Impact Wrestling
Friday, February 22nd, 2019
RESULTS:
*Killer Kross and Moose fought to a no contest in 4:14
*Trey Miguel and Dezmond Xavier over Desi Hit Squad in 6:12
*Eddie Edwards over Eli Drake in 10:00
*Alisha Edwards over Delilah Doom by DQ in 1:46
*Pentagon Jr. and Fenix over LAX to retain the Impact tag titles in 7:35
-The show built to the third match between Impact tag champions Pentagon Jr. and Fenix against LAX. Josh Mathews called it “the rematch of the century”, which was getting less than ten minutes. The match was nowhere near their last two but the angle at the end was great. Pentagon and Fenix won after Fenix hit a double foot stomp into the package piledriver by Pentagon onto Ortiz. After the match, Konnan wanted the sides to shake hands and LAX offered their hands in defeat. Pentagon and Fenix refused and got into their faces, leading to an attack by LAX and they unmasked the Lucha Brothers. I liked the closing angle a lot and allows the feud to continue and adding layers to the feud.
-The long-term chase is Brian Cage attempting to get his fair shot at Johnny Impact for the title but keeps getting diverted. On this episode, Johnny proposed they team together to eliminate Moose and Killer Kross and then he will get his title match. I assume that Johnny was proposing they kill the two because I’m not sure if losing a tag match is the deterrent Johnny imagines it to be. Cage called B.S. on the offer and Johnny presented him with a contract that guarantees the title match. After Lucha Underground, I hope Cage reads the contract and understands what he’s signing.
-Father Jim Mitchell was back, which is always great, and he had a negotiation with Rosemary. Jim Mitchell has Dark Allie under his spell and wants to also gain control of Rosemary for his “master” (Paul Heyman?). Rosemary is trying to regain possession of Allie, who is just standing around as they two are ironing out her property rights. They have agreed to a showdown where Rosemary will assemble her DARK ARMY and face Su Yung, Dark Allie, and the Undead Bride. If Rosemary wins, she gains control of Allie, but if Rosemary loses Mitchell gains control of her.
-Eddie Edwards defeated Eli Drake in the best match on the show. They went into near falls midway through the match, including Drake kicking out of a Tiger Driver and Edwards placed into a torture rack and slammed onto his front with a Burning Hammer set up. In the end, Edwards lost control of the kendo stick, ducked the object and pinned Drake with a jackknife cover. The idea being Edwards used a wrestling maneuver as he morphs back from the hardcore character.
-Rich Swann was in a hospital following last week’s attack by Sami Callihan when he was paid a visit by…Sami Callihan. He told Swann that when he was dealing with all his issues last year, Callihan called him from Japan and was there for him. Callihan said Swann is one of the most talented people he knows but isn’t living up to his potential. When the nurse informed Callihan he had to leave, not because he was the attacker, but only family is allowed there. Swann responded, “he is family” as Callihan left him with an oVe shirt.
-Alisha Edwards and Delilah Doom was not a very good match, but it was short and ended with Tessa Blanchard coming down and attacking Edwards. She then went after Doom, who got the offense in before she was hit with the Buzzsaw DDT and lost her balance during the set up of the move. Afterward, Doom challenged Blanchard to a match next week. Blanchard is building up her showdown with Gail Kim, accusing Impact’s management of protecting her.
-Glenn Gilbertti arrived at the building for his first day at work and got lost and locked himself out of the building.
-They aired a promo for Reno Scum returning next week and a vignette for Ace Austin.
-The positives from the show were the closing angle with the Lucha Brothers being unmasked and overall, a strong sense of where the long-term directions are. The pay-per-view isn’t until the end of April and without reading ahead you can see the breadcrumbs for all the keys matches. Impact taping in advance allows them to have a long-term vision that isn’t going to be screwed up along the way and that makes the weekly show easy to watch most weeks. This wasn’t an excellent show by any means, but an easy two hours to consume and know where the big programs are heading with movement among those stories week-by-week.
