IMPACT! Wrestling Review - February 2, 2021

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Havok def. Impact Knockouts Tag Team Champion Tasha Steelz

I really didn't want this feud to continue after Fire 'N Flava beat Havok and Nevaeh (again) for the Impact Knockouts Tag Team Championship at Hard to Kill, but I guess it is, even though IMPACT has other female teams that can fight for the titles. This was designed to give Havok and Nevaeh a bit of a boost, so it worked in that respect. The match itself was fine but nothing worth writing home about.

Josh Alexander def. Madman Fulton

I fully expected Fulton to beat Alexander as IMPACT has never shown much interest in pushing Alexander on his own, but that may change based on his victory here. They had a solid match and I'm glad Alexander finally won a singles match for once, but it didn't mean as much as it should have because Fulton loses way more than he should. I'm all for Ace Austin being protected, but the monster heel shouldn't be beaten decisively so often if he's supposed to be taken seriously.

Matt Cardona Saved Eddie Edwards From Brian Myers and Hernandez

Myers came out wearing an eyepatch after what Edwards did to him a week or two ago, which was funny. It's cool that Myers is getting more of a chance to shine as a singles star, though his apparent alliance with Hernandez is completely random. I don't mind Hernandez, but this is an odd use of him. He's probably only there so we can get Myers and Hernandez vs. Edwards and Cardona in a tag team match at No Surrender. Seeing Cardona and Myers as opponents is going to be interesting.

Larry D def. Crazzy Steve

Rosemary scared XXXL backstage a few weeks ago, so that led to Larry D taking on Steve here. There honestly wasn't anything more to it than that. XXXL has grown on me and Steve is better off with Rosemary as Decay, but I can't say this is a rivalry I'm overly invested in. Even though the match was whatever, I was glad that it was kept relatively short and sweet, ensuring it didn't overstay its welcome.

Jordynne Grace def. Susan

Susan is more entertaining than Su Yung in my opinion, but at least Su Yung can have competitive matches. Susan is meant to be more of a character, not a wrestler. Thus, this was a fairly straightforward squash for Grace despite the constant interference at ringside from Deonna Purrazzo and Kimber Lee. ODB returned and made the save for the babyfaces afterward, seemingly setting up a six-woman tag team match for No Surrender.

Rohit Raju def. Impact X-Division Champion TJP (Non-Title)

I guess IMPACT has just accepted that TJP is Manik, despite it previously being established that TJP couldn't contend for the Impact X-Division Championship when Raju was champion. Nonetheless, these two continue to work well together. Raju has improved from a character standpoint in such a short span of time that I'm glad he's going to stay in the title picture for a little longer. What I don't care about, however, is the return of Mahabali Shera. I honestly forgot he was still on the roster. That dude is not good.

Moose and Chris Bey def. Impact World Champion Rich Swann and Tommy Dreamer

Swann and Dreamer will be fighting for the Impact World Championship at No Surrender next weekend while Moose and Bey both have established issues with Swann, so this match made sense. Dreamer is best when limited in matches like this when his partner(s) can do most of the work. This was a well-wrestled main event with a surprising outcome. I didn't expect Moose to pin Swann, but it allowed him to maintain momentum and remind viewers that he has a title shot coming his way sooner rather than later.

Overall Show

No Surrender is coming up next weekend, so you had to figure more matches would be made official for the card on this show and that's exactly what happened. Unfortunately, there wasn't anything must-see about this episode. There were storyline advancements and decent matches yet nothing worth going out of your way to check out. It wasn't a bad show but rather a minor misstep after two newsworthy ones. Of everything announced for next week, I'm looking forward to The Good Brothers vs. Chris Sabin and James Storm for the Impact World Tag Team Championship the most.