IMPACT! Wrestling Review - February 8, 2018

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Impact Grand Champion Matt Sydal and Impact X-Division Champion Sonjay Dutt def. AAA Latin American Champion El Hijo del Fantasma and Rohit Raju

Raju is the former Hakim Zane and will apparently be embracing his Indian culture going forward as part of a new faction called Desi Hit Squad. Fantasma isn't a part of that stable, but he is getting a championship match against Fantasma next week. At any rate, this was a fun little sprint from the X-Division (?) guys and a good win for the pair of champions. That being said, why have the challenger lose one week ahead of his shot at the X-Division title?

Trevor Lee and Caleb Konley def. TECH

Lee and Konley spent their entrance as well as a majority of the matchup mocking LAX, who they attacked last week. TECH was a glorified enhancement tandem, but they sold well for the offense of the heels. Konnan sent a message on the big screen afterward and LAX chased the heels off from the ring before they could brawl. This was a simple and effective way of furthering their feud over the Impact World Tag Team Championship.

Impact Knockouts Champion Laurel Van Ness def. Kiera Hogan

Their match last week was basically an extended squash match in favor of Van Ness before Hogan scored the upset victory, but this was a much more competitive contest. While she didn't do anything that was overly impressively, Hogan had a solid showing and looked good in defeat. The real focus was on Allie saving Hogan during the post-match and laying out Van Ness, so expect them to meet in a rematch for the title some point soon.

Hania def. Amber Nova

I've never seen any of Hania's matches from the independent scene, but I have heard of her, whereas Nova is a new name to me. They put together a pretty decent match, but the crowd couldn't have cared less about this. Perhaps it's because they weren't familiar with these women, either, but you could have heard a pin drop during this bout. Hania has a great presence about her and putting her in a program with Rosemary will help her improve, so I have hope she'll work out in the long-run.

Johnny Impact def. Ethan Carter III, Alberto El Patron and Moose in an Impact World Championship No. 1 Contender's Four-Way Match

The fact that the outcome of this match wasn't predictable made it infinitely more enjoyable for me. But even from an in-ring standpoint, this was a high quality main event with all four wrestlers working well together and getting their chance to shine at one point or another. No one was down for a substantial period of time (except when Moose got legitimately hurt yet still worked the rest of the matchup), so the pace was kept consistent throughout. Impact vs. Austin Aries should be a hell of a contest for the Impact World Championship.

Overall Show

One thing I will say about this recent reboot of IMPACT is that the last two shows have felt much more focused on the in-ring action and less on pointless segments and filler. This wasn't the most exciting episode on the whole, but it was a solid show that featured an average undercard and an entertaining main event, which is worth checking out. Next week, we'll see Austin Aries vs. Eli Drake in a rematch for the Impact World Championship, Ishimori vs. Fantasma for the Impact X-Division Championship, Rosemary vs. Hania, Cage debuting, and the reveal of Allie's secret "admirer."