TNA iMPACT! Review - May 2, 2024

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

TNA X-Division Champion Mustafa Ali def. Chris Bey (Non-Title)

Bey facing Ali here made it pretty obvious that Ace Austin was going to become the number one contender later in the show. Despite that, they had a well-wrestled opener. The outcome was never in doubt, but it was a competitive warm-up for Ali ahead of his title defense at Under Siege. I'm all for Bey doing more on his own. ABC have been a terrific team, but what more can they do in the tag team ranks? Are they even still a part of Bullet Club?

Alisha Edwards def. TNA Knockouts World Tag Team Champion Dani Luna

Edwards and Masha Slamovich will challenge Spitfire for the TNA Knockouts World Tag Team Championship at Under Siege. Edwards is taking the place of Slamovich's previous partner, Killer Kelly. I can't remember the last match Edwards won, so this was a necessary victory for her. It was a fairly basic bout, but it didn't overstay its welcome and at least it put more heat on the heels.

Hammerstone def. Cody Deaner in a Sin City Street Fight

With Hammerstone facing Jake Somethin in a hoss fight at Under Siege, this was a logical match to do given Deaner's history with Something. The stipulation was a last-minute addition and it made the matchup more interesting. Hammerstone probably should have won a little quicker than he did, but the crowd was into all of the plunder. Something and Hammerstone brawling afterward served as a small preview of what to expect in their upcoming encounter.

Joe Hendry "Apologized" to First Class

This was basically Hendry's version of a Rock Concert (the Dwayne Johnson kind). He repeated some of his stuff from other segments, but the last song he sang for A.J. Francis was actually quite clever and entertaining. Hendry had a huge week with his entrance music trending worldwide, so hopefully TNA capitalize on that. That includes wrapping up this storyline with First Class soon so he can climb up the card.

The System Addressed "Broken" Matt Hardy and Speedball Mountain

Footage was shown of Nic Nemeth selling last week's attack backstage and Hardy agreeing to take his place in the six-man tag team match at Under Siege. The System did a decent job of addressing their opponents and hyping the matchup, but their mic work wasn't anything out of the ordinary. It served its purpose, but it probably should have been saved for right before the main event so it didn't have to follow the Hendry stuff.

Ace Austin def. Trey Miguel in a TNA X-Division Championship No. 1 Contender's Match

Austin and Miguel obviously have plenty of history from years ago and I'm glad that was acknowledged by the commentators early on. They've had strong chemistry as opponents since then and thus this was a quality contest. Austin doesn't feel like a threat to Ali's X-Division title whatsoever, but it's nice to see that ABC are doing more singles stuff and branching back out beyond the tag team division for the first time in a while.

TNA Knockouts World Champion Jordynne Grace def. Miyu Yamashita

Yamashita has been incredibly impressive any time I've seen her in action and this was no exception. There won't be a TNA Knockouts World Championship defense at Under Siege, so it was cool to see this headline the final show before then. Unsurprisingly, they had a great match. My only complaint is that it didn't last longer. She and PCO got the better of Steph De Lander and Kon afterward heading into their tag team matchup at Under Siege.

Overall Show

Under Siege looks like a total throwaway show on paper and I continue to question why TNA schedules some of these specials for two weeks after one of their pay-per-views. The build suffers as a result and the overall card is very lackluster. Nonetheless, they've done what they can to hype it up, so this was a solid edition of iMPACT!. The two hours were fun and featured enough enjoyable stuff to make the show worthwhile.

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