The Rascalz got to keep their TNA theme in AEW for a simple reason.
Fightful Select reports that The Rascalz keeping their music wasn’t a matter of AEW buying the rights to the music. Rather, it was because the track already exists in a music library that the company had already licensed, meaning they were free to use it without any additional cost.
Dezmond Xavier, Zachary Wentz, and Myron Reed all signed with AEW in January and made their debut soon after. After coming up short in a three-way number one contender’s match, they defeated FTR on the most recent episode of Collision to earn a future AEW Tag Team title match thanks to a distraction from The Young Bucks.
Trey Miguel was originally signed and set to be part of the group in AEW. However, he was released shortly after signing his deal due to Warner Bros. Discovery having reservations over tweets he made in the past. After briefly choosing to step away from wrestling, he returned to TNA and won the International title from Stacks at No Surrender earlier this month.
Wrestling Observer Live is back with “Filthy” Tom Lawlor and Lance Storm to end the week in Bryan Alvarez’s absence.
A Filthy Fun Friday features a full review of TNA Impact on AMC, what Lance’s favorite Sylvester Stallone movie is, AI Antonio Inoki (get it?) has arrived with an Android version on the way, and not much more!
TNA World Champion Mike Santana reached a big milestone in his sobriety journey this week.
February 16 marked three years since Santana made the decision to check himself into rehab and get sober from drugs and alcohol. Santana was at “rock bottom” at this point in 2023 but has worked to turn his life around, bettering himself for his daughter along with becoming one of the faces of TNA in his wrestling career.
“3 YEARS SOBER. 2/16/23 I took the first step to change my life and everyday since, I’ve been grateful for what this life has given me,” Santana wrote. “Crazy to think that at one point, I thought I’d never be able to maneuver through life without drugs and alcohol. And I’d be lying if I said it was easy but nothing worth it in life is. It’s truly a day at a time and today, the challenges of life motivate me because it’s where strength, knowledge, and character is built.
“LOVE AND RESPECT YOURSELF. ITS THE ONLY WAY. THANK YOU to everyone who’s taken this ride with me the last couple years.”
Santana, once a tag team specialist with his former partner Ortiz, is now a singles star and two-time TNA World Champion. He regained the title from Frankie Kazarian last month on TNA Impact’s AMC premiere.
TNA Wrestling has announced the lineup for next week’s episode of Impact.
Five matches and two segments are advertised for the show.
TNA World Champion Mike Santana and X-Division Champion Leon Slater will team to face Nic and Ryan Nemeth.
In an eight-man tag, Matt and Jeff Hardy will team with The Righteous against The System’s Eddie Edwards, Cedric Alexander, Brian Myers, and Bear Bronson.
Also announced are AJ Francis vs. Mance Warner, Jada Stone vs. Tasha Steelz, and Lei Ying Lee vs. Dani Luna.
There will be a face-to-face segment with Ash by Elegance and Mickie James. Tom Hannifan will also interview Steve Maclin.
TNA Impact lineup announced for Thursday, February 26, 2026:
TNA World Champion Mike Santana and X-Division Champion Leon Slater vs. Nic Nemeth & Ryan Nemeth w/ Frankie Kazarian on commentary
Lei Ying Lee vs. Dani Luna
AJ Francis vs. Mance Warner w/ Steph De Lander
Ash by Elegance and Mickie James face-to-face segment
Jada Stone vs. Tasha Steelz
Matt & Jeff Hardy and The Righteous (Vincent & Dutch) vs. The System (Eddie Edwards, Cedric Alexander, Brian Myers, & Bear Bronson)
Tom Hannifan to interview Steve Maclin
Daria Rae has made it official! Mike Santana and Leon Slater will face brothers Nic Nemeth and Ryan Nemeth NEXT WEEK on #TNAiMPACT! 💥
TNA Wrestling has announced an X-Division title match for its return to Atlanta next month.
TNA Impact on March 5 is set to air live from the Gateway Center Arena. The promotion revealed on Thursday that X-Division Champion Leon Slater will defend his title against Nic Nemeth on the show.
This is the second match announced for the March 5 event thus far. On Wednesday, TNA revealed that Moose and Cedric Alexander will take part in an Atlanta Street Fight.
TNA will also hold a set of television tapings on Friday, March 6, from the same venue.
WrestleTix gave an update on ticket distribution for the two Atlanta shows, with 667 tickets distributed for the Thursday, March 5 live Impact and 709 tickets distributed for the Friday night TV taping.
TNA Impact announced lineup for Thursday, March 5, 2026
Atlanta Street Fight: Moose vs. Cedric Alexander
X-Division Champion Leon Slater defends against Nic Nemeth
ATLANTA! Don't miss @LEONSLATER_ vs. @NicTNemeth for the X-Division Title as #TNAiMPACT comes to the Gateway Center Arena on March 5 and 6.
Mickie James isn’t sure what her future in the ring looks like, but she remains open to wrestling again if the right opportunity comes up.
James, who was inducted into the TNA Hall of Fame in 2025, returned to the promotion for a surprise appearance at No Surrender last Friday. She got into it with The Elegance Brand at the show and stood tall alongside Indi Hartwell and Xia Brookside, possibly setting up a future match if James decides to compete again.
On Busted Open Radio today, James followed up on her TNA appearance and addressed her in-ring future. She’ll always be involved in wrestling in some capacity, though she doesn’t know what’s next for her.
“You know, I’ve been doing a lot. I’ve been doing a lot of soul searching too, everything from doing the [WWE] LFG and being kind of that mentor space,” James said. “Wrestling is one of those things, like, it’s in your blood. And I’m so competitive, and you just constantly go like, ‘What if? What if?’
“I think that for me, whatever opportunity that feels right and feels good in the space, I would probably be — I mean, I will always be involved in wrestling in some capacity, because I just love it with my whole heart. I’ve dedicated over half my life to it at this point. I’m very, very passionate about it.
“And so, I don’t really know. And I think that’s kind of a weird place for me, and a scary place for me, but it’s also helped me sit back and kind of be open to anything that feels good and feels right. And if it doesn’t feel good and feels right, that’s okay too, you know?”
No Surrender took place in Nashville close to where James lives. She told Busted Open that everyone backstage was great to her.
“It was cool to be back in the locker room,” James said. “And I was, you know, not worried, but you always wonder, like, ‘Oh, how are people going to feel, even behind the scenes and that stuff?’ And the locker room was awesome. The girls there were awesome. They were so great.
“And, yeah, it was just good to be back in the mix for a second. Honestly, it was nice to just knock some dust off the old high heels, you know? The high-heel working boots.”
Now that TNA is on AMC, James said she’s excited that the promotion will have a bigger audience. She is also happy that the roster will be able to participate in some crossover promotional opportunities with other shows on AMC.
James will be making an indie appearance in West Virginia on February 28 when she serves as the special guest referee for an MCW Pro Wrestling tag match. It will pit Gia Scott & Simone Valentina against Maia Martinez & Notorious Mimi.
TNA No Surrender in a nutshell: the stuff you expected to deliver did, and the stuff you didn’t expect to deliver was much, much better than expected.
It wouldn’t be TNA without some illogical booking and nonsensical backstage segments, but the in-ring material was so good that none of that mattered.
The main event pitted TNA World Champion Mike Santana and X Division champion Leon Slater against Nic Nemeth & Eddie Edwards in an ECW throwback match with a cast of thousands doing run-ins, interference, and returns.
We also saw the Hardys and the Righteous operating as a shockingly good team to take on Order 4.
But the real story was the contributions from people you’d least expect, such as Indi Hartwell, Arianna Grace, and most of all, the great Mike Jackson.
Last week’s episode of TNA Impact averaged 254,000 viewers on AMC, up 5.4% from the previous week. It’s the largest audience the show has done since starting on the network last month.
Impact averaged a 0.05 rating in the 18-49 demo. That’s the same rating the show did the prior week and also ties the largest rating the show has done in that category on AMC. They tied for 51st on the prime time cable ratings for the night.
It’s notable that beginning the week of January 26th, all wrestling ratings shows had a noticable increase in both total viewers and demo rating as Nielsen changed the way it determines those numbers via the the Big Data + Panel system.
Listed below are the overall viewership and 18-49 demo ratings for each episode of Thursday Night Impact on AMC to date along with the averages in each category prior to last week’s episode. That show was up 22.1% in overall viewers and 25% in 18-49 as compared to recent averages.
They’ve worked together closely in TNA, but it’s still surreal for Leon Slater when he receives praise from Jeff Hardy.
Hardy recently praised the 21-year-old Slater as the “future of pro wrestling” and named him as someone who will lead TNA into the future. While speaking with The Sportster, Slater opened up about what it was like to hear those comments from someone he grew up idolizing.
“There’s almost two sides to it, where l’ve been so spoiled over the past year that I’ve got to work with Matt and Jeff so much in TNA that when I hear or see stuff like that it’s like, ‘Oh, that’s cool that Jeff said something nice about me.’ And then I take a step back and I think about who I looked up to growing up, and who was my favorite wrestler, and who I had the most figures of, and who I had all the merch, and who I painted my face just to be like, you know what I mean? And I go, ‘Jeff Hardy is saying that about me?!’ Which is absolutely insane,” Slater said.
“So whether it’s Jeff, Matt, AJ Styles, any of these veterans that I’ve grown up watching, it really spurs me on. Because it’s a thing now for me of not only proving maybe some people that didn’t think I could make it to where I am and don’t think I can make it past where I am, it’s not only proving them wrong, but it’s proving myself and the people that do believe in me right. So it’s proving a Jeff Hardy right, an AJ Styles right, a Matt Hardy right, a Tommy Dreamer right. You know what I mean? So it’s real good motivation for me. And it’s obviously super cool that Jeff thinks of me that highly.”
One of the best young wrestlers in the world, Slater is the current TNA X-Division Champion and has already crossed over into WWE through the promotion’s partnership with TNA.
The Hardy Boyz want to stay in TNA, but also work with WWE.
In a new interview with Metro, Matt Hardy said they still talk with their former company over new projects.
“We’re in constant negotiations with WWE about doing some more stuff,” he said. “We will do more with them.”
Matt also said that it was important for them to stay in TNA and work with WWE as opposed to being a full-time WWE act. Despite this, he said that fans should expect them to pop up more on WWE and NXT television in 2026.
“It was very important to us to stay at TNA as opposed to becoming a WWE full-time act [again],” he said. ‘In TNA, we’re going to be put in a position to succeed, and we can contribute, and we can help the company grow and be better. And the relationship with WWE has been great. Anytime we’ve interacted with Shawn Michaels, he was absolutely awesome – Triple H, whoever, we’ve got along with everybody really good. I think you’re going to see some more cool Hardy Boyz moments in WWE before it’s all said and done in 2026.”
The Hardy Boyz appeared on NXT television a few times in 2025, at one point winning the NXT Tag Team titles in October. They lost the titles back to DarkState at Halloween Havoc later that month.
Former WWE and current TNA star Mustafa Ali has opened up in detail about re-signing with the promotion recently.
In a recent interview with Rewind Recap Relive, Ali opened up and explained in detail his decision to re-sign with TNA.
“I’m so grateful to be involved in the industry at a time where so many friends, people that I consider family, are flourishing, right? There’s opportunity everywhere, and that’s not meant to kind of like rub it in someone’s face. That’s meant to like motivate those out there that are pursuing a contract or are trying to make pro wrestling, the way that they put food on the table. It’s so possible, man. It takes a lot of work, a lot of grit. It’s very competitive, but the opportunities, to a point, are kind of everywhere. You just got to go and take advantage of that.“
Explaining his “synergy” with TNA, he further continued, “TNA and me specifically, it’s just this synergy. It’s this fit. I get along, really, really well with Carlos [Silva] and the creative department. I’m a very hands-on, opinionated person, I still think I’m a good soldier. I might question the order before I go and do it, but at the end of the day, if my sergeant or if the person above me gives me an order, I follow through on that, so I’ll never knock myself for that.“
The former X-Division Champion believes himself to be a “team player” and that his creative visions lining up with TNA’s also motivated that decision.
“I definitely am a team player. But man, am I opinionated, and that’s welcomed with the creative team and TNA, and with Carlos, I have ideas, I have visions. I want to say like nine times out of 10, you know, they kind of see the vision with me, and it’s not a knock on other places. It’s just that I’ve been able to develop that relationship. That was a big key component for me. I’m very, very blessed to be able to do this for such a long time, where I’m able to provide for my family financially. Selfishly, I was looking to be creatively fulfilled, and I feel like the best chance I had of doing that is with TNA, and I’m so happy.“
While Ali re-signed with the promotion earlier this year in January, the 39-year-old explained that the negotiations began even before the AMC deal was finalized.
“I actually was negotiating this deal before I even knew about the network deal being finalized. You always hear about deals. You always hear, you know, in wrestling, it’s like, I’ll believe it till I see it. So I can, you know, I’m not saying I didn’t believe it, but I definitely was like, we’ll see, you know? So I still kind of decided to stay here with TNA, despite not knowing that the network deal was on the horizon,” he continued. “So it was kind of like a, I re-signed and then a couple of weeks later, oh, we’re on TV as well with AMC. So it was like a nice little cherry on top. But very grateful and appreciative for the opportunity to have here at TNA.”
Tessa Blanchard is now scheduled to face Jody Threat in an upcoming episode of TNA Impact.
On February 13th, at the TNA No Surrender show, Threat last eliminated Blanchard to win the Knockouts Battle Royal match, earning herself a future Knockouts World title shot.
Later, during a backstage segment, Blanchard and Threat engaged in a heated confrontation, following which the match was made official.
The bout is scheduled to take place during the February 14th TNA tapings in Nashville, Tennessee. It will be aired on Thursday, February 19th, 2026.
TNA Impact updated lineup | February 19th, 2026
TNA Wrestling is set to tape new episodes of its Thursday Night Impact show on AMC. The tapings will be taking place on February 14th, with the below-mentioned matches airing next week.
The TNA wrestler, who turned 30 on Friday, posted on social media showcasing how he’s progressed in the last year by showing a video of himself hopping over a box. He noted that it was exactly one year ago that he posted taking his first unassisted steps after suffering a serious neck injury in October of 2024.
“Birthday = Gratitude. God is good. 1 year ago today I was taking my first steps unassisted and posting to the world about my injury. The support has been overwhelming and I can’t describe how I feel other than grateful,” he wrote. “From that moment on I walked independently, no matter the distance, 1 step at a time. Thank you all for walking with me. Time to jump into the next chapter. I love you all. #GSET.”
Birthday = Gratitude
God is good.
1 year ago today I was taking my first steps unassisted and posting to the world about my injury. The support has been overwhelming and I can’t describe how I feel other than grateful. From that moment on I walked independently, no matter the… pic.twitter.com/Tj73RIG4Zz
Although he’s continued to make positive steps in his recovery, Bey told Bryan Alvarez and Tom Lawlor in an interview back in December that he’s in no rush to return to the ring.
“I know when my body’s ready for it, I’ll be able to do it,” he said. “I started coaching again at Future Stars of Wrestling. So, I do public classes again but I’m just coaching. I’m not rolling around or doing anything physical, when the time comes, my body will tell me if I can or if I should. I just wanna wake up and feel good.”
Country music sensation and award-winning artist Jelly Roll was recently in attendance at TNA No Surrender 2026.
TNA No Surrender took place on February 13th, 2026, from The Pinnacle in Nashville, Tennessee. During the show, as the cameras panned across the venue, they caught up with Grammy-award winning artist, Jelly Roll, who was sitting and enjoying the show from the front row.
Belonging to the city of Nashville, Tennessee, and a known wrestling fan, the 41-year-old attended and watched the show. While he received a huge roaring reaction from his home crowd, Roll also became a target of A.J Francis’ trash talking.
Last year at SummerSlam 2025, Roll tagged up with Randy Orton to face the duo of Drew McIntyre and Logan Paul in a losing cause. The buildup and creative for the match was recently showcased on WWE’s Unreal season 2 on Netflix. He recently also won the best country album award at the 2026 Grammys.
In the fourth match of the night, The Elegance Brand (Heather by Elegance and M by Elegance) defeated Indi Hartwell and Xia Brookside to retain their Knockouts tag titles.
Shortly after the match, fans witnessed TNA Hall of Famer Mickie James make a surprising return before shifting her focus to Ash by Elegance. However, as James attacked her, The Elegance Brand made the save and ganged up on the veteran. However, Hartwell and Brookside soon came to James’ aid.
James, 46, has not wrestled since July, 2025, when she defeated Mila Smidt to win the ABC Women’s title. James is also a five-time TNA/Impact Knockouts World Champion and was even inducted into the TNA Hall of Fame at Bound for Glory 2025. Her last TNA/Impact match dates back to 2023, where she suffered a defeat against Trinity/Naomi.
