7 Ups & 2 Downs From Impact Wrestling (9 Feb)
2. Trey Miguel Triumphs In Revolving Eight-Man
The show-opening eight-man tag team bout was unquestionably the right choice to kick off the episode. Pitting Trey Miguel, Josh Alexander, Willie Mack, and Suicide against Ace Austin, Chris Bey, Daivari, and the returning Blake Christian, the match was used to build anticipation for No Surrender's Triple Threat Revolver Match, and boy, was it a hoot.
What was great here is that no-one overstayed their welcome inside the ring. Tags were made frequently, while the most superior combatants got the highlight spots (i.e. Daivari and Suicide, essentially there to fill space, didn't do much of note, while everyone else did). Speaking of highlight spots, Blake's springboard 450 splash to break up a submission on Ace Austin was executed beautifully.
Miguel scored the win with a variation of Tyson Kidd's old Dungeon Lock submission on the former GCW man, again showcasing this reinvigorated side to his Impact persona. The confrontation (via satellite) between Trey and Sami Callihan post-match was fine, but it wouldn't have been missed had it not been inserted.
A decent match between some of Impact's most tantalising in-ring talents. Blake Christian needs to be snapped up by someone sooner rather than later, with his GCW departure essentially confirming this to be the case. Fingers crossed Impact Wrestling is that someone.