorsement" to the current X-Division champion to have the longest reigning Cruiserweight champion in history promote the reigning X-Division champion for a job well done tonight.

Bound for Gold Match – Tyrus wins the opportunity to challenge for ANY TNA title in the near-future. Tyrus openly expresses that he’s going for the World title to the dismay of EC3. 

For those who don’t know, this was TNA’s version of the Royal Rumble. I was thoroughly entertained with this match as it had everything that I miss from mainstream wrestling – some LIGHT comedy (thank you Pope/D’Angelo Dinero for that hilarious moment, along with everyone doing the Shera Shuffle at one point of the match), a small bit of nostalgia, and most importantly, great wrestling.

The Shera "Super" Shuffle?

TNA did a great series of teases with potential feuds here as I wouldn’t mind an Abyss vs. Tyrus feud or Jesse Godderz vs. Mr. Anderson (especially since he has a knack for putting young, newer guys over) feud.

By the way, that new O'Shea character is just Jay Bradley with a new gimmick as a wannabe Sheamus.

TNA Tag Team Championship Match – The Wolves def. Brian Myers & Trevor Lee to retain the titles

Brian Myers was formerly Curt Hawkins from WWE while Trever Lee is one of the Hardyz’ students. The Wolves and the team of Myers/Lee have been feuding for weeks building up to this event as part of the “invasion” of Global Force Wrestling and serves as the last remnant of that feud, whether you loved or hated it.

The Wolves are definitely one of the best tag teams in wrestling today and definitely the best TNA has to offer nowadays after most of the other teams have split up or departed (Dirty Heels, the Hardyz, Team 3D, etc.) but Myers/Lee definitely pull their weight in this match as well. This is another exciting match to watch with a lot of false finishes to keep you on the edge of your seats from start to finish.

TNA King of the Mountain Championship Match – Bobby Roode def. Bobby Lashley to retain

I’m glad that these two guys had another opportunity to work with each other as I loved their feud over the World title last year. Roode never got the chance to bounce back from that lost to Lashley when he was steamrolling through everyone that the TNA roster threw at him (like a full-time version of WWE’s returning Brock Lesnar last year). These two have natural chemistry with each other, so you really can’t go wrong here. The exchange near the end of the match which saw Lashley and Roode using each other’s finishers was a little reminiscent of WWE Vengeance 2002, but it just seems like there’s a lot of people “copying” their opponents’ finishers just to be doing it. Before that used to be a rare treat and now it seems like everyone in mainstream wrestling is doing it just for cheap pops. Here, I’m guessing that they wanted that extra “umph” to add to the finale here but the dynamic of them settling the score was more than enough for me. Regardless, this was another solid match on the card.

TNA Knockouts Championship Match – Gail Kim def. Awesome Kong to retain

I was a little disappointed with this one. Awesome Kong dominated Gail Kim for the bulk of the match until the action poured out to ringside, where Gail’s husband (Robert Irvine) got involved. That was a sick spot with the Implant Buster onto the steel chairs at ringside. Somehow, Gail manages to turn it around into a victory to retain the title - via a roll-up. I was expecting Gail and Kong to tear the house down after seeing the NXT Divas emulate the Knockouts’ style over the last two years.

Stick to Restaurant: Impossible, Robert. This is one fight you're NOT
going to win...

Am I the only one who was surprised that they didn’t do anything with the Dollhouse and the Beautiful People on this show or did they already resolve that feud prior to this event?

Kurt Angle def. Eric Young

This was Kurt’s first match back in the company after his neck surgery and I have to admit that I was fearing for Kurt’s well-being after all of the Piledriver spots and trauma to his neck.

EY just killed Kurt, folks.

To those hoping for a WWE return for Kurt, well you’re going to be disappointed. It looks like Kurt doesn’t have much left in the tank but then again, I thought the same thing of Sting when he was wrestling his last few matches for Impact Wrestling before popping up in WWE, so who knows. EY played his cards well as the villain here, but ultimately Kurt came out on top, fighting through the pain and agony like a true “Real American Hero”.

Triple Threat Match for TNA World Heavyweight Championship w/ Special Guest Referee: Jeff Hardy – Matt Hardy def. Ethan Carter III and Drew Galloway to become the NEW champion

This wasn't a bad match at all, but I felt it was a little in bad taste to have Matt Hardy pick up the win here after EC3 has been playing his card as one of (if not the best) pure heels in wrestling today. At least Matt pinning Galloway made sense as that finish kept EC3's undefeated streak intact. I don't think that the loss is going to hurt Drew Galloway as he has a knack for bouncing back from whatever obstacle gets thrown in his way, from the fallout of the Rising vs. Beatdown Clan feud to being the last man standing in the war of Impact Wrestling vs. Global Force Wrestling. I suppose TNA wanted to have Matt Hardy win in the Carolinas to cater to the natives in the crowd, but it would've given EC3 more heel heat to go over their "hero" despite the odds stacked up against him.

Even Baby Maxel was choked up at the moment after seeing his daddy
win the title... 

Matt Hardy winning the gold was a "feel good" moment that was a nice note to end the night on with the Hardy family clan joining the celebration - similar to how WWE tends to love sending everyone home at WrestleMania with a "happy" ending for the fans.

Closing Thoughts

There wasn’t not a single bad match on this PPV – no stupid finishes (other than the questionable roll-up finish to the Knockouts title match), no random interference, no bullshit. I’m still pretty bummed out that I didn’t get to attend the show live and in person, despite having bought tickets but I trapped in South Carolina with the flooding over the past weekend. I was glad to see that TNA managed to get a decent sized crowd for this event that was into the show from start to finish. If TNA keeps this up, maybe – just maybe they can bring people back into watching their product regularly instead of being the butt end of almost every wrestling fans’ jokes.