TNA Impact: Joe Hendry continues to be the ‘NXT’ big thing

Bob Kapur

Joe Hendry in TNA on Aug. 8, 2024
Joe Hendry in TNA on Aug. 8, 2024

Based on the ovation he gets anytime he’s in front of the TNA audience, Joe Hendry might as well start calling himself TNA’s “people’s champion.” On Thursday night’s episode of TNA Impact, he continued his reign as the most popular star in the company. But in terms of actual championships, there were many others vying to wear one of those – and that was the focus of most of the matches and promos on the show.

The show started off with a video message from the newlywed Steph DeLander, who invited everyone to her honeymoon with PCO.

The System address the crowd

The System and JDC came to the ring, all of them sporting American flag themed outfits. Alisha took the mic and got the Dominik Mysterio treatment from the crowd. She, and then Eddie said that the System is not failing, despite some recent setbacks, and they would all wear championship gold again soon. Brian Myers said they were the greatest faction in wrestling today. Moose said that he would be coming after Nic Nemeth for the World Championship. But he first had to take out Mike Santana, and challenged him to a match next week.

This was talky.

In the back, Gia Miller interviewed Jonathan Gresham, who takes on KUSHIDA tonight in a match that was supposed to take place at Slammiversary. Gresham seemed in good spirits, despite having seemingly been possessed by an angry octopus recently and infecting people with inky curses. KUSHIDA came up to him, and Gresham offered a handshake, but KUSHIDA warily backed away.

A promo aired from earlier this week. Director of Authority Santino Marella was with the new X-Division Champion, “Speedball” Mike Bailey. Marella told him that at Emergence on August 30th, the Ultimate-X match will return with the X-Division title on the line. Marella said that they will be holding a series of 3-way matches with the winners of the matches earning a spot in the Ultimate-X match. Bailey said that he wanted to carry on the tradition of pushing boundaries in the X-Division. And he wanted to prove that he was a fighting champion. So he entered himself into one of the qualifying matches. Meaning that if he doesn’t win, he will won’t be able to defend the title in the Ultimate-X match and he’ll have to surrender it.

Match 1: Trent Seven vs. Jake Something vs. “Speedball” Mike Bailey – Ultimate-X Qualifier match

This was the qualifying match that Bailey inserted himself into. Bailey tried to use his speed against his two powerhouse opponents – one of whom (Seven) he is a friend and tag team partner of. But their chemistry didn’t gel well here, as Bailey went for a Moonsault to the floor on Something but ended up hitting Seven instead. Bailey went for an attack on the floor but Something caught him and used Bailey as a weapon against Seven before Powerbombing Bailey on the apron. Ouch.

Something and Seven slugged it out in the ring, but Bailey inserted himself into that with a top rope attack and a Standing Shooting Star Press on Something for a near-fall. Bailey and Seven then went at it, with Seven nearly getting the win with powerful moves. Seven hit Bailey with a Top Rope Thunder Slam, but Something broke up the pin.

A bad-looking move happened where Something tried to Powerbomb Seven while wearing Bailey like a backpack and they all seemed to collapse in an awkward heap.

Then, after a series of finisher attempts on each other, Bailey finally ending things with a Tornado Kick on Something and then Ultima Weapon for the pin.

This was good. Something taking the loss was a bit of a surprise, as he was getting a push for a while as a possible contender for the title.

Winner: “Speedball” Mike Bailey

They showed highlights from a match on Xplosion where Tasha Steelz cheated to beat Gisele Shaw. Cut to a pre-taped promo by Steelz who said she is looking to climb back up the mountain to win the Knockouts Championship. Shaw came up to her and they exchanged words. Before things could get physical, Santino Marella came in. He said they would have a match next week, but this time there would be extra referees on hand.

A teaser video aired for Bound For Glory, which will take place on October 26th. There was a snow and ice motif, so look for this to be somewhere cold. There was also a muscle car in the picture. Could it be Detroit, Michigan?

In the back, Hammerstone approached Santino Marella, and he mocked the X-Division talent. He said he wanted to be in a qualifier match for Ultimate-X, and Marella agreed. Eric Young came up to Hammerstone and said that Hammerstone is looking too far down the road, because they still had unfinished business.

Match 2: KUSHIDA vs. Jonathan Gresham

Gresham again tried to shake KUSHIDA’s hand but KUSHIDA would not. THe commentators reinforced that it seemed like Gresham has forgotten all about his octopus possession that had thrown KUSHIDA off his game.

They did some technical wrestling to jockey for position, and after not much happened, they went to a commercial break. When they got back, the action was quicker and harder with some striking going on before they went back to the technical style. Gresham locked on a submission hold, but KUSHIDA got to the ropes. Gresham locked on an Octopus Stretch, but KUSHIDA escaped with a Dragon Screw. KUSHIDA then worked over Gresham’s arm and they went back to the technical moves yet again, both countering each other equally.

After some more even-steven exchanges, KUSHIDA clamped on the Hoverboard Lock and Gresham quickly tapped out.

This was a different style of match than you’ll see on most shows. Some will have liked it, and some will have thought it was boring, and some will have though it was okay.

Winner: KUSHIDA

In the back, the Tag Team Champions ABC (Ace Austin and Chris Bey) cut a pre-taped promo, boasting about their accomplishments. “Speedball” Mike Bailey walked up to them and congratulated them on their success. And thanked them for making him a better competitor through their matches together, which allowed him to become the X-Division Champion. He invited them to participate in the Ultimate-X qualifier matches. After he left, ABC talked it over, and they agreed they would both do it.

Steph DeLander was in a jacuzzi where she was waiting for her new husband PCO. She called him but got his voicemail.

Match 3: Jordynne Grace (c) vs. Rosemary – for the Knockouts Championship

This was an open challenge, and the crowd seemed pleasantly surprised when Grace’s opponent was revealed to be Rosemary. Grace might not have been so pleased when the first thing Rosemary did when entering the ring was pull out a butcher’s knife. But she put it away before the bell.

Rosemary attacked like a wild honey badger, hitting Grace early with some hard-hitting offense, and trying to tear her in half, stretching Grace across the bottom rope. But Grace withstood that and used her strength to whip Rosemary from pillar to post and then hit a Vader Bomb for a two-count.

Grace was hurt after a pair of Spears and a big Clothesline and hit a Death Valley Driver for a near-fall. Grace followed that up with a Superplex, but when she went for a follow-up, Rosemary countered with a German Suplex, and both women were down.

Ash By Elegance and her personal stooge came down the aisle. The stooge distracted the referee while Ash slid into the ring and attacked both Grace and Rosemary with a Singapore cane, beating them down with several whacks. The ref saw Ash in the ring and both competitors down and threw out the match.

An angry Grace got back up and Ash and her stooge skedaddled.

This was good while it lasted. Would be good to see these two go at it again with no interference.

Winner: No contest

Still Knockouts Champion: Jordynne Grace

It was announced that Bound For Glory will indeed take place in Detroit, Michigan at the Wayne State University Fieldhouse. Tickets go on sale on August 23rd.

Josh Alexander calls out Nic Nemeth

The crowd told Alexander that he’d sold out by screwing over Joe Hendry at Slammiversary, and in response he said that weeks ago they’d be chanting “Walking Weapon”. He said he’s not the one that changed, but rather they did. He said that the TNA brand used to be the place where professional wrestling was respected, but now the fans believe in a “meme” in Joe Hendry.

He went through his past accomplishments and said he spilled blood, sweat, and tears to become the standard-bearer of the company. And that he wants to reinforce that position by becoming the World Champion once again. He called out Nic Nemeth and said if Nemeth accepts his challenge, the world will call Nemeth what they did when he was in WWE: a transitional champion.

That brought out Nemeth who didn’t look happy, staring daggers at Josh. Nemeth got a mic, but instead of talking into it, slammed it in to Josh’s chin and then followed that up with a Superkick, knocking Josh down and out. Nemeth crouched down beside Alexander and said that he is a fighting champion. And accepted Josh’s challenge, saying that next week, he will end Alexander.

Good promo by Alexander, and strong finish by Nemeth.

In the back, Santino confirmed the Nemeth-Alexander match for the title was official for next week. Frankie Kazarian walked up to Santino. Kaz was mad that Alexander was getting the title shot and said that he should get the opportunity first. Santino said that Kaz will get a title shot when the time is right. Kaz said that if he wasn’t the number one contender now, he will do what it takes to get there.

Match 5: Zachary Wentz (w/ Trey Miguel) vs. KC Navarro vs. NXT’s Dante Chen – Ultimate-X Qualifier match

This started off with a quick series of Armdrags and Rollup attempts. Navarro impressed early on with a big Springboard attack to the floor on Wentz and then used his speed to hit Chen with a nice Tornado DDT.

Chen used his strength and size to bully the other two, so they occasionally formed a temporary alliance to take him down before returning their focus to each other. After Wentz dispatched Chen with a huge Flying Knee, he then hit Navarro with a UFO Cutter, and that was all she wrote.

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This was a fun, fast little match where everyone got a chance to shine. I think it would have been an interesting choice to have Navarro win here, just to have more singles stars in the running for the X-Division title. With Wentz qualifying and both ABC members looking to qualify for a chance at a singles title, it’s not a great look for the tag team division. Putting the gold back on the System might be the way to focus back on that – and perhaps tapping into the NXT pool for some more teams would be useful.

Winner: Zachary Wentz

Steph DeLander was in her hotel room and was excited when there was a knock on the door, because she was waiting for PCO so they could do what newlyweds do. But it wasn’t her hubby at the door, but rather Matt Cardona. She told him to leave and slammed the door on him.

Cut to an outdoor scene where PCO who was being held down on the ground by an unknown assailant. Matt Cardona walked up to him and said that this is what happens when you mess with his property, presumably meaning DeLander. He curb-stomped PCO and the scene cut to black.

Before the next match, they showed clips from Tuesday’s episode of NXT where Joe Hendry outsmarted Gallus en route to a victory against Joe Coffey. He’s taking on Coffey’s Gallus stablemate Wolfgang in tonight’s main event.

Match 6: Joe Hendry vs. NXT’s Gallus

Before the match, Hendry took to the mic. He said that it wasn’t that long ago that he and Wolfgang were both trying to make names for themselves in Scotland. But it also wasn’t that long ago that Gallus tried to triple=team him. In response, Joe had one thing to say… and he said it with a kick to Wolfgang’s gut, and the match was on.

Hendry went at Wolfgang with fire and aggression and the crowd completely on his side. He hit Wolfgang with some huge shots including a huge Jumping Knee to the face. He then side-stepped Air Wolfgang and the big guy crashed hard to the mat in a funny moment.

But that just frustrated Wolfgang and he angrily took over, targeting Hendry’s back, weakening it with a Body Slam on the floor. Hendry avoided the count-out but ran into more hard shots by Wolfgang when he slipped back into the ring.

Wolfgang went for a Suplex, but Hendry turned it around and hit one of his own. Fired up, Hendry hit Wolfgang with some Cross Body Presses and then a huge Overhead Slam. Hendry went for the Standing Ovation, but Wolfgang blocked it and hit Wasteland and a Vader Bomb for the 1-2-No! Hendry kicked out!

Wolfgang went up top for the Howling – a Swanton Bomb – but Hendry rolled out of the way and Wolfgang hit hard. Hendry got to his feet and hit the Standing Ovation for the pin.

This was really good. Hendry’s popularity continues to grow, and his exposure in NXT can only mean more good things for him.

Winner: Joe Hendry

As Hendry celebrated, the commentators said that something major was happening outside the building, and they cut to that. There, Mike Santana was trying to brawl with all of the members of the System, but security was holding both sides back and keeping them separated. The show ended with a defiant Santana screaming at the System to bring the fight.

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