TNA iMPACT! Review - April 18, 2024

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Hammerstone def. Guido

Hammerstone vs. Josh Alexander in a Last Man Standing match has been confirmed for Rebellion, so there's not much more they could have done on this go-home show to sell me on the matchup than what we've seen from them already. Putting Hammerstone in a squash against Guido was smart because it was short, sweet and exactly what it needed to be while Alexander sat in on commentary.

Joe Hendry def. LSG

Hendry cut a quick pre-match promo addressing Rich Swann before they face off at Rebellion. His match  with LSG was equally brief, and while it would have been nice to see LSG get a chance to show what he can do (I'm familiar with his work in Ring of Honor from over the years), it made more sense for this to serve as a showcase for Hendry. That said, hopefully this isn't the last we see of LSG in TNA.

TNA X-Division Champion Mustafa Ali and Grizzled Young Vets def. Cody Deaner, Jake Something and Rhino

I know Deaner came to Something's aid last week, but it's weird we didn't get a segment with them officially putting their differences aside following their split a few years ago. Rhino was introduced as their partner (which was logical given the match he had with Ali two weeks ago). This was a fairly standard six-man tag team affair, but they picked up the pace down the stretch. I thought the babyfaces might win to give Something a momentum boost before Rebellion, but I have no issue with Ali racking up another victory.

Rosemary def. TNA Knockouts World Tag Team Champion Jody Threat

Decay will get their rematch for the TNA Knockouts World Tag Team Championship when they challenge Spitfire at Rebellion. With Killer Kelly being gone for right now, she and Masha Slamovich are out of title contention for the foreseeable future. I can't say I'm overly excited for Decay vs. Spitfire, but I guess it keeps both teams busy for now. This was given some time and it was fine, but it wasn't all that interesting.

TNA World Tag Team Champions The System (Brian Myers and Eddie Edwards) def. The Motor City Machine Guns

It's been known for weeks that Alex Shelley and Chris Sabin are now free agents, so there was no doubt that they were losing here, but I'm glad they went out on a high note here. The second half in particular was very enjoyable and featured some great action. All signs point to the Guns being AEW bound, and although I was curious to see what they could do in WWE, I'm just happy they'll be on a bigger platform soon (no disrespect to TNA, of course).

TNA World Champion Moose and Nic Nemeth Faced Off

This was the verbal exchange I was hoping for from these two a few weeks ago before it got cut short. Moose resorted to the same "You haven't been able to beat the system your entire career" line he used previously, but Nemeth cut a passionate promo about how this is a different side to him and vowing the walk out of Rebellion with the title. The fact they didn't break out into a brawl to close the show was a pleasant surprise.

Overall Show

Honestly, I completely forgot that Rebellion was this weekend until I looked it up earlier today to verify. That isn't to say the build for the event has been subpar, though. There's not a ton of buzz surrounding  the product at the moment, but they've put together a pretty good card on paper. The best parts of this episode came in the final 30 minutes with the Motor City Machine Guns' swan song and Nemeth and Moose doing an effective job of selling their match.

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