By Jason Powell, ProWrestling.net Editor (@prowrestlingnet)
TNA Impact Hits
Joe Hendry “apology” concert for AJ Francis and Rich Swann: The Hendry character has felt a little repetitive lately, so I had low expectations going in. The Rock concert approach with Hendry singing two songs that spoofed Francis in the past was solid, and the new version of Creed’s “Higher” with Hendry singing “Can you please get fired” and noting that it’s happened twice before was catchy and fun. Francis deserves a lot of credit for being a good sport and allowing himself to be the butt of the jokes related to his WWE misadventures.
Jordynne Grace vs. Miyu Yamashita for the Knockouts Championship: A good main event. There was no reason to think that Yamashita would walk in and win the title out of nowhere, but her big kick style made for some interesting moments. This felt like a nice win for Grace despite the fact that Yamashita is not a regular in TNA. The post match angle with PCO, Kon, and Steph De Lander did nothing for his viewer, but it obviously set up their mixed tag match for Under Siege.
X Division Champion Mustafa Ali vs. Chris Bey: My favorite match of the night aside from the finish. Ali’s matches are enjoyable in spite of his sports entertainment style politician gimmick. It was a letdown when one of his “secret service” sidekicks struck Bey with a flag to set up the finish. But the action before then was really good and this was a hot opening match.
Ace Austin vs. Trey Miguel for a shot at the X Division Title: We’ve seen better work from these two, but it was a pretty good match that set up Austin with a title shot at tonight’s Under Siege event.
Hammerstone vs. Cody Deaner in a Sin City Street Fight: Deaner letting the fans decide his actions has turned into a nice mid-card gimmick for him. Hammerstone going over strong was the obvious call, but they did a nice job of keeping things interesting until they got to the Torture Rack finish.
TNA Impact Misses
Alisha Edwards vs. Dani Luna: The brief match was fine until the ridiculous finish. Edwards distracted the referee from ringside and then somehow the referee didn’t notice when Masha Slamovich gave Luna the Snowplow just a few feet behind her. If companies insist upon giving us these shitty distraction finishes, the least they could do is put the work in to make them look at least somewhat believable.
Jonathan Gresham video: I was intrigued by these videos, but they lost me when Gresham left ink on Santino Marella’s hand. So Gresham thinks he’s an octopus now just because he wears an octopus mask to the ring? Despite the dislike this video, I remain hopeful that the talented Gresham will get a quality push from TNA this time around.
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