11 Major Predictions For TNA Hard To Kill 2024
1/12/2024 12:38 PM
.webp)
.png)
.webp)
Alex Shelley or Moose? Trinity or Jordynne Grace? Kazuchika Okada or Mercedes Moné?!
TNA Hard To Kill 2024 is shaping up to be a success story of a pay-per-view - and it hasn’t even been built towards once.
The company’s taping schedule meant that only two ‘proper’ episodes of weekly broadcasts went out, though they didn’t feel canon, instead playing out big money matches such as Will Ospreay vs. Josh Alexander. Their UK tour was a mishmash of matches. A November trek to Mexico provided nothing in the way of excitement. Final Resolution, the last event under the IMPACT banner, didn’t allow the old regime to go out with a bang because, again, it was a series of matches thrown together by launching a dart on a graphic of the whole roster and seeing what came up.
Build-wise, it should be one of the worst events in TNA history - but it could be the best.
Josh Alexander and Alex Hammerstone’s hoss tussle promises fireworks. The X Division Championship three-way will be mind-blowingly ridiculous. The Knockouts Ultimate X match could be epic. Two World Championship matches will provide two potentially new champions to ring in the new era, particularly as far as the Knockouts title is concerned.
All that, plus the promise of a new arrival, touted as one of the biggest signings in company history.
Let’s cross the line…
TNA’s tag team division is effortlessly one of the best in the world. Historically, The Motor City Machine Guns, America’s Most Wanted, Team 3D, LAX, and Beer Money Inc. redefined the genre for a new generation of fans, and modernly? You’ve got The ABC and The Rascalz.
Listing off those teams wasn’t done to fill up a word count; it was done to demonstrate how little importance there is to this match. You needn’t care.
Clearly designed as a reason to get each a spot on the pay-per-view, Brian Myers and Eddie Edwards vs. Eric Young and Frankie Kazarian is going down on the pre-show for a reason. The quadrant are four of TNA’s biggest assets in-ring-wise, with Edwards and Kazarian producing some great work across 2023 that ended in a killer Two out of Three Falls match, but what has any of them done, recently, to warrant a pay-per-view payday?
You’ll get a half-decent match, sure, but you won’t come out of it salivating over a rematch. Who wins doesn’t matter in the long run, though Myers and Edwards did recently challenge for the World Tag Team Championships, so perhaps there’s something in them as a duo.
Winners: Brian Myers and Eddie Edwards
Acting more as an excuse to get Steve Maclin and Rich Swann on the pay-per-view - a common theme… - this is a rematch from last year’s Hard To Kill, in which Maclin felled Swann in a comical, yet brutal Falls Count Anywhere match.
2024 should yield the same result.
Quietly transforming into one of wrestling’s coldest and most ruthless heels of the past few years, Steve Maclin is still a long-term project for TNA whose military background has allowed him to hone in on wrestling an atypical style of what was known of him in NXT. This, in turn, has made him a key figure for his three years in IMPACT, a draw if you will, whereas Rich Swann has spent the same three years dropping rapidly down the card after he was knocked from the top of the tree by Kenny Omega at Rebellion 2021.
Indeed, Swann’s time as World Champion had no substance behind it and ended on a whimper, a match he was never capable of winning from the minute it was announced - a bit like this one.
Winner: Steve Maclin
A Tommy Dreamer championship reign in a major wrestling promotion in 2024 is about as popular as having every tooth pulled out without the use of general anaesthesia; it must end and it must end soon.
Dreamer has barely been a passable wrestler since his days in ECW ended over two decades ago. He wrestles every match as a needlessly over-emotional walk-and-brawl, even when the lack of a weapons-based stipulation calls for a traditional wrestling match, lacking the skills to survive outside of a plunder-based fight filled with cheesegraters, kendo sticks, and barbed wire. He’s unbearable to watch and he shouldn’t be beating Crazzy Steve.
A glorified squash is what this should be. Nothing more than five minutes of Crazzy Steve battering Tommy Dreamer.
Winner: Crazzy Steve
Sometimes you’ll get a match on a pay-per-view card that’s so absurd, it’s awesome. AEW has done it loads, namely with Orange Cassidy vs. PAC at Revolution 2020. WWE has done it for decades. NJPW, outside of their petulance for a good multi-man scrap, continues the tradition of a bizarre inclusion now and again. ROH’s pay-per-views are usually full of them, so outside the bubble is their product just now.
TNA does it, too, but nothing about Dirty Dango vs. PCO screams awesome.
Awful, sure, but awesome is a descriptor that won’t come anywhere near this.
Its severe lack of build aside, seeing as that isn’t constrained just to this match, its placement on the main card is nonsensical, dumb, brainless, et al; it has no place being there if Steve Maclin, Eddie Edwards, and Frankie Kazarian are all on the pre-show.
Online discourse surrounding the match has brought up speculation of a potential surprise being involved - perhaps the promoted big signing, though what they would want to do with a Fandango vs. Quebecer Pierre match in 2024 is anyone’s guess - but even then, the match’s existence is foolish.
Is there a right winner? Is there a wrong winner? Does it matter?
Nope.
Winner: Dirty Dango
Ostensibly an exhibition match between two titans of the ring, Alex Hammerstone vs. Josh Alexander will be a sure-fire riot, either a hidden gem of the year or an early Match of the Year contender.
So, who wins?
Who knows.
Either could do a big win to start 2024 on a high and there’s a case to be made for either. For Hammerstone, coming into TNA after serving as the Ace of MLW should indicate he’ll be going over, particularly if he’s considering staying with TNA for the long haul. He’s a big, bruising force, the type of wrestler TNA is lacking right now, and with Scott D’Amore having been in signing mode, the ex-MLW World Heavyweight Champion must be high on his list.
But can Josh Alexander take another loss to a superstar name?
Losing to defending World Champion Alex Shelley at Bound For Glory, followed by a defeat to Will Ospreay TV, has left him in a weird spot. He’ll do battle with Ospreay again at the January 14 Snake Eyes tapings, which he’ll no doubt also lose, so unless TNA wishes to portray Alexander as being down on his luck, he must win.
Winner: Josh Alexander
TNA must be careful in this match.
The company once praised for having the greatest women’s division in North American wrestling just lost its biggest star, Deonna Purrazzo, and they’re on the cusp of losing their biggest draw, Trinity. Their absence will be noticed.
The solution? Create a new star and a new draw.
The Ultimate X match is always great, but this, the second to feature an all-Knockouts lineup, is intriguing. There’s no Rosemary, Jessicka, Masha Slamovich, Killer Kelly, or Jordynne Grace, all of whom would be classed as the division’s other major stars, but rather a lineup of potential future stars - Dani Luna, Jody Threat, and Xia Brookside - and tenured names waiting for their chance to break out of the pack - Alisha Edwards, Gisele Shaw, and Tasha Steelz.
Steelz is a former Knockouts World Champion, while Brookside isn’t signed to TNA full-time, so let’s rule them out. TNA hasn’t given Alisha a big break in her almost seven years there, so it’s unlikely to be her. Of the three left, one stands out as the clear winner, and as fun as Trinity/Jordynne Grace vs. Jody Threat or Dani Luna would be, it’s ‘The Quintessential Diva’s’ for the taking.
Winner: Gisele Shaw
If Scott D’Amore’s booking in 2023 told us anything, it’s that The Grizzled Young Veterans will leave Hard To Kill with the World Tag Team Championships.
The TNA President’s weird obsession with debuting new acts, giving them a championship, and then having them f**k off a month later is a trope that must be left behind. It happened too much in 2023, with Lio Rush and Subculture’s victory of the X Division and World Tag Team Championships, respectively, being vastly overshadowed because of it.
That said, The Grizzled Young Veterans are the right choice to win, but only if they’re sticking around beyond even the next pay-per-view. They’re a solid team whose experience under the bright lights of NXT could give them a gnarly in-ring advantage over the other three teams.
Booking-wise, there’s no case for The Rascalz to regain the belts they only lost two months ago, whereas The ABC’s brief second stint with the belts could drag on, lifelessly, unless a new duo is brought into the fold. Any team but Speedball Mountain will suffice, but GYV is your best bet to lead the division for now.
Winners: The Grizzled Young Veterans
As stunning as an El Hijo del Vikingo reign as X Division Champion would be, he can’t justifiably win the title. That would go against everything outlined in the World Tag Team Championships entry re: Scott D’Amore hotshotting debuting/returning talent to the top.
It also shouldn’t be Chris Sabin. Although Sabin is X Division royalty, a backbone of the division, and a recognisable face capable of drawing old viewers back in, TNA shouldn’t be reliant on their already-established kingpins to brush in this new era. Creating new stars, a motto forever associated with TNA, should remain their key focus - or, at least, established stars from elsewhere.
Step in, KUSHIDA.
A disastrous NXT run through no fault of his means KUSHIDA is now omitted from discourse surrounding the best wrestlers in the world. Shocking, given he was once the Ace of New Japan’s junior heavyweight division, is regarded by in-ring rival Will Ospreay as being a top ten wrestler of all-time, and has all the credentials of a promotional figurehead. He can get guys over and make himself look incredible in the process; he’s the guy to lead the X Division forward.
Winner: KUSHIDA
This match’s drama comes not from its result, but from how it’s executed.
Jordynne Grace is winning. We know this to be true. PWInsider and Fightful Select have been spouting key details in the Trinity goes back to WWE saga, but it was the former that made the official affirmation; Trinity is indeed going back to WWE, perhaps in the Royal Rumble match.
Outside of this news, a Jordynne victory makes the most sense. Though a two-time Knockouts World Champion, she’s always been the bridesmaid of the division, the second-best act behind Taya Valkyrie, Deonna Purrazzo, and Trinity. Beating Trinity, easily TNA’s biggest full-time draw in years, would go a long way in establishing Grace as the division’s centrepiece - and she should do so as a heel.
Jordynne has peaked as the powerhouse babyface. She’s played the role since 2018 and she’s played it well, but continuing in the role would prohibit any further progress. By switching allegiances, thus filling the gap left by the departed Deonna Purrazzo, Jordynne would be able to maintain her relevancy and purpose in the Knockouts division, all while opening up a new horde of possibilities. Matches with Rosemary, Masha Slamovich, and Dani Luna would be exciting and fresh. It’s a must-do.
Winner: Jordynne Grace
Although it initially appeared as though Alex Shelley would endure a brief reign as World Champion, he’ll enter Hard To Kill on his 218th day with the title - and he should reach 219 days.
Shelley still isn’t receiving the plaudits he deserves for being a generational champion. Between high-quality matches vs. Josh Alexander, Nick Aldis, and Hiroshi bloody Tanahashi, taking the title to Australia for the first time, defending the belt outside of IMPACT, and generally being an astute face of the company to lead the charge forward, he’s evolved from a great chaser into a sublime champion, and yet he’s still met with derogatory comments suggesting his victory came at the wrong time or that his reign doesn’t have any legs to support it.
He needs to defeat Moose to rid himself, at last, of any negative connotations and, above all else, to prove himself to the masses; he’s a subliminal defender when paired with guys of his size, but a supersized cruiserweight whose Spear packs as big of a gut-wrenching punch as his diving crossbody?
We don’t know that he’ll survive under that pressure. Shelley needs the win now more than ever.
Winner: Alex Shelley
No clue!
Which is the beauty of it.
We recently detailed five potential names for what is being touted as a “big new arrival” into TNA but already, several of those names have been erased from potentiality. Mercedes Moné is reportedly set to debut with All Elite Wrestling, so it won’t be her. Kazuchika Okada, although due to appear at the Snake Eyes tapings, is working NJPW’s Battle In The Valley event vs. Will Ospreay, meaning it really can’t be him. Drew McIntyre hasn’t exited WWE (yet…), ruling him out.
That leaves either Goldberg or Ronda Rousey from our list and while both would certainly fit the billing, would either truly sign with TNA?
Looking further afield, Andrade El Idolo would be a neat get, but he’s WWE-bound. Nic Nemeth or Elijah, the former Dolph Ziggler and Elias, could appear, but is either big enough for the tagline? Mandy Rose perhaps is a solid shout, although PWInsider confirmed that the signing is not for the knockouts division.
The appeal of this major signing is enough to make you order the pay-per-view, which is precisely the point, but deliver a flop and TNA will go bust support-wise.
So who is it?
Prediction: Depressingly, Matt Riddle
.webp)
.png){kind=icon}
.png){kind=icon}
.webp)
