Is Christian Cage vs Josh Alexander the correct match to main event Bound For Glory?
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This past weekend at Victory Road we saw Christian Cage emerge victorious over Ace Austin in an incredible World Title match. After the match however we saw Josh Alexander confront Christian and announce that he would be cashing in Opting C to face Christian for the Impact World Title at Bound For Glory.
The match itself has actually been been built very well throughout the year when you look back, however the change of the tides with World Champions does give a different direction when it comes to where specific wrestlers are placed and also fans opinions on wrestlers. These things are definitely things that feel very up in the air with how the booking of Impact has been but it will be very telling to see come Bound for glory if it has worked or if it has sadly maybe not.
Let’s start at the beginning with the build of Josh Alexander and how we began to see him rising into this position where we see him now. Josh came into the X Division around February and added something different to the division instantly. By April he was the X Division champion and has turned everyone away who’s dared to enter the ring with him for a shot at his Title. This booking of Josh as the X Division champion, as well as his build towards the World Title has been a very slow but incredibly decisive. Every action he has made over the past 5 months in the ring about out the ring have shown you how ready he is and what this man can do.
Josh Alexander has been dominant and also a proud champion in his nearly 5 month reign, he himself (especially when Kenny Omega was World Champion) would often state that he was the one who was carrying the company on his back and making the company still feel important. We would see many interactions with Omega and Josh and given the nature of both men, one wanting to make their title feel important and the other just there (storyline wise) for the ride, it really felt like they were building towards a confrontation between the two (maybe they still will in future)?
Recently the Impact World Tile saw a change in direction however with Christian cage taking the Impact World Title from the hands of Kenny Omega. This has had many Impact fans split with some fans saying “he’s still an AEW wrestler so this doesn’t really change anything,” while you have the other half of the fans saying “it’s great to have Christian back in Impact given his history and he does represent the company well as Champion.” Both sides of the coin have their own truths to them and with these changes it does lead to some questionable decisions when it comes to this upcoming match for Josh Alexander at Bound For Glory.
As Impact fans we were drawn to feel more and more heat toward Kenny Omega (and Don Callis), which meant that the moment when we would see someone (Josh was always a top candidate) take the Impact World Title back off of Omega, there would be a collective cheer towards them, be them a face or heel a they would become the hero of Impact. This would have been a perfect moment because of the work that Omega put in to get heat (and the fact that us fans wanted to see it off him too), also someone like Josh has been quietly built up too perfectly to take the title from him. There had been the odd interactions, they’d had promos that countered what the other said, it all felt like it clicked. As we saw though Impact went in a different direction.
On The Debut of AEW Rampage the Impact World Title was defended by Kenny Omega against Christian Cage and Cage would leave the match victorious as the new Impact World Champion. As previously stated this was a very interesting decision as Christian has a lot of history with the company always has that “face” personality that connects with the crowd very well (especially in Impact). Since we saw Christian win the title, thankfully it didn’t look to have stop the momentum of Josh Alexander. He was still out to prove that he was the best champion in the company and over the previous weeks we would see both men have a couple of “friendly” face to faces. Before Victory Road it was always an option that this could happen but now it’s happened, is it the right time, place and personnel?
The set up for this was simple yet effective and as soon as Josh came out at Victory Road, you knew what was coming (which isn’t always a bad thing). However given what we’ve seen from Josh Alexander throughout his X Division reign where he would say that he was bringing the X Division back to where it belongs and making it the most important title, there was always that small part where turning down Option C could have also been just as big and perfect story too. What better way to say the X Division is the most important title and you’re bringing it truly to the forefront than to turn down Option C? It truly says that you believe the X Division is more important than the World title and it elevates the X Division even further. Obviously this is a mute point but it really looked like a direction that Impact may have been going for a while and there is a great story here for someone.
With the direction that Impact have gone in though, One thing that everyone can pretty much guarantee is that this main event will be a 5 star match, Josh never fails deliver and Christian has still yet to fail to impress in any match since his return either. Also as stated the build of Josh Alexander through this yeah has been perfect, if you’re looking to build a new star from the ground up to the top of the card, this is a prime example of how to do it (in the singles division that is, Josh is obviously a well know tag team wrestler). The issue weirdly comes when look at his opponent, simply facing Cage or Omega could have gotten completely different reactions and could the opponent give a different reaction at the ending of the match?
Christian since coming in has been a baby face and whether you’re a fan of him holding the title due to him being and AEW wrestler, he is still very over in the Impact Zone. This is where Josh (assuming he wins at Bound For Glory) taking the title from Christian may not get as big of a reaction as it would if he was facing Omega? Kenny Omega was someone who the Impact crowd as time went on disliked even more (in the right way) and were fully behind an Impact wrestler taking the title off of, and if it had happened the roof would have come off. Yet with Christian Cage being so loved and respected the match itself may even have a crowd split and with the win it may just be slightly soured?
Overall as good as the match will be and as well told as the Josh Alexander story has been, is it missing that final chapter due to the Kenny Omega and Christian Cage World Title change? They can of course do the match as a “respect” match but with it still being Impact getting there World title back at the roots of the story you feel half the fans want that little more than that. Does Josh Alexander’s opponent really change the feeling of the match? Would the Impact Would Title coming back to Impact have more meat to it if it was still on a heel wrestler?
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