TNA iMPACT! Review - June 20, 2024

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Santino Marella Interrupted The System and Johnny "Dango" Curtis

I wasn't sure coming out of Against All Odds why Dango helped The System retain the TNA World Tag Team Championship and whether he was now a full-fledged member of the group, but they explained both of those things here. Curtis has history with most of the members, but Moose clarified he isn't a member quite yet. I'm glad he's mostly ditched the Dirty Dango name and is now going by Johnny "Dango" Curtis. Marella announced there will qualifiers in the coming weeks to determine who will be taking part in a six-way match for the TNA World Championship at Slammiversary, starting with the night's main event. This was a little long, but it accomplished what it needed to.

Spitfire def. The Hex

Having The Hex stick around after unsuccessfully challenging for the TNA Knockouts World Tag Team Championship against Against All Odds to put over another team made sense. Spitfire were recently teasing tension, so this seemed to establish that they're back on the same page. As a match, it was what it needed to be and didn't overstay its welcome. This may have been The Hex's last TNA appearance for now, but time will tell.

Frankie Kazarian def. Ace Steel in a Chicago Street Fight

I thought it was ridiculous that Joe Hendry lost to Kazarian at Against All Odds and the bigger focus was on Steel getting into it with Kazarian afterward. I have zero desire to see Steel in the ring in 2024, but to his credit, this was a well-worked Street Fight and they made nice use of the stipulation. Hendry made the save for Steel afterward. By the way, yes, the commentators did acknowledge Hendry's WWE NXT appearance on Tuesday and Kazarian throwing him out of the Battle Royal.

First Class Crashed PCO and Steph De Lander's Date

I've been digging the storyline with PCO and De Lander in recent weeks, but this was a swing and a miss for me. The entire "date" went down in the ring when it should have been a pre-taped thing. Their attempt at comedy was lame and the crowd didn't really react. More heat was put on First Class with them attacking PCO and De Lander, but on the whole, this was disappointing.

Ash by Elegance def. Heather Reckless

I know Ash vs. Jordynne Grace is the direction they're headed in (it's been clear since Ash arrived at Hard to Kill in January), but I'm still not buying Ash as a legitimate threat to Grace, no matter how much they build her up with wins. She's simply not that good. She's decent enough but nowhere near Grace's level. This was a perfectly serviceable squash and was wisely kept on the shorter side.

Johnny "Dango" Curtis def. Ryan Nemeth

If Curtis is going to be involved with The System going forward, then it's only logical for him to start racking up wins. Beating Nemeth is a solid start. There wasn't much to the match, but that's exactly why it worked. It was unnecessary for this to be any more competitive than it was. Nic Nemeth made the save afterward, so expect the Nemeths to continue feuding with The System for the foreseeable future.

Josh Alexander def. Eric Young in a Road to Slammiversary Qualifying Match

This was a rematch from Slammiversary 2022. Additionally, they've been partners on and off this year and just lost at Against All Odds. In other words, they have quality chemistry together and this was an enjoyable main event. It could have lasted a little longer, but the right man won in the end. I know this puts Alexander in the Slammiversary main event for the TNA World Championship, but he still feels directionless. Why not put him in NXT for a mini run at some point to give him something to do?

Overall Show

This edition of iMPACT! effectively followed up on Against All Odds and set the stage for Slammiversary next month. The Road to Slammiversary qualifiers in the coming weeks give us matches with stakes to look forward to, but I'm not sure what else the card will consist of as of now. It'd be awesome if a WWE star were to wrestle at the event. AJ Styles would be ideal given his history in TNA, but I know that's not too likely. Nonetheless, this was a thumbs-up show. If you wanted to see or hear from The Hardys, a brief video from after Against All Odds played featuring comments from Matt Hardy, but that was it. Hopefully they'll have more of a presence next week seeing as how Jeff Hardy's TNA return at Against All Odds received a fair amount of attention online and you'd think the company would want to capitalize on that.

SEE MORE: TNA Reviews