TNA iMPACT Spoilers for 1/25/24 - Las Vegas, NV

[DreamBroken]

Quote

*Taped for Xplosion: Joe Hendry def. Rich Swann

TNA iMPACT - Airing January 25, 2024 from Las Vegas, NV

*Chris Bey (w/ Ace Austin) def. Kevin Knight (6:55) after the Art of Finesse. After the match, the Grizzled Young Veterans laid out Ace & Bey and held up the TNA tag titles.

*Dirty Dango & Oleg Prudius (w/ Alpha Bravo) def. Dante King & Damian Drake (1:44)

*Jordynne Grace(c) def. Trinity (11:51) via pinning her out of the Starstruck submission to retain the knockouts championship. After the match, Gisele Shaw w/ Jai Vidal & Savannah Evans lay out Jordynne & Trinity. 

*Nic Nemeth def. Zachary Wentz (w/ Trey Miguel) (7:30) after the Danger Zone. After the match, Steve Maclin attacked Nemeth, but Nic fought back and hit the Danger Zone (zig zag) 

*MK Ultra (Masha Slamovich & Killer Kelly) def. Dani Luna & Jody Threat (3:42) after a double powerbomb on Threat. After the match, MK Ultra laid out Luna as well. 

*Kazuchika Okada & The Motor City Machine Guns (Alex Shelley & Chris Sabin) def. The System (Brian Myers, Moose, & Eddie Edwards w/ Alisha) (20:44) when Shelley pinned Myers after the Shellshock

 

Edited January 26 by DreamBroken

[DreamBroken]

Another fun solid show. Jordynne/Trinity was good as Trinity is on her way out.  Nic Nemeth looked good in his debut match with Wentz.  I dug MK Ultra's double team powerbomb finish.

Awesome main event and cool to see Okada back in TNA for one night. Nice Okada/Moose exchanges. Laughed at the bleeped "Fuck the System" chants.

I'm not a Mustafa Ali fan, but it's another buzz pickup for TNA to bring in.

[Jamal]

Great KO stuff as usual. Enjoyed the rematch between Jordynne and Trinity. As much as I understand Trinity's decision to leave, I selfishly wish she would do another year or two in TNA. You could tell she was having a fantastic time and had really come into her own.

Enjoyed the KO tag match too. Glad to see MK Ultra being stone cold killers again.

[WebConn89]

TNA IMPACT! 1/25/24

First things first dedicating the show to Frank Caiazzo is an extremely classy move. From what I found the man competed in TNA once as Frankie Capone. It was in a squash match opposite LAX. Now that’s class on TNA’s part the man shows up once in 2006 in a squash match against the incarnation of LAX no one remembers (Homicide, Apollo & Konnan) and they still are compelled to pay their respects to a fallen fraternity brother.

Mark me down as all for the return of the Cross the Line opening video. TNA right now feels exciting and fresh. What’s old is new again. TNA is back, Cross the Line is back but it’s not trying to be the TNA of old this feels like something different. 

 

We are back at the Palms in Vegas for one more week. I’m gonna miss this venue next week. TNA should try to book more places like this, Non traditional venues for wrestling gives the show a nice aesthetic. I’m sure it costs an arm and a leg to book but go to the Hammerstein that place is awesome for wrestling.

Before the Chris Bey-Kevin Knight match, they show Jeff Timmons of 98 Degrees in the crowd. When you think of 98 Degrees, you of Jeff Timmons. Aside from Jeff Timmons lending his star power to this match I thought it was a fun opening contest. Kevin Knight has changed up his look a little bit from the last time I saw him. Gone is the orange gear, he wore some futuristic glasses to the ring and his hair style is different. Chris Bey looks like Chris Bey. A spot in this match I really enjoyed and it’s not the flashiest move but I thought it was clever, Bey was coming off the ropes looking to hit something on Knight but Knight blasts him square in the chest with a standing drop kick. Always gotta be ready and have something planned to counter an attack. Another spot I liked was, Kevin Knight came off the top rope with a flying clothesline and the way the camera was positioned made it look like he flew 20 miles across the ring to hit Christian Bey with it. Looked like he got a considerable amount of distance. Bey won with The Art of Finesse which is like a running cutter springboarded off the ropes. It’s a cool looking move and is this what it’s all about? Cool looking moves. Match was good, competitive match, Bey got the edge in the end. After the match The Grizzled Young Vets, in their best business casual hit the ring and attack Ace and Bey. They hit almost like a 3-D move but instead of a cutter it’s a DDT. I do like that The Vets show up and immediately set their sights on The Tag Team Champions.

 

Another Ash By Elegance vignette, nice bird tattoo by the way.

Clip from last week of Kaz and Eric Young loosing to The Grizzled Young Vets and Kaz turning on Young afterwards. 

This leads to a backstage promo from Kaz who says he’ll decide when he’s going to address what he did and he’s decided that next week will be the time. Rich Swann shows up and he’s none to pleased with what happened and what’s to know what’s going on he gets the cold shoulder. AJ Francis shows up and he’s wants to be in Swanns corner for his match against Joe Hendry on Xplosion. Swann doesn’t really want none of it, Francis must be feeling dejected cuz he throws shade at Swann. That’s not the best way to get someone to do what you want. 

So Dirty Dango is doing a Sports Entertainment vs Pro Wrestling Gimmick. I think he said he hates pro wrestling. Him and Oleg face two jobbers. Well Oleg brutalizes two guys as Dango is sitting on a chair on the ramp and talks on his cell phone. This isn’t on YouTube as of me writing the review if it gets uploaded I’ll post it. Dango gets tagged in, hits a move and pins one of the guys. Besides Josh Alexander who’s like the wrestling ass wrestler of the TNA roster? Guess what I’m asking is where is this going? I’m all for this “I hate wrestling” gimmick but maybe it should end with Dango having to get in there and actually wrestle against someone known for their wrestling prowess. Is Josh Gresham still around? Also where’s Johnny Swinger? Not saying he’s a wrestling ass wrestler but Dango and his crew could use an advisory and Swinger finding a wrestler to finally put Dango in his face could be fun. 

Grizzled Young Vets are backstage, screaming about wanting The Tag Team Titles. Director of Authority Santino Marella shows up and he’s screaming, The Tag Champs show up screaming then Santino makes a best of 3 series between the two teams and if The Vets win the series they’ll get a tag title shot.

Is there a TNA roster member in The Mummy Murders? Why are they promoting it so hard?

I don’t know the women’s name is it Gia Miller? I googled it her name is Gia Miller, well she’s backstage with The Motor City Machine Guns and Okada. They are facing The System tonight in The Main Event! They are confident that they will be victorious that’s the short of it.

Grace vs Trinity was really good. Before I get into the match I’d like to say that I enjoyed the boxing style intros with the champion and challenger both in the ring for the introductions it gave the match a big fight feel. I like their approach to this match it wasn’t flashy, they went out there and beat the hell out of each other. They did tease Jordynne Grace diving to the outside of the ring I was intrigued with the idea as I’ve never seen that before Trinity cut her off and I’m a tad disappointed that they never returned to it as hell now that they teased it I want to see it. I did like Grace using the Vader Bomb. While it didn’t take me out of the match and it does play into a match can be won at anytime motif with Trinity being on her way out I would have liked a more definitive finish than the rolling sunset flip one counts into Trinity going for her submission finish only for Grace to roll her up for the 3. Especially after all the near falls throughout the match but that’s a small little nitpick match was really good like I said. After the match we get a display of sportsmanship with both women shaking hands. Then Jai Videl and Savanna Evans run in only for Gisselle Shaw to run in and lay both women out with her big red X which signifies Shaw has a future Knockouts Title shot. One challenger is put away only for another one to emerge. I watched this match before the Royal Rumble so now I’m wondering if Jordynne Grace is not long for TNA? I guess we will have a more definitive answer if Giselle beats her for the Knockouts Title at No Surrender or not.

 

The System is backstage and they think they are winning tonight’s main event. They say to trust the system and I don’t know if I want to.

Josh Alexander cuts a promo, he’s having a good day. Alan Angels interrupts and asks Alexander to be the first guest of his new talk show, Sound Check. Josh reluctantly agrees. I don’t think it’s gonna go well. 

It’s wild but welcomed to see Nic Nemeth outside of the WWE Umbrella. Looking at Cagematch, he’s only wrestled for two other promotions WWE and OVW. OVW was WWE’s Developmental System at time so this is all uncharted territory for the former Dolph. I remember Cody was on Talk is Jericho after he left the WWE in 2016 and he was talking about how Zack Ryder would prosper if he left the WWE and how he was trying to convince Mr Cardona of just that. I feel the same way about Nemeth I think he’s gonna find that there’s a whole world of wrestling out there that he has yet to even scratch the surface of. Nemeths promo from the January 8th IMPACT! Has over 1 million views on YouTube. As of my writing this, him vs Mr Wentz has 214k views and it’s only going to go up, it’s the most viewed video of the videos TNA uploaded from this weeks IMPACT! Shit the Okada match has 139k views as of me writing this. Nic Nemeth is gonna be just fine. This match was good. Nemeth has that Curt Henning philosophy to working where you sell like you are getting hit with a cannonball, take your opponents arsenal then hit your finish for the 3. That’s what this match was. I enjoyed it. Wentz looked good, Miguel was on the outside pulling heel shenanigans. Fun match. Steve Macklin runs in after the match and puts the boots to Nemeth but eats Nemeth finish himself the renamed Danger Zone. I’m looking forward to this match, if I had to guess it’s gonna happen at No Surrender. 

 

Crazy Steve cuts a promo on Tommy Dreamer. So this is still going on? Rhino shows up rains on Steve parade and shoves him to the ground. So is Crazy Steve just gonna feud with former ECW stars? If so they should bring in Little Guido, he can still go. Shit there’s a wrestling ass wrestler for Dango to tango with. Rob Van Dam is around too and I’m sure Sabu would take a booking. TNA will be at the ECW arena in March let’s see what happens. 

Ok so The Decay have this vignette which fucking bonkers they are at a podium with like a painted theater curtain background. I’m living the presentation. I’m all for this shit. Give me a good super natural gimmick.

I’m pretty sure I haven’t seen the four women in this tag match ever wrestle before. Actually scratch that I didn’t recognize Masha Slamovich at first. I’ve seen her wrestle before on IMPACT! My mistake. Match was designed for MK Ultra to get their heat back after losing the Knockout Tag Team Championships to The Decay at Hard To Kill. It was almost a competitive squash. Dani and Jody did get some offense in but once Masha and Kelly got cooking it was only a matter of time. MK Ultra did a double power bomb on Jody Threat then Killer Kelly covered her for the 3. After the bell MK Ultra decide to admission more punishment to their fallen opponents.

 

Before I get to the Main Event I decided that I’d review Okada vs Alex Shelley from an episode of Xplosion from 2011. TNA uploaded it to their YouTube I think as a preview to Okada’s return and I thought what the hell I wasn’t watching TNA at the time and I’ve only heard of Okada’s match maligned run in TNA so I’ll give it a watch. This is before Okada returned to New Japan and became The Rainmaker. He is on excursion here, he’s not doing his Kato gimmick but he has stereotypical Japanese theme music. Match is fine. This is a different Okada it’s before he became the Okada we all know. It seems to me that Shelley this kids potential and decided he was gonna go out there and make him look good. Alex Shelley wins but Okada got some offense in and it was a fairly even match until the finish. An interesting note is Garett Bischoff was the referee for this match, he wasn’t Garett Bischoff yet he was known as Jackson James.

 

Fun fact I was in attendance at the ROH 14th Anniversary Show in Las Vegas and witnessed Okada defend the IWGP Heavyweight Championship against Moose. I wasn’t able to be at this show live as I do not live in Las Vegas anymore but I do find it cool that 8 years later here they both are back in Las Vegas mixing it up in the ring together and this time Moose is Champion. I would like to see Moose defend against Okada at some point as this is a different Moose than 8 years ago shit last time he wrestled Okada he was barely 2 years into his wrestling career. Plus they only went 10 minutes last time I think they could have themselves a really good match this time around. The match itself was a lot of fun, the crowd was hot, Okada seemed to be enjoying himself and everyone was firing on all cylinders. We got the Rainmaker Camera Zoom Out so that’s a plus. All and all it’s what you would want from a TV Main Event. Now @DreamBroken mentioned “Fuck The System” getting bleeped on TV, here’s something interesting I have the Ultimate Insiders membership on YouTube so I get the full uninterrupted match, a “Fuck The System” chant broke out during the commercial break and it was not bleeped but the one during the actual TV broadcast was. I hope we get to see more of Okada in TNA this year. Call me crazy but I’d like to see Moose-Okada. I don’t know if they could get Okada for No Surrender but there looks to be a good amount of tickets left in an arena that holds 2400 announce that match and they might be able to pack the place.

Mustafa Ali is coming in. TNA is making moves. Good for them be interesting to see what Ali brings to the table once he gets here but I’m all for it.

 

Another really good two hours of television. Let’s do if they can keep the momentum going forward.

This didn’t air on IMPACT! But TNA uploaded in onto YouTube. We get a little post match celebration in the ring. Okada got to redeem himself with this performance in TNA. I really hope TNA is where Okada decides to go. I am interested in Okada vs Moose but the match I really wanna see is Okada vs Nemeth that’s the match right there. 

 

[RazorbladeKiss87]

Jordynne/Trinity was really good. Grace's Vader Bomb looked great. 

Knockouts tag was hard hitting and that double powerbomb is nasty looking. 

Nameth looked like he always does but I'm a fan so it worked for me. 

Solid two hours of wrestling. I wish it was on my TV instead of having to stream it but what can you do.

[HarryArchieGus]

(1) The excellent Ospreay v Alexander bout from last week and (2) the great looking Palms set had me interested in this show. I was not disappointed. First, so glad they've moved on from that horrible IMPACT theme music. The new/old one isn't exactly great, but beggars shall not be choosers.

The opening recap was solid. The show intro video leaves a little to be desired. The logo could also use a tweak. Kevin Knight v Chris Bey was a solid opener. Knight has incredible potential. Bey, of course, too. The post match angle was a bit long, but I'm interested in GYV v Bey'Ace. I don't recall ever seeing 'Dana Brooke', but I like the initial creativity with 'Ash by Elegance'. Nice Eric Young/Kazarian recap video. I like the look of Kazarian as a heel. Kazarian promo was going well until it turned into a skit. But Swann v Kaz sounds alright. AJ Francis has some presence, but it may be tough to work around what I've seen of his in-ring. Skimmed passed the Dango tag. GBV/Santino Marella promo/skit was fine. I loathe 'Authority Figures' but Marella seems like a kinda good choice. A Best of series for the tag straps is a nice call. Skimmed the Main Event promos, but they looked alright. Grace v Trinity looked solid, but I had a bit trouble getting into it, distracted, so I skimmed to the closing stretch. Solid post match angle with Shaw. I like her presence. Alexander/Angels promo/skit was alright. I'd like to see them not turn every promo into a confrontation or skit. Nonetheless, neat seeing Angels here. Apparently he has a talk segment. Wentz v Nemeth was perfectly fine. Nemeth would be wise to drop that shitty finish. Trey Miguel looks more comfortable as a heel. Again, dug the post match angle with Maclin. Crazy Steve promo lost me and I skimmed it to the skit portion. I'd love to see them utilize Rhino as somebody's 'bodyguard' rather than a wrestler. He'd look great in a suit, and I sense he'd be wonderful in the role. Dani Luna/Jody Threat v Slamovich/Killer Kelly was alright. Nice to see the local Threat getting a shot on a bigger stage. She's a solid worker. I wonder why AEW never ran back her v Athena. It deserved a sequel. What a highlight walking into the arena that night just as the match started. Great crowd. Moose/Edwards/Myers v Okada/Guns in the Main was terrific. A real, true main event. I'd like to see Myers/Edwards v the Guns. @dreambroken did that happened while I was out? It always feels as if I forget how fucking great the Shelly/Sabin team are? I hope they're getting something close to Big 2 money. Edwards/Myers look like a helluva team too. I like seeing Moose getting a shot on top again. I missed the Mustafa Ali promo. He's a solid pick-up for Impact. Surprised he was available. Fun show. Much less shitty stuff than the last time I watched Impact. No magic camera (or did I miss something?) is a huge improvement! Hannifan and Rehwoldt are still the best team in Wrestling. Tom Hannifan is easily my favorite play by play man in wrestling. Smooth operator!

Edited January 31 by HarryArchieGus

[DreamBroken]

2 hours ago, HarryArchieGus said:

'd like to see Myers/Edwards v the Guns. @dreambroken did that happened while I was out? It always feels as if I forget how fucking great the Shelly/Sabin team are? I hope they're getting something close to Big 2 money. Edwards/Myers look like a helluva team too. I like seeing Moose getting a shot on top again.

That hasn't happened yet as a regular 2 on 2. Edwards & Myers just recently started teaming.  MCMG had previously faced Eddie & Trey Miguel and Eddie & Kenny King in the past year, while Myers & Moose wrestled Shelley & Kushida last summer.  Definitely a match that should be upcoming though at some point I would think. 

[NikoBaltimore]

On 1/28/2024 at 2:13 PM, WebConn89 said:

Now @DreamBroken mentioned “Fuck The System” getting bleeped on TV, here’s something interesting I have the Ultimate Insiders membership on YouTube so I get the full uninterrupted match, a “Fuck The System” chant broke out during the commercial break and it was not bleeped but the one during the actual TV broadcast was.

I somehow blanked on them being on commercial break and thought the censors were asleep at the wheel for the first one.  But that makes sense.

I am curious what a motivated Nemeth outside of WWE can do and first match in I'm digging what he's doing.  Maybe it was the Dolph Ziggler name/gimmick that soured on me over time but a fresh start was needed.  I'm also a big fan of Mustafa Ali so am happy to see what he brings to the table.  I know he had a bunch of ideas that got shot down in WWE so if he can pull off a fraction of that in TNA I think it's gonna be great stuff.

[Shartnado]

Nemeth looked decent but I was like "you probably need a new finisher, too, like Trinity", but so far, no.

MK Ultra for an obvious re-match against Decay.

Bring on the best of 3 between ABC and GYV!

Opener and main event were swank.

I'm Mustafa Ali (fan) and I approve of this signing!