Results
- AJ Francis & Frankie Kazarian def. Elijah & Moose
- Wendy Choo vs. Elayna Black (Time Limit) (TNA Knockouts Television Championship Tournament First Round)
- Mr. Elegance def. BDE
- Matt Hardy & Jeff Hardy def. Dutch & Vincent (Righteous Deletion Match)
- Jada Stone def. Alisha Edwards (TNA Knockouts Television Championship Tournament First Round)
- Nic Nemeth def. KC Navarro (TNA World Championship)
Expressions helps heel team win tag opener
This week’s episode of TNA Thursday Night Impact, taped earlier this month from the Broadview Center in Albany, New York, opened with tag action that saw Elijah and Moose team up to face AJ Francis and Frankie Kazarian. This was an uncharacteristically quick start to the show; we usually get a whole intro, recap package and longer read from commentary. Instead, we were in the ring within seconds, and the heel team didn’t even have an entrance.
Elijah tried to walk the ropes for a Last Ride to Francis, but was tripped off-balance by Francis’ artist friend, Expressions. Elijah fell into Francis’ shoulders for a Death Valley Driver to end the match in just a few minutes. Moose was going after Kazarian for a large part of this match, as they’ve been feuding for a few weeks. Expression tried to further attack Elijah after the match but instead took a two-on-one attack from the babyface team.
Backstage, TNA International Champion Mustafa Ali was with the rest of Order Four. Ali has been hosting a vote from the TNA active roster to decide who his next opponent for the title would be. We’ll find out the winner of that election later.
Elayna Black, Wendy Choo eliminated from TV title tourney
This week’s show featured the final couple of first-round matchups as part of the TNA Knockouts Television Championship tournament. The first of two bouts saw former EVOLVE Women’s Champion Wendy Choo face Elayna Black. This was actually the 10th time Choo and Black have shared the ring together: They faced off many times, including in three one-on-one bouts, during Black’s NXT time as Cora Jade.
Black was in control for the first half of the match. Choo started to gain some momentum, scoring a hard lariat, a kick in the corner, then a neckbreaker for a near fall. Both women avoided each other’s finishers. Choo scored an awesome draping DDT out of the corner for another two-count.
Black landed two knee strikes of some sort (these looked bad), then a belly-to-belly for a near fall of her own. Black scored her Blackout DDT, but Choo rolled out of the ring to avoid a pin attempt right after. Choo got back into the ring and connected with a superplex. As they were both getting back up to their feet, the match reached the 10-minute time limit. Because of this result, both Choo and Black are out of the bracket. The means M By Elegance, who was set to face the winner of this match, will get a bye to the quarter-finals. This was not a great match. There was no real building tension up to the time limit. Instead, this match was just slowly chugging along until a sudden end.
Knockouts World Champion Xia Brookside hit the ring and attacked Black afterward. So, luckily for Black, while she’s out of the TV title picture, it looks like she has a world title program on the way.
Sosa & Slater book tag match for next week, Mustafa Ali’s opponent revealed
The System came to the ring for the next segment. The group was coming off a big week: Bear Bronson took down Ricky Sosa, and Cedric Alexander defended his X-Division title over Fabian Aichner. This promo was eventually cut off by Sosa, who said that The System can’t keep “The Young Savage” down. Sosa pointed out that Brian Myers played a distraction in the match and arguably was the only reason why Bronson won.
Showing up as backup for Sosa was Leon Slater, who came out to say he has his back. Slater, after asking what’s wrong with The System, tossed out the idea of facing Alexander and Myers tonight in a tag bout. Eddie Edwards said that bout will happen… Next week in Philadelphia. Slater ended the promo by saying no matter where the match happens, he’ll make sure The System goes out with a “bang.”
Backstage, it was announced that Order Four’s own Jason Hotch won a shot at Mustafa Ali’s TNA International Championship through the election! Ali burst out laughing, telling Hotch that the roster is trying to prank him by electing him for this match. Ali ordered that Hotch go to the General Manager’s office and tell him that their match won’t be happening.
While it was promoted before a break that we would see The Hardys vs. The Righteous next, we instead were shown BDE vs. Mr. Elegance. This was promoted as an AMC and TNA+ exclusive match (and I guess exclusive to Sportsnet as well, because that’s how I saw it).
BDE got a near fall after connecting with a Clip Cutter (springboard cutter). Mr. Elegance got a two-count after coming off the ropes with a lungblower. BDE went for the pin after a top-rope frogsplash, but M By Elegance was able to put a foot of Mr. Elegance on the bottom rope to break the count. BDE got his hands on the Personal Concierge briefly, a distraction which allowed Mr. Elegance to score the pinfall win after his Excuse Moi (swinging reverse STO). I wonder when they’re going to do something worthwhile with BDE.
Hardys win ‘Righteous Deletion’ cinematic match
Okay, after that quick singles match, we actually got the “Righteous Deletion,” a cinematic bout between The Hardys and Righteous at the Hardy Compound. I know we’re a decade removed from the Final Deletion (I feel so old typing that), but I can’t remember a cinematic match that had less chatter than this one. The bout getting announced on a week’s notice and being attached to a feud that has been going on for what has felt like months certainly didn’t help.
The Righteous walked into a shed, where they saw a blue portal on the ceiling. They reached out and teleported to the compound, where they were walking toward Broken Matt Hardy and Brother Nero.
The teams started brawling on top of a huge Hardys logo made on a lawn. Vincent took out a shovel and dropped both Hardys with shots to the body. The Righteous picked up a boat and was about to run over the Hardys with it, but then they teleported away! “Teleportation has been kind to us, Brother Nero,” Matt said.
The Righteous were teleported to a nearby ring that the Hardys had set up, where a TNA referee was on standby. We got the montage of a match. Matt Hardy gave Dutch a Twist of Fate for a near fall. A second Twist of Fate was countered into a Black Hole Slam from Dutch.
After a commercial break, the brawl went back outside. A brawl between Matt and Dutch went into a pool. After they went into this pool, Dutch started to hallucinate! We cut to all four wrestlers, this presumably in Dutch’s alternate universe, having drinks in front of a campfire, recounting their rivalry in recent weeks. The Hardys talked about how much they enjoyed the Wicked Garden match a few weeks ago on Impact.
Suddenly, a kid approached Dutch and said he had some news about his partner. He looked over, and Vincent disappeared. The kid led Dutch to a room, where Vincent was in a casket. “He’s dead!” the kid shouted. Dutch leaned over the casket when Vincent’s eyes opened, and he shoved a poisonous flower in his mouth!
All of the Hardy kids attacked Dutch in the ring. Reby Sky gave Dutch a cutter, then we had some slow-mo shots of the Hardy family attacking him. We then cut to a clip where Jeff Hardy’s other alter ego, Willow, attacked him! He bashed what looked like light tubes over his back. Okay, Dutch got out of the pool Matt tossed him into, and all these moments were just dreams, it seems.
A fight in the field between the teams included a battle where they shot fireworks at each other. The Righteous put poisonous flowers into the mouths of The Hardys. They were tossed into the Lake of Reincarnation – Jeff Hardy came back as his “Antichrist” gimmick.
Okay, a lot of this was cheesy and borning, but the finishing spot here was nuts: Jeff Hardy, leaping off the top of a huge construction vehicle, came crashing through a table which held The Righteous with a Swanton Bomb. Jeff got the pinfall and Matt declared that The Righteous have been deleted. The Righteous were brought into the Lake of Reincarnation to end the segment.
I can’t lie, this did nothing for me. A lot of it was boring and included things we’ve seen before with these matches. The final Swanton Bomb from Jeff was cool, but this felt like it lasted forever without any interesting surprises.
Jada Stone takes final spot in TV title opening round, Jason Hotch doesn’t back down to Mustafa Ali
Backstage, Jason Hotch was about to head to the GM’s office and ask Santino Marella not to book a match between him and Mustafa Ali, believing the match was made as a joke. Leon Slater stopped him in the hallway and said he voted for him because he genuinely believes him. Hotch was about to knock on the door, but then received a phone call, which was able to give him an out from the scenario.
The co-main event saw Alisha Edwards and Jada Stone face off in the final first-round TNA Knockouts Television Championship tournament. Commentary noted that this was a rare singles appearance for Edwards, as she last worked a one-on-one match in October.
Stone was able to get a two-count after connecting with a split-legged moonsault out of the corner. Edwards raked Stone’s eyes to escape a follow-up move. A DDT from Edwards gave her a two-count.
Eddie Edwards tripped up Stone, but Stone was able to reverse a move from Edwards into a roll-up for the pinfall win! She’ll be meeting Jody Threat in the quarter-finals.
Backstage, Mustafa Ali asked Jason Hotch if he cancelled the match, as he requested. “Not exactly,” he replied. Hotch said that he talked to his wife on the phone, and she reminded him what he has put up with in Order Four. “I deserve something like this,” Hotch said.
Hotch said he wants to win the title for his family. “Sir, with all due respect, see you next week.” Ali was fuming as the segment came to an end.
Nic Nemeth defends TNA World Title against KC Navarro in fast-paced showdown
The main event saw KC Navarro try to pull off a huge upset, challenging TNA World Champion Nic Nemeth. Navarro went from Nemeth trainee to rival in recent weeks. He was given this title shot last week, saying a win would prove all his doubters wrong. Nemeth gave him the title bout under the stipulation that he leaves him alone afterward.
Nemeth slapped Navarro to get the match started. Navarro caught Nemeth sleeping with a superkick, which gave him a close two-count! Navarro stayed on Nemeth with a series of roll-up pins, but had this run of moves stopped after he ran into a hard elbow to the head from the champ.
Navarro put the pressure on Nemeth with another run of moves, causing him to roll to the outside for a breather. Navarro followed Nemeth to ringside with a tope suicida, then scored a top-rope frogsplash in the ring for a near fall.
A 305 (modified 619) was dodged by Nemeth, who instead hit a draping neckbreaker. The fight went to ringside, where Nemeth attacked an injured left knee of Navarro with a kick and stomp.
Nemeth was in control of the match for minutes on end, but Navarro started to mount a comeback as the show returned from a break. After dodging a Bronco Buster out of the corner from Nemeth, Navarro scored a lariat, dropkick, then a forearm in the corner. A facebuster from Navarro gave him another two-count.
Nemeth dodged a move from Navarro, causing the challenger to go shoulder-first into a ringpost. Navarro countered what looked like a Curbstomp from Nemeth into a powerbomb for a two-count.
Navarro took a page out of Nemeth’s book, connecting with a Famouser after a long series of reversals. Still, it wasn’t enough to put down the champ. Navarro came charging at Nemeth for a Blessing In Disguise, but ran into a nasty superkick from Nemeth. Navarro kicked out at two!
A frustrated Nemeth asked, “Why won’t you die?” Navarro dropkicked Nemeth into the ropes, connected with his 305, then hit a Code Red for yet another close pin attempt! He tried for a Blessing In Disguise, but Nemeth dodged the move then hit a Danger Zone for the pinfall win. Nemeth is still the TNA World Champion.
I thought this was a fun main event. I don’t think anyone was expecting Navarro to win here, but he proved he’s a talented wrestler who deserves more high-profile spots from TNA with this match.
We didn’t get a rundown for next week’s live edition of TNA Impact, but we know these two matches will take place:
- Leon Slater & Ricky Sosa vs. Cedric Alexander & Brian Myers
- Mustafa Ali vs. Jason Hotch (TNA International Championship)
