TNA iMPACT! Review - August 15, 2024

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Riley Osborne def. John Skyler and TNA World Tag Team Champion Chris Bey in a Three-Way Match to Qualify for the TNA X-Division Championship Ultimate X Match at Emergence

WWE NXT’s Dante Chen competed in a qualifier this week, and not only was a fellow NXT star Riley Osborne in another qualifier this week, he won, so that was a pleasant surprise. Osborne has been really impressive from what I’ve seen of his work in NXT and he’ll be right at home in Ultimate X. This was a well-worked three-way yet not on the same level as either of last week’s three-ways.

Santino Marella Called Out Matt Cardona

Cardona crashed PCO and Steph De Lander’s wedding two weeks ago as well as their honeymoon last week, so Marella issued him a contract here. No, not a TNA contract, but rather a contract for a match with PCO at Emergence. The problem was that PCO vs. Cardona wasn’t announced until later on backstage so the crowd just watched Marella hand Cardona a contract here and didn’t know what it was for exactly. Therefore, they didn’t know how to react. What a weird segment.

Gisele Shaw def. Tasha Steelz

There were multiple referees out there to ensure Steelz couldn't cheat against Shaw. Shaw had yet to beat Steelz, so this allowed her to bounce back from her recent shortcomings. Their matches haven’t lit the world on fire by any means, but they’ve at least been kept busy and the feud has given Shaw some direction and a chance to build momentum. This was another perfectly passable outing from them with the right outcome.

Moose def. Mike Santana

Santana was attacked by The System backstage beforehand, so he had an out for losing. He fought valiantly despite being outnumbered and even came close to winning before Moose put him away. He had a hell of a performance here and was made to look credible in defeat. Joe Hendry made the save for Santana afterward and established that he, Santana and The Hardys will take on The System in an eight-man tag team match on next week's show.

Jason Hotch def. TNA World Tag Team Champion Ace Austin and Rich Swann in a Three-Way Match to Qualify for the TNA X-Division Championship Ultimate X Match at Emergence

I for sure thought Hotch was only in there to eat the pin like John Skyler was in his match earlier in the episode, so him winning certainly surprised me. I'm not against it, though. He's a (pardon the pun) good hand, so perhaps he’ll shine in Ultimate X and have a breakout performance. Similar to the opener, this was a nice match yet nothing you’ll remember. I believe the last two qualifiers will go down on next week’s show.

TNA World Champion Nic Nemeth vs. Josh Alexander Ended in a Time-Limit Draw

Both of these guys are great, and sure enough, they had a great match. Shocking, I know. The longer it went, the more I thought it would end in a time-limit draw, and that’s exactly what happened. I had no issue with the finish because now we’ll get a rematch at Emergence that should be even better. This was a top-notch main event with the two of them working as well together as you’d hope.

Overall Show

This edition of iMPACT! was carried by the lengthy main event, but it was still a solid show on the whole. The field for Ultimate X was filled out some more, PCO vs. Cardona was announced for Emergence, and I thought Moose vs. Santana told a strong story. There have been more important episodes since Slammiversary, but this one was effective in building toward Emergence and progressing certain storylines (albeit not in meaningful fashion).

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