So we got a little bit to work with from last week. We know that Private Party will have tag title shots at No Surrender, we know Taya is hauled off to jail to write her off for 2 to 3 years at least, Fire & Flava Fest will have MC Lish and Susan is much different than Susie.

Okay so admittedly that’s not a ton to go off of, so I suppose this should be a really helpful episode of Impact! Also we get to find out exactly when Moose wants to cash in the title shot Rich offered him for Willie’s safety.

First though, the most important thing, an update on the Fire & Flava Fest:

Looks like the Fire 'n' Flava Fest is in trouble… #IMPACTonAXSTV @RealTSteelz @HoganKnowsBest3 pic.twitter.com/uJ80u6hS7l

— IMPACT (@IMPACTWRESTLING) January 27, 2021

Ratings:

• Matt Cardona & Josh Alexander vs Ace Austin & Madman Fulton: Cardona wins via Radio Silence – ***
• Brian Myers vs Eddie Edwards: Myers wins by DQ – * ¾
• Tenille Dashwood w/Kaleb with a K vs Rosemary w/Crazzy Steve: Rosemary wins via As Above So Below – **
• Joe Doering w/ Deaner & Eric Young vs Cousin Jake: Doering wins via DVD/Short Arm Lariat – ** ¼
• Moose, Sami Callihan, Ken Shamrock & Chris Bey vs Rich Swann, Tommy Dreamer, Willie Mack & Trey Miguel: Trey wins via Hurricanrana – ***

Results:

So after the main event recap from last week, we see Rich Swann head out to the ring. Swann makes the “target on my back” kind of promo, and then calls out Dreamer. He challenges Dreamer, out of respect and honor or something; giving Dreamer a title shot at No Surrender. This of course brings out the rest of the main event player heels, and they all have a solid claim. Hell, the guy who was stopping people from going out to the Parking Lot has a better claim than Dreamer.

So Sami Callihan, Chris Bey and of course, Moose, show up to make their statements. Brawl ensues, Willie Mack comes out for the save and the return from Moose taking him out, but then Ken Shamrock is a one man wrecking crew. This probably sets up a 8 man tag either tonight or next week, but I suppose it gets us….somewhere?

Matt Cardona & Josh Alexander vs Ace Austin & Madman Fulton

These teams trade moments of control, which was more just seeing if Cardona and Alexander could work together; while Fulton and Ace show a level of chemistry and tag team prowess that they were starting to put together before their brief hiatus.

The Sidewalk Slam/Guillotine Leg Drop is a nice combination, but the real takeaway was that Fulton doesn’t look nearly as big against Cardona and Alexander. Fulton did have great power moments, but both Alexander and Cardona found ways to rock the big man. Madman drags Alexander into the ring, they trade blows, but Ace eventually hits a High Roundhouse to knock Alexander down. Cardona gets lifted over Ace, into Fulton, with Radio Silence; all while Alexander recovers enough to grab Ace so he can’t break up the pin.

Who is @HakimZane talking to?! #IMPACTonAXSTV pic.twitter.com/9bo8dy6Dd7

— IMPACT (@IMPACTWRESTLING) January 27, 2021

These AEW commercials are the same level of amateur cringe, because Tony Khan is talking. I really he didn’t make it obvious he was reading a prompter and using an acting level that even Brian Zane or the Angry Video Game Nerd would find campy.

Brian Myers vs Eddie Edwards

We get a fairly paint by numbers wrestling match, Eddie starts to out wrestle “the most professional wrestler” so it forces Myers to take a shortcut, or three.

As the match progresses we see Eddie get caught more by shortcuts than by getting outwrestled. So after a while, a man snaps. So Myers goes for the Charging Lariat, Eddie turns and goes after Myers’ face. He gauges at the eye with the tape over it, and then even goes as far as to bite Brian Myers while not letting go at the five count.

Eddie gets disqualified, Myers is crying about the attack and Eddie looks proud of himself. Maybe he’s really into the new Resident Evil vampire hot chick too?

Tenille Dashwood w/Kaleb with a K vs Rosemary w/Crazzy Steve

Tenille starts off quick, all in a way to distract the referee so she can use Kaleb’s camera bag. Rosemary still kicks out. This starts out a long timeframe of Tenille staying aggressive and in control. I was generally surprised she put in the effort, but she was very frustrated that Rosemary wasn’t staying down.

Rosemary starts her comeback, Tenille manages to side step the Spear, then tries a Double Underhook move, but Rosemary counters it with her own Double Underhook, and it finally has a name! As Above So Below, wins the match for Rosemary.

.@realsuyung wants to face @JordynneGrace NEXT WEEK. #IMPACTonAXSTV pic.twitter.com/05zu8ULyW3

— IMPACT (@IMPACTWRESTLING) January 27, 2021

Fire and Flava Fest is…a trainwreck like expected. They run their mouths in the amusing way their characters have been built on, their catering is cheese sandwiches with the wrapper still on the cheese and it’s just sad. Nevaeh was dressed like the Stay Puft Fresh Man, they thought it was Fallah, but she and Havok clear the ring. Havok looks genuinely amused, but this segment was as cringe as expected.

.@SuperChrisSabin and @JamesStormBrand are still pursuing Tag Team gold. #IMPACTonAXSTV pic.twitter.com/ehZoTA5uA7

— IMPACT (@IMPACTWRESTLING) January 27, 2021

Joe Doering w/ Deaner & Eric Young vs Cousin Jake

Joe finally gets a chance to show a pinch of his amazing ability. Jake had a few opening, but never took Joe off his feet and Joe dominated more often than not. An Inverted Slingshot Elbow, the Fun Splash, and just great power moves showed off why Joe is a former 2 time Triple Crown Champion.

Death Valley Driver into a Short Arm Lariat finished off Jake, but before they Pillmanized Jake, Eric called off the dogs and dropped the Violent by Design towel on Jake. Was it an offer, or a message to stop interfering?

Moose, Sami Callihan, Ken Shamrock & Chris Bey vs Rich Swann, Tommy Dreamer, Willie Mack & Trey Miguel

So Impact kept the worst of the Rascalz, and the other two become MSK. Who knows, maybe someone can teach Trey how to cut a promo and no more eggs and potatoes.  He dyed his hair blonde, so I guess we can see if anything else changed eventually.

This was fast paced and had decent moments. I appreciated the callback to when Moose and Bey tagged against Rich and Willie, where Moose just clubs Chris in the chest as a tag, shoots him into the ropes and then Powerbombs him onto the prone opponent. It’s a great tandem move, that gets across a lot of personality.

As for the match, they saved the final hot tag for Trey, and then we got to see his new aggressive style against Sami Callihan. We got the signature spam from everyone, but it still came down to Sami and Trey. Sami went for his Piledriver, but Trey flipped through the lift to hit a Hurricanrana for the flash pin!

Overall Score: 7/10

 After what felt like a questionable start, giving Dreamer basically the past champion’s provisional of title shots; it actually recovered fairly well. If you’ve been following Impact for more than 10 minutes, you knew the Fire & Flava Fest was going to be a shitshow, and boy was it. Tasha and Kiera are charming in their own mouthy ignorance, so they can carry a segment fairly well. We got a bunch of hints for more reveals, Beer Guns isn’t done, Trey Miguel returns (yay?) and Violent by Design sent a message.

This does a good job moving towards some of the bigger stories for No Surrender and moving forward, all while acknowledging AEW but not really using them for more than the awful commercial and a backstage segment. Plus the wrinkle in Eddie Edwards’ new approach could be interesting. Susan challenging Jordynne is pretty intriguing and starting the tension for the eventual Hawkins versus Ryder match is something I’m okay with if they build can stay clever with winks, while not relying too heavily on jabs or meta knowledge.