60 Minutes: Impact Wrestling’s Cast Iron Revival of the X-Division
Photo Credit: IMPACT Wrestling
Outside Impact Wrestling. A long time "Jerichoholic", Mick Foley, Kurt Angle & Hardys fan, pop open a little bit of the Bubbly, read what's being written by me with an open perspective & enjoy.
- Impact Wrestling’s build to the big 20. Part 1 - February 25, 2022
- (Exclusive) Rosemary: A Journey through the Valley of Shadows – PART 1 - September 19, 2021
- Revival of the X-Division: Tale of the Tape - June 20, 2021
The Match
The backstage interviews after the match was announced & Impact’s official press pass hosted online by Gail Kim were filled with courtesy & respect from one competitor to the other. Both men were about to step into an extremely brutal match, TJP already suffering a broken nose, but this match was being built up to be the main event it proved itself to be. This match wasn’t just put in place to knock the loser off the top of the ladder or as a cheap gimmick. Like past Ironman matches (none which had gone for 60 minutes) such as Deonna Purrazzo vs Jordynne Grace (2020) or Eddie Edwards vs Bobby Lashley (2016), Impact Wrestling brought in this type of match for one simple reason. To make a statement.
The match is, in my honest opinion, the best match I’ve seen from any company, it’s so unique it’s extremely difficult to draw any comparisons between anything else I’ve seen (writing this it’s extremely difficult to just put it into words). It was a straight up wrestling contest from start to finish, no wasted motion, no faltering, very little foul play (that was last resort) & one thing I’m very pleased about is that the presence of Fallah Bahh & Petey Williams didn’t distract the attention from what was happening in the ring. We saw innovated offence from both superstars especially with their specialist skills of grappling & submission moves, once again moves that we’d never seen before had been reserved for this match so both were just as surprising when we thought we’d known what’s happening next!
The Future – Contenders
At Against All Odds, we have a 5 way to find a number 1 contender between Petey Williams, Ace Austin, Rohit Raju, Chris Bey (all former X-Division champions) & Trey Miguel. So out of these 5 are 3 most likely winners.
Ace Austin- the most predictable, the most Inevitable, but given his history with Josh Alexander it might be a way to either give Josh Alexander a final big match with this current run as champion or a way in knocking Ace Austin out of Josh’s way, moving back onto newer opponents while hopefully rebuilding Ace Austin & Madman Fulton as a tag team on Impact.
Trey Miguel- the winner that will draw in the most satisfaction for many given how Trey’s always just fallen short at that last hurdle be it in a Tag Team, World Title or X-Division Title match, a win over 4 former champions & Trey is also another superstar that is very familiar with Josh Alexander’s style of wrestling. An X-Division title match between these two will be highly entertaining.
Petey Williams- the pioneer of the X-Division that continues to fall short whenever the belt is there waiting for him. Petey Williams winning would also build up the sky rocketing popularity of Josh Alexander should (or hopefully when) “The Canadian Destroyer” take on “The Walking Weapon” when these two eventually lock arms.
The Future – Josh Alexander
I see Josh Alexander continuing to reset the bar of expectations from the X-Division as he has done alongside every Champion following on from Brian Cage/Matt Sydal, every champion has brought a mix of high flying offensive, endurance or quickness as their main attributes, Ace Austin, Willie Mack, Rohit Raju & TJP really pushing the emphasis on a mix of the above alongside the use of more traditional wrestling offensive moves with incredible matches & rivalries built to keep their runs as champion memorable.
I’m hoping that this title run keeps going as it is, huge respect between the competitors & punishing matches to add that extra variety fans want. Josh Alexander is such an impressive athlete & I can see him beating Austin Aries’ record breaking run as the longest reigning X-Division Champion which currently stands at 301 days. There’s a lot of people in Impact Wrestling that deserve the opportunity to break it, but given how Josh Alexander brought all eyes back to the X-Division in one of the most brutal matches, physically & mentally, in pro-wrestling… I couldn’t pick a better wrestler to do so.
The Future – The X-Division
While the only news on what’s next for the X-Division elsewhere has been “Big Plans” this obviously opens up the return of the Ultimate X match as the first choice & most in demand by fans worldwide. But there’s a statement made by Josh Alexander after his match with TJP that stands out. With the Impact World Championship still held by Kenny Omega, Josh Alexander is “the King of this Mountain”, he has “The only title that matters” & is willing to defend against whoever is coming next. While I’ve already touched on Against All Odds’ number one contendership match, the door is open to more talent from NJPW to make a name for themselves & maybe even AEW talent as the option to hopefully going to start integrating more (the Knockouts & X-Division) must still be on the table**.
References to Josh Alexander being the only relevant champion on Impact’s roster now, suggests a possible clash between Moose & Josh Alexander, seeing as it wasn’t that long ago we had Moose claiming the same thing when he had the TNA World Heavyweight Championship. Mentioning the “King of the Mountain”, could this be a subliminal hint to the return of the King of the Mountain match or as some fans suspect maybe the return of the King of the Mountain Title? The match itself was an incredibly popular & unique part of TNA/Impact history & would be a very interesting alternative to simply using an Ultimate X or rarely seen Ladder match to push the X-Division back into Impact’s must see territory.
**Not 100% guaranteed, don’t take that statement as fact or criticism between Impact & AEW, I just hope it is now that things have moved on from Sammy Guevara rocking the boat earlier this year. And Britt Baker (AEW Women’s Champion) has shown more interest in facing Deonna Purrazo in recent weeks.
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