Thursday night’s Hallowe-en themed edition of TNA Impact was no treat for Joe Hendry and World Champion Nic Nemeth. Not only did they lose their match to The System, but miscommunication between the two of them led to increasing tension, mistrust, and quite possibly a huge explosion in the very near future.
The episode started with an on-screen message from Chris Bey, who suffered a pretty severe neck injury this past weekend at Bound For Glory. He expressed his gratitude to everyone at TNA, the medical staff in Detroit, his family, friends, and fans. “Monday was day one for me on this journey, which I know will be long and challenging. Thanks again for the love and support, and please keep the prayers coming!”
Hopefully his recovery is fast and full.
A voiceover noted that Chris’ surgery was successful, and it encouraged anyone who is so-inclined to contribute to his GoFundMe fundraising campaign.
After a Bound For Glory recap video, a short clip aired of PCO wishing everyone a Happy Hallowe’en before the Hallowe’en-themed opening video.
Frankie Kazarian mocks Joe Hendry / The System appear
Joe Hendry’s music hit, but Hendry didn’t appear. Rather, it was Frankie Kazarian who had fully-embraced the Hallowe-en concept, as he was dressed up like Joe Hendry, complete with blonde wig and fake goatee, and he parodied Hendry’s full entrance, much to the consternation of the fans. He made fun of Hendry’s loss at BFG, and – doing a pretty funny impression – mocked Hendry as being a viral sensation whose 15 minutes of fame were up.
But saying his name brought out the real Joe Hendry – that he wore the identical outfit as Kazarian made the impression even funnier. Hendry made fun of Kaz’s age before getting serious. He said that Kazarian took something away from him, and also the fans, when he screwed Hendry out of the World Title at BFG. Hendry said that Kazarian and John Layfield were both in on the scheme, but then also accused the World Champion Nic Nemeth of having been involved in it as well.
This brought out Nemeth, who showed some respect to Hendry. But he denied being aware of what Kazarian and Layfield had done during the match. Nemeth said that he only saw JBL hit his brother Ryan. And after watching the tape of the match, he saw that Hendry had indeed been screwed. Nemeth felt that Hendry should get a rematch, and said he requested Director of Authority Santino Marella to make it for tonight. But Santino inexplicably said no. Nemeth said that there was something wrong with the system.
Cue the screeching voice of Alisha Edwards, as she and members of The System –Eddie Edwards, JDC, and Tasha Steelz came to the ring. After some back-and-forth, Nemeth challenged JDC and Edwards to a tag team match for later in the show. Frankie tried to insert himself into the mix and paid for it with a Superkick from Nemeth and a Standing Ovation by Hendry. The System headed up the ramp, motioning in a way to suggest they are accepting the challenge.
Kazarian was stellar in this.
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Alisha Edwards / Masha Slamovich confrontation
After the break, Alisha Edwards was back in the ring, accompanied by Tasha Steelz. Alisha screeched like a banshee, saying that new Knockouts Champion Masha Slamovich’s title reign was on borrowed time. This brought Masha out to the ring, who has had been with Alisha and Steelz since Victory Road.
Masha said that she didn’t care which of the two it would be, but she was looking for a fight. This led to a brief skirmish before Alisha and Steelz got the upper hand. Jordynne Grace ran in to even things up.
And then cue the music for Santino, who made his way to the entrance ramp. He booked the four of them into a tag team match next week. Then he confirmed that the Hendry and Nemeth would face Eddie Edwards and JDC tonight.
Match 1: First Class (AJ Francis and KC Navarro) vs. The Rascalz (Trey Miguel and Zachary Wentz)
The match started off quickly, with the Rascalz paying homage to the Motor City Machine Guns with some double-team moves, earning a “Motor City” chant from the Detroit crowd. The commentators acknowledged the MCMG, noting their WWE Tag Team Championship win this past week.
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AJ Francins slowed down the pace, not unexpectedly, and he used his size advantage to allow First Class to take over, and they beat up Wentz for a while. Wentz finally broke free, and they got a bit of payback on Francis, hitting him with some combo kicks and a Super Senton Splash. But when Miguel tried for a top rope move, Navarro pushed him and Francis capitalized, hitting Miguel with a huge Chokeslam off the top to get the pin.
Winners: First Class
Match 2: Josh Alexander and the Good Hands (John Skyler and Jason Hotch) vs. Steve Maclin, Jonathan Gresham, and Eric Young
Alexander explained that his planned tag team partners, Sinner & Saint, weren’t there as planned because of border issues, so he picked the Good Hands as replacements.
The match went into commercial break almost immediately, and when we returned, Gresham was isolated in the wrong part of the ring. Gresham was able to escape and tag in Eric Young, who was on fire. Maclin got in the ring and bee-lined it to Alexander, who bailed out of the ring, and the match. As Alexander made his retreat up the ramp, he didn’t seem to care that his partners were outnumbered. They were easy pickings for beatings by Young and Maclin, and a KIA on one of the Hands ended it in definitive fashion.
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Winners: Jonathan Gresham, Steve Maclin, and Eric Young
They showed highlights from the Bound For Glory X-Division Championship match between “Speedball” Mike Bailey and El Hijo del Vikingo. Bailey won to retain the title.
Presumably, this was shown in lieu of the match that was taped for the show that saw El Hijo del Vikingo get legitimately injured in a match against Trent Seven.
They showed footage from the Call Your Shot match from the BFG Countdown show when AJ Francis eliminated Trent Seven from the match.
Cut to Seven sitting dejectedly in the back. Bailey came up to him to give him a pep talk, and said that Seven had everything he needed to become a champion.
The moment was interrupted by The System – Eddie, Alisha, JDC, and Moose – who denied all of their losses at BFG. Bailey called Moose out on this lie. This led to Bailey and Moose exchanging words, with Moose saying that he could take Bailey’s X-Division Championship anytime he wanted, and Bailey telling him to go for it anytime anyplace.
Match 3: Ash By Elegance (w/ Heather and the Stooge) vs. Dani Luna (w/ Jody Threat)
Ash came out wearing a witch costume and the Stooge made a big show of taking the broomstick from her, so look for it to come into play in the finish.
Luna had a power edge and was in control, until distractions by Heather and the Stooge from the outside allowed Ash to smash Luna’s head against the ring steps when the action went to the floor.
As the match was going on, the camera cut to someone named Sada Baby who was in the crowd. Apparently he’s a “hood hero” based on what was written on his hat. Because heroes don’t always wear capes, but they always wear hoods.
Meanwhile, Luna was throwing Ash around like a baby (note: don’t throw babies around) and had Ash in big trouble. Until the Stooge distracted the referee, allowing Heather to smash Luna with the broomstick, knocking her silly, allowing Ash to get the tainted pinfall victory.
With that win, it seems a given that Team Elegance will likely get a title shot soon at Spitfire (Luna and Threat) for the Knockouts Tag Team Championship.
Winner: Ash By Elegance
Match 4: Lei Ying Lee vs. Maggie Moore
Lee is the former WWE star Xia Li, if you weren’t aware.
After a lengthy sequence that saw them jockeying for position, Lee spiked Moore head-first into the mat with a Hurancarana – ouch. I bet Maggie didn’t want any Moore of that. See what I did there?
Moore fought back and even hit a huge Pump Kick, but Lee was able to shake off the effects before stringing together some striking offence, ending things with a Thunderstruck (Spinning Head Kick) to get the relatively-easy win.
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After the match, Savannah Evans made her return to the company when she stormed into the ring and suckered Lee with a sloppy-looking Pump Kick and a Full Nelson Slam. That only the one move of the two looked bad is marked improvement for Evans.
Winner: Lei Ying Lee
A pre-taped promo by Mike Santana aired. He said that over the past few months, he’s shown that he has his word and he has his balls, and he won’t break either of them. He said that he’s run through everyone he’s faced. But now he has his eyes set on the TNA World Championship.
Frankie Kazarian, carrying his Call Your Shot trophy, came out and joined the commentary desk before the main event.
Match 5: The System (Eddie Edwards and JDC) (w/ Alisha Edwards) vs. Joe Hendry and Nic Nemeth
Hendry was dominating the match heading into the commercial break, and Nemeth continued that trend when we returned, dropping his patented successive elbow smashes on JDC. But some shadiness by Eddie and Alisha on the outside led to The System turning things around, as they blasted Nemeth with some hard shots all over his head and body.
The System continued their beatdown of Nemeth for a few minutes, but JDC missed a Flying Somersault Legdrop and when he crashed and burned, Nemeth was able to tag in Hendry. Hendry ran amok on both members of The System, taking them out with a Double Clothesline.
The action picked up as Nemeth rejoined the fray, but when Eddie ducked a Clothesline attempt by Hendry, Nemeth was the one who got blasted with it.
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This left Nemeth dazed and in no position to avoid a Boston Knee Party by Eddie who got the pin while JDC occupied Hendry on the floor.
Winners: The System
After the match, Hendry tried to apologize to Nemeth for the miscommunication, but Nemeth was angry and wasn’t in the mood to listen. The two argued as they made their way up the ramp, with Nemeth getting particularly heated. He seemed to accept that the Clothesline was accidental, but was still miffed. He stormed his way up the ramp, leaving Hendry alone on the rampway looking upset at what had transpired.
After the show ended, the situation got a little more combustible when Nic’s brother Ryan accused Hendry of hitting Nic on purpose, leading to a match being made between Ryan and Hendry next week. Check it out in this social media exclusive clip:
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TNA Impact - October 31st, 2024
Wayne State Fieldhouse - Detroit, MI
Fresh off of Bound For Glory, the objective of this show was to start planting the seeds for the next big event. In that way, it worked, with the Hendry-Nemeth incident and the Masha-Alisha confrontation. The rest of the show seemed like a bit of random matches thrown together. While all of them were fine TV matches, that’s all that they were. A decent show, but nothing must-see.