Tonight’s live edition of “TNA Impact” saw the arrival of new wrestlers, the return of recently-absent stars like Mustafa Ali and Jeff Hardy, and plenty of action as the company continued along the road to Bound For Glory. As always, your faithful crew here at Wrestling Inc. was able to pick out both the highs and the lows.
Along with the return of Ali, below you’ll find our opinions on the arrival of the duo of Samuel Shaw and Joseph Sawyer, the opening promo segment featuring Nic Nemeth and Leon Slater, the brief-but-exciting return of Rosemary, and more. For those who want a detailed rundown of the episode, our “TNA Impact” 9/24/2026 results will have you covered. Otherwise, continue reading and be sure to share your thoughts with us in the comments.
Hated: Nemeth nepotism
Ryan Nemeth is the wrestling equivalent of: “You can go out but you have to take your brother with you.” He’s not the first terrible wrestling brother to ride the familial gravy train (Tonga Loa also springs to mind) but it is overly egregious how he is being booked as a singles talent.
While already reigning as TNA Tag Team Champion and arguably already taking the nepo-p***, Nemeth entered the X-Division Championship picture this week. He entered the picture with a match against KJ Orso, formerly known as AEW’s Fuego del Sol. TNA booked an “AEW Dark” match as a contender’s match. Literally, the last time they shared the ring together was “Dark” in 2021. That show is dead now; food for thought.
There was literally zero reason to care about the match, as Orso was not going to win, and even if he did, that’s just the lesser of two evils. Because unfortunately, he’s not very compelling either. And he’s a heel. It was a heel vs heel match between two bad wrestlers. Nemeth won because of course he did, and now he goes on to a match that contains Fabian Aichner, KC Navarro, Cedric Alexander, and Rich Swann.
He sticks out like a sore thumb from that crop because he simply doesn’t belong. Without his surname he wouldn’t even be in the sport let alone the company, and thus let alone the X-Division title picture. It’s like a cruel catch to having someone as talented as Nic Nemeth. We just have to endure this constant over-pushing of someone who couldn’t feasibly beat an egg.
What does he bring to the table? What is he doing for the tag title? What is he doing for the show? It’s all negative; he’s a net negative.
To be clear, Ryan as a lackey to his brother – fodder for a challenger or someone to play spoiler in interference — makes sense. As usual, it’s TNA pushing the envelope too far and cutting its own nose off to spite its face, as well as its audience.
I’d love to have been a fly on the wall when someone came up with this match and all of the subtext around it. But only because a fly has a maximum lifespan of 30 days, so I wouldn’t have to worry about it much longer.
Written by Max Everett
Loved: Nic Nemeth & Leon Slater hold nothing back
TNA is not a company that I would say is bound to logic and in-ring psychology with their programming. If you ask me, the product can often feel inconsistent, all over the place, and (at times) just downright awful. With that said, the opening segment from this edition of “Impact” between Nic Nemeth and Leon Slater was a diamond in the rough and used some strong logic and psychology to actually further the storyline between the two men heading into their Bound For Glory TNA World Championship match.
I thought it was genius for Slater to kick off this segment by telling Nic that the other Nemeth is always nearby whenever he’s dealing with one of them. It felt like a throwaway line upon first watch, but really planted the seeds perfectly for this segment to come full circle. No physicality clauses don’t always feel like they’re warranted, but the one that Santino Marella put in place for Nemeth and Slater actually felt like it was needed given how much animosity the two men were shown to have with one another in their massive brawl that required two rounds of security to deal with. Everything about this just worked for me, and it was the highlight of an edition of “Impact” that otherwise felt pretty boring.
Written by Olivia Quinlan
Hated: Good concept, poor execution
Let me preface by saying that the premise of this creative decision is completely logical. Authority figure Daria Rae has actively plotted to overtake TNA Director of Authority Santino Marella since her arrival, so much so that she even twisted a series of events to get him suspended. When Indi Hartwell then tried to come to his defense, Rae used Hartwell’s response (a slight nudge of the shoulder) as fuel to suspend her as well.
When Marella and Hartwell eventually returned to TNA programming, so did Rae’s spitefulness. In Hartwell’s case, it led to her being purposely omitted from TNA Knockouts World Championship opportunities, with the most recent instance coming after she made Xia Brookside, the reigning champion, tap out. Instead of giving a title match to Hartwell afterward, Rae granted one to Gabby Forza, a TNA newcomer.
Tonight, Hartwell avenged herself by coaxing Rae into slapping her in the face. Rae was shocked to learn that Marella had filmed the whole encounter, which he then intended to show the TNA board as reason to suspend her next.
Again, the basis of this segment appears logical on paper. The execution, however, left me less than impressed. Rae’s slap to Hartwell didn’t look like it hurt that much. Secondly, the scene of Rae being furious after finding out that Marella had recorded everything on his phone was awkward, especially considering that it all played out in front of another camera looked through by us at home.
Rae was surely aware that she was being filmed by TNA’s big cameras in the first place. So why would we, as viewers, have reason to believe she was genuinely shocked by Marella’s secondary recording?
Written by Ella Jay
Loved: Rosemary & Courtney Rush return in eerie fashion
To say we missed Rosemary would be an understatement. We really, really, really missed her.
The former Knockouts Champion is one of the few TNA characters that can lean into the cinematic elements of wrestling and actually pique our interest. Consider us instantly intrigued when she marked her surprise return tonight, not in the ring, but in an eerie vignette wearing a straightjacket and dark makeup. Oh, and her alter ego Courtney Rush is sitting across from her, too.
Rosemary’s resurgence was brief, as the vignette spanned only 30 seconds, but with a mind as creative as hers, that’s all you really need to hook the viewers.
Rosemary’s straightjacket, noticeably labeled with a “666,” implies that she’s possibly suffered from a mental breakdown or supernatural distress of some sort. Given the stark contrast between Rosemary’s disturbed demeanor and Rush’s more optimistic tone, it could more specifically be an identity crisis.
If that’s the case, it appears that Rush is attempting to help bring Rosemary back to reality.
“What if we just start from the beginning?” Rush asked. The “beginning” started several weeks ago when Rosemary abruptly disappeared from TNA programming in the midst of her Knockouts Tag Team Championship reign alongside Allie. Where she’s been in the meantime, we don’t know. That’s the thrill, though, and if there’s anyone we trust in to fill in the details in an entertaining and substantial way, it’s Rosemary… or maybe… Courtney Rush?
Written by Ella Jay
Hated: A glitch and a mute for SYX
One, two, SYX is coming for you. Three, four, too many glitches galore. Five, six, the “Holy s***” chants dismissed. Seven, eight, Brie’s gonna lay it straight. Nine, ten, I don’t want to hate it, but here we are again.
There is a lot of excitement to the arrival of two out of the former Wyatt Sicks. However, tonight’s debut of Joseph Sawyer and Samuel Shaw lacked the “oomph” that it truly deserved. I noticed way too many mutes and glitches, and I’m pretty sure it wasn’t a problem with my television. So when Sawyer and Shaw snuck out, I wasn’t sure if the interference was part of their schtick, or if I needed to invest in a new TV. Lo and behold, it was on TNA’s end. I think what took the fun out of it for me was not being able to fully hear the crowd’s appreciation with their “holy s***” chants. This is a big moment for them. Let the cuss words ring!
The thing is, the former Wyatt Sicks were such a masterpiece of a group. With October just around the corner, tonight was the perfect time for the unnatural and kooky crew to somewhat debut. However, they deserved a much bigger moment than what was seen tonight. I hope TNA can take them farther than WWE did.
Written by Brie Coder
Loved: Mustafa Ali is back in action
Prior to tonight, it had been just over a month since Ali wrestled a TNA match, with his victory against Jason Hotch taking place at TNA Lockdown before an injury kept him off the last set of tapings. His return is a welcome one, despite being saddled with some not-so-great storyline developments – namely, the romance angle between Mila Moore and John Skyler.
Thankfully, the company wasted no time getting him back in the ring, with Ali putting his title on the line in tonight’s main event. Hotch and Trey Miguel were both due rematches, so TNA management decided to mash them together in a three-way. The match wasn’t exactly perfect, with the ending coming after an awkward exchange involving Tasha Steelz (what was she planning on doing in the ring before getting hit by Hotch?). Apart from that, however, it was a fun bout, and a reminder that Ali is one of the company’s greatest assets.
Written by Nick Miller
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