It’s safe to say TNA had more than a good year in 2024; From partnerships to business success to overall interest in the brand, TNA enters 2025 with both high expectations and a big agenda.
One thing you can expect to still happen going into the new year is a whole lot of great matches from the company; While the PPV’s and Plus Specials have produced some amazing matches, I decided to shine some light on some of the matches that TNA generously gave us for free on TV….These are the Top 15 TNA Wrestling TV Matches of 2024.
Honorable Mentions:
- Jordynne Grace vs. Dani Luna (November 28th)
- Nic Nemeth vs. Sami Callihan (November 29th)
- Ace Austin vs. Chris Bey (August 30th)
- ABC vs. Speedball Mountain (May 9th)
- Jason Hotch vs. Rich Swann vs. Ace Austin (August 15th)
- Mike Bailey vs. Rich Swann (August 29th)
- JDC vs. Mike Santana (September 19th)
- Mike Bailey vs. Moose (November 7th)
#15. Nic Nemeth vs. Alex Shelley (April 4th)
Many might be shocked to see this match so low on this list, but in all honesty the slow and methodical pace this match goes does at times feel like a chore to watch…Heck even the fans feel restless in certain points.
That being said, it’s two underrated talents putting on a wrestling clinic for over twenty minutes in the main event as both Shelley and Nemeth spend most of the match jockeying for position and picking apart various points of the body in order to get the upper hand.
It’s a good match if your in the right mood for it and it also shows Shelley doing some great work before he and Chris Sabin left TNA before heading to the WWE several months later.
#14. Mike Bailey vs. Jake Something vs. Trent Seven (August 8th)
The circumstances going into this match is really weird; So a series of qualifying matches happen over a couple of weeks with the winners advancing to Emergence to fight for the X Division Championship….However, Mike Bailey (the Champion) wants to enter the qualifying bout but also use it as a way to defend his title because something something fighting champion.
As contrived as this whole thing is, the match that precedes it is really frickin great. The sense of urgency that Speedball faces in this match coupled with Jake Something’s raw power helps to make this eight minute match feel really impactful (no pun intended).
Outside of scoop slam mixed with a driver from the top rope, Trent Seven doesn’t get to do much in this match but as fans found out months earlier, Seven and Bailey are more than capable of putting on a solid contest…Speaking of.
#13. Trent Seven vs. Mike Bailey (May 23rd)
Before they broke up on Speedball’s final night with the company, the team of Mike Bailey and Trent Seven aka “Speedball Mountain” had some impressive matches against the likes of The Rascalz, Eddie Edwards and Brian Myers, and the ABC.
In the middle of their partnership and eventual break up at the hands of Trent Seven, both members of Speedball Mountain fought in a number one contenders for Mustafa Ali’s X Division Championship; Bailey’s high-flying style unsurprisingly meshed well with Seven’s British style of wrestling which helped to make this match all the more thrilling.
When Ali showed up to watch the match at ringside you knew something was going to happen…Sure enough it did after an unintentional move by Bailey hit the champion, Ali proved a distraction while his new ally Campaign Singh helped Seven to secure the victory.
#12. Jordynne Grace vs. Trinity (January 25th)
On a night where Nic Nemeth has his first match inside a TNA ring and Kazuchika Okada returns to the company in over a decade, Trinity gets her contractual rematch for the Knockouts World Championship against the woman who beat her for it: Jordynne Grace.
This match is certainly more physical than their previous encounter at Hard To Kill with Trinity showing a more aggressive side to her offense…to which “The Juggernaut” is more than happy to respond back with her own brand of brute force as evident by the spot where she hits a delayed vertical suplex on the second rope before transitioning it into a jackhammer.
In the end, Grace was able to pin Trinity to retain her title and while we didn’t know it at the time there paths would cross again when Grace became a surprise entrant in the 2024 Women’s Royal Rumble.
#11. Joe Hendry vs. Jake Something (July 4th)
In a match to determine who would be the final competitor to join the six man world title match in the main event of Slammiversary, Jake Something took on Joe Hendry on the July Fourth edition of IMPACT and to say the fans were invested would be an understatement.
The crowd first started to cheer for Hendry before it quickly turns into cheers for Jake; As the match goes on, some of the fans briefly turned Jake into a heel with chants of “You Suck” only to be balanced out with responses of “No he Don’t”.
Jake’s speed and strenght are once again on full display here while Hendry further showed how serious he can be as a wrestler with his willingness to keep fighting. Scotland’s favorite wrestler (sorry Drew McIntyre and Piper Niven) was able to pick up the victory and move on to the main event of Slammiversary.
#10. The ABC Vs. Grizzled Young Vets (Feburary 15th)
After the results of their first match in the best of three series (more on that later) and having Ace Austin’s left arm injured after a backstage attack, The Grizzled Young Vets were looking to beat the TNA World Tag Team Champions (Ace Austin and Chris Bey) in order to make it 2-0.
While not as spot heavy as the previous encounter, the emotion is fever pitched as the pressure is on the ABC to win less they lose the belts to the GYV; Chris Bey both in this match and the series as a whole really shines when he has to battle the odds whilst also restricting Ace from getting involved too much due to the injury.
While the Vets looked like they had the match at hand, Bey’s involvement in the final moments allowed Austin to roll up one half of the GYV in order to tie up the score board leading to their amazing third and final match at No Surrender.
#9. Mike Bailey vs. Jake Something (November 28th)
Since TNA’s weekly programming was happening around Thanksgiving, you’d imagine we get some sort of clip show masquerading as a new episode of IMPACT…Thankfully that wasn’t the case here.
A number of never before seen matches aired throughout the night and one of the best has to be this singles match between Mike Bailey and Jake Something.
The former X Division champion does have his moments throughout but it’s Jake who puts on one hell of a display; Whether his deadlifting and chucking Speedball out the ring or hitting a top rope powerbomb to nearly win the match, Jake Something once again shows why his a wrestler to look out for in 2025.
#8. Jordynne Grace vs. Karmen Petrovic (September 5th)
Jordynne Grace’s unexpected debut at NXT whilst holding the Knockouts World Title sent shock waves throughout the wrestling community and after mixing it up with some of the NXT talent both on TV and PPV, “The Juggernaut” decided to issue open challenges to anyone who wanted a shot at the Knockouts Championship.
On the September fifth edition of IMPACT, Arianna Grace (NXT star and daugther to Santino Marella) came out an revealed herself as the new liaison between WWE and TNA’s working relationship and introduced Jordynne’s opponent for the night in NXT’s own Karmen Petrovic.
What ensues is a solid opening contest pitting Grace’s intensity and power against Petrovic’s speed and striking ability; Despite an impressive effort by Karmen and keeping the champion reeling, Grace was able to retain and put down another NXT star for the three count.
#7. Nic Nemeth vs. Josh Alexander (September 15th)
Following the events of Slammiversary and an in-ring segment weeks later, Nic Nemeth defended his World Heavyweight Championship against Josh Alexander in a first time ever match.
For most of the match Alexander dominates the champion but it’s far from a squash match as Nemeth is able to pull out some of his signature moves including a superkick which was so hard it sent Josh’s headgear flying off his head.
As the match progresses, Nemeth slowly begins to regain control and hits his finisher onto Alexander for the second time, however just as Nemeth is preparing to go for the cover the bell rings with the ring announcer mentioning the thirty minutes have expire thus ending the bout in a draw.
Despite the fans and Nemeth himself demanding five more minutes, Alexander was having none of it and instead kicked the champion in the nuts which all led to the second matchup in a 60 minute Iron Man match in the main event of Emergence.
#6. The ABC vs. Grizzled Young Vets (February 1st)
While James Drake and Zack Gibson have since moved on and signed with AEW/ROH, they did have a tremendous if not brief run in TNA with the majority of that time seeing them fight for the tag team titles.
After losing to Ace Austin and Chris Bey at Hard To Kill, the GYV wanted another shot at the tag titles which led to this best of three series; It’s clear from the opening minutes that both of these teams have tremendous chemistry with each other as the action and pacing are beyond smooth.
The Veterans approach to trash talking their opponents while beating them up and their strategy of cutting the ring in half in order to prevent the tag between Bey and Austin further makes this match enjoyable.
Due to some scarf related shenanigans on GYV’s part, the Vets picked up the win thus leaving the ABC to rethink their plans…which they did and went on to win the final two matches.
#5. Nic Nemeth vs. Mustafa Ali (August 1st)
Mere weeks (or a day or two in real time) after winning the TNA World Title at Slammiversary, Nic Nemeth’s first challenger was a former WWE alumni in Mustafa Ali, fresh off of losing his match to Mike Bailey for the X Division Championship on the same show.
This bout saw both men put on stellar performances with Ali more than capable in matching Nemeth in terms of ferocity and speed while the more experience Champion was able to keep the pace of this contest in his favor.
Because this match to place in Canada, Ali decided to apply the Sharpshooter onto Nemeth to a loud chorus of boos from the audience; Fortunately this match didn’t end via a mediocre attempt at redoing the Montreal Screwjob, but rather with Nic Nemeth hitting his finishing moves in order to put Mustafa Ali away and retain his TNA World Championship.
#4. The Northern Armory and Frankie Kazarian vs. Mike Santana Steve Maclin Eric Young and Johnathan Gresham (December 5th)
In terms of multi man tag team matches that have main evented episodes of IMPACT this year, the December fifth’s eight man tag bout was truly amazing which shouldn’t be surprising considering the talent involved.
Most of the match sees the bad guys beating up and isolating Maclin from his team but before and after this there are a bunch of moments that play to the strengths of the competitors such as Kazarian and Alexander picking their chances to cheat, Santana going to town on almost everyone, plus Sinner and Saint’s explosive offense is remarkable in this match.
Johnathan Gresham has some moments to show his technical skills and fluidity, but it’s due to Kazarian using his Call Your Shot Trophy as a weapon that leads to Alexander picking up the win for his team.
#3. Charlie Dempsey vs. Johnathan Gresham (September 22nd)
While were on the subject of Gresham’s fluidity and technical prowess, no match this year best demonstrated this more than his one-on-one encounter with NXT’s Charlie Dempsey.
When you realize that Dempsey is the son of wrestling technician William Regal not to mention Gresham is also well versed in submissions plus ground and pound, well then you have a match that feels like a throwback to those old hard hitting bouts from Madison Square Garden from the 60’s and 70’s.
To be honest, it’s kind of hard to break this match down in terms of moves and counters, but if your someone who likes sound echoing chops than half a dozen superkicks in your match, well this one is certainly for you.
#2. Mike Bailey vs. Leon Slater (October 17th)
The argument could be made that despite putting on great matches throughout his run in TNA, the final months of Mike Bailey’s time in the company saw a more aggressive side to the French-Canadian.
This as well as a star making performance from Leon Slater is shown on the October 17th episode of IMPACT where Speedball defended his X Division Championship; The crowd were on their feet for this match as the action both in and outside of the ring got huge chants of “This is Awesome”, “X Division” and so on.
From Slater’s death defying theatrics to Bailey’s fixation on targeting the young wrestlers injured left arm, there wasn’t a dull moment to find in this match and it could’ve easily been the best non PPV match of the year, if not for our final entry.
#1. Josh Alexander vs. Will Ospreay (January 18th)
When the announcement was made that Will Ospreay would return to TNA to face Josh Alexander during the company’s January tapings in 2024, fans couldn’t wait to see this match again considering how awesome their first match back in 2023 turned out.
With an almost endless amount of counters big moves and near falls ringing throughout, the fans were evenly split on who to support. The inclusion of a table and Ospreay hitting a Storm Driver on Alexander through the wood could’ve been an easy way to end via DQ and protect “The Billy Goat”, thankfully Daniel Spencer (the ref in this match) used his ‘Referees Discretion’ to keep the match going.
Alexander would put away the soon to be All Elite Wrestling star with a C4 Spike to pick up the win and avenge his loss to Ospreay. With a 5.5 star rating from Dave Meltzer (if you care about that sort of thing) this match is the highest rated bout in company history; Combined with the action and crowd investment from beginning to end….This match more then deserves to be TNA’s best TV match of 2024.
And that’s my list, What do you think were the Best TV Matches TNA Wrestling had in 2024? Be sure to let us know in the comments section.
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