wrestling / TV Reports
Cazer’s Impact Wrestling Review 3.3.22
Image Credit: Impact Wrestling
Loading...It’s Thursday night so that means we’ve got another fresh new episode of Impact Wrestling on AXS t.v. ahead of ourselves. Impact’s just a few days away from Sacrifice this Saturday and things are really starting to heat up. Jay White has aligned himself and Chris Bey with The Good Brothers to once again change up The Bullet Club. This left G.O.D and VBD on the outside looking in so tonight that mean’s we’re getting a good ol fashioned 8 man tag.
Last week Eddie Edwards explained why he turned his back on Impact and aligned himself with Honor No More. Steve Maclin told the Impact audience last week that it didn’t matter what Edwards had to say he wants to get his hands on Eddie. So this week we’ve got Maclin and Edwards lined up in a singles match.
The Knockouts Division has been killing it lately and tonight we’ll find out who’s going to challenge for the Knockouts championship at Sacrifice. Chelsea Green will challenge Tasha Steelz in a number one contenders match after their argument over the matter last week. That won’t be the only Knockouts Championship match for Sacrifice as The Iinspiration will finally defend their titles against The Influence, after months of issues between these two teams we’ll finally find out who deserves to be Knockouts Tag Team Champions. All this and more is lined up for tonight’s episode of Impact so let’s get into the action!
Eddie Edwards vs. Steve Maclin
Oh hell yeah we’re starting with a great match to open the show. Edwards exchanges words with a few fans as he makes his way to the ring and commentary gives us the backstory on this match and Edwards recent turn. Maclin comes out and wastes no time rushing to the ring but eats a knee as he tries to get in. Edwards meets him outside the ring and they exchange blows with neither taking advantage early. Eddie hits Maclin with a headbutt that staggers Maclin but Maclin reverses an Irish whip and drops Eddie with a running knee. Maclin tosses Eddie into the ring to get things underway. Eddie and Maclin brawl on the inside as commentary tells us that everyone is banned from ringside for this match by order of Scott D’Amore. Maclin sends Eddie to the outside and hits him with a diving tope through the bottom rope to take out Eddie on the outside. Both men back in the ring and they go face to face as they exchange chops. Eddie bounces off the ropes and hits Maclin with an elbow before dropping him with a powerbomb cover for a two count. Maclin back to his feet in the corner and takes a chop from Eddie, he gets Maclin in another corner and goes for a second chop but Maclin blocks it, Eddie connects with a right hand that staggers Maclin. Eddie catches Maclin bouncing off the ropes with a clothesline. Eddie continues to talk trash to the fans as he backs Maclin into the corner. Eddie goes back to the chops in the corner on Maclin laying into him but Maclin gets serious and fights back with chops of his own. Eddie with a shot to the midsection and goes for a suplex but Maclin reverses, both men off the ropes and they crash into each other sending both to the mat. They beat the refs ten count and go back to exchanging forearms. Eddie takes control laying in three straight forearms but running right into a urinage into a backbreaker. Maclin sends Eddie into the corner chest first and hits him with a clothesline on the way out. Maclin with an Olympic slam, im pumped but the crowds not to into his comeback. Maclin to the top but Eddie hits him with a kick to the face. Eddie gets a decent lets go Eddie chant and he claims he doesn’t need it as he sets Maclin on the top rope. Maclin fights out dropping Eddie into the tree of woe and hitting him with the spear in the corner. Eddie rolls to the outside but Maclin wastes little time dropping him back first on the ring apron and following with an elbow from the apron. Maclin sends Eddie back into the ring but Eddie rolls out the other side. Maclin goes to grab Eddie and gets hit with a kendo stick for his effort. Eddie loses via dq in 6:50.
Rating; **3/4
Review: This was a solid match and I hope we get to see it finished down the line. I think this was executed really well Maclin was looking good and Eddie had to cheat to get out of the match. I think the crowd is going to come around to Maclin as a face by way of his good matches and consistently getting screwed. I didn’t expect this to happen or work so well but i’m enjoying it just not sure the crowd is ready to turn on Eddie.
Post match: Maria comes out with Honor No More to tell team Impact they’ve all been brainwashed and now that Eddie left they have to question everything. Heath says that’s the most delusional thing he’s ever heard. Vincent says that he knows delusional because he used to work with delusional people but Heath thinking he will become Impact World champion is beyond delusional. Heath calls Vincent to the ring and says he’ll show him how crazy he is. Vincent appears to take him up on his offer as he walks to the ring with Honor No More behind him.
Heath vs. Vincent
Heath looks to gain momentum going into his championship match with Moose at Sacrifice and Vincent could be the perfect guy for the job. However with Honor No More at ringside, anything is possible. Heath and Vincent lock up but neither takes control. Split chants with it being 70/30 in favor of Heath. Heath drops Vincent with a shoulder tackle and taunts his opponent. They lock up again and Heath goes behind for a waistlock but Vincent fights out with an elbow and sends Heath into the ropes, Heath throws himself into Heath with a crossbody chop and drops Heath. Vincent stares down Heath who again goes for a waistlock and transitions into a headlock but Vincent reverses out and both men get to their feet. Vincent with a kick to the midsection and sends Heath into the top turnbuckle but Heath blocks it sending Vincent face first into the turnbuckle instead. Heath lays into Vincent with a number of right hands before heading to another turnbuckle and smashes Vincent’s head into the turnbuckle ten times. Heath with a shot to the head and talks trash to Honor No More as he lifts Vincent up for an elbow to the head. Vincent catches Heath with a clothesline off the ropes and falls into the corner of Honor No More who mock him as Heath lifts him up and sends him into the ropes but Heath reverses sending Vincent into the ropes but Vincent returns and drops Heath with a neckbreaker. Heath with an atomic drop that sends Vincent to the mat, Vincent gets up but Heath sets him down and kicks him right in the lower back. Heath lays into Vincent with a series of shots to the head before stomping away at him. Heath bounces off the ropes but Taven grabs his boot distracting Heath. Vincent with a shot to the midsection and drops Heath with a neckbreaker as we go to commercial.
Back from break and Vincent has Heath up against the ropes laying into him with shots before getting irish whipped into the side, Vincent reverses into a side russian leg sweep and covers Heath for the two count. Vincent back to his feet, Heath charges him in the corner and eats a knee. Vincent with a sidesuplex and transitions right into a flatliner on Heath who was in a kneeling position. Vincent covers for a two count but the impact fans and roster at ringside give him their support. Vincent to his feet and Heath spears him into the corner before lifting him to the top turnbuckle. Vincent drops Heath off the turnbuckle with a right hand, Vincent dives onto Heath and locks ina guillotine. Heath counters out into a suplex. Both men to their feet, Vince throws a few punches but they’re both blocked. Heath fires up and drops Vincent with a big boot. Vincent in the corner and Heath goes for a splash but Vincent moves. Vincent to the top and hits redrum (a swanton) on Heath and covers for a two count. Heath staggers to his feet and is immediately caught with a righthand from vincent that drops him. Vincent goes for a side russian legsweep but Heath counters and drops Vincent with the wakeup call. Heath covers for the victory in 13:03.
Rating: **3/4
Review: This was another solid match, I wasn’t as invested because I really gave no chance to Vincent. There was a moment though where I did think they’d make a poor booking decision and let Vincent win but they didn’t. It was a bit slow early on and that combined with the lack of investment for me left me rating it what I did but hey they got a this is awesome chant so it might’ve been better to others.
Post match: Honor No More attack Heath but Team Impact even the odds. Moose hits the ring and gets dropped with a wakeup call as well. Heath covers and they count the three to symbolize his potential to become champion soon.
Flashback moment of the week: The Motor City Machine Guns pick up a victory. Please be foreshadowing
Raychell Rose vs. Masha Slamovich
Raychell is clearly intimidated and for good reason. Masha lays into her early and goes to send her in the corner but Rachel reverses and catches Masha in the corner. Masha is unimpressed and drops Rose with a running knee. Masha with a powerbomb and doesn’t bother to cover. Masha hits the snowplow and covers for the victory in :57.
Rating; N/A
Review: Masha’s now 5-0 and i’m excited to see who her first official feud is with. Masha is definitely one to keep an eye on.
– G.O.D are backstage and Tama reminds Jay that he brought him in. He tells Jay he’s a liar and now it’s personal. Eric Young walks up and tells Tama that they need to put all of their issues in the backseat and become business partners. Eric asks what he thinks, Tama looks at Tanga Loa and they both agree before walking away.
– Mike Bailey is doing yoga as Ace Austin walks up. Ace tells Bailey he wants to take him straight to the top. Mike says they could be a great team and they have a better shot to become champions than Ace and Fulton. This pisses Fulton off as Bailey walks away.
Madison Rayne vs. Cassie Lee
Madison makes her entrance with Kaleb and Tenille. They mark a spot in the corner for Kaleb and tell him to stand there. Poor fella. Right after the bell Madison drops Cassie and lays into her with shots before dropping her again with a back elbow. Madison sends Cassie into the corner and begins to choke her with her boot in the corner. Madison with a forearm that drops Cassie and then taunts her. Cassie doesn’t like that much and hits Cassie with some rights of her own. Madison rolls to the outside and we see Kaleb isolated away from Madison unable to support. Rayne gets drug back into the ring but she drops Cassie with a jaw breaker. Madison sets Cassie up in the ropes and chokes her. The ref forces a break but Madison gets the ref to change his attention to Jessie giving Tenille a chance to get involved momentarily. Madison with a headlock on Cassie. Cassie gets the crowd behind her and she tosses Madison off. Cassie builds moment with a clothesline and back leg kick to drop Madison. Cassie sends Madison into the bottom turnbuckle and stomps away at her. Madison rolls to the outside and runs right into a kick to the face from Cassie. Tenille tries to get involved but Cassie tells her to get away. Cassie tosses Madison into the ring and gets dropped by Tenille on the outside. Jessie gets involved and tries to hit Tenille but almost hits Kaleb. Kaleb catches Jessie like they’re in love and this distracts everyone. Cassie picks up the victory after hitting a distracted Madison with ‘Inspiral’ in 4:14.
Rating: **1/4
Review: This had some rough spots but overall was a solid match to lead to sacrifice. The finish was ok, I see the comedy in it but I just think its a tad too silly for me to get a kick out of. Not bad just not for me. Hopefully The Iinspiration can win and finally feud with another team, they’ve yet to have a true tag match against the Influence due to covid so it’ll be nice to shake things up.
– They air a Jake Something video package highlighting his recent successes in Impact Wrestling. Jake says his time is now and at Sacrifice he has his biggest opportunity and Trey has his biggest threat.
Chelsea Green vs. Tasha Steelz
Mickie James is here for commentary and they explain that she’s promised Chelsea not to get involved in this #1 contenders match . Tasha with a knee to the midsection early sending Chelsea to the corner. Tasha with a running uppercut on Chelsea in the corner and follows with a kick to Chelsea in the corner. Chelsea fights out and drops Tasha with a big knee and covers for a two count. Chelsea waits for Tasha to get to her feet and drops her with another kick. Tasha with a knee to the face of Chelsea. Chelsea gets to her feet but Tasha drops her with a headbutt to her lower back. Chelsea in the corner and Tasha hits her with a series of shots to the midsection. Chelsea in the corner and does a sunset flip into a pinfall for two. Tasha regains control and lays into Chelsea with double fists to her back before stomping away at her arm. Tasha taunts as the crowd boos her actions. Tasha with a headbutt to Chelsea in the corner. She follows with a series of boots before choking Chelsea in the corner with her boot. Tasha lifts Chelsea up and talks trash to Mickie before laying into Chelsea with a combination. Chelsea dodges and lays into Tasha with some forearms of her own. Chelsea charges Tasha on the apron but takes a shoulder to the midsection. Both women back in the ring and Tasha hits Chelsea with an uppercut. Chelsea bounces off the ropes and drops Tasha with a dropkick. Both women are down as the referee begins a ten count. The crowd is behind Chelsea as she gets to her feet. Chelsea catches Tasha with a clothesline in the corner, she sends Tasha face first in the corner and drops her with a backstabber. Chelsea kicks Tasha’s face into the bottom turnbuckle and covers for two. Chelsea lifts Tasha up for an im-prettier but Tasha fights out. Chelsea catches Tasha and drops her face first into the ring mat. Tasha covers for a two count. Both women are slow to get up. Tasha with a springboard bulldog in omage of Trist Stratus making fun of Mickie. Tasha covers again for a two count. Tasha stalks Chelsea as she gets to her feet. Tasha sends Chelsea to the outside and distracts the ref. Savannah drops Chelsea with a big boot on the outside. Mickie wants to get involved but the commentators remind her she promised not to get involved so she stays watching. Tasha to the top and hits Chelsea with a frogsplash off the top for victory in 8:04.
Rating: **1/2
Review: This was pretty fast paced for the Impact womens division and a solid match. The story itself is fine and i’m curious to see how Chelsea handles this because that’s when I really think it could get going. For now as we build to Mickie vs. Tasha i’m not as interested but what comes next could be interesting.
Post match: Tasha stares down Mickie, Mickie tells Tasha she hopes she’s proud because she didn’t earn this match.
– Matt Cardona is walking backstage and he’s stopped by the Walmart guys I think. They tell him that he needs a backstage pass. Cardona says his championship is a pass. He walks around showing off his texts and pictures of his championship. Cardona says if noone respects him he’s going to go anywhere else and defend the digital media championship. That’s one way to do it, and no matter how they set it up I like this use of the Digital Media Championship it makes a lot of sense.
Johnny Swinger vs. JONAH
Swinger daddy is back and ready to avenge his most recent loss to JONAH. I have no confidence in the swing king but I’m still excited to see him. Swinger locks up with JONAH and rakes away at his eyes before going for a russian leg sweep. JONAH blocks it and drops Johnny with a scoop slam. JONAH with a senton onto Swinger and pull him to the corner. JONAH heads to the top and SPLASHES his big boy body down onto Swinger with Tsunami and covers for the victory in :52.
Rating: N/A
Review: This was just a solid squash to make JONAH look great and Swinger’s a great guy for the job. Glad he got a bit of offense in early and got to rake away at JONAH’s eyes for a second before taking the loss.
Post match: JONAH heads to the top rope looking for another Tsunami on Swinger. Before he can dive PCO makes his way to the ring and they go face to face for a moment but JONAH headbutts him and scoop slams him. JONAH heads right to the top and hits PCO with Tsunami. The crowd chants one more time as JONAH shakes the dirt off his shoulders. He goes to leave but PCO sits up and goes after JONAH hitting him with a clothesline out of the ring. JONAH considers going back after PCO but decides to head to the back instead.
– Deonna is backstage with Gia and they discuss the champ champ challenge but Gisele Shaw interrupts and tells Deonna she’s living in the shadow of her because she picked up the lady frost scraps. Gisele is asked if she’ll accept the champ champ challenge but Lady Frost comes up and says she wont be as she has to face Lady Frost at Sacrifice. Gisele’s a great heel because I can’t freakin stand her but lets hope her in ring work is better this time around.
Jay White, Chris Bey & The Good Brothers vs. G.O.D & VBD
It’s time for the main event. Lots of unfinished issues on both sides here so I could see this blowing up into a big brawl, if not we might get a solid 8 man. G.O.D FLY out to the ring and all hell breaks loose before the match can even begin. G.O.D stand tall and Jay White hops into the ring, they begin to corner him but The Good Brothers and Chris Bey jump back in and again hell breaks loose. Security hits the ring to separate the teams. Not sure this one will even get going. Scott D’Amore comes out yelling and says he’s man enough to admit he makes bad decisions. He says none of them are as bad as this match because clearly there’s no way this match can happen as a regular match, the crowd boos but he says they’re gonna do it no dq style and tells security to hit the bricks. Hebner rings the bell and we go to commercial.
Back from commercial and G.O.D have taken over the ring until Anderson hits the ring and goes after Tama Tanga. Doring is in the ring with Jay White and White does all he can to try and drop Doring but it’s no hope as Doring sends him to the outside with a shoulderblock. Doring goes to pull Jay back into the ring but Jay smashes the trash can lid into his head. Deaner heads into the ring with Chris Bey and sets a trash can in the corner. Bey fights back and tries to whip Deaner into the corner but Bey is sent instead. Bey avoids the can and again sends Deaner into the corner. Deaner grabs the can and tries to hit Bey but gets tripped up. Deaner drops the can and Bey sets it on his head before hitting him with a double stomp to the back. Bey tries to jump onto Doring outside the ring but he’s caught and dropped on the apron. The Good Brothers continue to fight with G.O.D and Anderson goes for the gun stun on the entrance ramp but it’s blocked by Tama. Doring has a trashcan but Jay White catches him from behind and chokes him with a steel chain. Doring tosses White off his back onto the steel trash can. Doring sends Jay into the ring as Deaner asceneds to the top rope. Deaner goes for the diving headbutt, noone is there. Jay lifts Deaner up for the blade runner but Doring blocks it. Gallows drops Doring with a big boot. Tama hits Gallows in the head with the trash can. Bey in the ring and goes for art of finesse on Tonga Loa. He blocks it and hits Bey with a spear. The Good Brothers head to the back and brawl with G.O.D. Jay White is pumped up in the ring but he backs up into Joe Doring. Doring with a scoop slam to white and drops an elbow on him. Deaner to the top rope and hits Jay with a headbutt but Bey breaks up the pinfall. We see the brawl backstage between G.O.D and The Good Brothers. Bey’s in the ring with Doring and gets squashed with a running cross body. Doring covers for a two as Bey just barely kicks out. Doring under the ring and we’re going full GCW here as Doring pulls out a door. Backstage Gallows hits Tonga with a beer to the head. Doring goes for a powerbomb into the door but Bey reverses by just shoving his midsection into the face of Doring dropping him to his back. Bey dodges a spear and Doring runs face first into the door that doesn’t break. It’s a Japanese door. Jay White is back in the ring and hits Deaner with the blade runner into the chair and covers for the victory. Jay and Bey celebrate the victory to close out the show.
Rating: **3/4
Review: This was a great brawl but the botches right at the end really hurt the rating for me. They weren’t unforgiveable but that door should’ve broke and it would’ve been so much cleaner if Bey could’ve cleared Dorings head not sure what happened there. A fun main event despite the chaos which probably made it so great.
Post match: We see the continued brawl between G.O.D and The Good Brothers. Gallows and Anderson head out the backdoor clearly going through the emergency exit to end Impact. Great stuff.
