Following the shocking end of Thursday’s Impact, TNA Wrestling returns for tonight’s Turning Point streaming special from Orlando, Florida’s Full Sail University.
New TNA World Champion Frankie Kazarian teams with Nic Nemeth against now-former champion Mike Santana and Steve Maclin.
TNA Knockouts Champion Kelani Jordan defends against M By Elegance while X-Division Champion Leon Slater defends against former champion Rich Swann.
In a three-way for the Knockouts Tag Team titles, The IInspiration defend against The Angel Warriors and Victoria Crawford & Tessa Blanchard.
The Hardys team up with Cedric Alexander against Mustafa Ali and The Great Hands.
Popular YouTuber BDE will return after debuting at Bound for Glory as he faces AJ Francis.
The Rascalz and a mystery partner take on The System in an eight-man tag team match.
In a no DQ match, Indi Hartwell faces Dani Luna.
The pre-show will see Kazarian talk about his TNA World title win, as well as a three-way between Mance Warner, Jake Something and the Hometown Man.
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Pre Show.
The Home Town Man v. Mance Warner (w/ Steph DeLander) v. Jake Something
The crowd is behind the Home Town Man. I’m going to call the Home Town Man “Homer” for short because I’m tired of typing three names for him and calling him “HTM” doesn’t feel right. There’s only one HTM, and that’s the Honky Tonk Man.
Anyway, Homer dominated both his opponents in the opening and got the crowd to cheer for him. Then Jake Something dropped both his opponents with a double clothesline, and got a near fall on Homer with a suplex. Something got dumped to the floor and then The Homer and Warner squared off. DeLander tripped up The Homer, and Warner got a near fall off a choke slam. Warner took down Something with a short bulldog for a near fall.
Warner set up Something for a superplex, so The Homer joined in and turned it into the powerbomb/superplex stacker spot. Homer went to the top, but Something cut him off. Something did a version of the Cactus Clothesline with Warner, and the The Homer came off the top rope with a crossbody to both guys, who were on the floor.
DeLander got into the Homer’s face, and Warner blindsided Homer with a clothesline. Back in the ring, Homer hit the Sliced Bread on Warner, and then Something came in and hit a Black Hole Slam on Homer to get the pinfall.
Match Result: Jake Something won via pinfall on The Home Town Man (7:29)
This was every triple threat match.
— Gia Miller interviewed the YouTube guy BDE, who promised to make AJ Francis go viral.
The King’s Speech with the new TNA World Champion Frankie Kazarian
Kazarian gave the normal “I’ve worked hard and I deserved this” speech, then lambasted the folks who complained about TNA’s stupid booking on social media. The hatred fulls him. Well his gas tank must be overflowing, because everybody hated last night’s finish. Kazarian also denied having anything to do with the NXT wrestlers attacking Santana last night.
Lacking a guest, Kazarian called up TNA President Carlos Silva. Kazarian wanted to know where Silva was last night to present him with his TNA World Championship, since he usually does that whenever a title changes hands in TNA (or actually, whenever there’s a title match of consequence in TNA). Kazarian gave Carlos the belt and has him present it to him as the new TNA World Champion. Carlos Silva then took the mic, and told Kazarian that TNA will be launching a full investigation into the NXT wrestlers invading TNA last night, and Kazarian is part of that investigation.
The Nemeths came out, Nic Nemeth carrying the trophy. Was there one trophy or were there two? After some bickering and accusations between Nic and Kazarian, Nic lets Kazarian know that he will be calling his shot tonight.
Turning Point Main Show.
Tom Hannifan & Matthew Rehwoldt were on commentary.
M by Elegance (w/ The Concierge and Heather by Elegance) vs. Kelani Jordan for the TNA Knockouts World Title
M looks like a giant next to the other members of the Elegance Brand, but according to the Tail of the Tape she’s only 5’11”.
M jumped Jordan from behind to start. M cut off a charge from Jordan with a hip attack. Jordan came off the top with a moonsault onto the floor that didn’t look like it hit. They then showed a replay that made it clear Jordan’s moonsault didn’t hit.
Jordan got hung upside down in the ropes, and M slid in with a kick to Jordan’s face. Back in the ring, M buried her knee into Jordan’s midsection and hit a dropkick. Jordan fought back, but M cut her off with a forearm to the back. M delivered a great looking Northern Lights suplex for a near fall.
M tried to wear down Jordan with a surfboard, then took her down with a hair pull. Jordan went for a body scissors but M turned it into a wheelbarrow suplex. M went to a top for the moonsault, but Jordan rolled out of the way and M hit the mat hard.
In the back, the baby face Knockouts were watching the match while M and Jordan struggled to their feet. They exchanged forearms until M cut Jordan down with a pump kick. Jordan hit a superkick. Jordan got a near fall off a roll up, then hit a cartwheel into a forearm (or maybe a backfist?).
M tried for a suplex, but Jordan escaped and hit an inverted Rocker-dropper type move for a near fall. The crowd must have thought it was a three count, because they voiced their displeasure with the referee. M caught Jordan with a pump kick in the corner, then hit a modified death valley driver for another near fall. The crowd also hated the ref for that near fall too, but a replay showed that wasn’t even close to a three.
Jordan hit a split-legged stunner for another near fall, then locked in a single-leg Boston Crab. If I can be serious for a moment, M escaped by rolling through and sending Jordan into the corner. M tried to follow her into the corner, but Jordan basically stomped her face in, then hit the split-legged moonsault for the pinfall.
Match Result: Jordan pinned M to retain the title (9:41).
After the match, Gia Miller interviewed the other TNA Knockouts about Kelani’s victory. Ryan Nemeth came along to explain to Miller that she was not covering the real news, which was that Ryan wasn’t teaming with his brother. Ryan called Miller “dumb” and wondered why Mara Sade’s hair always looks wet. “We have towels back here!” This might have been the most I’ve ever been entertained by Ryan Nemeth.
— Hannifan and Rehwoldt run down the card for tonight and mention no one has seen Mike Santana all day.
— In the back, Santino Marella demanded to know what NXT General Manager Ava knew about last night’s attack. Ava claimed ignorance. She told Marella to handle the TNA locker room, and she’d handled the NXT one.
The next match is brought to you by the letters A, B, D, E and J.
BDE v. AJ Francis
BDE hit a pair of topes while holding his phone because social media is ridiculous. He then put his phone down and nailed an over the top rope plancha. But back in the ring, Francis floored BDE with a clothesline. Francis tried for a choke slam, but BDE flipped out of it. Francis missed a boot (badly) and BDE went for a sleeper. Francis dropped back on top of BDE to escape that.
Francis whipped BDE into the turnbuckles and BDE went in too low and hit his head against the top turnbuckle. Francis charged into BDE with a running knee, flipped himself over the top rope and landed on his feet. Francis then stretched BDE using the ringpost as a fulcrum. BDE tried a comeback and then got powerbombed on the edge of the ring apron and I dont know how he survived that.
BDE barely avoided being counted out, and Francis stepped on him. BDE started to comeback and came out of the corner with a tornado DDT. BDE hit a springboard cutter, then came off the tope with a springboard dropkick for a near fall. Francis went for a choke slam, but BDE turned that into a Canadian Destroyer. BDE hit a busaiku knee for a near fall.
BDE went for a frog splash, but missed. Francis drove BDE down to the mat with a chokeslam. BDE asked for more, so Francis chokeslammed him again and got the pinfall.
Match Result: AJ Francis pinned BDE (8:36)
TNA Injury Report:
- Mike Santana’s arm was injured by the NXT invaders last night, but TNA medical hasn’t looked at him because he hasn’t been around.
- Elijah’s recovery was set back last night by an attack from Mustafa Ali and he is not cleared.
- Nic Nemeth was also attacked last night, but he’s passed concussion protocol and his cleared for tonight.
— Gia Miller interviewed Steve Maclin, who also hasn’t seen Mike Santana. Santana is starting to come off as kind of a jerk here. Maclin said he would take on Kazarain and Nemeth two on one or ten on one, and then he’ll stack up NXT bodies, too. This was a pretty good promo from the guy who should maybe be the face of the company if Santana isn’t sticking around.
Dani Luna vs. Indi Hartwell in a No-Disqualification Match
Not even a minute into this one, Luna and Hartwell were hitting each other with chairs and kendo sticks while brawling around ringside. Luna rammed Hartwell into a table and stopped for a drink. Hartwell then grabbed the drink and spit it in Luna’s face.
Hartwell looked around underneath the ring and found a bunch of weapons: a stop sign, another kendo stick, chairs and a ladder. Luna used a baseball slide kick into the ladder to knock Hartwell down. Luna then found a ridiculously oversized screwdriver and used it to choke Hartwell.
Hartwell got some separation from Luna and set up a table on the floor. But Luna blinded Hartwell with a bag of powder, then German suplexed her back into the ring at an ugly angle. Luna beat down Hartwell with the stop sign. Luna sent Hartwell into a steel chair headfirst, then hit a sliding clothesline for a near fall.
Luna set up a ladder in one corner and wedged a chair into two other corners. Hartwell mounted a brief comeback with a kendo stick. Luna sent Hartwell into a chair headfirst, then hit a slingshot blue thunder bomb for a near fall. Luna grabbed the kendo stick and wore Hartwell out with it, then used the kendo stick to choke Hartwell out. Hartwell eventually powered up and escaped the hold by backing Luna into the chair-covered ringpost. Hartwell then whipped Luna into the ladder.
Hartwell hit a spinebuster into the ladder for a near fall. These two are just killing each other with weapons but it didn’t feel like the crowd was reacting much. They fought over to the ropes, and Hartwell booted Luna onto the table. Hartwell then came off the top with an eblowdrop to put Luna through the table, and the crowd responded with a “TNA!” chant. Breaking a table always gets a reaction.
Hartwell pulled Luna back into the ring with a full nelson (to set up the Hurts Donut). Luna pulled Hartwell up into a fireman’s carry, but Hartwell reversed it into the Hurts Donut and Luna went facefirst into the edge of the back of a set up steel chair. Not the seat. The edge of the back. Maybe she got her hand up in time? Anyway Hartwell got the pinfall.
Match Result: Indi Hartwell pinned Dani Luna (14:04).
This was probably a bit too long, but I think Luna may have won for losing. She looked really good here.
— In the back, Ava told Santino that she’s got extra security for tonight (which the commentators have said earlier in the night were hired by Santino). Santino said he went to Costco and got a bunch of cameras that will send pictures to his phone via Bluetooth… that he hasn’t set up yet.
Mila Moore & Victoria Crawford vs. The Angle Warriors (Xia Brookside and Léi Yîng Lee) vs. The IInspiration (Cassie Lee & Jessie McKay) in a Triple Threat match for the TNA Knockouts Championship
The IInspiration were dressed like referees for some reason. Tessa Blanchard, who was originally scheduled for the match, came out in street clothes. She announced that she has not been medically cleared tonight (probably should have mentioned that on the injury report), and introduced her replacement, “The Bombshell” Mila Moore.
After a schomzz to start, Lee suplexed Moore into the ring. Crawford and Moore worked over Lee in their corner, mostly by sending her head into the turnbuckles. Moore locked in a chinlock. Moore took Lee down with a hair pull, then stomped her.
Moore hit both the IInspiration in the corner with a weak-looking clothesline to send them both to the floor. Lee eventually got the tag to Brookside, who took down Moore with a tijeras. Brookside came off the top with a crossbody for a near fall. Moore hit a boot on Brookside for a near fall which literally everyone else broke up.
So the match broke down into a six way brawl. Brookside hit Crawford with a lung blower. Moore dropped Brookside, then Lee superkicked Moore. Moore and Lee fought on the apron, where Lee pulled Moore into the ringpost. Lee hit Crawford and Moore with a crossbody to take them out of the match. But, back in the ring, the IINspiration hit their finisher on Brookside and got the pinfall.
Match Result: The IInspiration retained the championships when Cassie Lee pinned Brookside (8:28)
After the match, TNA President Carlos Silva presented the champions with their belts, and they danced.
The Hardys (Matt & Jeff) & Cedric Alexander v. Mustafa Ali, Jason Hotch & John Skyler (w/ Agent Zero & Tasha Steelz)
One fan was so freaked out to meet Jeff Hardy she literally had to be restrained by security. This was easily the most up the crowd was so far.
Alexander and Hotch started out for their teams, picking up where they left off last night with Cedric getting a near fall after a PK kick. Matt came off the middle rope with an elbow, and then worked over Hotch’s arm. Hotch escaped with an elbow and got the tag to Skyler who walked into a hiptoss from Matt. Matt then deleted Skyler’s head into the turnbuckles.
Ali got the tag and Matt backdropped him to the floor. Matt dumped Skyler to the floor as well, and then the Hardys and Alexander tripled up on Hotch to powerbomb him over the top ropes onto his partners on the floor. The Order 4 huddled up with Steelz to regroup.
Ali and Alexander squared off in the ring. Alexander caught Ali with a pop-up sitout powerbomb for a near fall. Ali hit one of his partners with a kick, then caught a German suplex form Alexander. Ali raked Alexander’s eyes and dumped him to the floor, where Agent Zero hit him with a big boot.
The Hardys and Order 4 squared up on the floor, but eventually things cooled down and the match got back in the ring, with Ali taking over on Alexander. Skyler hit Alexander with a short-arm clothesline. Alexander dumped him to the mat with a Michinoku Driver. Alexander caught Hotch with an enziguri, but Ali pulled Matt down to the mat before Alexander could tag Matt in.
Hotch went for the rolling neckbreaker again, and this time he rolled his way into a death valley driver from Alexander. Matt Hardy got the tag and took Skyler down with a side effect. Matt went for the Twist of Fate, but Skyler countered. Hardy went for another side effect, but he either couldn’t get Skyler up, or Skyler sandbagged him and they both kind of awkwardly fell.
Ali hit Matt with a foreign object to gain a brief advantage for his team, but Matt dropped Ali with a DDT. Jeff Hardy got the tag and caught Hodge with a neckbreaker and a splash for a near fall. The Hardys hit Hotch with the Poetry in Motion. Jeff hit a Twist of Fate on Hotch into a Lumbar Check from Alexander for another near fall when Hotch’s teammates broke up the pin attempt.
Ali dumped Matt to the floor, and Alexander hit Hotch with a flatliner. Skyler sling-shotted himself through the ropes with a spear. Jeff went to set up a Swanton, but Steelz got in the ring to interfere. Matt intervened and took Steelz and Hotch out with a double Twist of Fate. Agent Zero then pulled the ref out of the ring.
With the ref out, Agent Zero got in the ring but the Hardys got chairs and sent him all the way to the back with chair shots. But this left Alexander alone with three opponents. Ali hit Alexander with a low blow, and then rolled him up in a small package to get the pinfall.
Match Result: Mustafa Ali’s Team wins when Ali pinned Alexander after the Hardys abandoned their partner (13:34)
The System (Moose, JDC, Eddie Edwards, Brian Myers) (w/ Alisha Edwards) vs. The Rascals (Trey Miguel, Myron Reed, Zachary Wentz, Dezmond Xavier)
Xavier made his return to the Rascalz (and TNA) tonight.
The story of this match was the power of the System against the speed of the Rascals. And it was crazy fun with a lot of unique double, triple, and quadruple teams.
JDC started out with Reed. He took down Reed with a head scissors while Hannifan rattled off a list of accomplishments which included “beating Chris Jericho at WrestleMania.” Edwards tossed Wentz over his head with a belly to belly throw. Xavier got the tag, as did Moose. Moose missed a charge on Xavier in the corner, and the the four Rascalz swarmed all over Moose with an offensive flurry. That got a near fall, and then one chop put Wentz down.
Myers got the tag and wore down Wentz with a chinlock. Wentz came back with a handspring into a knee to Myers’ chin. Edwards and Zavier got tags, and Xavier put Edwards down with a cutter. Xavier caught Myers with a dropkick, then took Edwards down with a spinning DDT.
Edwards got Xavier with an enziguri and pulled him out of the corner with a backpack stunner. Moose got the tag and hit Xavier with a dropkick to send him over the top. Moose slammed Reed down with an uranagi, then hit a senton. Moose made Xavier go to hell (hanging tree sitout powerbomb) for a near fall. JDC dove in with knee onto Xavier, who was powerslammed by Moose. The Rascalz triple-teamed Moose.
Xaiver went for a plancha to the floor on Moose, who caught him and powerbombed him on the apron (but well into the middle of the apron so he didn’t kill him… AJ Francis take notes). More dives from both teams followed, ending with Reed jumping over the top ropes and pulling Myers down with a cutter in a pile of all their opponents on the floor.
Back in the ring, The System all dropped big moves on Xaiver and went for a pin, but Migeul dove off the top with a meteora to break up the pin attempt. Miguel ran the ropes and ran right into a boot from Moose.Edwards hit Miguel with a spear. Two of the Rascalz help up JDC in a torture rack, and the other two dove off the top and double-stomped JDC. Someone went for a cover on JDC, but Moose broke that up by powerbombing Miguel onto the pin attempt.
Reed went for a cutter, but Moose pulled Reed into a headbutt. Moose dove off the top but Reed caught him with a cutter anyway. And Wentz followed up with another cutter. Xavier then finished of JDC with a twisting senton off the top (the Spiral Tap) for get the pinfall.
Match Result: The Rascalz won when Dezmond Xavier pinned JDC (14:20)
— Eric Young confronted Santino Marella and blamed Marella for all of TNA’s problems. So Marella booked last night’s finish? Marella pointed the finger at Young, so Young warned Marella that the Cleanse is Coming.
Rich Swann v. Leon Slater for the TNA X-Division Championship
Some great mat work from Slater to start. He worked Swann with a cravat. Swann caught Slater with a rana and a dropkick. Slater responded by dumping Swann to the floor with a big boot and following him out with a slingshot plancha.
Back in the ring, Slater backed Swann into the corner with a chop. Slater followed him in with a running boot. In another corner, Slater charged into him with a forearm. Slater tried another charge, but Swann caught him with a boot. Swann followed that up with a somersault into a clothesline.
Swann went for a rolling splash, but Slater got his knees up. Swann backdropped Slater over the top and Slater smacked his face against the floor or the ring steps and everyone freaked out. The ref held up Swann in the ring while the ringside doctor checked on Slater on the floor. The doctor looked at Slater’s eye, and held up two fingers, which Slater signaled back he could see. Swann dropped to the floor and charged at Slater, who caught him with a leg lariat. Slater struggled to go to the top rope and dove into a superkick from Swann.
The match continued the match while a replay showed that Slater did catch the ring steps with his face. Or maybe he managed to get his hand in the way?
Back in the ring, Slater hit Swann with a spinning tombstone. Slater was still favoring his eye. Swann went in with a punch to the eye. Slater hit Swann with a slingshot cutter for a near fall. Slater went for a Styles Clash, but Swann kicked Slater in the eye to break that up. Swann hit Slater with another kick, then came off the top with a splash for a near fall. Swann kept going after Slater’s eye so if it was a legit injury they did a great job of working it into the match.
Slater and Swann exchanged chops and Swann hit some rabbit punches. Slater caught Swann with utopia (helicopter slam). Slater went for the Swanton 450, but Swann moved out of the way. Slater tried for another slingshot cutter, and a series of reversals lead to a rana and near fall for Swann. Swann came off the middle ropes with a 450 splash for a near fall.
Swann went to the top, but Slater caught up with him. Slater got up with Swann and him a stiff shot. Swann went back to the eye with a headbutt, but Slater popped up and pulled Swann down to the mat. Slater hit Swann with the Styles Clash for another near fall. Slater followed that up with the Swanton 450 and got the pinfall.
Match Result: Leon Slater retained via pinfall on Rich Swann (14:04)
This was very good but not on the level of Slater/Evans from Bound for Glory. Slater and Swann hugged after the match, with Swann showing Slater respect.
Slater was selling the eye after the match when Gia Miller interviewed him at ringside. Miller stopped to take a moment to honor Slater’s grandmother, who passed away this year. That was a nice moment and the crowd was very respectful. Slater also put over his NXT tag team title match on Tuesday against Dark State.
Mike Santana(maybe?) & Steve Maclin vs. Nic Nemeth & Frankie Kazarian (w/ Ryan Nemeth)
Maclin came to the ring alone, and while the crowd chanted for Santana, the show-long storyline of Santana not being there continued. When Kazarian entered, Rehwoldt went into another rant about people complaining about Kazarian winning the title, saying it was a long time in coming. It had a lot of “Stand Up for TNA/You’re Watching it Wrong” type energy.
So without Santana, Maclin said “screw it” and went on the attack, taking Nemeth and Kazarian down with back elbows. Back in the ring, Maclin hit Nic Nemeth with an Olympic Slam for a near fall. Maclin hung Nic up in the turnbuckle, sent Kazarian flying with a forearm, and then hit a spear in the corner on Nemeth for a near fall. Ryan Nemeth distracted Maclin, so Maclin chased him up the entrance, where Mara Sade (with dry hair) met Ryan with a superkick to take him out of the match.
Maclin went back to the ring, and Nic Nemeth caught him with a Famouser for a near fall. Kazarian took him down with a kind of a running leg sweep for a near fall. Kazarian choked Maclin against the ring ropes and drove a knee into his neck.
Kazarian hit a springboard legdrop for a near fall. Nic Nemeth hit a hangman’s neckbreaker and dropped a big elbow for a near fall. Maclin mounted a brief comeback, but Kazarian cut him off with a back elbow. Nemeth and Kazarian set up Maclin for a double-team superplex, but Maclin fought his way out of it. Maclin sent them both tumbling to the mat, then came off the top with a dropkick for both guys.
With everyone down, Mike Santana pulled up to the arena lot, blew past all that security Ava or Santino brought while taping up his arm, and entered the arena for the match. Seven minutes into it. Santana went after Nemeth and took him down with a death valley driver. He then dove over the ropes onto Kazarian with a somersault plancha, missing Kazarian (who sold it anyway) and selling his still-injured arm.
Back in the ring, Nemeth attacked Santana’s arm, snapping it against the ring ropes. Nemeth hit Santana with a superkick for two.
Maclin took out Nemeth, leaving Santana one-on-one with Kazarian. Santana avoided the Fade to Black and escaped a roll up, then hit the rolling clothesline on Kazarian and got the pinfall.
Match Result: Steve Maclin & Mike Santana defeated Nic Nemeth & Frankie Kazarian when Santana showed up late and pinned Kazarian with a clothesline (10:22)
Frankie Kazarian laid unconscious in the ring, and after hesitating for a bit, Nemeth grabbed the trophy to call his shot. But before the ref could ring the bell, the NXT guys attacked again and Brooks Jensen laid him out. The NXT guys went after Nemeth, Steve Maclin and Mike Santana. It looked like Kazarian would remain unscathed… until the NXT invaders jumped Kazarian too.
Santino Marella ran out to yell at the NXT invaders, and Brooks Jensen levels him with a forearm! After the NXT invaders laid out some security, the Hardys came in with steel chairs. And they got beaten down, too! And bringing the chairs was a real mistake, because the NXT invaders got them and used them on the Hardys and Maclin.
The thing is, the NXT lead by Lexis King isn’t the nWo, it isn’t the Nexus and it isn’t even Aces and Eights. It doesn’t look like the stars from NXT are coming for TNA. It looks like the midcards from NXT are beating up TNA’s main event guys, now for two shows in a row. And I’m not sure how Santana losing his world title in under a minute last night, then in storyline pouting all day before coming to work late after his partner spends half the match getting beat up by two guys, is making him a bigger babyface.
The System v. The Rascals and the Slater/Swann matches were both worth checking out. The rest, not so much.
