Written by Brandon Hoffman
The wild road TNA continues to ride marches on with their Thursday Night iMPACT! show debut on AMC. It takes place right before their Saturday PPV, Genesis.
All eyes were on the product now and the atmosphere of the packed Curtis Culwell Center in Dallas, TX was a great precursor for things to come. Right away, we got to what people probably looked forward to the most in the preview of tonight.
We hear from AJ Styles
He got his old music playing! Always happy to see Styles getting a huge reception in the house that he built, as he said in this beginning promo. His aura was so overpowering towards the crowd that he got them to chant “AMC” and “TNA” with lots of ambition. The audience got really excited for Styles, but we did not have the time to go beyond welcoming the crowd here. Onto the first match we go.
The Hardys (Matt Hardy & Jeff Hardy) & Elijah v. Order 4 (Mustafa Ali, John Skyler, & Jason Hotch) – Six-Man Tag Team Match
The action was pretty fast-paced, which is always impressive considering the wear and tear both of The Hardys’ bodies have been through. Everyone looked good here however, the length of the match not doing these guys any favors. The crowd popped heavy for the Twist of Fate and the Swanton Bomb, so all was well with the world there.
But hark! It’s The Righteous (Dutch & Vincent) to deal damage to The Hardys ahead of their TNA World Tag Title match at Genesis. Vincent locked Jeff Hardy’s earlobe with a chain (yikes), and Matt Hardy got hit with a Swanton to add insult to the injury. Here’s to hoping these two teams have a remarkable match at the PPV, more memorable than their random AEW Collision encounter in 2024.
Later on, Ryan Nemeth appeared at ringside to jaw jack with the celebrities in the front row. The crowd put up their booing hands appropriately. Nemeth then got his leg swept and landed crotch first on the barricade. His poor balls. That Nemeth segment was very strange to see in the middle of this show. The pacing also feels off, since the future PPV needs to be sold. The video packages in between lots of segments showed off TNA’s past while trying to piece together matches for Genesis.
Santino Marella speaks, and Introduces a Familiar Face
The Director of Authority emphasized the new eyes on TNA, and got sad about his daughter betraying him for a total of about 30 seconds. Daria Rae (FKA Sonya Deville) is in TNA. It’s very great to see her again after seemingly retiring from wrestling. Daria called Santino Marella a pillar of TNA, for some reason. She’s excited to be here, but she switches up. She wants structure and professionalism. The crowd ate this up and booed her angry words at Santino.
However, they stopped booing when Daria brought out her first signing at the new Director of Operations. Elayna Black is back. Daria Rae, now referring to herself as the nickname of “The Suit,” sure does mean business. Putting Daria in this position of power much like she was in with WWE is a great way to utilize her. She can gather heat well and be the foil to Santino whenever the “heel GM” trope is needed for booking convenience.
Elayna Black showed her skills as a performer being improved in NXT, so it will be interesting to see how she will impact the Knockouts Division. TNA is a great place for someone to sink their teeth if the booking is beneficial. Therefore please TNA, give us a Elayna Black Knockout run people will enjoy.
In between segments along with the video packages, AJ Styles is seen with Frankie Kazarian and Mike Santana separately. Styles seems to really want to involve himself in the World Title picture…
Perez Hilton reveals Mr. Elegance
The guy who was once a guest star on Victorious appeared with his pink hair, siding himself with The Elegance Brand. “Mr. Elegance” was revealed from under a white jacket, he was formerly known as AJZ (Andreas John Ziegler). Sadly, the crowd did not react to this reveal.
It sucks to see this guy not receive any fanfare, but that sure is what happens when you bank a reveal segment on someone nobody knows. Also, what exactly did Perez Hilton add to The Elegance Brand? Heat? That promo element The Elegances can serve perfectly fine already? Sure.
The IInspiration (Cassie Lee & Jessie McKay) (c) v. The Elegance Brand (Heather by Elegance & M by Elegance) – TNA Knockouts World Tag Team Championship Match
Another fairly short match featured not that much in-ring work, especially towards the end. The constant interference with multiple people at ringside was quite a mood killer, and the champions lost by rollup to top it all off. We have new Knockouts World Tag Champions, but it was at the cost of a match that lacked cohesion and fluidity.
Léi Ying Lee w/ Xia Brookside Announces an Open Challenge
Dani Luna can’t be at TNA Genesis due to visa issues, so ZaRuca (Zaria & Sol Ruca) came down to answer the open challenge. Sol Ruca put over Zaria on the mic and said Zaria should answer. Thus, Zaria jabbed the contract signing pen into Santino’s back. That pen had a family!
After watching some of Zaria’s big matches on NXT and WWE Evolution 2025, it’ll be great to see another NXT v. TNA match. However, we cannot continue to keep shafting TNA in this partnership here. If another NXT wrestler wins a TNA championship, it will only continue to make the TNA roster feel inferior to the developmental brand.
Confirmed for TNA Genesis this Saturday: Léi Ying Lee (c) v. Zaria, and Moose v. Cedric Alexander v. Joe Hendry (replacing Leon Slater). AND, Ryan Nemeth v. Mara Sadè.
The System Speaks
JDC shuts down a “What” chant attempt by the crowd to show his gratefulness towards TNA fans. We’re getting a new member of The System on next week’s iMPACT, also.
This promo was designed to show tension between JDC and Eddie Edwards ahead of JDC’s retirement match at Genesis, and it worked pretty well. Makes people wonder if either man will play fair in their upcoming match.
Carlos Silva and Dixie Carter are here to say hi to lots and lots of boos from the crowd. Looks like Dixie’s negative impact (no pun intended) is still felt among the masses and how she dug TNA into the ground. She was never convincing as an authority figure, and bringing her of all people on screen just did not make sense. You couldn’t call Kurt Angle or the Motor City Machine Guns to say hello to the crowd instead?
Then Bully Ray joins commentary for our main event.
Frankie Kazarian (c) v. Mike Santana – TNA World Championship Match
Overall good match with the wrestling looking quite smooth. The crowd was really behind Santana as he powered through a lot to get to the ultimate climax. Towards the end, things got messy with a referee botch. He counted to three and said it was two. Otherwise, there were springboard cutters, Code Reds, and Angel’s Wings galore in this one.
The big end came with Santana’s Spin The Block finisher being hit a third time after Kazarian kicked out of the second one. Why Kazarian needed to kick out of Santana’s finisher in the first place is an explanation thrown out into a galaxy far, far away. Regardless of the finisher’s protection, it got the win.
The show ends with a feel-good second World Title victory for Santana. Good for him. It would have been nice if Kazarian didn’t become the quick transitional champion in order to justify a “big babyface win” because those few weeks before tonight really annoyed everyone.
This show set up a lot for TNA Genesis above all else, trying to throw things at the wall until it sticks for long enough. TNA’s gonna need to keep whatever momentum going past their AMC’s debut, because this show was underwhelming. Aside from the World Title match, nothing felt important enough to warrant AMC’s debut being seen as “must-see.”
The main thing that felt off was the lack of wrestling on this wrestling show. The constant promos in order to create suspense for Genesis doesn’t put the focus on the wrestlers’ abilities on the roster. Visa issues were factored into stuff being rewritten before this show, but only three matches in the two hour show? Come on.
