TNA Under Siege
May 3, 2024
By: John Siino
Albany Armory in Albany, New York
Commentary: Tom Hannifan & Matthew Rehwoldt
RESULTS
*Rhino over VSK via pinfall (3:36)
*The FBI over The Batiri via pinfall (4:16)
*Digital Media Title: Laredo Kid (c) over KC Navarro via pinfall (6:42)
*Eric Young & Josh Alexander over Frankie Kazarian & Steve Maclin via pinfall (12:29)
*Ash By Elegance over Havok via pinfall (5:22)
*Joe Hendry over Zachary Wentz via pinfall (5:13)
*Knockouts World Tag Team Title: Alisha Edwards & Masha Slamovich over Spitfire (c) via pinfall (6:30) TITLE CHANGE
*Rich Swann over Jake Something via pinfall (11:32)
*Jonathan Gresham over KUSHIDA via pinfall (9:04)
*Jordynne Grace & PCO over Steph De Lander & Kon via pinfall (10:58)
*X-Division Title: Mustafa Ali (c) over Ace Austin via pinfall (16:36) (Recommendation)
*The System over Matt Hardy & Speed Mountain via pinfall (23:49)
Rhino vs. VSK (Countdown to Under Siege)
Tom Hannifan says it’s been a while since we’ve seen VSK and said he was ‘Formerly of Brian Myers’ Learning Tree, but I digress’. The commentary also brings up some changes to the card, with this match being added to the Countdown show, while Ash By Elegance vs. Havok was moved to the main card, and Laredo Kid defending his Digital Media Championship against KC Navarro as Rich Swann is now facing Jake Something, as Hammerstone isn’t medically cleared to compete. They spend the first couple of minutes fighting inside and outside until Rhino is able to dodge VSK off the ropes and send him packing with a couple of clothes, a spear in the corner, and a suplex before finishing him up with the Gore for the pin and the win.
Winner: Rhino by pinfall at 3:36
Gia Miller is in the back with Ace Austin, who said he will be wrestling tonight with Chris Bey on his side as they have had a couple of disagreements recently but both agreed that they can win on their own.
The FBI (Zack Clayton & Ray Jaz) (w/ Guido) vs. The Batiri (Obariyon & Kodama) (Countdown to Under Siege)
Zack Clayton & Obariyon start the match before Kodama quickly tags in with Clayton easily being able to take out both of his smaller opponents, tossing them around. Clayton sends Kodama onto the ropes, before tagging in Ray Jaz who enters with the Sicilian Slice, which gets Guido very excited. Kodama starts to mount a little bit of a comeback, before tagging in Obariyon as they start double-teaming on Jaz, getting a two. Clayton gets the tag and catches Obariyon off the ropes with a power slam for a two, that gets broken up by Kodama. Clayton follows with a pop-up neckbreaker, as Jaz hits the top rope elbow drop, and Clayton gets the pin and the win.
Winners: The FBI (Zack Clayton & Ray Jaz) by pinfall at 4:16
We see Frankie Kazarian upset at Steve Maclin at the back for showing up late, as Maclin says he doesn’t take orders from anyone and they will take care of this short-term problem together
TNA Digital Media Championship: Laredo Kid (c) vs. KC Navarro (Countdown to Under Siege)
Laredo Kid was supposed to face off against Rich Swann in a non-title match, but with Swann now facing Hammerstone, KC Navarro stepped in and ended up getting a title shot as a result. They start the match mirroring each other a bit before having a stand-off. Navarro suckers Laredo in which a handshake, but Laredo catches Navarro with a facebuster off the ropes, before sending him to the outside where he meets him with an Asai Moonsault, sending him back inside for a two. Navarro is able to stay in control, holding Laredo down in the ring with a headlock while screaming trash talk at him. Laredo comes right back with a driver and a pair of twisting dives to get a two. Navarro hits a twisting DDT for two and starts showing a bit of frustration and gets distracted from talking to the crowd while heading to the top rope. Laredo stops him up top and hits the Laredo (Spanish) Fly for the pin and the win.
Winner: Laredo Kid by pinfall at 6:42, to retain
Steve Maclin & Frankie Kazarian vs. Eric Young & Josh Alexander
Josh Alexander hands Eric Young his very own headgear to start the match, with what happened to Young being busted open at Rebellion, he sure needs it. Young & Steve Maclin start the match, but Young gets cornered and tags out to Josh Alexander as he and Maclin go face-to-face to a ‘Walking Weapon’ chant, as Frankie Kazarian quickly tags in. Alexander starts going after both Kazarian & Maclin, hitting Kazarian with a rolling senton for a two. Kazarian is able to mount a comeback with a leg drop and mounts Alexander with punches and bouncing off the ropes with a Russian Leg Sweep for two. Maclin & Kazarian take turns tagging in and out, working on Alexander and going for pins before eventually Kazarian gets tossed to the outside as Young takes advantage and goes after him, just for Maclin to take out Young with a clothesline on the outside.
Alexander eventually catches Kazarian off the top rope with a belly-to-belly suplex, as both Maclin & Young get tagged in. Young gets distracted by Kazarian and gets sent to the outside as Alexander catches Maclin and delivers two back-to-back German Suplexes followed by a Half & Half Suplex. All four start going at it now in the ring, as Young heads to the top rope, just to get stopped and put in the position for Maclin to hit the Crosshairs for two. Maclin & Young end up on the top rope, just for Alexander to grab Maclin and hit him with a backbreaker. Maclin hits an Olympic Slam on Alexander, but Young breaks it up with a top-rope elbow drop. Young & Kazarian both tag in as Young gets all riled up and goes after Kazarian with punches in the corner before the referee has to break them apart. All four go at it again, until Maclin takes out Kazarian by accident with a knee. Alexander sends Maclin to the outside with a crossbody as Young hits Kazarian with the piledriver for the pin and the win.
Winner: Eric Young & Josh Alexander by pinfall at 12:19
Havok (w/ Rosemary) vs. Ash By Elegance (w/ George Iceman)
Before the match starts, Ash By Elegance’s personal concierge, George Iceman sprays holy water all over the ring to get rid of the Decay’s demon spirits as Ash comes out wearing a necklace of garlic. The crowd starts chanting that ‘Havoc’s gonna kill you’ which only gets Ash more worried, as she goes outside to regroup with Iceman. Back inside, Ash starts rolling and dodging Havok and starts celebrating before Havok is there to meet her and corner her. Havok starts rag-dolling Ash around, before slamming her down as Ash rolls to the outside to Iceman again. Iceman starts putting holy water on Ash, as Rosemary is there to scare them off. Havok pulls Ash back inside by the hair, headbutts her, and slams her down with a toss suplex. Iceman gets on the apron and starts tossing holy water onto Havok which has no effect on her. Havok get on the top rope to yell at Iceman, for some reason, as Ash uses that to powerbomb her off. Iceman goes after Rosemary with the holy water, but she just drinks it to spit out ‘blood’ and chases Iceman to the back. This mess of a match ended when Havok was going for a suplex, just for Ash to reverse and somewhat roll her up for the pin and the win.
Winner: Ash By Elegance by pinfall at 5:22
After the match, Ash starts choking out Havok with the garlic necklace before attacking her with chair shots. Ash puts the chair on top of Havok and hits her with the Rarified Air. As if that wasn’t enough, Ash takes out Havok with a DDT on the ramp.
House Hardy
Gia Miller is in the back with ‘Broken’ Matt Hardy & Speedball Mountain and asks how they are feeling before their match tonight with The System. Mike Bailey says he’s feeling a little bit broken before Trent Seven says tonight they are ‘House Hardy’. Hardy says he is with family, with Ball of Speed and Trent the Seventh, and hands them Broken-style robes.
Zachary Wentz vs. Joe Hendry
Trey Miguel didn’t come out with Zachary Wentz, which commentary was a bit perplexed about. The commentary then talked about Joe Hendry’s theme song climbing the charts as well as a couple naming their child after him since they shared the same birthday. Hendry gets on the mic before the match and mentions there are names in the back who have defeated names such as The Undertaker, Hulk Hogan, Kurt Angle, The Rock & Bushwhacker Luke. Hendry then names the people he’s beaten himself like Beyonce, Miley Cyrus & Post Malone since he topped the iTunes charts in multiple countries and Hendry is #6 in the UK chart for sales which gets a ‘number six’ chant.
As soon as the bell rings, Wentz attacks Hendry in the corner with a dropkick and punches before taking him to the outside with a knee and hitting him with a suicide dive. After another suicide dive attempt, Hendry catches Wentz right into a Fireman’s carry and marches right back to the ring where he tosses Wentz inside. Hendry catches Wentz off the rope on a crossbody attempt and hits him with a Fall Away Slam. Wentz comes back with a flurry of kicks, heads to the top rope, and hits a Swanton for two. Wentz starts mocking Hendry’s song, but Hendry bounces right back and hits the Standing Ovation for the pin and the win.
Winner: Joe Hendry by pinfall at 5:13
TNA Knockouts World Tag Team Championship: Spitfire (Dani Luna & Jody Threat) (c) vs. Alisha Edwards & Masha Slamovich
Lars Frederiksen joined commentary, just as she did on last night’s episode of TNA iMPACT where he talked about knowing Jody Threat for years, for once stopping a fight that included her at one of his Rancid concerts. Dani Luna & Masha Slamovich start the match, as Lars talks about his entire career making songs about ‘destroying the system’. Threat tags in and stays on top of Masha, going for pins as she and Luna take turns tagging in and out, and hit a double suplex on Masha. As the referee was distracted, Alisha Edwards attacked Luna giving Masha that opportunity to mount a comeback before tagging in Alisha. Alisha talks trash but quickly gets punched by Luna, as Alisha just tags right back out. It eventually becomes just Threat & Alisha in the ring, as Alisha is worried about not having Masha on the apron to tag out to. Masha is able to make her way back in, just in time to break up the pin attempt, and drags Alisha back towards the corner so she can tag out. Spitfire is able to start double-teaming on Masha, as Alisha enters the ring with a Kendo stick. The referee gets distracted and somehow doesn’t hear the Kendo stick shot, followed by Alisha hitting Threat with a pedigree to get the pin and the win.
Winners: Alisha Edwards & Masha Slamovich by pinfall at 6:30, to become NEW TNA Knockouts World Tag Team Champions
Preparing For Something
AJ Francis & Rich Swann are in the back, as Francis says they want to move on from Joe Hendry and were expecting Swann to face Laredo Kid tonight and go after the Digital Media Championship, but once they got here they found out that Swann is facing Jake Something instead. Francis says preparing for one and facing the other, is a mishandling of justice and they don’t want to see First Class win and succeed.
Rich Swann (w/ AJ Francis) vs. Jake Something
They start the match running the ropes, as Jake Something knocks down Rich Swann with a pair of shoulder blocks before slamming Swann down with his chest. As Something goes to dive to Swann on the outside, AJ Francis gets on the apron and distracts him as Swann takes out Something to the outside with a dropkick. Francis takes out Something on the outside as Swann distracts the referee. Swann spends the next couple of minutes attacking Something, but this only angers Something to the point where Swann has to rake his eyes to stop him. After several attempts of knocking Something down, Something comes back with a big clothesline taking down Swann. Something follows this by spiking Swann head first into the mat and lifting him up into a Torture Rack backbreaker for two. Swann mounts a comeback before he gets stopped off the ropes with a big forearm by Something, but as he goes to run the ropes, Francis pulls down the top rope and starts attacking Something on the outside. The referee eventually catches Francis as Cody Deaner comes out and stops the referee from throwing this match out. Deaner says there is another choice in the people’s choice, and asks the crowd if he should take out ‘That Dolla Tree’. Deaner goes after Francis, but Francis stops him with a chokeslam on the apron. As Francis is talking trash into the camera, Something takes him out with a dive and goes to check on his former ‘cousin’ Deaner. Swann takes them both out with a dive and sends him back inside, hitting a springboard cutter and heads to the top rope to hit a Frog Splash for the pin and the win.
Winner: Rich Swann by pinfall at 11:32
KUSHIDA vs. Jonathan Gresham
After weeks of mysterious vignettes, Jonathan Gresham makes his return to TNA for the first time since October, has a whole new darker presentation, and wears a black mask for the match (Think Penta El Zero Miedo turning into Penta Oscuro). Gresham starts coughing up during this as if this new persona has taken over him, but KUSHIDA is able to get him grounded and puts on a surfboard. KUSHIDA starts chopping away at Gresham asking him what’s wrong with him and even questioning why he didn’t take the mask off. Gresham stops a chop attempt by biting KUSHIDA on the arm and takes control putting on a Boston Crab, as KUSHIDA eventually is able to crawl over to the bottom rope to break it up. They go back and forth as Gresham continues to show his transformation during the match. They start trading pin attempts as the match finally starts to pick up after 7 minutes or so. They start trading forearms and kicks before KUSHIDA lands a punch that seems to have hurt him just as much. The ending was Gresham putting black ink all over KUSHIDA before putting on an Octopus stretch and suffocating KUSHIDA’s mouth with his hand with more black ink to get the pin and the win. So, so disappointing.
Winner: Jonathan Gresham by pinfall at 9:04
Steph De Lander & Kon vs. Jordynne Grace & PCO
Jordynne Grace helped PCO during his entrance by electrocuting him, and she tagged herself in as PCO and Kon were going to start the match. Grace & Kon go at it, with Grace going for a German Suplex, just for Kon to block it and try to hit a Death Valley Driver, but Grace holds on to him in a vice grip, preventing him from being able to hit it. Eventually, Kon tosses him off which only gets Grace pissed off, going after Kon with strikes. Steph De Lander tags in and stays in control going after Grace, who is able to eventually fight off SDL with a backbody drop before making the tag to PCO who scares SDL away to tag out to Kon. Kon & PCO start going after each other, with PCO hitting the PCO Sault, but SDL is there to break up the pin. After PCO & Kon continue to slowly go after each other, SDL & Grace tag in to speed up the match a bit until Grace hits SDL with a Jackhammer for two. PCO enters and tries to chokeslam SDL, but she starts flirting with him, but it backfires on her as he tries to kiss her. Kon is there to stop this and chokeslams PCO down. Grace takes out Kon with a low blow as the referee is of course distracted, followed by a rolling Death Valley Driver. Kon retreats to the outside, as PCO dives in between Grace’s legs to cannonball onto him. Grace & SDL go at it with Grace hitting a powerbomb, back fist, and the Juggernaut Drive to get the pin and the win.
Winner: Jordynne Grace & PCO by pinfall at 10:58
TNA X-Division Championship: Mustafa Ali (c) vs. Ace Austin
They start the first couple of minutes testing each other out and going for pins before trading arm drags and coming to a standstill. Mustafa Ali tells Ace Austin he likes him a lot more than Chris Bey, and goes for a handshake, but Austin just tosses one of his playing cards to Ali’s face. Ali ends up on the outside, as Austin takes him out with a Fosbury Flop before staring down Ali’s personal security. Ali follows with a suicide dive of his own to Austin on the other side, crashing head-first into the barricade. They fight on the outside for a bit, with Ali hitting a wild DDT off the ring post and staying in control for a while. Ali keeps Austin in the corner, before hitting a rolling neckbreaker for two. Ali goes for a second one, but Austin stops him and hits a DDT off the ropes for two. They tussle in the corner for a bit, as Ali sends Austin shoulder-first into the ring post as he is laid out on the outside, screaming in pain. Ali keeps at the shoulder, putting on an STF while in between the ring post and turnbuckle.
Austin goes after Ali, with one arm, including hitting a body slam, and starts going after Ali’s shoulder, sending him into the corner this time. They start fighting on the apron, where Ali takes out Austin with a German Suplex, slamming him down on the outside. Ali sends Austin back inside, but misses the 450 splash, as Austin catches Ali and tosses him right into the corner. They battle back and forth for a bit until Austin delivers a PK off the apron, just for Ali to come right back by tripping him off the apron, using the ring skirt. After escaping from a Sharpshooter, Austin hits a powerbomb for two. Austin calls for The Fold before Ali’s security gets on the apron for Austin to fight off. Austin ends up hitting The Fold anyway, but one of Ali’s security is able to pull Ali out before he can get pinned. Austin goes after the security, but Ali is able to kick Austin off the ropes, falling on top of the title belt Ali had set up, followed by a 450 Splash by Ali for the pin and the win.
Winner: Mustafa Ali by pinfall at 16:36, to retain
The System (Moose, Brian Myers & Eddie Edwards) (w/ Alisha Edwards) vs. Matt Hardy, Mike Bailey & Trent Seven
Mike Bailey & Trent Seven come out with Matt Hardy, as they are all in their ‘Broken’ personas. Hardy & Brian Myers start the match, but Hardy is asking for Moose as he wants to ‘take the championship of the world’, so Moose tags in. House Hardy starts triple-teaming on Eddie Edwards & Myers, with ‘Ball of Speed’ and ‘Trent the Seventh’ both delivering ten punches to them in the corner. Myers is able to dodge knees from Bailey and tags out to Moose who takes out Bailey with a big Uranage for two. Moose stays on Bailey for a while, before eventually tagging out to Edwards. After, eventually fighting off The System, Bailey makes the hot tag to Seven who starts mocking the Jeff Hardy dance but misses the Whisper in the Wind attempt. Seven now fights off Myers & Edwards, before eventually kicking off Moose but as he goes to make the tag, Myers & Edwards pull Hardy & Bailey off the apron. Hardy gets the tag and goes for the Twist of Fate on Edwards, before pushing him to Moose to tag in and telling Moose to face him like a man. They start going at it, before Moose tries the dive off the top, just for Hardy to meet him with a cutter for two. Hardy hits an elbow drop from the second rope, but Moose kicks out at two. Hardy calls for the Twist of Fate, but Edwards is there to stop it. Myers stops Bailey off the corner with a spear, as everybody is grounded in the ring now. The System calls to finish the match, but House Hardy fights them off and all three hit Twist of Fates. They all end up on the outside where Speedball Mountain hits a dive/moonsault combo. Moose power bombs Seven onto the apron, before grabbing the timekeeper’s table, but Hardy bites him off and hits a Twist of Fate to Moose on the floor. Hardy puts Moose on the table, heads to the top rope, and hits a flying leg drop to Moose, crashing through the table. Back inside, Speedball Mountain started going after Edwards and Myers, as Seven hit the Burning Hammer on Edwards, but Alisha was there to stop the count. Bailey goes after Alisha, just to get taken out with a Roster Cut from Myers on the outside. Seven & Edwards go at it, but Edwards is able to sneak in a low blow and hits a Backpack Stunner, as Myers hits a flying elbow drop. Edwards covers Seven to end the match and my suffering of this show.
Winners: The System (Moose, Brian Myers & Eddie Edwards) by pinfall at 23:49
FINAL THOUGHTS
I hated this show.
This mostly felt like an extended episode of TNA iMPACT, but the issue is lately the TV show has not been as good as it was just a year ago. This crowd didn’t help and was very quiet at times where there was eerie silence during spots on the show. The slog of the show definitely didn’t help with some real head-scratching moments throughout. Right when I thought we were going to get some really good wrestling action, Gresham debuts his new dark gimmick that prevented an authentic wrestling match from happening with KUSHIDA and this ended up being the most disappointing match of the show. I appreciate Gresham trying something new, but this wasn’t it.
Overall, this was a very disappointing show, terrible at times, with the only bright spot being the Ali-Austin match, but even that had a wacky finish. This made me long for the days of Scott D’Amore and Impact Wrestling, as things certainly haven’t been the same since he departed the company.
