IMPACT! Wrestling Review - August 9, 2018

​By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Taiji Ishimori and Petey Williams def. Desi Hit Squad

Desi Hit Squad attacked Ishimori and Williams after a match they had against one another a few weeks back, hence the reason behind this bout. As I've said in the past, Desi Hit Squad is still a work in progress, but they have been making nice strides in recent weeks and working with different teams has helped with thatl. This was easily their best showing to date, largely thanks to their two talented opponents in Ishimori and Williams. The babyfaces had the experience advantage, but I question having them hand the up-and-coming tandem their first defeat.

Tessa Blanchard def. Alisha

Blanchard's aggression in the ring is so much fun to watch because it makes everything she does feel so real. Alisha is technically a rookie in the IMPACT world because we don't see her wrestle too often on TV, but she has actually been in the business for several years (I remember seeing her on independent shows dating as far back as 2010). This was a nice little match where Alisha scored some offense over Blanchard at various points, but Blanchard picked up the win as she should have.

Pentagon Jr. def. Matt Sydal

I was expecting a faster paced match from these two given their respective styles, but it was an enjoyable outing on the whole, nonetheless. Sydal is searching for his "third eye" coming off his loss of the Impact X-Division Championship, or something stupid like that, so I'm not entirely sure where he goes from here. Despite that, he and Pentagon worked well together and made the most of the ample amount of time they were given. Meanwhile, I'm really looking forward to that eventual rematch between Pentagon and Sami Callihan.

King and The OGz Interrupted Konnan and Impact Tag Team Champions LAX

This faction war with LAX and The OGz continues to get more and more heated by the week and I loved their chaotic brawl that kicked off the show. Their verbal exchange here was equally excellent and established that their bad blood is far from over. We'll see what else they can do to raise the bar following their fantastic match at Slammiversary, but I have hope they can pull off something even better/crazier.

Impact World Champion Austin Aries def. Eddie Edwards

Given Edwards' unhinged gimmick lately, this was less of a true wrestling match and more of an entertaining affair filled with shenanigans since Edwards is more of a tweener than a full-fledged babyface at the moment. It was a treat at times and too much at other times, and for whatever reason, I was slightly underwhelmed by this. Perhaps it was because the finish came across as flat with Killer Kross aiding Aries to victory and the crowd not knowing how to react, but I suspect it would have gone over a lot better if Aries was up against someone the fans were strongly behind right now.

Overall Show

I'm always a fan of the shows that take the "less is more" approach with a minimal amount of matches and segments, yet everything serves a purpose and is given enough time to breath. That was the case with this edition of IMPACT! Wrestling and it ended up being solid night of action. The world title main event wasn't what I hoped it would be, but at least it concluded with a cliffhanger that will leave viewers curious what's next for Aries and his apparent alliance with Kross.