Since his arrival in TNA Wrestling, Nic Nemeth has been feuding with Steve Maclin who questioned both Nemeth’s talents and his commitment to the company. On Thursday night’s episode of Impact, Nemeth was able to pin Maclin and erase any doubts as to his talent. As to his commitment to the company, it looks like Nemeth will get a chance to prove that, too. Because it would seem he’s now next in line for an opportunity to challenge Moose to become the World Champion. Hopefully, for his sake, he’ll have more luck at that future meeting than he did on Thursday, where he was left laying flat on his back.

 

Match 1: Chris Sabin vs. Mustafa Ali (c) – for the X-Division Championship

Before the match, Sabin took out Ali’s security detail with a chair – and, holy <expletive>, it looked like he threw a chair into one of their faces so that the hard metal frame hit him right in the mouth. That looked brutal.

Sabin was aggressive in this one, paying homage to Team Canada’s Petey Williams with an O! Canada crotch stand after putting Ali in the Tree of Woe, and even exploiting the 5-count when he grabbed a handful of Ali’s hair.

But Ali could also play dirty and soon Sabin was in trouble. Ali kept him down with various cheap shots and ground-based attacks. But he crashed when he went for an aerial move, and Sabin was able to turn the tide, hitting a nice Tornado DDT. They had a Superkick exchange that ended with both men down flat on their backs. When they got back up, the fight continued, with both  men trying to land the final shot. Ali went for a Moonsault, but Sabin was waiting and caught him with a big Stunner. Ali avoided a Bronco Buster and Sabin hit the turnbuckles hard. As the ref checked on Sabin, Ali went to the timekeeper’s table and grabbed the X-Division Championship belt.

Ali knocked him down before Ali could use it, and then Sabin grabbed it. He tried to run it through Ali’s head, but Ali dodged him, rolled him up from behind, and used the ropes as leverage to pin a surprised Sabin.

Decent story here with Sabin losing his cool and that costing him the title. They did a similar story with Josh Alexander a year or so ago, so we’ll see if they can make this one different enough to make it feel fresh. Sabin and Ali could have a good series of matches if they let this one go on.

Winner, and still X-Division Champion: Mustafa Ali

In the back, Gia Miller interviewed Nic Nemeth, “Speedball” Mike Bailey, and Trent Seven. In a shouty manner, they said they would beat Steve Maclin and the Rascalz tonight.

 

Josh Alexander promo

Josh Alexander came to the ring, minus his headgear, which was stolen by Hammerstone after their match at Sacrifice last weekend. He said that when he’s on, he’s the best wrestler in the world, bringing up how he beat Will Ospreay when they last met in the ring. He said he is now focused on getting back the TNA World Championship, and he will go through anyone that stands in his way. Including Hammerstone, who stole a win from Josh at Sacrifice with a low blow and then stole his headgear. Josh said that he is taking his attention away from the World Championship for now to focus instead on avenging his loss. He called out Hammerstone for a rematch right then and there.

Instead, he got Alpha Bravo and Oleg Prudius. Bravo said that Josh couldn’t beat Hammerstone because he was too weakened after having been beaten up by Dirty Dango. And that’s exactly who ran into the ring to try to hit Josh with a  sneak attack. Alexander took care of him, but then was confronted by Prudius. A bunch of security guards ran in and got between the two of them before any fists flew.

Cue the music for the Director of Authority Santino Marella. He said he wanted to see Alexander and Prudius fight, so called out a referee and made the match.

 

Match 2: Josh Alexander vs. Oleg Prudius (w/ Alpha Bravo and Dirty Dango)

Prudius tried to out-muscle Josh, but that didn’t work out so well for him. Josh was able to out-wrestle the big man, take him down, and clamp on an Ankle Lock, forcing Prudius to tap out.

This was quick and too the point. A rubber match between Josh and Hammerstone seems like the obvious route, so hopefully they get back to that soon enough. Detouring to feud with Dango seems like Josh would be moving backwards.

Winner: Josh Alexander

Crazzy Steve came to the entrance ramp. He mentioned that he’s beaten and retained his Digital Media Championship over Tommy Dreamer, Rhino, and Joe Hendry. He said that the pressure of defending the championship every time he wrestles is pressure that no other living man could withstand.

No living man, maybe, but what about a monster? Because that’s what showed up, in the form of PCO, who came to the entrance ramp to stare down at Steve, who backed away tentatively.

 

Match 3: Ace Austin (w/ Chris Bey) vs. Frankie Kazarian

Before the match, they showed a clip from Sacrifice of Kazarian arguing with Austin after Sacrifice, which led to this match. After the ring introductions were finished, Kazarian demanded ring announcer Jade Chung announce him as the King of TNA.

Austin looked to dethrone the king, firing off shots from all angles, including his Punt Kick off the apron. But Kazarian whiplashed Austin’s neck over the top rope and went on the offense, including placing Austin on the top turnbuckle and shoving him off, sending Austin tumbling hard to the floor.

When we returned from a commercial break, Austin was fired up, going after Kazarian in another gear, including hitting a huge Monkey Flip that sent Kazarian flying halfway across the ring. The action went back and forth with both men attempting big moves and finishers.

Frankie went for Fade to Black, but Austin slipped free. But in doing so, he exposed his back to Kazarian, who capitalized it and locked on a deep and nasty-looking Chicken Wing Lock, leaving Austin no choice but to tap out.

After the match, Chris Bey was checking in on his partner’s condition, and Frankie hit him with a kick to the face out of nowhere. Frankie was going to deliver a post-match beatdown to Austin, but Eric Young ran in for the save and Frankie skedaddled out of there in a hurry.

This was a good match. Having a babyface tap out isn’t always productive, but the way they did it here worked, with Kaz using his wily veteran skills to capitalize and get the win. With Austin focused more on tag teaming, a loss like this won’t really hurt him anyway, and his performance was still solid enough that he won’t lose anything in the fans’ eyes.

Winner: Frankie Kazarian

A pre-taped promo by The System aired where they ran down their various championships in their wrestling and non-wresting careers. They said to “trust The System”. This was short but effective.

In their dressing room, Gia Miller interviewed Chris Sabin, Alex Shelley, and KUSHIDA. She asked them what was going on with them, with a string of losses under their belts recently. The Grizzled Young Vets barged in before anyone could answer. Alex Shelley blew up and demanded the GYV take on him and KUSHIDA later. The commentators noted that Shelley referred to the Time Splitters (he and KUSHIDA) as the greatest tag team, and they noted it was curious he didn’t say the Motor City Machine Guns (his team with Sabin).

 

Match 4: AJ Francis vs. Joe Hendry

Before the match, Joe Hendry took the mic and said he was looking forward to finally getting a one-on-one match against Francis. He got the crowd to chant “AJ sucks” and was in the middle of introducing himself, when AJ attacked him from behind. Hendry came back quickly though and hit AJ with punches in the corner.

But Hendry got over-confident and tried for a Vertical Suplex which Francis reversed, and Hendry hit the mat hard. Francis then hit a number of power moves before getting Hendry down and trying to stretch him into submission.

Hendry tried to mount a comeback, but he again over-reached, this time collapsing under Francis’ weight in a Bodyslam attempt. After some more exchanges, Hendry finally did get the big man up and hit a big Body Slam, but Francis kicked out.

Hendry had Francis in trouble after that and he was looking to end things with a big Stinger Splash, but Francis pulled the referee into Hendry’s path and the ref got squashed. Francis went to the floor and got a chair, but Hendry was able to thwart the attack and the chair went flying out of AJ’s hands.

AJ went for the chair again, but Rich Swann ran in and stopped him. He grabbed the chair, but instead of hitting AJ, Swann turned around and clocked Hendry with it. Betrayal!

Swann bashed Hendry with the chair again and then Francis Chokeslammed Hendry. The referee woke up just in time to count the pinfall.

This was fine in that they were able to use some simple psychology during the match to make AJ look good despite his limitations. It looks like this feud will continue. A Swann heel turn could be just what he needs, since he’s been spinning his wheels for some time.

Winner: AJ Francis

Ash By Elegance and her stooge Iceman were shown in a storage area in the back where Alan Angels was waiting to welcome them to his talk show the Sound Check. Iceman was angry that the décor wasn’t elegant and didn’t have any of the required amenities. Ash agreed to do the show anyway, though she could not hide her disgust. Angels was giddy and gushed over having Ash there as a guest. She said that she had some big news: she will have her third match next week. They left, and Angels continued to fan-boy over Ash.

 

Match 4: Spitfire (Dani Luna and Jody Threat) vs. Beaa Moss and Vanna Black

Spitfire’s Knockouts Tag Team Championship was not on the line against the two Ontario-based independent stars..

Before the match got underway, the former champs MK-Ultra made their way to ringside, and they were followed shortly thereafter by Decay. Those two teams stood on the floor and the ramp, respectively, to watch the action and scout out the champs.

They didn’t have a long time to watch, though, since Spitfire made pretty short work of their opponents, including Luna hitting them both with a Double Suplex. They ended it by hitting a nifty double-team combo that saw Threat flip Black from her shoulders to Luna who turned the move into a PowerBomb.

This was pretty much a squash, but was effective in showing off Spitfire who are still relatively new as a team and needed that kind of showcase.

Winners: Spitfire

Tasha Steelz stormed her way to the commentary desk and grabbed a mic. She said that she didn’t lose the Triple Threat match for the Knockouts Championship at Sacrifice. She challenged champion Jordynne Grace to a title match next week.

 

Match 6: Nic Nemeth, “Speedball” Mike Bailey, and Trent Seven vs. Steve Maclin and the Rascalz

Unlike the normal situation where the singles heel tries to avoid getting in the ring with the singles face with which he’s feuding, Maclin tagged himself in to face Nemeth very early on. He almost paid for that when Nemeth hit a short Famouser, but Maclin was fresh enough to kick out. He was less fresh after Bailey and Seven hit him with a couple of double-team moves, but after a distraction by the Rascalz, Maclin was able to take over, hitting Bailey with a hard Backbreaker.

Maclin beat on Bailey for a while by himself before bringing in the Rascalz, who lost the advantage for their team, and they both got battered by Seven. That was pretty much the story early on, with Maclin constantly helping put the match back in his team’s favour, while the Rascalz kept blowing the advantage.

Eventually, though, Maclin couldn’t keep it up, and soon he and his partners were getting bested by Nemeth, who hit Neckbreakers on all three of them in succession before hitting Maclin with a series of speedy Elbow Drops, which would have ended things if not for a timely save by Trey Miguel.

That kicked off a parade of big moves, capped off with Maclin hitting a Scud Missile dive to the floor – unfortunately, though, it was on the wrong person as he ended up smashing into his partner Miguel instead of the intended target Nemeth.

Miguel’s partner Wentz took umbrage with Maclin’s mistake and they started to argue, leading to the Rascals walking out on Maclin and making their way to the back. Left alone, Maclin was simply cannon fodder and he got hit with a triple attack, with a Danger Zone by Nemeth finishing things off once and for all.

After the match, Nemeth and his partners celebrated, but they were swarmed by The System who slid into the ring and attacked. Nemeth and company tried to fight back, but they were overwhelmed and Moose smashed each of them in the head with his World Championship belt, allowing the System to stand tall in the end.

This was a fun main event. The dynamic between Maclin and the Rascalz was intriguing – will the Rascalz possibly turn back to babyfaces after leaving him high and dry? Or will he end up being the sympathetic figure, which doesn’t seem likely since he’s such a good detestable personality. The post-match attack would seem to be setting up a couple of feuds – and it’s a safe bet that the next big event (Rebellion on April 20th) will see two title matches in Moose vs. Nemeth and Edwards/Myers vs. Bailey/Seven, so this was a good way to plant those seeds.

Winners: Nic Nemeth, “Speedball” Mike Bailey, and Trent Seven

 

 

TNA Impact - March 14th, 2024

St. Clair College - Windsor, ON

Good show tonight focused on in-ring action and planting seeds for Rebellion, the company’s next big event. The addition of Nic Nemeth to the roster has helped freshen up the main event scene, and other new faces and some fresh coats of paint on the long-standing ones – like Rich Swann and even Brian Myers – adds some even more interest. If they can stay the course in the build, the next few weeks up to Rebellion could be pretty interesting times.