For the past few months, The System has been running amok in TNA Wrestling, putting the hurt on various competitors and even capturing the Tag Team Championship. On Thursday night’s episode of Impact, one of their past victims – Jeff Hardy – returned for revenge. Not only did they win the match – perhaps foretelling a possible run for the titles? – but along with Mike Santana and Joe Hendry, they shocked and rocked The System, giving the faction a bit of long-overdue comeuppance. It was a good ending to a show heavy with matches – including some X-Division action and a technical spectacle – that was mostly hit and minimal miss.
Match 1: Hammerstone vs. Frankie Kazarian vs. KUSHIDA – Ultimate-X qualifying match
The winner of this match will compete in the Ultimate-X match for the X-Division Championship at Emergence.
Kaz and KUSHIDA formed a temporary alliance to combat the power advantage of Hammerstone, but then went after each other. While they fought, the big man climbed to the top and surprised them with a Double Missile Dropkick, which looked great.
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After that, the match saw all three of them go at it. At one point, Kaz had Hammerstone up for Fade To Black, but let him go when he saw KUSHIDA prepping the mist to spray in Kaz’s face. But that was a ruse by KUSHIDA and when Kaz blocked his eyes, he paid for it with a Tanaka Punch, sending Kaz to the floor. KUSHIDA tried to submit Hammerstone with a Hover Lock, but the big man simply lifted KUSHIDA into the air with the arm that was locked, and slammed him down hard with the Nightmare Pendulum. Kaz was too late to get into the ring to break up the pinfall, and Hammerstone got the win.
Good opener, with a surprising result. It will be interesting to see Hammerstone in Ultimate-X where his size may work against him when trying to scale the ropes. Should be fun to see hm throw around all the others, though.
Winner: Hammerstone
After the match, Hammerstone left, and Kazarian took his frustrations out on the semi-conscious KUSHIDA, ground-and-pounding him and then finishing him with a Fade To Black.
In the back, Gia Miller interviewed Eric Young, who faces Hammerstone next week. Young said that Hammerstone may not make it to Emergence. Steve Maclin walked up to Young, got into his face, and told Young that he’d be watching.
A pre-taped Mike Santana promo aired. He said that he is figuring out who he needs to be in order to fight The System. He said that he was coming for all of The System and wouldn’t stop until all of them have fallen.
Match 2: Alisha Edwards (w/ Masha Slamovich) vs. Rosemary
Rosemary brought a butcher’s knife into the ring, but put it away before the match started. Rosemary was aggressive early on, hitting a Sliding Body Block and then locking Alisha in the Upside Down for a few seconds. A distraction by Masha from the outside let Alisha take over, and after bouncing Rosemary’s head off the mat, she followed that up with a series of Hip Attacks in the corner. Rosemary fought back with a Spear, and was looking to finish things but Masha interfered behind the referee’s back. Spitfire (Jody Threat and Dani Luna) ran down to the ring to take care of Masha, and when Alisha protested that, Rosemary grabbed her and hit As Above So Below for the pin.
After the match, Rosemary put a black rose on Alisha’s chest.
This was pretty fun. Rosemary is quite the fan favourite and that is likely holding her back from getting a Knockouts Championship shot from fellow face Jordynne Grace. Too bad, because Rosemary in that spot could bring some freshness to the title scene. Her recent debut in NXT is a promising development, though, for similar reasons.
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Winner: Rosemary
In a pre-taped promo, Ash By Elegance’s stooge George Iceman introduced her, and she said that she is accepting the challenge from Jordynne Grace to a match. But it will be under a Match By Elegance stipulation. They suggested this would involve makeup and fancy dress, but we’ll see.
Match 3: Xia Brookside, Rhino, and PCO vs. Steph DeLander, Kon, and Madman Fulton (w/ Matt Cardona)
Matt Cardona came out after Steph’s introduction, and said that he was supposed to compete on DeLander’s team, but wasn’t medically cleared. He then introduced Kon and Fulton. Steph wasn’t thrilled by Cardona’s choices, noting that she is married to PCO.
At the bell, PCO ran to the floor to try to get his hands on Cardona, but got suckered into a huge Clothesline by Kon, taking us to a commercial break. When we returned, Rhino was in control briefly but then got trapped in the wrong corner. In a very bad-looking mistimed spot, the referee had to no-sell seeing Cardona attack Rhino, even though Cardona did it right when she was looking right at him. God, Cardona sucks.
Rhino finally broke loose and tagged in PCO, who was on fire, nailing Kon with a big Somersault Dive to the floor, and following that up with a Cactus Jack type elbow off the apron. In the ring, Xia hit Fulton with a Brooksie Bomb with assistance from PCO, and Rhino followed that up with a GORE! GORE! GORE!
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A PCO-sault on Fulton ended things definitively. Steph celebrated with her husband and his team to Cardona’s consternation.
Even the suckage that is Cardona can’t fully dilute the fun of seeing PCO monster his way through a match. Great to see Fulton back, too. Wonder if the TNA-NXT working arrangement might see him back on WWE programming someday. He never really got a chance as part of the Sanity faction, but there is so much upside to him that it’s hard to fathom why they wouldn’t want him back at some point.
Winners: Xia Brookside, Rhino, and PCO
A video package aired to hype the 60-Minute Iron Man match between Josh Alexander and TNA World Heavyweight Champion Nic Nemeth that will take place at Emergence. That one could be a MotY candidate. This was really well-done.
A Jordynne Grace pre-taped promo aired. She accepted Ash By Elegance’s stipulation for their match next week. She said that not knowing what the Match By Elegance stipulation means won’t prevent her from winning.
Match 4: Laredo Kid vs. Jai Vidal vs. Bhupinder Gujjar – Ultimate-X qualifying match
This was a fast-paced affair that saw everyone get a chance to show off their speed and their skills. A nasty moment saw Vidal try to use Gujjar as a springboard to launch himself over the ropes onto Kid. But Vidal didn’t get the vertical he needed, and he fell hard onto the top rope and kind of collapsed hard to the floor. Look for that on Botchamania in the next week or two. Gujjar shone with a big High Cross Body on both of them from the top turnbuckle to the floor, and Kid showed that up with a Moonsault from the same height.
Back in the ring, Kid used some more aerial attacks on both opponents, but the third man kept breaking up pinfall attempts. In the end, Vidal hit a Stomp on Gujjar, but then ran into a move by Kid, who followed that up with a 450-Splash on Vidal for the win. In doing so, Kid becomes the last entrant in the Ultimate-X match at Emergence.
This was reminiscent of some of the X-Division matches of yore, particularly with the high spots that Laredo Kid is so good at. He should be a highlight in the Ultimate-X match, so good win. Nice to see Gujjar back in action, too. Lots of untapped potential with him, so we’ll see where he goes from here.
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Winner: Laredo Kid
In the back, AJ Francis and Rich Swann were yelling at a referee, complaining that he screwed up and that cost them a chance at the Ultimate-X match. “Speedball” Mike Bailey and Trent Seven walked up. Bailey said that he agreed with Swann and as a former X-Division Champion, Swann deserved a shot at the title. He offered Swann a title shot next week, and Swann smugly accepted.
Match 5: Charley Dempsey vs. Jonathan Gresham
They started off with a handshake before getting into some technical wrestling. The mat exchange went on for a long while, and the crowd seemed to be getting a bit restless. Eventually, things got a bit more aggressive as they exchanged a strike. But only one before going back to the technical wrestling, jockeying for position yet again.
The crowd appreciated a neat sequence that saw them exchanging Monkey Flips and some body bridges to avoid getting pinned.
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After some more lengthy wrestling exchanges, Gresham eventually was able to push Dempsey’s arms down long enough to get the 3-count in an anti-climactic finish.
After the bell, Dempsey took a cheap shot at Gresham, leading them to exchange some wild haymakers. Gresham got the best of Dempsey in that brawl, and Dempsey skedaddled out of the ring.
This was a very good technical match, but that doesn’t necessarily play to the crowd all that much. This would have been more appreciated in the ROH Pure Division, but here it kind of fell flat, despite being executed very well. With the post-match skirmish, look for this one to lead to a more aggressive style of match next time.
Winner: Jonathan Gresham
They showed clips from this past week’s episode of NXT, where Joe Hendry won a match to become the number one contender to Ethan Page’s NXT Championship; they’ll meet at NXT No Mercy. After that match, Zachary Wentz attacked Wes Lee for his betrayal of Wentz and Trey Miguel. This crossover is delivering, and has really injected some excitement into NXT. Hendry winning the title would be a huge coup for him and for TNA.
Match 6: Matt and Jeff Hardy vs. The System (Moose & JDC)
Before the bell, Jeff grabbed a chair and chased after JDC, looking to get revenge for JDC injuring Jeff’s neck some weeks back with a chair. But Jeff was blinded by anger and he ran into a huge Clothesline by Moose.
Back in the ring, Jeff avoided a charging Moose and he and Matt used some vintage Hardy double-team moves to hurt Moose, including hitting a big Poetry in Motion. But some chicanery in the corner let Moose and JDC take over, and they isolated Matt Hardy in their corner, taking turns beating him up for a while.
Hardy escaped and a fresh Jeff entered, hitting Moose with a Twist of Fate. But JDC distracted Hardy’s climb to the top for a Swanton attempt, allowing Moose to recover and knock Jeff down, crotching him before an ad break.
Back from commercial, and the Hardys had turned things around, as Matt hit Moose with a Flying Elbow Smash. He looked to Delete! Moose with the Twist of Fate, but Moose blocked it and sent Matt to the floor, where he was attacked with cheap shots by JDC behind the referee’s back.
The beatdown of Matt resumed until he finally broke free and tagged in Jeff, who nearly got the win after a Whisper in the Wind on JDC.
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Jeff tried for a Twist of Fate, but JDC saw it coming and avoided it. This led to Matt and Moose being simultaneously tagged in, and they slugged it out in the middle of the ring. Moose went up top for a top rope move, but Matt caught him mid-air with a Cutter. Matt’s pin was broken up by a Down and Dirty by JDC, in a well-timed spot.
JDC and Matt battled, with Matt hitting an elevated Twist of Fate and that was followed up by a Swanton Bomb by Jeff for the 1-2-3.
This was a decent main event. The Hardys move a lot slower these days, but they still are able to hit their signature spots, so it’s a bit of a nostalgia act, but doesn’t feel like a sad one.
Winners: Matt and Jeff Hardy
After the match, Moose blasted the Hardys from behind as they celebrated the win. Moose was beating them down but Mike Santana hit the ring and took Moose out with a huge Clothesline. This brought out the rest of the System in Brian Myers and Eddie Edwards, and they laid down a 4-on-3 attack on the Hardys and Santana.
Cue the music and say his name, because Joe Hendry then appeared, running to the ring and attacking The System. As his music played, he, Santana, and the Hardys shut down The System, battering them inside and outside of the ring, sending them running for the hills. The show ended with the good guys celebrating in the ring as The System, beaten and bruised, headed to the back.
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TNA Impact - August 22nd, 2024
Florida State Fairgrounds - Tampa, FL
With only one more week to go until Emergence, they had some breathing room this week and the pacing allowed for a pretty loaded show match-wise. Most of them were pretty good, though Dempsey-Gresham might be divisive among fans. What’s not divisive is the popularity of Joe Hendry, and 2024 could be the year of his emergence (see what I did there?) as the future of the business.