7 Ups & 8 Downs From Impact Wrestling (Jan 21)

1. Equality

Tessa Blanchard's first match since lifting the World Championship so her team with Trey in the evening's main event against Taya Valkyrie and Ace Austin, a match that turned out to be brilliant in every way possible to the shock of absolutely nobody. What was so special about it is that there were no restrictions with men fighting men and women fighting women, like there typically is in mixed tag matches. Anyone could face anyone in this one.

As a result of that rule, it made for some rather interesting showdowns, with Taya and Trey, in particular, having a great performance that saw the reigning Knockouts Champion brutally knee Trey square in the nose. How he wasn't knocked out from that blow is still astonishing. Tessa and Trey worked as a cohesive unit throughout the contest, hitting stereo suicide dives at one point, with some sort of fireman's carry/double stomp combination being broken up. It's not often you get this sort of thing in mixed tag team matches, so it was a welcome surprise.

Austin and Valkyrie would eventually come out on top here, with 'The One True Ace' using a unique springboard variation of The Fold to again pin Trey's shoulders to the mat. From bell to bell, this was a truly spectacular contest, which is to be expected when you have these four going at it. It perhaps wasn't the start anyone had imagined to Tessa's reign as the World Champion, with her losing her first match after the historic moment, but at least she wasn't the one pinned.