Yes, we’re doing the first episode of Impact in 2025… but this one is a little more significant in that it’s the first new Impact to air on Sportsnet 360, the Canadian sports channel that, up until recently, was home to WWE programming and with that having gone to Netflix, that left an opening for programming that could have been filled with MOAR CANADIAN CONTENT… but I guess because TNA is now owned by Anthem Sports (a Canadian group – yes, TNA is owned by Canadians, which would made one-time heel faction Team Canada the rulers of TNA until they shitcanned Scott D’Amore), that makes them Canadian content and thus slots were filled.
So, yeah, while the title might sound like a bit of a joke, it’s not technically wrong. And honestly, it’s a big deal for TNA. Sportsnet has much greater visibility in Canada than the Fight Network does. And apparently, TNA programming was all over Sportsnet on New Year’s Day, which would’ve been nice to had known beforehand, but… whatever. What’s important is that we have a new year of Impact to check out and it’s… another episode of Impact.
See, the move to Sportsnet is a big deal in Canada to a degree, but not so much in America, where it’s business as usual, I suppose.
So we begin the show with Joe Hendry…
…to hype up his upcoming title match against Nic Nemeth at the upcoming Genesis PPV, only to bring out Nic’s brother Ryan… who apparently doesn’t trust Joe to do the right thing… even though Nic is the one with JBL in his back pocket… or so he denies. It’s a fine opening promo and eventually leads to Ryan vs. Rhino, who bashes Ryan with a chair to get DQ’ed. This would later lead to getting a match booked for next week between the Nemeth boys and Rhino/Hendry. So I guess Rhino is the next guy to screw over Hendry. They just put him in the TNA Hall Of Fame, for fuck’s sake.
Credit where it’s due; Joe Hendry knows a good sleep aid when he sees one. I’ve tried the Ryan Nemeth segments when he was on that BTE Youtube show and they always put me to sleep. Good call there, Joe.
The Rascals challenge the Hardys (YOUR reigning TNA Tag-Team Champions in 2025, by the way) to a title bout at Genesis. They accept and pose. Well, that’ll be a fun time, at least. Hope nothing goes horrifically wrong in the interim.
Ace Austin defeated KUSHIDA (the time travelling Marty McFly cosplayer guy whose contract with TNA expires apparently) and issues a challenge to Nic Nemeth for a future World title shot, only for Moose to talk shit about his partner Chris Bey (who’s still on the shelf from that injury months ago.) This causes Ace to change gears and challenge Moose for his X-Division title instead and we have a match courtesy of Santino Marella… yes, Santino Marella is still an authority figure in TNA. Go figure.
There’s a pretty good promo segment between Mike Santana and Josh Alexander resulting in a match for next week. Another interaction between the Nemeth boy. And the main event is an eight-woman tag that saw the team of TNA KO Champion Masha Slamovich, TNA KO Tag Champions Spitfire, and former KO champ Jordynee Grace defeat Rosemary, Tasha Steel, Ash and Heather. Pretty fun main event match that is followed by the recently returned Tessa Blanchard attacking Grace from behind and dragging her out of the building to take back her locker room. There’s been a huge stink made regarding Tessa’s return to TNA, considering her departure from the company back in 2020 as well as her reputation behind the scenes. I can’t comment on that because I haven’t kept up and honestly, that’s not my place to comment on, but if TNA is willing to give her another chance in hopes of giving the company some more star power and Tessa can be on her best behavior, I’d say it’s worth a shot. And with the rumors of Grace possibly being WWE-bound once her contract expires, you may as well try to fill that hole with some kind of new talent.
Once again, Impact remains a nice, easy-going two-hours of wrestling programming that I can sit back and get some mild enjoyment out of. This wasn’t an amazingly blowaway show by any means, but there were some good matches and some story progression to build towards the upcoming PPV, which I may watch to see if TNA does the one job they should have done months ago. We’ll see about this getting a weekly look (though not in a timely fashion, mind you) but so far, we’re off to a fine start for Impact on Sportsnet in 2025.
dtm666 