Results
- Cassie Lee & Jessie McKay def. Brittnie Brooks & Missa Kate
- Leon Slater def. Jason Hotch
- Killer Kelly def. Indi Hartwell, Jody Threat, Tasha Steelz, Dani Luna, Rosemary, Tessa Blanchard & Xia Brookside (8-4-1 Match) (TNA Knockouts World Championship #1 Contendership)
- Matt Hardy & Jeff Hardy def. AJ Francis & KC Navarro (DQ)
Santino Marella kicks off Road to Slammiversary with X-Division title announcement
With Against All Odds in the rear view mirror, TNA’s road to Slammiversary kicked off with a TV episode this week from the Mullett Arena in Tempe, Arizona. Starting the show was Santino Marella, who kept his Director of Authority role by defeating Robert Stone last weekend.
After celebrating his win, Marella announced that Moose will put his X Division Championship on the line against Leon Slater at Slammiversary, which is set for the UBS Arena in New York on July 20. That’s the first match announcement for that show thus far.
He also revealed that a “Champion’s Challenge” will take place on next week’s episode: A 10-man tag match where champions will face an all-star lineup of other wrestlers from the roster.
The IInspiration make in-ring return
Marella then brought out The IInspiration, Cassie Lee and Jessie McKay, who were set for their return to the TNA Wrestling ring in the opening match of the night. Lee and McKay, formerly known as The IIconics in WWE, had previously competed in TNA, but this was their first match in the promotion since 2022.
Lee and McKay faced off against Brittnie Brooks and Missa Kate. This was a relatively quick match that saw Brooks and Kate get some moves in before The IInspiration made a comeback and hit their Idolizer double-team move for the win.
Backstage, The Hardys talked about how a win tonight over First Class will help put them back on the road toward a TNA Tag Team Championship shot.
Trick Williams visits the First Class Penthouse
The latest episode of the First Class Penthouse, hosted by AJ Francis and KC Navarro, featured TNA World Champion Trick Williams. First Class and Williams will be teaming up on next week’s episode of NXT to face Elijah, Yoshiki Inamura and Josh Briggs, a matchup that was set up on the Tuesday night show earlier this week after a backstage confrontation.
Before Williams gets brought out, Francis said he would give $100 to the kid who can do the best “Money, money, money” chant. They brought a kid on stage, Pedro, only to tell him “nothing in life is free” and send him back to his seat.
Once Williams is brought out, he’s asked his opinion of First Class, who were incredibly excited to have him there. He said they’re “alright with me,” although he never seemed too enthusiastic about the appearance. Francis suggested that they should get tag titles to go along with what Williams has, and that a win over The Hardys in the main event will set them up for that opportunity.
Future title challenger Leon Slater earns win over Jason Hotch
A large chunk of the match from Against All Odds between Mustafa Ali and Jason Hotch aired. While certainly one of the smaller storylines of the card, this match received a pretty positive reception, likely explaining why it got its own block of the TV show this week. The important development was that Hotch lost to Ali in a match that left the Order 4 faction fractured.
Backstage, The System told Hotch that he could possibly join them if he hurts Leon Slater in his match tonight. As he was given this offer, the rest of Order 4 came up and left with Hotch.
The System then went up to Matt Cardona, who was on his phone backstage. Cardona was challenged to find a tag partner to face two members of The System for next week – he accepted. Brian Myers specifically had a close stare-down with Cardona before the segment came to an end.
Jason Hotch, who had Order 4’s John Skyler in his corner, met Leon Slater in the next match. Throughout the match, the show’s commentary emphasized the fact that these two are wrestlers who have bright futures in TNA.
This match worked a quick pace from the start with trading moves and reversals from the jump. Hotch scored a nasty double stomp on the apron, getting some momentum after taking a standing Blue Thunder Bomb just a minute earlier. After a series of reversals, Slater hit a leg lariat. He went to the top and connected with his Senton 450, scoring him a clean pinfall. Slater is on a roll as he heads toward an X-Division title match next month.
Killer Kelly wins 8-4-1 for title shot
It was announced after the break that TNA will present a live episode of iMPACT on July 24 from the Ryan Center in Kingston, Rhode Island. Another TV taping will happen the next night in the same venue.
The next match was an 8-4-1 bout to figure out who would challenge TNA Knockouts World Champion Masha Slamovich next. For a refresher on how this match works: Two teams face off in an eight-woman tag match. The winning team then meet in a four-way bout, meaning a singular wrestler emerges with a win in the end.
The teams for the “8” portion of the night were: Dani Luna, Rosemary, Tessa Blanchard and Xia Brookside against Indi Hartwell, Jody Threat, Killer Kelly & Tasha Steelz. This was the TNA in-ring return for Kelly, who had been out of action since March and officially came back to the promotion by confronting Slamovich at Against All Odds.
Early in the match, former Spitfire tag partners Luna and Threat battled it out in the ring. The battle caused some discomfort for Threat, who pulled a punch then tagged out of the match. Hartwell got a big reaction as she tagged into the match and seemed to be a clear frontrunner to win alongside Kelly.
During a sequence where numerous wrestlers got into the ring for their moves, eventually it was a Hurts Donut from Hartwell onto Rosemary that scored her a pinfall, turning the match into a four-way against Threat, Kelly, and Steelz. Commentary noted near the end of the tag portion that Blanchard had abandoned her team.
There was a neat sequence at one point, where Hartwell tried for a roll-up pin on Threat as the Canadian landed a suplex onto Steelz. Hartwell hit the Hurts Donut onto Steelz after a fast series of counters between the two. She tried for a pin that was expected to end the match, but Kelly got into the ring and jumped on her to break the attempt. This took out Hartwell and allowed Kelly to go for a pin on Steelz, earning her the win, stealing her the victory.
After just one match back, Kelly has a world title bout lined up against former tag partner Slamovich. It was noted in a backstage segment that the title match will take place in two weeks.
Tommy Dreamer gets caught in Mance Warner’s crosshairs
TNA International Champion Steve Maclin cut a promo to address next week’s “Championship Challenge” tag match, which will see him team with Trick Williams, among other champs. He warned Williams that he will keep a close eye on him during the match, and is also ready for anyone else who wants to challenge him.
After the promo aired, Steph De Lander and Mance Warner appeared at the TV taping. De Lander argued that Warner’s loss to Maclin at Against All Odds was a “robbery.” Warner got in the face of a TNA staffer whom he was mad at. Appearing onstage to try and cool things down was Tommy Dreamer. Things, of course, escalated, causing Warner to slam Dreamer onto the stage, then score a running knee strike to his head.
Three matches set for next week
Backstage, Sami Callihan and Eric Young, despite not being fans of each other, seemingly found a middle ground over the fact that they don’t like Trick Williams. “I respect you, and I’ll see you next week,” Callihan said. Then, just as he turned his back, Callihan was jumped by Young.
They ran down next week’s show in a video package:
- Sami Callihan vs. Eric Young
- Masha Slamovich vs. Lei Ying Lee vs. Ash & Heather By Elegance
- Trick Williams, Steve Maclin, Nic Nemeth, Ryan Nemeth & Moose vs. Joe Hendry, Elijah, Trey Miguel, Zachary Wentz & Mike Santana (Champions Challenge)
A run-in from Trick Williams causes a hectic end to the show
In the main event of the night, Matt & Jeff Hardy took on AJ Francis and KC Navarro of First Class as both teams eye a potential future title shot.
The Hardys had a hot start to the match, isolating Navarro to prevent Francis from competing in the match. Francis eventually got his team back into the bout by grabbing the hair and legs of Jeff while on the ring apron. After some misdirection from First Class, Navarro came flying to the outside with a tope suicida onto Jeff, allowing Francis to finally tag into the match.
Navarro seemingly tweaked his knee after the dive and was seen limping after the spot. It’s worth noting that Navarro wasn’t on the ring apron for the rest of the match and wasn’t seen for any of the post-match antics either.
Jeff was able to reverse a move from Francis into a pair of Twist of Fates, allowing him to give Matt a hot tag. Matt scored with a Side Effect off the bottom rope for a near fall. As he started climbing to the top once again, TNA World Champion Trick Williams hit the ring and attacked the Hardys, ending the match via DQ.
Coming in for the save were Elijah and Joe Hendry. The System then hit the ring, and The Rascalz joined the fight as well. The heels were sent on the retreat, allowing Slater to dive over a corner ringpost and onto everyone before the show went off air.
