TNA Impact live results: No Surrender go-home show
One day before No Surrender, a six-man tag match headlines tonight’s episode of TNA Impact.
The System (Moose, Eddie Edwards & Brian Myers) are taking on Alex Shelley, KUSHIDA & Kevin Knight. It comes in advance of Moose defending his TNA World Championship against Shelley at Friday’s No Surrender special. In that match, Edwards and Myers will be in Moose’s corner and KUSHIDA and Knight will be in Shelley’s corner. The match can only end when one of the cornermen throws in the towel.
On the pre-show for No Surrender, KUSHIDA & Knight are facing Edwards & Myers.
Ash By Elegance (the former Dana Brooke) officially arrives as she makes her TNA in-ring debut tonight.
Chris Sabin vs. Jason Hotch is part of tonight’s lineup as well. At No Surrender, Sabin is putting his X-Division Championship on the line against Mustafa Ali.
Also tonight, Steve Maclin faces Trent Seven. Simon Gotch will be in action as well ahead of his match against Josh Alexander at No Surrender.
Chris Sabin defeated Jason Hotch (w/ John Skylar)
Chris Sabin, again, is so good. This one was a little more back and forth than the match with Skylar, but did have some of the same problem of no one believing Hotch could win. It helped this was faster paced, though.
This match was really good from a fundamental perspective like the one Sabin had against Skylar a few weeks ago, but had the same problem as the Skylar one – mainly that no one believed Hotch had a chance of winning, and the heat Hotch go on Sabin in this was not believable. The fans popped for Sabin’s big moves, with particular note for a tornado DDT in the middle of the match, but were silent when Hotch hit a Chaos Theory for a near fall.
It is perfectly fine to give a guy a chance to get over, but this is not the kind of match to do it in. Unlike a Kenny Omega vs. Alan Angels, this never worked to the level of that. That said, crowd did get into the cheating from Hotch and Skylar, booing, and cheering quite loudly when Sabin side stepped a suicide dive and Hotch accidentally took out his own partner.
Sabin hit a missile dropkick off the top rope to Hotch, and then followed up with the Cradle Shock for the win. Good match, all things considered. Very good, even.
–Mustafa Ali had a hype video for his campaign to become X-Division champion, and said that at No Surrender, they better declare “In Ali We Trust.” This was good.
–The System cut a promo about their 6-man tag team main event match tonight, and how the match between Moose & Alex Shelley is a No DQ match. Santino walked up and told The System that the match would be No DQ, yes, but if anyone interfered on behalf of someone else, they would lose. So, it is a No DQ match, with the exception of interference.
–Chris Sabin was backstage and talked about how Mustafa Ali confused him, acting like a politician, and that Ali was going to find out at No Surrender why he was a 10-time X-Division champion. This was great.
Simon Gotch defeated Jack Price
Gotch is a perfectly fine worker, but he is no Jon Moxley, and it is rather amusing using a finishing sequence that Moxley uses frequently.
Josh Alexander came out to join the commentary booth, and explained how Gotch has been holding a grudge for 5 years now, saying that he was the one that helped Alexander earlier in his career. Gotch laid out Price with a dropkick and beat him around ringside with some hard European uppercuts. Alexander explained that he defeated Gotch 5 years ago, and it was that night that he was given his TNA/Impact contract, and Gotch took credit for it, thinking he brought something special out of him. Gotch was beating Price around the ring before hitting the Gotch Style piledriver on Price and locking on a bulldog choke to get the submission over Price.
–The GYV was backstage, and they talked about how they needed the TNA World Tag Team Championships. They promised that the Grizzled Young Veterans were going to take what was there, and they were going to rip the limbs from Ace Austin, or the head of Chris Bey. I liked this promo. It was simple, but sold the match.
–We got another Kon hype video, highlighting his ongoing feud with PCO.
Steve Maclin (w/ The Rascalz) defeated Trent Seven (w/ Mike Bailey)
Steve Maclin came across as a killer in this match, and it is so abundantly clear that he is the guy that TNA should be building around. Too bad that I don’t think they think the same.
Maclin opened the match quickly, hitting a big back elbow to Seven. Seven hit a crossbody and a leg drop after bouncing off the ropes. Maclin hit a knee to the face of Seven and followed up with a clothesline. Maclin followed up with a hard chop that dropped Seven to his knees and hit a suplex. Maclin choked Seven on the ropes, and stomped Seven when he rolled away from the ropes.
Seven kicked out after an axe handle, and chopped Maclin, who completely no sold it and resumed offence. Seven responded with another hard chop, and Maclin no sold it again. Maclin looks like an absolute monster in this match, and he dominated Seven until the ad break, where the Rascalz started stomping on Seven. Seven hit a few strikes on the floor, but Maclin sent Seven into the steel post and had the advantage again. Maclin hit a back suplex on the apron, and Seven kicked out.
This continued for a few more minutes as Maclin took 90% of the match, just crushing Seven throughout. Seven fired up with some chops again, but Maclin hit the ropes and took his head off with a lariat, but Seven kicked out. Maclin hit a uranage into a backbreaker, but Seven cut off Maclin on the top rope.
The Rascalz got involved but before they could attack Seven, Bailey hit a triangle moonsault onto them on the floor. Seven then hit a corkscrew flip off the top rope onto everyone. Seven hit the Seven Star Lariat (a Rainmaker. I see what you did there, Trent). Maclin hit a flying knee to the face after Seven got distracted by some of the things going down with the Rascalz and Bailey, and he followed up with a spear in the corner and a KIA for the win.
–Gisele Shaw was backstage, saying that the Shawntorage was no more. Gail Kim walked up and said that Shaw could do with a little humility, but doing it alone was a marked improvement. Shaw rejected Gail’s advice, and said that the Knockouts Championship would be changing hands at No Surrender.
–Trent Seven and Mike Bailey were backstage, and Bailey said that there was a fundamental difference between them and The Rascalz, as they saw wrestling as an opportunity to push and better themselves, while the Rascalz did not respect the sport. Seven then invited them to meet at the peak of Speedball Mountain (still a terrible tag team name) and see who the better team was.
–Frankie Kazarian came out to the ramp for his match against Eric Young, saying that he wasn’t in the mood to fight, so he was letting one of the ghosts of Eric Young’s past face him instead.
Eric Young defeated Big Damo
Eric Young is a pro, protecting Damo like he did when Young knew he couldn’t hit the piledriver the way he wanted.
The crowd did not react to Big Damo at all, and I’m not sure they realized they were both in Sanity in NXT. It doesn’t help that Damo is bald now. Damo dominated Young in the early parts of this match, hitting a crossbody and a big corner charge. Damo yelled about Young going soft, but Young ducked under a clothesline and hit a flying forearm.
Young hit a Death Valley Driver for a 2-count, but Damo kicked out. Young cut Damo off at the top rope and hit a superplex. Young botched a piledriver soon thereafter for the win, but like a pro, instead of dropping Damo on his head, Young realized he couldn’t keep him up, so he squeezed his knees together and fell forward in a Queen’s Gambit type move for the win instead. Good on Young for protecting Damo there.
–Eric Young said that he didn’t quite understand what was happening with Kazarian, but he said that since he couldn’t fight tonight, that Kazarian could take his pretty boy self to No Surrender.
–Tasha Steelz talked about Xia Brookside getting the win in their first match, and how Steelz evened it up. Steelz thought that was going to be it, but Brookside wanted the rubber match, so Steelz and Brookside would meet again at No Surrender, and Brookside would learn that Steelz was in charge of the Knockouts division.
–Jody Threat and Dani Luna were backstage, talking about how they thought they were on the top of the Knockouts tag division, noting that Luna has a win over one of the tag team champions, and said that Threat would have won if it wasn’t for Killer Kelly, so in their mind that makes them the top. I don’t think that is how that works.
–George Iceman introduced Ash by Elegance, the former Dana Brooke, for her first match in TNA.
Ash by Elegance (w/ George Iceman) defeated Savanah Thorne
When Thorne tried to fight Ash, Matthew Rehwoldt said, “How dare she?!” and I laughed. Ash obviously dominated this, as it was a match designed to introduce this new character to TNA, and Ash hit a senton bomb called Rarified Air for the pinfall. All credit to the former Dana Brooke – this is absolutely not the character Ash had in WWE. Time will tell how well it works, but it is drastically different, which is a good thing.
-A hype video aired for TNA No Surrender, running down all the major matches.
The System (Brian Myers, Eddie Edwards, & Moose) (w/ Alisha Edwards) defeated Time Splitters (Alex Shelley & KUSHIDA) & Kevin Knight
This match was great, especially with its closing sequence. The last few minutes were very exciting, and I wasn’t sure if Knight or Myers was taking the loss here, but Moose getting the win over Knight did surprise me a little, ass having Shelley in a losing match before facing Moose is a bit backwards, but he was saved with the post match angle.
Shelley and Moose started the match, and Shelley immediately went for the Border City Stretch, but Moose quickly retreated to the ropes. Moose missed a corner charge, and Shelley drove Moose into the middle turnbuckle, attacking the shoulder like he did in the TNA Hard to Kill match. Moose tagged out to Myers, and Shelley simply resumed attacking the arm, but on his new opponent.
Knight tagged into continue the assault, but Myers broke away and tagged in Edwards. Edwards, unfortunately, got hit with an arm drag from Knight, and then the work on the arm continued as Shelley and KUSHIDA exchanged tags and worked over Edwards’ arm. Edwards gouged the eyes of KUSHIDA, and Knight blind tagged in. Knight and KUSHIDA then double teamed Edwards, including KUSHIDA helping Knight springboard off the ropes, causing him to launch even higher into the air for a springboard crossbody, which was cool.
Edwards was able to isolate KUSHIDA and the System got the advantage when Moose hit a pump kick while KUSHIDA was on the apron. The System got the heat on KUSHIDA for the next several minutes, prompting the crowd to chant that The System sucked. KUSHIDA dodged a corner charge and Edwards crashed into the corner post, and then he dumped Myers to the floor. KUSHIDA countered a powerbomb and went for the tag, but Myers and Edwards pulled Shelley and Knight from the apron.
KUSHIDA hit a big right hand on Moose and tagged out to Shelley, who ran wild, taking everyone out and then locking the Border City Stretch on Myers. Alisha Edwards distracted the referee, but Shelley did not stop, locking the move on Edwards who was stacked on top of Myers. Moose finally broke it u, but Shelley dumped him to the floor, and Shelley snapped the arms of both Myers and Edwards before tagging out to KUSHIDA.
KUSHIDA hit a handspring back elbow on Edwards and hit a big right hand and a seated senton to Myers on the floor. The Tim Splitters then hit a moonsault/neckbreaker combo for a 2-count, but Moose came in and threw Knight onto KUSHIDA to break the pinfall attempt. Edwards tagged out to Moose while KUSHIDA tagged out to Knight, and Moose blocked a corner charge, but got hit with a hurricanrana, but Moose icked out at 1.
Knight hit a few clotheslines and countered a uranage. Knight did a top con giro, but Moose caught him in a powerbomb position, but Knight countered into a hurricanrana. Knight then hit a huge dive to the floor onto everyone, assisted by KUSHIDA again, and it was awesome. Knight almost got the win with code red, but Edwards broke it up. Shelley and KUSHIDA came in and took everyone out, and Knight was left alone with Moose, but Alisha Edwards got on the apron to distract him, and Moose hit a spear on Knight for the win. Great match.
–The fighting continued after the match, as Alex Shelley put Moose into the Border City Stretch, and Moose required the help of Edwards and Myers to escape, which his not something he will have on Sunday, which establishes that Shelley can very well beat Moose in storyline. I suspect Moose will win, but this was the right way to do it.
Final Thoughts
This was a solid, but mostly missable episode of TNA Impact, with the exception of the excellent main event. I suspect No Surrender will be an excellent show from an in ring perspective as well, but the build has been a bit lackluster.
TNA No Surrender – February 23, 2024
- TNA World Championship: Moose (c) vs. Alex Shelley in a No Surrender Rules match
- TNA X-Division Championship: Chris Sabin (c) vs. Mustafa Ali
- TNA Knockouts World Championship: Jordynne Grace (c) vs. Gisele Shaw
- TNA World Tag Team Championship: ABC (c) vs. The Grizzled Young Vets
- TNA Knockouts World Tag Team Championship: The Decay (c) vs. MK Ultra
- Josh Alexander vs. Simon Gotch
- PCO vs. Kon
- The System vs. Intergalactic Jet Setters