There goes yet another installment of "TNA Impact", featuring wins from Elijah, Mustafa Ali, and former AEW star Allie, among others. As far as episodes of "Impact" go, it was a fairly eventful outing, even featuring the return of a popular incarnation of Matt Hardy, which we'll discuss in detail down below.We won't get into everything that took place tonight, however. For the full breakdown of tonight's show, take a look at our 4/30/2026 "Impact" results, where we cover Allie's return from the undead realm, a promo from X-Division champ Leon Slater, and more. Otherwise, continue onward to discover everything that we loved and hated from tonight's episode.
Nearly two months ago, Indi Hartwell threw her name in the mix as a possible TNA Knockouts Championship contender. Instead of building a case as to why Hartwell deserves a world title shot, however, TNA has kept out of the ring and off television due to a "suspension."For context, TNA authority figure Daria Rae announced that Santino Marella, the official Director of Authority, had been suspended for entering the women's locker room and getting into a fight with talent. When Hartwell then tried to defend Marella, Rae interpreted her inadvertent hand touch as "assault," causing the Aussie to join Marella on the suspension list.Aside from the silly reasoning behind it, Hartwell's on-screen absence itself didn't do her any favors in her mission of becoming Knockouts Champion. In my opinion, it actually halted her momentum.In the last two months, Hartwell only has one TNA match to her name a quick victory over Kelsey Heather that preceded the aforementioned promo about her championship intentions. Don't get me wrong, I want to see Indi Hartwell as a top contender. Given her lack of ring-time in recent months, though, I can't say that she should be right now. That's why tonight's promo simply reiterating those intentions seemed pointless.She should have been back in the ring backing up her previous statement. She should have been picking up more wins. Then, she should have directly confronted the reigning Knockouts World Champion, Arianna Grace.Hartwell has real potential in TNA. Sadly, it's been wasted so far this year.Written by Ella Jay
For his first title defense since winning the TNA International Championship at Rebellion earlier this month, I have to say, Mustafa Ali had the perfect challenger in Adam Brooks tonight.I'm a sucker for open challenges, especially at the caliber that Ali claimed that so long as he's champion, he'll fight those within the company, and outside of it. Brooks was the perfect opponent to secure this first opportunity. I'll be honest, I thought Brooks had Ali's number, and that he was going to end Ali's reign before it even began. The in-ring chemistry between the two of them was sound. But Ali hitting that 450 splash was absolutely priceless.I will give Order 4 their props; they didn't interfere in this match at all. I certainly thought they would find a way to help their leader retain his championship. But they didn't. I think they knew Ali had this in the bag.I'm looking forward to seeing who else will step up and pledge their opposition at Ali. Meanwhile, Brooks, I hope TNA brings him back on a more full-time basis. He is a joy to watch. I could definitely see him becoming a future champion of the International title, if not several other belts.Written by Brie Coder
My poor Home Town Man just couldn't get that win tonight. And for that, I hated it.He withstood Ash by Elegance's dreamy advances, yet Mr. Elegance used that distraction to his advantage to pick up another big win. Ugh. Being a Home Town Man fan is hard. It's equivalent to being a Chicago Bears fan. Every year, we get closer to the goal line only to have it snatched away, awaiting for the next year to bring us one yard closer. Sigh!But all jokes aside, I really dug that match. It was a great showing between both athletes. I'd be lying if I didn't say that I like Mr. Elegance's character work. It's goofy for all the right reasons. The way he presents himself, you can't help but boo him. Yet at the same time, he's a lot of fun to watch, especially seeing see how his skills and work rate will grow. Yes, Ash is the star in the entire Elegance Brand. But I'd argue that Mr. Elegance might take that crown sooner than expected.I'm curious to see which title Mr. Elegance will get a shot at next, and will he succeed? He has gone toe-to-toe with TNA World Champion Mike Santana. So, that says a lot about where his abilities (or his physique) have taken him so far. We'll see.Written by Brie Coder
Regular readers of this column will know that I'm generally not a fan of interference endings for matches, simply because I think that they're way too overdone in modern day professional wrestling. In the case of the match between Jeff Hardy and Vincent, I actually think that "Broken" Matt Hardy's interference was very well done and made sense within the context of the match."Broken" Matt and quirky have become two words that are pretty synonymous with one another, so to have him appear in the ring only for the lights to go out as Vincent and Jeff swapped places with one another in order for Jeff to get the victory in their match fit in perfectly with his character. It was incredibly creative and unique to anything else I had ever seen in the ring before, and just a really fun moment to watch as a fan. As someone who has grown quite bored of the storyline between The Righteous and The Hardys, the ending to this match really breathed in some new life to it for me and was what ended up making the match for me.Written by Olivia Quinlan
I am getting a little bit jaded with trying to find a positive out of a show that just plainly refuses to be good for the most part. Once again, Mustafa Ali and Adam Brooks had a fun yet super short match, Leon Slater, Rosemary, and Allie proved to be more exciting aspects of the show while also being saddled with creative designed to tread water until a big show where something is allowed to happen.The main event this week was just the cherry on the icing of a really bad cake, pitting noted main eventer Elijah against Frankie Kazarian in a guitar strap match. Well, a Walk With Elijah match. But it was a four-corners strap match yep, the worst version of a strap match that just had to be guitar straps because Elijah's only discernible character trait is: plays the guitar.In that vein, the first half of the match was fought backstage with a guitar riff just playing in the background. Music over matches is overstimulating at the best of times, but this one made it feel as though production had a call put on hold and played it through the speakers. It was like getting stuck in an elevator only you're also forced to watch two men do their best impression of a fight.Then they did eventually get into the ringside area, and thankfully the guitar stuff stopped, but that only allowed the thoughts to clear and reveal that this match was in fact visually awful as well. It was predictably boring, Kazarian eventually got smacked with a guitar because of course he did, and he... tapped the corner... to win.That was it. Not even entirely sure why they were feuding to begin with, but that was it. Now Elijah can continue his gauntlet of guitar plunder matches. First the guitar casket match, now the guitar strap match, whatever comes next I am sure will be just as meh.Written by Max Everett
In recent months, TNA Wrestling has sometimes lacked the very thing promised in its name: total nonstop action. Tonight's "Impact" broadcast was not one of those nights, however.In fact, tonight's "Impact" produced five matches, five quality ones at that. To no surprise, TNA International Champion Mustafa Ali arguably delivered the match of the night when he defended his title against Adam Brooks, an Aussie that, at this point, should already be contracted by TNA (he's that good!). Nevertheless, Ali and Brooks put on an exciting performance mixed with technical and high-flying moments.Elsewhere, we had the first ever Walk With Elijah match, where Elijah and Frankie Kazarian were bound by a guitar strap while each being tasked with hitting all four corners of the ring for the win. With the action starting backstage, hardcore elements were quickly introduced, and once the men moved to the ring, it continued. In fitting fashion, Elijah then eventually defeated Kazarian by smashing a guitar over him and finishing the turnbuckle tour.In perhaps the most underrated contest, Mr. Elegance bested Home Town Man. Still, Home Town Man managed to win me over. He's one of those comedic characters I didn't pay too much attention to before admittedly, but tonight, it was hard not to enjoy the fun that he and the Elegance Brand brought forth. Given the Elegance Brand's position as hot heels, it was natural to cheer for HTM too.TNA's more cinematic stories The Hardys vs. The Righteous and Team Rosemary vs. Team Blanchard continued tonight as well. As a Buffalo gal, it was nice to see my fellow townswoman Allie pick up a win in her TNA return. As a fan of "Broken" Matt Hardy, it was even better to see him mark his return in the opening bout pitting his brother Jeff against Vincent.Written by Ella Jay
