Matt & Jeff Hardy will continue their feud with The System in one of the headlining matches on tonight’s edition of TNA Impact as the brothers will face former TNA World Champion Moose & JDC in tag team action.
Two more qualifying matches for this month’s Ultimate X match at Emergence will take place at Hammerstone battles Frankie Kazarian and KUSHIDA in one while Jai Vidal takes on Laredo Kid and Bhupinder Gujjar in the other.
In what promises to be a technical affair, WWE NXT’s Charlie Dempsey will return to battle Jonathan Gresham.
In a trios bout, PCO will team with Rhino & Xia Brookside against Matt Cardona, Steph De Lander & a mystery partner. Cardona recently returned to ruin PCO and De Lander’s wedding and honeymoon. Cardona agreed to the match only if he could team with De Lander and the mystery person.
Current Knockouts Tag Team Champion Alisha Edwards will take on Rosemary.
Hammerstone defeated Frankie Kazarian and KUSHIDA to qualify for Ultimate X at TNA Emergence
Things kick off with Hammerstone coming to the ring for the first of two more qualifying matches for the Ultimate X match for the X-Division Championship at TNA Emergence 2024. Frankie Kazarian comes out next, followed by KUSHIDA, and then the match gets off-and-running.
Kazarian immediately backs into a corner and watches as Hammerstone goes to work on KUSHIDA in the corner. Kaz tries rolling him up from behind, but he kicks out. Hammerstone chokeslams Kaz but walks into a big kick and then helps KUSHIDA get Hammerstone out of the ring to take him out of the picture.
KUSHIDA and Kaz begin mixing it up, with KUSHIDA catching him with a variety of kicks that sends him to the floor. Hammerstone hops on the apron, only to be kicked back to the floor by KUSHIDA. KUSHIDA goes to work on Kaz on the floor, who takes over and brings the action back into the ring.
In the ring, Kaz gets KUSHIDA down and does his pose over him in sarcastic fashion. As Kaz and KUSHIDA are trading shots, Hammerstone comes off the top-rope with a double drop kick. He hits big clotheslines to both in opposing corners. He hits a pair of t-bone suplexes after that.
With KUSHIDA still down, Kaz is left standing when Hammerstone mean-mugs him. He begs off and then cheap shots him when he turns around. Hammerstone no-sells it and chases Kaz around, Bobby Heenan style, as he begs off and back-pedals around the ring.
On the floor, KUSHIDA and Hammerstone both beat Kaz down for a big pop from the crowd. KUSHIDA trips Hammerstone up, and the big man crashes face-first into the steel steps. Back inside the ring, Kaz hits a big move on KUSHIDA for a close two-count. KUSHIDA fights back and gets a cross-arm-breaker on the mighty arm of Hammerstone.
Kaz comes off the top to break that up. He goes for Fade to Black on Hammerstone, but KUSHIDA goes for the mist. Hammerstone gets KUSHIDA up in a torture rack, but he elbows his way free and slaps on the Hover Board Lock. Hammerstone muscles out of it and Donkey Kong’s KUSHIDA into the mat, Rampage-Ricardo Arona style, for the win.
With the win, Hammerstone qualifies for Ultimate X. He leaves the ring to Kazarian to beat down KUSHIDA after the match, and Kaz does exactly that. He hits KUSHIDA with his Fade To Black finisher and poses over him as the crowd boos.
Steve Maclin Confronts Eric Young Backstage
Gia Miller is backstage with Eric Young and she talks about Hammerstone having a lot of momentum going into their match next week. Young says maybe he never makes it to Emergence when he beats Hammerstone’s face in. Steve Maclin interrupts and tells Young, “Like always, I’ll be watching.”
Mike Santana Is Coming For The System
After a commercial break, Mike Santana is sitting in a chair in a taped vignette. He talks about having The System to thank for knowing what kind of monster he needs to be. He vows to come after The System one-by-one until he cuts the head off of the snake.
Rosemary defeated Alisha Edwards
The first lady of The System makes her way out as we return inside the Impact Zone. One-half of the TNA Knockouts Tag-Team Champions is ready for singles action. Her opponent, the knife-toting Rosemary, is out next.
She heads to the ring with the knife in-hand, as the commentators marvel at her being allowed to. Great point, for the record. Fans chant for Rosemary as the bell sounds to get things started, and she jumps into an immediate offensive lead.
She hits Edwards with big shots and then ties her up with her legs around her throat as she hangs upside down over the ring apron under the bottom rope until the referee breaks things up. Edwards begins fighting back and takes over on offense. She hits a big slam for a two-count.
Edwards puts the boots to Rosemary and then wraps her legs around her neck to re-pay the favor, but instead repeatedly hip-thrusting and bouncing Rosemary’s dome off the canvas. Edwards hits a running cross-body onto Rosemary as she is slumped over in the corner. She hits another one for a two-count.
Rosemary connects with a big spear off the ropes to shift the offensive momentum back in her favor. She hits a running hip-attack in the corner and then an X-Factor. She calls for sweet chin music in the corner, but Masha Slamovich grabs her ankle at ringside.
Spitfire duo Jody Threat and Dani Luna come out to handle her, and then Rosemary hits her finisher for the win in the ring. She lays over Rosemary and then grabs her bag. She pulls out a black rose, crosses Edwards’ arms and lays it on her.
Xia Brookside, Rhino & PCO defeated Steph De Lander, Kon & Madman Fulton
After the Edwards-Rosemary bout wraps up, the show heads into another commercial break. When it returns, Ash By Elegance is featured in a vignette where she introduces the idea for a “Match by Elegance” in response to the recent challenge from TNA Knockouts Champion Jordynne Grace.
Back inside the Impact Zone, Xia Brookside’s theme hits and out she comes for mixed six-person tag-team action. “The Beast Man-Beast” Rhino is out next, followed by double-champion PCO. His undead bride, Steph De Lander, comes out next as the first of their opponents. Matt Cardona comes out next with a microphone.
He’s clearly not in ring gear, which he points out. He says Santino Marella didn’t do his due diligence. He says doctors won’t clear him and announces De Lander’s two mystery partners. Out comes “The Baddest Man In TNA” Kon, followed by Madman Fulton.
De Lander doesn’t look pleased. Cardona shouts at her from ringside as De Lander points to the wedding ring on her finger. Fulton and PCO kick things off, but PCO exits the ring and quickly (French-Canadian)-Frankenstein-stomps around the ring charging at PCO.
Kon ends up taking him out from behind as we head into an early mid-match commercial break. Kon shoves Xia down to the mat. She bites him and jumps on his back but he runs back-first into the corner. De Lander keeps trying to help her Maid of Honor and opponent for tonight, Xia.
After Rhino tags in, he quickly finds himself on the defensive, as Kon goes to work on him and tags in Fulton to pick up where he left off. Cardona gets involved at ringside as well, choking Rhino over the bottom rope from the floor. De Lander gets in his face when he hits Rhino a second time.
De Lander asks Rhino if he’s okay from the apron. Kon yells at her to ask him again and then drops a big leg on him before tagging Fulton back in. Fulton goes to work on him and then blasts PCO with a cheap shot. He tries to do the same to Xia, who hops off the apron to avoid it.
He then turns around into a big shot from Rhino, who then makes the hot tag to PCO. PCO hits the ring like a man possessed, blasting Fulton and Kon and knocking them to the floor. He hits the ropes and dives through for a double splash. Back in the ring, he hits a DDT out of the corner on Fulton.
He heads to the apron and leaps off with a double bang-bang elbow drop. Back in the ring, Fulton heads to the top-rope. Xia stops him and with an assist from PCO, slams him off the top. He gets up and walks into a gore from Rhino. PCO heads to the top-rope and hits a PCO-sault for the win.
Nic Nemeth, Josh Alexander TNA Emergence Iron Man Match Video Package
After an excellent video package airs to promote the 60-minute Iron Man match between Josh Alexander and TNA World Champion Nic Nemeth at TNA Emergence, the commentators promote the second Ultimate X qualifier coming up after the break. We then head to another commercial.
Laredo Kid defeated Jai Vidal and Bhupinder Gujjar to qualify for Ultimate X at TNA Emergence
When the show returns, Jordynne Grace is featured in a backstage segment. She responds to the Match By Elegance challenge from Ash By Elegance earlier in the show. She tells her she should know by now that trying to surprise her with a special stipulation.
She says she’s proven with her open challenges that she can be surprised in the ring and still come out on top. Inside the Impact Zone, Laredo Kid, Jai Vidal and then Bhupinder Gujjar make their way to the ring with our second of two Ultimate X qualifying matches.
Laredo Kid knocks both guys out to the floor at the jump but is then attacked on the floor by Vidal. He heads back into the ring and mixes it up with Gujjar, who hits a big drop kick off the ropes. A hurricanrana from Gujjar sends Vidal to the floor. He plays to the crowd and goes for a dive but leaps into a kick from Laredo Kid on the apron.
Kid sends Gujjar out to the floor and Vidal rolls him up for a two-count. Gujjar hits a crazy high spot onto Kid and Vidal in the ring. Kid takes over and hits a top-rope dive onto Gujjar on the floor for a loud “Lucha! Lucha!” chant from the crowd. Kid works over Vidal in the ring and leads the crowd in another chant.
He hits a twisting moonsault off the ropes for a pin attempt, which Gujjar breaks up. Vidal and Gujjar get into a hair-pulling match, ala Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels in a backstage “brawl.” Kid then takes over and hits a 450 splash off the top-rope onto Vidal for the win to qualify for Ultimate X at TNA Emergence. After the match, the show heads into another commercial break.
“Speedball” Mike Bailey To Defend X-Division Title Next Week
Backstage, Rich Swann and AJ Francis have words with X-Division Champion “Speedball” Mike Bailey and fellow Speedball Mountain member Trent Seven. Bailey accepts a title match against Swann for next week.
Jonathan Gresham defeated Charlie Dempsey
Now it’s time for one that should be solid bell-to-bell, as WWE NXT Superstar Charlie Dempsey of the No Quarter Catch Crew makes his way to the ring. He settles inside and the theme for his opponent hits to bring out “The Octopus” Jonathan Gresham.
The bell sounds and Dempsey immediately goes to work on the arm of Gresham. Fans give this a “This is Awesome” chant before they do anything other than exchange control of the others arm a few times back-and-forth. Talk about judging a book by its’ cover … in a good way.
Dempsey gets Gresham down and this very slow-paced, methodical, amateur-style wrestling and grappling contest continues on the mat. Dempsey works over Gresham’s arm and they stand back up. A smattering of “boring” chants spreads throughout the Impact Zone. How quickly the opinion changed.
Gresham now takes Dempsey down and controls him by the arm. About five minutes of literally nothing thus far, in short. After a few more minutes, Gresham hits the first move in a hold-for-hold, catch-as-catch-can contest.
They knock that pro wrestling crap off real quick, and go to a test of strength which leads to more arm-holding and squirming on the mat. Gresham tries muscling Dempsey’s arms down with hand-locks for a pin attempt, but Dempsey kicks out. They stay connected by their hands and pop up to their feet and monkey-flip the other overhead.
This repeats a few times into some pin attempts and bridging. Fans are starting to get into a bit now. They continue this same style for all over another minute or two before Gresham gets the pin kind of out of nowhere. Afterwards, Dempsey throws a fit and tries brawling with him.
Gresham blasts him with more punches in the aftermath than he did bell to bell. Dempsey heads off angry. Once this wraps up, the commentators promote The Hardy Boys vs. Moose & JDC from The System in our main event. On that note, the show heads into another commercial break.
The Hardys (Matt & Jeff Hardy) defeated The System (Moose & JDC)
It’s main event time!
But first, when the show returns we see footage from WWE NXT of Joe Hendry and Zachary Wentz appearing. From there, Tom Hannifan and Matthew Rehwoldt run down some upcoming TNA dates. After that, the iconic sounds of The Hardy Boys theme plays.
Out comes the legendary duo of Jeff Hardy and Matt Hardy, as Hannifan promotes the Jeff Hardy’s ‘Birthday Bash & Appreciation Night’ coming up in Louisville, Kentucky. Their opponents, The System duo of Moose and JDC come out together by themselves.
As they settle inside the squared circle for our final match of the evening, the commentators talk us into one more commercial time out before things get started. When the show returns, Jeff teases throwing his shirt into the crowd for possibly the biggest pop of the night. That’s a shoot.
Jeff goes out to the floor and pulls a chair out from under the ring before anything happens. He charges at JDC but gets run over from a huge blindside clothesline by Moose at ringside. The bell sounds and Moose gets Jeff in the ring and goes to work on him.
Moose whips Jeff into the corner and charges in with full momentum, but Jeff moves and Moose hits the corner hard chest-first. Hardy takes over and hits a neck-breaker and tags in Matt. Matt drops down and Jeff runs and hits Poetry in Motion on Moose in the corner.
Fans break out in the obligatory “You still got it!” nostalgia-chant as Moose begins to easily take over the offensive control on Matt. He knocks Jeff off the apron with a cheap shot and goes back to work manhandling Matt.
JDC tags in and picks up where Moose left off as fans rally behind Matt with a “Let’s go Hardy!” chant. JDC hits a stun-gun to Hardy, dropping him throat-first over the top-rope. Moose tags in and Donkey Kong’s Matt and tags JDC right back in. Fans rally again with a loud “Let’s go Matt!” chant.
A loud “DELETE! DELETE!” chant spreads throughout the Impact Zone as The System duo double-team a defenseless Matt. Moose stays in as the legal man and continues to dominate. He goes for a power bomb but Matt counters into a Russian Leg Sweep.
This buys him enough time to make the much-needed tag to Jeff. Jeff hits Twist of Fate on Moose and heads to the top-rope, only for JDC to distract him, which allows Moose to crotch him on the top. We head into a mid-match commercial break as Moose puts the boots to Jeff.
When the show returns, Matt is fired up on offense and leading fans in a “DELETE!” chant. He hits a middle rope elbow drop and calls for the Twist of Fate. Unfortunately he doesn’t get past the “HUH?!” portion of the process before he is sent crashing and burning out to the floor at ringside.
Moose tags in JDC, who puts the boots to Matt and drills him with a few punches in the corner. Matt tries fighting back, but JDC remains in control. He blasts him with a stiff chop and takes him to the mat, where he controls him with a side head-lock.
Fans stomp and clap to rally Matt back into competitive form. He gets inches away from the sorely-needed tag to Jeff, but JDC cuts that off, along with the ring, and returns Matt to The System corner, where Moose tags back in. Hardy hits a suplex on Moose to buy himself some time.
Jeff leads the Impact Zone into a frenzy as Matt crawls to the corner and makes the tag. Jeff takes the hot tag and hits the ring like a man on a mission, only without glossy purple and gold ring gear. He hits a few of his signature spots and goes for the cover on JDC, who kicks out at two.
Jeff hits a side-Russian leg-sweep and then hits a leg-drop onto the legs of JDC into a pin attempt for a count of two. JDC whips Jeff into the corner but walks into a big back-elbow, which sets Jeff up for the Whisper in the Wind off the top for a two-count.
JDC counters a Twist of Fate attempt by Jeff and levels him. Both guys are down and the referee begins his double count. They each crawl to their respective corners for the tag. Matt hits Moose with a Side Effect for a close two-count. Jeff disposes of JDC, who tries hitting the ring.
Moose and Matt trade shots as fans react with “Boo!” and “Yay!” responses, respectively. Hardy catches Moose with a big stunner but JDC hits Down and Dirty to break up Matt’s subsequent pin attempt. Moose crawls to make the tag to JDC. JDC knocks Matt down with a big boot and heads to the top.
Matt crotches him and climbs up after him. Matt connects with a Twist of Fate out of the corner and tags in Jeff for an explosion from the crowd, who feels the finish. Jeff hits a Swanton Bomb off the top-rope and covers JDC for the pin fall victory. Pretty damn good main event and one actually deserving of a “You still got it!” chant for the legendary duo.
Moose attacks the iconic team after the match. He puts the boots to him until Mike Santana’s theme hits. He comes down and connects with Spin The Block on Moose. He puts the boots to him until Eddie Edwards and Brian Myers run down and the numbers game helps The System take over.
You get three guesses who comes out to make the final save to end the show on a positive note. “Say his name, and he appears …” hits the house speakers. From London to Tokyo, and in tonight’s case, Tampa, FL., Joe Hendry hits the ring.
Fans go nuts as Hendry’s theme keeps playing long enough to get to his rocking guitar solo as he, Santana and The Hardys clear the ring of The System crew. They head out to the floor and continue the four-on-four beat down all over the building.
Fans chant “We Believe!” as the good guys stand tall together in the ring and the bad guys cower and retreat. A loud “TNA!” chant breaks out as this week’s show goes off the air on that note. Thanks for joining us, and don’t forget to follow me on Twitter/X.
Next Week:
* Mike Bailey vs. Rich Swann (X-Division Title)
* Eddie Edwards vs. Mike Santana
* Joe Hendry vs. Brian Myers
* ABC vs. Cody Deaner & Jake Something
* Hammerstone vs. Eric Young
* Ash By Elegance vs. Jordynne Grace (Match By Elegance)
* Nic Nemeth, Josh Alexander Final Face-Off
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