TNA Impact 8/8/2024

TNA Impact 8/8/2024

Last week's show is here: https://prowresblog.blogspot.com/2024/08/tna-impact-812024.html

Steph de Lander said she's married though it didn't go the way she wanted. She invites us to her honeymoon and asks if her monster wants her in black or red. 

The System and JDC come out. Alisha Edwards says she's sick and tired of the fans. She says they are the most dominant faction in wrestling and said they will hold all the gold again. Eddie says their losses are flukes. Eddie said he will do anything to get the titles back.

Brian Myers says nothing has changed and they are still the greatest faction. Moose says Nic Nemeth might be the champ at the moment but says he will never the face of the franchise. Moose says he (Moose) will get the title when the time is right.

Moose calls out Mike Santana for saying Moose is afraid of him. Moose asks if Mike had looked at his resume. Moose says Mike talks about having the dog in him and says he should give him the Old Yeller treatment. He says in the end, you always trust The System.

Jonathan Gresham is interviewed. He's not wearing his mask and stuff. He says he's been gone for a while because he wasn't feeling well. He says he's ready to go. KUSHIDA walks in and stares him down. JG offers a handshake and Kushida shakes his head no.

We see Santino and Mike Bailey talk. Santino says Mike is the epitome of the X-Division. Santino says Ultimate X will return at the next PPV. Mike says the X-Division is pushing the boundaries of wrestling. He says he is looking to carry on the tradition at Emergence. Santino says we will have qualifiers, made up of three-ways, to get people in the match. Mike tells everyone to bring it and says he will put himself in one of the qualifiers. He says he doesn't deserve to be champ if he can't win.

Ultimate X Qualifier - X Division Title - Mike Bailey vs Jake Something vs Trent Seven

Jake throws Mike off the waistlock. Mike rolls up Jake for 2. Jake is sent out and Mike backslides Trent. Mike triangle moonsaults Trent. Mike bodyscissors Jake over the top. Mike slides through the ropes with a headscissors on Jake. Jake holds on swings him into Trent and then apron bombs him.

Trent has Jake on his shoulders and Mike top rope dropkicks them. Mike axe kicks Jake and running ssp's him. Trent ddt's Mike. Jake shoulders both over, knocks Mike over several times then hits a double lariat. 

Mike poisonrana's Jake. Trent 2nd rope emerald flowsion's Mike for 2. Jake takes chops from both. Mike gets on Jake's back. Jake powerbombs Trent and collapses. Jake black hole slams Trent then Mike crucifixes Jake.

Mike superkicks Jake then tornado kicks him. Mike 2nd rope ultimate weapon's Jake and wins.

Thoughts: I didn't like the 2nd rope emerald flowsion kickout. I was fine with it otherwise with them doing some creative spots and keeping up a fast pace.

There was a Tasha Steelz promo that I didn't cover.

Hammerstone goes up to Santino. He says he finds the X-Division amusing. He says they do pointless flips and dives and he finds it amusing. He says he wants in on a qualifying match. Santino agrees. Eric Young comes in. He says they have unfinished business. 

 KUSHIDA vs Jonathan Gresham

JG is not wearing his octopus gear here. Kush side headlocks JG. They go for holds on the mat and Kush side headlocks him. Kush side headlock takeovers JG. JG running back elbows him. We go to PiP break and return.

They trade forearms and JG dropkicks him. They each hit chops and JG brainbusters him. JG half-crabs Kush. JG goes for an octopus but Kush breaks it up and does a dragon screw variation. Kush dropkicks JG in the arm and hits kicks to the arm. Kush misses a crossbody.

Kush pele kicks him. JG crossbodies him, Kush backrolls through and taps him out with the hoverboard lock.

Thoughts: It didn't get a ton of time and was mostly submission based. They could have built up the arm submission better.

ABC do a promo. They say they usually teach people the alphabet but will teach us history instead. They talk about them being champs through TNA's name changes and say they are the 3x champs. Bey says they are the best team and ask who and what is next. Mike Bailey walks in. He congratulates them on their win and asks if they will participate in Ultimate X qualifiers. Ace says they will think about it and get back to them. Ace says last time they did it, it caused issues. Ace says they could be double champs though and asks if it would be sweet. They shake hands.

We see Steph de Lander in the hot tub. Steph calls him on the phone and gets PCO's voicemail. Steph says that's funny.

TNA Knockouts World Title Match - Jordynne Grace (c) vs. Rosemary

I'm really surprised they didn't have someone from NXT come out for this. Rose hits mounted shots. Rose sliding d's her against the bottom rope and hanging headscissors her. JG hits corner spears. JG boots her out of the corner and goes up and over her. JG shoulders her over and flips her backwards on the side slam. JG fallaway slams her and vader bombs her.

Rose rolling spears her and messes up a back body drop. Rose spears her. JG rolling death valley drivers her for 2. JG delayed 2nd rope superplexes her. JG holds on then is german suplexed. Ash By Elegance and George Iceman come down.

Ash brings a kendo stick in and nails Rosemary with it. Ash hits JG with it and then hits Rose again with it. The ref sees it and throws the match out.

Thoughts: It wasn't good as they had some sloppy work and they had a dirty finish.

Josh Alexander come out to talk. He asks if everyone wants an explanation. He says he wasn't the one who changed. He said the people are the ones who changed. He says they chose to believe in Joe Hendry and says he's a meme and not a wrestler.

Josh says he's the longest reigning champ in history. The crowd chants "you suck" and he says he's the best wrestler on earth. He says Nic says he's up for a fight anytime. He says he will call him out. He says Nic wants to be the face of TNA, but TNA has a face and it's Josh. He says no one will call him the face. They will just call him a transitional champ.

Nic Nemeth comes out and hits Josh in the throat. He then superkicks him. Nic says he told him and everyone that he is a fighting champ and agrees to the match next week. He says he will end him next week.

Santino does a promo. He says Josh vs Nic is official for next week. Frankie Kazarian comes in and asks if we will keep placating him. Kaz says he's the #1 contender. He says this is his house and in his house, daddy eats first. Santino says when the time has come, he will get an opportunity. Santino says daddy's not even at the dinner table. Kaz says he will get himself in contention, however he has to.

Ultimate X Qualifying Three Way Match - Zachary Wentz vs. KC Navarro vs. Dante Chen

KC boots Chen. Chen leapfrogs KC, armdrags him then everone takes armdrags. Wentz rolls up Chen then KC tries to pin Wentz.KC flips over Chen's back to headscissors Wentz. KC dropkicks Chen and 2nd rope corkscrew moonsaults Wentz outside.

Kc hits a nice ddt on Chen for 2. Chen takes a stunner over the 2nd rope. Wentz and KC trade. KC and Wentz are pulled into each other by Chen. Chen splashes both in the corner then pump kicks Wentz. Chen tilt-a-whirl backbreakers KC. Chen bridging ddt's KC and Wentz blockbusters him off the top during it.

Wentz hits kicks on Chen then double stomps his back. KC is pulled down on the leapfrog then Wentz germans him. Wentz handspring jumping knees Chen the springboard cutters KC for the win.

Thoughts: It was a quick juniors match here with a fast pace and lots of flying. It was fine for what it was but nothing real memorable. I figured either Wentz or Chen were winning here. 

Steph de Lander is in a room and Matt Cardona shows up. He says she's been avoiding him. We see PCO and he is held down outside by Matt Cardona and two others. Matt says to never mess with his property and says to remember who did this to him. PCO is held down and curb stomped.

Wolfgang vs. Joe Hendry

Joe gets on the mic beforehand. Joe says it wasn't so long ago that they were trying to make their names in Scotland. He said it wasn't so long that he was in his workplace and making the crowd chant "we believe". He said Gallus also smashed him with a guitar there. Joe says The Coffey's aren't here. He says there's something he wants to say then he boots him.

Joe beats up on Wolf, hitting stomps. He lariats him over the top. Wolf pulls him out during PiP break and his head is banged off the apron. Wolf hits chops and Joe chops back. They trade shots outside.

Wolf pounds on him and cobra clutches him. Joe flying knees him. Wolf misses a splash off the buckles. Wolf slams him on the floor. Wolf stomps on him and forearms him in the back. Joe delay suplexes him. Joe fallaway slams him. Wolf vader bombs Joe's back for 2. Wolf misses a top rope swanton. Joe hits a standing ovation and wins.

Thoughts: It was fine but nothing special as usual. The match didn't need as much time as it got. Wolf got to show off a little more than he usually gets to as he is rarely in any longer singles matches these days.

We are told something is going on in the back. We see the system and Mike Santana going at it and security trying to break it up. 

Overall thoughts: As always, TNA doesn't deliver super exciting shows, but they also don't usually deliver awful shows either. The in-ring work was fine here but none of the stories going on are super interesting. I was surprised Rosemary answered the open challenge as I was sure someone from NXT would. I was disappointed we didn't get to see the Steph/PCO honeymoon as it would have been entertaining, but at least there was a storyline reason for it. It was an okay show overall, but not great.