IMPACT! Wrestling Review - February 18, 2020

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

TJP def. Impact World Tag Team Champion Josh Alexander

It looked like The North was headed toward a feud with Fallah Bahh and TJP and I'm glad that's the case. I don't know if the match has been done yet (let alone for the Impact World Tag Team Championship), but it has the potential to be a blast. This was an excellent opening match as TJP and Alexander worked well together. The clash of styles made this entertaining and TJP barely scoring the victory protected Alexander in defeat.

Willie Mack def. Johnny Swinger

Swinger has been trying to team up with Mack for a while now and they actually fell short of victory the last time they teamed together, so hopefully them going one-on-one here means that alliance is over. Swinger does nothing for me personally, but as a short and sweet squash for Mack, this was fine. I assume this program is a placeholder for him until Rich Swann is cleared to compete again, whenever that may be.

Madison Rayne def. Mazzerati

This was an open challenge from Rayne to anyone in the back. I've never heard of Mazzerati before, but apparently she's from the Las Vegas area. This didn't last long at all, but she looked good in defeat. If this was designed to be a tryout of sorts for her, I'd say she passed with flying colors, though I'd have to see more from her to get a better grasp on how good she truly is. This open challenge gimmick for Rayne has potential if there's nothing else for her to do at the moment.

Eddie Edwards def. Michael Elgin in Match #3 in the Best of 5 Series

We've seen so many matches between these two over the last two months, yet I'm not sick of seeing them against each other at all. Their matches are always entertaining and this was no exception as their chemistry continues to be super strong. It also had a nice story to it with Edwards having to fight from underneath having been down in the Best of 5 Series by two wins, but his victory here ensured that it isn't over yet. Needless to say, I expect this to last the full five matches, though I'm not completely positive who will go over in the end.

Rhino def. Dave Crist

Rhino will be facing Moose in one more match at the Sacrifice event coming up, so this was designed to be a warm-up for him. Of course, Crist never stood a chance, so this was more about reestablishing Rhino as a force to be reckoned with. Crist played his role well and I'm glad this didn't overstay its welcome. Here's hoping Moose can defeat Rhino decisively again and we can move on from this feud once and for all.

Impact X-Division Champion Ace Austin and Reno Scum def. Impact World Champion Tessa Blanchard, Trey and Tommy Dreamer

I've ranted plenty about Dreamer competing so frequently in IMPACT main events in 2020 that there's no use in ranting about it again here. I like the dude, but enough is enough. Thankfully, he was kept limited thanks to Blanchard and Trey doing a majority of the work for their team. I'm not the biggest Reno Scum fan, but they held their own and the action was enjoyable on the whole. The heels going over was the right call as Austin builds momentum toward a title shot against Blanchard.

Overall Show

As I said several times, I was not a fan of the set of tapings IMPACT did in Mexico following Hard to Kill. I didn't mind the involvement of AAA talent, but a lot of them (if not all of them) won't be on IMPACT programming going forward, so what was the point? Not many feuds were effectively progressed and there weren't many (if any) memorable matches. This show, however, featured two terrific matches with Edwards vs. Elgin and TJP vs. Alexander. The six-person tag team main event also served its purpose. The build and hype for Sacrifice has been decent so far, but I'm looking forward to Rebellion in April more, largely because I plan on attending.