TNA iMPACT! Review - January 8, 2026

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

TNA World Tag Team Champions The Hardys Accepted The Righteous' Challenge for Genesis

As I've said before, we've gotten quite a bit of talking from these two teams, so while I would've wanted to see The Righteous get at least one squash win to establish themselves in the ring, talking is their specialty and I'm fine with them getting several segments with The Hardys. The Hardys' frustration leading to them granting The Righteous a shot at the TNA World Tag Team Championship at Genesis made sense and I appreciated that they kept things short and sweet.

Dani Luna def. Harley Hudson

Hudson and Myla Grace have only been utilized as enhancement talent so far in TNA, so the outcome here was never in doubt, but this was all about putting over Luna as a one-woman wrecking crew. It was certainly successful, especially with how she laid out Grace, Lei Ying Lee and Xia Brookside afterward as well. She'll be challenging for the TNA Knockouts World Championship at Genesis and it's well deserved.

Elijah Fended Off Order 4

This was basically the inverse of an Elijah concert with Order 4 interrupting, except with Mustafa Ali doing one of his usual in-ring speeches and quickly being cut off by Elijah, who chased them out of the building. It was simple stuff, but I suppose it was effective. Ali has had much bigger matches in TNA over the last two years, but maybe they'll exceed my expectations come Genesis.

Steve Maclin def. TNA International Champion Channing "Stacks" Lorenzo by Disqualification

It was already announced on this week's NXT that Shiloh Hill will be facing Maclin for the TNA International Championship come next Tuesday, so that practically gave away the finish here. Nonetheless, this was a decent match with a lame disqualification finish. Maybe Maclin shows up on next Tuesday's NXT to get some revenge on Lorenzo and possibly cost him the title against Hill.

Cedric Alexander, TNA X-Division Champion Leon Slater and TNA World Tag Team Champions The Hardys def. The System (Moose, Eddie Edwards, Brian Myers and JDC)

This was billed as the final main event of the AXS TV era of iMPACT!, even though it didn't close the show. It had some star power and wasn't hurt by the babyface vs. babyface dynamic. The action was entertaining and they filled the time well. Moose pinning Alexander also hyped the TNA X-Division Championship match at Genesis since it will be a three-way with them and Slater.

Nic Nemeth Crashed TNA World Champion Frankie Kazarian and Mike Santana's TNA World Championship Contract Signing

I can't say I wasn't expecting a shot at AEW in this segment from Santana, but I can understand him wanting to relate to Kazarian in the sense both were in less-than-desirable spots in AEW toward the end of their respective runs there. The rest of the verbal exchange was good and I'm glad it didn't end in physicality. Nemeth teasing he could cash in his Call Your Shot trophy on next week's winner was an interesting tease, but I hope that isn't what happens since we just saw that less than two months ago.

Overall Show

iMPACT!'s premiere on AMC next Thursday still doesn't feel like a big enough deal as far as what's being advertised, but I am looking forward to it, regardless. I get that they have a pay-per-view two days later that they have to build up, too. As for this episode, the final stretch was strong with the eight-man tag team match and the contract signing, and everything else earlier on served a purpose, so it was a quality effort on the whole.

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