TNA iMPACT! Review - August 8, 2024

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

The System Addressed the Audience

This was a chance for The System to On a side note, JDC wasn't wearing a System-branded jacket like everyone else, so maybe he's still not an official member after all. Moose vowed to get the TNA World Championship back but said he'll beat Mike Santana first next week. This was a pretty basic mission statement from the group, but it was necessary coming off their various losses at Slammiversary.

TNA X-Division Champion "Speedball" Mike Bailey def. Jake Something and Trent Seven in a Three-Way Match to Qualify for the TNA X-Division Championship Ultimate X Match at Emergence

Yes, Bailey volunteered to compete in a qualifier for a match where his title will be on the line whether he qualified or not. That was pretty stupid, not to mention it made it obvious he was winning. That stuff aside, this was a fun match as all three guys worked well together. Maybe Something or Seven can find another way to quality? Bailey being back in his element in Ultimate X is going to be a blast to watch.

Kushida def. Jonathan Gresham

This match was originally scheduled for Slammiversary before travel issues forced Gresham to miss it. Interestingly, Gresham wasn't wearing the dumb mask he's had since returning to television. He didn't use the mist to beat Kushida, either. Hey, I'm not complaining because the gimmick wasn't working and allowing these two to have a straight-up wrestling match was better. It was a quality contest.

TNA Knockouts World Champion Jordynne Grace vs. Rosemary Ended in a No Contest

I was surprised to see Rosemary answer the open challenge considering this is one of the bigger matches TNA can do in the Knockouts division right now. That's why I didn't have an issue with the non-finish because they can always go back to this at some point. What we got was good, but it was too brief and got cut short before they could reach that next gear. Ash by Elegance's interference sets up a potential three-way for the title.

TNA World Champion Nic Nemeth Attacked Josh Alexander and Accepted His Challenge

Alexander didn't offer a deep explanation for turning heel at Slammiversary other than blaming the audience, but he did come across as bitter when discussing how the people have rallied behind Joe Hendry instead of him. They haven't interacted since then, so perhaps the idea is for them to have their match at Bound for Glory. The exchange between Nemeth and Alexander was simple and set up their big championship match for next week.

Zachary Wentz def. KC Navarro and Dante Chen in a Three-Way Match to Qualify for the TNA X-Division Champion Ultimate X Match at Emergence

This was a terrific trio of talent. Chen is WWE NXT's gatekeeper but is a hell of a hand, Wentz's skills are no secret, and Navarro is one of the best unsigned talents on the independent scene right now. Why hasn't a company picked up Navarro yet?! This was another entertaining three-way with Wentz going over as expected. This was taped last weekend (before Wes Lee turned on The Rascalz on NXT), so thankfully, Lee didn't appear with The Rascalz here. It would have been rather awkward if he did.

Joe Hendry def. Wolfgang

Hendry just beat Joe Coffey on NXT this past Tuesday night, so it was logical for him to knock off Wolfgang here as well. I assume this was put in the main event slot because Wolfgang is an NXT talent and therefore that automatically made this more important than anything else on the show. It was well wrestled and Hendry got to further his momentum with the win. It feels like Hendry is being kept busy in random stuff until his feud with Alexander starts up closer to Bound for Glory.

Overall Show

Steph De Lander was shown on her "honeymoon" with PCO throughout the episode before it was crashed by Matt Cardona. All in all, this edition of iMPACT! was another great effort. They're setting stuff up for the coming weeks and months while simultaneously delivering enjoyable episodes. The working relationship with NXT is still going strong, storylines are progressing and the in-ring action is consistently solid. TNA has been in a much better spot this summer than they were in the spring.

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