Himanshu’s TNA Impact Review 1.15.26

Hey there, TNA fans! It’s Thursday, and that means it’s time for another episode of TNA iMPACT! I’m Himanshu (you can follow me on Twitter @Himanshu_Doi) and you know how this works. Tonight on iMPACT, Thursday Night iMPACT! kicks off a new era for Total Nonstop Action Wrestling, debuting live on AMC, TNA World Champion Frankie Kazarian defends against Mike Santana, with the winner advancing to Genesis two nights later, “The Phenomenal” AJ Styles makes his return to the iMPACT! Zone for the first time since Slammiversary and more.

As a reminder, the GoFundMe for Larry’s daughters is still active, and if you can make a donation, that would be awesome. Thank you so much to everyone who’s done so thus far.

TNA iMPACT!

Date: January 15th, 2025
Location: Curtis Culwell Center in Dallas, Texas
Commentators: Tom Hannifan, Matt Rehwoldt

AJ Styles comes out to open the show. He says he’s going to keep this short and sweet. He says welcome to the house that AJ Styles built. He says it is bolder, badder and on AMC. He says they are TNA, they are the TNAtion, and it all starts with the three letters “TNA”. He says let’s create some chaos.

Reaction: Really not much of substance said here. It still is cool to see AJ Styles come out to “Get Ready To Fly” again in TNA.

Elijah comes out with guitar and asks who wants to walk with Elijah.

Match 1: Elijah & The Hardys (Jeff Hardy & Matt Hardy) vs. Order 4 (Jason Hotch, John Skyler & Mustafa Ali)

Mustafa Ali and Order 4 rush into the ring and brawl. The Hardys throws The Great Hands out of the ring as we go to commercial.

Back from commercial and everyone runs at Elijah and he throws everyone out of the ring. Jeff Hardy gets the tag and he hits a sit-out suplex on Ali. Ali hits a Twist of Fate and looks to go to the top rope but Tasha blocks the corner. Matt Hardy hits a double Twist of Fate on Ali and Tasha. Jeff goes for a cover but it is broken up. Elijah hits a knee strike on Skyler, followed by a Twist of Fate by Matt and a Swanton Bomb by Jeff for the win.

Result: Elijah & The Hardys (Jeff Hardy & Matt Hardy) def. Order 4 (Jason Hotch, John Skyler & Mustafa Ali) by pinfall
Rating: **½
Reaction: A bit too short for my liking, especially considering there are only 3 matches advertised for this show, but I guess this is going to be more of a promo-heavy show tonight. A lot of what you would expect of The Hardys, who have been among the top two most over acts in TNA for a while now.

After the match, Agent Zero takes out The Hardys. The Righteous come out and Agent Zero leaves the ring. The Righteous attack The Hardys. Vincent puts a chain through Jeff’s earhole and hits a Swanton Bomb on Matt Hardy. Vincent says at Genesis, The Righteous will become new TNA Tag Team Champions.

Gia Miller is backstage with Frankie Kazarian, and Kazarian says this is the biggest night in TNA history. AJ Styles shows up. Frankie Kazarian tells him to say thank you for the house. AJ Styles looks at the TNA World Championship and says thanks and leaves.

Reaction: That was a huge tease by AJ Styles. After that opening promo, you thought that’s all there was to it and he wasn’t going to wrestle in TNA, but this segment made you think otherwise.

Gia Miller introduces the cast of Darkwins, Mara Sade and Candice Michelle. Ryan Nemeth introduces himself. He gets crotched on the barricade and chopped.

Santino Marella comes out. He says they fought tooth and nail, and this is going to be the beginning of something incredible. He says he can’t afford to make a mistake. He says the board has agreed that he needs help. Daria Rae (Sonya Deville) comes out. She says Santino is one of the pillars. She says on thing this company does not need is Santino. She says they need structure, discipline, professionalism. She says he cannot even keep his daughter in line. She tells him to shut up. She says she’s ran locker rooms and understands television, and she can do her job better than he can. She suggests he stay the hell out of her way. She tells everyone to shut up when she’s talking. She says she signed a new knockout to TNA. Elayna Black makes her entrance.

Reaction: I love Daria Rae here. She’s clearly got great promo skills and instantly got her heel persona over. I’m also glad to see Elayna Black in TNA and I think she’d be a solid addition to the Knockouts Division.

AJ Styles walks up to Santana backstage. They shake hands. AJ Styles tells him to take him out and leaves.

The Personal Concierge introduces Perez Hilton. He says they’ve spent the past couple of months to search Mr. Elegance. Perez introduces Mr. Elegance. AJZ reveals himself as Mr. Elegance. He tells people to look at him. The IInspiration make their entrance.

Reaction: That was a strange way to debut him. They did the reveal as if people were supposed to know who he was, but they didn’t, and he got no reaction. The promo didn’t really get over with the crowd either. I’m not sure if this was the episode to do the reveal, but then again, they have been building it for weeks now. Just strange. I don’t know why they felt they needed Perez Hilton in there either because he really didn’t add anything to this.

Match 2: The IInspiration (Cassie Lee & Jessie McKay) vs. The Elegance Brand (Heather By Elegance & M By Elegance) (w/The Personal Concierge) for the TNA Knockouts World Tag Team Championship

Jessie gets the hot tag and hits a discus clothesline on M and a splash on M and Heather in the corner. She hits a Northern Lights Suplex on Heather and goes for the cover, but The Personal Concierge pulls her. The IInspiration attack the Personal Concierge. They went for the IIdolizer but Mr. Elegance clips Cassie’s legs and M gets the pin on Jessie for the win.

Result: The Elegance Brand (Heather By Elegance & M By Elegance) (w/The Personal Concierge) def. The IInspiration (Cassie Lee & Jessie McKay) to become the new TNA Knockouts World Tag Team Champions
Rating: **
Reaction: The fans were not happy with that finish. This regime is more open to the idea of interference finishes than the past regime, which some fans might not like. Mr. Elegance made himself useful very quickly for the Elegance Brand and judging by the presentation night is going to be a big part of that group.

Stacks is backstage with Arianna Grace, and Stacks says for weeks, Santino was trying to figure out who let NXT people in the door. Arianna says the answer was next to him the whole time. Stacks says Santino is making a lot of bad decisions. Arianna says Stacks is going to handle whatever Santino throws his way, and he is going to do it for his little girl.

Time for the TNA Injury Report presented by Bioflex, and Harley Hudson is out, Xia Brookside and Lei Ying Lee are medically cleared to compete after an attack by Dani Luna, Steve Maclin is out of action after an attack by Stacks and is expected to return to in-ring action next week, Santana is cleared from his right arm injury.

Indi Hartwell is backstage and says ever since her dog collar match, she has been in limbo. She talks about her dream, and The Elegance Brand walk up to them and M says that some people dream and some make it happen. The Personal Concierge says he’ll send her back to Australia. Ash says they got to party and Indi says she will talk to Santino.

We see a video package for the TNA Knockouts.

Santino introduces Lei Ying Lee who comes out with Xia Brookside. Santino says due to a visa crisis, Dani Luna is not going to be able to compete at Genesis. He says Lei Ying Lee has signed a contract to an open challenge at Genesis. Zaria and Sol Ruca make their entrance. Sol says they were in town to scope out the competition for the TNA Knockouts World Tag Team Titles, but when she heard about the open challenge, she couldn’t resist. She says it would feel pretty damn good to bring gold again. She says the thing about Zaruca is they’ve got a warrior of their own, which is why Zaria should answer the open challenge. Zaria signs on the contract. Lei Ying Lee raises her title and they shake hands.

Reaction: I love that we’re getting Zaria. Her and Sol Ruca are the kind of NXT talent I’d like to see more of in TNA. Zaria provides Lei Ying Lee with a fresh new challenger, and they can put on a good match too.

We see a video package on the history of the TNA World Champions.

We see Mike Santana and Frankie Kazarian walking backstage.

Santino Marella approaches Cedric Alexander and tells him that due to a visa crisis, Leon Slater will not be able to appear at Genesis, so they will have a 3-way between him, Moose and Joe Hendry.

The System comes out. Eddie Edwards says this is special to them. He says there are a lot of changes going on, but there is one final moment, and that is Genesis. He looks at JDC and says this is the final dance. JDC thanks the fans and says they’re the best crowd. JDC says Saturday will be his last match ever. He says the System isn’t weakening, it is evolving. He says he will be in the ring to announce the newest member to replace him. He says he loves Eddie like a brother. He says he respects him and he cannot believe the daughter they raised. He says he isn’t going out like some punk, so either Eddie pulls the trigger or he will.

We see a video package for Mike Santana vs. Frankie Kazarian.

Gia Miller introduces Carlos Silva. Carlos Silva introduces Dixie Carter who gets booed. She says the company is on AMC starting a new chapter. She says she is proud of the company and it is a sentimental night for her. Bully Ray’s music hits and he hugs Dixie. He joins the announce table. He says he kind of made up with Dixie.

Match 3: Frankie Kazarian vs. Mike Santana for the TNA World Championship

Fans chant “TNA” as they lock up. Santana takes down Kazarian with a shoulder block and they cheer. Santana with a hurricanrana followed by a splash to Kazarian outside the ring. Kazarian with an overhead belly-to-belly suplex on the floor to Santana as we go to commercial.

Back from commercial and Santana goes for a Rolling Buck 50 but Kazarian catches him with a Backstabber for two. Santana with a superkick and hits a Rolling Buck 50 for two. Santana hits a Spanish Fly followed by Code Red for two. Kazarian hits Angel’s Wings for two. Frankie Kazarian hits a Canadian Destroyer, but Santana gets up and hits Spin The Block for two. Mike Santana hits Spin The Block for the win.

Result: Mike Santana def. Frankie Kazarian to become the new TNA World Champion
Rating: **½
Reaction: The match felt a bit rushed to me. Kind of like they were short of time and throwing out all their spots at the end. That might not have been the case, but it felt like it with the kickouts and fighting spirit-no sells. The good thing is that they got that big moment with Santana getting back his title at the AMC premiere. There was no surprise or cliffhanger to end the show though which was puzzling to me because you needed that here to hook potential new fans.

Mike Santana celebrates to end the show.

6.7

The final score: review Average

The 411

Tonight was a big night for TNA. Did they deliver? Well, if you've been watching all this time, it was more of the same. For better or worse. For someone that would have been tuning in for the first time in a while, I don't think they did quite enough to hook those viewers in. And that's something that's been an issue with this creative regime for me. They can book a decent wrestling show, but not a very exciting one, not one that when you're live and have a lot of eyeballs on you that you can count of them to hit it out of the park. They could take the help of some writers for their creative team. They're on a bigger network now and need to deliver in terms of their viewership, and they cannot take their spot on AMC for granted.