5 Most Underrated Impact Wrestling Matches

TNA, or Impact Wrestling, has always been given a lot of flack for being, well, TNA. Everyone’s happy to admit that they’ve had some game-changing matches in the past, especially during their peak in the mid 2000s. The efforts of AJ Styles, Samoa Joe and Christopher Daniels helped put TNA on the map, but there have been plenty others who deserve just as much of the credit.

TNA’s roster throughout the years has been stacked full of talented wrestlers that were unfairly left untapped by the major promotions. One of TNA’s strong points was finding these guys and girls and giving them a platform to showcase themselves on. Whether it be the athletic crusierweights of the X-Division, or giant hosses who could be more than a generic powerhouse wrestler, TNA had the diversity and the variety that kept itself fresh, even during the darker times.

Once the majority of fans had been turned away by the horrendous Hogan era and subsequent downfall, TNA continued to provide top quality wrestling, just no-one watched it. Even prior to nu-WCW, there were some criminally underrated performances from equally underrated wrestlers.

In this list, we’re going to run down TNA’s 5 most underrated matches to date, looking into the quintessential matches that you need to watch if you’re looking for some nostalgia, or a fix that isn’t WWE.

 

5. Motor City Machine Guns (Alex Shelley & Chris Sabin) vs Generation Me – No Surrender 2010

One of the best known underrated matches from TNA history was the Tag Title mayhem between TNA OG’s Chris Sabin and Alex Shelley and the team that would become globally recognised as ‘The Young Bucks’. Generation Me went down as one of the biggest missed opportunities in TNA’s lifetime, along with the likes of Kazuchika Okada, who went onto massive fame in NJPW. This match, though, put the two brothers on the map to those who weren’t aware of them, they had an insane amount of chemistry with the MCMG and this match in particular went down as one of their best.

The two teams produced one of the most exciting tag team feuds in all of professional wrestling, and delivered some of the most innovative and intense 2 v 2 stipulation matches, including a ladder match and an Ultimate X match, which are all worth checking out.

Sabin and Shelley held things down for TNA when a lot of the original cast upped and left. They deserve just as much credit for getting audience’s attention with matches such as this one, putting younger stars on the map in the process whilst maintaining their own reputation.

 

4. Sami Callihan vs Jimmy Havoc – MediaCon 2018

One thing TNA always managed to get right was their downright violent hardcore matches. Taking a lot of inspiration from vintage ECW TV, they often gave their wrestlers permission to pull off some insane spots. Everyone’s aware of the classic Monster’s Ball matches put on by the likes of Abyss and Raven during their time in TNA, but after the departure of TNA’s go-to extremists, they turned to rising star Sami Callihan to cringe out their audience.

Callihan’s feud with Eddie Edwards went viral after a botched spot with a baseball bat. As legitimately dangerous as that spot was, it did wonders for Sami’s character, redressing him as a bloodthirsty masochist. At TNA’s televised event at the 2018 MediaCon, Callihan embraced this new persona and stepped into the ring with bitter rival, Jimmy Havoc.

Havoc naturally fit right in with Callihan while putting together a gritty gore-fest, featuring tons of barbed wire. It’s probably the best hardcore match to come out of this end of the decade, and if you’ve never been won over by deathmatch wrestling then I definitely suggest you dip your toes in with this match.

TNA’s reputation was still at a low point last year, so this match did go under the radar, despite the viral nature of Callihan’s new character. Kind of the modern interpretation of Cactus Jack and Terry Funk.

 

3. Austin Aries vs Brian Kendrick – Bound For Glory 2011

Pockets of TNA was fantastic during the Hogan era. At the promotion’s biggest event of the year, the X-Division Championship absolutely stole the show and proved that the passion for excellent wrestling was still ever-present amongst the light-heavyweights. Austin Aries was TNA’s equivalent to a Daniel Bryan or a Kofi Kingston, who excelled in the ring and won over the fanbase. Aries eventually found himself on the road to the TNA World Championship, one of the few success stories to come out of the Hogan era. It was matches like this that put him on that route.

In front of a pro-heel crowd, Aries put on a mat-classic alongside Brian Kendrick. Quite frankly, this match didn’t tick all the boxes when it came to what made the X-Division what it was. There weren’t tons of crazy flippy dives, but it certainly blew everyone away. The pace and the psychology of this match was spot on.

At a time where the spotlight was being placed on guys way past their prime, it was refreshing to see this quality of wrestling coming from two guys who had such a love for what they were doing. Honestly if it weren’t for this match, I probably would have gave up on TNA around the time of this pay-per-view.

 

2. Doug Williams vs Kazarian – Sacrifice 2010

Doug Williams comes in as probably the most underrated performer in all of TNA, maybe even the world. Williams was recently retired by Trent Seven at Progress’ Wembley extravaganza, but over the years, he has strung together some fantastic championship bouts, including this one against Frankie Kazarian. Another cracking X-Division title match between two very talented wrestlers, a general theme of what made TNA very exciting to watch. This was a technical masterpiece.

Kazarian gelled so well with the catch style and was able to match Williams perfectly. Kazarian was another one of those names that fell out of the conversation of wrestlers responsible for building TNA throughout the years. Kaz put in the hours in some ridiculously fun matches against the likes of Christian, AJ Styles and, of course, Doug Williams.

This match alone paved the way for a lot of British wrestlers in TNA; Magnus (Nick Aldis) being the prime example of a patron of the European Strong Style becoming a huge star for Impact in the 2010’s. Williams made that very mechanical genre of wrestling fun to watch, it was this match that kickstarted the movement that we’re all reaping the rewards of today.

 

1. EC3 vs Drew Galloway vs Matt Hardy – Bound For Glory 2015

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ih30pbE28YU

The success of all three combatants in this main event triple-threat match has been well documented. EC3, Drew Galloway (McIntyre) and Matt Hardy all found a new lease on life as part of the Impact Wrestling roster, success that somewhat restored wrestling fans’ faith in the promotion. EC3 had been absolutely killing it as TNA World Champion, but the time had come for him to drop the title to either the revived Drew Galloway or the surprise entrant of ‘Big Money’ Matt Hardy. With the latter’s younger brother stepping up as the special guest referee, a huge power shift was about to go down.

Not only is the match itself significant in TNA’s history, but I’d say the wrestling business in general has a lot to thank this match for. Matt Hardy’s championship won eventually led to the resurrected feud between Matt and Jeff Hardy, which of course led to the Broken Hardy saga. The level of creativity and sheer nonsense featured within that narrative helped change the industry for the better — it proved that wrestlers have the necessary imagination to help make wrestling fun again.

Without getting too far off track, the title match from Bound For Glory helped establish all three men as true stars of the independent scene. Both Hardys went on to become one of the most sought after commodities on the global scene. Drew Galloway matured into one of the hottest stars on the BritWres and American independent markets and EC3 solidified that he had what it takes to be the main eventer everyone expected him to be.

Everything came together nicely and everyone had their moment. Do not go on without giving this match a chance. This was a turning point for TNA, for the wrestling industry. Do not sleep on it.