 Ryan Nemeth Confronted TNA World Champion Mike SantanaIt's been over a month since Bound for Glory, so it's a shame that most of the momentum Santana had upon winning the TNA World Championship has fizzled out, but he did a nice job of attempting to pick up where he left off here. Unfortunately, Nemeth wasn't exactly the most exciting choice to interrupt him. I realize this existed to set up their TNA World Championship match for later in the show, but Nemeth is virtually unbearable and should be far away from the main event mix, regardless of whether his brother Nic is guaranteed a future shot at the title or not. Santino Marella, Ava and Arianna Grace Addressed the AudienceWell, this was a waste of time. It's already been established that NXT and TNA are back on the same page after the Showdown special last month, so it's not like this covered any new ground in that respect. The only "development" was that Marella and Ava said Grace is back in TNA, which is actually a step backward for her after already spending some time in the company earlier this year and teaming with her father. I guess this was to remind viewers that NXT and TNA have no issues with each other before revealing that they do at the end of the night. Dani Luna def. Indi Hartwell by DisqualificationI'm surprised we didn't get this match after Luna turned heel and betrayed Hartwell a few months ago, but at least they're revisiting their bad blood instead of forgetting about it. They had a good match here, but Hartwell intentionally getting herself disqualified by using the chair that Luna brought into the ring made her look stupid. On the bright side, Luna didn't eat a clean loss, and it did create the need for a rematch with no disqualifications at Turning Point. The Rascalz Interrupted The SystemThe first half of the segment with The System rambling about beating Order 4 in Hardcore War at Bound for Glory didn't seem to serve much of a purpose, but JDC announcing that he'll be retiring from in-ring competition after Genesis in January was notable. Even more notable was The Rascalz challenging them to an eight-man tag team match at Victory Road and the strong tease that their fourth partner will be the returning Wes Lee. Cedric Alexander def. Jason HotchHotch is a talented dude, but the outcome was never in doubt and this wasn't given enough time to be anything other than basic. This was more about the post-match angle with Order 4 targeting Alexander before The Hardys made the save. They'll have a six-man tag team match at Victory Road, but what's the endgame? The Great Hands winning and earning a future opportunity at the TNA World Tag Team Championship? Is TNA's tag team division really that depleted? TNA Knockouts World Champion Kelani Jordan def. Heather by EleganceI guess both Heather and M by Elegance feel entitled to shots at the TNA Knockouts World Championship because Ash by Elegance had to vacate the title. Uhm, okay. The problem is, Jordan has since turned heel, so the crowd was behind her here. What a mess. The match was whatever, and they are indeed doing Jordan vs. M at Victory Road with the title on the road. Who could possibly care? Mustafa Ali Crashed Elijah's ConcertApparently, Elijah isn't completely cleared to compete yet, and from what I understand, Ali isn't, either, so it's strange that they seem to be kicking off a feud based on what we saw here unless this was designed to build toward a match that isn't imminent. Either way, this was one of Elijah's usual concerts before Ali crashed it, but prior to Bound for Glory, we hadn't seen Elijah in a while, so I didn't have an issue with this or with how it played out. TNA World Champion Mike Santana vs. Ryan Nemeth Ended in a No Contest; Frankie Kazarian Cashed In His Call Your Shot Trophy on Santana to Win the TNA World ChampionshipOkay, lot to unpack here. First of all, Santana vs. Nemeth as a main event (even on iMPACT!) was a joke, so thankfully, that didn't last long. Worse than that was NXT's invasion... of undercard wrestlers. Seriously, you had Brooks Jensen, Lexis King, what's left of High Ryze and a bunch of other people who aren't threats in the slightest. And even worse than that, Kazarian cashed in his half of the Call Your Shot trophy (remember, Nic has the other half) and beat Santana in roughly a minute. Yes, Santana's reign is already over after only one month, and he never even appeared with the title prior to this episode. Kazarian deserved this moment, but everything about this ending was terribly executed. Overall ShowSantana losing the TNA World Championship so quickly is going to be the only thing people are talking about coming out of this edition of iMPACT!, but this was just a sad, sad show. The ending alone was awful, sure, but it's not like the rest of the show was all that inspiring. TNA took a month off after Bound for Glory and now has zero buzz, or at least negative buzz after what happened with Santana. Everything else feels cold as ice and they had to put together a meaningless card for an event that's coming up tomorrow night. Plus, I love Full Sail University, but this was a depressing atmosphere. This was an abysmal episode to kick off whatever this new era is supposed to be.
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