Destination X is just one week away… The card is taking shape but some things are still uncertain. GFW Unified Knockout Champion Sienna announced on Twitter she would take over tonight’s episode in order to have answers from Karen Jarrett. A new wrestler is now involved in the Konnan/Carlos and Alberto saga of the summer, as Low Ki is the new member of LAX and he clearly has sights on Alberto’s GFW Unified World Heavyweight Championship… And who is going to face Dezmond Xavier in the final of the Super X Cup? Answers below…
This week on GFW Impact Wrestling is brought to you by Miss “Doctor Frenchy” Steph.
The show opened outside as LAX and Veterans of Wars were brawling. The two teams were scheduled to face each other in a Street Fight tonight for The Unified Tag Team Championships. Meanwhile, as she promised, Sienna was in the ring, waiting for answers. “The hero always die and fall”, she said in a video recap. She wrapped her titles around the ropes and told the crowd they’re looking at the epitome of a true champion. She decided to stay here until Karen Jarrett revealed her opponent for Destination X. Sienna had taken on every obstacle Jarrett put in her way and knew Jarrett never liked her but scheduled a match next week against a mystery opponent.
Karen Jarrett came to the ring to tell Sienna that she is the type of woman that every woman hates. And her opponent for Destination X would be Gail Kim. Kim is dedicated to winning the GFW Unified Knockouts Championship from Sienna at Destination X next week and promised the crowd she will retire as the Champion. Sienna attacked Gail Kim but Gail fought off. The brawl continued for long minutes until officials were finally able to separate them.
Backstage, Grado and Joseph tried to keep the faith as they were supposed to compete against Kongo Kong tonight. Park quoted his old football coach and told Grado that the fear of the hit is greater than the hit itself (we’re talking about Kongo Kong, he doesn’t hit, he flattens…).
International Tag Team Match – El Hijo De Fantasma & Naomichi Marufuji vs. Laredo Kid & Garza Jr.
Match of the night #1. Fantasma and Laredo Kid started the match at a fast-pace with some back-and-forth. When Laredo tagged in Garza Jr., Fantasma hit a basement dropkick. Garza Jr. had his revenge with a jawbreaker on Marufuji. Marufuji battled back but Garza Jr quickly regained momentum. On the outside, he grounded Marufuji with a high knee.
We got to see nice aerial moment when Garza Jr. and Laredo Kid went on top of Noamichi but Fantasma leapt onto Laredo. Fantasma continued with a Frog splash on Garza Jr as Laredo Kid made his way back to the ring to take on both El Hijo and Marufuji. Garza and Laredo then worked on some tandem offence. Garza carried Marufuji and then caught Fantasma in his arms while Laredo leapt off the top to knock them down with a leg lariat. Laredo continued the offence with moonsaults.
Still, at high pace speed, Garza Jr. tried to apply his stripping spot but was countered by a double superkick. Laredo Kid attacked both Marufuji and El Hijo as Garza Jr. was recovering and be able to hit a GTS on Fantasma. El Hijo and Laredo went into a kicks party. Laredo brought Fantasma to the air but it was Fantasma who connected with a suicide dive. Marufuji was finally able to stop Garza Jr. with a slice bread for the win. Marufuji and Fantasma helped their opponents get on their feet and shook hands.
Handicap Match – Joseph Park & Grado vs. Kongo Kong
The stupid moment of the week. Park and Grado tasted Kong’s own medicine. Kong hit a chokeslam on Grado and a cannonball on Park for the victory. When he tried to flatten them both with a splash from the top rope, Laurel Van Ness appeared to stop him. She yelled at him and even slapped him. Which drove Kong crazy and grabbed Laurel up on his shoulders.
As Kong was about to leave the ring, Tyrus made his way to the ring. Kong dropped Laurel Van Ness and stood toe to toe with Tyrus in the centre of the ring. Laurel asked him to get out and of course, The Beast followed The Beauty up the ramp (I let you determine who’s the Beauty and who’s the Beast…).
Backstage Trevor Lee, Lashley and Low-Ki told McKenzie Mitchell about how their opponents Alberto, Sonjay Dutt and Matt Sydal are bad and mean and stupid… A video on Lashley MMA training was aired.
Welcome to Dutch Mantel’s “Down and Dirty with Dutch”, a sit-down interview style segment where Dutch is interviewing Lashley and Matt Sydal. Lashley claimed he didn’t disrespect Sydal but because of his kindness, he’s an overall athlete. Sydal answered his talent has no boundaries and he would rank himself as #1 in the X-Division because he recently defeated Low-Ki. Sydal added his size has never stopped him from competing with people the size of Lashley. Words got lower and lower until both men jumped on each other. The title was “Down and Dirty”, wasn’t it? Meanwhile, Jeremy Borash announced that Bruce Prichard is scheduled to make an announcement next week that will affect the entire Impact roster.
Street Fight For The Unified Tag Team Championships – L.A.X (Santana & Ortiz) vs. Veterans Of War (Mayweather & Wilcox)
The good surprise of the night. Konnan, Diamanté, Homicide and LAX’s newest member Low-Ki were at ringside. As it was a Street Fight, they will be able to do what they do best, interfere in the match.
Both teams brawled on the outside straight into the match are got weapons out. Steel chairs, tables, kendo sticks, trash cans, chains, we got them all. VOW roughed up Santana and Ortiz while 2 tables were set in the ring. The Veterans of War hit their signature Mother of All Bombs on Ortiz through the table but Homicide pulled out the ref before he can count to three, the pure LAX way. Mayweather power bombed Homicide onto the steel steps. Back in the ring, Wilcox was controlling Ortiz until Diamante gave him a low blow and tried to hit VOW with a chair. Nice mess…
Santana saved Diamante by drop kicking a chair on Mayweather. Low-Ki interfered to handcuff Mayweather to the ropes so LAX could beat him down. Wilcox tried to help him but LAX made a wise use of all weapons available in the ring on him. Wilcox tried to battle back LAX by himself but Santana threw Wilcox onto a table with a cannonball for the win. Konnan opened his mouth to ask the company for more challenge.
Super X-Cup Tournament – Semifinal Match – ACH vs. Taiji Ishimori
Match of the night #2. High-flying and acrobatic rapid-paced match. After a short display of their skills, ACH grounded Ishimori. But action went fast and Ishimori connected with a top rope seated senton, some offensive moves, running double knees into the corner, and a springboard double foot stomp. The pace of the match picked up again with Ishimori hitting a body scissors on ACH. But ACh stopped him with a lariat.
Both men went into an exchange of counters, reversals and strikes, and no one broke down. ACH lifted up Ishimori in a suplex turned into a tombstone but Ishimori countered, got ACh up and hit an inverted gut buster, followed by two 450 splashes for the win. Insanely good match. Dezmond Xavier came to ringside to show respect to ACH and then stand face to face with Ishimori in front of the X Cup trophy. They shook hands.
IMPACT MAIN EVENT – Alberto El Patron, Matt Sydal & Sonjay Dutt vs. Bobby Lashley, Low-Ki & Trevor Lee
Good guys vs. bad guys classic scenario a week before Destination X. Alberto attacked Low-Ki straight into the match but tagged in Dutt. Sydal and Dutt teamed up and hit nice synchronized moon saults on Lee and Low-Ki. Low-Ki tagged in Lashley and grounded Sydal with a flying cross body and then sent him outside. A dominating Lashley continued his offence on Sydal with a really long delayed vertical suplex.
Lashley tagged in Low-Ki who also targeted Sydal with some strikes. Trevor Lee took his turn on Sydal, then Lashley again. Sydal tried to escape a dragon sleeper from Low-Ki but earned even more punishment. After very long minutes, Sydal was able to tag in Dutt who went after Trevor Lee and grounded him with a Snaprana. Lashley stopped Dutt’s momentum with a dominator. It was now Dutt’s turn to be roughed up by Lashley, Low-Ki and of course Trevor Lee. Lashley hit a tough neckbreaker on Dutt. Dutt rallied and hit a tornado DDT on Lee. El Patron, on fire, was finally tagged in and cleaned the ring in a few seconds. He showed us his repertoire and even grounded Lashley to the outside with a suicide dive. Dutt came back to hit Low-Ki with a tornado DDT. Trevor Lee and Dutt reached the top rope. Lee tried to scratch Dutt’s head but Lee ended up in an electric chair and Sydal connected with a hurricanrana.
The end of the match was a little messy as Lashley attacked Dutt but Alberto hit a Si kick on Lashley and Low-Ki. All six men got involved. Lashley hit Sonjay with a power slam, Low-Ki then connected with the Warrior’s way and earned the win for his team. Bad sign for the Champions as Destination X is right around the corner…
The heels celebrated while Sydal was receiving medical attention. He believed that he may have re-aggravated a rotator cuff injury… Will he be apart of Destination X and if so, 100 % ready?
It’s time to turn the page on these post-Slammiversary complicated episodes and storylines. Next week Destination X will, I hope, clean up the air and bring the viewers to something new, fresh and, mostly, more interesting. But as for today, it was a good episode, tense action, great X-Division matches. What Impact is able to give us best. If only they could do it every week…
*****
Destination X card (as of 08/11, 2 pm):
* 2017 GFW Super X Cup Tournament Final: Taiji Ishimori vs. Dezmond Xavier
* GFW Unified World Heavyweight Championship: Alberto El Patrón (c) vs. Low-Ki
* Ladder match for the GFW X Division Championship: Sonjay Dutt (c) vs. Trevor Lee
* Winner gets a GFW title shot of his choosing: Lashley vs. Matt Sydal
* GFW Unified Women’s Championship: Sienna (c) vs. Gail Kim
* The debut of oVe
All pics and screenshots courtesy of GFW Impact Wrestling.