Results
- Indi Hartwell def. Heather By Elegance
- Trey Miguel def. Stacks (TNA International Championship)
- Jody Threat def. Tessa Blanchard (DQ)
- Judas Icarus & Travis Williams def. BDE & Rich Swann
- Elijah def. Mustafa Ali (Guitar Case Casket Match) (Recommended)
Ash By Elegance calls out Mickie James, Indi Hartwell earns pinfall win
This week’s episode of TNA Impact, the first from a recent set of tapings at The Pinnacle in Nashville, Tennessee, opened with a recap of the top headlines from the recent No Surrender Premium Live Event (PLE). Among the biggest takeaways: Trey Miguel captured the International title, Mickie James made her return to attack Ash By Elegance, and Arianna Grace is the new Knockouts World Champion.
The first match of the night saw Indi Hartwell go head-to-head with Heather By Elegance. This was a follow-up to a No Surrender match, where Hartwell tried to capture the Elegance Brand’s tag titles alongside Xia Brookside. Ash was on commentary for this match and in a bad mood after getting attacked by Mickie James last weekend. She called for a face-to-face with James on next week’s Impact (which we learned later on will happen).
This was a very by-the-numbers Elegance Brand match: Hartwell gets ahead, then the faction’s huge entourage gets themselves involved to swing the momentum in the other direction. Eventually, the referee tossed everyone from ringside, causing Ash to have a meltdown. She was entertaining while on the commentary desk.
Heather got a two-count a few minutes into the match after hitting a moonsault out of the corner. Hartwell started battling back into the match, getting a near fall with a spinebuster. Hartwell avoided what looked like an attempted springboard Spanish Fly from Heather, then came off the top with an elbow drop to the back. Ash, who wasn’t ejected from ringside along with the rest of the Elegance Brand for some reason, hopped onto the apron for a second. Her attempt at distracting Hartwell didn’t work, as she hit the Hurts Donut on Heather to win the match via pinfall.
This match was fine, but the focus was clearly more on Ash’s challenge to James on commentary than anything that happened in the ring.
Santana, Slater set up tag bout against The Nemeths
We saw a clip from earlier today, where security was stopping the recently-fired Steve Maclin from entering the building. Tom Hannifan met him outside the venue, where Maclin pleaded with him to try and get him a spot on his show to make his case and speak to the fans. I don’t get it: What did Maclin think the “fired” part of Feast or Fired was? He has no case to return to TNA. Sorry!
TNA World Champion Mike Santana, who was attacked by the aforementioned Maclin during the main event of No Surrender last weekend, got on the mic for the next segment. Santana took off his sunglasses and glared at the camera as he addressed Maclin: “The more you keep knocking on death’s door, eventually, he’s going to answer. And when he does, he’s going to step to you like a man and drop your b**** a**.” You heard it from the champ himself: If Maclin wants his TNA job back, just keep trespassing on shows and attacking people. Wrestling logic.
Santana then turned his focus to X-Division Champion Leon Slater, who he asked to come to the ring. Slater was once again walking out to EsDeeKid’s “4 Raws,” so I guess TNA actually paid the rights to use that song.
Santana thanked Slater for having his back during their No Surrender tag match. Slater has been given the chance to cash in his X-Division title for a chance at Santana’s belt, so he was cautious about teaming with him last week. But after brawling with Maclin into the crowd, leaving Slater in a two-on-one spot in the match, Santana also apologized for leaving Slater stranded. Slater wasn’t very bothered by this (I mean, he won the match after all, so I wouldn’t be too angry either).
After Slater bragged about pinning former world champ Nic Nemeth, the man himself (alongside his brother Ryan) interrupted the segment. Nic said that Slater was lucky at No Surrender and now has a target on his back. Santana fired back, saying it wasn’t luck.
After a little more back and forth, Slater called for a tag match between these duos. Daria Rae, the heel general manager, came out and said the match isn’t happening tonight and might get booked for next week, and that’s the end of the segment. What? That’s an incredibly bizarre, unsatisfying way to end the exchange. We’re gonna see that next week, but they couldn’t have written that in any less satisfying way.
Backstage, Frankie Kazarian asked Daria Rae if he could be on commentary for the match she just made, The Nemeths vs. Slater & Santana. Wait. Stop. Rae didn’t even make the match! She said MAYBE! Whatever. She said yes to this request.
Trey Miguel retains International title in rematch against Stacks
The next bout saw former TNA International Champion Stacks cash in his automatic rematch clause against Trey Miguel, who dethroned him at No Surrender.
Stacks used Arianna Grace as a distraction at ringside at one point, allowing him the chance to score a superkick. Miguel got back into the fight after Stacks had a face-to-face with TNA’s Carlos Silva, distracting him briefly.
Miguel started to pick up some steam as the show returned from a break, scoring a springboard moonsault. He landed a Northern Lights Suplex then transitioned into a hammerlock. Stacks escaped the move but was dropped by a double stomp to the head from Miguel, which rendered a two-count.
Stacks reversed a Shell Shocked from Miguel then came off the middle rope for a leaping uppercut. He followed up with a high-angle DDT for a near fall of his own. Miguel dodged a move off the top from Stacks then another double stomp for a two-count.
Miguel came off the top rope with a beautiful meteora, but Stacks survived by kicking out at two. The referee got distracted by Arianna Grace sliding the International title into the ring, allowing Stacks to gouge the eyes of Miguel. Stacks dropped Miguel with a running knee strike to the back of Miguel’s head, but it wasn’t enough to beat him.
Miguel reversed a move from Stacks into a roll-up, then scored the Shell Shock and Lightning Spiral for the pinfall victory. This was a decent little match, leaps and bounds better than the one they put on at No Surrender.
Jody Threat wins, but not the way she would’ve liked
Eric Young abducted a cameraman and forced him to film a promo where he called out X-Division Champion Leon Slater, calling him a “poser.” Young said the second phase of his “cleanse” is “Operation: Save the X-Division.”
The next match of the night saw Tessa Blanchard go one-on-one with Jody Threat, who has an upcoming title shot against Knockouts Champion Arianna Grace. Blanchard was the last one to get eliminated in a #1 contenders battle royal last weekend and was quite salty about getting eliminated by Threat, causing their match this week.
Blanchard was on a roll early, but Threat started to fight her way into the match. Threat’s run in this match was short-lived, as Mila Moore and Victoria Crawford eventually interfered, causing this to end via disqualification. In for the save was Harley Hudson and Myla Grace. This sort of felt like a waste of time.
BDE & Rich Swann fall to Sinner & Saint
Youtuber BDE was in tag action next, teaming with Rich Swann to face Judas Icarus and Travis Williams of Sinner & Saint. Swann offered to take BDE under his wing last weekend after he lost a bout to Eric Young.
Icarus and Williams, who are a fun tag duo to watch (and a criminally misused one, in TNA at least), kept BDE isolated for a couple of minutes. This built to a Swann hot tag, giving Williams a hurricanrana out of the corner and sending him onto Icarus, an awesome move.
Swann tagged back in BDE, and they showed some awesome double-team fluidity: Williams was hit with a superkick from Swann, a Codebreaker from BDE, then a senton from Swann. This surprisingly wasn’t enough to stop Williams.
Williams avoided a springboard cutter, then sent BDE out of the ring, giving him the chance to tag Icarus back in. Sinner & Saint took Swann out of the equation for a moment with a double-team German Suplex, then had a run of double-team strikes from Sinner & Saint. Williams hit a nasty brainbuster on BDE, but Swann got back in to break up the pin attempt.
BDE came off the ropes with a Springboard Cutter to Icarus, then Swann followed up with a Lethal Injection. A pin was broken up by Williams. Swann and BDE tried for a double-team onto Williams, but he avoided it. Instead, Williams tossed BDE like a lawn dart into a head kick from Icarus. Sinner & Saint then took out BDE with the Total Elimination for the pinfall win. This was a fun match, as all four of these men work a similar flashy, fast-paced style. I’m curious to see where this storyline with BDE and Swann goes from here. Hopefully, they also do something meaningful with Sinner & Saint finally.
Mance Warner and AJ Francis, who had a bit of a scuffle at No Surrender, had a brawl backstage this week.
Elayna Black, Mara Sadé go face-to-face
Before the main event of the night, Elayna Black came to the ring for a promo. She expressed frustration that Mara Sadé eliminated her during the Knockouts title #1 contender battle royal last week (Between Black and Tessa Blanchard both being mad about getting eliminated, I’m not sure this locker room was ever told how battle royals work).
This Nashville crowd was dead silent for this segment, except for when they were saying “What?” after Black spoke. Sadé eventually came out to confront Black. Black said that she’s there because she has grinded for the spot, while Sadé was an “industry plant.”
Sadé said that if Black thinks she’s a fraud, she can prove it. So I guess we’re getting this match eventually. Not a good segment, unfortunately.
Here’s what they announced for next week:
- Mike Santana & Leon Slater vs. Nic Nemeth & Ryan Nemeth
- Dani Luna vs. Lei Ying Lee
- AJ Francis vs. Mance Warner
- Jada Stone vs. Tasha Steelz
- Jeff Hardy, Matt Hardy, Dutch & Vincent vs. Eddie Edwards, Cedric Alexander, Bear Bronson & Brian Myers
- Ash By Elegance, Mickie James to meet
- Steve Maclin to be interviewed
Elijah takes down Mustafa Ali, rest of Order Four in ‘Guitar Case Casket Match’
Tonight’s show wrapped up with a long-awaited guitar-case casket match, with Elijah meeting Mustafa Ali. As is the case with any match with this stipulation, the only way to win is to shove your opponent into a casket and shut the door.
Ali took a gigantic bump early in the match, as Elijah sent him flying off the stage with a massive back bodydrop onto a six-pack of chairs set up at ringside. Elijah tried to put Ali in the casket right after, but Ali was far from done.
Following the musical theme of this casket match, Elijah tried to use a mandolin and ukulele as an instrument early on. I was waiting for the shamisen to get utilized.
Elijah scored a huge pop-up powerbomb in the ring. A minute later, Elijah dodged a high-speed move from Ali, sending the Order Four leader head-first into a guitar case set up in a corner of the ring. This looked awesome.
The fight went to the ring apron, where Ali pushed Elijah head-first into a ringpost. Elijah was put on top of a table at ringside, then Ali came off the top rope with a 450 Splash to put them both through the table.
Order Four, who were supposed to be barred from ringside, came down to help Ali. Special Agent 0 put Elijah into the casket, and all Ali had to do was shut it to win. Elijah threw powder in the eyes of Agent 0 then tossed him head-first into a drumset nearby. He dropped The Great Hands with a pair of clotheslines. He picked up Tasha Steelz and teased a piledriver, causing Ali to swing a guitar at Elijah – but the guitar swing caught Steelz in the back instead of Elijah!
Elijah hit Ali with a piledriver then loaded him into the casket. The Great Hands were able to prevent the casket from being shut, giving Ali enough time to eventually escape. Elijah was knocked back by a low blow from Ali, which is completely legal in this one.
Ali was handed a beautiful matte black guitar by The Great Hands, who set up a door on top of the casket. Whoever was going into the casket was going to get a rough landing.
Ali put a guitar on the chest of Elijah then tried for a 450 Splash, but Elijah dodged the move then dropped him with a huge swing of the guitar to his chest, exploding the musical instrument. Elijah sent The Great Hands off the ring apron and through a table at ringside, then chokeslammed Ali through the door and into the casket to win the match.
This match was awesome. Ali proved yet again here that he’s one of TNA’s best names, bumping his ass off to make this a memorable bout. It’s rare that there’s a TNA match where I have no real nitpicks – but this one was a stellar main event. Overbooked? Sure. But you have to be accepting of some silly stuff when you’re willingly tuning in for a “Guitar Case Casket Match.” Great main event.
