This week’s episode of Impact Wrestling was not great.

We only got three matches, none of which were particularly blow away, and the show felt every bit of the two hours. Still, some stuff got locked in for Rebellion at the end of the month so it’s not all bad.

One thing this week that stood out though was that segment involving Rosemary and Allie (plus Kiera Hogan, James Mitchell and Luchasaurus and the rest of the supporting cast). It was a segment that was definitely not for everyone, including this site’s very own doyen of all things TV wrestling, Mr. Joe Lanza.

I mean, you can see the man’s point of view, the segment was camp as anything and Allie literally died in Rosemary’s arms Lucha Underground style. Still, the segment popped a bigger number of Impact’s YouTube account than anything else last week, clocking 50,000 more views than the segment between Tessa Blanchard and Gail Kim.

For me personally, I thought the segment was fine, even enjoyable in some ways, and also poignant as it brought to an end Allie’s run with the company, easily one of the most interesting runs in a US promotion over the last few years, especially within the women’s division. Now, before I got attacked for not being woke or whatever to the women’s revolution and whatnot, I want to make myself clear. Whilst women’s wrestling in the big American promotions has undoubtedly got much more spotlight over the last five years and the talent on television week in, week out has improved considerably, the storytelling is still miles behind. Title programmes are often interesting and certain individuals are able to get themselves over in a compelling fashion (see Becky Lynch, Charlotte, Ronda Rousey, Tessa Blanchard), but secondary feuds are more often than not non-existent and when they are presented, they often follow the same tropey angles time and again.

With Allie, she managed to cover seemingly all bases during her run, becoming an organic crowd favorite and consistently being involved in non-title feuds that felt relevant, different and interesting.

Her official start with the company came in 2016, when she was aligned with Maria Kanellis and Sienna as Maria’s irritating heel assistant. In that role she was tremendous, being the perfectly over-the-top level of basic and thoroughly irritating with her screaming and squealing and consistent refrains of “Miss Maria, Miss Maria!”

Over the course of that alliance with Maria she endeared herself to the Impact fans, getting genuinely great babyface reactions when she somehow contrived to win her first Knockouts Championship and was then made to lay down for Maria the following week. The crowd was fully behind her when she covered Maria with a Pumpkin Pie on Thanksgiving 2016 and then during the only good wedding segment in Impact history, when Braxton Sutter turned on Laurel Van Ness and aligned himself with Allie.

Her on-screen alliance with Braxton amounted to very little but she emerged in 2017 as a singles competitor in Impact, getting the seal of approval from Gail Kim after Bound for Glory in November of that year after Gail’s company retirement (well, not anymore) match.

If 2017 was the year Allie emerged as a singles wrestler, 2018 was the year she became a company star in her own right. Embracing a greater sense of determination and vigor, she defeated Laurel Van Ness for the title last March, going on to hold the title until the end of May when she dropped it to Su Yung in a Last Rites match. During that run, she had defended it against Sienna, Taya Valkyrie and Su, with her reign ending at 102 days.

It had been through 2017 that Allie and Rosemary had formed an alliance, the first addressing of the rivalry the two had had on the independent scene before both were signed to Impact. Rosemary’s unfortunate ACL injury last year took her out of competition for the best part of 10 months and left Allie without a partner but that was channeled into a feud with Su Yung, showing consistent and interesting storytelling even if it wasn’t everyone’s cup of tea.

Allie also had some great interactions with Tessa Blanchard during the summer of 2018, most notably dropping a singles match to Tessa at Slammiversary in one of the company’s best women’s matches last year, before she fully entered into the Su storyline. It got corny, the dark realm stuff was a turn-off for some but at least they followed the story through to its conclusion and it consistently got good reactions online and at live events, so that must be respected.

Ultimately, we never got the singles matches or feud over a title between Allie and Rosemary that many had hoped for. This week’s segment too might have gone down a bit better had she not announced her move to All Elite Wrestling prior to its airing, but it was a dramatic end to one of the most interesting runs in the history of Impact’s women’s division and brought everything full circle over her three-year spell with the promotion.

Allie did everything from obnoxious, unaware heel to beloved babyface to cosplay of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and pretty much everything in between. Her run demonstrates both what a versatile worker she is and the potential anyone can have in a company when you try and push limits and do something different. The Bunny might have gone from Impact, but her legacy will be remembered, that’s for sure.

The Week in Review

  • As I said, this week wasn’t great. Still, Lucha Bros vs LAX IV is locked in for Rebellion in Full Metal Mayhem. Makes it all worth it really.
  • This was the last of the tapings from Vegas and the next four weeks will come from St. Clair College in Windsor, Ontario, Canada. Both nights of tapings were sold out so the crowd should be good.
  • Glad I was right about Tessa vs Gail. Not sure it’s what I want, but it is always nice to be right once in a while.
  • Line-up for next week is Willie Mack & Rich Swann vs Sami Callihan & Madman Fulton, Fallah Bahh vs Rohit Raju, the return of Madison Rayne and a six-man X-Division scramble featuring Petey Williams, Idris Abraham, Ace Austin, Aiden Prince, Trey and Jake Crist.

Well, until next time…