Impact’s Victory Road pay per view featured some solid wrestling but no title changes for anyone, but it was the closing segment which now sets the stage for Bound for Glory coming Saturday, October 23 in Las Vegas.
After Christian Cage successfully defended the Impact World Championship against Ace Austin, Josh Alexander, who earlier that night retained the X Division Championship against a very game former 8 time champ Chris Sabin, emerged for a stare down with Cage and uttered these five words:
Unlike WWE’s Money in the Bank contract, the title opportunity isn’t randomly “anywhere at any time” but at a pre-determined date. A lesser known comparison can be the ‘Gift of the Gods’ Championship in the defunct Lucha Underground promotion.
I have no qualms about admitting that I am somewhat of a Josh Alexander-stan, and this news makes me very happy.
You could not put together a more picture perfect build for a solidly talented wrestler since Scott D’Amore offered ‘the Walking Weapon’ a contract at Destiny Wrestling in 2019. Realists should not have expected Alexander to be thrust right into the main event picture; his ‘silent assassin’ personality fit really well with his longtime partner, ‘Ego’ Ethan Page, who served as the mouthpiece in The North tag team. Page and Alexander went on to hold the Impact Tag Team Champions for over a year.
When Page departed for AEW, it was now Alexander’s time to focus on his singles career and he set his crosshairs straight at the X Division Championship, which he won successfully at Rebellion defeating Ace Austin and TJP in a three way match. What followed was one of the most incredible runs for a championship in any promotion: successful title defences against a gamut of challengers from all weight classes, such as Austin, Black Taurus, Jake Something, Chris Sabin and even the Bullet Club’s El Phantasmo.
But the most memorable defence Alexander has had was the incredible 60 minute Iron Man Match he had with TJP, which can be seen online in its entirety. The match was that good, because literally the entire Impact locker room was at ringside to watch it and words fail to describe how great it was.
We shall have to see what unfolds this week on Impact Wrestling regarding the future of the X Division title as well as the story build for Alexander vs. Cage at Bound for Glory, which is shaping up to be another pivotal pay per view for the company with potential involvement by talent from AEW, Triple AAA, New Japan…and who knows who else might show up.
I don’t want to jinx anything, but the only conclusion I can draw from Alexander exercising Option C is that he will become the next Impact World Champion. As much respect and admiration Christian Cage deserves, I doubt anyone sees him holding the biggest price in Impact in the long term. Ever since Kenny Omega wrestled the Impact title from Rich Swann at Rebellion, the idea of getting the world title around the waist of an actual Impact talent was a storyline in itself.
As stacked as the talent roster is on Impact, with guys like Moose, Sabin, Eddie Edwards and Sami Callihan providing a hell of a foundation, does anyone doubt that putting the Impact World Champion on the Walking Weapon could be a game changer for the fledgling promotion?
An average professional doing the 9-5 grind who really loves wrestling across all platforms. Here's hoping wrestlers finally get some basic workers rights in 2021.
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