The momentum for Impact Wrestling could be turning in their favor after a couple of changes to personnel and the moving of their television show as a direct response of WWE shifting Smackdown from Thursday to, now a live show every week on Tuesdays.
We are heading into another live Impact Wrestling special this week, Destination X, and coming off the highest ratings Impact Wrestling has received since moving to POP TV. In a week that saw the march to the WWE Draft and the start of Ultima Lucha in Lucha Underground, it was Impact Wrestling that caught the eye of the wrestling world with “The Final Deletion” match between Matt and Jeff Hardy. This might have been the most polarizing match in wrestling history. Some seeing it as pure garbage and a disgrace to professional wrestling, while some, and I’m in this camp, saw it for what it was, something completely different and pure entertainment. The risk for Impact Wrestling paid off and what they put around “The Final Deletion” should bring those eyeballs back for another week to check out the Destination X special and 2 big matches that are headlining the show.
Another unique event specifically for Impact Wrestling is “Option C” for the main event at Destination X. Every year, the current X-Division gets the option to keep the X-Division title or “cash” it in for a chance at the Impact Wrestling World Heavyweight Championship. This year, Michael Bennett thought he had out-smarted everyone of us in challenging for the X-Division title in late June, and he did beat the current champion Eddie Edwards, so that he could be the one to cash in the title shot, in essence short-cutting his way to the top. He would have gotten away with it, if not for Impact Wrestling President Dixie Carter making an Ultimate X match with the entire X Division roster for the title last week. That match, and the Option C opportunity, was won by Eddie Edwards and later in the evening, Edwards chose Option C t set up this week’s main event with Bobby Lashley. This has the feel of a David vs. Goliath match, but with the majority of Impact Wrestling World title matches, it still has a big fight feel. Lashley, the dominant and powerful champion who has really cat-like quickness for such a big guy will rely on his power game and his MMA background to pound Edwards. Edwards must stay on his feet and create distance from Lashley to exploit his own quickness. Quick knee strikes with the hope that will daze Lashley might be the only way Edwards could win. I’m predicting Lashley retains the title, but in the past Impact Wrestling has gone with the shock factor when it comes to Option C. Just look at them putting the World title on Austin Aries and Chris Sabin.
The 2nd main event will just be a pure fight. Ethan Carter III and Drew Galloway in a grudge match. This whole feud stems from both of them challenging Bobby Lashley for the Impact Wrestling World Title. Both got their opportunity at Lashley and both ended up “accidentally” hitting the other, which led to Lashley retaining his title. It is also a match that will probably make the winner the new #1 contender to whoever is holding the Impact Wrestling World title after Destination X. The loser will have to regroup and head to the back of the line and rethink about where their career is headed and how to get it back on track.
Destination X will be live tonight on POP TV. The last few episodes, excluding the one in which it came to us a day later due to technical difficulties, have been outstanding and unique. “The Final Deletion” match brought mainstream wrestling praise to the company. Now with the Hardys out of the way for the forseeable future, it is on the rest of the Impact Wrestling roster to take the ball and run with it. Looking over the roster they have, they are definitely talented enough. All they need to compete to be the #2 wrestling company in the world is to have the people that run the business side of Impact Wrestling to show the same amount of passion and talent that the wrestlers do.
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