TNA IMPACT HITS & MISSES (4/25): Mustafa Ali’s Ballot Initiative, Nic Meneth and “Broken” Matt Hardy, address audience, Nemeth vs. Edwards, Jordynne Grace, Josh Alexander vs. Kazarian

TNA HITS AND MISSES
APRIL 25, 2024
LAS VEGAS, NV AT PALMS CASINO RESORT
AIRED ON AXS TV
BY JOHN LASLO, PWTORCH CONTRIBUTOR

NIC NEMETH AND “BROKEN” MATT HARDY ADDRESS THE AUDIENCE – MINOR HIT

Alright. Acknowledging that Nic should have won, is good. I am totally on the fence about a returning Matt Hardy. TNA is one place where Broken Matt Hardy would work, and has worked in the past. However, I think that the reason he’s in TNA is that he wants to have matches, which I respect, but also, he needs to be moving in a different direction. I think Matt Hardy has a lot to offer besides what he does in the ring. I honestly think what he was doing in AEW was perfect for him, but I think he came to TNA because he wants more ring time. Quite frankly, I’m also dreading another Team 3D vs Hardy Boys match at some point. The System coming out saved this a bit, even though it lead to my least favorite trope- a promo for a match on the show I was already watching.

MUSTAFA ALI’S BALLOT INITIATIVE – HIT

Alright, I’m really digging this. It’s the type of random dumb stuff that TNA is famous for. Sure, let the wrestlers vote on who should be the next number one contender. It’s great.

JORDYNNE GRACE INTERVIEW WITH GIA MILLER – HIT

I’ll bite. I love Miyu Yamashita. She’s an amazing talent, and making this a KO World Title match makes perfect sense.

(1) MIKE SANTANA vs. MYRON REED (w/The Rascalz) – MINOR HIT

Awesome, good to see Mike Santana back. Not so great to see him squash Myron Reed. This match wasn’t much of a match, but a way to put together something between Mike Santana and Steve Maclin. I personally really loved the way that the three Rascalz left Maclin out to dry.

STEPH DELANDER AND KON BACKSTAGE – MINOR HIT

This is really apparent that Matt Cardona had to bow out for surgery. I have to wonder if the Kon vs PCO feud would be over by now, and it would have been Jordynne and Sami Callahan vs. Steph Delander and Cardona instead of this. I would have preferred that match in many ways, I’ve seen enough of Kon and PCO.

(2) JOSH ALEXANDER vs. FRANKIE KAZARIAN – HIT

This match was a surprise, and it was really good. I dug the impromptu nature of it, and Eric Young coming in with his head all bandaged up was great. This match was setting up a furthering of Frankie Kazarian and Young, but possibly with the addition of Josh Alexander.

STOLEN BALLOTS – HIT

Alright, I popped for the Rascalz coming in while everyone was distracted by Hammerstone to stuff the ballot box. That’s what you use things like this for. It’s a nice piece of character development for everyone involved, and we’re getting a Alex Hammerstone vs. Jake Something at Under Siege out of it. Excellent use of time, no notes.

FIR$T CLA$$ ADDRESSES THE AUDIENCE – MISS

AJ Francis and Rich Swann are great, and they are making a name for themselves. That name happens to be dumb, and I hate using symbols as part of a name. It’s a tag team name, not a password. They could have made it a password by making it 1$t Cla$$, which is eight characters long and includes both upper case, lower case, a number, and a symbol. So if any of you need to reset your gmail account password, there you go. Don’t forget to turn on multi-factor authentication to help protect your information.

(3) XIA BROOKSIDE vs. ASH BY ELEGANCE – MINOR HIT

This was a good match, and probably the best one they’ve had so far. I’m ready for them to move on to facing other opponents now. I thought it was absolutely hilarious that the personal concierge provided Ash by Elegance the gaudiest brass knuckles I’ve ever seen. If Ash by Elegance is a comedy wrestler, I can get a bit more out of this gimmick.

VOTE COUNT – HIT

Commentary on our current political climate, this ain’t. What it is, though, is fun. Love that it also is leading to a number one contenders match.

(4) SAMI CALLIHAN vs. THE GOOD HANDS (John Skylar & Jason Hotch) – MINOR MISS

This should have been longer, and more competitive. It didn’t do anything to re-establish Sami and it made the Good Hands look weak and dumb.

STEVE MACLIN AND FRANKIE KAZARIAN BACKSTAGE – MISS

I like the idea of Maclin and Kazarian teaming up. Are we just factioning off? That might be good to buy some time for things.

(5) NIC NEMETH vs. EDDIE EDWARDS (w/Alisha Edwards & Brian Myers) – HIT

I loved this match. I really love it when two good hands get a chance to step up and really shine. These two have been constantly overlooked and undervalued through their respective tenures, but every once in a while we get a match like this that shows why they are so trusted. And they gave it away on free tv. This is why I’m still paying money every month to watch TNA. It’s also going to lead somewhere. Bringing in Speed Ball Mountain and Ryan Nemeth would build a nice little face counter faction to The System.

FINAL THOUGHTS – MINOR HIT

Overall not bad, and it built toward the rapidly approaching Under Siege really well. However, there were still too many short inconsequential matches, which I’m not a fan of. It’s really difficult because they only have so much time per episode and most of the talk segments were pretty entertaining. It’s strange because TNA seems to be moving in a direction to be more like the Sports Entertainment version of pro-wrestling that is the signature of WWE. There’s a lot of nostalgia around as well, which has always been part and parcel of TNA, but I feel as I grow older, I have less nostalgic feelings, and more interest in seeing NEW things. I’m still nowhere near how excited I was for the product last year at this time.