Impact Wrestling Hard to Kill: A fan’s live perspective

Daily DDT contributor Paul Bradley was in attendance at Impact’s pay-per-view Hard To Kill and has some insight into how the live audience experienced the show.

Dark Match: The Rascalz vs. Desi Hit Squad vs TJP/Daga vs Reno Scum

The crowd was still filing in due to issues with fans being let in late, but the fans who had made it to their seats were loud and excited. The Rascalz had the majority of the crowd behind them with Daga also being cheered for occasionally.

Fans seemed indifferent to all the heels except for Rohit Raju, who garnered a fair amount of heat during this dark match.

In my opinion, the match was a fun way to get the fans excited for the show and gave some of their newer and smaller talent an opportunity to perform on a big stage.

Fine match that started off the event well and woke the crowd up.

Dark Match: Joey Ryan vs Johnny Swinger

Fans were very excited to see Joey Ryan make his entrance and looking back, he got one of the loudest reactions of the night. Johnny Swinger played the heel, denying Ryan’s signature moves, well and got the crowd to despise him by the end of the contest.

Joey Ryan came off like such a star here and I personally believe these kind of matches need to be what he focuses on more in his future with Impact.

The crowd loved this simple match and were very loud for everything Ryan did.

Ken Shamrock vs. Madman Fulton

The live crowd at The Bomb Factory was hot after the two opening contests as the pay-per-view started with Ken Shamrock’s entrance.

Fans had an overall positive reaction to Ken Shamrock and booed Madman Fulton, but if it weren’t for the Crist brothers being ringside, it’s hard to know if Fulton would have gotten a decent heel reaction at all.

I wasn’t a fan of Fulton tapping as I don’t believe it fits well with his character, but in the end, he did tap to MMA legend Ken Shamrock and that’s not going to hurt him in the long run.

The match went a little long for the live audience and the ending was a bit rough, but the fans seemed happy and content with a Shamrock win.

Ace Austin (c) vs. Trey

The energy in the arena was palpable as both men in the X-Division Title match made their entrances.

Ace Austin was one of the most booed acts of the night as he constantly cut corners to get the upper hand on Trey. Trey got a sizable face reaction from the audience and fans seemed genuinely shocked when Austin picked up the pin. The Bomb Factory crowd was enamored with the entire match and played into both acts perfectly.

I thoroughly enjoyed this match and the roles both men played. This entire segment was executed perfectly in my opinion.

The fans erupted when Trey attacked Austin after the match and seemed eager for these two to continue their deeply personal rivalry.

Taya Valkyrie (c) vs. ODB vs. Jordynne Grace

The crowd was LOUD for this contest. Fans seemed to throw the majority of their support behind ODB and, surprisingly, Taya.

I enjoyed this match and thought the ending was booked well. My only complaint would be I felt like ODB never felt like a true threat to the title in this match.

Grace quickly endeared herself to the live audience with her power moves and feats of strength but in the end the fans seemed content with Taya retaining her title, even if it was by cheating.

Rob Van Dam vs. Brian Cage/Daga

Rob Van Dam received a huge ovation when he entered The Bomb Factory, but also had his fair share of boos as he quickly began to enter into heel mode. The quick exit of Brian Cage puzzled the fans and, until the match began with Daga, the mood was very strange and uncomfortable.

Both contests came off kinda strange and rough to me, but in the end, Daga and RVD both look good coming off this segment.

Surprisingly, Daga was one of the most beloved acts of the night and fans seemed to even start to cheer for him over Van Dam at some points.

Eddie Edwards vs. Michael Elgin

Outside of the main event this was the match that the live audience seemed to love and respond to the most.

A huge section of the crowd heckled and threw insults at Michael Elgin throughout the match and the former IWGP Intercontinental Champion seemed to revel in it. Elgin noticeably received the loudest heel reaction of the night, even more than Sami Callihan.

Fans seemed indifferent to Eddie Edwards but due to Elgin’s heel work The Bomb Factory crowd practically adopted Edwards and cheered voraciously for him.

This match was my personal match of the night. Everyone played their parts perfectly and I was suckered in very hard by Eddie Edwards work as the babyface. I lept out of my seat when Edwards gained the pinfall.

Elgin getting pinned garnered the second loudest pop of the night.

Rhino vs. Moose

Fans loudly cheered the ECW legend, Rhino, throughout the contest as Moose received a decent heel reaction.

I thought this match was fun and booked well. That being said I wouldn’t go out of my way to see this match again.

The crowd were very loud for the “hardcore” spots and genuinely seemed to enjoy the match. Some fans seemed to be a little taken aback by how short the contest ended up being.

The North (c) vs. Willie Mack

The North received a lukewarm reaction from the crowd, as did Willie Mack, but that was not the case by the end of their match.

Mack endeared himself quickly with his aerial maneuvers and his athletic feats of strength. The Bomb Factory crowd quickly fell in love with “Chocolate Thunder” and by the end of the match Mack was reveling in the loudest face reaction of the night, outside of Tessa Blanchard.

One of the best matches of the night, in my opinion. Thoroughly enjoyed Mack’s work as the underdog and loved The North’s heel work here. I believe this may be the match fans will look back on one day as the start of Willie Mack’s rise to the top of Impact.

Fans really believed Mack could win this match and were legitimately upset when he ended up eating the pin.

Sami Callihan (c) vs. Tessa Blanchard

Many theorized that Tessa Blanchard would come out to a split audience, but that was not the case as Tessa received the loudest face reaction and had almost the entire crowd on her side as she made her entrance.

Callihan was booed heavily, but not as much as many thought he would have been.

The match played out perfectly for the live audience as each near fall had fans leaping out of their seats.

The pop that rang out when Tessa finally pinned Callihan was the loudest reaction of the night.

Fans were over the moon with the Tessa win and applauded the new champion when she ratted off a post-match speech that seemed to address her accusers on Twitter.

It was hard for me, personally, to engage with this match due to the recent issues with Tessa. I had driven down to Dallas that weekend to support Tessa, but then I found myself booing her as she struggled against Callihan.

I had supported this woman with articles, videos, art and overall support for years. Me and Tessa even had a very brief conversation on Twitter and in talking to her I didn’t feel like a fan she was talking down to. I felt like someone she viewed as an equal. And it hurt to hear about how many woman felt victimized and mistreated by someone I had supported for so long and had driven 5 hours to see.

But I knew my conscience wouldn’t allow me to discredit those other women and continue to support Tessa. It has always been hard for me to separate characters from the individuals playing them, but in the confines of kayfabe, believe that the main event’s booking was solid and both wrestlers played their characters to perfection.

That being said, I couldn’t even sit through Tessa’s whole speech after the match due to how tone deaf it felt. I felt like I was the only one in the building who was struggling with accepting Tessa as this babyface champion after the accusations of her horrific behavior had come into the light.

But once I left the building and got on Twitter, I knew that the ending of this pay-per-view did not sit well with a vast majority of fans.

Overall Thoughts:

The crowd was loud throughout the night and played heavily into the overall success of Hard To Kill. Impact can only hope to have a crowd this enthusiastic as they continue their hot streak of well received pay-per-view events.