TNA iMPACT Spoilers for 1/18/24 - Las Vegas, NV

[DreamBroken]

Quote

*Taped for Xplosion: Rhino def. Shera

TNA iMPACT - Airing January 18, 2024 from Las Vegas, NV

*Jake Something def. Kushida, Speedball Mike Bailey, Trey Miguel, Laredo Kid, & El Hijo del Vikingo (5:37) after Into the Void on Laredo.

*Xia Brookside def. Tasha Steelz (5:23) with the Brooksie Bomb

*Grizzled Young Veterans (James Drake & Zack Gibson) def. Frankie Kazarian & Eric Young (10:09) after Grit Your Teeth on Young. After the match, Kazarian turned heel and attacked Young. 

*Nic Nemeth came to the ring for a promo. Nic talked about his accomplishments and said he wants to become TNA World Champion but he wants to earn it. Steve Maclin interrupted and called Nic a phony, saying it's his time now. Nemeth ended up laying out Maclin with the Zig Zag.

*PCO def. Jai Vidal (1:23) with the PCOsault

*Josh Alexander def. Will Ospreay (24:01) after the C4 Spike. After the match, Scott D'Amore came out and put over the revitalization of TNA. D'Amore called this the match of his life and declared that TNA is back and never going away. Josh and Ospreay then shook hands to end the show.

 

Edited January 19 by DreamBroken

[DreamBroken]

Good return of TNA Impact episode. The opening scramble felt like classic TNA. They packed a ton in to five minutes. Excellent showcase for Jake Something.

Sad to see Tasha lose but a nice debut for Xia who makes a good addition to the knockouts division. 

Solid Nemeth/Maclin promo and feud setup there.   I'm digging Moose/Myers/Eddie as the top heel trio. 

Another classic from Josh and Ospreay. the Tiger Driver off the apron through the table looked killer. Amazing barrage of moves in the finishing sequence. Great speech from D'Amore to end it.

Looks like as of now AXS is no longer doing replays of TNA/NJPW like they have for so long. 

[John from Cincinnati]

First time I’ve watched Impact night of instead of letting them pile up on the DVR in a long time. Long live the re-brand! Long live TNA!

 

Great showcase of all flavors of what this brand has been. A multi-man X scramble, a women’s showcase, a warm-up for the future tag champs, a PCO squash, and an inspirational main event with the face of the franchise and someone who was inspired by the franchise. Punctuated by a very effective motivational speech from someone I don’t tend to consider a great motivational speaker. This was great wrestling TV.

 

Dolph should have done this a decade ago. Maybe he’d be headlining Mania this year. Excited to see what identity he finds and where. 

Edited January 19 by John from Cincinnati

[DreamBroken]

TNA is uploading the matches from this episode to youtube,

including the Ospreay/Alexander main event in full:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VvEYzSDjUdU

Meltzer on the match says: "I knew this match was going to be great, but I didn't know it would be this great. Don't think we've ever opened a year with so many incredible matches, but of all of them, this one stood out"

[Shartnado]

Awesome episode! I need to watch the main event all the way through, but so far it rocked all the way!

GYV looking great and you guessed it, Frankie Kazarian turned on Young! That was uncalled for!

Maclin vs Nemeth should be good! Nic Nemeth had a really good theme song, better than his old one, anyway.

Exciting times in Pro Wrestling, overall!

Yeah, watched the main event until the end and it was spectacular. D'Amore promo at the end was very inspirational as well! I have a feeling I'll be watching that match again soon!

Edited January 23 by Shartnado
Main event was amazing!

[NikoBaltimore]

Just when I thought I was out they pull me back in.

I appreciated the change from TNA to Impact Wrestling in attempt to distance itself from some things they had a hard time moving past.  But along the way I just stopped watching and had no reason why other than I guess time.  It's almost ironic to me that changing it back to TNA and having the presentation I remember is what got me to check it again.  But here I am and 15 minutes in I'm already loving it.

[WebConn89]

TNA Impact 1/18/24

Trying this again we shall see how far I get this year.

The venue looks absolutely incredible. I like wrestling presented in theaters like this. I also think it’s cool that the commentators are up in the balcony. The Hammerstein Ballroom is my favorite wrestling venue and this place kinda reminds me of the Hammerstein. So it has that going for it.

What a collection of talent in the opening 6 way. Trey Miguel, Kushida, Laredo Kid, Mike Bailey, El Hijo Del Vikingo & Jake Something. There was an outside dive and TNA chant moments into this. I agree with @DreamBroken this was a classic TNA 5 minute X Division sprint, in the best way possible. Everybody got their shit in without it feeling like everybody trying to get their shit in. And Jake Something looked like an absolute beast he had the size and power over everyone in that match. Just running roughshod over the other competitors. They gotta put him against Moose and let them have a hoss fight. Something’s Into The Void is the Blackhole Slam and I got to say it fits the man. 

Backstage interview with Will Ospreay, he calls Alexander a “cheeky little slag”. Language! Will is a man possessed he wants Josh to step up and put down the best professional in the world today. Short but sweet.

The Ash by Elegance vignette is what I think the WWE wanted to do with Emmalina but couldn’t quite articulate. Dana seems to know what she’s going for. 

Next we get the closing stretch of the Knockouts Ultimate X with Gisselle Shaw winning. This leads to Shaw cutting a promo with the X. Gail Kim shows up, implies Shaw doesn’t need her hanger-one. Shaw walks off. They might be planting the seeds for Shaw dropping the dead weight.

Tasha Steelz vs Xia Brookside I thought was really. Good I like the versatility of the TNA roster here as we go from a 5 minute sprint to a wrestling match. We got the veteran roster member trying to make an example of the new coming and the new coming never giving up and ultimately getting the victory. The end there Xia looked pleased and pleasantly surprised by her victory which I think was a nice touch. Brookeside is Robbie Brooksides daughter. I must admit what I know about Robbie isn’t much it’s mostly from Jericho’s first book, the Breaking Ground docuseries and the WCW C Show matches I’ve seen on YouTube. Is he still working for WWE? If he isn’t maybe he can show up in TNA at his daughter’s side being like an onscreen coach for her and maybe doing some agenting for TNA. 

So now we get a clip from Hard to Kill of Joe Hendry and AJ Francis’ meeting. That music video is pretty funny. If these two don’t have a match for the Cheez-It Championship I’m gonna be pissed. I was wondering what Whoo Kid was doing there but somebody had to use the laptop. Francis might not be able to hit a topé but he can sure hit a chokeslam.

This leads to Hendry cutting a promo backstage on Francis. I love wrestling heels, Hendry brought this all on himself with the music video and is playing the victim. Taking no accountability for his actions. We get mention of the Cheez-It Championship which makes me think they are gonna have a match with that title on the line. Plus the segment ends with Whoo Kid in a trash can. Hendry better hope Whoo Kid doesn’t place a call to 50 Cent cuz you don’t want that guy on your bad side that’s for sure. Though if we could get Hendry and Ja Rule vs Francis and 50 Cent I wouldn’t complain. There’s a 5,600 seat arena in Queens, New York. I think 50 and Ja on opposite sides of a wrestling ring could fill it. Make it happen TNA.

I found footage of 50 Cent meeting Randy Savage so maybe there’s a chance this can happen.

I’ve heard of The Grizzled Young Vets but I’ve never seen them wrestle before. I don’t follow NXT.  This is my first time seeing the Vets in action and I have to say I like this team. They are gonna be a welcomed addition to the TNA tag scene. I didn’t know that Kazarian and Young were a tag team. Last I saw Kaz he was teaming with his wife Traci against Eddie and Alisha Edwards. And I think Eric Young was still a heel in the main event scene I really can’t remember. The cool thing about having the Insiders tier on YouTube is I gotta see this match in full I got full screen and commentary during the Picture in Picture portion of the matche. 6 dollars well spent. I liked this match a lot. I thought I was a great showcase for the newly arrived Grizzled Young Vets. They spent the majority of the match keeping Kaz isolated in their corner. Young comes in like a man on fire cleaning house only to get hit with friendly fire or not so friendly fire with the post match fallout leading to the Vets picking up the win. 

After the match Kaz blames Young totally ignoring the fact that he blasted Young with a right. I guess it’s Eric’s fault that your fist hit his face huh Kaz? Then Kaz blasts Young again, much to the crowds dismay. This gets a loud “asshole” chant.  Kaz continues the assault as the crowd becomes more displeased by his actions. A “You Suck” chant starts. The crowd is fully behind Eric Young in this one. “Fuck You Frankie” erupts from the crowd as Kaz slowly walks away. 

The System are all sitting around a table eating ribs celebrating Moose’s world title win. I can get behind this faction. My only question is are we gonna get the Moose-Okada rematch the world has been clamoring for over the past 6 years.

The Former Dolph Ziggler, Nic Nemeth makes his way to the ring to a loud ovation. This crowd has been loud all night they seem to be enjoying themselves but it’s been a fun show so far who could they not be. Nic has the mic, and he pretty much says he’s ready for the next chapter of his career. Quite frankly I am too, I can’t wait to see what he does outside of WWE. The man has all the tools to be a superstar and TNA might be the best place for him right now. They both have something to prove in 2024 and let’s see if the man and the promotion have in store for us this year. Out comes Steve Macklin, he doesn’t look too happy. Macklin says he felt the same way 3 years ago. He calls Nic a phony. This is all to set up Nemeth’s first program in TNA and This two will have a killer match together I’m looking forward to it. Macklin cut an impassioned promo. There’s a “Shut Up Nemeth” chant so the crowds behind Macklin and how could they not be he’s been busting his ass in Impact now TNA over the last 3 years.

New Knockouts Champion Jordynne Grace is backstage, Trinity shows up which sets up the rematch from Hard To Kill for Next Week! “Let’s  run it back, sis”

Jai Videl is in the ring. He cuts a promo knocking the city of Las Vegas. PCO makes a grand entrance in black and white in a stretcher, is revived like Frankenstein’s Monster and we get a match. What an entrance. TNA didn’t upload the match on YouTube but it’s pretty short and almost all PCO the crowd didn’t seem to mind. PCO wins after a moonsault. The man or monster is 56 years old and is still hitting moonsault.

The Motor City Machine Guns cut a promo for their 6 man match teaming with Okada against Moose Eddie Edwards and Brian Myers. Okada shows up at the end wearing an MCMG baseball jersey. Pretty swank looking Jersey I might add.

Alexander vs Ospreay 2 is every bit as great as everyone is saying it is go out of your way to watch it. TNA uploaded it to YouTube and I’ve posted the match in my review here. I have yet to see the first encounter between these two men but you best believe after watching this match I will be watching that match. Bravo to both men in this one they left everything on the mat. Balls to the walls is the best way to describe this. I’m not gonna attempt to do a move by move recap of this cuz there were way too many moves but not movez. I felt like they really let shit build and nothing was rushed. Ospreay hit Alexander with everything and Alexander just wouldn’t die. Epic in every sense. Ospreay hit a wicked tornado DDT off the ring steps on the outside which was sick as fuck. Ospreay went of an Os Cutter and Alexander punched him square in the face. Alexander caught an Os Cutter on the ramp and hit a Tombstone Piledriver. I always get a kick out of his over tables are in pro wrestling. Ospreay setting up the table got a huge pop and when he hit a Tiger Driver on Alexander through it the place went unglued. This match is really fucking good. Alexander won with what does he call it the C4 Explosion?

After the match Scott D’Amore comes out and puts both men over, the match over, the roster over, the company over and the crowd over. He also got shots in on Bruce Pritchard. Scott D’Amore is almost Paul Heyman without the shady business practices. He really bleeds TNA and seems really proud of where this company is now and he really should be he almost did the impossible. He turned this company around with sheer will and determination.

This was a really good two hours of pro wrestling. A hot crowd and great wrestling what else could you ask for.