Every now and then, a wrestling company will put out something that isn’t directly related to what’s going on in its schedule but features its talent. A good example of this was Impact Wrestling’s One Night Only shows. Another is Southpaw Regional Wrestling in WWE back in 2017
As a matter of fact, it was so entertaining that I wanted more of that and less of what was going on with RAW and SmackDown. And that was a parody done by fun by wrestlers who had free time and were just having fun with it.
Now, I’m glad WWE didn’t run with it because if Big Bartholemew never claimed the SRW championship, I would’ve lost it. I kid you not, that country boy had a future if the company didn’t shut down.
Impact Wrestling Goes Old School
That brings me to Impact Wrestling. On November 26, they ran a special Throwback Throwdown episode where Impact was presented as being set in 1983—arbitrary year, but alright—and called the Impact Provincial Wrestling Federation in Canada. I’m a fan of Stampede and Maple Leaf Wrestling so alright, let’s go. What do you got for me, Impact?
It turns out that they had quite a bit. The set was basically TV wrestling with a studio ring—the low ones—and the commentary desk near the entrance. Most of the Impact talent took on 80s gimmicks. So, you were basically getting a Canadian Southpaw Regional Wrestling if it was given a full show.
Most of the show was entertaining. You didn’t really go in expecting highly competitive matches but something more in line from what you would’ve gotten on TV in the 1980s. A focus on interviews and angles and not giving away PPV-quality matches on TV at the time.
High Spots of the Throwdown
The highlights included the invention of the DDT by Tessa Blanchard during the Rough Riders vs. Jim Nyasium, Tim, Jim and Phil Game match. Who knows how over it’ll be 36 years from now? You also had Muscles McGee (Brian Cage) defeating Kongo Kong in a body slam challenge for $3,000.
There was also an attack by the Soviets who had a Russian Chain. I’m glad this was included because it’s not an 80s show without at least Russians attacking, a Mongolian(?), and wildmen of questionable origin.
The night was capped off with “Downtown” Danny Brown (Willie Mack) defeating Julian (Ethan Page) for the International Provincial TV Title. Not even Julian’s manager Sonny Sanderson (Sami Callihan) could help him retain the belt. Bonus points to Sami dressing as Jim Cornette—whom he has beef with.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wt6EDRQwki8
The Southpaw Effect
After watching this, I had the same feeling I had when watching Southpaw Regional Wrestling. “I would gladly take this as regular Impact programming!” The thing is, Impact Wrestling has actually been solid at the moment. It’s not a bad program at all. It goes through moments where it’s like “Okay, let’s put a button on this and move on” but RAW has moments like that as well.
Honestly, it’s hard to avoid those feelings when sitting through a two-hour or more wrestling program. Throwback Throwdown just moves through well-paced segments fluidly and I didn’t feel like time was just being sapped away. If anything, I’d say that Impact Wrestling doesn’t need to just become the Impact Provincial Wrestling Federation and shoot it like the early 80s. Instead, they could just run with that pacing.
Keep the content and wrestling but kick it up a notch. That said, Throwback Throwdown was a fun show. It totally served its purpose as a special.
