TNA Thursday Night iMPACT! Review - August 20, 2026

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Mustafa Ali Addressed Jason Hotch

This feud between Ali and Hotch has been incredibly well done and this was a nice way to build toward the Steel Cage match between them for the TNA International Championship at Lockdown. Ali had the rest of Order 4 with him here (minus Hotch), but he was the only one who spoke. It was a quality promo that also established that it would be Hotch vs. John Skyler later in the night.

Rich Swann def. Mr. Elegance

I believe Elegance was undefeated one-on-one coming into this contest. It would have been completely stupid for him to beat a former TNA World Champion in Swann, so I'm glad Swann went over. There wasn't much to the match, but it didn't overstay its welcome, either. I'm actually not sure what purpose this was supposed to serve other than giving Swann a victory.​

Jada Stone def. Heather by Elegance in a TNA Knockouts Television Championship Tournament Semifinal Match

We almost got an Elegance Brand final in this tournament with Heather vs. M, but I'm happy they went with Stone advancing instead because that would have been boring. I'm hoping Stone becomes the inaugural champion as well because she's a fun underdog and has been a breakout star in TNA this year. They got a little bit of time here, but it an average outing at best.

TNA Knockouts World Champion Xia Brookside and Elayna Black Exchanged Words

This was a split-screen interview so they could be kept apart. I'm still getting used to Black being a babyface, but I thought she did decently here along with Brookside. They did what they could to hype up their match for Lockdown and get viewers invested in the story. This is one of those matches that definitely doesn't need the steel cage as a stipulation, but I expect them to make the most of it.

Brian Myers def. Fabian Aichner to Earn the Advantage in Lethal Lockdown

Ah, the old Lethal Lockdown Advantage matches. We've gotten matches like this over the last decade in TNA for similar gimmick matches, but not for Lethal Lockdown since the last one in 2016 (or earlier). I'm stunned Myers beat Aichner because Myers almost always loses on his own, but it made sense to give the advantage to the heel squad. This was a quality contest from these two.

TNA International Champion Jason Hotch def. John Skyler by Disqualification (Non-Title)

Hotch cut a promo beforehand that seemed to get through to Skyler where he said they could fight as brothers and not as enemies. That led to a nice little sprint for a few minutes before Special Agent 0 crashed the contest to attack Hotch. Although this was more of an angle than a match, it was an interesting development in the story and more successful build for Hotch vs. Ali at Lockdown.

Harley Hudson def. Alisha Edwards

The stipulation was that Hudson would be able to keep her spot on the roster if she won, whereas she would've been "fired" had she lost. Honestly, considering how many people have legitimately left TNA this year (including in the Knockouts division), it wouldn't have shocked me if Edwards had won. The match was nothing special, but it accomplished what it needed to. Stone made the save afterward as she and Edwards will be taking part in the Lethal Lockdown matchup on Sunday.

TNA World Tag Team Champions The Hardys, Moose and Elijah def. A.J. Francis, Frankie Kazarian and The Nemeths

This essentially served as a preview of three of the matches we'll be getting at Lockdown. It was the perfect match to do on the pay-per-view go-home show. It wasn't ground-breaking by any means, but the crowd ate up the action, especially with the babyfaces going over decisively to end the night. This also gave the babyfaces a momentum boost going into the event.

Overall Show

On paper, I can't say Lockdown is an event that overly intrigues me, if only because having multiple cage matches on the same show waters down the stipulation. Nonetheless, they put forth an admirable effort on this episode in hyping up the pay-per-view. The matches on this show were solid on the whole, but the biggest highlights of the night were easily anything involving Hotch and Order 4.

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