Live from the Curtis Culwell Center in Garland, Texas – TNA presents Thursday Night IMPACT’s debut on AMC!
Last night the Curtis Culwell Center played host to a historic night in professional wrestling as TNA Wrestling made its highly anticipated Thursday Night Impact debut on AMC.
As someone who was there to witness it firsthand, I can tell you the energy in the building was electric, but the evening was a mixed bag that showcased both TNA’s potential and the challenges still ahead.
The Phenomenal Opening
TNA wasted no time making a statement, opening the show with the TNA legend AJ Styles.
Having one of the most recognizable names in professional wrestling kick off your AMC debut is a smart play, and Styles brought exactly the kind of star power you need to hook viewers right from the jump.
It set the tone that this was going to be a big night.
The atmosphere was electric! The crowd absolutely showed up. The fans in Garland were pumped the entire night, creating an atmosphere that any wrestling promotion would kill for.
There’s something special about a hot crowd, and TNA definitely had that going for them. The passion was real and you could feel that people wanted this show to succeed.
One of the night’s genuine highlights came with the unexpected arrivals of Daria Rae (formerly Sonya Deville) and Elayna Black (formerly Cora Jade).
The crowd reactions to both debuts were good, and it’s exactly the kind of fresh energy TNA needs as they transition to a bigger platform. These are the small things that get people talking on social media and build momentum.
Speaking of social media buzz per say, Perez Hilton was in the building accompanying The Elegance Brand, adding an extra layer of mainstream attention to the proceedings.
Love him or hate him, that kind of crossover appeal is exactly what TNA should be leveraging as they try to grow their audience on AMC.
Now here’s where the wheels fell off. Visa Issues created a lot of backstage chaos for TNA last night. Some of TNA’s featured talent wasn’t able to secure work visa permits which created legitimate problems for the show backstage.
Current X-Division Champion Leon Slater and Knockouts challenger Dani Luna were both unable to appear forcing TNA’s creative to scramble with last minute rewrites and substitutions for what were supposed to be major matches for the AMC debut and the Genesis PPV.
Santino came to the ring to announce due to visa issues, current Knockouts Champion Lei Ying Lee had signed a contract for an Open Challenge at Genesis.
Her challenger for Genesis is Zaria from NXT. It’s damage control, but it still disrupts the flow of storytelling that fans were expecting.
On to the main event, we saw Mike Santana challenge Frankie Kazarian for the TNA World Championship, with two-time TNA World Champion Bully Ray providing special commentary with the TNA announce team of Tom Hannifan (play by play) and Matthew Rehwoldt (color commentator).
It was a solid matchup on paper, and having Bully Ray’s presence certainly added seriousness to the championship match.
The match itself was serviceable, but it felt like the kind of show where everyone was doing their best under less than ideal circumstances.
We have potential versus reality after the last night’s show…….
Look, I’m not writing TNA off because the foundation is there. The crowd was hot, the debuts created buzz, and there are clearly talented performers on the roster.
But let’s be real, there’s plenty of work to do.
TNA’s production needs to step up, their booking has to become more consistent, they need to work on the show’s pacing and they absolutely must solve these visa and work permit issues.
You can’t build momentum when you’re constantly replacing advertised talent at the last minute.
TNA has a real opportunity with the AMC platform, but they need to iron out these operational wrinkles quickly. The wrestling business is unforgiving, and while fans will give you a grace period during the transition, that patience isn’t infinite.
The good news? The energy was there. The talent is there. Now TNA just needs to put all the pieces together consistently. Here’s hoping that they can fix all of the issues that has been plaguing them since their AXS TV days.
Rating: 5.5/10 – A historic night with promise but was held back by logistical issues and creative inconsistency…….On to Genesis.
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