TNA iMPACT! Review - January 16, 2025

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Leon Slater def. Trent Seven

Frankie Kazarian sat in on commentary because he'll be facing Slater in a pre-show match at Genesis this Sunday. This marked Seven's TNA swan song as it was recently reported that he didn't re-sign with the promotion, so it was logical for him to lose here. It was also a nice endorsement of Slater, who consistently impresses in the ring but hasn't won too many matches up to now. This was an enjoyable opener and I liked that Seven gave Slater a bow of respect afterward.

TNA Knockouts World Tag Team Champions Spitfire Crashed Ash and Heather by Elegance's Pre-Launch Celebration by Elegance

Most of this feud has consisted of these teams trading wins in singles matches, which has been far from compelling. Although this segment did very little for me and dragged on longer than it needed to, at the very least I applaud their attempt to do something different before the TNA Knockouts World Tag Team Championship match at Genesis. It was certainly a segment that existed.

Eric Young and Steve Maclin def. First Class

TNA's tag team division is heating up again with so many teams wanting a crack at the tag titles, which is an encouraging sign. Young and Maclin have developed quality chemistry as partners. This was a decent match to further their momentum. Eddie Edwards and Brian Myers were shown standing on the stage afterward, so as suspected, Young and Maclin are just getting started with The System.

Mike Santana Interrupted Josh Alexander

Alexander claimed that Santana was hurt in last week's Gauntlet match, but obviously, that wasn't the case. Santana ensured that he'll be ready to go at Genesis and that his match against Alexander will be an "I Quit" match. That might be fitting if Alexander is indeed on his out of TNA and if that's his farewell (though he might be around for another month or so). This was good stuff from the two of them.

Jake Something def. Laredo Kid

I have no idea what purpose this match was supposed to serve, but I can't complain since it was a fun sprint while it lasted. These guys worked well together and made the most of the time they had. Both of them are directionless at the moment, but I'd love to see Something get more of a significant singles push since his tag team partner Hammerstone is sidelined with an injury at the moment.

TNA World Tag Team Champions The Hardys def. Sami Callihan and PCO (Non-Title)

Had Callihan and PCO won, they would've been added to the TNA World Tag Team Championship match between The Hardys and The Rascalz at Genesis. I'm glad they didn't turn it into a three-way because that would've been unnecessary. This was a perfectly solid outing. Hopefully we get an answer soon as to who's behind these "23" teases (or confirmation that it's actually Callihan).

TNA World Champion Nic Nemeth Attacked Joe Hendry; Jordynne Grace Attacked Tessa Blanchard

This was billed as the final face-off between Nemeth and Hendry before their TNA World Championship clash at Genesis. As Hendry said, they've pretty much said everything there is to say already, and honestly, the video packages that have been airing for Hendry in the past few weeks have been more effective in building up their bout than this was. This was more about establishing that Nemeth wasn't in cahoots with John Layfield (who cost Hendry the win at Bound for Glory), but it's possible he was lying. Nemeth got some boos for superkicking Hendry (because he was protecting his brother Ryan), so we'll see if the plan is to turn him heel either at or after Genesis. Meanwhile, the show-closing brawl between Grace and Blanchard was quick and painless.

Overall Show

​Genesis just got more interesting with it being announced earlier today that WWE and TNA have made their working partnership official. I can absolutely see Cora Jade making an appearance after what we saw from her and Masha Slamovich on Tuesday's NXT, but will anyone else from NXT pop up? The card on paper has plenty of potential and the build on the whole has been well done. This was a successful go-home show that struck the right balance between promos and wrestling.

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