Jordynne Grace was hoping to confront Tessa Blanchard face-to-face on Thursday night’s episode of TNA Impact. But Tessa had other plans. They had a confrontation – but Blanchard preferred to attack Jordynne from behind while Grace was celebrating a win in an 8-Knockout tag team match. With the surprise advantage, Blanchard was able to literally deliver a knock-down, drag-out beating on Grace, which ended with Grace left for dead in the parking lot while Blanchard staked claim over her locker room. On a show that was otherwise filled with a lot of talking, it was a strong, action-packed ending segment, and the highlight of the night.

Before the show, a graphic was shown for Jax Dane who passed away this past week.

 

Joe Hendry addresses the crowd

Joe Hendry, the new number one contender for the World Championship, entered the ring to start the show. He said that earning his title shot was the first step in him becoming the new World Champion and kicking off the Joe Hendry era. The crowd believes he can do it, based on their chants.

Someone who doesn’t believe, apparently, is Ryan Nemeth, as his music hit and he entered the ring. Ryan said that Joe is only a mid-carder, and isn’t at the level of his brother Nick, the World Champion. A deluded Ryan said that the crowd didn’t believe in Joe either, despite their chants.

Joe insulted and dismissed Ryan, but Ryan refused to leave the ring. He said that after he dealt with Rhino in the ring later on, then he’d take care of Joe.

But Joe said since Ryan was already there, why didn’t he just face Rhino right now. And that brought out the Man-Beast for the match.

 

Match 1: Rhino vs. Ryan Nemeth

Early on, Nemeth mainly got pummeled by his bigger and stronger opponent, but a cheap shot on the floor gained him some control. Rhino powered up and hit a big TKO in the middle of the ring, and then went back on the offense, hurting Nemeth with some Shoulder Blocks in the corner. A desperate Nemeth went outside and got a chair, but Rhino grabbed it and smashed Nemeth right in the back. This was right in front of the referee, who had no choice but to disqualify Rhino.

This barely got started before it ended, and it didn’t really accomplish anything.

Winner, by disqualification: Ryan Nemeth

In the back, Gia Miller interviewed Jordynne Grace who wasn’t happy with Tessa Blanchard, who returned and attacked Grace at Final Resolution. Grace said that Tessa previously took her ball and went home and hasn’t changed since then. Whereas, Grace has led the Knockouts Division and represented the company with, well, grace. She said she will wait by the building entrance to give Tessa the welcome she deserves.

A pre-taped promo from the Rascalz aired. They made a lot of drug-related innuendoes, and then speculated on challenging the Hardys – who they said were their childhood heroes – for the Tag Team Championship. The Hardys came in and said that the Rascalz remind them of themselves because they’re young, hungry, fearless, and extreme. The Hardys said that they would defend the titles against the Rascalz at Genesis on January 19th. The teams shook hands and agreed to the match.

 

Match 2: KUSHIDA vs. Ace Austin

They did some grappling early on, with KUSHIDA getting the better of things, keeping Austin grounded with some powerful Leg Scissor holds. After a rope criss-cross exchange, Austin caught KUSHIDA with a hard Dropkick and then a Flying Dive to the floor. But KUSHIDA tripped up Austin in the attempted follow-up attack from the apron and Austin crashed and burned – made worse when KUSHIDA hit a huge Armbreaker Snap on Austin that had Austin in major pain. KUSHIDA then worked over Austin’s arm, hitting it with strikes and submission holds.

Austin fired back with some powerful shots and turned the tide, including hitting a one-armed Gut-Wrench Powerbomb. He went for the Art of Finesse in tribute to his friend and partner Chris Bey, but KUSHIDA stopped the attempt. KUSHIDA hit a Running Palm Strike, but Austin kicked out.

The action went back-and-forth for a bit, with KUSHIDA looking well in control after hitting a huge move off the top, and blocking another Art of Finesse attempt with a big Dropkick to Austin’s back. But Austin responded with a big Spinning Boot to the Head, and he followed that up with The Fold for the hard-fought win.

This was a strong TV match, with a good story of Austin trying to modify moves to account for the damage done to his arm early in the match.

Winner: Ace Austin

 

After the match, Austin took to the mic and thanked the crowd for the support that they have given Chris Bey after his injury. Austin said that, the night of Bey’s surgery, Bey told Austin to go on fighting, and to have a singles run in honour of Bey. Austin said that he is going to make Bey proud by going after Nic Nemeth and the World Championship.

But instead of Nemeth, it was the X-Division Champion, Moose, whose music hit. Moose came down the ramp and said that he wasn’t pleased that Austin referred to the World Championship as the top title, as that overlooked Moose. Moose said that the X-Division title is the flagship title for the company, but he assumes that Austin is afraid of him, so that’s why Austin didn’t say he wanted to go after that one.

Moose got in the ring and was going to say something about Chris Bey, but Austin cut him off and told him to keep Bey’s name outta his mouth. Austin said that he could beat Moose right then and there for the title.

Cue the music for the Director of Authority Santino Marella, who made his entrance. Marella announced that Moose would defend the X-Division Championship against Austin at Genesis.

In the back, Eric Young, Steve Maclin, and Jonathan Gresham were all angry for unstated reasons. The System (Eddie Edwards, Brian Myers, and JDC) walked into the room, oblivious to the fact that the others were already there. This led to a brawl that the camera cut away from very quickly, to show Jordynne Grace sitting in the back waiting for Tessa Blanchard to arrive so she could give her the warm welcome she mentioned earlier.

The TNA+ Moment of the Week saw The Hardys take on Decay and the Death Crew Council in a three-way match for the World Championship. The Hardys won to retain the titles.

In the back, Ryan Nemeth was in the trainer’s room whining about what Rhino did to him earlier. Nic Nemeth came in and asked what was going on, and Nemeth whined some more. Rhino barged in and told Nic that Ryan was the one who brought the chair into the ring, so got what he deserved. Santino Marella came in and said that next week, Rhino and a partner will get to take on the Nemeth brothers. Joe Hendry came in and said that he would be Rhino’s partner. Neither Nemeth liked this turn of events.

 

Mike Santana speaks

Santana came to the ring, carrying Josh Alexander’s headgear. He said that he has beaten every obstacle that he has faced, whether it was life on the streets, rehab, or taking a chance and leaving where he was to come back to TNA. He said it was time for him to get back to his goal of being the standard for TNA.

Cue the entrance of Josh Alexander and the Northern Armoury, who made their way into the ring. Alexander said that everyone wants to be the standard for the company, but only a very few can actually do it. Alexander said that he and Santana are cut from the same cloth, and that he respects Santana. He said that the wars between LAX and The North helped define who Alexander is today, a multiple-time champion. Meanwhile, Santana won zero titles since then.d

Alexander ran down his accomplishments, and named off a number of the big names he beat along the way – even name-checking Bronson Reed (who wrestled as Jonah when he faced Alexander). And said that, as long as he is in TNA, Santana will never be the standard.

Santana said that he could beat all three of Alexander and the Northern Armoury, and challenged to beat all three of them next week.

Jordynne Grace’s teammates for the next match came to where she was waiting for Tessa to arrive, and got her, because that match is coming up next. Santino told a Security guard to take over the watch guard duty.

A pre-taped promo by Frankie Kazarian aired. He still has the Call Your Shot Trophy that entitles him to a World Championship match any time he wants, so he says he will be watching the Hendry-Nemeth match at Genesis with interest. He interrupts himself when he sees Leon Slater walk by. He tells Leon that he’s a fan, and says that Leon will never be a king, but could be a prince, if he takes advice from Kazarian. Leon is interested in getting some mentorship from Frankie – until Frankie says that his first job will be to carry the trophy around. Slater declines and they brush each other off, and Leon leaves. JDC comes up to Frankie and they talk about Leon and this part is only so they can reference Frankie’s former moniker “The Future”.

 

Nic Nemeth addresses the crowd

Nic Nemeth came out to the entrance ramp, and he says he believes in Joe Hendry. He said that he respects Hendry, but he’s still going to beat Hendry at Genesis. Nemeth said that he is proud to represent the company and the locker room as the World Champion. And he’s going to try to steal the show at Genesis in order to win the match and continue to represent the company as champ.

He mentioned the tag team match he and Nic are in next week, and the crowd soundly booed Ryan’s name. This brought out Ryan who tells Nic that he shouldn’t respect Hendry, because Hendry will stab Nic in the back at the first opportunity. Ryan started to trash-talk Rhino and Hendry, but Nic cut him off. Nic reminded Ryan that Ryan is the reason they are in the tag match next week, and that he would rather be focusing on Genesis, but has to deal with the match instead.

In the back, there was commotion, because the Security guard who was supposed to be on the lookout for Tessa Blanchard had been knocked out. Santino and some other guards ran onto the scene, concerned about what had happened.

 

Match 4: Masha Slamovich, Jordynne Grace, and Spitfire (Dani Luna and Jody Threat) vs. Tasha Steelz, Ash and Heather by Elegance (w/ the Stooge George Iceman) and Rosemary

Grace and her babyface team dominate in the early moments, pretty much beating up all of the others one-by-one. A kind-of-scary moment saw Rosemary get dumped hard and folded over with a Double Suplex that looked like it may have rocked her a bit too much. This led to a big brawl in the middle of the ring that led to the babyfaces hitting simultaneous Suplexes, and Grace wiping out all the heels with a Flying Dive to the floor to take the show into a commercial.

Back from the break, and the babyfaces were still in control, but a ref distraction by the Stooge Iceman helped the Elegance duo take over and put the hurt on Threat. The heels isolated Threat in their corner and took turns beating her up, until Threat finally escaped and got the tag.

Rather than a flurry of moves in a normal “hot tag” situation, the match continued on in traditional fashion for a bit. It took a few minutes before the pace quickened and everyone hit a parade of big moves.

The Elegance sisters paired off with Spitfire on the floor. Down to two-on-two in the ring, Steelz managed to evade Grace and sent her to the floor. But she couldn’t avoid a Roundhouse Boot to the Head by Masha, who followed that up with Requiem (a short Piledriver) for the pin.

This was fine, though it felt draggy at times and especially after what should have been the hot tag. The crowd seemed dead for most of the match, which didn’t help matters at all.

Winners: Masha Slamovich, Spitfire, and Jordynne Grace

 

After the match, Tessa Blanchard rushed the ring and attacked Grace from behind, pummeling her with some huge blows. Grace’s teammates were rushed by the heels, including Rosemary blasting Masha with the evil green mist right in the face.

Tessa dragged Grace all the way up the entrance ramp and then into the backstage area where she smashed Grace face-first into a door. Tessa then got Grace’s bag, and used the strap to haul Grace out through the garage door and into the parking lot. Tessa went back inside and slammed the garage door shut, telling Grace that she was the Knockout that put the division on the map, and she was taking back her locker room – without Grace in it.

 

 

 

TNA Impact - January 2, 2025
2.5

Center Stage - Atlanta, GA

This was the first episode of TNA Impact to air on Canada’s SportsNet. But, other than the Tessa Blanchard segment, this wasn’t necessarily the kind of episode that would attract or maintain new eyeballs. Too much talking, nothing in-ring to make you write home about. The closing angle was very good – but would people have stuck around?