Powell’s TNA Impact Hit List: Ace Austin and Chris Bey vs. The Grizzled Young Veterans in the first match of the best of three series for the TNA Tag Titles, Nic Nemeth vs. Trey Miguel

By Jason Powell, ProWrestling.net Editor (@prowrestlingnet)

TNA Impact Hits

Ace Austin and Chris Bey vs. “Grizzled Young Veterans” Zack Gibson and James Drake in the first match of the best of three series for the TNA Tag Titles: A good start to the series. It was a good idea to have Gibson and Drake win the first match because now the next two matches in the series are essentially title matches. I look forward to seeing what these teams come up with in what I assume will be two more matches.

Jordynne Grace at the Royal Rumble: Great footage of Grace and her mother at the WWE mega event. TNA is wisely getting the most out of Grace’s crossover moment.

Nic Nemeth vs. Trey Miguel: Another quality win for Nemeth in his second TNA television match. Meanwhile, I hope there’s a plan in place to give Miguel and Zachary Wentz their heat back after taking loses to Ziggler in back-to-back singles matches. There’s nothing wrong with them losing to Ziggler, but they are too good to be slotted as long term mid-card wrestlers.

Frankie Kazarian: Good heel mic work from Kazarian in his first major promo since his heel turn.

Brian Myers vs. Kevin Knight: A Hit for match quality. The idea seemed to be to make Knight look good in defeat. Heck, that seems to be the idea in most of his TNA matches. Yet while I enjoyed the work of both wrestlers, there’s just not much to be gained from nearly beating Myers, who hasn’t been positioned as a consistent high level player in TNA until now. Meanwhile, The System faction continues to feel cold.

Masha Slamovich vs. Jody Threat: A soft Hit for a distraction finish singles win for Slamovich with the goal being to set her and Killer Kelly up for a rematch for the Knockouts Tag Team Titles.

TNA Impact Misses

PCO vs. Deaner: The formula PCO dominance followed by an angle that set up Big Kon as PCO’s new nemesis. It’s tough to suddenly be asked to take Kon seriously after The Design flopped. On the bright side, at least Kon declared that The Design faction is dead.

Rosemary and Havok vs. Mia Moore and Savannah Thorne: A soft Miss for the Decay duo making me feel like I’m watching a classic episode rather than a first-runs how. I still think the creative team did the duo a disservice by putting the Knockouts Tag Team Titles on them right away rather than build up interest through a chase for the titles.