Below is the preview of tonight's TNA IMPACT on AMC from tnawrestling.com:
On tonight’s TNA iMPACT! Mike Santana defends the TNA World Title against Rich Swann in a huge main event. Matt Hardy faces Dutch, and Nic Nemeth takes on Bear Bronson in a hard-hitting clash. We’ll also hear from Elayna Black and Xia Brookside, plus Elijah performs live in concert to round out the night.
After issuing the challenge last week on TNA Thursday Night iMPACT! on AMC, Mike Santana now puts the TNA World Championship on the line against Rich Swann in a high-stakes showdown. Swann looks to seize the opportunity and prove he can hang at the top, while Santana aims to back up his bold words and continue his reign as champion.
Matt Hardy steps into this matchup against Dutch with revenge on his mind after everything that’s unfolded with The Righteous. Last week, Matt Hardy sent a clear warning that “it’s almost BROKEN Season,” signaling a dangerous shift in his mindset.
After telling Bear Bronson “any time, any place” on last week’s Thursday Night iMPACT! on AMC, Nic Nemeth now backs up his words in a heated showdown. With Bronson bringing the power of The System behind him, Nemeth faces a dangerous challenge as this rivalry continues to escalate.
Elayna Black is set to speak on iMPACT! as her presence continues to grow louder in the Knockouts division.
After betraying Léi Yǐng Lee at Rebellion, Xia Brookside has remained silent, until now. Tomorrow night, she finally speaks out, ready to address her shocking actions and what comes next.
Elijah brings a different kind of energy to iMPACT! as he takes the stage for a special live concert. Don’t miss this unique performance as the action pauses for a moment of pure spotlight.
Taped! From Syracuse, New York!
Tom Hannifan & Matthew Rehwoldt were on commentary.
— You know tonight’s main event is serious because they show Rich Swann and Mike Santana walking into the building before their title match later tonight. Title opportunities just do not come along like this (four different guys had title shots they could “cash in” at various points the last few months).
Bear Bronson (w/ The System) v. Nic Nemeth
Ryan Nemeth joined the commentary team for this match. Nemeth walked out with his “Call Your Shot” trophy. Ryan is jealous of KC Navarro, who in his mind is trying to replace him as Nic’s baby brother.
Nemeth caught Bronson with a headbutt, but Bronson came back with a spinebuster. Bronson sat on Nemeth for a near fall. While Bronson distracted the ref, Alisha Edwards choked Nic against the ring ropes. Bronson dumped Nemeth with a side slam for a near fall. Ryan kept insisting on commentary that he had tapes of his and Nic’s births, but there was no such tape of KC Navarro being born a Nemeth. He kept offering to show the tapes.
Nemeth hit a pair of flying clotheslines. Nemeth hit a Famouser for two. Nemeth went for a superkick, but Bronson blocked it and dumped Nemeth with a choke bomb for two. Bronson set up Nemeth for a sit-out tombstone, but Nemeth pushed away and hit a jumping DDT. Nemeth got a near fall after a superkick. Bronson blocked a Danger Zone, floored Nemeth with a clothesline, then hit a sit-out Death Valley Driver for two. Nemeth dropped to the floor to regroup.
On the floor, The System surrounded Nic Nemeth. KC Navarro came out to distract the System. While the System’s backs were turned, Ryan Nemeth shoved Nic back in the ring. Nic got behind Bronson and hit him with the Danger Zone to get the pinfall.
Match Result: Nic Nemeth pinned Bear Bronson (8:30).
— Gia Miller talked to Rich Swann about his world title match later tonight. Swann told BDE to stay in the back because he didn’t want there to be any excuses when he pinned Santana for the world title.
“Elijah” Does a Concert
So this was Frankie Kazarian in a beard, doing a bad Elijah impression. Kazarian insulted Syracuse, calling it a “frozen dump,” and a guy in front of the camera flipped him off. He was about to sing “Kaz is My Daddy” but the lights went out, and when they came back up, the real Elijah was behind him. Elijah choked out Kazarian with a guitar strap.
I thought that would be the end of it, but no. Elijah took the guitar and announced via song that he and Kaz would have a “Guitar Strap Match.” He also got the crowd to chant “Frankie blows!” by promising them Dinosaur Barbecue (I’m guessing that’s the name of the restaurant, not the dish).
— EC3 (with the chair from last week still wrapped around his neck) cut a promo on Eric Young.
— Tessa Blanchard and her crew discuss their journey into the Undead Realm, and Blanchard laid down a challenger for Impact next week.
Dutch v. Matt Hardy
The partners are banned from ringside for this encounter. We are supposed to believe that Matt is slowly reverting to his “Broken” character. Matt pulled a table out from under the ring before the match began and set it up on the floor. He spray painted the word “Sacrifice” on the table.
It took forever for Matt to finally get in the ring, and then Dutch jumped him. Hardy went for a crucifix, but Dutch blocked it. Dutch walked his way over the ropes (carrying Hardy on his back), and got a rope break with his teeth. They fought on the floor, and Matt flipped Dutch over the ring stairs. Matt rammed the back of Dutch’s head into the steel stairs.
Back in the ring, Matt deleted Dutch’s head into the turnbuckles. Dutch came back, hit Matt with an avalanche in the corner, then pulled him into a short-arm clothesline. Dutch dropped the elbow for a near fall.
Dutch hit a side suplex for two. Dutch worked over Matt with a chinlock, but missed a splash. Matt tried for the Twist of Fate, but Dutch blocked it. Instead, Matt dropped him with a DDT. Matt then hit the Twist of Fate, but Dutch rolled out to the floor. Matt got Dutch up on the table. Matt came off the middle rope with an elbow drop. Matt hit Dutch with the elbow, but bounced off him and landed with a thud on the floor. The legs broke off the table, but nobody went through it. Matt then propped the table up against the ring apron, then suplexed Dutch through it.
Hannifan tried to justify the table spots by explaining it wasn’t a disqualification because the table was set up before the match started.
Vincent came up from underneath the ring and slid a chair in the ring. While the ref got the chair out of the ring, Vincent pulled Matt off the ropes. Dutch then finished off Matt with the Black Hole Slam and got the pinfall.
Match Result: Dutch pinned Matt Hardy (10:12)
After the match, Dutch laid in another beating on Matt while Vincent watched. Keff ran in to chase of Vincent, and give Dutch a Twist of Fate and a Swanton Bomb.
TNA Injury Report:
- Trey Miguel is OUT with a laceration.
- Leon Slater is OUT because he’s “banged up.”
- Frankie Kazarian was choked out, and is being evaluation.
- Mike Santana and Rick Swann are medically cleared for their match later tonight.
Xia Brookside Explained Herself
Footage from Rebellion was show of Xia Brookside’s heel turn.
Lei Ying Lee came out first. She cut a promo similar to her one from backstage last week. She loves wrestling, and she loves her friends, but she doesn’t understand why Xia Brookside turned on her. “Why?” Somebody in the crowd shouted “Why not?”
Xia Brookside came out with the same peppy entrance music, but dressed in all black. Xia blamed Ling for costing her the championship a few weeks ago (on Impact) when she showed Xia the video of her father before the match. Lee said something in Chinese, but Brookside refused to translate. Brookside said her father didn’t support her, and she had to do everything by herself, and the video was just a way for Lee to get in her head and keep her from the championship. Lee tried to apologize and, crying, promised to be by her side. Brookside feigned accepting the apology, and blamed Stacks for getting in her head.
The crowd turned on this segment pretty hard. Lee said she would “let” Brookside have the title shot, since the title meant so much to her. So they hugged, and Brookside did the Cena thing where she looked dead-eyed into the camera . Brookside then sucker-punched Lee and dropped her with an implant DDT. “We are done!”
Elayna Black v. Katie Arquette
Before I can make any jokes about Arquette possible being related to David Arquette, Hannifan beat me to it and revealed Arquette was a cousin of the former WCW World Champion.
This was basically a squash. Black won with the Blackout, a butterfly spinning neckbreaker and probably the least impactful finisher in all of wrestling.
Match Result: Black pinned Arquette (2:26).
Katie should get from tips from her cousin.
— Mustafa Ali held an TNA International Championship Open Challenge Selection Segment in the back, and he the country of Australia was chosen first. Adam Brooks from Australia will challenge Ali for the TNA International Championship next week.
— The System cut a promo in the parking lot. Bear Bronson promised to get back at Nc Nemeth. Cedric Alexander again made the case that he was cheated in his X-Division title match at Rebellion. Eddie Edwards shouted about how you can’t beat The System (even though the two guys before him were complaining about being beaten).
Rich Swann v. Mike Santana for the TNA World Championship
They started advertising the match was “up next” at about 10:25, but the bell didn’t ring to start it until 10:42, after the entrances, different commercial breaks and promos. But they still delivered over nineteen minutes of action (with no break at all if you were watching on TNA+).
There was a long feeling out process to start, and Swann caught Santana with a step up rana. Santana went for his own step up rana, but Swann countered with a handspring. Both guys went for dropkicks at the same time, and both guys kipped up.
Santana went to a side headlock and slowed things down. Swann escaped, took Santana down with another rana and caught him with a dropkick. Santana blistered Swann with a chop, then caught him flush with a dropkick. Santana dumped Swann face-first into the mat, then lowered the boom with a senton for a near fall.
The fight went to the floor. Both guys exchanged chops, and Santana leveled Swann with a boot.
Back in the ring, Santana stretched Swann on the mat with an abdominal stretch. Santana transitioned into a side headlock, then a chinlock. Swann escaped with a jawbreaker, then leveled the champion with an axe kick. Swann gave Santana a nasty kick to the spine, then ground him down with a chinlock.
Santana battled out of the chinlock, so Swann transitioned into a sleeper. Santana battled out of that with punches and chops. Swann came back with a series of spin kicks. Swann kicked Santana out to the floor.
On the floor, Swann sat Santana onto a chair and ran around the ring to charge into him with a boot. Then Swann did it a second time. He tried for a third time, but Santana recovered and floored him with a superkick. Santana tossed Swann in the ring and went to the top. Butn Santana jumped right into a superkick from Swann.
Swann went to the top, but Santana kipped up and superplexed (more like a falcon arrow) Swann from the top rope.
Santana fired up with punches and hit a flying clothesline. Santana caught Swann with an enziguri in the corner. Santana caught Swann with the rolling cutter for a near fall.
Swann countered a piledriver attempt with a cradle for a quick near fall. Santana came back with a sit-out death valley driver, a cannonball, and a running sit out powerbomb for a near fall.
Santana charged into a boot. He charged again, and Swann caught him with a flying clothesline. Swann fired away with quick jabs. Swann caught Santana with a neckbreaker. Swann went for a 450 splash, but Santana got out of the way. Swann hit a springboard cutter for another near fall.
Swann walked into a boot, but came back and took Santana down with a hurricanrana. Swann hit a big frog splash for another near fall.
Santana hit Swann with a face-first powerbomb. Santana went for another powerbomb, but Swann flipped him over into a destroyer for another near fall. Swann hit a superkick, but Santana took Swann’s head off with a discus lariat and got the pinfall.
Match Result: Mike Santana defeated Rich Swann to retain the TNA World Championship via pinfall (19:08).
This was great. More of this, please, TNA. This is worth going out of your way to see. It was TNA’s version of a”classic” world title match.
After the match, Santana and Swann hugged and put each other over. Carlos Silva wasn’t in attendance, so Daria Rae (in the “TNA” baseball cap that Silva usually wears) came out to present Santana with his championship belt.
Next week on Impact:
- Elijah v. Frankie Kazarian in a Strap Match
- Jeff Hardy v. Vincent
- Mara Sadé, Rosemary, & Allie v. Tessa Blanchard, Mila Moore & Victoria Crawford
