TNA iMPACT! Review - September 19, 2024

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

The Hardys Saved TNA Knockouts World Champion Jordynne Grace and Masha Slamovich From The System and Tasha Steelz

Has Slamovich ever spoken English in TNA before? And if so, was this the first time she's spoken without the accent? I like the character development for her and she should do well as a babyface on her own. I also like that Grace made the save for her given their history as rivals. The rest of the segment was simple stuff to set up the six-person tag team main event and to announce Rosemary and Wendy Choo vs. Grace and an NXT partner for next week.

First Class (A.J. Francis and KC Navarro) def. Sinner and Saint

Sinner and Saint got a televised entrance and this was more competitive than I thought it would be, so I'm curious if they'll end up getting signed if they haven't been already. Regardless, this served its purpose as a showcase for First Class. Following losses to ABC and The Hardys, they needed a rebound victory and this accomplished that. As I've said before, Francis and Navarro have developed great chemistry as partners in a short span of time.

Rhino def. Matt Cardona by Disqualification

Obviously, we were supposed to get Rhino and PCO vs. Cardona and Steph De Lander at Victory Road before De Lander announced she needed to undergo neck surgery, so the bout never got underway. As a result, I believe this was Cardona's first official TNA match since returning from injury. There wasn't much to it before he attacked Rhino with the chair. PCO made the save for Rhino afterward. This was kept quick and painless, so I have no complaints.

TNA Knockouts World Tag Team Champions Spitfire def. Kendal Grey and Carlee Bright

When Arianna Grace emerged to introduce the challengers for Spitfire, I hoped we'd get bigger names than Grey and Bright, but that's just how the working partnership between NXT and TNA has gone so far. Don't get me wrong, I've thoroughly enjoyed it, but it'd be nice if we saw some of the bigger NXT names on iMPACT! once in a while. This exceeded my expectations and ended up being a pretty decent match that gave Spitfire their first successful title defense since getting the belts back at Victory Road.

Mike Santana def. JDC in a Texas Death Match

I know Santana has been feuding with The System for the last few months, but the Texas Death match stipulation felt unnecessary. Couldn't it have been saved for when Santana likely faces Moose again at Bound for Glory? To their credit, he and JDC made the most of it and had a hell of a brawl and Santana's splash off the stage onto JDC through the table at the end looked awesome. The crowd was into all of this.

Joe Hendry, Frankie Kazarian and Nic Nemeth Exchanged Words

Hendry addressed beating Josh Alexander before being interrupted by Kazarian, who said he deserved the next shot at the TNA World Championship. I can't remember the last important match Kazarian won (maybe when he beat Hendry back in June?), so I'm not sure why Hendry vs. Kazarian will be a number one contender's match next week if the outcome is predictable. At least everyone played their roles well.

The Hardys and Masha Slamovich def. The System (TNA World Tag Team Champions Brian Myers and Eddie Edwards) and Tasha Steelz

The Hardys and Slamovich wasn't a pairing I ever expected to see, but they worked really well together. The System and Steelz are always reliable, so unsurprisingly, this was an entertaining main event and The Hardys were super over per usual. As I've said before, I have to imagine their recent string of wins will lead to them being involved in a match for the TNA World Tag Team Championship at Bound for Glory, especially since they beat the champs here.

Overall Show

This was a hot follow-up show to Victory Road. The last two matches specifically stood out, but everything served a purpose and progressed several storylines heading into Bound for Glory, which is now just over a month away. NXT continues to have a presence on iMPACT! most weeks, which is cool, and the two hours consistently fly by. TNA is a very fun product right now, and with all of their recent events delivering, I expect Bound for Glory to be must-see.

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