IMPACT! Wrestling Review - February 9, 2021

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Trey Miguel, Willie Mack, Josh Alexander and Suicide def. Blake Christian, Ace Austin, Chris Bey and Daivari

This Triple Threat Revolver match coming up at No Surrender sounds like a complete mess on paper. I trust the talent involved to make it work, but IMPACT's "innovative" ideas have been very hit or miss over the years. If nothing else, this was a solid showcase for everyone that's going to be a part of it. It was a fairly formulaic multi-man tag team matchup for the first half, but the second half was a blast with all eight guys getting a chance to shine. Sami Callihan called out Miguel afterward to follow up their interaction backstage last week, so they're clearly headed for a feud.

Kimber Lee def. ODB

This was ODB's first IMPACT match in over a year. She's a memorable character, but she certainly isn't the greatest women's wrestler out there. Lee is skilled, but this felt like it plodded along until the interference at ringside that allowed Lee to pick up the victory. You'd think ODB would win her first match back (especially since Lee loses more than she wins), but apparently not. Regardless, we're getting a six-woman tag team match with ODB, Jordynne Grace and Jazz against Lee, Deonna Purrazzo and Susan at No Surrender.

Violent By Design Attacked Cousin Jake

It was teased that Jake might end up joining Violent By Design, but I'm glad he's flying solo instead. I believe this was the most I've ever heard him speak and he actually did pretty well. He needs a new name now that The Deaners are no more, but I really hope it's not Jake Something permanently because that would be stupid. This was a solid segment that set up Jake vs. Deaner for No Surrender. It would have meant more if Deaner didn't beat Jake in a matter of minutes on a recent edition of IMPACT! Wrestling.

Nevaeh def. Impact Knockouts Champion Kiera Hogan by Disqualification

After Havok beat Tasha Steelz last week, you had to know Nevaeh would follow that up with a win of her own over Hogan this week. It ended up being by disqualification, which was even worse because there wasn't much of a reason for Hogan to be protected. In fact, there isn't much of a reason for this rivalry to still be happening, either. Scott D'Amore announced that the two teams will meet yet again in a No Disqualification match for the Impact Knockouts Tag Team Championship at No Surrender. That better be it because I couldn't care less about these heel teams feuding.

Black Taurus def. Kaleb with a K

XXXL, Tenille Dashwood and Kaleb have their issues with Decay and thus Kaleb issued a challenge to Decay for an impromptu match. I figured it would be accepted by Crazzy Steve, but AAA's Black Taurus was a pleasant surprise. He's appeared on IMPACT! Wrestling before, and while he's no Abyss and is an odd fit for Decay, he's damn good and looked dominant as hell here. Hopefully this means we'll be getting more of him in IMPACT going forward.

Chris Sabin and James Storm def. Impact World Tag Team Champions The Good Brothers by Disqualification

Even though I didn't expect the tag titles to change hands days before No Surrender, I was really looking forward to this match as Sabin and Storm have terrific chemistry together and The Good Brothers have been entertaining since turning heel again. This was going well up until the interference from Private Party, which caused the contest to be thrown out. This didn't have a chance to reach that next gear, but it did serve as a nice preview of Saturdays' Triple Threat tag title match (yes, it's now a Triple Threat with all three teams due to Private Party's actions).

Moose Crashed the No Surrender Contract Signing Between Impact World Champion Rich Swann and Tommy Dreamer

The birthday messages from IMPACT and AEW wrestlers throughout the show were nice, but this segment was really what sold me on Swann vs. Dreamer at No Surrender. Swann didn't say much of anything and needed to hit a home run here but didn't, but thankfully, Dreamer carried the segment with yet another outstanding passionate promo. Few are better at it than him, and everything he said was spot on. Look, I still don't think Dreamer needs to be on IMPACT TV every week or competing on pay-per-views in 2021, but this has a wonderful story behind it and he's held up his end of it. I also liked how Moose crashed the contract signing as a reminder to Swann that he owes him a title shot. I'm glad that's not just being forgotten about until No Surrender is over.

Overall Show

No Surrender is an Impact Plus live special on Saturday night, not a traditional pay-per-view, yet it's been built like one over the past few weeks. That's damn impressive. The final hype for Swann vs. Dreamer was excellent, the three-way tag title match should be awesome, and Deaner vs. Jake has history behind it. Even TJP vs. Rohit Raju should be a well-wrestled affair. This edition of IMPACT! Wrestling more than did its job of leaving me more excited for the event than I was previously and moving all of the key storylines along. There weren't any standout matches on this show, but the action was enjoyable enough, thus making for a strong show.