IMPACT! Wrestling Review - March 1, 2018

​By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Tyrus def. Ethan Carter III

This served as the follow-up to Tyrus turning on EC3 last week, apparently making him a babyface in the process. I was a big Tyrus fan years ago, but I feel it's far too late to start pushing him as a singles act. I realize EC3 is slowly being phased out, but having him lose to Tyrus just seems shortsighted. Despite EC3's best efforts, this match wasn't anything above average. I'm curious as to whether this served as EC3's swan song from the company or if he still has more on-air appearances with the promotion in the can.

AAA Latin American Champion El Hijo del Fantasma def. Braxon Sutter (Non-title)

Sutter hadn't been seen in months on IMPACT, and although he was teasing a heel turn prior to his disappearance, his post-match meltdown felt premature. As a match, though, this was perfectly solid. Fantasma scored a rebound victory following his recent loss to Taiji Ishimori while the defeat caused Sutter to go off the deep end. Afterward, Cage shut him up with a quick beatdown.

Kongo Kong def. Joseph Park

Park still refuses to revert back to his Abyss persona to rival Kong and Jimmy Jacobs, so it was no surprise that he was promptly squashed by Kong here, as he should have been. If the company really wants to build up Kong as an unstoppable monster, that's how you do it. Park refused to fight back afterward, so he simply ate another beating and that was it. I appreciated that this was kept short and sweet.

Rosemary def. Hania in a No Disqualification Match

The last match Rosemary and Hania had was fairly decent, and this was more of the same. Hania definitely stands out with her attitude and appearance, but unfortunately, nothing she's done in the ring has impressed me all that much so far. Perhaps it was for the better that this matchup was on the shorter side because this feud hasn't had a ton of juice for the most part. The real rivalry is Rosemary vs. Taya Valkryie, who returned post-match to attack Rosemary. If you can recall, they were originally scheduled to do battle at Bound for Glory last year, but visa issues caused the program to be put on hold.

Allie Crashed Impact Knockouts Champion Laurel Van Ness' Commitment Ceremony

The whole purpose of this was to play off Van Ness' lack of success with weddings in IMPACT and mock her and the Impact Knockouts Championship joining as "one." K.M. played minister, which was interesting, and he actually did a pretty good job in the role. As expected, Allie crashed the segment and furthered the feud between herself and Van Ness in the process. Since Van Ness is on her way out of the company, Allie should be the one to take the title from her ultimately in my opinion.

Eddie Edwards def. Sami Callihan

I was shocked oVe never ended up interfering in this main event, but I say that as a positive because it allowed them to go all out and deliver a fun matchup. Their similar fast-paced styles gelled well together and I liked how they made it feel personal. Edwards won in clean fashion, but Callihan got the last laugh by ambushing him with a slew of weapons afterward, so that storyline will continue.

Overall Show

While this week's edition of IMPACT didn't feel as focused or as newsworthy as past weeks, it was a solid show overall. Then again, I figured it would be with the Crossroads special next week, and that could be an entertaining episode based off what's on tap. Honestly, only the main event is worth watching from this show, but this episode did effectively hype up the loaded Crossroads special for next Thursday night.