Hot Fire: October 11, 2019

​You know what time it is, it’s time for another Hot Fire! Were closing in on 2 weeks away from the biggest Impact PPV event of the year, Bound For Glory! Were cruising through these rather good Las Vegas tapings so let’s get right into it!
 
The Rating Scale:
HOT FIRE - Amazing/5 Stars
HOT - Great
WARM - Good
LUKEWARM - Okay/Decent
COLD - Bad
FREEZING - Horrible/1 Star
 
Impact Wrestling October 4th 2019:
 
Location: Sam’s Town, Las Vegas, Nevada, USA
 
Commentary: Josh Mathews & Don Callis
 

• Sami Callihan arrives to the arena surrounded by security. Gabby Loren asks Sami for any comments about the incidents of last week, Dave Crist says the comments will be made in the ring and then starts hitting on her, Sami drags him away. I’m really interested in seeing where this is going.

 
Tenille Dashwood vs Kiera Hogan vs Madison Rayne:
 
Winner: Tenille Dashwood
 
LUKEWARM - This was a perfectly acceptable match but one thing really bothered me. Why did Madison and Kiera feel the need to break the pins up? They should have made this match the #1 contenders match and THEN announce the Tenille Dashwood vs Taya Valkyrie match as it just doesn’t make sense as to why the heels would help like that. You would think the minute Kiera would be getting pinned, Madison would just step back with her hands in the air. Anyways besides that Tenille’s character still sucks as she’s supposed to be a face but she a very narcissistic gimmick, how is that supposed to work?
 

• Johnny Swinger is walking backstage and slaps someone’s ass who is bent over. It ends up being Jimmy Jacobs.

 

• Eddie Edwards is apologizing to Tommy Dreamer for what happened at the wedding and said that Reno Scum drugged him and that the ‘’TV told him’’ (you would think Alisha would watch Impact too huh?). He’s asking for Tommy Dreamer’s help tonight to get rid of Reno Scum, Dreamer begrudgingly accepts. Eddie is super happy and reaches behind Tommy to grab Kenny as he walks away speaking to Kenny. Funny little segment.

 
Johnny Swinger vs Owen Travers:
 
Winner: Johnny Swinger
 
LUKEWARM - This was an okay squash here as it gets Johnny Swinger established, and his gimmick, combined with Don Callis wittiness can lead to some pretty fun moments and jokes about the good old days but as long as it doesn’t become any more than this, I’ll be fine with Swinger. Although he was supposed to be brought in to put over other talent so I’m not sure how he can pull that off with a goofy gimmick like this. He did do well in the ring though, which was my primary concern.
 

• Gabby Loren is interviewing The North and asks them about their thoughts concerning their match against Rich Swanna and Willie Mack at BFG for the Tag Titles. Ethan Page reminds Gabby that he already went against that team last year at BFG with a different partner (Matt Sydal), but now he’s with his best friend so the beating will be even worse. I absolutely LOVE continuity like this in wrestling. The average wrestling fan isn’t dumb (contrary to what advertisers believe), we can remember things that happened more than 24 hours ago so bringing up that match was cool.

 

• Gabby Loren is interviewing Tessa Blanchard and asks her about Sami Callihan’s actions. Tessa doesn’t understand how everyone doesn’t see that Callihan’s a troll that likes to hurt people (Tommy Dreamer, Eddie Edwards, etc.). She’s been on a mission since Slammiversary to destroy Sami Callihan but now every member of OVE has a target on their back.

 

• Impact Wrestling’s Flashback Moment of the Week: Kurt Angle vs Bobby Roode from Bound For Glory 2011.

 

• Ace Austin runs into Alisha Edwards backstage. He says that he needs to tell her something now that Eddie Edwards is heading to the ring. He says after the events of the wedding he’s scared that Eddie is suffering from issues (no shit Sherlock, that’s his whole gimmick). Ace sas he has good friends that know this kind of stuff and he thinks he’s suffering of substance abuse. Alisha denies it but Ace offers to help anytime, he’s just one phone call away. Alisha thanks him and leaves as Ace smirks to the camera.

 
Eddie Edwards/Kenny the Kendo Stick vs Reno Scum:
 
Winner: Eddie Edwards/Kenny the Kendo Stick
 
LUKEWARM - This was definitely an… interesting match as they didn’t over do the whole Kenny shenanigans so it actually worked for the most part. They did a good job of working the majority of the match as a handicap match and then in the ending stretch Eddie finally manages to hot tag Kenny in, where he becomes the ‘’legal man’’ so Eddie can use the kendo stick as a weapon to get the win. The referee should have sold a bit more confusion during the situation to really make the whole ending stretch stand out but what we got was perfectly fine. Hopefully Eddie is done with Reno Scum.
 

• The North walk into a locker room where Konnan is drinking. He takes on last sip, stands up and is ready to stand his ground as The North closes the door behind them. After the commercial break, people run in finding Konnan knocked out on the ground.

 
Sami Callihan’s Repercussions:
 
WARM - This was a real good promo from Sami Callihan, as he made reading off a paper entertaining as only he can. Sami Callihan not being truly sorry fits his character perfectly as I guess he was just pretending to care last week? The Brian Cage attack was well done and it will be interesting to see if him getting arrested (for attacking a fan by accident) goes anywhere useful (as it could be an interesting storyline to explore). I’ve been liking this feud a lot and these innovative ways of presenting it are great.
 
X-Division Title Ladder Match Qualifier: Daga vs Chris Bey:
 
Winner: Daga
 
HOT - This was a super fun match but unfortunately I feel like Chris Bey outshined Daga here and I was really hoping for him to win. They did a good job with the close falls as I really thought both guys had won at multiple points in the match. I hope Impact signs Chris Bey as he could be a great talent to rebuild the non existent X-Division. I know Daga can have some good matches so hopefully tonight was just a fluke. The beatdown post match was expected but I hope they don’t mention that Tessa saving Daga was purely due to her hatred for OVE and not because she’s in a real life relationship with Daga.
 

• TJP tells Fallah Bahh that he’s proud of all the work they accomplished the last few weeks but tonight Bahh is going to have to return the favour and be in TJ’s corner tonight. Bahh speaks English until Gabby arrives, then Bahh returns to Bahh’ing. TJP tells Gabby that even though he’s considered an X-Division talent, he’s fought heavyweights before and tonight he’s ready to take on Elgin.

 

• Josh Mathews is at some kind of NFL alumni meeting as he asks a bunch of NFL stars who they think will win between Moose and Ken Shamrock at BFG. Most of them looked clueless. Then Moose arrives and is interviewed by Josh, Moose says MMA is for animals and requires no skill and that’s why he hired Frank Trigg to train him in MMA to get ready for his match. Moose says he understands all the things Ken did for UFC and pro wrestling, but Ken asked for this match, not him. And at BFG he’s going to regret it. Here comes Ken Shamrock to say that Moose was a bust in the NFL and is a bust in wrestling as he doesn’t even have a title to back up his words. Moose sas he’s done with the interview as Josh Mathews asks them to face each other for photos (what a great idea). Ken Shamrock calls Moose a bitch a few times and they start fighting. They get separated as it seems like actual customers who were in the NFL store they were shooting in looked absolutely confused as to what was going on, or maybe it was just good acting. This was a fantastic segment as somehow Impact got me hooked for this match.

 

• James Mitchell is pissed at Havok for having messed with Su Yung like he told her not to do. James Mitchell says she pissed off ‘’you know who’’ and that she should think before she acts before they both go to hell. Here comes Taya to ask Havok the same offer she made to Rosemary last week, to get rid of Tenille and she will get the title shot instead at BFG. James Mitchell says ‘’he’’ does like shiny trinkets but then says they have no reason to get rid of Tenille as Taya has never even beat Havok yet. Taya runs away.

 
TJP w/Fallah Bahh vs Michael Elgin:
 
Winner: Michael Elgin
 
HOT - This was a fantastic main event to cap off the show, as Elgin getting a win over TJP keeps him warm (especially after being off TV for 2 full weeks). Commentary alluding to the fact that TJP is similar to Marufugi was an EXTREMELY nice touch. Elgin further shows he can wrestle with any kind of wrestler and has never disappointed yet in Impact. However they still have given me no reason to care about his BFG match. At least give me a little something. Great main event though.
 
OVERALL:
 
WARM - This took some time to really get going but this was yet again another good episode of Impact. It’s funny how the minute they’re out of Mexico they start producing good episodes again. What kept me interested the most in this episode though was everything that happened between matches, and it reminds me that Impact should try to have a few more in ring promos as those are really lacking right now. The main event was a great match to cap off the show with.
 
This Week’s Impact MVP:
 
Michael Elgin - He delivered a fantastic main event with TJP after being off TV for 2 weeks. I’m glad that he’s back.
 
Next Week on Impact:

• X-Division Title Ladder Match Qualifier: Eddie Edwards vs Ace Austin
• Jordynne Grace vs Katie Forbes
• Impact Knockouts Title: Taya Valkyrie vs Havok
• Jake Crist/Madman Fulton vs Tessa Blanchard/Daga

 
And that wraps up another edition of Hot Fire! Thank you all for reading, make sure to leave your thoughts on the show in the comments below! My name’s Fireguy and I’ll talk to you all a little bit later!