IMPACT Crossroads Review - March 8, 2018

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Impact World Tag Team Champions LAX def. Cult of Lee

The match these two teams had a few weeks ago was a nice little outing, but I knew they were capable of more if given the time. Well, this was it. They had a great frantic pace going and this was all action from start to finish. This was also the perfect way to kick off the show, setting the tone for the rest of the night in the process. LAX retained the titles, but I wouldn't be opposed to these tandems having more matches in the future based off how well they worked together here.

Impact Grand Champion Matt Sydal def. Taiji Ishimori to Win the Impact X-Division Championship

Although the crowd didn't have any incentive to cheer for one babyface over the other, this was a very entertaining matchup, nonetheless. Their similar styles resulted in an exciting affair where it never felt like there was a dull moment. They also successfully followed the fun opener by producing what I would argue was an even better match. The audience was more into Ishimori than they were Sydal, but I believe Sydal is teasing a heel turn anyway and is a regular in IMPACT, so the right man won I thought.

Allie def. Laurel Van Ness to Win the Impact Knockouts Championship

Van Ness isn't the best technical wrestler, but she does excel at telling a story between the ropes, and I loved how she was in complete control of this contest of the most part by dominating Allie throughout. Allie withstood her offense and ultimately reigned supreme to take the title, which was a cool moment. It has been well-documented for months that Van Ness was on her way out of the organization, so having her do the honors for Allie prior to her departure was a smart move.

Lashley and Brian Cage def. oVe

The first three-quarters of this was basically a 2-on-1 Handicap match due to Eddie Edwards getting hurt last week at the hands of Sami Callihan and being forced to pull out of this bout, so it was fine. Lashley largely annihilated his opponents and made them look weak, but at least he didn't overcome the odds on his own. Cage aligned with Lashley to take out the tandem, only to tease tension with him afterward. That would be an awesome final feud for Lashley in IMPACT before he makes his exit.

Impact World Champion Austin Aries def. Johnny Impact

I was shocked to hear that this was the first ever one-on-one match between Aries and Impact, but I guess they were just never in the same place at the same time until now. That said, I was worried they wouldn't have strong chemistry off the bat, but that didn't turn out to be an issue at all. This was an excellent main event filled with suspenseful nearfalls down the stretch and a fantastic finishing sequence. Most importantly, there weren't any shenanigans, and that's rare for an IMPACT main event. Plus, we now know Alberto El Patron is next in line to challenge for the championship, so everything about this was handled exceptionally well.

Overall Show

For once, an IMPACT pseudo-pay-pay-per-view actually felt like a true pay-per-view, except that it was only two hours only. However, I wouldn't have had it any other way because there was no filler whatsoever and the show was very wrestling-heavy with every outing delivering and two titles changing hands. Even the Handicap match managed to set something up. IMPACT deserves credit for producing a hell of an episode here and I hope they can do more shows like this in the future. Also, in case you missed it, Feast or Fired will be back next week as well.