TNA Impact(ful Discourse) review – August 6, 2026

(Note: The app is still not working for me. I had used it up to this point and it worked fine. I am probably going to go back and use the TV show until the Pay-Per-Views start again. This has been an intolerable situation but owe the site something. So, having seen a litany of highlights and what not, I will give the Impactful Discourse only this time. It will be in essay form versus the standard itemized list. If somehow things start to magically work, I will give the full review. I profusely apologize for the whole situation. Thank you for your indulgence. Also, take time to appreciate the good people who contribute to this fantastic site. They work just as hard and deserve the love and respect.)

I want to start with the Knockouts Division as the needle moved a bit. Xia Brookside beating Wendy Choo seemed like fait accompli (nice job by Tom Hannifan and Matthew Rehwoldt and even Brookside for calling back Jacy Jayne’s Knockouts reign last year and not wanting a repeat.) Signing Choo would not be the worst idea in the world. It would replenish the faces side of the equation, especially with the exodus of Mara Sade and Jody Threat; admittedly, the loss of Sade would be felt more than Threat. Sade has all the boxes checked and a match with Brookside would have been great.

All this is compounded by the fact that we have a heel champion (and a pretty good one, at that.) Since TNA is aversive to heel vs. heel matchups, having a balance on both sides would have been beneficial. Especially, ones who are ready made to be a challenger and could carry a division.

Speaking of Brookside, the interview she gave with Gia Miller seemed somewhat robotic and might have been her weakest one she gave. It fluctuated to much between script reading and real feeling. The nonverbals are still there and her ringwork continues to improve, though. Hopefully, this was an off segment and nothing consistent.

TNA is trying to generate new challengers for Brookside; I will credit them that. However, that leads to this argument. Our fearless leader said sometimes wrestling can be Shakespeare, and that leads to one of my favorite quotes from the bard is “Some are born great, some achieve greatness and some have greatness thrust upon them.” I think the last part relates to Harley Hudson and Elayna Black. With the face side at a negative, these two seemed to have been picked to help carry the division in the upper ranks. They have already set up an angle and narrative for Hudson as she is under the gun for not winning enough. She has not really been showcased well (the tag team with Myla Grace went nowhere for Grace’s exit.) I don’t know if she has the ability to handle it and that is the unknown that keeps it somewhat intriguing. Working with an established heel like Alisha Edwards is a good start. Edwards is a good hand and can work solidly. Her mic skills – triggering as they can be for someone who lived for a spell in Massachusetts towns – helped spark this match next week. To her credit, Hudson’s carried her part of the mic work well in the segment by getting Edwards to shut up and realizing this would be her chance to show what she is worth. Let’s see if the follow through continues the momentum.

Black still has the mic struggles with the monotonous cadence in her speech. The ring work is okay. Some people say she worked better as an underdog face but here’s hoping she can generate something in her performance that can shoulder the greatness thrusted. I am curious if they address the pivot to being face. One thing that could help is pulling a ruse and pretending to be face whilst setting up for the heel return. The System did it earlier in the year so it might be too soon to try it again. I do find it odd that Hudson has an angle ready-made and developed for her; let’s hope Black can figure out to turn this into something of an upward trajectory.

News also broke this week that Gabby Forza signed a contract is part of TNA now. I have mixed emotions about that. The gimmick is very independent wrestling and not sure how it would fly here. I guess there’s an audience for it. What does impress me is her ring ability. She does fill in the role of Threat (and Dani Luna when she was a face) of a power wrestler. That match with Threat was great a couple of weeks ago. That really opened my eyes to her (and Threat, too,, to be honest.) I don’t know how to balance the two factors but she could be someone to add (and maybe get her some wins instead of spirited losses to Threat and Indi Hartwell.)

There is one other X-factor in the “heel/face” balance. Heather by Elegance moved on to the semi-finals when she defeated the (now learned) lame duck Sade (side note, I did snicker during the TNA Injury Report when Sade was out indefinitely with an “abdominal injury.” ) That sets up both members (active, at least) of the By Elegance Brand in semis. Having read the spoilers for the next couple of weeks, there are developments coming. For spoiler free content; let’s say presuming Heather defeats Jada Stone and M by Elegance defeats Hartwell. I have been championing M for future greatness for a while now. She even got a shout out from Seth Rollins (yes, her trainer, but still the name carries weight. See Booker T and Roxanne Perez.) Presuming you turn one of those face (preferably M) that would give the division a much needed boost and have someone who feels like she could carry the division.

Hartwell and Stone are already established. Stone is getting a good rub and they seemed sold on her – far more than I do. But, whilst she has not turned the corner for me; she has reached it. She actually had a good turn on the mic with the Hudson/Edwards segment as she hyped up Hudson and verbally went after Edwards. Hartwell is solid and set and one knows what one gets with her (one wonders if she does get a shot at the world title soon because it seemed like too big a get to have her churning away on the mid-card. Again, spoiler free content.)

Speaking of world titlists, Lei Ying Lee has been conspicuously absent since her loss to Brookside. She would be someone to retain and hopefully we don’t get the news that she has requested her release.

Now, to the men, the Nic Nemeth feud with Jeff Hardy does nothing for me. The highlights of the segment did highlight Nemeth’s mic work and Hardy’s, well, artistic work. With the clamor for new angles and with an influx of new talent, the fact that we are getting these two in a world title program just seems like backwards logic. I’m sure the match will be solid but Hardy is being held together by some sort of MacGyver device I think. This just feels like a way to keep things going until they throw the dart and elevate someone else into the title contention (presumably, Leon Slater or one of the new folks they signed.)

It’s not like the Hardys have a serious contenders for the tag titles. That’s leads to the Righteous interview. Purposefully cryptic but find it curious what they mean by finding the forgotten and making them bloom. It was a good attempt to save face after the one-sided feud with the Hardys. If spoilers are correct, it does take them into an interesting turn and angle. Even more curious was the show of respect between the two. One has to wonder what becomes of them and if anything changes in their dynamic in the company.

And now to the edgy side of things. The Mustafa Ali/Jason Hotch angle continuation carried a lot of the background between matches. Hotch is setting up for a great babyface run and harkens back to the faces of the 1980’s whilst spending time with family. Then, that promo hit. The kid was superfluous. I was a little distracted by her staring into the camera during parts of the segment (to be fair, it’s not like the kid had a semblance of training in front of the camera. But then, why include her?) Ali was really at his smarmy, sleazy best (worst?) here. His work with Hotch’s wife started strong as she sat there stone silent whilst Ali ran down what he did for Hotch. However, when Ali touched her, she lost me. Staying stone silent was not the right call. She might have held back not to trigger her daughter (but then again, why include the daughter?)

I get there’s been a lot of talk around about the lap touch. Ali is a heel and I get that is something he would do. But the whole thing could have been crafted so much better Why do it if that was her reaction? Why do it in front of the kid? Again, was the kid necessary if that was going to be end result of the segment. It seemed like forced edginess with two of the three parties not ready for it.

Hotch, however, did a great rection follow up on the next segment and confronted Ali. The lines seemed to be drawn with Ali, Mila Moore and Agent Zero on one side with Hotch, Tasha Steelz on the other. The variable is John Skyler who seemed hesitant to join his Great Hands partner in fear of his job (the spoilers indicate this gets carried out further in the next couple of weeks.) The logical answer would be Skyler does join his partner since Skyler does not strike me as one could be a legitimate threat for a title.

Speaking of young talent, I would be a little more upset by Brian Myers and Eddie Edwards beating K C Navarro and Fabian Aichner but it was by shenanigans so at least momentum is not killed. Prepare for multi-person matches as the (to use the vernacular here) young’uns take on the System. And, for spoilers, prepare for a return off the injury list soon. I am curious who breaks loose and gets the vaunted championship opportunities (and for which ones.)

That gets dropped one title as we saw the further development of the rivalry between Cedric Alexander and Slater. Now, I want to make one point. This was the best interview Alexander did. It was measured but sounded reasonably natural. He started calm and made very salient points to Tom Hannifan. Even when Slater entered the room and excused Hannifan, Alexander made salient points and only started to raise his voice at the end in a natural crescendo versus right from the onset. That is what we want and if we can get more than that, that would go a long way in turning Alexander into a wrestler I like to one I love watching work. His delivery of the last line about erasing Slater from history was well crafted. Slater was his usual excellent self. He signed a contract in January for TNA and they better reward him for it because he would be ready to go in WWE or AEW.

While the X-Division feud took an interesting turn, alas, we have more Elijah shenanigans in his feud with A J Francis. Kudos to “Philly’s own” Home Town Man for getting the upset win on a banana peel and interference from the guitar strum of doom. Francis is doing yeoman’s work keeping these two relevant but I really don’t want to see any more of the Elijah vs. Francis feud. I get they need work and it was an original angle but they closed it way too soon if they are going to keep doing this.

Frankie Kazarian’s feud with Moose now has an “Escape the Cage” match in the future. Much like the aforementioned Francis and Elijah, they seem to be working for the sake of working. They seemed to be directionless for the time being so one might as well put them together. Moose’s promo about his titles in TNA was fine as weas Kazarian calling him a mascot versus a king like him. I would argue a king would not have to use a pay phone in 2026.

Lastly, despite all that has gone on and all the issues in the world, one thing remains constant, Nic Nemeth is in pristine shape.

Thank you again for understanding. Keep fighting the good fight.