TNA iMPACT! Review - May 1, 2025

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Mike Santana def. Isiah Moore

The match itself was a total squash as it should have been, so there's not much to say about that. The focus was on his post-match promo where Ali said that he was finished with Mustafa Ali and now his sights are set on the TNA World Championship. That title should totally be in his possession by the end of the year, but I'm not exactly sure how they get there. Either way, this was a hot start to the show.

The Northern Armory Attacked TNA International Champion Steve Maclin

Maclin was making his way to the ring for a promo when he was attacked from behind by Northern Armory, so this was more of a quick angle than anything. This played out perfectly fine as it was basically an extension of what Northern Armory did to Maclin after he beat Eric Young at Rebellion. This was a simple and effective way of furthering the feud between Maclin and Young.

TNA X-Division Champion Moose def. Zachary Wentz

Wentz pinned Moose in that tag team match at Rebellion, so this was a logical match to do. While I would've rather seen Wentz be built up a bit more ahead of time, this was a very enjoyable outing from these two with Wentz scoring plenty of offense and even coming close to winning on a few occasions before eating defeat. This was on the shorter side, but it was a blast while it lasted.

Robert Stone and Victoria Crawford Interrupted Santino Marella and Cody Deaner

The storyline with Deaner is that his TNA contract was supposed to expire on this day, but his win-loss record has been less than stellar. Marella promised him one last chance at Under Siege where a win over Eddie Edwards might be enough to get him renewed. The part of the segment with Stone and Crawford (f.k.a. WWE's Alicia Fox) coming out was random. I don't need a battle for power between Stone and Marella and I definitely don't need to see Crawford back in the ring, but perhaps Masha Slamovich can bring the best out of her at Under Siege.

Jody Threat def. Maggie Lee

Lee got involved in the TNA Knockouts World Tag Team Championship match at Rebellion to help Ash and Heather by Elegance retain the titles, so this was Spitfire's chance to get some revenge. Although the match made sense, there wasn't anything out of the ordinary about it. I also don't know where it leaves Spitfire, who feel overexposed in the TNA Knockouts World Tag Team Championship picture right now.

Gia Miller Interviewed Indi Hartwell

As I mentioned in my Rebellion review, Hartwell is an excellent addition to the Knockouts division. TNA has lost a lot of female talent in the last few years and Hartwell helps fill the void. This wasn't very long at all, but it essentially served as her mission statement and it was good. I'm looking forward to seeing who her first feud will be with, but I will say that she shouldn't be rushed into TNA Knockouts World Championship contention.

Leon Slater def. KC Navarro

Both of these guys shined in the Ultimate X match at Rebellion, so I'm glad TNA capitalized on their momentum by featuring them on this show. All signs point to Slater being the one to ultimately dethrone Moose for the TNA X-Division Championship, and if that's the case, he needed to start racking up wins. This was a step in the right direction and a fun sprint at that.

TNA World Tag Team Champions The Nemeths and Frankie Kazarian def. The Hardys and TNA World Champion Joe Hendry

That Hendry and Hardys entrance mash-up is so damn great. This was an entertaining main event the crowd was super hot for, which was hardly surprising considering the star power involved. The win for the heels puts more heat on them and builds toward the inevitable rematch between The Nemeths and The Hardys. I'm not sure what this means for Kazarian, but he probably should get another shot at the TNA World Championship since he wasn't pinned at Rebellion and was on the winning team here. Trick Williams showing up and attacking Hendry was a nice out for the babyface team to lose.

Overall Show

The live editions of iMPACT! always feel more eventful because anything can happen and nothing is spoiled beforehand. All in all, this was a thumbs-up episode that successfully followed up on Rebellion and built toward what's next, which was important with Under Siege coming up in just over three weeks. The show had a solid pace and quality wrestling.

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