TNA Emergence Review - August 30, 2024

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Pre-Show: Frankie Kazarian def. Kushida

Kazarian attacked Kushida after they both lost that Ultimate X three-way qualifier recently on iMPACT!. I'm down for this feud if it continues beyond this point (and it should). Unsurprisingly, this was a quality contest from two seasoned pros. It didn't have much storyline support, so I had no issue with it being relegated to the pre-show. Kazarian winning by nefarious means keeps the door open for a rematch.

Pre-Show: TNA Digital Media Champion and International Heavyweight Wrestling Champion PCO def. Shera

PCO was scheduled to face Matt Cardona on this show, but Cardona revealed in a backstage segment on Thusday's iMPACT! that he isn't medically cleared yet, so he found another "monster" to battle PCO instead. Shera is definitely a big dude, but he hasn't been a threat to anyone in ages. This was a fine match, but there was zero chance Shera would win.

Zachary Wentz def. "Speedball" Mike Bailey, Jason Hotch, Riley Osborne, Laredo Kid and Hammerstone in an Ultimate X Match to Win the TNA X-Division Championship

If you've seen one Ultimate X match, you've seen them all, but that doesn't mean this wasn't enjoyable. It was a strong start to the show and it was fun for what it was with everyone involved getting some time to shine as is usually the case with these Ultimate X matches. Wentz winning was interesting because Bailey just became champ at Slammiversary a month ago, not to mention Wentz will be facing Wes Lee at WWE NXT No Mercy this Sunday. I doubt the X-Division title will now be in the line in that matchup, but imagine if it was?

Steve Maclin def. Eric Young

I thought Maclin sat in on commentary for Young's match with Hammerstone on iMPACT! because he was going to feud with Young, but it makes more sense now these two would be facing each other on this show. It was a first-time-ever one-on-one encounter, but that was the only thing it had going for it. Other than getting them on the card, there was no reason for this to exist. To their credit, they put forth a commendable effort and had a very good match. Young showed respect to Maclin afterward.

TNA Knockouts World Champion Jordynne Grace and Spitfire def. Ash by Elegance and TNA Knockouts World Tag Team Champions Alisha Edwards and Masha Slamovich

I still don't understand why this happened on this show instead of the great Match by Elegance that Grace and Ash had on iMPACT! this week. Yes, this allowed the women's tag team feud to be furthered as well, but I don't think that needed to be a priority. Nonetheless, this was a nice match. The babyfaces winning should earn Spitfire another shot at the TNA Knockouts World Tag Team Championship soon.

TNA World Tag Team Champions ABC def. First Class (KC Navarro and A.J. Francis)

Francis and Rich Swann attacked ABC on Thursday's iMPACT!, but the match was never actually announced for Emergence because Swann was suspended by the promotion recently. That led to Navarro taking his place and he's honestly the perfect replacement. He and Francis already have terrific chemistry together. This exceeded my expectations with the two teams making the most of the time they had.

The System (Eddie Edwards, Moose and Brian Myers) and JDC def. The Hardys, Mike Santana and Joe Hendry

The Hendry and Hardys entrance was just awesome. Hendry was way more over than The Hardys, which is a wild statement given how over The Hardys have been their entire careers. This was a very entertaining outing and the crowd was into all of the action. The System lost a lot of their matches (and their gold) at Slammiversary, so them going over here was a logical move.

TNA World Champion Nic Nemeth def. Josh Alexander in a 60-Minute Iron Man Match

The stipulation allowed them to put on a wrestling clinic. The problem is that a majority of the match wasn't very interesting. I don't know if it was the pacing or what, but not even the various falls were all that suspenseful. Perhaps it was because I never bought into Nemeth losing the title, but this was disappointing. JBL showing up afterward was random as hell, but I suppose we'll see where it goes.

Overall Show

We got a smaller card than we normally do for these TNA+ because the main event lasted an hour, but it ended up being a thumbs-up event on the whole. Nemeth vs. Alexander missed the mark for me (I thought their original encounter on iMPACT! was much better), but it's not like it was bad by any means. The rest of the show held up, even if it wasn't the most newsworthy night aside from Wentz winning the X-Division title.

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