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TNA will present the 2024 Emergence PPV this Friday 8/30 from Louisville, Kentucky's Old Forester’s Paristown Hall, featuring:
*TNA Champion Nic Nemeth vs. Josh Alexander - One Hour Iron Man Match
*TNA X-Division Champion Mike Bailey vs. Zachary Wentz vs. WWE NXT's Riley Osborne vs. Jason Hotch vs. Alexander Hammerstone vs. Laredo Kid - Ultimate X
*TNA Knockouts Champion Jordynne Grace & Spitfire vs. Ash by Elegance & TNA Knockouts Tag Team Champions Alisha Edwards & Masha Slamovich
*Matt Cardona vs. PCO
*The Hardys & Joe Hendry & Mike Santana vs. The System
*Eric Young vs. Steve Maclin
*KUSHIDA vs. Frankie Kazarian
This card looks like it’ll serve as a very nice appetizer to a busy wrestling weekend. Here’s my take on what will happen…
KUSHIDA vs. Frankie Kazarian
While there isn’t much to talk about in terms of build to this match, I am very much looking forward to it for what will happen with the action. Both men are very good at what they do and Frankie Kazarian has had a really fun heel run so far. Although KUSHIDA will be looking for revenge on Kazarian’s brief attack, I think it would be smart to have Frankie win here to have his run continue and be a strong option for Nic Nemeth to take on if he is able to continue his championship run (more on that later).
Eric Young vs. Steve Maclin
The lead up to this match has mostly been in the backstage area with Steve Maclin being the verbal aggressor. Maclin seems refocused and ready to stack bodies. Eric Young is a heck of a first body to stack in TNA to kick start a strong run. I expect Maclin to get the win here and for Eric Young to do his best to make Maclin look really strong in the process.
The Hardys & Joe Hendry & Mike Santana vs. The System
The System has been making life difficult for their opponents for a few months, so The Hardys, Joe Hendry, and Mike Santana will probably have a lot of fun getting their hands on The System with the numbers even. Although The System have been together for a bit and work well together, I expect the mishmash team of The Hardys, Joe Hendry, and Mike Santana to get the big win here with Joe Hendry getting a lot of the spotlight. I am hoping for Mike Santana to get a lot of shine, as well, as he truly deserves it.
Matt Cardona vs. PCO
Is Matt Cardona even medically cleared? Will PCO’s wedding party get involved? What tricks will Matt Cardona have up his sleeve? Will Steph De Lander get involved? There are a lot of questions for this match and I’m sure there will be a lot going on with it. I think Matt Cardona winning here might be the way to go (probably with some help) with PCO going on the hunt for revenge to further the story. Either way, I expect a lot of shenanigans and for Steph De Lander to play a big part in the finish.
TNA Knockouts Champion Jordynne Grace & Spitfire vs. Ash by Elegance & TNA Knockouts Tag Team Champions Alisha Edwards & Masha Slamovich
Unfortunately, the TNA Knockouts Tag Team Titles haven’t been a main focus over the last few weeks. There was a bit of an interaction with Spitfire getting involved in the Alisha Edwards vs. Rosemary match. Other than that, not much has really happened since Slammiversary. Therefore, I expect most of the focus to be on Jordynne Grace and Ash by Elegance. Their Match by Elegance match on iMPACT! is yet to happen as of this writing, but I am sure whatever happens in it will play a part in the Emergence story. Since this is a 3 on 3 match, one of the champions can lose and still look strong and/or have a story coming out of this match with a loss. If they want Ash by Elegance to still go after Grace, I expect her to get the pin over one of the Spitfire members. Without seeing the iMPACT! match, that’s the way my gut is going for now.
TNA X-Division Champion Mike Bailey vs. Zachary Wentz vs. WWE NXT's Riley Osborne vs. Jason Hotch vs. Alexander Hammerstone vs. Laredo Kid - Ultimate X Match
I’m pretty happy to have the Ultimate X Match back. It supplied some fun moments over the years and is still pretty unique. This one is interesting. Mike Bailey keeps talking about wanting to take on the best out there. With that storyline going, I expect him to retain here so that he can drop the title (whenever he does) to someone with a strong build in a hard fought one-on-one match. However, there are some other fun ways to go. If Zachary Wentz were to win, that would add more depth to his issues with Wes Lee. However, I don’t think that feud needs a title in the mix. Riley Osbourne winning would be out of left field, but Chase U would go crazy. It would also provide an interesting twist to the TNA/NXT relationship. Jason Hotch and Laredo Kid will be fun in the match and I am hoping for a strong showing from them. Jason Hotch had one of his better matches recently in his qualifying three-way for this match. I think the most likely contender to provide a title change is Hammerstone. He’s been dominant since being featured in this run. He looks like a monster. He’s also not the prototypical X-Division wrestler, so him winning could be an interesting run that changes how people think about and approach the division - much like Samoa Joe did when he became X-Division Champion. Like I said earlier, though, my gut is telling me that Mike Bailey wins. No matter what, though, I expect these guys to work their butts off and provide a really fun match.
TNA Champion Nic Nemeth vs. Josh Alexander - One Hour Iron Man Match
I will be very honest here - I don’t usually look forward to Iron Man matches. I think some of them have been great. I think most of them have been pretty well done. However, I don’t usually like knowing ahead of time that a match is definitely going to be an hour long. Don’t get me wrong - I enjoy long matches with two (or more) awesome wrestlers. I just like for it to be a natural surprise. With that said, I am very much looking forward to this match. I really enjoyed their 30-minute time limit draw on iMPACT! Like I said in my report of that match, the action made me forget that they were approaching the time limit and I thought the time flew by. Having Nic Nemeth and Josh Alexander wrestle for 60 minutes is quite the treat. We all know that Nic Nemeth is a machine and puts on really good matches. And come on - Josh Alexander has just been on fire for a while. Their time limit draw was a nice mix of traditional wrestling, a little bit of brawling, and some really good storytelling. They get another half hour to do even more of that, so yeah - count me in! I’m leaning towards Nic Nemeth retaining here. A lot of his recent story is about proving that he isn’t just a paper/transitional champion. I think he gets to prove that he’s better than that with this match. Along with that, Josh Alexander can add layers to his heel character with a loss and a new opponent after this show.
Overall
Obviously, this show is being built around the Iron Man Match - rightfully so. However, there are a lot of fun things underneath it. This show has a little bit of everything mixed in: probable shenanigans with Cardona/PCO, the crazy action of the Ultimate X match, the tension of The Hardys, Joe Hendry, and Mike Santana vs. The System, and the wrestling of KUSHIDA vs. Frankie Kazarian. The other matches are the cherry on top of a pretty solid looking show that will be pretty fun to watch, I think. I hope I’m right and I hope you enjoy it, as well!
Do you agree with how I see things shaking out? Which matches are you looking forward to the most? Let me know at matt.tenhoeve@gmail.com and let’s talk about it!
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