SPOTLIGHTED PODCAST ALERT (YOUR ARTICLE BEGINS A FEW INCHES DOWN)...
HIT – World Title Promo Segment: Strong promo work from Moose and was a positive change of pace on the traditional contract signing, where it wasn’t just two guys who are scripted to want to tear each other apart having a civil conversation with a tablecloth in between them.
We all knew Morrissey was coming out to sign the contract and he did to devastating effect. We are truly in for a proper good match at No Surrender.
HIT – Masha Slamovich vs Kiah Dream: A very good squash, which was slightly different from Slamovich’s previous ones, in that she allowed her opponent a free couple of hits at start. She hit two (fairly dangerous looking) moves – a burning hammer variant and the Russian Death Device for the win.
Good that we have not seen her for a couple of weeks as you couldn’t do these squashes every week. Inevitably she will need a capable opponent soon, but these are fun for just now.
HIT – Austin vs Christian vs Laredo Kid: Another excellent X-Division match. It feels like you could type this on a weekly basis, as it seems impossible for them to miss in these matches.
All three brought something a little different with their offense, and some good selling, gave us a fun 10–15-minute match.
Austin getting the win makes sense as he seems to have the most upward trajectory of the four competitors.
HIT – Chris Sabin vs Kenny King: Good match between two tentpoles of Impact Wrestling over the last decade. First time seeing King for myself in a long while, and he is still super slick in the ring, with some good acting out for the live and television audience.
Nice maneuver with the crucifix pin for the win for Sabin and Maria Kanellis trying to inject doubt and chaos with her after match promo was perfect for the big PPV match.
Enjoyed Tom Hannifan saying that Sabin gets a big “momentum boost” with the win – you can take the man out of WWE, but you can’t take WWE out of the man.
HIT – James/Green vs Steelz/Evans: Pretty solid tag team affair that I initially was not looking forward to, if I am being honest. But all four women brought their A-game and was very enjoyable as they were given time to put on a show.
Steelz pinning James makes sense although hope that doesn’t automatically mean she loses on Saturday, as she has enormous potential.
PARTIAL HIT – Gisele Shaw vs Lady Frost: Few nice moments (a *chefs kiss* moonsault for example), but probably the lowest point of the show, which in a show where everything else was so good then something had to be that low point.
Shaw’s first match and a good win for her, but I don’t anticipate her challenging for a title anytime soon. Which also shows how strong the division is overall that you can have mid-card women’s matches, which is not always as easy to do with other promotions.
HIT – Bullet Club vs Violent by Design: Fantastic six-man tag match to headline the show, with Bullet Club in particular looking so smooth in those final segments.
My favorite moment in match was the 45 seconds where Jay White performed knife edge chops to Eric Young that were effectively an attempted homicide such was their impact.
White seems to be on every wrestling show at the moment, for which I am not complaining, as he is super charismatic and the potential to be the top guy wherever he works.
Overall Show Thoughts: Particularly good show that was the dictionary definition of solid, no real wasted segments, everything meant something in preparation of the PPV and you can’t ask much more than that.
Shame regarding Josh Alexander’s contract/visa position and we hope that we will see him back soon, however the promotion continues to be in a healthy position.
No Surrender has three or four potential A rated matches, and potential to be best PPV/Premium Live Event so far this year, although you could argue that there are one or two matches too many on the card.
CATCH-UP: 2/24 IMPACT WRESTLING TV REPORT: No Surrender fallout, Cardona vs. Grace, Jonah vs. Dice, more
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