9 Ups & 2 Downs From IMPACT Wrestling (23 Sep)
Daniels is resurrected, Alexander and Cage begin the hype, Deonna vs. Mickie is official, and more!
Though there is one more Down to this week's IMPACT Wrestling than there was last week, last night's broadcast was the strongest IMPACT episode since fans returned. They reacted in some way to mostly everything, giving those big moments their due by simply making noise.
It helped, of course, that IMPACT had a strong card with even stronger segments. For example, while Hikuleo vs. David Finlay wasn't the greatest match on offer, it was helped by El Phantasmo's return aferwards, standing tall with Bullet Club pals Hikuleo and Chris Bey. Meanwhile, matches that were already superb - such as Josh Alexander vs. Ace Austin - benefitted from further substance; in this case, the show-closing return of Christopher Daniels.
With Bound For Glory now less than a month away, this is what the company needs to be producing on a weekly basis. Those segments that didn't do too well can easily be reheated through further build.
Amongst the other highlights of last night's show, Josh Alexander and Christian Cage, and Deonna Purrazzo and Mickie James both had wonderful promo exchanges, a neat Good Brothers vignette indicated that a big-time title defence awaits them, and Eric Young demanded an answer from Rhino next Thursday.
Let's get to it...