Last week at the TNA Genesis Pay-per-view, the Prestigious One Joe Hendry defeated the Most Wanted Man Nic Nemeth to become the new TNA World Heavyweight Champion. After capturing the TNA World Title, the new champion kicked off this week’s episode of TNA iMPACT! This week’s edition of iMPACT! also marks the first ‘Live Telecast’ of the show in eight years.
The newly crowned TNA World Heavyweight Champion Joe Hendry kicked off the show by announcing that he will be a fighting champion. He also shared that he spoke with Santino Marella and was willing to put his title on the line against any wrestler from any promotion.
As he was speaking, out came The Director of Authority Santino Marella. The Canadian star mentioned that he has indeed found a suitable challenger for Hendry, and it was none other than Matt Cardona. Cardona came out and had a stare-down with Hendry.
Cardona is a former TNA Digital Media Champion, but he never held the TNA World Title. The championship match between Matt Cardona and Joe Hendry was the main event of Thursday’s episode of TNA iMPACT!
Hendry retained his title after some shenanigans at the end of the match. Matt Cardona hit a low blow after a ref bump. JBL then showed up and hit Cardona with the Clothesline from Hell. JBL and Joe Hendry hd a staredown before JBL left. Eventually, Hendry hit Cardona with a Standing Ovation to score the pinfall victory.
Catch up on everything that went down on TNA Impact!, including the long-awaited reveal of the “23” mystery.
Can Matt Cardona dethrone Joe Hendry?
