TNA iMPACT! Review - August 14, 2025

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

First Class and TNA World Champion Trick Williams def. The System (Brian Myers, JDC and Eddie Edwards)

I liked how The System brought the fight to First Class and Williams before the bell even rang, so I appreciated the intensity. Two members of The System will be facing First Class at Emergence, so this served as a nice preview of that. Williams' team winning made sense (specifically with Rich Swann picking up the pinfall victory considering he just returned), especially if Moose wasn't going to be involved.

Indi Hartwell and Dani Luna def. Myla Grace and Harley Hudson

Is the team of Hartwell and Luna going to stick? I'm not sure why it would, but at least Hartwell is still building momentum with wins and will face Rosemary at Emergence after she misted her at ringside here. The match itself was decent and didn't last long. Grace and Hudson are a quality team, but if they don't start winning eventually, one of them turning on the other might be imminent.

Matt Cardona def. John Skyler

Cardona will face Mustafa Ali at Emergence, so it was logical for him to beat a member of Order 4 before then. Skyler is skilled, but there was no need for this to be anything more than it was: a straightforward squash for Cardona. Ali recently beat Joe Hendry, so I'm curious if he'll capitalize on that with a win over Cardona as well or if Cardona will win despite being directionless at the moment.

Santino Marella's Emergence Knockouts Tag Team Summit Descended Into Chaos

It was announced last week that we're getting a four-way tag team match for the TNA Knockouts World Tag Team Championship at Emergence, so this existed to build toward that. It really wasn't as much of a mess as I thought it might be. Instead, they kept it basic and the brawl was well done. It didn't make me that much more excited for the matchup, mind you, but it accomplished what it needed to.

Mike Santana def. Eric Young

I wasn't sure so I had to check: These two had never before gone one-on-one prior to this point. That's genuinely surprising. You'd think it'd be saved for Emergence, but Santana will face off against Sami Callihan there instead (where Callihan will retire if he loses). I wish this was given more time, but I enjoyed it, nonetheless. Callihan made the save afterward and, man, he really has put on some weight as of late. He has to be losing at Emergence, right?

Jake Something Attacked TNA International Champion Steve Maclin on The King's Speech Hosted by Frankie Kazarian

TNA clearly has nothing substantial in mind for Kazarian at the moment, so it looks like he'll be hosting his talk show every few weeks to further other people's feuds. Hey, I guess it's better than nothing. There wasn't much to this segment as Kazarian did a majority of the talking, but it was effective with Something standing tall to send the message that he could win the TNA International Championship from Maclin at Emergence.

Cedric Alexander and The Rascalz (Zachary Wentz and Myron Reed) def. TNA X-Division Champion Leon Slater and TNA World Tag Team Champions The Hardys

This was a champions vs. challengers match before the TNA X-Division Championship and TNA World Tag Team Championship matches at Emergence. It was hardly hurt by the babyface vs. babyface dynamic because of how exciting the action was and how well everyone worked together. The challengers going over made sense to give them a momentum boost.

Overall Show

I hate whenever TNA holds events so close together because the builds suffer, but as is usually the case, they've made the most of the quick turnaround time and Emergence has potential on paper (even if it doesn't look to be very newsworthy, which is nothing new for the TNA+ monthly specials). This was a thumbs-up episode with a lot going on, but everything served a purpose.

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