Welcome everyone to the 101st edition of Spandex and Suplexes: A Wrestling Review and the first issue under the new monthly format. While I know it is different, I hope you guys enjoy it as much as the old way. In this issue, I cover a month that saw WWE Extreme Rules and Crown Jewel, Impact Wrestling Bound for Glory, and the continued build to AEW Full Gear. Let’s get started.
Credit: WWE
WWE Extreme Rules was an overall good show with the highlights being The New Day vs. Bobby Lashley/AJ Styles/Omos, The Usos vs. The Street Profits, and the WWE United States Triple Threat match between Damian Priest, Jeff Hardy, and Sheamus. The major downside of course was the weird ending to the WWE Universal Championship match between Roman Reigns and Finn Balor. After what was mostly a great match, the ending saw the top rope randomly break while Balor was about to secure the victory. We still haven’t been given any sort of explanation as to how or why it happened. If WWE really didn’t want The Demon to lose clean to Roman, then they should have A. Not had Balor wrestle as The Demon or B. Come up with a better way for Finn Balor to get screwed than some having him beaten by some seemingly random circumstances.
Credit: WWE
WWE Crown Jewel was a surprisingly great show, which is not something you would normally say about these WWE Saudi Arabia shows. The highlights of show were the Hell in a Cell match between Edge and Seth Rollins, Xavier Woods finally achieving his dream of winning King of the Ring, Big E vs. Dew McIntyre, Becky Lynch vs. Bianca Belair vs. Sasha Banks, and the main event between Roman Reigns and Brock Lesnar. Goldberg also impressed in his No Holds Barred match against Bobby Lashley with many saying it was one the best performances of his career. If you only have time to watch one match from this show, I recommend watching Edge vs. Rollins.
Impact Wrestling Bound for Glory:
Credit: Impact Wrestling
Bound for Glory was yet another impressive showing from Impact Wrestling, which has been on a roll since being taken over by Scott D’Amore and Don Callis in January 2018. The show saw the Impact debut of The IInspiration (Cassie Lee and Jessica McKay) (FKA The IIconics in WWE) as they defeated Decay (Havok and Rosemary) to win the Impact Knockouts Tag Team Championship. Lee and McKay are excellent addition to the Knockouts roster, especially in their tag division.
The Call Your Shot Gauntlet match had the prize of being able to cash in a title match of the winner choosing anytime, anywhere. It was very fun as it featured wrestlers from not just Impact, but also from their partner promotions, New Japan Pro Wrestling, National Wrestling Alliance, and Lucha Libre AAA Worldwide. We also got an unexpected appearance by The KISS Demon of WCW infamy.
The biggest story of the night came in the main event as Josh Alexander won a great match against Christian Cage to become the new Impact World Champion. This feel-good moment would not last long as Moose, who won the Call Your Shot Gauntlet match, ran into the ring, and shockingly cashed in his title shot right then and there. While Alexander was busy trying to get his family out of harm’s way, Moose took advantage and attacked Josh, giving him all he needed to pin The Walking Weapon to become the new Impact World Champion. This was excellent storytelling as it set up Moose as the ultimate villain as he took away Alexander’s dream right as he won it, all in front of Josh’s family. Josh is now the ultimate underdog hero as he seeks revenge on Moose and attempts to regain his lost glory.
Other highlights from the show included Trey Miguel vs. El Phantasmo vs. Steve Maclin for the Impact X-Division Championship and Mickie James vs. Deonna Purrazzo for the Impact Knockouts Championship.
Hangman Page’s path to AEW Full Gear:
Credit: All Elite Wrestling
I was glad to see “Hangman” Adam Page make his return in the Casino Ladder match at the AEW Dynamite Anniversary show where he secured the victory and finally earned his shot at Kenny Omega’s AEW World Championship. Omega vs. Page for the AEW World Championship is a match that has been nearly two years in the making as they have gone from good friends to tag team partners to now bitter enemies. I am highly looking forward to this match and hope that this will finally be the moment that Hangman gets his time to shine by becoming the new AEW World Champion.
That’s it for this issue of Spandex and Suplexes. I am looking forward to the next month of action, especially AEW Full Gear and WWE Survivor Series. While you are here on Florida Geek Scene, be sure to check out the second episode of my spin off series, Spandex and Suplexes: The Interview Series, where I interviewed veteran pro wrestler, Randy Hogan. Until next time, I’ll see you at ringside!
Nicholas Slade
Nicholas grew up reading J.R.R. Tolkien's books, watching Disney and Studio Ghibli films, and reading Marvel comics and Japanese manga. The superb storylines and characters ignited his passion for writing. He graduated from Full Sail University in 2015 with a BFA in Creative Writing for Entertainment. During his writing career thus far, Nicholas has had numerous short stories and articles published in an array of literary magazines and websites.
