IMPACT! Wrestling Review - January 21, 2020

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Trey Saved Impact World Champion Tessa Blanchard From Impact X-Division Champion Ace Austin and Impact Knockouts Champion Taya Valkyrie

Blanchard's promo to kick off the show was decent, but nothing game-changing like you would expect from the first female world champion in the company's history. Her sit-down interview last week (which was interrupted by Sami Callihan) was much better. I honestly thought Valkyrie and Austin were better here as they brought up all the times they've beaten Blanchard in the past. That brought out Trey (who has been feuding with Austin for a while now) to even the odds and set the stage for the main event.

Taurus def. Rhino and Moose in a Three-Way Match

Taurus has made a handful of appearances on IMPACT! in the past and isn't half bad, but this was a pretty lame match. It felt like they were fighting for 15 minutes for no reason at all. They brawled and then brawled some more. I was bored for almost all of it. I don't mind Taurus winning since they're in Mexico and maybe Moose will come back and beat him on an upcoming episode, but at least Moose wasn't pinned.

Joey Ryan def. Maximo

Joey Ryan matches two weeks in a row on IMPACT! Wrestling? What did I do to deserve this? In all seriousness, this was perfectly fine but felt like filler. The crowd was into Maximo, but aside from the commentators' brief introduction to him, most viewers probably had no idea who he was (I know I sure didn't). If nothing else, it was kept on the shorter side and didn't overstay its welcome.

Havok def. Rosemary

I don't think I have yet to see an above-average match from these two together. The "Dark War" crap has lasted way longer than it should and Rosemary has definitely lost a step or two since returning from injury last year. As for Havok, I find most of her matches to be sloppy and this was no exception. The crowd sat on their hands for this and I don't blame them one bit. I really just want this feud to end so we can all move on.

Willie Mack def. Rohit Raju

Rich Swann is still hurt from Hard to Kill weekend, and considering this was taped soon after, I doubt we'll see him back in the ring before the end of this set of tapings from Mexico. As a result, Mack is flying solo for the time being. There was no way he was losing to Raju, but he probably could have won quicker than he did. There wasn't anything technically wrong with the match, but it wasn't anything out of the ordinary, either. Following Mack's victory, Mahabali Shera laid him and Johnny Swinger (who tried to make the save for some reason).

Impact X-Division Champion Ace Austin and Impact Knockouts Champion Taya Valkyrie def. Impact World Champion Tessa Blanchard and Trey

Although this was the best thing on the show by a wide margin, that isn't saying much. It was an enjoyable albeit fairly basic mixed tag team main event with Blanchard's hot tag being the highlight. I'm honestly slightly surprised that Blanchard lost in her first match as champion (and how it wasn't because of Callihan). I'd argue that maybe it was done to establish the heels as being next in line for a shot at her title, but Austin pinned Trey, so I'm not sure where Blanchard factors into any of  this.

Overall Show

IMPACT! is almost always a solid to strong show, but this episode was a letdown. I expected much more coming off Hard to Kill, but it felt phoned in and nothing was overly memorable whatsoever. Some feuds progressed, but not in an exciting way. Here's hoping they can get back on track next week. On the bright side, the environment in Mexico is cool and different, even if it this crowd wasn't the hottest at certain points.