Andrew’s IMPACT Ratings & Review 3/8/2019

Following up the largest Twitch audience so far; Andrew brings us his thoughts on IMPACT!

I don’t have a cute play on words this week, but hey, we find out who Scarlett’s first opponent will be! So a guarantee of Scarlett is always nice.

Will Glenn find Don Callis? How stoned will the Rascalz get? Will Rich Swann join oVe?

Just remember, my writing is like a Scarecrow, outstanding in it’s field! No? Shuddup Santana!

.@SantanaLAX and @Ortiz5150 don't seem all that pleased with having to do things @Konnan5150's way. #IMPACT

WATCH NOW – https://t.co/jyZYT6QL46 pic.twitter.com/HCZkLbI3Fi

— IMPACT (@IMPACTWRESTLING) March 9, 2019

Ratings:

Rich Swann vs ‘All Ego’ Ethan Page: Swann wins via Phoenix Splash – ** 3/4

Ace Austin vs Jake Atlas: Austin wins via The Fold – ** 1/2

DARK WAR: Allie, Su Yung & Undead Maid of Honor vs Kiera Hogan, Jordynne Grace & Rosemary: Rosemary wins via Spear – ***

Dez & Wentz vs Lucha Bros: Pentagon wins via Pentagon Driver/Superkick combo – *** 1/2

Results:

We start off with a match again! Odd to notice, there’s a giant Live watermark in the corner…I don’t know why. We all know it isn’t, not sure who’s bright idea it was to add that to production. But the match is good, Page definitely gloats and plays to the crowd too much, feeding into the All Ego moniker, so that’s good character work. Swann gets caught by a few heel short cuts, but after a strike exchange, Swann hits a Back Handspring Cutter and then a Phoenix Splash for the win.

oVe comes out, offers Swann the shirt again. Swann puts the shirt on, but attacks them and bails in DDP style fake out.

Callis and Melissa are back again! I think they’ve realized Melissa is a selling point to the Twitch crowd. Callis will be leaving soon since he’s in Japan for the New Japan Cup commentary. Now give us some Jimmy Jacobs!

LAX backstage segment, Konnan says his new favorite line of being like Scarecrows Outstanding in their field, and Santana just stares at the camera like “really?” – So I like the small 4th wall break and the casual style of segment LAX seem to always have.

Rolando Menendez investigative reporter segment trying to interview Cage after his beat down last week. He gets kicked out by referees before Cage can kill him.

This is a surprisingly competitive match with what seemed like local enhancement talent. Austin looks smooth in the ring, likes to use an Outside-In Disaster Kick and his finish is a Running Blockbuster after a Sweet Chin Music style “tuning up the band”. Not bad.

Menendez again with a satellite interview with Taya and Johnny. Johnny is in a neck brace, they say he’s looking at neck fusion but he’s still gonna honor the title shot he promised Cage. The bullshit can be smelled, not because it’s wrestling, but because Johnny is about as sincere as Jared Leto’s Joker (acting is about on par too…yes I mean awful). So I guess we’re setting up Cage to get screwed again. Just put the damn belt on The Machine!

Reno Scum accepts the Fallah and KM challenge in an old school style promo. It’s not bad.

Alisha Edwards comes out with an announcement. I forgot how much she sounds like a typical chick from Boston. Like the chick from the Ted Movie…but without charisma. She says a lot of nothing since her contract is coming to an end. She says maybe she’ll stay home and start a family, so the Desi Hit Squad come out and an support her comment on leaving and typical misogynistic woman bashing.  Can’t tell if it’s racist since they’re Indian or just for heat on International Women’s Day. But Gama gets slapped. Eddie Edwards comes out with the kendo stick and cleans house until he stalls on hitting Gama. Eli saunters out, hits the ring slowly, Desi Hit Squad thinks he’s on their side, but he clears them, Gravy Trains for everyone and walks off telling Eddie “it’s something to think about”.

Menendez AGAIN. Approaches Cage with his Johnny info and Cage shoves him and says “No one likes a shit stirrer Menendez”.

Technical difficulties always haunt Melissa. It’s funny how it happens every week. Embrace the gimmick Melissa.

Alisha, Eddie and Eli in the back, Eddie agrees to tagging next week against the Desi Hit Squad, 1 time. I do like this idea of Eli working back into things with a possible tag team run.

GWN Flashback is The Wolves vs The Hardys vs Team 3D from No Surrender 2014. Ladder match that brings back old TLC memories since two thirds of the originators are in this match.

Out of the flashback comes a Melissa Santos interview with Kross and Moose. Moose is a good goofy/smug heel and Kross is captivating. The way he speaks is great. He enunciates well, and has a presence that makes you care about what he says.

Rascalz with a great promo, watch:

The Rascalz are looking for any advantage against The Lucha Bros – including some sort of Face Off situation. #IMPACT @DezmondXavier @TheTreyMiguel @zachary_wentz

WATCH NOW – https://t.co/jyZYT6QL46 pic.twitter.com/t03N3hQXyz

— IMPACT (@IMPACTWRESTLING) March 9, 2019

James Mitchell looks like Geoff Tate…I can’t unsee it now, Operation: MIND CRIME! The match is held under sexy red and purple mood lighting. It’s a little odd to watch, but to begin with each person gets a shot in the match and Jim Mitchell’s team is up to usual tricks. A couple odd spots, but generally fun. Granted I don’t know how the Undead Maid of Honor became the legal wrestler, so even though Rosemary wins, it’s up for argument. But we see Rosemary put a collar and leash on Allie and drag her up the ramp.

Glenn bumps into Konnan, says Don Callis hired him to be a mascot, tells him he’s in his office. Glenn storms in, runs off at the mouth thinking it was Don, but it ended up being Killer Kross. Good comedy.

More Glenn after the break:

.@TheRealDisco seems to believe he can be among the elite of Executive Vice Presidents too. #IMPACT

WATCH NOW – https://t.co/jyZYT6QL46 pic.twitter.com/odphLR5HfR

— IMPACT (@IMPACTWRESTLING) March 9, 2019

Scarlett comes out to declare her first opponent. A little playful banter with her and Josh in the ring talking about the people she was scouting before. She says Disco Inferno was the worst candidate. Glenn gets mad, cuts a misogynistic promo, Scarlett is all fired up and challenges Disco. Disco says if she feels the same way next week, she won’t have to look too hard to find him. Against All Odds in 3 weeks is the official match between Scarlett and Glenn.

Tessa being interviewed by Melissa in the back. Jordynne Grace and Tessa Blanchard confirmed for next week in a number 1 contender match.

Rascalz and Lucha Bros have a quick paced match with a good bit of personality back and forth. Rascalz hung in there for a while, pulling off some fun high risk moves. Rascalz get effectively outclassed in this match. Fenix and Pentagon hit a little harder with the tandem moves and pull off the win with the Pentagon Driver/Superkick combo which we haven’t seen in a while Usually they finish matches with the Spiked Fear Factor.

Overall Score: 6.5/10

Above average, but the show did feel a little flat. The Dark War was really the biggest thing in a show that furthered all of the stories, but didn’t seem to have a great flow. Still not bad at all with good comedy with Glenn, Dark War entertainment and the main event was solid…but things were odd. Like I pointed out with the Dark War, I don’t know why the pin counted when I’m fairly positive Allie was the legal wrestler (maybe I missed a tag, but that bothered me), plus the fact that Allie doesn’t seem to have her soul back so what could’ve been a big culmination feels more like a comma.

Twitch Views:

• Week 1: High – 10,350 / Low – 8,500
• Week 2: High – 8,000 / Low – 6,500 
• Week 3: High – 8,500 / Low – 7,900  
• Week 4: High – 7,100 / Low – 5,300
• Week 5: High – 7,450 / Low – 5,650
• Uncaged: High – 9,000/ Low – 8,000
• Week 6: High – 8,025/ Low – 5,300
• Week 7: High – 14,400/Low – 9,800
• Week 8: High – 7,200/Low – 4,500

This show started off slow with the viewers (hence why the low is where it’s at), but once the show got moving, it held steady at around 6,000. Coming off the huge spike last week, this is a little disappointing, but honestly the show didn’t feel extremely important either. So this seems to happen if you look back at Week 4. It’s either the fact that Friday is a rough day for a product with no Video On Demand, or people just pick a week or two to tune out and then come back before or after (or during) named events.

Again, the show was above average and still a very solid product to continue to show some love to.