TNA iMPACT! Review - July 25, 2024

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

TNA World Champion Nic Nemeth Accepted Mustafa Ali's TNA World Championship Challenge

I know a lot of people wanted Joe Hendry to win the World title at Slammiversary (I would've been perfectly fine with it myself), but he can capture it in due time. Nemeth needed to get a run with it first and should hold it through at least Slammiversary. I really liked the exchange he and Ali had here to set up their title match for next week's show. I don't know if that will be it for Ali in TNA, but if so, that's a cool way for him to go out. It's amazing to think these two were having an undercard feud on Raw back in early 2023 and now they're top players in TNA.

Steve Maclin def. Cody Deaner

The commentators acknowledged how Maclin wasn't happy with the reaction he received from the crowd when he got eliminated from the Slammiversary six-way main event, so he's already back to being a heel despite seemingly just turning babyface. He and Deaner had a decent match, but it was nothing out of the ordinary. It simply existed to give Maclin a rebound win. It's worth noting that Deaner's shtick where he polls the crowds is gradually getting over.

A.J. Francis def. Sami Callihan

Callihan got involved in the Montreal Street Fight at Slammiversary where Francis lost his TNA Digital Media Championship to PCO, so that's why this match happened. Francis has had an entertaining run in TNA, but most of his matches are still average at best (though the Montreal Street Fight was easily the best match of his career). Rich Swann and Josh Bishop interfering cost Callihan the victory. Callihan has plenty of history with Swann, so I'd be down to see them face off at some point.

Hammerstone and Ash by Elegance def. Eric Young and TNA Knockouts World Champion Jordynne Grace

Hammerstone and Ash lost their respective matches at Slammiversary, so this allowed them to get some of their heat back. I assume this means their rivalries with Young and Grace will resume, right? It was a well-worked mixed tag team match. Hammerstone losing to Young on the Slammiversary pre-show was baffling to me, but at least he got the win here. That said, the crowd's quiet reaction after he picked up the pinfall victory was noticeable.

Josh Alexander Refused to Explain His Actions

I love the idea to turn Alexander heel to feud with Henry, ideally culminating in a match at Bound for Glory. He got great heat here and gave nothing away. There's no rush for him to explain his actions, so I appreciated the approach that was taken here. Alexander was only ever a heel in TNA when he was teaming with Ethan Page in The North, so while we'll see how he'll do in the role, I believe it'll work. All of this (including the new entrance music) was a solid start.

"Broken" Matt Hardy and TNA World Tag Team Champions ABC def. The System (JDC, Eddie Edwards and Brian Myers)

Hardy and ABC made for a terrific team. Jeff Hardy won't be around for the Montreal tapings due to his past legal issues keeping him out of Canada, so I'm curious what Matt does in the meantime. This felt like a fitting conclusion to his feud with The System, but it's possible it continues. The action was enjoyable and nicely paced. The fall of The System was the logical next chapter of the group. On a side note, JDC was announced as a member of The System, so I assume it's official that he's joined (it wasn't official according to Moose a few weeks ago). Additionally, if Hendry was going to come to the babyfaces' aid, why not confront Alexander earlier?

Overall Show

From an in-ring standpoint, only the main event stood out, but this was a hot follow-up show to Slammiversary, largely because of the Montreal crowd. I couldn't tell you the last time I heard a crowd this loud for an iMPACT! taping. There was fallout from the pay-per-view as well as stuff set up for the coming weeks, including Nemeth vs. Ali for next week. There wasn't any NXT involvement and the two hours still held my interest throughout, an encouraging sign that the product is heating up again.

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