Impact 2/22/2018

This week on Impact, Johnny Impact battles Ethan Carter III in a number one contenders match. Eddie Edwards teams with Lashley to take on oVe in a tag team match.

Impact Wrestling presents Impact
Date: 2/22/2018
From: Orlando FL

Earlier today, Ethan Carter III and Johnny Impact arrived to the building for their number one contenders match in the main event tonight.

We get a video package promoting the major matches on the show tonight.

Opening Contest: Impact Tag Team Champions LAX (Ortiz & Santana) vs. The Cult of Lee (Caleb Konley & Trevor Lee) in a non-title match: Konley and Lee are still taunting LAX with bandanas during their entrance. LAX quickly attack on the floor and keep control with strikes around ringside. Konley and Lee are able to get a few strikes in as well but it’s mostly LAX controlling the action. Ortiz and Lee enter the ring to legally start the match with Ortiz hitting a vertical suplex for a two count. Konley tags into the match but Ortiz is able to come off the ropes with a clothesline for a near fall. Konley sends LAX into each other but runs into a double dropkick and Santana hits a standing moonsault for a near fall. Santana chops away on Konley in the corner and chokes him with a bandana. Ortiz tags in but Lee is able to get into the ring after sending Santana to the floor. Lee forearms Ortiz followed by a side suplex from Konley. Lee kicks Santana from the apron and Konley keeps control with stomps on the mat. Ortiz continues to be worked over in the corner for a few moments. Lee gets tagged in and keeps Ortiz on the mat. Ortiz tries to fight out of the corner but is stopped by the challengers. We go to commercial.

Konley has kept control on Ortiz with a headlock. Lee kicks Santana off the apron and forearms Ortiz in the corner. Ortiz is on the apron shoulder blocking the challengers and hits a top rope missile dropkick on both men. Santana gets the hot tag and he takes out Cult of Lee with strikes. Santana plants Lee with an ace crusher and plants Konley with a DDT. Santana gets a two count on Lee. Konley tries to stop Santana but gets met with a kick. Lee tries for a German but Santana counters and holds Lee to hit a wheelbarrow ace crusher with Ortiz for a two count. Konley shoved Ortiz into the pin attempt to break the pin attempt. Santana sends Konley to the floor and tags in Ortiz. Konley shoves Santana off the top and Lee is able to pin Ortiz with a rollup and a handful of tights. (**. There were a couple of bright spots by Santana during his hot segment, but that was mostly it for this match. I don’t think I’m all that interested in Konley and Lee. LAX is a good team and they need to be facing stronger competition. I hope LAX wins this feud quickly.)

Second Contest: Brian Cage vs. Hunter Law: If you thought that Hunter Law had a chance in hell, well you’d be sorely mistaken. Cage hits a delayed powerslam, discus clothesline and the Drill Claw (Steiner Screwdriver) for the win. I really like Brian Cage.

Backstage, Lashley and Eddie Edwards are talking and they agree to work together to take out oVe.

Third Contest: Impact Grand Champion Matt Sydal vs. Petey Williams: This is a clip match from Toronto. I’ve got to say, I’m really disappointed that we didn’t get a complete match here. I can appreciate the idea of showing action from different venues, but clip matches are something I’ve never liked. Seems like the whole point of this is to get an independent wrestling company over in the area. Sydal won the match managing to counter the Canadian Destroyer by hitting an upside down backpack driver. The fans were upset with Petey losing. After the match, Sydal reads a proclamation from his guide. On March 8th, his destiny is to be the X-Division Champion.

Jimmy Jacobs and Kongo Kong make their way out to the ring as they continue to try and get Abyss to show himself. Jacobs tells the fans he’s not a bad guy, but rather he’s a good guy. He had asked nicely for Abyss, but now he’s talking directly to Abyss. Instead, Grandma Jenny comes out and says that Jacobs is a sissy and needs to stop what he’s doing. This leads to Jenny slapping Jacobs and Kong staring her down until Joseph Parks comes out. Park tells Jacobs that Abyss is never coming back. Jacobs warns that what they did to Chandler Park was just the beginning and wouldn’t want anything to happen to Joseph. Joseph tries to fight them off, but Kong beats him down and Jenny is in shock to this happen. Jacobs wants Abyss.

Backstage, Matt Sydal is on the phone with his spiritual advisor promising he’ll win the Impact X-Division Championship on March 8th.

Fourth Contest: Moose vs. Alberto El Patron: This is a clip match from Las Vegas. This match is actually a no disqualification match. It feels like a match that should have happen in Impact, but whatever. Patron is able to win the match following a double stomp in the corner. Moose didn’t do a great job setting himself up for that finisher in a non-noticeable match.

A video package promoting the feud between Rosemary and Hania is shown.

Backstage, EC3 and Tyrus cut a promo about being the Avengers and having reunited. Carter is quite confident he’ll be the number one contender after tonight.

Fifth Contest: oVe (Dave & Jake Crist) vs. Lashley & Eddie Edwards: Lashley and Edwards go to the floor working over the Crist Brothers. Edward sends Jake into the guard railing and chops Dave. Lashley and Dave legally start the match with Dave trying to get some offense but Lashley clotheslines Dave early on. Lashley lifts Dave into the air and connects with a delayed vertical suplex. Lashley waits in the corner and sends Jake to the floor. Edwards tags in to keep control on Dave. Edwards gets a two count on Dave following a double elbow strike. Edwards continues to hammer away on Dave in the corner. Jake tags in and pummels Edwards in the corner with right hands. Jake forearms Edwards in the corner and shoves Lashley on the apron allowing oVe to double team Edwards in the corner. Edwards fights back with chops on Jake but Sami Callihan distracts Eddie allowing Jake to hit a big boot for a two count. Dave legally tags in and stomps away on Edwards in the corner. Edwards is choked over the bottom rope by Jake while Callihan taunts Eddie from the floor. Jake sends Edwards to the floor and Sami drops Edwards over the apron with a back suplex.

Dave brings Edwards back into the ring from apron with a suplex for a near fall. Jake tags in and stomps away on Edwards. oVe slams Edwards to the mat and Dave gets a two count after a kick. Jake tags back in and Eddie delivers a middle rope dropkick on both Crist Brothers. Lashley gets the hot tag and cleans house with a clothesline and a couple of overhead suplexs on Jake. Lashley drives Jake down with a powerslam for a two count. Dave kicks Lashley a few times to stagger Lashley. Lashley comes back with a clothesline to send Dave to the floor. Jake is also tossed to the floor. Edwards takes both Dave and Jake out with a suicide dive. Edwards waits for Jake in the corner and Lashley spears Sami. Edwards nails Jake with a running knee strike and wins the match. (**1/4. Lashley came across like a much bigger deal than anybody in the match, and I thought that was the right direction to go in. The action was okay, but I didn’t buy into oVe as a serious threat or anything.)

Backstage, Eli Drake promises that he’ll win the Impact World Championship once again.

Main Event: Ethan Carter III vs. Johnny Impact in a number one contenders match: Impact takes Carter down to the mat for a near fall causing Carter to bail to the floor to regroup. Carter comes back into the ring and trades go-behinds with Impact. Carter kicks Impact away and they proceed to trade pin attempts leading to a standoff. Carter keeps Impact on the mat with a sleeper and clubs away on the upper back of Impact. Carter scoop slams Impact and leaps off the middle rope to miss an elbow drop. Impact takes Carter down with a rollup followed by a clothesline. Impact takes Carter down with a side Russian leg sweep and a legdrop for a two count. Carter misses Impact in the corner and gets kicked by Impact from the apron. Carter cuts Impact off on the apron with a forearm strike. Carter delivers a running knee strike to stagger Impact on the floor as we go to commercial.

Tyrus cheap shots Impact on the apron to help out Carter. Carter hammers away on Impact with strikes to his chest. Carter rolls Impact into the ring but Impact fights back with right hands. Carter sends Impact hard back first into the corner. Carter takes Impact over with a suplex for a near fall. Carter controls Impact on the mat with a chin lock. Carter goes for a DDT but Impact lands on his feet staggering around before delivering a kick to Carter. They begin to trade strikes with Impact getting the advantage. Impact comes off the ropes with clotheslines and a leg lariat. Impact hits a standing shooting star press for a near fall. Impact brings Carter to the corner and Impact misses Starship Pain nearly leading to a rollup pin. Carter plants Impact with a sit down powerbomb with one arm for a two count. Carter attempts the TK3 but Impact breaks free hitting a standing Spanish Fly nearly winning the match. Impact goes to the top rope but Carter cuts Impact off. Impact punches Carter but Carter eye rakes Johnny. Carter hits a middle rope TK3 but Impact kicks out at two.

Carter gets the crowd behind, which is weird since he’s a heel. Carter attempts the One-Percenter but Impact kicks Carter away. Tyrus decks Impact and Carter nearly wins. Carter hits a jumping Flatliner but doesn’t go for a cover. Impact hammers away on Carter with right hands in the corner. Impact delivers a kick to Carter’s shoulder, too. Impact kicks Carter and hits a sliding German suplex in the corner. Impact goes for Starship Pain but Tyrus grabs his foot. Carter plants Impact with the One-Percenter for a near fall. Carter goes to the floor and argues with Tyrus leading to him shoving Tyrus. Tyrus shoves Carter down and walks off. That was a quick relationship. Impact hits a neckbreaker and wins the match with Starship Pain. (**3/4. A fine main event, but at no point did I really care about what they were doing. This main event didn’t have my interest from the start nor was I was craving to see them compete. I’m interested in seeing an Impact vs. Aries match in two weeks. That should be fun.)

Impact Heavyweight Champion Austin Aries makes his way down to the ring to have a confrontation with Johnny Impact. They will square off in two weeks at Crossroads.

Final Thoughts:
Impact is doing a fine job in advancing angles, but this week just felt like an average show for the most part. Two matches being aired from other venues and not from the Impact arena was a major bummer. They have my interest for Crossroads, but largely only for Impact/Aries.

Thanks for reading.