9 Ups & 2 Downs From IMPACT Wrestling (23 Sep)

6. Club Advantage

Though Hikuleo vs. David Finlay felt like a slog in places, it served its purpose. This was more about the story of Bullet Club's numbers in IMPACT going up with the return of El Phantasmo; the match merely had to reach that destination in its aftermath.

The match was fine for what it was. Hikuleo dominated the majority of the bout, wrestling your standard big man style, with a delayed suplex being a highlight that saw Matt Striker deem him Prince Tonga, which was a neat little call. A needlessly murderous lariat could have easily been the finish had Hikuleo needed to go over, but instead, a Chokeslam-counter Stunner led to a rollup win for Finlay after Juice Robinson had intercepted Chris Bey at ringside.

A post-match brawl saw the aforementioned El Phantasmo return for the first time since May's Under Siege, saving Bey from a Doomsday Device, and subsequently knocking out Finlay with a loaded boot Superkick. Phantasmo and Bey are two of Bullet Club's more cocky members, so it'll be intriguing to see them working together going forward, particularly with the monstrous Hikuleo backing them up. A solid beatdown after an otherwise alright match. Good stuff.