Results
- AJ Francis def. Brent Oakley
- Indi Hartwell & Harley Hudson def. Xia Brookside & Zoey Serrano
- KC Navarro def. Joe Alonzo (TNA X-Division Championship Match Qualifier)
- Allie & Kiera Hogan def. Shazza McKenzie & Vipress (TNA Knockouts World Tag Team Championships)
- Dutch def. BDE
- Trey Miguel vs. Jason Hotch (TNA International Championship #1 Contenders Match) (No Contest)
Who attacked Jeff Hardy?
The latest edition of TNA Thursday Night Impact, taped last week from the CAA Centre in Brampton, Ontario, Canada, opened with an appearance from Matt Hardy. Matt was coming to the ring one week after his brother Jeff was mysteriously attacked backstage (conveniently before TNA had to head to Canada).
Matt said that the mystery attacker “severely injured” Jeff. We saw him get loaded into an ambulance last week, so it was clearly something serious! Matt put out an allegation: Since they have a rematch clause against TNA World Tag Team Champions Nic and Ryan Nemeth, he believes they’re responsible for the attack.
The Nemeths came out with a Simpsons reference, saying Matt was an “old man yelling at cloud.” Nic denied that they attacked Jeff, saying they don’t attack people for free.
Matt wasn’t buying it. He told the Nemeths made a mistake, then attacked them! In a two-on-one situation, Matt expectedly lost this brawl. Security eventually hit the ring to peel them apart. Welp, looks like the Jeff attacker is still at large.
Elayna Black got into it with the Elegance Brand backstage and eyed a shot at M’s Knockouts TV title. M instead suggested she face Heather. This idea wasn’t liked by Heather, but Black accepted anyway.
Avery Styles gets offered and… Doesn’t take first TNA assignment?
The first match of the night was a showcase for AJ Francis. The former First Class leader is still being managed by UK rapper Expressions, who said on the mic that Toronto is the “worst city in America.” Francis faced off against Brent Oakley, a successful Youtuber who has been moonlighting as a wrestler in recent years, similar to what BDE has been doing.
Oakley got a little too ahead of himself after scoring a few moves against Francis. After stealing Expressions’ hat, Oakley tried to get back into the ring with a top-rope move, but was hit mid-air with a spear from Francis for the pinfall win.
Francis got on the mic afterward and said he’s the greatest AJ to step into a TNA ring, and suggested he be the first TNA opponent for Avery Styles, one of the promotion’s newest signings.
Francis called for Styles to meet him in the ring, but instead General Manager Santino Marella came out. The Greater Toronto Area’s own Marrella actually liked the idea that Francis pitched, and thus brought Styles out to offer him the match.
What did Styles think about the Francis match? “Hell yeah,” he said.
But just after he agreed to the contest, Frankie Kazarian came out and took issue with the decision. Kazarian, who forced himself into a mentor role for Styles beginning at Lockdown, declined the matchup and took the youngster backstage.
Indi Hartwell makes case for title opportunity
In her first match since joining the TNA roster, Zoey Serrano teamed with Xia Brookside to face Harley Hudson and Indi Hartwell. Backstage before the match, Daria Rae instructed Serrano and Brookside to “end” Hudson and Hartwell.
A fired-up Serrano wiped out a planted fan with a forearm early in the match. The heel side of the match attempted a double-team move as the show returned from a break. Hudson got out of the way before a lariat from Serrano, causing the TNA newcomer to absolutely wipe out Brookside with the move. Serrano, who hasn’t found any real friends in TNA just yet, didn’t seem to be bothered about accidentally dropping Brookside.
Brookside and Serrano’s work as a team fell apart even further after Brookside tagged herself into the match to only try and steal a pinfall. An argument between them caused the babyface team to regain control. Hudson wiped out Serrano at ringside with a crossbody, while Hartwell tapped out Brookside in the ring with some sort of shoulder hold.
With Hartwell now having a win over Brookside, there’s no way to deny her the Knockouts title opportunity she wants (Well… Actually we’ll find out later that’s not true). While this was a loss for Serrano, they did a good job at showcasing her new uncontrollable hothead gimmick.
After the show returned from a break, we saw Ryan Nemeth wiped out backstage by a mysterious attack! I have no clue who this attacker could possibly be.
KC Navarro punches ticket to Bound for Glory
Joe Alonzo made his (televised) TNA debut in the next bout, facing KC Navarro. This was a qualifier for a vacant X-Division Championship match TNA will host at Bound for Glory. Alonzo cut a good heel promo before the match, implying that Leon Slater vacated the title to avoid a match against him.
Navarro sent Alonzo out of the ring early for a tope suicida. Navarro took a nasty dump to the outside just a minute later, as Alonzo avoided a move in the corner and tossed him out of the ring instead. Alonzo followed this up with a belly-to-back suplex onto the ring apron.
Back in the ring, Alonzo scored a big dropkick then another belly-to-back slam for a two-count. Navarro started to get back into the match, connecting with a pair of kicks then a DDT for a near fall.
Alonzo got another near fall after his “Most Dope” springboard double-axehandle strike to the head. What looked like an attempted Pedigree was avoided by Navarro, who set up Alonzo on the ropes for his 305 (modified 619). A Blessing in Disguise (Sliced Bread) was dodged by Alonzo, who put the referee between them to get a quick breather.
Alonzo kicked Navarro in the body and tried for the Pedigree again, but Navarro escaped and scored a kinda sloppy kick. After a roll-up pin attempt, Navarro was able to catch Alonzo with Blessing in Disguise on the second attempt for the pinfall win. Navarro is heading to Bound for Glory, where a six-way (wait, we’re getting six of these qualifiers?!) X-Division match will go down.
Knockouts Tag Champs win showcase, The Righteous steal BDE
New TNA Knockouts Tag Team Champions Allie and Kiera Hogan appeared for an open challenge in the next segment. Who would answer the call? Indie vets Shazza McKenzie and Vipress! They didn’t get an entrance, but they’re a fun combo that TNA have been utilizing recently. I wouldn’t mind either joining the roster. This was a relatively quick one, with Allie scoring a Codebreaker then Hogan scoring Face The Music for the pinfall win.
Backstage, Daria Rae said Gabby Forza is the new #1 contender for the Knockouts title. Indi Hartwell said she likes Forza, but knows the choice to make her the next title challenger is just a move meant to deny her another title opportunity.
The co-main event saw BDE face Dutch of The Righteous. BDE was approached about joining The Righteous last week, but he said no, hence why this match was made. Right after the bell sounded to start the match, Vincent said The Righteous were willing to give BDE his first singles win.
“Dutch, lay down,” Vincent said. Dutch got on the canvas as Vincent instructed BDE to go for the pin. BDE was asked to simply take his first win. Instead of going for the pin, BDE woke Dutch up with an elbow drop. He wasn’t looking for a pity win from a group trying to lure him.
As a result of BDE’s choice to actually fight, he took quite a beating at the hands of Dutch. After getting thrown around the ring, an attempted Clip Cutter from BDE was countered into a Death Walks Black Hole Slam for the pinfall win. As Rich Swann was checking on BDE after the match, Vincent took him out with a Scorpion Death Drop. Before The Righteous left, they took BDE with them. Oh no, another abduction, like they did with Matt Hardy?
#1 contenders match gets ruined, title bout gets booked for next week
The final match of the night saw Trey Miguel and Jason Hotch face off in a TNA International Championship #1 contenders match. Both men have rematches banked due to losing the title before, so whoever loses this one presumably still has a championship opportunity available sometime down the line (we’ll have to see if that gets remembered).
In most situations, I’d assume the winner here would get a shot at the champ by Bound for Glory, but since Mustafa Ali is currently out of the ring with a punctured lung, I’m not so sure he’ll be ready in time for that match. We’ll have to wait and see.
This one was slow-paced to begin, but Hotch picked things up after scoring a huge tope con hilo during the commercial break. A striking sequence from Miguel ended with a springboard moonsault for a near fall shortly after the show returned.
Hotch battled back into the match with a pair of clotheslines, then a double stomp to Miguel’s chest. He took a page out of Ali’s book, connecting with a rolling neckbreaker for a near fall. Miguel escaped a move from Hotch then hit a double stomp to the back of the neck for a two-count.
A top-rope dive was dodged by Hotch, who dropped Miguel with a head kick in the corner. A top-rope double stomp from Hotch was avoided by Miguel, but the Rascal got hit with another double stomp in the middle of the ring moments later.
Hotch scored a Poisonrana out of the corner. Miguel shot up to his feet immediately after and scored a Poisonrana of his own. Hotch then… Also shot up to his feet and scored a Blue Thunder Bomb for a near fall.
They did a striking exchange where they both powered up two times in a row after trading head kicks. The amount of times they did no-sell sequences here felt a little overboard. Late in the match, Special Agent 0 hit the ring and attacked both, causing it to end via no contest. You can only laugh sometimes when TNA does something this stupid.
I had really high hopes for this match, and unfortunately it wasn’t as good as I had hoped. Apart from his strong double stomps, Miguel’s strikes looked really weak throughout and took me out of it at times. The no-selling of moves isn’t something I typically oppose, but like I said, it was done way too much in this one. And the finish sucked and made it feel like I just wasted 20 minutes watching that match.
Before the show went off the air, we saw a backstage brawl between Nic Nemeth and Matt Hardy. Matt was still convinced that Nic was behind the attack on Jeff. Santino Marella got between them and booked a title showdown for next week in a no disqualification bout to solve their issues.
With that being said, here’s the lineup for next week’s show:
- Nic Nemeth vs. Matt Hardy (TNA World Championship)
- Xia Brookside vs. Gabby Forza (TNA Knockouts World Championship)
- Fabian Aichner vs. Rohit Raju (X-Division Championship Qualifier)
- Elayna Black vs. Heather By Elegance
