By John Moore, ProWrestling.net Staffer (@liljohnm)
TNA Impact (Episode 1,061)
Taped October 27, 2024 in Detroit, Michigan at Wayne State Fieldhouse
Aired November 7, 2024 on AXS TV
Highlights from last week’s TNA Impact aired… Tom Hannifan and Mattthew Rehwoldt were on commentary. Jade Chung was the ring announcer…
Tasha Steelz and Alisha Edwards made their entrance. Alisha Edwards wore a gold neck brace to the ring. Hannifan noted that Alisha is medically cleared. Out next was Jordynne Grace and TNA Knockouts Champion Masha Slamovich. Hannifan hyped up Jordynne’s WWE/NXT appearances…
1. Tasha Steelz and Alisha Edwards vs. Jordynne Grace and Masha Slamovich. Tasha went for a side headlock, but Grace reversed it into a a side headlock takedown and shoulder tackle. Alisha tagged in and asked for a Test of Strength, which Alisha accepted. Alisha oversold the Test of Strength and claimed she was injured, causing the ref to break the hold and let her tag Tasha.
Masha also tagged in. Hannifan joked about wondering how doing a shoulder Test of Strength hurts an “injured neck”. Both men traded rallies with Masha taking down Tasha. Grace tagged in and hit Tasha with an assisted back suplex for a nearfall. Grace hit Tasha with a World’s Strongest Slam. Alisha tripped Grace off a Vader Bomb attempt. Tasha gave Grace a Backstabber and tagged in Alisha.
After Grace quickly fought out of a sleeper, Alisha slapped Grace which Grace no-sold. Alisha quickly tagged out to Tasha. Tasha hit Grace with strikes in the corner. Tasha hit Grace with a Snapmare and knee. Tasha tried to twerk in the face of Grace, but Grace clapped dat booty ass. Masha tagged in and hit Tasha with a Yakuza Kick and spinning heel kick for a nearfall.
Tasha hit Masha with a Codebreaker (Which Hannifan wrongly calls a “Lungblower”, Codebreakers hit your head. Lungblowers hit you in the back, which is yo abdomen, which is where your lungs are). Tasha escaped a Grace Bomb. Tasha hit Grace with a crucifix slam for a nearfall. Alisha tagged in and went for the sleeper on Grace. Grace tagged in Masha who broke the hold and put Alisha in a Sleeper. Alisha quickly tapped out…
Masha Slamovich and Jordynne Grace defeated Alisha Edwards and Tasha Steelz via Submission in 7:17.
Tom Hannifan hyped upcoming segments…[c]
John’s Thoughts: A fun tag match to showcase the dominant new Knockouts singles champion. I actually continue to be impressed by how much Alisha Edwards has improved as arguably the most entertaining part of The System. I thought, because it’s close to a decade, that Alisha’s ceiling was as the babyface “good hand” (and yelling at her husband Eddie for actin’ a foo). She’s doing great stuff as a character and I got a kick out of her fake injury stuff in this match. As for Grace, I’m curious of her future because it seems like she has one foot out of the door into WWE with how much WWE is showcasing her recently. To be fair, TNA is also advertising Grace for upcoming TNA PLEs/PPVs.
Highlights from Lei Ying Lee’s match last week aired, which ended with Savannah Evans making her return after Li’s victory…
Gia Miller interviewed Savannah Evans and asked her about why she is targeting Lei Ying Lee upon her return. Evans told Gia to shut up. Savannah said she’s been sitting at home for months and watching people like Lee treated like a big deal. She said she’s the big deal and will take opportunities herself…
John’s Thoughts: Nice to see Savannah back as she was a standout in the past as the Diesel to Tasha Steelz’s HBK. I like that she’s upgraded the look. I hope they don’t put her back as Tasha’s heavy because she really impressed in her singles matches (and unfortunately had to lose because she was in the bodyguard role).
Entrances for the next match took place…
2. Wendy Choo vs. Rosemary in a no-DQ match. Both women traded standing switches in the corner. Hannifan plugged Chris Bey’s upcoming auction fundraiser to help him for his hospital bills. Rosemary put Choo in the Upside Down. Choo escaped and dropkicked Choo to ringside. Choo tried to hit Rosemary with the loaded body pillow, but Rosemary snatched it and hit Choo with it.
Rosemary beat up Choo near the announce Table. Rosemary hit Choo with a basement clothesline for a nearfall. Rosemary escaped a cane assisted Last Chancery. Both women did the Undertaker situp. Choo hit Rosemary with a running throat shot. Choo hit Rosemary with a body pillow combination. Choo hit Rosemary with a elbow drop for a nearfall.
Rosemary hit Choo with a spear for a nearfall. Both women traded strikes and counters. Rosemary hit Choo with a cane assisted Wing Clipper for the win.
Rosemary defeated Wendy Choo via pinfall in 6:00.
Rosemary put Choo’s head on the body pillow and kissed her on the forehead. Hannifan said that “Rosemary has taken Choo to her final resting place in a TNA ring”…
Hannifan plugged a TNA Plus “From the vault” segment for after the break…[c]
John’s Thoughts: Hard worked match for the time given. I would have given them 5 more minutes because I know that these women can work a damn good hardcore match (Choo had a great match against Tiffany Stratton a few years ago while Rosemary works well in Monster’s Ball matches). Both WWE and TNA flubbed the Choo and Rosemary tag team because they just kept losing and got no TV time. Rosemary is arguably one of the best female promos in the best. Hannifan’s words telegraph that Choo is heading back to work WWE shows full time. I hope this also leads to the push they were teasing for Rosemary before Rosemary started working in NXT.
An ad aired for TNA Plus’s Turning Point show during Wrestlecade weekend…[c]
The TNA Plus “From the Vault” match of the week was Mustafa Ali Singh vs. Mike Santana which was a dark match from the August Impact TV tapings. The match had a commercial in it. Santana won the match initially when Champagne Singh gave Santana a clothesline for the DQ. Santino rebooked the match as Santana and Joe Hendry vs. Ali and Singh, which Santana and Joe Hendry won. The segment ended with Frankie Kazarian trying to beat down the babyfaces, but eating a Gore in the end…
John’s Thoughts: TNA doesn’t do these match of the week replays much these days, but it helped them fill in TV Time. Of course, they had to cut two segments between this and last week with Chris Bey and El Hijo Del Vikingo both getting injured at the TV tapings. Prayers out to Bey and Vikingo for a solid recovery. The Bey injury sounds really serious and I prey he hets through that too. Make sure to check out his Gofundme to help him with a contribution if you want. I’ll post a link HERE.
A Steve Maclin promo aired. Maclin called Josh Alexander a “chickenshit”. Maclin noted that he always knew that Josh was a coward ever since Josh ducked out on him at last year’s Rebellion show when Josh relinquished the title. Maclin said everyone can see Josh’s true colors now that Josh doesn’t have the assistance from the boss in the back (which I assume is a Scott D’Amore reference).
Maclin said that Josh may have zip tied him, but he didn’t beat him. Maclin said no one can beat him and he’s bulletproof. Maclin said this feud is far from over…
Trey Miguel and Zachary Wentz were sulking backstage about their recent losses in TNA and NXT. Wentz talked about how he wants to move mountains. Trey said it’s always an uphill battle and they just have to keep climbing. Zach said it’s not just about getting up there and what’s on the other side. Trey said it’s about “the climb”. Trey and Zach climbed up some random bleachers..[c]
John’s Thoughts: Ok! That got a chuckle out of Millennial me. Any Millennial who grew up during the Disney Channel era with Hannah Montana would know that was a Miley Cyrus reference. “There is always gonna be another mountain! I am always gonna make it move!”. Sorry for the digress, I’m a huge Karaoke mark. Why do you think I’ve been overhyping Joe Hendry since 2017.
Zach and Trey climbed up to their “Treehouse” for a promo (Their blank room which is a reference to the That ’70s Show weed circle). One seat was empty (Wes Lee’s chair). Wentz said that empty chair represents hate, despair, betrayal, and broken dreams. Wentz said a former Super X Cup Champion sat there.
Wentz yelled at Trey to not say Wes/Dez’s name. Zach said to forget about that. Trey said “Super X Cup winner my ass”. Trey and Wentz ran off a bunch of references. Off screen, both men lit it up, implied 420…
Footage from last week’s digital exclusive segment with Nic Nemeth and Ryan Nemeth bickering in the Gorilla Position. Ryan said they should jump Joe Hendry due to him costing them the match. Nic defended Joe by saying that accidents happen, and unseen things happen like JBL attacking Ryan and Joe at Bound for Glory. The referees pulled apart Ryan and Nic…
Santino Marella and Tommy Dreamer ran in to help the referees. Santino told Hendry to move on and start from the bottom. Joe said he knows no one lower than Ryan Nemeth (ouch)….
Say his name and he APPEARS! I believe in Joe Hendry! Clap Clap! Hendry came out in street clothes and said he had a gift for Ryan Nemeth: A custom music video! He said he had to produce that for all the amazing accolades of Ryan Nemeth. Hendry said the network even gave him extra TV time to air all the accolades.
The song lyrics were “He’s Nic Nemeth’s brother! The End…”. Hendry said he’ll allow Ryan to add another chapter for Ryan’s story next week, allowing Ryan to face Joe Hendry next week. Joe said Ryan will learn like his brother that no matter what obstacles gets in Joe’s way, they will still be chanting “We believe!”…
John’s Thoughts: Also, speaking about Ryan Nemeth. If Ryan sees this, I don’t mean no disrespect. This was at a long Lucha Underground taping and I could hear a person snoring. This person may or may not have been Ryan Nemeth (I turned my head and told someone “Is that Dolph’s brother snoring?”). I don’t blame Ryan either, some of those TV tapings would go up to 10 hours, and you get paid in unlimited Tacos, Coors Light, and bagel bites (Those East LA hood tacos are banger tho). I saw A TON of people start snoring at around hour 7 at these tapings.
AJ Francis and KC Navarro approached Mike Santana in the hallway. Mike said AJ better think twice about what he’s about to say next. AJ and KC tried to pitch that Santana hire them for assistance. Santana said he came to TNA with his own mission and First Class hasn’t paid attention, and that he took out the entire System faction by himself. After Mike left, AJ patted KC on the chest and ordered him to “take care of that”. KC said “what?”…
Tom Hannifan plugged upcoming segments…[c]
John’s Thoughts: Back to Joe Hendry, The comic timing on Joe’s latest song was wonderful and you can tell the crowd was caught off guard in a good way when they all popped in laughter. Hendry has really stepped up his old parody and found a way to make it really work in main event title scenes (And credit to Hendry’s opponents for seemingly allowing Joe to clown on them)…
An ad aired for the TNA Genesis PPV…
The Personal Concierge made his entrance to clown on the crowd. He said that Detroit doesn’t have any “Ladies”, and they don’t have any “gentlemen” either because Detroit is filled with losers and degenerates. He then introduced Ash and Heather by Elegance and Ash.
Heather had angel wings on. Spitfire made their entrance. Heather attacked Jody Threat before the bell. The bell rang once the referee separated things…
3. Heather by Elegance (w/Ash by Elegance, Personal Concierge) vs. TNA Knockouts Tag Team Champion Jody Threat (w/Dani Luna). Jody rallied with rapid clotheslines and an Exploder. Ash tripped Jody to distract her and allow Heather to hit Jody with a bunch of kicks and methodical offense. Ash would get cheap shots and distractions in.
Jody reversed a Suplex for a window of opportunity. Jody rallied with clotheslines and a pump kick. Jody hit Heather with a draping Meteora and German Suplex. The Concierge and Ash got on the apron for a distraction. Heather hit Jody with a triangle knee. Jody reversed a crossbody into an F5 for the win.
Jody Threat defeated Heather by Elegance via pinfall in 5:01.
Tom Hannifan plugged the main event heading into break…[c]
John’s Thoughts: Eh, well worked match, but I still don’t see much improvement in terms of storytelling in the women’s tag division. It’s the same formula of trading singles matches and then booking Spitfire vs. [to random singles wrestlers]. We’ll see if this works this time. Also, I’ve always defended Ash by Elegance against people who claim that Ash is a ripoff of Timeless Toni Storm. Ash is a perfume model while Toni is a cartoon character from the 1920s (a damn talented cartoon character). That said, I can’t help but see this Ash and Heather storyline being very similar to Toni and Mariah May. I still don’t think it’s a ripoff. If TNA hires a Japanese gravure model and they have a 3 way feud over tig ol’ bitties, then it’ll be a ripoff.
The following segments were plugged for next week: Joe Hendry vs. Ryan Nemeth, Mike Santana vs. KC Navarro, The Northern Armory vs. Jonathan Gresham, Steve Maclin, and Eric Young, and Nic Nemeth vs. Brian Myers…
Entrances for the main event took place…
4. “Speedball” Mike Bailey vs. Moose for the TNA X Division Championship. Moose withstood Bailey’s strikes and took down Bailey with a shoulder tackle. Bailey reversed the Go to Hell with a huracanrana. Moose no sold a few pump kicks. Bailey hit Moose with a sweep and Triangle Moonsault. Moose got up and hit Bailey with a chop.
Moose accidentally hit his hand twice on the ringpost with a chop (doesn’t this happen in every match he’s in). Bailey hit Moose with a drop toehold. Moose dodged and Bailey accidentally kicked the steel steps. Moose hit Bailey with a knee breaker heading into regular commercial.[c]
Moose was dominating back from break. Moose worked on Speedball’s leg with methodical offense. Both men traded counters with Bailey able to land a huracanrana. Moose dodged a Standing Shooting Star. Moose gave Bailey a Uranage for a two count. Bailey rallied with a kick combo. Bailey reversed a Sunset Flip with a standing Ultima Weapon. Bailey got a nearfall.[c]
Bailey dumped Moose to ringside with a gamengiri. Bailey hit Moose with a corkscrew moonsault. Bailey got a nearfall after a Shooting Star Press for a nearfall. Both men traded fatigued strikes. Bailey rallied with a Tae Kwon Do Kick and Block combo. Bailey went for multiple rollups. Moose turned Bailey inside out with a strike. Bailey reversed a power bomb into a Code Red for a near fall.
A deserved “This is Awesome” chant ensued. Moose slammed Bailey into the buckle. Bailey blocked a spear with a knee and standing Ultima Weapon. Bailey hit Moose with a Tornado Kick. Moose dumped Bailey off the top rope to ringside with a high dropkick. Moose and Bailey fought to the top rope. Bailey used Joint Manipulation to knock Moose off the top rope. Bailey hit Moose with a Top Rope Poison Rana.
Bailey hit Moose with Ultima Weapon. Moose kicked out. The crowd actually praised Moose for the kickout with Moose chants. Moose reversed a Tornado Kick with his Spear finish. Bailey rolled to ringside to avoid the pin. Moose chased Bailey around the ring with a Spear. The crowd gave Moose his Moose chant and Moose returned the favor with an F-you arm pump.
Bailey reversed a spear with a Small Package for a nearfal. Bailey hit Moose with a superkick. Moose caught Bailey midair with his signature flip Spear. Moose followed up with another spear for the clean win.
Moose defeated Mike Bailey via pinfall in 17:15 of on-air time to become the new TNA X Division Champion.
The crowd gave Moose a babyface reaction Moose chants. Random ass Trent Seven crossed paths with Moose as Moose headed to the back. Seven hugged Bailey and praised him for a good match. And just like in NXT UK during his last run, Seven gave Bailey the expected low blow for the obvious betrayal.
Seven laid out Bailey with a Seven Star Lariat. Seven strangled Bailey with his signature towel and dumped Bailey to ringside. Seven dropped a Speedball Mountain shirt on a fallen Bailey to close the show…
John’s Thoughts: Wowzers! What a match. Clean win by Moose too! That might have been Moose’s best match of all time in TNA, and he’s faced everyone there is in the company (granted, most wrestlers have their best match against Bailey; but credit to Moose for stepping his game up the last few years in-ring). What was fun to see was Moose turning the crowd in favor of him, making him the proud babyface of the night.
I remember back in the day when Moose was the actual dumbest babyface in pro wrestling (everyone kicked him in the balls and beat him). If TNA is worried about Joe Hendry leaving, they might want to turn Moose babyface to have the babyface duo of Moose and Santana. Hey! Maybe he can go back to being Quinn “Moose” Ojinaka because that was always a cooler name than just “a moose”. I wouldn’t mind him going back to his old ROH/TNA theme too to replace his current Austin Aries theme. What I would be afraid is if HBK were watching this episode and immediately sending William Regal and Gabe Sapolsky over to TNA with a briefcase of money to sign Moose to work the main roster (Hey, WWE finally got Jacob Fatu in after all these years).
I also really liked the telegraphed Trent Seven heel turn. He’s doing exactly what he did in NXT UK with Bailey serving as Tyler Bate’s surrogate. Seven was always a mid card hand as a babyface (Main event tag teamer with good ol Tyler tho). From NXT UK to Progress Wrestling, Trent seven is a superb main event heel on the mic and in the ring. I hope he does exactly what he did right before he left WWE because it was good stuff and not too many people saw it. Great episode of Impact this week. Liked the push for helping Chris Bey get the best treatment possible. They did a good job filling in the time taken from the Chris Bey and Vikingo injuries. And got daym! Dat damn main event! Fire.
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