Given their respective tenures in TNA/Impact, and considering their position on the card, it’s hard to believe that Eric Young and Moose have never faced each other before. On March 8th at Sacrifice that will change when Young challenges Moose for the World Championship. Time will tell, but Young will have to have a better night than he did on Thursday’s episode of TNA Impact, as he and his partners ABC fell to Moose and his System cohorts in the show’s main event. It was a good match on a night that was all about the build for Sacrifice.

 

The show started off with tribute cards to the late Ole Anderson and Mike “Virgil” Jones.

 

Match 1: “Speedball” Mike Bailey (w/ Trent Seven) vs. Steve Maclin (w/ The Rascalz)

The two of them exchanged big moves throughout this one, making this one a hard-hitting affair. Bailey hit his signature Quick Kicks on Maclin, and that led to a brawl on the floor, where the Rascalz hit Bailey with a cheap Chop Block, softening up Bailey’s leg.

 

Maclin targeted the leg to the point that he’d weakened Bailey enough to hang in the Tree of Woe. But Bailey dodged a Crosshairs attempt, and then blasted Maclin with a Flying Somersault Dive off the top to the floor. More brawling on the apron, with Bailey missing a Standing Double Knee Stomp and crunching them hard on the apron. Maclin then Speared him off the apron to the floor, but missed on the Flying Headbutt follow-up. Maclin hit Mayhem For All (a Running Piledriver), then a BuckleBomb, but when he tried for a second one, Bailey (kind of) hit a Poison Rana. Bailey missed the Ultimo Weapon, and Maclin hit KIA for the pin.

This had a lot of impressive big moves, though maybe a few too many? It felt quite over-packed at some points. Not sure the pairing of Maclin and the Rascalz makes a lot of sense, but if it leads to Maclin getting back into the title scene, then it may be worth it.

Winner: Steve Maclin

After the match, Maclin took the mic and said that he was the person who took out Nic Nemeth, saying that he would not allow Nemeth to come in and use TNA to make a name for himself before moving on. Nemeth appeared on the big screen, and said he wasn’t there because he was in Japan as the new IWGP Global Champion. He said that Maclin did not run him out of TNA, and challenged Maclin to a match at Sacrifice on March 8th.

They showed clips from last week when Frankie Kazarian beat up a referee at No Surrender. Cut to a clip from earlier today when Frankie Kazarian was blocked from entering the building by a number of security guards. Gia Miller ran onto the scene to let Frankie know that he has been suspended. Frankie told Gia to ask Director of Authority Santino Marella if he was sure that the suspension and ban was the right thing to do.

 

Match 2: Laredo Kid vs. Jake Something

This was a clash of style, with Laredo Kid using his speed and Jake using his power. Case in point: a neat spot (which also may have been a botch with a good recovery) early on where Laredo went for a Flying Hurancarana on the floor, but Jake absorbed it and reversed it into a Powerbomb.

 

Back in the ring, Kid used some more flashy moves to try to put Jake down, including a few Superkicks, a Spike DDT, and a Moonsault. But Jake was took big and strong and out of nowhere, Jake put him Into The Void (the Black Hole Slam) for the pin.

This was pretty quick and definitive. Jake looks more and more like Hercules Hernandez every day, which is fine and all, but Herc never really won any major championships in his time, and there’s nothing about how Jake is presented that suggests he will either.

Winner: Jake Something

In the back, Angels went up to Kon backstage, trying to be chummy. Kon didn’t seem overly-enthused to see him, but agreed to appear on Angels’ talk show, The Soundcheck. They went directly into that, still backstage sitting on a bunch of storage cases. Angels tried to endear himself to Kon, but Kon was clearly not having any of it. Kon said that he was the baddest man in TNA, and suggested that PCO might be dead after what Kon did to him at No Surrender.
Cue the black and white camera and in lumbered in PCO. Angels tried to get PCO to leave, but PCO shoved him aside. As PCO and Kon started to throw hands, the segment abruptly ended. Toni Storm needs to contact her lawyer about that black and white camera gimmick infringement.

 

Match 3: Deaner and AJ Francis vs. Rich Swann and Joe Hendry

Before the match, Hendry cut a promo on Francis, getting the crowd to chant “AJ sucks” and referencing AJ’s infamous botched top rope dive from WWE.

Hendry showed off some impressive offense – including chopping Deaner to the beat of his entrance music that the crowd sang along to – but when he took a shot at AJ on the apron, Deaner clubbed him from behind and Hendry was in trouble.

 

He got beaten up for a while, but was able to counter a big Uranage attempt with a DDT and scrambled over to tag in Swann, who took out Deaner and even hit AJ with a Somersault Dive from the apron to the floor. With AJ out of the picture, Hendry was able to put Deaner away with the Standing Ovation (a Spinning Vertical Slam) for the pin.

This was a fun little match that really showed off Hendry’s offense. AJ Francis is better than he was, which is admittedly a low bar, but that’s still a good thing. Everyone in this one seems to be spinning their wheels lately. This match didn’t really change that.

Winners: Rich Swann and Joe Hendry

From their spooky lair, Decay said that they had come to New Orleans to tap into the dark spirits in order to beat MK-Ultra when they next get the chance. Or something like that. I don’t speak mystical occult witch-speak.

They announced that TNA has signed Hammerstone, and he will be facing Josh Alexander at Sacrifice on March 8th. That should be great.

Backstage, Gia Miller interviewed Josh Alexander about it. But they were interviewed by Dango, John E. Bravo, and Oleg Prudius. Alexander wasn’t impressed and basically booked himself into a match against Dango for later on.

 

Mustafa Ali’s Inauguration Ceremony

The ring was decked out with an American flag motif and a podium. The Good Hands introduced the new X-Division Champion, Mustafa Ali, who came to the ring surrounded by his Secret Service team. Ali cut a victory speech, saying that “we made the X-Division great again!” He said the reason is that the crowd agreed that “In Ali we trust.” Ali was going to announce his first executive order, but was cut off by Chris Sabin’s music, and Sabin made his way to the ring.

Sabin asked Ali to come out from behind the podium and talk to him face-to-face like a man. Sabin said that they have different views on what inspires change. Sabin said that if the Good Hands weren’t in Ali’s corner at No Surrender, Sabin would still be the champion. Ali hammily denied the allegations. Sabin said he wasn’t there to debate, but rather to fight, and took a shot at Ali. The Good Hands Ali attacked Sabin, until KUSHIDA and Kevin Knight ran in for the save. They then tore apart the ring, while Ali and his goon squad whined about it as they headed up the ramp.

The crowd was chanting for Ali during this one, which Sabin had to acknowledge. We’ll see if TNA runs with that sentiment and turns Ali face. I think for now the gimmick works, but his personality is such that people like him – and he still has the support from people who feel he was wasted in WWE. That kind of response isn’t going to do Sabin, or any other babyface that Ali faces, any favours. Good segment overall.

The insufferable George Iceman came out to the entrance ramp and said he had a huge announcement: Ash By Elegance was here. She came out to the entrance ramp and said that she would be wrestling next week.

In the back, an angry Ali was yelling at his security team, saying that they allowed Sabin and his cohorts to ruin his inauguration ceremony. He warned Sabin and crew that their actions would have consequences.

 

Match 4: Tasha Steelz vs. Xia Brookside

The winner of this one will get a Knockouts Championship title match at Sacrifice. This is the rubber match in this series, with both women having one victory over the other.

They started off a bit frenetically with lots of moves hit quickly in the opening minute. Things slowed down eventually, with Steelz taking over with a Rear Chinlock, wrenching Xia’s head back and forth. But Brookside broke free, and things got quickened up again, with a highlight being Brookside hitting a nice Sliding Dropkick to the floor and following that up with a Running Neckbreaker on the floor. They prevented each other from getting back into the ring and brawled on the floor as the referee reached a ten-count, declaring an end to the match with a Double Count-out, to the dissatisfaction of the crowd.

 

As the two of them – and the crowd – voiced their displeasure to the finish, the commentators speculated as to what this would mean for the number one contendership. Knockouts Champion Jordynne Grace came out and said that she would make the title match at Sacrifice a Triple Threat match.

The match wasn’t particularly good even before the lousy finish. And though some people were chanting “Triple Threat” before Jordynne confirmed it, it seemed overall like the crowd didn’t really care. Neither Steelz nor Brookside have really done anything to warrant getting a title match, and this match didn’t help, so that lack of reaction isn’t really surprising.

Winner: N/A – Double Count-out

In a pre-taped promo, Rhino challenged Crazzy Steve for a No-DQ match for the Digital Media Championship on Xplosion, promising to hit a GORE! GORE! GORE!

 

Match 5: The System (Moose, Brian Myers, and Eddie Edwards) (w/ Alisha Edwards) vs. Eric Young and ABC (Chris Bey and Ace Austin)

A couple of stories here, as Eric Young challenges Moose for the World Championship at Sacrifice, while Edwards and Myers are looking to get a Tag Team Championship shot against ABC down the road.

EY and ABC got control early and they gelled as a team, putting the hurt on Myers and then Eddie. But when Moose got in there, he was able to stop the momentum and The System then systematically took apart Bey. He eventually escaped and tagged in Austin, who fared well for a while, until a distraction by Alisha put him in the same predicament as his partner was in just minutes earlier.

After some time, Austin was finally able to throw some kicks and buy himself some space to make the tag to EY, who cleaned house. The action got fast and furious here as everyone started fighting, with everyone hitting moves on each other, both in and around the ring.

At one point, ABC hit 1-2-Sweet on Moose, but Eddie broke up the pin, or it would have been all over.

 

After another distraction by Alisha, Bey was all alone in the ring against all three members of The System. The odds against him, he didn’t a chance, and he got hit with a triple=hit “System Overload” combination of a Pump Kick by Moose, a Backpack Stunner by Edwards, and a Flying Elbow by Myers for the pin.

This was a good main event with everyone getting a chance to shine for a bit. The win over Bey should give Myers and Edwards a title shot soon, and it seems that the direction they’re going is to have The System wear all the gold. Which could make for some interesting crowd reactions at Sacrifice if Young doesn’t beat Moose in front of the partisan Canadian crowd.

Winners: The System

 

TNA Impact Wrestling - February 29th, 2024
3.5

Alario Center - New Orleans, LA

With only a couple of weeks between No Surrender and Sacrifice, it doesn’t give a lot of time for a build. But this week’s episode did a pretty good job in that regard, with pretty much every segment furthering the issues that will culminate in a match at Sacrifice. Not every match was great, though the first match and the main event were quite good. Not a must-see episode by any means, but not a bad way to spend a couple of hours.