Andrew’s IMPACT Results & Match Ratings: 2.17.2022

IMPACT has No Surrender on Saturday! How do they put the finishing touches on the build? Plus, G.o.D. and Jay White are in action!

Well we saw the talk battle last week, now this week we’re gonna get a main event clash with Bullet Club and Violent By Design! There will also be a tag match involving Mickie James and Tasha Steelz! Kenny King goes one on one with Chris Sabin, so we get to see who gets the final advantage going into Saturday!

Let’s see how else IMPACT fills out the story for No Surrender!

Is @JONAHISHERE ready for @Taurusoriginal at #NoSurrender!?#IMPACTonAXSTV pic.twitter.com/RtDF0oOMpQ

— IMPACT (@IMPACTWRESTLING) February 18, 2022

Ratings:

• Masha Slammovich vs Kiah Dream: Masha wins via Russian Death Device – SQUASH
• Ace Austin w/Madman Fulton vs Blake Christian vs Laredo Kid: Ace wins via Super Fold – *** ¼
• Lady Frost vs Gisele Shaw: Shaw wins via Corkscrew Vader Bomb – ** ½
• Kenny King w/Honor No More vs Chris Sabin w/Frontline: Sabin wins via Mouse Trap – *** ½
• Savannah Evans & Tasha Steelz vs Mickie James & Chelsea Green: Steelz wins via Crucifix Bomb – ** ¾
• Violent by Design (Joe Doering, Eric Young & Cody Deaner) vs Bullet Club (G.o.D. & Jay White): Bullet Club wins via Tandem Diving Headbutt/Splash – ***

Results:

We start off with Moose coming down for a contract signing, he has a few solid lines here, but mostly talking about how he doesn’t think Massive Cassidy will show up. Well the Massive one shows up once Moose signs and is almost up the ramp. Cassidy beats the tar out of Moose, Chokeslams him off the stage and walks up to the ring to sign the contract.

"Maybe we just give VBD a taste of what Bullet Club is all about!"@JayWhiteNZ @Tama_Tonga @Tama_Tonga @DashingChrisBey #IMPACTonAXSTV pic.twitter.com/Rf4p4ixvwk

— IMPACT (@IMPACTWRESTLING) February 18, 2022

Masha Slammovich vs Kiah Dream

I mean this is another display of Masha’s violence. I hope that she starts getting slightly more challenging matches, but it’s a proven way to get a fairly fresh face known.

Ace Austin w/Madman Fulton vs Blake Christian vs Laredo Kid

Tom and Rehwoldt do a solid job at hinting to seeing Blake Christian recently, but highlighting his 2021 Super X Cup run. This was a very fun match that had a lot of big spots, but Fulton applied himself well with some of the smaller guys literally bouncing off of him until Blake decides to hit him with the Suicida when he’s not expecting it.

Blake also had the move of the match where he hits a Fosbury Flop and as he lands, he catches Laredo and Ace perfectly in a Double Reverse DDT and drops them on the outside. This is just a lot of action, nice moves, it’s great to see Blake back in IMPACT since he can definitely be a bigger deal here than in other companies. Laredo looks to end things against Ace, but Blake catches him in the corner, drops him into the middle of the ring, hits a Kenoh-esque Rolling Double Footstomp and then Ace perches in the corner and hits a Super Fold for the win! So Ace continues to be a major hurdle for Blake climbing the ladder in IMPACT.

Lady Frost vs Gisele Shaw

Gisele Shaw interrupted Lady Frost last week after her victory. So Shaw’s diva persona caused this match, and she does a good job keeping that arrogance seeping through her entrance. Frost starts quick, a few nice strikes, a cannonball, and then Shaw starts taking over. Draping DDT, strong strikes, hanging her in the ropes and Shaw shows some brutality within the arrogance.

Lady Frost has a nice Spinning Roundhouse to drop Shaw, Temperature Drop from Frost, and only 2. Frost is shocked, goes for a second, but Gisele hits an Enzuigiri to stun Frost, then hits a Spanish Fly for a near fall. Gisele puts her into the corner and then hits a Corkscrew Vader Bomb, for the victory!

Check out what @KennyKingPb2 and #TeamHonorNoMore had to say before heading to the ring to battle @SuperChrisSabin on #IMPACTonAXSTV! pic.twitter.com/6JpEhP7ndx

— IMPACT (@IMPACTWRESTLING) February 18, 2022

Honor No More has a backstage promo…and dammit it’s pretty solid and it’s thanks to Taven again. Damn you IMPACT making me actually enjoy Matt Taven. I need to drink more…or something.

Kenny King w/Honor No More vs Chris Sabin w/Frontline

God, Kenny King reverses Sabin with a snapping overhead Arm Drag, and then Kips Up and Powders out and Honor No More overreacts like a popular memes. Sabin catches King and then rolls out with the Frontline to do…like the old white guy version of making fun of that overreaction concept.

Interesting points in this match are just how similar both men’s styles are. When one hits something, the other retaliates with the same thing. Sabin gets caught a few times purely because Honor No More is making their presence known. Sabin tries to finally get back into the match with the Twisting Victory Roll in the corner. Then King does the same, as Sabin kicks out dueling clotheslines and they’re both down a minute.

Both again take turns hitting and countering attacks. Dives, Tornillos, a lot of fun haymakers to try and catch the other, but each man is out maneuvering the other. Kenny King rolls through his Snap Dragon Suplex, grabs the underhooks and hits a Tiger Driver for a near fall. King grabs Sabin for the Royal Flush, Sabin fights, grabs the ropes, and slips out, then the Mouse Trap cover gives Sabin a flash victory in a very competitive match.

Savannah Evans & Tasha Steelz vs Mickie James & Chelsea Green

Early on we saw Savannah try to focus on Chelsea and keep the advantage with her team. When Tasha comes in, that’s the opportunity for Chelsea and Mickie to handle Tasha, do some tandem moves and things were really rolling for the babyface team.

However, that starts to fall apart with Tasha gets under Mickie’s skin so she causes Mickie to try and get into the match when she’s not the legal wrestler, so indirectly distracting the referee when Chelsea had a pinfall was bad. Then there was a tag the referee didn’t see, so Mickie’s team was fighting uphill. But Mickie started putting the boots to Tasha, hits the Mick Kick, then Savannah makes the save, Chelsea goes for a Codebreaker, but Savannah just tosses her out of the ring. Mick DT onto Savannah and Mickie is riding the wave a little. Mickie goes to the turnbuckle for the Flying Thesz Press, but Tasha moves and lands the Crucifix Bomb for the victory!

Violent by Design (Joe Doering, Eric Young & Cody Deaner) vs Bullet Club (G.o.D. & Jay White)

We get a little of Jay White vs Eric Young to start with, but then everyone gets their moments to shine really quick in the match. Tama gets the job to face Joe Doering, and BC takes the LIJ route. Tama, Loa and Jay White hit the locomotion corner attacks on Doering, send him over the ropes, and then G.o.D. send Young and Deaner reeling.

VBD pick the ankle of Tama during the commercial and run him into Doering. So Tama is the big bump guy during this match. When Tama can finally find an escape, Loa and Doering neutralize each other and the two leaders get their time to square off some more. Big Ric Flair spots here. Jay chops Young into the corner, Young stumbles out, gets flipped over the other turnbuckle, walks to the top as Jay just looks like “what the hell are you doing” and catches Young with a Chop.

Doering comes in to save EY from more harm, Doering eats a Magic Killer, and then we get back to a lot of EY versus King Switch. Deaner tags himself in, eats a 3D from G.o.D., then Tama and Loa hit the Diving Headbutt/Splash combo and BC wins baby.

Overall Score: 8/10

You know, even though this was front loaded with a lot of talking, the fact the contract signing went south as expected (but appreciated and worked well here), and the matches that had time weren’t bad at all. Save for Masha’s squash match, this was a really solid TV episode for wrestling product.

The important story threads got pushed to the forefront, Deonna having the open challenge moving forward is a great gimmick, the Decay promo to put the issue with Jonah into words and the mistrust of Steve Maclin are all great building block. Hell, Gisele Shaw showed she has a bit more of a mean streak than the prissy Diva gimmick would usually imply. Plus Tasha getting the pinfall on Mickie is kinda big for her. I don’t think many people give Tasha a real chance at winning, so the tag team pinfall over the champ is an effective way to have people stop and think “maybe”. And that’s all you can really ask for. No one wants predictable outcomes, and even if Mickie does retain, the booking and story beats were really done well to change the narrative.

Damn good show and helped to add a little more fuel to a pretty epic No Surrender on Saturday!