IMPACT! Wrestling Review - April 5, 2018

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Brian Cage def. Lashley

Lashley was desperate to avenge his loss against Cage from last week, but he was once again unsuccessful in beating him, losing clean for the second straight week. I wasn't sure whether that match would mark the end of Lashley in IMPACT, and it obviously wasn't, but maybe this will be. It didn't feel like it, and the commentators mentioned Cage was now 2-0 over Lashley, so I assume the rivalry is not yet over. I actually enjoyed this encounter slightly more than their original outing with both men having solid showings.

Impact Knockouts Champion Allie def. Su Young by Disqualification (Non-title)

Although Allie was her typical innocent self while calling out Young beforehand, she did show some fire for a change, so that was appreciated. This turned out to be more of an angle than an actual match to ensure their feud was furthered effectively, but what we did see from them in the ring against each other was good, meaning the eventual rematch could be even better. Young's attack on Allie caused her to be disqualified, but it also allowed her to maintain heat.

Tyrus Saved Richard Justice and Fallah Bahh From K.M. and Cult of Lee

K.M. spent the first several minutes of this segment running down Justice in an attempt to make people feel sympathetic toward the "standby wrestler," but it lasted a little too long and, I don't know, K.M. just doesn't do it for me. It did serve a purpose, though, as the equally big duo of Bahh and Tyrus made the save and fended off the heels. These six will meet in a tag team match on next week's show.

Johnny Impact def. Taiji Ishimori

Ishimori has basically been floundering since dropping the Impact X-Division Championship recently, but at least you can always count on him for a quality contest. He and Impact worked well together here and produced an entertaining match with the right man going over. Afterward, Kongo Kong and Jimmy Jacobs emerged, so that appears to be the next program for Impact moving forward.

Eli Drake def. Moose in a Case vs. Case Match

These two didn't have a ton of time to deliver the match I know they're capable of, but to their credit, they maximized their minutes and had nice of a bout as possible in spite of the interference from Sami Callihan, oVe and Eddie Edwards. I'm genuinely surprised Drake ended up capturing both Feast or Fired cases, if only because it looked liked Moose was being groomed for that top spot eventually and Drake had his time in the main event scene. That said, I'm pleased with this development, because it allows Drake to get back in the world picture where he belongs, and he can also chase the Impact World Tag Team Championship in the meantime. As for Moose, I have zero clue where he goes from here.

Overall Show

No, there weren't a ton of matches on this show, but there wasn't an unnecessary amount of filler, either. It felt like IMPACT killed a decent chunk of time with the lengthy Austin Aries and Alberto El Patron video package, which was great, and the replay of the Kurt Angle vs. Jay Lethal matches from years ago, which was a waste. Nevertheless, I liked the simplistic approach to this episode with most of the segments mattering and building toward next week, the WrestleCon event on Friday, or the Redemption pay-per-view later this month.