Impact Wrestling Has Lost Some Momentum Due To Lack Of Depth
For the most part, Impact Wrestling has been one of the best promotions in 2018, as they showed that they rebounded at the Redemption Pay Per View before blowing our collective minds at Slammiversary. Unfortunately, they’ve failed to build on any of the momentum they gained at Slammiversary, and the biggest problem has been their lack of depth.
What helped make Slammiversary such a special Pay Per View for Impact Wrestling was the fact that you could get emotionally invested in every single match on the card.
Eddie Edwards vs. Tommy Dreamer was as personal as any feud we’ve seen this year, Madison Rayne vs. Su Yung was haunting, the LAX faction war remains one of the best stories of 2018, Moose vs. Austin Aries helped the Impact World Title feel like it meant something, Allie and Tessa Blanchard had clear reasons for fighting, and Sami Callihan vs. Pentagon Jr. told the story of two men crazy enough to die for their honor.
Yes, there was a lot to talk about at Slammiversary. The show itself more than met expectations, generating as much buzz as any Pay Per View in any promotion this year. Impact had arrived on that night, as there wasn’t a single match on the card that underdelivered.
Fast forward one month later, and Impact Wrestling has lost much of the momentum they built. While the post-Slammiveresary show received 299,000 viewers on POP TV, Cageside Seats noted that they’ve failed to break 250,000 viewers on any given August episode. Furthermore, they’ve received just 168,000, 210,000, and 212,000 viewers in each of the past three weeks.
A large part of that is because Impact is going up against the NFL preseason, but another part of it is the fact that the product hasn’t been as compelling since Slammiversary. Now, there are still some great stories, such as Allie’s quest to stand up to Tessa and Su Yung, the LAX faction wars, and Sami Callihan/Pentagon Jr.
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But the problem is that the breadth of the stories just isn’t as all-encompassing. For example, Killer Kross joining forces with Austin Aries makes absolutely no sense. Why would a guy who relentlessly attacked people backstage to make his entrance in Impact decide to team up with an arrogant loudmouth who just happens to hold the title? I don’t get it.
Scarlett Bordeaux has been an entertaining character, but when is she going to interact with the other members of the Knockouts Division? Speaking of which, when will Impact try to sign more women’s wrestlers so we don’t have to cycle through the same feuds until Rosemary returns from a severe injury?
This pointed criticism isn’t made to make some generalization that Impact is “bad” or anything, because that is both unfair and untrue. What bothers me, though, is the fact that Impact came out of Slammiversary as the hottest brand in wrestling, and now it just feels like little has progressed.
A small part of me died inside when I saw Moose come out at Aries and Kross to almost zero reception from the live crowd. The man was brilliant at Slammiversary, but now he’s getting mild reactions. It almost epitomizes the fact that while Impact is interesting, it isn’t developing its characters, specifically its babyfaces (besides Allie, but she’s always been amazing).
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Bound For Glory will take place on Oct. 14, so there’s plenty of time for Impact Wrestling to build to its biggest show of the year, which will surely be special. So maybe they are just playing it slow until then. That said, as a fan of the product, I really thought we’d be headed for more intense stories and would see more faces on Impact post-Slammiversary. Callihan vs. Pentagon and the LAX matches have delivered for sure, but Impact seems to be in a minor slump in August.