7 Ups & 3 Downs From Impact Wrestling (Nov 19)

2. Gauntlets Are Gold

If we've learned anything from the past few years, it's that Gauntlet Matches are an absolute joy to watch. Although this one was fought under the name of an Elimination Challenge, it still used the same rules.

The competitors included here were Tessa Blanchard, Brian Cage, Michael Elgin, Rich Swann, Moose, and Daga, which made for some unique matchups. Moose disposed of Daga first of all after running through him with the Jackhammer Spear, before Swann went on a roll. His participation in the match ended on a sour note after being left a bloodied mess courtesy of 'Big Mike' and subsequent elimination at the hands of 'The Machine', but his performance will be remembered for quite some time.

As most people would've predicted, it would come down to Blanchard vs. Cage in the end, with the former Knockouts Champion overcoming Cage to earn the right to face Sami Callihan at Hard To Kill. The raw emotion on Tessa's face throughout the match told the whole story - she was the most determined person in the bout. For Brian Cage, it seemed as if he cared more about getting his hands on Callihan rather than the title itself.

It would've been nice had Impact not spoiled the result a few weeks ago by already announcing that Tessa would challenge for the title on the 12 January pay-per-view via a press release, but let's not dwell on that minor negative.