Best and Worst of Impact Wrestling (July 19th, 2019): The Mash-Up Tournament leaves fans wanting more, Tessa Blanchard steps up to Mike Elgin
Tonight's episode of Impact was dominated by the Mash-Up Tournament, where rivals would be forced to team up for a shot at the Impact World Championship. Eight teams would face off in tag-team matches throughout the night, with the surviving four advancing to the finals, a Fatal-4-Way elimination match.
With a concept like that, you'd think that most of the matches would come down to finishes in where partners turned on each other. Well, you wouldn't be wrong, but not once did it get stale over the course of the night. In fact, every match on the show was highly entertaining, even if one or two fell a little short.
This company continues to deliver week in and week out. If you're still debating whether or not to check out Impact, hopefully, tonight's show will be enough for you to give it a try.
#1 Best: Tessa Blanchard & Sami Callihan vs Dave Crist & Trey
So let me start off by saying that I love oVe. Sami Callihan, Jake & Dave Crist and Madman Fulton. They're all incredible. Prior to their match tonight, Callihan and the rest of oVe revealed that they were going to make this a short contest, as the Draw was planning on beating Dave Crist with the Finger Poke of Doom.
As you can see, Dave wasn't excited about the idea, especially after he had his watch stolen by Fulton. However, he wound up going along with the plan, even if it didn't work out well.
Now, if you enjoyed the saga of Tessa Blanchard and Sami Callihan, don't worry. We're nowhere near finished with that story. Tonight, the two enemies were forced to team together in hopes of challenging for the World Title. And though Blanchard earned Callihan's respect at Slammiversary, that doesn't mean they like each other.
That was evident when Callihan refused to let Blanchard in for the majority of the match, trying to hog all the spotlight while getting a quick pin with the Finger Poke of Doom. However, Trey of the Rascalz quickly broke up that spot, forcing Callihan and Crist to actually compete in the match.
From here, it was a great back and forth of Crist and Callihan trying not to attack each other while also trying not to lose. Callihan would focus on Trey while Crist went after Blanchard. Crist even ended up following Trey's orders, something which came naturally due to the fact that Trey dressed up like Callihan for the occasion.
From the entrances to the finish, this was funny, entertaining, and a highly competitive match. While I can't say it was the match of the night, it was definitely my favorite part of the show.