TNA iMPACT! Review - May 16, 2024

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Ash by Elegance def. Xia Brookside

This was a rematch from a few weeks ago where I believe Brookside beat Ash. Giving Ash her win back was fine if the idea is for her to challenge Jordynne Grace for the TNA Knockouts World Championship eventually. There was nothing out of the ordinary about this outing, but it was decent for what it was. Brookside laid out Ash afterward, so it looks like we're in for a rubber matchup between them.

Leon Slater def. Alan Angels

We haven't seen a ton of Slater so far in TNA, but he's an impressive prospect and he was able to pick up a bit of a momentum boost with this win. It was a nice match while it lasted, but I could've done without the referee nonsense where he acted sick because he came in contact with Jonathan Gresham last week. Uhm, okay? Post-match, Kon laid out Angels and Slater. I'd like to see Slater beat Kon, but I'm not confident that's going to happen.

Jake Something Attacked Cody Deaner

Gabby LaSpisa was back again this week to interview Something. She didn't say much before Something got offended out of nowhere. The whole thing felt forced. LaSpisa isn't a great interviewer in this environment, but to her credit, she was better in this segment than she was last week. I actually liked Something attacking Deaner. Deaner's been a total goof lately and, as Something mentioned, Deaner never apologized for betraying him all those years ago, so Something had every right to be frustrated with him.

Frankie Kazarian def. Steve Maclin

I appreciated Tom Hannifan mentioning the history these two have from late 2022 when Maclin attacked Kazarian (prior to their recent partnership), but it was still weird to see these two heels face each other. It was a very well-wrestled match, but the crowd was largely quiet because they didn't have an incentive to cheer for either of them. The Rascalz costing Maclin the win was logical given their recent issues, but again, they're also heels, so who's the babyface in this situation?

Joe Hendry, "Broken" Matt Hardy, Ryan Nemeth, Sami Callihan, Dani Luna, Jody Threat, Eric Young and Steph De Lander def. and TNA X-Division Champion Mustafa Ali, TNA Knockouts World Tag Team Champion Masha Slamovich, TNA Digital Media Champion Laredo Kid, TNA Knockouts World Champion Jordynne Grace and The System (TNA World Champion Moose, TNA World Tag Team Champions Brian Myers and Eddie Edwards and TNA Knockouts World Tag Team Champion Alisha Edwards) in a Champions Challenge Match

That has got to be the biggest headline I have ever written in my 14 years of writing wrestling reviews. Good lord. That's because this was the biggest match in TNA history we were told, and unless I missed something, I don't believe anything was actually at stake. How much sense does that make? At least it ended up being entertaining with a consistent pace, even if there were way too many people involved. I'm glad Hendry scored the win for his team seeing as how he's the hot hand right now, though how TNA intends to follow up with him is the question. PCO presented De Lander with a flower afterward, so they might be doing a "Bride of Frankenstein" type of thing with them.

Overall Show

I didn't discuss it last week, but I've really liked the Mike Santana sit-down interviews that have aired the past two weeks. They've done a great job of establishing why he's back in TNA, what he wants to accomplish and what motivates him. That and the massive tag team main event are the only things worth checking out from this show I'd say. It wasn't a bad show by any means, but I'm not a fan of some of the other storylines, so nothing else really interested me.

SEE MORE: TNA Reviews