IMPACT! Wrestling Review - March 15, 2019

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

oVe def. Impact X-Division Champion Rich Swann. Willie Mack and Tommy Dreamer

I've enjoyed every interaction Swann and Mack have had with oVe in recent months and this was another quality contest from them. It had a nice pace and was the best possible way to kick off the show. Even Dreamer was decent whenever he was in there, but I'm still surprised he's wrestling as regularly as he has been for IMPACT lately. oVe going over was the right call to set up Swann vs. Sami Callihan for the X-Division title next week.

Glenn Gilbertti def. Kikutaro

Gilbertti will be facing Scarlet Bordeaux at the Against All Odds coming up, so in order to establish him as a "threat," he was put against Kikutaro, who is complete comic relief and could afford losing to Disco Inferno past his prime. This was exactly what you would expect it to be (therefore none of it was to be taken seriously), giving Gilbertii a "credible" win ahead of his match with Bordeaux.

Fallah Bahh and KM def. Reno Scum

A few weeks back, Reno Scum returned to IMPACT and lost to KM and Bahh before turning heel by attacking them afterward. I assumed Reno Scum would get their win back, but apparently not. The match was perfectly fine but too short to be anything special. Unless Reno Scum's latest stint with the company is meant to be short-lived, the outcome was certainly questionable.

Jordynne Grace def. Tessa Blanchard in an Impact Knockouts Championship No. 1 Contender's Match

This is a feud I could definitely see happening over the Knockouts Championship at some point. They work really well together and this was a terrific match from them. Blanchard has been desperate for months to get back into the Knockouts title picture, so it made total sense for her to lose her mind following her loss to Grace. As had been previously teased, it looks like she'll be in a program with Gail Kim going forward, which has a lot of promise.

Eddie Edwards and Eli Drake def. Desi Hit Squad

Edwards and Drake teamed up once before and actually showed plenty of chemistry as partners, so I'm all for them becoming allies for the foreseeable future. As I've noted many times in the past, Desi Hit Squad do nothing for me, but Edwards and Drake carried them to a fun little match and were able to further their storyline with Drake helping Edwards win for them by throwing in "Kenny" (the kendo stick).

Impact World Champion Johnny Impact vs. Brian Cage Went to a No Contest

It became pretty clear the closer the end of the show came that this world title main event wasn't happening, but the angle they ran instead was excellent. Killer Kross brought an injured Impact down to the ring, and after Taya Valkyrie was successfully able to get Cage to save Impact on Kross, she and Impact blindsided him. You had to know the heel turn from them was coming eventually, but I thought the execution here was really well done.

Overall Show

This was a fairly focused edition of IMPACT! Wrestling, and although they didn't deliver on the big main event, it was still a newsworthy ending to the night. The rest of the show was solid with Edwards and Drake remaining a cohesive unit, Grace earning a shot at the Knockouts title, and Swann and Callihan hyping their upcoming X-Division Championship clash. I didn't care too much for the other stuff, but they didn't detract from the episode, either.