By Jason Powell, ProWrestling.net Editor (@prowrestlingnet)
TNA Impact Hits
Hammerstone promo: Another good sit-down interview conducted by Tom Hannifan. The TNA broadcast team of Hannifan and Matt Rehwoldt is my personal favorite in company history and don’t seem to get as much praise as they deserve. The sit-down setting worked nicely for Hammerstone, who came off like a star in his role as an arrogant heel.
Jordynne Grace vs. Tasha Steelz for the Knockouts Championship: A good television main event, albeit with a fairly predictable outcome. Steelz entered the match without momentum. In fact, none of the Knockouts currently feel like strong contenders to Grace, which is an issue that needs to be addressed as quickly as possible. Masha Slamovich feels wasted in the tag team division and could give a nice boost to the singles title picture if the creative forces get behind her again.
Alex Shelley and Kushida vs. “Grizzled Young Vets” James Drake and Zack Gibson: A well worked match with another tease of Shelley having friction with one of his regular tag team partners. For that reason, I really question the idea of having Shelley and Kushida go over. I don’t know whether Drake and Gibson are under long term contracts, so perhaps that’s why they took the loss. If they are going to be with TNA for the long haul, then they really should have won this match since it looks like they will be teaming together a lot longer than Shelley and Kushida will.
Eric Young promo: Good mic work from Young, who set up his Full Metal Mayhem match with Frankie Kazarian for the Rebellion pay-per-view.
Jake Something vs. Chris Bey vs. Leon Slater vs. Alan Angels vs. Kevin Knight vs. Jason Hotch for a future X Division Title Shot at TNA Rebellion: Good for it’s style. It felt like wrestlers were more concerned with how their dives got over with the crowd than actually winning the match at times, but welcome to 2024. I’m not a fan of TNA’s bad habit of having the lone big man beat several smaller wrestlers in these multi-person X Division matches, but Mustafa Ali did a nice job of showing that he is intimidated by the size of Something heading into their title match.
Ash by Elegance vs. Seleziya Sparx: A spotlight win for Ash followed by a beatdown segment that brought out Xia Brookside. I don’t remember any significant history between the former Dana Brooke and Brookside, but the wrestlers or the creative forces can make up a believable backstory for them given that fans know they both worked for WWE. Either way, I like Brookside as the first feud with Ash.
Deaner: I don’t know if his People’s Choice gimmick will be successful, but I give him a lot of credit for trying to reinvent himself. He did a great job of doing that once before when he went from being the pro wrestling version of Larry the Cable Guy to playing a cultist in Violent By Design. It’s always encouraging when wrestlers or the creative forces acknowledge when something isn’t working and try something new, so here’s hoping this works out for him.
TNA Impact Misses
Crazzy Steve vs. PCO for the Digital Media Title: Steve stole a pin after Kon came out to further a feud with PCO that I couldn’t care less about. Steve is a strong promo and he has a compelling character, but for some reason he’s been tasked with the assignment of working with the TNA Senior Division with title defenses against Tommy Dreamer, Rhino, and now PCO.
The System: On the bright side, Nic Nemeth continues to deliver better promos in TNA than I ever remember him doing in WWE. Nemeth is clicking in the top babyface role. Unfortunately, The System continues to be a rough faction that now holds the TNA World Championship and the TNA Tag Team Titles. The entrance music is a big improvement for Moose, but I just don’t sense any chemistry when I see him with Eddie Edwards and Brian Myers.
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