TNA Impact 4/18/2024

TNA Impact 4/18/2024

Last week's show is here: https://prowresblog.blogspot.com/2024/04/tna-impact-4112024.html

Josh Alexander comes out to do commentary for Hammerstone's match. He said Hammer took his headgear and he's here to make a point too.

Hammerstone vs Guido

Guido is Little Guido and he's out there with the new FBI. They lock up and Guido is thrown back into the buckles. Guido's back is rammed into the buckles then he takes corner spears. Hammer throws him. Guido hits a boot out of the corner and hits chops. Hammer knees him in the gut then backbreakers him. Hammer fallaway slams him.

Hammer pushes Guido's partner Zack Clayton outside. Zack pushes him back and the ref kicks Zack and Ray Jaz out. Hammer pushes Guido out of the ring on a pin attempt. Hammer belly to belly suplexes him. Hammer puts Josh's headgear on Guido then torture racks him. Hammer gets the win by submission and doesn't let go after.

It was a squash as expected here. Hammer looked good and him putting the headgear on Guido was a nice touch. Josh looks like a wimp for not being able to take the headgear away though.

George Iceman and Ash by Elegance talk. George says Ash won't be in the title match at Rebellion, but she will be there watching. Xia Brookside walks in. She asks if Ash thinks she deserves a title match even though she couldn't beat her clean. She said she hopes they have a good time at Rebellion as Xia said Santino gave her a re-match with Ash next week. George and Ash then yell, "get the lawyers".

Jordynne Grace is at the airport. She said she just got word that Matt Cardona is injured. She said karma is a real b!tch. She said it should mean that she gets a fair fight with Steph. She said Steph has a 0% chance of beating her in a fair fight though. She said Steph will have a trick up her sleeve, but so will she.

Joe Hendry vs LSG

Joe gets on the mic before it starts. He said he faces Rich Swann at Rebellion and said AJ Francis will be with him. He says it will be his goal to make Rich Swann say "Uncle....Uncle Phil where did you get that hideous dollar store spandex?". Joe said there will be an arena full of people saying "we believe". He says they believe in Joe Hendry.

Joe shoves him back to start then rolls out of a wristlock. Jay armdrags and shoulders him. Joe fireman's carry throws him then fallaway slams him. Joe then hits a big twisting one handed spinebuster and wins it.

It was a quick squash here with LSG getting nothing in.

The Grizzled Young Veterans and Mustafa Ali vs Jake Something, Rhino and Cody Deaner

Deaner says they are on the final road to Rebellion. He said he knows Jake can't wait to get his hands on Ali. Deaner said they were told they could do this 3v2 or with a partner of their choosing. Deaner said he told Santino that it's the people's choice. Deaner asksthe people and they cheer for him having a partner. He asks if he should bring out Rhino and the crowd chants "Rhino". Deaner says the people have spoken.

Jake and Gibson start us off. He throws Gibson back and says he wants Ali. He corner lariats Gibson then slams him. Rhino chops and punches Gibson. Gibson boots Rhino. Rhino lariats him then shoulders Drake over. Rhino back body drops Drake onto Gibson outside.

We go to break and return. Deaner takes corner offense and a spinning heel kick. Drake backbreakers Deaner for 2. Ali rolls in and hits a neckbreakr on Deaner for 2. Ali chinlocks Deaner then flying dropkicks him in the corner. Deaner then flips Ali with a lariat. Drake jumps off of Deaners back and dropkicks Jake off the apron. Deaner takes corner moves, ducks a kick and tags in Rhino.

Rhino gets shots in on Gibson then corner spears him. Jake gets in and shoulders over The Vet's. Jake runs through their clothesline and hits his own double clothesline. Jake forearms Gibson then rocket launchers Deaner onto Gibson.

Jake gets his hands on Ali then Drake saves Ali. Jake finds Ali outside then drake topes Jake. Gibson topes Jake then Ali topes Jake. Jake is thrown into the post then Deaner is triple teamed in the corner. Rhino spears Drake then takes a superkick from Ali. Ali misses a corner dropkick. Deaner hits a bulldog + lariat combo. Ali sunset bombs Deaner off the buckles then 450's him for the win.

It was a good tag here with them pushing how Jake wanted to get Ali and how Ali wanted no part of it. It got lots of time to develop as well.

Steve Maclin does a promo. He said TNA got a fresh start in Vegas and he got the first win in the new era of TNA. He said he will make his presence felt.

Eric Young gets visions in his head of someone in a mask. he asks if he's there. Then Eric Young in a mask talks to him. Eric says he needs him to come back. The Masked Guy says he's necessary. He said he's like a virus who is always there but dormant. He says he's irritated now. Eric said Frankie Kazarian has lost it and he has lost it too. The Masked Guy said you gotta do what you gotta do. Eric talks about Full Metal Mayhem. He said he thought he wasn't that guy anymore. The Masked Guy says he is. He says "we are necessary". Eric says he's scared of what might happen and who will he will become. The Masked guy says he adapted like he has thousands of times before. He said he knows what has to happen. Eric says it is necessary and he will see him there. Eric says sometimes violence can open your eyes. Eric then disappears and The Masked Guy stays there. Eric takes off the mask and says he will baptize Frankie in the holy waters of change.

It was an interesting segment but these things are hard to do. Wrestling has it's own logic and world and something like this obviously really isn't believable in it. In a movie or TV show it would be, but that's not wrestling.

Rosemary vs Jody Threat

Jody runs around the ring during her entrance. rose waistlocks her then Jody shoulders her over. Jody lariats her then snapmares her. Jody slams her for 2. Jody hits lariats in the corner then overhead suplexes her. Rose single leg dropkicks her then hits mounted shots.

Rose bites on Jody's head in the corner. Rose hanging headscissors chokes her over the top rope then clubs her back. Rose corner splashes her and exploders her. Rose germans Jody then does an indian deathlock minus the leglock part.

Jody hits forearms and clubs on Rose. Jody pump kicks her then double knees her on the ropes. Jody release germans her then lariats her. Rose forearms Jody off the ropes. Rose is on her knees then Jody low crossbodies her for 2.

Havok and Dani Luna get on the apron at the same time to help their girls then back off. Rose spears Jody and wins it.

They didn't both anything and it was an average match here. The crowd dead silent for this one which hurt it.

We get another Jonathan Gresham video. We see him having visions of someone walking past him in his third mask. Someone in a meeting says it's not healthy for him to hide behind this third mask. He said everyone wears a mask and is asked why he wears a mask. He said it's necessary and he is embarrassed. He said he has gone unheard for years and said it took him years to realize life is a costume party. The octopus mask guy then sits next to him in the dream.

TNA World Tag Titles - The System (Brian Myers and Eddie Edwards) vs The Motor City Machine Guns

Alex and Eddie start us off. Eddie side headlocks him then Alex shoulders him over. Brian takes a double kick from his opponents then Alex kicks Eddie in the face. The System stall outside and we go to break.

We return and Alex takes down Brian. Alex is held for chops then he chinbreakers Eddie. Eddie takes a dragon screw in the corner then is dropkicked in the knee while it's in the ropes. Eddie then held for another dragon screw.

Eddie's legds are split then Alex figure fours him. Sabin then figure fours Brian at the same time. Alex is tripped by Alisha Edwards outside. He grabs her and she slaps him. Eddie gets a shot in on Alex then Brian chokes Alex on the ropes. Alisha chokes Alex on the ropes and slaps him.Alex is thrown into the buckles chest first. Brian punches Alex from the apron. Brian chinlocks Alex then trips him. We go to break and return.

Eddie has control of Alex and beats up on him. Eddie back body dropped and Alex goes for the tag but Sabin was knocked down from the apron. Alex corner flatliners Brian into the 2nd buckle. Alex tags Sabin in and Sabin hits a top rope double crossbody. He pushes The System into eac hother then tornado ddt's Brian using Eddie.

Sabin flying kicks Eddie for 2. Eddie takes a superkick + forearm combo then The Gun's hit double baseball slides outside. Sabin topes on The System between Alex's legs. Brian is put on Eddie's shoulders and he takes a dropkick + flatliner combo.

Sabin superkicks Alex on accident then Brian flying knees Sabin. Sabin corner facekicks Eddie. Eddie hits a backpack stunner on Sabin and Brian top rope elbow drops Sabin for 2. Sabin cutters Brian with help from Alex. Eddie takes a double team combo ending in a baseball slide. Brian takes a kic kfrom both in the corner. Alisha grabs Alex's leg. Eddie hits a shining wizard on Sabin then Brian picks up the win.

It started off slow but eventually picked up and got good. They did some nice teasing of issues between The Gun's here. It was weird at times as the faces were working Eddie's knee which is more of a heel thing than a face thing, leaving the fans confused. 

Nic Nemeth comes out to talk. He said he's facing Moose in 2 days. He said the show is in Las Vegas where he debuted. Moose comes out.

Moose said he knows he had a story for the fans and he said he knows the fans were ready to hear the bullcrap that came out of his mouth. He said let's fast forward to the end of his dumb story - Nic loses at Rebellion. He said the one thing Nic has never been able to beat is the system. Nic says he won't let him get in his head with head games.

Nic asks him if he thinks the fans and management won't get behind him as champ. Nic said his intentions are TNA and he's hear to stay. Moose said he's sure management and people want to see Nic beat him. Moose says the problem is what after? Moose says the problem is when Nic is handed the ball, he fumbles i.t He said he's a choke artist.

Nic said he should choke him out right now. Nic said he's heard that a lot and doubted himself. He said Moose made a big mistake because he's in the best shape he has been in. Nick said Moose thinks he's getting in the ring with Dolph Ziggler. He said it won't be Dolph Ziggler in the ring with him, it'll be the man who beats his @ss, walks out champ and burns the place to the ground. Moose shakes his head and holds the title up.

It was a good segment that probably should have aired sooner. I liked the lines about The System here and Moose bring up Nic not being able to win the title before.

We get soundbytes from some of the people in the matches at Rebellion.

The show then ends about 10 minutes early for some reason.

Overall thoughts: I liked the two segments here and the final segment. I don't really think they did a good job in building up Rebellion though and I thought the Nic/Moose segment should have been done weeks ago. They finally found a path to making a good story out of their feud but the feud could be finished in two days. Had they done it earlier, they would have had more time to play with the concept of Nic being a choke artist and him not being able to get past management holding him back. The Eric Young segment was interesting but it's obviously not believable in the way it was presented so it didn't really work. It was a slower paced show here and I guess I would give it a 5 or 6 out of 10.