TNA iMPACT! Review - October 17, 2024

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

TNA Digital Media Champion and International Heavyweight Wrestling Champion PCO def. Rhino in a No Disqualification Match

Matt Cardona handpicked Rhino as PCO's opponent as part of the Pick Your Poison gimmick before they face off at Bound for Glory. It was already confirmed that PCO will be defending both of his belts against Cardona at the event, so there was no reason to believe Rhino would win here. Despite that, they had a fun little brawl. Both guys are in their element in hardcore matches, so this actually benefited from the stipulation.

Ash by Elegance def. Brinley Reece

We've been seeing a ton of crossover between WWE NXT and TNA with the women specifically. Sometimes, you get someone like Sol Ruca on iMPACT!. Other times, you get someone lower on the totem pole like Reece. Even being labeled an NXT "star" wasn't enough to get fans to care about her here. There was too much goofy crap for my liking, but at least it gave Elegance a fine showcase win.

TNA X-Division Champion "Speedball" Mike Bailey def. Leon Slater

Slater earned this opportunity last week by winning a number one contender's match. He hasn't done a whole lot in TNA thus far, so I appreciated that he had this chance to shine because he absolutely made the most of it. This was a blast of a bout as expected. The biggest surprise was that it wasn't interrupted by anyone. We found out afterward that El Hijo del Vikingo will challenge Bailey for the belt at Bound for Glory. That should be quite the spectacle.

The Northern Armory Attacked Steve Maclin

Maclin called out Alexander, got the entire Northern Armory and was laid out. There really wasn't much to this segment than that. While I'm glad they kept this short and sweet, I can't say any of this has done much for me, personally. Sinner and Saint feel like generic henchmen and Alexander's lack of direction heading into TNA's biggest pay-per-view of the year has been disappointing. I'm sure we'll get some sort of a tag team match at the event, but waiting until two days before to announce it is certainly a choice.

Mike Santana vs. TNA World Tag Team Champion Brian Myers Never Got Underway

Santana has been at war with The System for months, so it makes sense for him to run through The System heading into Bound for Glory where he'll ultimately face Moose. However, he attacked Myers before the bell and called out Moose instead (who didn't show up), so the match never actually happened. This was whatever, but not doing the matchup probably protected Myers from taking a loss before he and Eddie Edwards defend the TNA World Tag Team Championship in Full Metal Mayhem.

Matthew Rehwoldt Hosted a Sit-Down Face-Off Between TNA Knockouts World Champion Jordynne Grace and Masha Slamovich

The build to this Bound for Glory match has been fairly rushed (even with their history), but this was an effective way of heating things up between the two. Slamovich's material was standard stuff, but I wasn't impressed with her delivery. Hopefully she'll improve now that she's cutting promos in English in TNA. Grace was much better. I have to imagine Grace is finally going to put her over and drop the title to her at Bound for Glory.

TNA World Champion Nic Nemeth def. Matt Cardona (Non-Title)

This Pick Your Poison was non-title, so why wouldn't PCO's have been non-title as well? Not that it made much of a difference, but still. I loved that these guys got to run it back on a bigger stage (compared to an independent event I mean) for the first time in years. Their 2011 feud was one of my favorites and they've always had great chemistry together. This was the usual enjoyable outing from them. Frankie Kazarian announcing afterward that he'll be the special guest referee for Nemeth vs. Joe Hendry at Bound for Glory was weird, though. That's an unnecessary move.

Overall Show

iMPACT! is pretty consistent quality-wise and this edition was no exception. Some of the stuff in the middle was questionable (at least in terms of execution), but the overall episode was successful in building toward Bound for Glory. It feels like this year's installment lacks long-term storytelling, but they've still put together a strong show on paper that I have no doubt will deliver.

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