IMPACT! WRESTLING - March 8, 2019

IMPACT! WRESTLING – March 8, 2019:  The Dark War arrives, we check on the status of World Champion Johnny Impact, Ethan Page looks to Rich Swann and his X-Division Title, and the Lucha Bros do battle with The Rascalz.  PLUS – The Smokeshow herself appears, and info on AGAINST ALL ODDS as well as Glenn Gilbertti’s adventures on still trying to find his role with IMPACT Wrestling.

Ethan Page and Rich Swann kick off this week’s set of matches, as Page is looking to make his mark in the X-Division by taking down the reigning champion.  Page came out to battle as he takes the fight to Swann.  Rich tries to get some offense in, but Page has control of the match at this juncture, working Swann’s back with a slam, and several forearms on Swann’s back.  Problem with All Ego in this match is that he’s too busy interacting with the fans instead of keeping his focus on Swann.  Swann finally gets the upper hand, and works Page down, gets to the top rope, and lands a splash, but Page kicks out at 2.  Swann goes high again, but Page hits into the ref, distract Swann, and then get to Swann, and toss him off the top rope with an arm pull.  Page goes for a pin, but Swann kicks out.  Page and Swann fight back, and Swann lights Page up with a superkick, then lands the Phoenix Splash for the pin and the win.  But Swann doesn’t get time to celebrate as Sami Callahan and OVE come out, and Sami says tonight is the night that he joins OVE.  He’s got an OVE shirt ready to go.  Sami tells Rich that family is everything, and join OVE.  Rich hugs Sami Callahan, and OVE is happy.  Rich puts on the shirt, and OVE is stoked.  But out of nowhere, Swann superkicks Callahan in the back of the head, delivers a double cutter to the Crist brothers, and rolls out of the ring, tearing the OVE shirt off…they’ll be no “coming home” for Swann this time.

We’re backstage with LAX.  Konnan is telling Santana and Ortiz to let him do his job and talk to the Lucha Bros about a rematch for the belts.  Josh and Matt then go over what happened with Johnny last week, as well as Brian Cage.  Mr. “Ace” Reporter Miles Hernandez back there intervenes while the medical staff is checking Brian over, and he gets in Cage’s grill about not getting the job done.  Just then, the doctor and a ref come and usher the guy away, while Brian continues to get checked out.

Ace Austin is up next, making his IMPACT debut with Jake Atlas. Austin is on top of the match early with Atlas, as they trade moves back and forth.  Austin then gets the advantage in the match and works Austin over with some chops in the corner.  Austin then kicks Atlas away from the corner, and springboards into another kick to gain the edge.  But Jake Atlas once again regains control.  He gets a pin attempt, but Austin kicks out.  Both men putting on a good show.  Austin once again gets the edge, and comes out of the corner with a big running blockbuster, and gains the pin.  Great debut for Ace Austin tonight.  Jake Atlas also had a great performance. 

Hernandez…Mr. “Ace” Reporter here, talking to Taya and Johnny about Johnny’s injury.  He’s goading Johnny about his injury and letting Cage down.  Taya stands by her man, and says that they’re talking about a neck fusion for him.  Johnny says that no matter what…he owes Cage a title shot, and he’ll get it.

We get a Reno Scum promo where they accept KM & Fallah Bahh’s challenge for a rematch, saying that their win last week was a fluke.

Alisha Edwards comes out with an important announcement.  She says her contract with IMPACT is up, and as fun as she has had entertaining everyone, she feels it might be time to start a family.  Just then the Desi Hit Squad hit the ring, and begin to berate her, and tell her that she has no business being in the ring, and that she belongs in the home providing for her man.  As Gama begins to tell her off, she slaps him.  The Hit Squad then corner her and look like they’ll attack her, when Eddie Edwards comes to the ring with Kenny, and nails the Hit Squad.  He then gets Singh in the corner, and is about to smack him with Kenny, but the Hit Squad attack him and get him down.  And when they’re about to put the finishing touches on Eddie, when Eli Drake shows up.  And He says he’s been waiting for a long time to do this, and when the Hit Squad thinks he’ll drill Eddie, he attacks them instead, and they end up clearing the ring.

We get Hernandez again outside the IMPACT offices, and Brian Cage comes out, and Hernandez is quickly in his face about the title match, and plays him a recording, and Cage calls him a troll, and tells him to beat it.

Backstage after the altercation, Alisha tries to convince Eddie to team up with Eli, since he’s the only one willing to.  Eddie says thank you to Eli for the save, but still feels him and Kenny are okay.  Eli says he’s not looking to be a hero, but feels they have something where they can chase tag team gold.  He goes on to say that he can make a match with the Desi Hit Squad next week.  Alisha convinces Eddie to tag with Eli, and Eddie agrees.  Eli says if it doesn’t work out, they part, but if it does…see where it goes.

Melissa is backstage with Moose & Kross and they talk about what happened last week with Johnny’s injury and busting Cage open.  They mock the duo they put down last week, and Moose calls the champ “Johnny Neckbrace”, and Kross reminds them that if THEY are not getting title shots…NO ONE is.  Moose then tries to hit on Melissa…but she flat turns him down.

The Rascalz are back, and it’s another stoner segment…something about a bear and being super heroes. Dez comes up with a couple of masks, and the boys then joke about Moose’s outfit.  I am still searching for a point to these segments…they’re not funny.

It’s time for the Dark War, as Su Yung, Dark Allie, James Mitchell, and an Undead Bride make their way to the ring.  Kiera, Jordynne, and Rosemary all make their way to the ring separately.  Rosemary waves a collar and leash in front of Allie…letting her know her fate should they gain victory in the match.  The match begins with all six ladies going at it in the ring.  Kiera goes to work on Su Yung early, and then Allie tags in.  Kiera then tags in Rosemary, and the two face off, but not long enough, as Allie quickly tags back in Su Yung.  Then her and Rosemary go at it.  The Demon Assassin’s team is showing great teamwork, as they get the edge on Su. 

Back from the break, and Su Yung and Allie have taken control of the match and are working Kiera Hogan over.  Allie is now in the ring kicking Kiera when she tags in Su.  Su gets Kiera in a cross faced backbreaker maneuver.  Su then hangs Kiera on her back, stretching out the pain on Kiera more, when she tags in Allie.  Allie continues to punish Kiera.  Kiera fights back and gets Allie down, but is far from her corner.  But she tags Rosemary.  Rosemary and Allie face off, but Su tries to interfere, and Rosemary knocks her down.  She then gets after Allie, but Allie manages to escape.  Su gets Rosemary in a sidewalk slam.  Su gets Rosemary in a Panic Switch, but can’t get the pin.  Things get crazy as all ladies enter the ring.  Jordan lands her slam.  The Undead Maid of Honor then tries to hold Rosemary, so that Su can spray her mist into her eyes, but she misses, and hits the Maid.  Rosemary than lands a spear to the Maid of Honor, and scores the pin!  The Dark War is over, and Allie now belongs to The Demon Assassin.  Jordynne and Kiera hold onto Allie, as Rosemary puts on the leash.  She then leads Allie to the back, claiming her prize in the war.  Allie still feels the connection to Su, but is dragged away by Rosemary. 

Backstage, and Disco Gilbertti is still trying to find and talk to the IMPACT management, not happy with being the clown of the company and Konnan tells him the office is down the hall, go and cut a promo on Don Callis’ ass. He enters, calling Callis a bald bitch, but it’s Killer Kross who gets up, none too pleased.  Gilbertti tries to apologize, but to no avail…Kross kicks him in the head for his troubles.

We’re back with Gilbertti’s adventures backstage, trying to find IMPACT management.  He talks to various people about where Callis is.  He sees three guys who he thinks are Cody & The Young Bucks, and asks if there’s any openings in AEW, but they’re just backstage crew workers. He says he wants to do commentary to one of the producers, and they say no, but he heads out to Josh and Don anyway, pleading his case.  Josh then hops into the ring, and introduces The Smokeshow, and Scarlett Bordeaux struts to the ring, looking as fabulous as can be.  Josh talks to her about her contest, and what ultimately led to her choosing herself, and wanting to compete in IMPACT.  She also makes fun of Disco, and he’s heard enough as he gets in the ring and begins to tell her that she’s done nothing for the last 6 months.  He begins to tell her that women’s wrestling sucks, and that since there’s no bra and panties matches, she has no business in the ring.  She then slaps him silly, and asks him if he thinks he’s better than her, and he goes the misogynistic route, and says that the Desi Hit Squad was right, and that she should go home and do all the stereotypical “women” things.  She says she can kick his ass, and he says he doubts it, but if she wants to try him on, he isn’t hard to find.  Scarlett flat out challenges him to a match, and says when they meet in the ring, she’s going to kick his ass. 

We see Rosemary dragging Allie with her, with Jordynne and Kiera in tow.  Rosemary tells them their part in the war is over, but Kiera said she was going to stay until the end.  Rosemary warns her again to go away and let HER deal with Allie.  She got her Bunny back, she will handle it.

Melissa is back with Tessa Blanchard, who is still not happy.  She gets to face Jordynne Grace for a chance to be the #1 contender for Taya’s Knockouts title.  She’s upset, still blaming Gail Kim and IMPACT management, saying their protecting Gail, but she says she’ll do what it takes, no matter what.  She says she ALWAYS gets what she wants.

Josh and Don go over the UNITED WE STAND show coming up, with the matches signed.  Then the Rascalz come out as it’s Main Event time.  They get a great opportunity to shine against the Tag Team Champions, the Lucha Bros.  The Champs arrive, and it’s time to get it on!  As with every match with the Champs, it moves quick as Fenix and Dez lock up and go toe to toe with an exchange of moves early on.  Dez tries to throw Fenix out of the ring, and walks away, but Fenix blocks it, turns it around, throwing Dez into the ropes, who flips a couple of times, and we’re back at square one.  Eventually the champs get control, and Fenix gets Wentz off the apron, and the champs go to work.  They land their splash, but only manage a two count, as Wentz makes the save.  He gets tossed from the ring, and the champs continue the double team on Dez.  Wentz recovers and gets the edge on Fenix, and gets a couple of high impact moves on him.  He gets Fenix into a pin attempt, but only scores a two count, before Fenix kicks out.  Fenix makes the tag to Pentagon, who gets Dez off the apron, and goes to work on Wentz.  The action spills out of the ring, and Dez runs to Wentz, who flips him OVER the ringpost and onto the champions.  The Rascalz get Pentagon in the ring, and just as they’re about to score a major pin, Fenix recovers enough to land a splash on the top rope to break up the fall.  All men are down, as the action has increased in the match.  Fenix and Dez go back and forth, but Fenix gets the edge, delivers a kick to Dez, and Pentagon lands the Death Valley Driver as Fenix launches out of the ring onto Wentz.  Pentagon scores the pinfall, as the champs get the win.  Great match to send the show off the air.  Both teams deserve props for an exciting main event.  The Luchas establish their dominance, but the Rascalz deserve some love for their performance too.  The Luchas meet up with Konnan backstage, and ask him for something.  They want respect from LAX for taking the masks…they violated the Lucha code, but Konnan points out the hand gestures.  Konnan demands a rematch with the Lucchas, as the show goes off the air.

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Alrighty!  Another show in the books, and this one had some high points....and some low ones.  

Let's address the lows:  First and foremost - The Dark War.  Don't get me wrong...I LOVED the lighting for the match (though some people complained), and it had a feel---at the beginning, anyway---of being epic.  But....it wasn't.  I was hoping for something bigger, and with Su Yung...someone OTHER than an Undead Maid of Honor as a filler partner for her and Allie.  There needed to be someone in that corner to really spruce up the drama.  Nothing against the Undead Maid...she did her job---eating the pin for the match....but just felt there could've been more drama to it.  And, now with Allie back in the hands of The Demon Assassin---what will the story be going forward?  Will Mitchell and Su plot to steal Allie back?  Will Allie either finally embrace the Shadow again, once more becoming the bright Bunny we came to love---or will that connection with Su...and the "betrayal" by Rosemary for being gone for so long twist Allie enough to where her and Rosemary must have a one-on-one match to settle it all?  And what of Kiera?  Why insist on sticking around?  I know she's Allie's friend, but she's in WAAAY over hear head.  Perhaps, if they can't get Allie back...Mitchell and Su may target Kiera next.  Either way, I was hoping for something a bit more from this match.  But hopefully, wherever the story goes, it will be better than the match we got tonight.  It wasn't horrible...but somewhat predictable.

The Rascalz segments with the fake stoner smoke and awful laugh track----ugh.  If I had a DVR...this would've been fast forward material.  These guys are WAAAAY too talented for this cheap kind of segment.

The Gilbertti segments back stage----okay, he's a clown act, we get it.  But we didn't need to have this "I need to speak to management" bit run on for two weeks.  Got to learn when NOT to drag on an idea for too long.  But okay, it got the point across...he's a goof.

Not a fan of the "Investigative Reporter" Miles Hernandez, who all he does is ask gotcha questions, and calls it "journalism".  Don treads the line enough as a cross between a face and heel announcer----do we need the dick reporter, too?  It just MAKES you want to slug him when you see him---and maybe that's the point.  I do like that Cage thinks of him as a shit-stirrer...if that's his role...he's doing a fine job of it.  I know I want to punch him!

Now for the good:

Lucha Bros and The Rascalz---PLEASE give me MORE of that!  These kids are AMAZING, and the Luchas really helped bring them along in the ring tonight.  That was a solid tag team match, and despite eating the loss, the Rascalz STILL came out the better for it, because the Luchas did an EXCEPTIONAL job of putting these boys over.  This is something the WWE should be taking notes on----THIS is how you book a tag team division!  The Luchas, LAX, Rascalz, Desi Hit Squad, Reno Scum, KM & Fallah Bahh, and if you throw in Eddie & Eli Drake....that's a solid set of teams to build with.  All of them are getting a chance to show their stuff, and we'll get to see what happens.  But tag team wrestling is alive in well, and you can find some pretty damn good solid teams in IMPACT!, and the future looks bright.

Johnny and Taya doing well to sell his injury to the fans, keeping the story with him, Kross, Moose, and Cage going.  Taya is very exceptional playing the part of the concerned wife.  Moose & Kross also showing THEIR diverse sides in regards to this feud.  Kross, as always, serious and sinister, making sure HE will wipe out ALL competition for Johnny's title.  Moose, just going with the flow.  The nice touch is him hitting on Melissa, and her showing NO interest whatsoever.  I gotta tell you...ever since Melissa Santos landed in IMPACT, she's done an awesome job.  She shows disgust when needed, a little fear if necessary, but when she interviewed Tessa Blanchard...she stood her ground when Tessa squared her up.  I loved it.  Shows she doesn't put up with ANY crap...happy with Melissa Santos.

Tessa is doing a great job still playing the bitch with a temper tantrum, feeling she's been screwed eight ways from Sunday when it comes to the Knockouts Title...and she places the blame square on Gail Kim.  I can see Gail coming out of retirement for this---if only to shut Tessa up.  I feel that's where they're going.

Not sure what's going to happen with Alisha Edwards...up until last week, she's been gone from IMPACT programming, and it's probably due to her contract issue.  Will she re-sign, or will she actually take a break?  Hard to say for sure, but she did help get Eddie and Eli on the same page.  Loved the slap in the face to Gama Singh...girl is petite, but a spitfire.  I don't know if this is a babyface turn for Eli Drake...but, no one can deny him and Eddie have great chemistry together as a tag team.  So far...liking this story.

Ace Austin made his debut tonight, and I was pleasantly surprised.  Him AND Jake Atlas put on a good match, and I'm curious to see them improve and get better.  I know Austin was the focus, but Atlas has something to offer as well.  Perhaps a tweak in character, and he's got something.  As for Austin, he's got the whole Gambit of the X-Men kind of vibe, but I like it.  Plus...kid is VERY talented.  I can see him in the X-Division mix down the road.

Speaking of the X-Division, I think ever since Matt Sydal went down with an injury, Ethan Page has stepped up his game.  He's still a goofy kind of heel, but he's also gotten better in the ring.  He had a decent match with Swann tonight, and feel he'll be in the mix to Challenge Swann down the road for the title.

Speaking of Swann---I think it's safe to say that HIS feud with OVE has reached a head---and they're setting up an X-Division Title match at REBELLION.  It's been a good blood feud, and want to see it taken to the next level.

Now...with all THAT said...let's look at the card shaping up for UNITED WE STAND...not everything is set in stone yet, but this is what we're looking at:

Now..this card is subject to change in some ways, and there might be more matches added, but you'll be able to watch it on FITE TV.  

Finally---Scarlett Bordeaux slapping Gilbertti, and challenging him to a match...I'm all for it!  Look forward to THAT in three weeks!

Okay, gang, that's enough from me this week.  Be sure to subscribe and to pass it along to everyone else.  Also...NOT afraid of your comments, either!  Let's open up a dialogue.

Until next week...