IMPACT! Wrestling Review - March 2, 2021

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Ace Austin def. Chris Bey and Black Taurus in an Impact X-Division Championship No. 1 Contender's Three-Way Match

Although all three guys are heels, it added to the unpredictability surrounding the outcome because any one of them could have realistically faced TJP for the X-Division Championship. Part of me was pulling for a Taurus win because I think him vs. TJP would have been cool, but Austin was a logical winner since he won the Super X Cup and should have gotten his title shot a while ago. This was an entertaining opener from three talented up-and-comers.

Tenille Dashwood def. Havok

Dashwood has been poking and proding Defiance for a few weeks now because she can tell there's dissension in their ranks. She's been trying to attempt Havok to be her new partner, but I guess this match came about because Havok denied her offer. They had a perfectly solid match and Dashwood winning was the right call as she has more potential as a singles star. Nevaeh attacked Kaleb afterward, so does that mean we're headed toward Kaleb and Dashwood vs. Defiance?

Impact World Tag Team Champions The Good Brothers and FinJuice def. XXXL and Reno Scum

This was less about XXXL and Reno Scum and more about teasing tension between Good Brothers and FinJuice. Honestly, the match itself wasn't very good, but thankfully, it didn't last long. Good Brothers and FinJuice got into it backstage afterward and it was then that Good Brothers agreed to defend the Impact World Tag Team Championship against them at the upcoming Sacrifice special. It will be interesting to see if IMPACT pulls the trigger on a title change there or if Good Brothers will retain via nefarious means and that's where the blow-up happens.

Eddie Edwards def. Brian Myers by Disqualification (Matt Cardona Served as Special Guest Referee)

Myers is still wearing the eye patch despite Edwards "injuring" him weeks ago. Cardona called the match down the middle, and because he saw Myers load up his elbow pad, he disqualified Myers. I thought Myers would attack Cardona afterward, but I guess they're holding off on that for now. The matchup was well-wrestled, but it never felt like it reached that next gear, even though it went over 10 minutes. It progressed the story and that's fine, but Myers vs. Cardona is the focal point of the program while Edwards is an afterthought.

Impact Knockouts Champion Deonna Purrazzo def. Jordynne Grace and Impact Knockouts Tag Team Champion Kiera Hogan in a Three-Way Match

It was originally supposed to be Purrazzo and Grace one-on-one in the main event, but Hogan was added at Grace's request. It ended up backfiring on Grace as Tasha Steelz pulled Hogan out of the ring and allowed Purrazzo to roll up Grace for the win. Those two had a pair of terrific matches last summer, so I wasn't surprised they killed it again here with fellow top talent in Hogan also involved. This was an above-average main event and it was nice seeing the Knockouts back in the main event for a change. ODB emerged afterward to lay out Purrazzo and pose with the belt, so that appears to be the next title match at Sacrifice.

Overall Show

IMPACT has had a streak of strong shows lately and this continued that trend. The build to Sacrifice next Saturday has been very well done, and that's without any AEW talent around for the first time since early December (okay, so there's some NJPW talent, but that's a bit different). This edition of IMPACT! Wrestling in particular was very reliant on video packages and promo packages, but most of them served a purpose, progressed stories and were just a treat to watch, so the two hours were efficient as always. The opening and closing matches were especially entertaining this week. I say this a lot, but more people should really be tuning into IMPACT as there's some stuff worth investing in at the moment.