TNA Impact live results: X-Division title rematch
On Impact tonight, Chris Sabin gets his rematch for the TNA X-Division Championship.
Sabin is challenging Mustafa Ali for the X-Division title on tonight’s Impact. Ali made his TNA debut by winning the championship from Sabin in the main event of No Surrender this February.
Ali and Sabin were then on opposite sides of a six-man tag match at Sacrifice last Friday. Ali & The Grizzled Young Veterans defeated Sabin, Alex Shelley & KUSHIDA after a miscommunication between Motor City Machine Gun partners Sabin and Shelley.
The fallout from Sacrifice will be featured on tonight’s show. Nic Nemeth was victorious against Steve Maclin at the TNA+ special. Tonight, they face off again as Nemeth teams with Mike Bailey & Trent Seven against Maclin & The Rascalz.
We’ll hear from Josh Alexander following his loss to Alex Hammerstone at Sacrifice. Alexander and Hammerstone now have a 1-1 record against each other.
New Knockouts Tag Team Champions Dani Luna & Jody Threat will be in action tonight. Plus, Ace Austin vs. Frankie Kazarian and AJ Francis vs. Joe Hendry are set.
The post Sacrifice edition of TNA Impact wasted no time in Chris Sabin making his entrance to face Mustafa Ali for the X-Division Championship.
TNA X-Division Champion Mustafa Ali defeated Chris Sabin to retain
Good match, but the finish was weird. It does work if they are slowly teasing a Sabin heel turn, and given his heelish actions in this match, it would fit. It leaves a question about who the top babyfaces in the company would be though, as Alex Shelley was teasing a heel turn too on last week’s Impact.
Sabin started the match taking out Ali’s security and hitting a suicide dive on Ali. Sabin did the old Petey Williams “Oh Canada!” spot in the corner, dodged a dive from the middle turnbuckle, and locked on an arm submission. Ali made the ropes, and Sabin decided to just yank the hair of Ali. Ali rolled to the outside, cut of Sabin before a dive, hit a suicide dive of his own and then rolled into the ring and hit a neckbreaker after returning Sabin to the ring. That was cool.
Ali got the heat for the next few minutes, working Sabin over until he missed a 450 splash, and Sabin hit a kick to the face to drop Ali. Sabin and Ali exchanged superkicks after a blocked powerbomb and both went down. Sabin missed a corner charge, and Ali grabbed the X-Division title and brought it into the ring. As Ali charged for the belt shot, Sabin exploded from the corner and hit a lariat. Sabin grabbed the title and went to hit Ali with it, which was dumb, as he wouldn’t win the title, and Ali dodged, rolled him up, and got his feet on the top rope to chcceat to win.
–Mike Bailey, Trent Seven, and Nic Nemeth were with Gia Miller and cut an absolutely insane promo about how they were going to take the System to the danger zone. After saying they were the best trio in wrestling, they were after tag team gold, and Nemeth is after the world title. Bailey then did his karate bow, and Seven and Nemeth followed, along with Gia Miller, which was quite funny.
–Josh Alexander came down to the ring to address the fans after his loss to Hammerstone at TNA Sacrifice. Alexander said that last year he had given up the championship in Windsor, and in a response to a fan saying he’d win it back, Alexander agreed. He said every match he has had is a rung on the ladder, but Hammerstone actually beat him, though by cheating and then stealing his headgear. Alexander said that he wouldn’t stop fighting, and he will keep getting up, and for the first time in a long time, he’s focused on something other than titles, and is coming for Hammerstone.
Alpha Bravo and Oleg Prudius came out, and I predict that he is about to die. Bravo claimed that Dirty Dango softened him up. Dango attackced Alexander from behind, but got dumped over the ropes to the floor. To Dango’s credit, he took quite the bump to the floor, launching himself over the ropes. Prudius entered the ring and security ran down to separate the two. Santino’s music hit and he booked the match for right now.
Josh Alexander defeated Oleg Prudius
This did not last long, and the bookers were wise to keep it short, as we know Prudius is not a great worker, and now on the wrong side of 50, so he threw Alexander once, but Alexander took out the knee and locked on an ankle lock for the win.
–Crazzy Steve came out to the ramp and spoke a lot of nonsense to say that everyone who has come up against him realized that he wasn’t like the other wrestlers. He also said he was the only champion where if he stepped in the ring, the title was being defended. He said there wasn’t a wrestler alive that could handle that pressure, and the lights went out.
PCO came out to face off with Steve, which may be a very fun hardcore match in the near future. I’d put the Digital Media title on PCO. It’d be fun to see him with that.
–A video aired of ABC confronting Frankie Kazarian, saying that they were going to teach him respect since he doesn’t respect anyone after his interference in the main event, costing Eric Young the title.
Frankie Kazarian defeated Ace Austin (w/ Chris Bey)
This match was really fun. Ace Austin really had turned into an excellent worker, and seeing him in singles matches have shown that clearly. Kazarian, as always, is tremendous. Great heel work from Kazarian here.
A fan had a rather clever sign that said “Killer of Arrogant Zebras” for Kaz, as he has taken out a referee. We found the pro Kazarian section of the audience. Kazarian requested Jade Chung to announce him as the King of TNA. Austin rolled up Kazarian with a La Magistral cradle for a 2-count while he was distracted.
Kazarian locked up with Austin, put him on the top rope and broke clean before shoving Austin off the top rope to the floor for the heat. That was great. Kazarian draped Austin on the ropes and hit a knee lift that sent Austin to the floor. Kazarian taunted Chris Bey while choking Austin on the floor, but got into a shouting match that distracted him and allowed time to recover and hit a back body drop.
Austin hit an enziguri off the middle rope but missed The Fold. Kazarian went for Fade to Black, but Austin rolled out. Kazarian caught him with the chicken wing, but Austin rolled out. Kazarian hit an Ocean Cyclone Suplex for the 2-count, which is a fantastic move, though he did not do it as well as Manami Toyota (which, to be fair, no one can). Kazarian went for an Unprettier, but Austin fought out and dropkicked the knee. Austin tried to bridge backwards into a pinfall, but Kazarian caught him with the chicken wing as he did and got the submission.
–Kazarian continued beating down ABC after the match, but Eric Young ran down to make the save and Kazarian bailed to the floor.
–The System cut a promo about all the championships they have won in their career, from football, to WWE, to ROH, to NOAH, to TNA. This was good.
–Gia Miller walked up to Chris Sabin, Alex Shelley, and KUSHIDA and asked them what happened with them lately, but the Grizzled Young Vets walked up and said that they were the new top team in TNA. Shelley said that they could fight the top team in TNA, the Time Splitters, which is a noticeable exclusion of Chris Sabin. Shelley slow burn heel turn seems to be continuing.
–A video aired of AJ Francis joining a celebrity basketball game for charity, which was nice.
–Joe Hendry cut a promo about how he knew that Francis put on a tough exterior image, but that he was sensitive on the inside because he kept whining and crying all the time. Francis attacked Hendry from behind and the next match began.
AJ Francis defeated Joe Hendry
This was a good usage of Francis. He is not a great worker, but he only focused on doing simple things, and Hendry selling for him worked well.
Francis missed a corner charge and Hendry hit 10 punches in the corner. Hendry tried to suplex Francis, but Francis lifted Hendry up with ease and suplexed him. Francis hit a knee strike in the corner and rolled over the ropes to the floor. Francis keeping his offence basic and throwing people around works for him, and as he went for a chokeslam, Hendry slipped out and tried to slam him. Francis was too heavy, and he countered into a back suplex on Hendry.
Francis blocked a second slam attempt by falling on Hendry with his weight for a 2-count. Hendry hit a few clotheslines to try and drop Francis, but Francis responded with a shoulder tackle. Francis went for the chokeslam again, got Hendry up, but Hendry countered into a DDT. Hendry managed to bounce Francis off the ropes and hit a slam for a 2-count. The referee got bumped after Francis pulled the referee into the corner and Hendry hit a splash.
Francis grabbed a chair and tried to use it, but Hendry hit a dropkick to knock it out of his hands. Hendry and Francis went for the chair, but Rich Swann came down, stomped on the chair to stop either man from getting it, picked it up and then hit Joe Hendry to turn heel.
–Alan Angels did The Sound Check with Ash by Elegance and George Iceman, with Ash and George being disgusted at the lack of elegance on set, as it was just the production boxes. Ash had a huge announcement – that she would be having her 3rd match in TNA next week.
–Before the next match, Killer Kelley & Masha Slamovich came down to ringside to observer this match. Before the bell could ring, The Decay made their way down as well to view the new champions.
Spitfire (Dani Luna & Jody Threat) defeated Beaa Moss & Vanna Black
Moss and Luna started the match, with Luna overpowering Moss early on. Threat and Luna showed some good double team offence, Moss and Black were thown around the ring, including Luna suplexing both Moss and Black at the same time. Threat put Black in position for a burning hammer, bud flipped Black over the shoulder of Luna who turned it into a powerbomb. That was cool!
–Tasha Steelz came down to ringside and said that Jordynne Grace beat Xia Brookside at Sacrifice, and did not pin Steelz. Steelz challenged Grace to a match for Impact next week for the title.
Speedball Mountian (Mike Bailey & Trent Seven) & Nic Nemeth defeated The Rascalz (Zachery Wentz & Trey Miguel) & Steve Maclin
The Old Bryan and Vinny theory of there never being a bad six-man main event on Raw from 2005 has extended to TNA for quite some time, and this was no exception. An excellent main event that saw everyone being given a chance to shine, but a clear direction for the winners, as they were attacked by the System after the match.
Nemeth and Wentz started the match, and Wentz made the mistake of trying to wrestle with Nemeth, who immediately went into his amateur background and rolled with him. Maclin tagged himself in immediately after Miguel tagged in, looking to take on Nemeth, but it did not go well for him or the Rascaalz as Trent Seven and Mike Bailey hit some hard strikes and chops on everyone.
Maclin helped his team take control after stopping a burning hammer, and started working over the knee of Seven. Seven almost made a hot tag to Bailey, but Maclin pulled Bailey from the top rope. Seven continued to fight though, hitting a superplex on Wentz. Seven made the hot tag to Nemeth, who hit an Olympic slam on Maclin and then dropkicks on The Rascalz. Nemeth hit a series of Stinger splashes in the corner, a series of neck breakers on everyone, and a series of elbows on Maclin but Miguel made the save.
Nemeth hit a spike DDT on Maclin, but Wentz hit a flatliner, Bailey hit a kick to Wentz, Miguel hit a handspring kick on Bailey, and Seven hit a seven star lariat before Maclin hit a knee on Seven. Nemeth missed a Fameaser and then hit a low pe on Miguel by accident. Wentz shoved Maclin, and their partnership seemed to end right there, as The Rascalz left and Maclin ate a double team move from Seven and Bailey and then the Danger Zone from Nemeth for the win.
–The System attacked after the match and laid out all 3 winners, with The System posing with all their titles after the match. The direction is clear now – Speedball Mountain vs. Myers and Edwards, and Nemeth vs. Moose. I suspect they will be the two big matches at TNA Rebellion, and the build to it has begun while tying the bow on Maclin/Nemeth and Speedball Mountian/The Rascalz. Well booked main event segment.
Final Thoughts
This felt like an episode of TNA Impact that actually had a direction for what was coming in the next few weeks, rather than rushing to another PPV. Good episode, and I’m looking forward to see how they can build around these two groups in the main event as we go forward.
TNA Impact – March 21, 2024
- GYV vs. Time Splitters
- TNA Digital Media Championship: Crazzy Steve (c) vs. PCO
- Ash by Elegance in action
- TNA Knockouts World Championship: Jordynne Grace (c) vs. Tasha Steelz