Emergence 2024 had to come on Labor Day weekend just like WWE & AEW. This is ridiculous! Why can't we have events on different weeks? Countdown: Kazarian defeated Kushida in a decent match. 3* PCO retained his titles against Mahabali Shera in a nothing match. DUD. Show: We started off with Ultimate X for the X-Division Title. As usual, it was a great match. Ultimate X barely disappoints. And this was no exception. The outcome saw Wentz win the title, which begs the question if we would see him defend it against Wes Lee at NXT No Mercy on Sunday. 4*. Next up was Steve Maclin VS Eric Young. This was a match that you would pay to see on Impact. I did like the outcome. You have to have the original put over the young talent. Not that Maclin is young. But EY put him over and that's all that matters. The match itself gets 2.5*. Having a 6-KO Tag is an example of how far down the Knockouts Division has been since Scott D'Amore's termination. Jordynne Grace is the one carrying the entire division at this point. It's a shame how the KO Division has fallen from grace. This match was a DUD. Next was ABC VS First Class for the tag team titles. The problem is Rich Swann got cut from the show due to his detainment last Monday. So, they had to find a replacement for AJ Francis. And what better than KC Navarro? He's better than Swann in every way imaginable. He's got the talent. He's got the charisma. He can cut a promo. And unlike Swann, he could carry someone like an AJ Francis. They had a pretty good match with ABC for the tag team straps. Yes. I said it. AJ Francis actually had a decent match for once. There were some slip-ups from Francis, but KC was the one that aided him every time. But the outcome was as expected. ABC retains their titles. This match gets 3.25*. Next up was the All-Star 8-Man Tag. This is vintage TNA. We had to gather their stars for a big multi-man tag. When is this gonna end? Seriously! And it went 19 minutes. 19 minutes of my life wasted watching this match. If this was a main event on Impact, it would've been a great match. But it was on a special, which was a major takeaway from how good it actually was. And the outcome saw The System win again. Come on, TNA. Get rid of this stable already. This match gets 1*. And now! The main event! It's Nic Nemeth VS Josh Alexander 2 for the TNA World Title in a 60-Minute Ironman Match. As if we didn't get nearly an hour on Impact 2 weeks back. We get a match that was an hour, where the most falls wins. This is what I'm talking about. This is why this business is dying. We got a total of 2 hours with these 2 for the world title. Now, the match. This is a prime example of what a wrestling match is. This match right here. Absolutely phenomenal! One of the greatest Ironman Matches of all time, and a match of the year candidate for sure. It's amazing that Josh Alexander can give us 2 legendary Ironman Matches. That's how great of a pro wrestler he is. To have 2 Ironman Matches that were 5-Star Classics. But the outcome saw Nic Nemeth retain the title at 3-2. The show ended with JBL making his surprise appearance, which was kind of eh. The match itself, 5*. Emergence 2024 was a show that came at the wrong time. Usually, it comes in the middle of August. But it came at the end of August. Labor Day weekend. All to play ball with WWE & AEW. That's terrible planning from TNA. Not to mention a desperation plug. I did like the fact that it only had 6 matches instead of 8. This is a format that I wish we saw from TNA. 6 matches for your Network Specials, 8 matches for your PPVs. The show itself had a tremendous bookend. Great opener, phenomenal closer. It did have a couple of worthless multi-man tag matches, which has been a recurring thing on TNA programming for quite some time. But that main event pretty much carried the load. It was magnificent! One of the greatest Ironman Matches ever! Overall, I'd say it was an alright show. 6.5 out of 10.
Emergence 2024 had to come on Labor Day weekend just like WWE & AEW. This is ridiculous! Why can't we have events on different weeks?
Countdown:
Kazarian defeated Kushida in a decent match. 3*
PCO retained his titles against Mahabali Shera in a nothing match. DUD.
Show:
We started off with Ultimate X for the X-Division Title. As usual, it was a great match. Ultimate X barely disappoints. And this was no exception. The outcome saw Wentz win the title, which begs the question if we would see him defend it against Wes Lee at NXT No Mercy on Sunday. 4*.
Next up was Steve Maclin VS Eric Young. This was a match that you would pay to see on Impact. I did like the outcome. You have to have the original put over the young talent. Not that Maclin is young. But EY put him over and that's all that matters. The match itself gets 2.5*.
Having a 6-KO Tag is an example of how far down the Knockouts Division has been since Scott D'Amore's termination. Jordynne Grace is the one carrying the entire division at this point. It's a shame how the KO Division has fallen from grace. This match was a DUD.
Next was ABC VS First Class for the tag team titles. The problem is Rich Swann got cut from the show due to his detainment last Monday. So, they had to find a replacement for AJ Francis. And what better than KC Navarro? He's better than Swann in every way imaginable. He's got the talent. He's got the charisma. He can cut a promo. And unlike Swann, he could carry someone like an AJ Francis. They had a pretty good match with ABC for the tag team straps. Yes. I said it. AJ Francis actually had a decent match for once. There were some slip-ups from Francis, but KC was the one that aided him every time. But the outcome was as expected. ABC retains their titles. This match gets 3.25*.
Next up was the All-Star 8-Man Tag. This is vintage TNA. We had to gather their stars for a big multi-man tag. When is this gonna end? Seriously! And it went 19 minutes. 19 minutes of my life wasted watching this match. If this was a main event on Impact, it would've been a great match. But it was on a special, which was a major takeaway from how good it actually was. And the outcome saw The System win again. Come on, TNA. Get rid of this stable already. This match gets 1*.
And now! The main event! It's Nic Nemeth VS Josh Alexander 2 for the TNA World Title in a 60-Minute Ironman Match. As if we didn't get nearly an hour on Impact 2 weeks back. We get a match that was an hour, where the most falls wins. This is what I'm talking about. This is why this business is dying. We got a total of 2 hours with these 2 for the world title. Now, the match. This is a prime example of what a wrestling match is. This match right here. Absolutely phenomenal! One of the greatest Ironman Matches of all time, and a match of the year candidate for sure. It's amazing that Josh Alexander can give us 2 legendary Ironman Matches. That's how great of a pro wrestler he is. To have 2 Ironman Matches that were 5-Star Classics. But the outcome saw Nic Nemeth retain the title at 3-2. The show ended with JBL making his surprise appearance, which was kind of eh. The match itself, 5*.
Emergence 2024 was a show that came at the wrong time. Usually, it comes in the middle of August. But it came at the end of August. Labor Day weekend. All to play ball with WWE & AEW. That's terrible planning from TNA. Not to mention a desperation plug. I did like the fact that it only had 6 matches instead of 8. This is a format that I wish we saw from TNA. 6 matches for your Network Specials, 8 matches for your PPVs. The show itself had a tremendous bookend. Great opener, phenomenal closer. It did have a couple of worthless multi-man tag matches, which has been a recurring thing on TNA programming for quite some time. But that main event pretty much carried the load. It was magnificent! One of the greatest Ironman Matches ever! Overall, I'd say it was an alright show. 6.5 out of 10.