Impact recap & reactions: Matt Cardona and Brian Myers are on course to collide

Impact Wrestling (Mar. 2, 2021) featured ODB getting payback, FinJuice receiving their chance to earn respect, and tensions rising between Matt Cardona and Brian Myers.

A wrestling story is brewing that will hype you up, bro. Impact is planting the seeds for a feud we never received in WWE. Brace yourselves, because the Major Brothers are on a collision course to explode. Matt Cardona (fka Zack Ryder) and Brian Myers (fka Curt Hawkins) have not been seeing eye to eye lately, and that has nothing to do with Myers wearing an eye patch.

Myers is currently in a kerfuffle with Eddie Edwards about his damaged eye. Cardona was booked as the special referee for Myers versus Edwards. Myers tried to persuade Cardona into favoring him, but the broski stuck to his plan to call it down the middle.

When it came time for the contest, Edwards defeated Myers via DQ. Myers loaded his elbow pad to hit a big clothesline. Cardona saw it and called for the disqualification. There was tension teasing an attack from Myers when Cardona’s back was turned, but Cardona kept his eyes on Myers to avoid calamity.

Cardona is still happy-go-lucky, but Myers seems to be getting closer and closer to bringing the ruckus. Once accusations of jealous eyes fly, there will be no turning back.

Let’s run through the rest of the show from beginning to end.

Matt Striker and D’Lo Brown were on commentary.

X-Division #1 contender: Ace Austin defeated Chris Bey and Black Taurus in a three-way. Taurus had momentum when Bey dumped him out of the ring. As the referee checked on Taurus, Madman Fulton tripped Bey on a springboard. Ace pounced for the Fold to win.

Jordynne Grace and Jazz are the top contenders for the Knockouts tag titles. Grace has a match against Deonna Purrazzo as payback for attacking ODB. Their interview was interrupted by Fire ‘n’ Flava. That led to putting Kiera Hogan in the match to make it a three-way.

Tenille Dashwood defeated Havok. Kaleb Konley provided a distraction so Dashwood could hit her single-leg dropkick finisher. After the match, Konley had his camera in Havok’s face. Nevaeh ran down to beat up Konley with a DDT.

Sami Callihan invaded Trey Miguel’s hometown wrestling gym. Sami manhandled staff and students. The video closed with Callihan trying to recruit some dude with a perm.

Swinger’s Palace was popping when Ace Austin confronted TJP. The X-Division champ won money betting on Ace’s behavior. Chris Bey came in to protest the result of their previous bout. Johnny Swinger ordered John E. Bravo to get the match made for Ace and Bey, so they could bet on it.

Eric Young punished Deaner by failing to defeat Jake Something. Young wanted to beat the failure and weakness out of him. Joe Doering took Deaner behind a door to make loud grunting noises.

Tony Khan returned with Tony Schiavone for another paid commercial. He might argue with Impact, but they are on the same team against, “them.” We all know who, “them,” refers to. (WWE.) Khan is the captain now to lead them to success through his forbidden door.

Moose hyped his world championship match against Rich Swann at Sacrifice on March 13. To be seen as the real champ, he needs to win it from Swann.

Good Brothers & FinJuice defeated XXXL & Reno Scum. Karl Anderson and Luke Gallows took over in the end to win with Magic Killer. Both teams tried to steal the spotlight in the post-match celebration.

Rich Swann hyped the match against Moose. Swann has the fire within to overcome adversity. He will do so again at Sacrifice.

The Good Brothers decided to give FinJuice the chance to earn respect and the Impact tag titles with a match at Sacrifice.

Deonna Purrazzo admitted to laying out ODB last week. The champ wasn’t worried about the main event becoming a triple threat. Changing game plans is what she does best.

Deonna Purrazzo defeated Jordynne Grace and Kiera Hogan in a three-way. Hogan was in trouble, so Tasha Steelz pulled her out of the ring to avoid a Vader bomb from Grace. Purrazzo swooped in to roll up Grace for the three count. Afterward, fisticuffs broke out around the ring. ODB saw her moment to run in and clobber the champ. ODB stood tall with title in hand to set up a match against Purrazzo at Sacrifice.

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The road to Sacrifice is paved with gold. After this episode of Impact Wrestling, five championships are now scheduled to be defended. Impact did well to smoothly transition into new challengers.

The main event women’s three-way was full of cool highlights, especially this German suplex by Jordynne Grace.

It was a curious choice to have Grace pinned by Deonna Purrazzo. Yes, Tasha Steelz threw a monkey wrench into Grace’s flow, but Purrazzo won clean on her part. That loss pushes Grace down even further from championship contention. Maybe it won’t matter much soon if Grace and Jazz are victorious in winning the Knockouts tag titles from Fire ‘n’ Flava.

Matt Cardona and Brian Myers are getting a slow build before they engage in heated fisticuffs. Impact is taking their time with this one, so it should build anticipation to finally see them fight. On paper, I’m not too interested in that match, but the right story could bring me in. So far, so good.

We’ll close with a few notes. Last week, Moose’s TNA Heavyweight Championship was sanctioned as an official Impact title. It looks like that decision stands for more than one week. Moose has been added to Impact’s champion roll call.

Taya Valkyrie signing with WWE was headline news. However, it seems that Tommy Dreamer has doubts. He is confident that the woman arrested for attempted murder on John E. Bravo remains behind bars.

Share your thoughts on Impact Wrestling. What was your favorite match? Who stole the show?

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