Results
- Moose def. AJ Francis
- Joe Hendry def. Travis Williams
- Myron Reed def. Jake Something, Trey Miguel & Zachary Wentz (TNA X-Division Championship #1 Contenders Match) (Four-Way)
- Heather By Elegance def. Jessie McKay
- Cassie Lee def. M By Elegance
- Ryan Nemeth & Nic Nemeth def. Brian Myers & Eddie Edwards
Moose overcomes interferences from Order Four to defeat AJ Francis
This week’s episode of TNA Impact, which was taped last week at The Armory in Minneapolis, Minnesota, opened with a recap of last week’s headlines. Last week’s episode, a rare live edition of the show, saw The Nemeths attack The Hardys and Mara Sadè, plus Mike Santana sending a message to Trick Williams ahead of their Bound For Glory title match next month.
After the quick recap, we went to the ring for the first matchup of the night: Moose going one-on-one with AJ Francis. Before things could get started, some unexpected guests appeared as Mustafa Ali walked to the ring alongside a quarter of Order Four security guards.
Ali was welcomed by Francis, who shook his hand as he passed by him at ringside on his way to the commentary booth.
Moose was the first to get an upper hand in the battle of the big men, sending Francis tumbling to ringside with a hard dropkick. The fight was back and forth around the ring: A distraction from Ali allowed Francis to get some moves in, running Moose into the ring apron at one point. But Moose reversed an Irish Whip from Francis moments later, sending the First Class talent head-first into a ringpost.
Back in the ring, Francis reversed a move from Moose for a suplex. He landed a belly-to-back suplex, but got just a one-count from Moose when he went for the pin. Francis continued in control of the fight as the show returned from a break.
Moose found an opening to get back into the match as they went to ringside, throwing Francis into the steel stairs. He attempted to pounced Francis into the stairs a second time, but instead, Francis scored a pop-up powerbomb onto the ring apron.
Francis connected with a running knee strike in a corner of the ring. Moose started to hulk up while Francis hit him with clubbing blows, feeding off chants from the Minneapolis crowd as he continued to build his comeback. Moose avoided a chokeslam then scored a headbutt. The former X-Division Champion then went flying, taking out Francis with a top-rope crossbody.
Moose tried for a running move into the corner, but Francis avoided it, getting the referee in the way instead. Quick on his toes, Moose avoided hitting the referee. Francis came running off the ropes to hit a spear, but Moose kicked out from the follow-up pin attempt.
Francis signalled to Ali, who was ready to interfere in the match once again. Ali ordered a security guard to get onto the ring apron and distract the referee. As the referee was looking away, Ali came charging across the ring for a speedy dropkick. Moose dodged the move, causing Ali to instead nail Francis in the head.
With Ali at ringside, it was clear from the start that this would be a match that was leading to the eventual run-in finish. But, the in-ring wasn’t too bad beforehand, with some exciting big moments from both men. Not a bad opener.
Moose took the security guard off the ring apron with a big boot, then scored a spear for the pinfall win. In what essentially became a two-on-one situation, Moose overcame the odds. He got on the mic afterward to say that he is tired of Ali’s antics. To settle it, he wants to face Ali at Victory Road on September 26. This match was confirmed later in the program.
Backstage, Brian Myers and Eddie Edwards were asked if they’re worried about Order Four The System ahead of their main event match against The Nemeths tonight. Neither System member seemed particularly worried.
Eric Young’s ‘cleanse’ starts not with Joe Hendry, but instead The Northern Armory
In a Treehouse vignette, Trey Miguel, Zachary Wentz, and Myron Reed talked about their four-way #1 contenders match against Jake Something on tonight’s card. While they debated who specifically between them would win the title shot against Leon Slater, they seemed in agreement that The Rascalz would have the X-Division title no who prevails.
Eric Young attempted to start his “cleanse” of TNA this week, going one-on-one against Joe Hendry… Or so we thought.
An irate Young cut off his theme music to talk to Hendry before the match. He claimed that tonight would be the end of Hendry. As Young had Hendry distracted, The Northern Armory’s Travis Williams suddenly came from behind and attacked Hendry. Commentary then said that, while we were expected to see Young vs. Hendry, the match had been changed on short notice, an alteration Hendry was not notified of… Santino Marella’s competence as a General Manager could definitely be questioned at this moment.
Young and Judas Icarus were ejected from ringside early into the match after the referee caught Icarus blatantly interfering. Williams got some licks in early, notably a beautiful running knee strike, but Hendry eventually took over, putting out Williams with the Standing Ovation for a pinfall win.
Hendry had to high-tail it out of the ring afterward to avoid an attack from Icarus and Young.
The supposed cleanse from Young was off to a rough start, and that made him mad. Because of this, he attempted to attack Williams. Icarus stopped him, causing Young to put Icarus at a crossroads: Attack Williams yourself, or you’re also a target.
Icarus hesitated, and that caused both him and Williams to suffer a brutal beatdown from the vet. Young landed numerous piledrivers to both wrestlers.
In a backstage promo, Matt Cardona talked about how Ryan Nemeth cost him a match against Frankie Kazarian. “Stick your nose in my business again, Ryan, I dare you,” he said.
Victoria Crawford puts focus on Gia Miller
Victoria Crawford appeared onstage for her first-ever live podcast. She announced that her guest for the podcast would be Gia Miller, who quite clearly did not know she would be called upon for this segment.
Crawford asked Miller how she feels about keeping Tessa Blanchard at home without a job or money (Blanchard has been suspended since Slammiversary for her vicious attack on Miller). Miller said Blanchard has nobody to blame but herself, but Crawford wasn’t buying it.
Miller said that since Crawford was part of the attack, maybe it’s time she has something coming to her as well. Their cyclical argument eventually got split up by Jody Threat, who got in between them. The segment had a bit of an awkward end.
Myron Reed earns X-Division title shot against Leon Slater
The next title challenger for TNA X-Division Champion Leon Slater was determined in the next bout, as a four-way saw Jake Something, Trey Miguel, Zachary Wentz, and Myron Reed battle for the #1 contender spot. The winner of the match is scheduled to meet Slater at Victory Road on September 26.
This was the first in-ring appearance from Miguel since a hernia issue briefly put him on the injured list, notably making him miss Slammiversary.
The Rascalz decided early that they should all pick on Something before fighting amongst themselves. A tough Something was hit with numerous moves from the trio, but he kept powering back up. At ringside, one by one, all three Rascalz delivered tope suicidas to Something. It was only once they delivered another suicida all at once that Something was finally taken down.
Back in the ring, The Rascalz started to battle it out against eachother. Wentz scored a two-count onto Reed after an impressive spinning crossbody out of the corner (think similar to Mizuki’s Whirling Candy).
Something got back into the match, and it went back to being a three-on-one contest. Something powerbombed Wentz onto Reed and Miguel. He picked up Miguel for a massive backbreaker, but the follow-up pin attempt was stopped by the other two Rascalz.
The Rascalz were able to will their way into a triple powerbomb to Something. He was out of the battle for a minute, but got back into the fight with a gigantic Into The Void (Black Hole Slam) onto Miguel. Wentz stopped a pin attempt and then scored a UFO Cutter. He tried for a pin of his own, but had the attempt stopped by tag partner Miguel.
Wentz and Miguel started to battle at ringside, giving Reed the chance to come off the top with a 450 Splash, earning him the pinfall win. This match did a great job at playing up the weird trio-versus-powerhouse dynamic. Reed was a surprise choice here, and it felt like Something got put over significantly even though he took the pinfall loss.
Backstage, a frustrated Jake Something ran into Frankie Kazarian. “You’re in your own way, man,” Kazarian said. “You’re tripping over yourself out there because you think brute strength is enough in this business. It isn’t.”
Kazarian asked Something if he wanted to start learning from him. “You have all the tools. But with me? You’ll have all the keys … Ask yourself this, Jake. Do you want to finally be something?”
A disastrous night for The Elegance Brand
A TNA Knockouts tag division rivalry was on display next, as Jessie McKay of The IInspiration took on Heather By Elegance.
Heather tried to come off the middle rope with a moonsault, but McKay was able to block the move by putting up her knees. McKay neared hitting her Press Release finisher, but Heather escaped the move. As The Personal Concierge distracted the referee, Heather threw McKay into the ropes, where M By Elegance struck her with a forearm.
Heather went for a roll-up pin and, if she hadn’t cheated enough already, put her feet on the bottom ropes as the referee counted to three.
The win wasn’t enough for the Elegance Brand, who attempted to attack Cassie Lee afterward.
As these two teams faced off, TNA’s Santino Marella appeared. “M, you want to get involved … You got it.” Marella decided that M By Elegance would face Lee in an impromptu match… Next.
Despite Matthew Rehwoldt noting on commentary that M never got the chance to stretch before her match, she was ahead in the battle against Lee early on. Lee started to mount a comeback with a big boot into a series of clotheslines, then landed a leg lariat. Lee connected with a Codebreaker, but M kicked out.
Heather scored a dropkick to Lee as the referee wasn’t looking, but got taken out by McKay moments later. M tried for a move off the middle rope, but instead was brought to the mat with a German Suplex. Lee then connected with the Inspiral for the pinfall win. Lee wasn’t planning on wrestling this week, but she now has a win over one-half of the current Knockouts Tag Team Champions.
The Personal Conciege caught up with Santino Marella backstage afterward, saying he wants a stipulation for Ash By Elegance vs. Masha Slamovich at Victory Road, since Slamovich is “barbaric and insane.” Marella decided the match could have a stipulation: No DQ. This was not what the Concierge wanted. After getting pushed for the rules to be changed, Marella proposed one more stipulation: The match can have a special guest referee, Indi Hartwell.
Things kept getting worse the longer The Elegance Brand talked with Marella. It was announced that The Elegance Brand will defend their Knockouts Tag Team Championships against The IInspiration at Victory Road. Also, next week will see The Elegance Brand in a six-woman tag match against Masha Slamovich and The IInspiration. Overall, a rough night for the Knockout division’s top faction.
In a backstage segment, Steve Maclin cut a promo about how Frankie Kazarian knows “deep down in your subconscious” that his time is running out.
Trick Williams goes undercover to attack Mike Santana
Mike Santana was scheduled to compete in the co-main event of the night, but things didn’t go as planned. Disguised as a fan in a hoodie, Trick Williams attacked his Bound For Glory opponent from behind during Santana’s usual entrance through the crowd. A brawl between the two went near the ring, where they were separated by security guards. Due to the attack, Santana ended up not wrestling this week.
Here’s a quick rundown of the program for next week’s TNA:
- Mustafa Ali vs. Brian Myers
- Dani Luna vs. Indi Hartwell
- Ash, Heather & M By Elegance vs. Jessie McKay, Cassie Lee & Masha Slamovich
- Frankie Kazarian presents The King’s Speech
Order Four help The Nemeths overcome The System, tag title bout gets booked for next week
The main event of the night saw The System’s Brian Myers and Eddie Edwards try and shift their focus away from their current beef with Order Four to take down Nic and Ryan Nemeth.
The System had a hot start to the match, controlling The Nemeths in the early minutes of the bout. Ryan Nemeth helped get his team back into the match by dodging an attack from Edwards, sending The System member flying shoulder-first into a ringpost – this looked great.
Edwards was able to tag out of the match after the show returned from a commercial break, getting Myers back in. His hot tag run was stopped by Nic, who distracted him from the ring apron, allowing Ryan to score a high-angle DDT. Nic tagged into the match and landed an elbow drop off the ropes for a two-count.
Ryan got back into the match and was tossed groin-first onto the top rope from Myers. Hot tags went to Nic and Edwards, an exchange Edwards got the best of. Ryan got back into the ring but was sent retreating after taking a huge overhead belly-to-belly suplex.
Edwards put Nic onto the top rope for a super hurricanrana. Nic kicked out at two. After a series of reversals, Nic connected with a Famouser, but Edwards narrowly escaped a follow-up pin attempt.
Nic scored a headbutt to Edwards, then tried for another Famouser. Edwards escaped the attempt and instead hit a Blue Thunder Bomb, but had his pin stopped by Ryan. Myers took out Ryan, bringing the fight back down to just Edwards and Nic.
As Edwards was seemingly closing in on a win, Mustafa Ali and the rest of Order Four appeared on the stage. The Great Hands came charging down to the ring, where Edwards took them both out with a tope suicida. Ryan delayed Edwards’ re-entry into the ring, allowing Nic to score a superkick and then a Danger Zone (Zig-Zag) for the pinfall win. The Nemeths walked out with their arms raised, and they have Order Four to thank for that.
Ryan got on the microphone afterward to announce that The Nemeths will use their contractually obligated rematch against TNA Tag Team Champions, The Hardys, next week. The Hardys came to the ring to stare down The Nemeths as the show went off air.
