On May 18, IMPACT Wrestling ring announcer David Penzer sent out a tweet saying that he had witnessed one of the greatest matches, if not the best, in his 44 years of watching wrestling. My interest was immediately piqued by this revelation. We would soon learn that the bout referenced was the first-ever 60-minute Iron Man Match in the history of IMPACT Wrestling, pitting X Division Champion Josh Alexander against TJP. Read on for my thoughts on this match, as well as videos of the IMPACT Press Pass prior to the match, featuring Josh Alexander, TJP, and Gail Kim, and the full uncut version of the match itself.
When this match was announced for June 3, fans were told that the majority of the match would air on BTI, with the remaining minutes taking place during the beginning of IMPACT Wrestling. I wasn’t thrilled about having a match like this broken up between two shows. I understand that it was done to get people to watch both shows, but I felt that the quality of presentation of the match would suffer because of this.
Two days prior to the match, on June 1, IMPACT Wrestling held a Press Pass hosted by Gail Kim that featured Josh Alexander and TJP. This special press conference was held to give the two combatants the opportunity to talk about the match and the preparation that went into it, among other topics.
I chose not to watch this match on BTI and IMPACT because I wanted to see it in its entirety, not broken up across two shows with commercial breaks. Thankfully, IMPACT was kind enough to post the uncut version of the match for fans to enjoy worldwide.
This 60-minute Iron Man Match lived up to the hype and then some. It’s shocking to think that this is the first time an Iron Man Match in IMPACT has been 60 minutes. All of the old TNA Iron Man matches, and the most recent ones in IMPACT, have only been no more than 30 minutes each. Go figure. This barn-burner is an instant classic, featuring impeccable technical wrestling and storytelling at its finest. The pacing is excellent, the build fantastic, and the conclusion unexpected but extremely satisfying. I don’t want to spoil anything for you, so go ahead and watch it for yourself. It’s yet another example of how IMPACT Wrestling is on the rise.
