As part of WrestleMania weekend and the ongoing WrestleCon annual convention, both IMPACT Wrestling and Lucha Underground talent faced off in this event streamed live and FREE on Twitch TV on Friday, April 6, 2018. The entire event can be viewed in its entirety here on Video on Demand on Twitch TV at the link below.
https://www.twitch.tv/videos/247553403
Even though it seemed like it was awkward at first with the crowd trying to bury Impact Wrestling's brand at first, the crowd eventually came around after some coercing from Melissa Santos and Mckenzie Mitchell sharing ring announcing duties for the night. If I may add, the baby weight on Melissa is a great look on her and makes her look juicy in the right places. Lord, have mercy for her in this upcoming season of Lucha Underground.
Matanza defeated Moose, Matt Sydal, Caleb Konley, Jack Evans, and Chavo Guerrero Jr. in a six-way match
This would end up being Jack Evans' last match for Lucha Underground after he (along with Angelico) tweeted that he was done working for the promotion. I have no idea if that means he's not in Season 4 or what, but sucks to see him go. I wonder what's going to happen to Mundo's Worldwide Underground faction in Season 4 then. Chavo took the mic and treated the crowd to this teaser for the next season of Lucha Underground following this match:
As for this match, it was a fun start to this show. We got to see everyone clash at one point or another, but the most fun interaction for me was Matanza and Moose sizing each other up. That didn't last for long until Matanza tossed everyone around like lawn furniture and picked up the win promptly.
Knockouts Champion Allie defeated Taya Valkyrie to retain her title
I can't remember but isn't this their first encounter here in Impact Wrestling? I mentioned this on social media during my #IMPACTonPop live discussions, but why do people keep giving Taya shit on her weight gain? Thickness is a great look on her - much better than look she had in the last two seasons of Lucha Underground. In that case, I blame their lighting on making everyone look like they are tanning worse than Hulk Hogan. Seeing this match made me immediately think of the lack of Rosemary (or better yet no Catrina, Ivelisse, nor Black Lotus...) on this card in terms of femme fatales to represent both the Impact and Lucha Underground brands. Allie and Taya had a pretty average match here and that's fine, given everything else going on this show.
Scott Steiner & Teddy Hart defeated oVe (Dave & Jake Crist)
It still blows my mind that both Scott Steiner and Teddy Hart were tag team on this card, let alone on this card PERIOD. For those who don't know, Teddy's been on a mission to revitalize his career and repair the damage to his reputation in the business with a fresh start. TJ Wilson (AKA Tyson Kidd/Natalya's husband) even went as far as tweeting out some kind words for his fresh start and asking his peers in the business to give him a second chance to redeem himself.
We've seen a lot of craziness from oVe over the last few months in their feud with LAX, so this match was pretty tame in comparison. Hell, Teddy wasn't even doing anything crazy like I remember from his Wrestling Society X days.
King Cuerno, Drago & Aerostar defeated Andrew Everett, Dezmond Xavier & DJZ
This was my second favorite match of the night, just from all of the talent involved. Impact could sign all of these guys from Lucha Underground tomorrow and run a X-Division clinic on the next PPV. This is the first time I remember seeing DJZ on an Impact card in quite some time. Someone will correct me in the comments or via social media, but wasn't he dealing with an injury of some kind? I remember Dezmond Xavier won that X-Division tournament they had last year to face Ishiimori in a short feud, but I don't remember seeing him much on TV tapings afterwards. It's a damn shame too to say that guy is hella talented. Wouldn't be surprised if WWE swoops in with an offer for him to join 205 Live once his contract is up.
Trevor Lee (w/ Caleb Konley) defeated Marty The Moth (w/ Famous B)
Marty the Moth being Famous B's partner was a pleasant surprise, but this match wasn't as great as I was expecting it to be. I did get a good laugh at Melissa Santos running out of the way AS SOON as he was announced given their history on Lucha Underground. Too bad we didn't get Dr. Wagner Jr. and Beautiful Brenda along for the ride too. I honestly was shocked that Marty took the L here, but then again, I'm not given that Trevor Lee always seems to be booked strong throughout his tenure in
Impact World Tag Team Champions LAX (Santana & Ortiz w/ Diamante) defeated Killshot & The Mack to retain their titles
This wasn't an Art of War match like we saw at Ultima Lucha Tres, but this was another fun match on this show. Given everything that we've seen from LAX in terms of sheer brutality with their feud with oVe, this was another tame match in comparison to that stuff, but still worth the watch.
Brian Cage defeated Eli Drake
Much like every other match (outside the one with Lashley) he's had since arriving in Impact Wrestling, Cage ended this in a promptly manner. There wasn't a second I believed that Drake was going to pull out a win here. He put up a good fight, but we all knew where this was going the second the bell rung.
Jeremiah Crane (Sami Callihan) defeated Eddie Edwards in an I Quit match
I busted out laughing at the spot where Eddie called Crane by his NXT name to piss him off. Yeah, we were all mad at that wasted opportunity there. At least Callihan is doing better for himself now, much like Edwards here after getting the shaft from NXT. After what transpired in their match a few weeks ago on Impact that drew all of the media attention from the botch that caused Sami smash Eddie's orbital socket with a baseball bat, I thought they would have given the win to Eddie here. Color me surprised on that one. I guess Impact wants to continue riding that heel heat for Sami until their upcoming Redemption PPV for Eddie to finally get his comeuppance for Sami's actions.
Pentagon Jr. defeated Austin Aries and Fenix in a triple threat match
It is worth noting that the main event for the event had been set to be a tag team match with Alberto El Patron teaming with Austin Aries to face Pentagon Jr. and Fenix, but El Patron did not show at the event. At this time there has been no explanation offered as to why the Mexican star did not show at the event, but one Impact Wrestling source has since claimed El Patron had become sick. El Patron is due to face Aries for the Impact World Championship at Redemption on April 22nd. Impact Wrestling came to terms and terminated El Patron from his contract by the end of the weekend after no showing another appearance on Saturday.
Good riddance if you ask me. I wouldn't have rehired him after all of that bad PR and negativity surrounding him in the first place. On top of that, the guy is a damn charisma vacuum and extremely bland. He does NOTHING to elevate their product, unlike how resigning Aries has done. To say they lost Lashley, EC3, and James Storm over whatever they were too generous paying El Patron, he wasn't worth that investment in the least.
As a result of El Patron's no showing this event, we got a MUCH better main event bout as a replacement - Austin Aries versus Fenix and Pentagon Jr. in a triple threat non-title match. IMPACT Wrestling announced later this weekend that the main event for their upcoming Redemption PPV will be a repeat of this match, but for the IMPACT Global Championship.
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