There are only two days to go before the next Impact special, Sacrifice. With little time to build the hype – the last big special was only a few weeks ago – Impact had to make every minute of their TV show count. Fortunately, they did just that on Thursday night’s “go-home” episode, filling the two hours with plenty of action to help whet the appetite for Saturday.

 

Match 1: Eddie Edwards vs. Steve Maclin

Maclin was fired up for this one, because Edwards had tried to frame him for being the secret Honor No More mole at No Surrender, when it was actually Edwards. So Maclin was extra intense with every shot. Which led to a fun ten minutes of the two guys just beating the heck out of each other.

 

Eddie was able to capitalize on Maclin’s blind rage, catching Maclin in a top-rope move attempt. But Maclin escaped a Hurancarana attempt and Eddie ended up in the Tree of Woe and Maclin hit the Crosshairs. Eddie rolled out to the floor to escape a pin, but ended up getting more punishment with a Body Drop on the apron and a Maclin Elbow off the apron to the floor. A desperate Eddie grabbed a Singapore cane from under the ring and smacked Maclin with it, forcing the disqualification. After the match, Eddie continued to beat Maclin with the cane until Team Impact ran in and chased him off.

This was a fun slobberknocker of a match until the finish. The cheap shot by Eddie was a good way to continue the storyline – it’s far too early for him to get his definitive comeuppance.

Winner, by disqualification: Steve Maclin

As Eddie retreated up the ramp, Honor No More came out and joined him. Maria grabbed a mic and tried to play mind games with Team Impact. Vincent exchanged verbal jabs with Heath, saying he didn’t stand a chance to beat Moose for the World title this Saturday at Sacrifice, and this led to a challenge for a match, and Vincent headed to the ring.

 

Match 2: Heath (w/ Team Impact) vs. Vincent (w/ Honor No More)

This one started out much more deliberately-paced than the last match, with them exchanging some grapples and holds. Heath was finally able to out-wrestle Vincent and then picked him apart with some kicks and stomps. But a distraction by Taven from the floor tripped up Heath and then Vincent went on the offense. Vincent kept control with some strikes of his own and a nice Spinning Russian Leg Sweep followed by a Flatliner for a 2-count. Heath was able to fight his way out of a Guillotine, but his comeback was thwarted with a big kick by Vincent. Vincent went up top and hit Redrum, but Heath kicked out! Vincent went for another Russian Leg Sweep, but Heath reversed it and hit the Wake Up Call to get the win.

After the match, the two factions started brawling both inside and outside the ring. Moose ran in to try to blindside Heath, but Heath dodged it and hit Moose with the Wake Up Call, and ceremoniously covered the champ for a three-count.

 

The match was good, though the ending seemed to come out of nowhere. As the match was mostly a showcase for Vincent, Heath didn’t seem to look like a viable contender against Moose. So the post-match spot where he pinned Moose was a good way to make him a bit more threatening. Though realistically there’s still little to no chance of him winning.

Winner: Heath

The Flashback Moment of the Week was from Sacrifice 2010 when the Motor City Machine Guns beat Team 3-D and Beer Money in a triple threat tag team match.

 

Match 3: Masha Slamovich vs. Raychell Rose

Raychell Rose was a local competitor and got beaten like one. She got one knee strike in so Masha didn’t get a flawless victory. Which made Masha so mad that after she destroyed Rose with a Sit-Out Powerbomb, she picked her up to deliver even more punishment with a Snow Plow before mercifully ending it.

Winner: Masha Slamovich. Fatality.

In the back, the Guerillas of Destiny cut a promo against “Switchblade” Jay White who turned on them and gave their spots in the Bullet Club to the Good Brothers. Violent By Design walked up to them and proposed a business relationship wherein they align and help each other get what they want: for G.O.D., revenge on White; and for VBD, a shot at the Good Brothers’ Tag Team Championship. G.O.D. agreed.

In the back, “Speedball” Mike Bailey was doing some Tai-Chi when Ace Austin and Mad Man Fulton approached him. Austin said he wants to team up with Bailey and maybe they can win tag team gold together. Bailey agreed, and suggested that he would be a better partner for Austin than Fulton has been. This angered Fulton, but Austin held him back.

 

Match 4: Madison Rayne (w/ Kaleb and Tenille Dashwood) vs. Cassie Lee (w/ Jessie McKay)

The Influence were angry with Kaleb for his continued discussions with the Iinspiration and they made it clear, by telling him to put away his phone and then restricting him to a fixed spot on the floor at ringside.

Interesting dynamic in this one, as both competitors were acting heelish, though Rayne was the only one to get some assistance from her partner behind the referee’s back. After a decent back-and-forth contest, Lee was taking control. This led to more interference from Dashwood. McKay rushed over to take out Dashwood, who moved, and McKay stopped short before knocking over Kaleb. But then Dashwood knocked McKay into Kaleb’s arms. Rayne took her eyes off of Lee to scold Kaleb from the ring, and when she turned around, Lee blasted her with a Boot to the Head, and a Iinspiral to get the pin.

 

This was alright. Neither of these two are mind-blowing in the ring, but this wasn’t really intended to be a clinic or anything. This is more building to the Knockouts Tag Team Championship match. Based on the build, the obvious story would be for Kaleb to turn on the Influence and help the Iiconics retain. Which is why that won’t happen. The Iiconics will retain – but Kaleb’s loyalties will remain with the Influence; he’ll just screw things up for them by mistake.

Winner: Cassie Lee

A hype video aired for Jake Something. He predicted he will beat Trey Miguel at Sacrifice for the X-Division Championship.

 

Match 5: Tasha Steelz (w/ Savannah Evans) vs. Chelsea Green

Knockouts Champion Mickie James joined Tom Hannifan and Matthew Rehwoldt on commentary for this one, because the winner will challenge her on Saturday for the title. The commentators noted that Green had asked Mickie to not get involved in this one.

The traditional lock-up start was replaced with an exchange of some hard blows, including some knees and a pair of big headbutts by Steelz. She was really aggressive and had Chelsea reeling at times after some big hits. She held the advantage for a while until they both went down after a Double Clothesline. Green got up first and hit her second gear, rocking Steelz with some big Clotheslines and a Backstabber, before driving Tasha’s head into the bottom turnbuckle. Green hit a Front Face Bomb that looked like it should have ended things – seriously, that was great – but Steelz kicked out.

Tasha threw Chelsea to the floor and then distracted the ref, which allowed Savannah to take out Chelsea with a hard kick. Mickie stood up as if to confront Savannah, but remembered her promise to stay out of the match and didn’t do anything when Evans rolled Chelsea back into the ring, where she was prone for a Frog Splash by Tasha to end things. After the match, Mickie and Tasha exchanged unpleasantries, and Chelsea looked sad.

This was good. The slow burn to what will undoubtedly be a Chelsea heel-turn on Mickie is fine. But at some point it has to get there. Not sure if that happens at Sacrifice, but look for the Mickie-Tasha match to propel the story forward in any event.

Winner, and number one contender for the Knockouts Championship: Tasha Steelz

A couple of security guards saw Matt Cardona walking around backstage and asked him for a pass, offending him. He then ran into a couple of other people backstage, and tried to impress them by showing them how he cheated to beat Jordynne Grace for the title, but they weren’t impressed. Cardona felt disrespected, and said that since nobody in Impact respects him, he’ll take the title and defend it elsewhere. #ForbiddenBore

 

Match 6: Johnny Swinger vs. JONAH

Swinger may as well have been Raychell Rose in this one. JONAH squashed him, both figuratively and literally, ending things after a Senton Splash and a Tsunami.

JONAH wins. Flawless victory.

After the match, JONAH was going to hit another Tsunami, but PCO lumbered his way to the ring. He and JONAH went toe-to-toe, and after dropping him, JONAH went up top and hit PCO with a Tsunami. After a few seconds, PCO popped up and he dumped a shocked JONAH over the top. PCO monstered in the ring while a stunned JONAH backed away with trepidation. This was neat.

Backstage, Gia Miller interviewed Deonna Purrazzo who will be holding her Champ-Champ Open Challenge at Sacrifice. Gisele Shaw interrupted her, and then Purrazzo trash-talked her and left. Gia asked Gisele if she would be accepting the open challenge on Saturday, but before Gisele could answer, Lady Frost interrupted and said that Shaw was going to have to face her on Saturday.

 

Match 7: The Bullet Club (Jay White, Doc Gallows, Karl Anderson, and Chris Bey) vs. VBD (Joe Doering and Deaner) and G.O.D.

This one started off with G.O.D. running into the ring at full-speed to start a pier-six brawl. There was such turmoil in the ring that a number of referees and security had to come into the ring to try to calm things down and restore order.

Finally, Impact Executive Vice-President Scott D’Amore came out to the entrance ramp. He said that, given what was going on, there was no way these two teams could have a wrestling match. So, instead, he sanctioned this one to be a No-Disqualification match, and ordered security and the additional refs to hit the bricks.

 

Curiously, despite the stipulation, the commentators said that Eric Young was still subject to the ringside ban for this one, noting if he violated that order, VBD would not get the title match on Saturday.

After some more brawling, the weapons came out, with G.O.D. introducing a steel chair into the mix. A quick sequence saw Doering get the better of Jay White in a slugfest, but a garbage can lid to the face slowed down the big man. Deaner and Bey fought over the can to which the aforementioned lid belonged, with Bey getting the duke – putting the can over Deaner’s head and then stomping on it. But Bey would pay for that, getting slammed hard on the apron by Doering.

More brawling ensued around ringside and on the entrance ramp, and more weapons were used, including a baseball bat and a steel chain that White wrapped around Doering’s neck – before Doering whipped him onto the garbage can. Deaner went for a Flying Headbutt on Deaner, but White avoided it and Deaner hit hard. Then some more hard garbage can shots happened.

As the G.O.D. and the Good Brothers fought to the back, White found himself alone in the ring with an angry Doering, and double-teamed by VBD, saved only by Bey breaking up the pin.

In some fancy split-screen technology, cameras followed the Good Brothers and G.O.D. fighting backstage while the others fought in the ring. The Brothers smashed Tanga Loa with a production case, while Bey sidestepped a Doering charge, sending the big man into a wooden door propped up in the corner. Meanwhile, backstage a ladder and a ring barrier came into play as a weapon.

But with Doering out after the door spot, this left Deaner at the mercy of White and Bey, and they had none. A Blade Runner by White ended Deaner’s night and the match.

The backstage fight, though, continued as G.O.D. ran a ringside barricade into the Good Brothers, who finally escaped through the exit door, bringing the show to a close.

 

This was a fun brawl, and the chaotic start and the split screens elevated the presentation of this over typical brawls. In what might be a first, no tables were sacrificed as a part of this one, which was a refreshing change. Good way to end the go-home show.

Winners: The Bullet Club

 

 

 

 

 

Impact Wrestling - March 3rd, 2022
4.5

Alario Center - New Orleans, LA

As far as the build to Sacrifice goes, tonight’s episode did what it needed to do. It put all the pieces in place for the show, it filled out the card with some new matches, and it left things unresolved and wanting you to see the resolution at the big show. With little talk and a lot of action, this was a fast-paced show with little to no filler.