Reviews

TNA Impact Review – September 19, 2024

By Kristian Thompson • Published 20th September 2024
TNA Hardy Boys

A Texas Death Match was featured on this week of Impact along with the Hardys in tag team action as we began the build to TNA’s biggest show of the year: Bound for Glory!

I enjoyed the TNA Victory Road last week. I gave it my second-highest rating for the year and three matches I felt to be at the 4 star out of 5 level, so there were some strong matches there. We begin the build to TNA’s biggest show of the year tonight. Joe Hendry continues to have the most momentum in the company but will they put him in the World Title picture? They seem to be leaning towards Frankie Kazarian as the next nemesis for Nic Nemeth, which doesn’t seem to be a match deserving of their biggest show of the year. We will see how it all plays out.

TNA Impact 19/9/24 from the Boeing Centre, San Antonio: TX

The show opened with a recap of the main matches on Victory Road. Jordynne Grace successfully defended her Knockouts’ Championship against Wendy Choo which was much better than I expect. Moose and Nic Nemeth had a great match in the main event and I enjoyed Mike Santana and JBL showing up and evening the odds against The System.

Alisha Opens the Show

I couldn’t think of a more migraine-inducing way to open the show but here we are. Alisha assumed that they’re happy that she lost the Knockouts’ Tag Team Titles at Victory Road. The crowd cheered that. Alisha said she wouldn’t be embarrassed by Masha Slamovich and called her out. Slamovich walked confidently down to the ring. Alisha goaded Masha into striking her, despite not being medically cleared. She said that she was the brains behind their team and bet Masha can’t even understand what Alisha is saying. Slamovich said some Russian and explained that she understood everything and that she’s sick of Alisha. That’s probably the most English I’ve ever heard from her. Tasha Steelz attacked Slamovich from behind. She tossed her into the corner and stomped away on Slamovich. Masha fired up and turned the tables until Alisha smashed her across the back with a kendo stick. Alisha hit a second shot to Masha’s back. She held Slamovich whilst Steelz was about to strike but Jordynne Grace ran down for the save. Steelz and Alisha backed into the corner. Brian Myers and Eddie Edwards surrounded the ring. The Hardys’ music hit and they backed up the face team. The System backed down and left the ring. Director of Authority came out to the ring to a huge pop. He said that if they all wanted to fight so bad then let’s make it happen: Slamovich and the Hard Boys (his words, not mine) against Steelz, Myers and Eduardo Edwards (once again, not a typo) tonight! He was about to address Jordynne Grace but (his real-life daughter) Arianna Grace came out as NXT-liaison to make a tag team match for next week: Wendy Choo & Rosemary vs Grace and an NXT friend of Arianna’s.

Analysis: A strong opening segment. It looks like a full-blown face turn for Masha which we haven’t really seen before, only snippets in her tag run with Killer Kelly. I would bet the house on The Hardys winning the Tag Titles at BFG.

Eric Young was backstage with Josh Alexander. Young said he’s been where Alexander has been before. He said Alexander was heading to a place that’s harder to come back from that he can imagine. Young told Alexander that he’s a leader and he needs to start acting like one.

Jordynne Grace caught up with Masha Slamovich backstage. Grace said she had hoped Masha had accepted one of her Open Challenges. Slamovich said she has some other business to attend to, but maybe in the future. She thanked the Hardys for helping her out. Masha showed a photo of her with Matt in the past. Matt spoke about heroes that he has wrestled with in the past. He hoped Masha brought her best tonight.

Analysis: I did not know Slamovich spoke without a Russian accent. Good character work there. I actually thought her mic work and promo skills were the things that were holding her back but it seems she speaks perfect English so the TNA bookers are just lazy, continuing to toss her in tag teams. Matt wasn’t doing his Broken shtick. Again, does he just turn it on whenever he wants? Nice homage to Bray Wyatt by Jeff Hardy, who had his face painted like the Fiend’s mask. Really cool.

Match #1: Sinner & Saint vs First Class

Sinner and Saint are Judas Icarus and Travis Williams, who haven’t been on TNA TV for a while. KC Navarro and Williams started the match off. Williams blocked a few disrespectful acts from KC and tagged in Icarus. The young team hit a double hip toss. AJ Francis made a blind tag and took down Icarus easily. He viciously tossed Icarus into the corner and hit his running knee. KC tagged in and got a 2 count. He hit a double stomp for another 2. Francis tagged in again and whipped KC into the corner for a clothesline but Icarus body dropped him over the top rope. Nice air there. Francis went for a sidewalk slam but Icarus caught him with a DDT counter. He crawled to Williams for a tag. Francis made it to Navarro. Williams hit a nice dropkick that sent Navarro to the outside. He hit a dive to the outside that took Navarro down. Icarus tagged in and hit a reverse suplex for 2. That looked smooth. Williams made a tag but Francis cut him off and launched Icarus into him. AJ destroyed Williams with the Down Payment then Navarro hit a Frog Splash for the win after 5 minutes.

Winners by pinfall: First Class

Analysis: **1/2 That was good action for a shorter match. The problem with trying to showcase a new team like Sinner and Saint is that they need the wins. So, you have to put them up against some lowly teams like The Good Hands to build them up. Tossing them in there with contenders like First Class, where they’re not going to win, won’t help unless it’s a longer match and they push the established team to the limit.

Mike Santana was backstage with a barbed-wire baseball bat. He told JDC that tonight we find out if he’s ready to walk through fire for The System. There was some bleeping to show how serious Santana was.

Analysis: I get that Santana has beef with The System but a Death Match should be reserved for an intense feud-ender.

Captain Charisma, Mike Bailey, was backstage with Gia Miller discussing his win over Zachary Wentz at Victory Road. It was the best match of the night in my opinion. Miller said it’s Bailey, Kushida and Leon Slater vs Wentz and the ABC for some reason. What an odd match up.

Match #2: Pick Your Poison: Matt Cardona vs Rhino

PCO has chosen Rhino as Cardona’s opponent, after a backstage discussion with Steph de Lander. Rhino hit a hip toss and called for the Gore. Cardona left the ring but Rhino stalked him and nailed a chop, then a suplex on the entrance ramp. Rhino hit a powerbomb back inside the ring for a 2 count. He got a chair from underneath the ring and tossed it back inside. Cardona grabbed the chair and nailed Rhino with it for a the deliberate DQ.

Winner by disqualification: Rhino

Analysis: * Just a quick match to advance the story and show that Cardona is cunning.

Cardona nailed Rhino with Radio Silence. PCO’s music hit and the lights went out. Cardona had the chair ready but PCO caught him with a chokeslam. He went for the PCO-Sault but Cardona rolled out of the ring. PCO took the chair and pretended it was Cardona. He nailed the PCO-Sault on the chair and continued to beat the chair down.

Analysis: Very odd behaviour but it is PCO. These two aren’t finished with each other.

Match #3: TNA Knockouts’ World Tag Team Championships: Spitfire (c) vs NXT’s Kendal Grey & Carlee Bright

Arianna Grace used her influence to make this match. Honestly, I watch NXT every week but there are so many women that look alike or have similar attributes that I couldn’t tell you who these girls were without the TitanTron showing their names. Jody Threat and Grey started the match off. Threat used her strength early on. Grey nailed a takedown and turned a headlock into a side suplex for 1. Threat botched an Irish Whip and tagged in Dani Luna. I think Threat tries too hard sometimes. Luna wanted a powerbomb early but Grey rolled her up for 2. Luna hit a Fallaway slam and kipped up. The crowd was very loud at this point. She tagged in Threat for a double suplex that they held Grey up a long time for before hitting the move. Luna tagged in again. She went for the powerbomb but Grey tackled her into the corner and tagged in Bright. Bright hit a few dropkicks and a running head scissors. She nailed a handspring dropkick in the corner and a hurricanrana from the second rope. Bright hit a standing moonsault for a 2 count. She tagged Grey in but Luna fought her off with elbow strikes and tagged Threat back in. Threat hit a senton from the top to take both NXT women out. Spitfire hit the Pressure Drop for the win after 4 ½ minutes.

Winners by pinfall AND STILL TNA Knockouts’ Tag Team Champions: Spitfire

Analysis: ** That was too short to build to a quality match but at least the titles are being defended. The crowd reception for the champs was very strong which is a good sign. They are a lot of fun to watch. Having some NXT tag teams in TNA permanently wouldn’t be a bad idea. The NXT women’s division has at least 20 wrestlers so it wouldn’t be hard.

Ash-by-Elegance was backstage with George Iceman. Heather Reckless walked in and wondered why they hadn’t returned her calls. She said that she would take them up on their makeover offer. Reckless asked if they would be in her corner for her match next week with Xia Brookside. George and Ash said that they would think about it.

Analysis: Riveting stuff.

Match #4: Texas Death Match: JDC vs Mike Santana

JDC came out solo. The new graphics for The System’s entrance looked great. One thing TNA don’t do well is entrance music or graphics. They either don’t care or the camera cuts away too quickly when it’s actually on the screen. You win this match by winning a fall (pin or submission) and then getting a referee’s 10 count immediately after it. Falls count anywhere tonight but I didn’t think that was always the case. Very happy to be wrong as I haven’t watched many Death matches, I’ll be honest. Santana came through the crowd and over the guard rail. JDC met him on the floor and they started brawling. The action spilled into the ring and Santana hit a clothesline in the corner then an upper-cut in the opposite corner. He nailed an enziguiri, too. Santana nailed 2 running boots in the corner. JDC bailed to the floor for a breather. Santana hit a diving senton over the top rope. He tossed JDC back into the ring as the fans chanted for tables. Santana tossed two steel chairs into the ring. He set them up in the middle of the ring. Santana nailed JDC with a chop in the corner. JDC wriggled free of a DVD attempt. He pummelled JDC in the corner with punches but JDC caught him with a powerbomb, spine-first on the backing of the chairs. Ouch. JDC covered and scored a 2 count. He put a trash can over Santana’s head and smashed it repeatedly with a kendo stick. JDC nailed a leg drop with Santana’s head still in the trash can! Santana rolled to the outside for a blade job. JDC pulled him up on the ring apron but Santana had a barbed-wire baseball bat in his hands. He nailed JDC with a shot to the face and then raked his face with the barbed wire.

(Commercial break)

Back from the break and the action and spilled to the stage area. JDC was now a bloody mess. He nailed some punches with Santana down on the ground. Santana popped out of a suplex attempt and nailed a very safe piledriver for a 2 count. JDC tried to escape up some stairs. The lighting was very dark. JDC launched himself from the stairs with a Tornado DDT for 2. The fight spilled down to the concrete floor. JDC ran at Santana but got back body dropped onto some stage equipment. Santana drove an equipment cart into JDC’s shoulder multiple times. He set JDC up on a table and then went back to the stage. Santana set up a ladder next to the edge of the stage. The referee and another official held the ladder whilst Santana hit a splash through the table. JDC had to be lying on the table still for well over a minute. The referee made the 3 count. He started making the 10 count that Santana required to win the match. JDC couldn’t answer the call so Santana won the match. The official match time said 16 minutes but we didn’t get all of that on TV.

Winner: Mike Santana

Analysis: *** It was okay but you wouldn’t call it a classic hardcore match or anything to those lengths. They did the blood spots just because they probably thought they had to in a Death Match. This felt like a cheap way to get this type of match on the show and seems like an unnecessary use of the match.

After the match, Moose attacked Santana with a steel chair on the stage.

Analysis: There’s another singles match coming at Bound for Glory, with Santana finally getting his win.

Josh Alexander gave Sinner and Saint a pep talk backstage. I think they’re setting it up for us to think Alexander has turned over a new leaf, then he goes crazy and becomes an even bigger heel.

There was a video package for Lei Ying Lee who is debuting next week. She was Xia Li in WWE. I think she had potential but she did also cause a few injuries so had to refine a few things.

Let’s Hear from Joe Hendry

Hendry defeated Josh Alexander by submission with his own anklelock at Victory Road. Hendry discussed his roller coaster year of 2024. He said he made a statement at Victory Road by making Josh Alexander tap out. Joe said that makes him pretty damn important in TNA. He said he wants the TNA World Championship. The fans chanted loudly for Hendry. He said no matter how much people wanted to hold him down, the fans continued to lift him up and he thinks that they’ll continue to lift him to championship gold. Frankie Kazarian came out for the interruption. He trashed the fans and said they’ll turn on Hendry when someone better comes along. Kaz said that 1 victory by Hendry doesn’t mean he gets a title shot. He told Hendry that he was a one-hit wonder and that he’s sick of him. Kaz called Hendry a cross between Shrek and Groundskeeper Willie. He said that no one deserved a championship match more than Kaz. Kaz called out Nic Nemeth to give him a shot. Here comes the TNA World Champion. Nemeth told Kaz to shut up. He congratulated Hendry on beating Alexander. Nemeth told Hendry that he expects even more in the future. He got right in Kaz’s face and told him that this was as close as he would get to the title. Santino Marella came out to make a #1 Contender’s match for next week: Kaz vs Hendry.

Analysis: I’d love Hendry to win but logic says they book Kaz to win because he’s a heel, and Alexander costs Hendry which leads to a 2nd match between them at Bound for Glory. I’m now not sure if Hendry will ever get the title now. I thought BFG would be his big moment but, depending on his contact, he might just leave to WWE before he even gets a TNA title shot.

Match #5: 6-Person Tag Team Match: The System & Tasha Steelz w/ Alisha Edwards vs The Hardys & Masha Slamovich

Steelz and Slamovich started the match off. They were tag team partners 6 days ago. Slamovich hit a hard clothesline for a 2 count. Steelz tagged in Eddie Edwards. Slamovich wasn’t backing down. Edwards hit Matt Hardy with a cheap shot to take him off the apron. She waited until Matt got back up and tagged him in. Matt hit a shoulder tackle to take Eddie down. He nailed a right hand and then choked Edwards out using the middle ropes. Matt nailed a running knee with Edwards against the ropes. He tagged in Jeff and they hit a double back elbow and double elbow drop. Brian Myers tried to run interference but got Poetry in Motion instead. Matt tossed Edwards to the outside. He got the tag. The women went into the ring and started brawling. Slamovich used Matt to hit the Poetry in Motion. Matt knocked Myers off the apron. Slamovich wiped out all three of the heels with a diving senton to the outside. The crowd was chanting ‘TNA’ loudly. They have been pretty hot all night, despite it being a very average night of wrestling action. The action calmed down a bit and Jeff Hardy tagged in. He tagged in Masha and she chopped him while Jeff held him back. Edwards shoved Slamovich into his corner and tagged Steelz in. Slamovich ran the ropes and Alisha held her leg back. She turned around and copped a big boot from Steelz. Myers tagged in and launched Slamovich hard into the top turnbuckle. He whipped her into the opposite corner hard. Steelz tagged back in and hit a headbutt for a 2 count. Myers made another tag and then tagged out quickly to Edwards. He took far too long to hit a chop, so Masha ducked and he hit Myers. Slamovich finally made it to her corner and tagged in Jeff. Jeff nailed a double clothesline and tossed Myers to the outside. He hit a jawbreaker on Edwards for 2. Myers pulled Edwards out of the way of the Whisper in the Wind attempt. He tagged himself in and pummelled Jeff with right hands. Myers nailed a Russian Legsweep for 2. He tagged in Steelz who chopped Jeff and then mocked his dancing. Edwards tagged back in. He stomped away on Jeff, then took Matt off the apron with a cheap shot. Jeff blocked a suplex attempt and scored with one of his own. Myers made the tag and stopped Jeff. He hit some body shots and tagged Edwards again. Myers took Matt off the apron again and shoved Masha down too. Jeff fought them both off and nailed the Whisper in the Wind. He finally made it to Matt and got the tag. Matt took down Myers with a clothesline and back elbow. He hit a neckbreaker on Edwards then did his Delete corner shots on Myers. Matt repeated the dose on Edwards in the other corner. He hit a Side Effect on Myers for 2. Myers countered the Twist of Fate. Alisha grabbed his leg and the referee ejected her from ringside. She’s been doing that for 9 months and one referee has finally noticed. Alisha slumped to the ground in dramatic fashion. The fans sang Alisha to the back. She refused to go so the ABC came down and lifted her away. Myers took Matt down with a clothesline from behind. Slamovich trapped him in a choke hold until Steelz broke it up. Slamovich tossed her to the outside. She wiped out Steelz with a twisting senton through the ropes. Jeff nailed Edwards with a Twist of Fate. He bumped out of the ring in comical fashion. Matt hit one on Myers and Jeff finished him off with the Swanton Bomb for the win after 16 minutes.

Winners by pinfall: The Hardys & Masha Slamovich

Analysis: ***1/2 That was a fun main event that is always going to get a good crowd response because they just love The Hardys. The positive reaction to Slamovich has been instant. I wonder if they will go face vs face with her against Grace at Bound for Glory. It almost feels like they aren’t finished with Grace vs Ash or Rosemary vs Grace. I’d much prefer Masha vs Grace.

The Hardys and Slamovich celebrated as TNA went off the air.

Final Rating: 6/10

A 6/10 feels like a stretch but the second half of the show was strong. It felt like a lazy first half with some short matches and a disqualification ending in Rhino vs Cardona. TNA have over a month until Bound for Glory so they can take their time in getting the stories to mean something. That being said, it feels like they’re leaning towards: Nemeth vs Kaz, Santana vs Moose (stipulation match?), PCO vs Cardona, Alexander vs Hendry II and The Hardys vs The System. That’s a decent card and once you add in a Knockouts’ Championship match as well as an X-Division title match then it should rival Hard to Kill and Victory Road as the best show of the year.

The next TNA PPV is Bound for Glory on October 26th.

Here’s the card so far:

* TNA World Championship: Nic Nemeth (c) vs Frankie Kazarian or Joe Hendry

Any feedback or comments are welcome. My email address is kristian.l.thompson@gmail.com in case anybody wants to get in touch with me and my Twitter/X handle is @thomok6 as well. Thanks for reading!