It’s a weird episode of TNA Impact squeezed in between two PPVs.
What is the fallout after Mustafa Ali’s historic X Division Title win at No Surrender, and with a crowded field of challengers, what does the future hold for him at Sacrifice? And speaking of Sacrifce, Moose will defend the TNA championship against Eric Young, but it sure feels like Kazarian has been a bigger part of the show than either of them.
The Grizzled Young Veterans are conspicuous by their absence, IWGP Global Heavyweight champion Nic Nemeth is ready for Steve Maclin, and the Knockouts tag division is a complete disaster. All this and more on the Big Vinny V Show!
Hiroshi Tanahashi won’t be able to make his scheduled Global title challenge against Nic Nemeth.
NJPW had announced that Nemeth would defend the IWGP Global Heavyweight Championship against Tanahashi at Sakura Genesis on Saturday, April 6. But Tanahashi has now been pulled from the Sakura Genesis card after further examination of an ankle injury that he suffered.
Tanahashi suffered a right ankle injury during his match against Matt Riddle at the New Beginning in Sapporo night one on February 23. Tanahashi then had to miss night two due to the injury.
Tanahashi has also been pulled from NJPW’s 52nd anniversary show and the New Japan Cup tour.
NJPW wrote that the Nemeth vs. Tanahashi match will happen at a later date to be determined:
Following further examination on an ankle injury sustained at New Beginning in Sapporo, Hiroshi Tanahashi will be absent from the New Japan Cup series, as well as Sakura Genesis on April 6 to allow for a full recovery.
His previously announced IWGP Global Championship match will be delayed until a later date to be determined.
We apologize to fans looking forward to seeing Tanahashi wrestle and appreciate your understanding.
Tanahashi lost the NJPW World Television Championship to Riddle at the New Beginning in Sapporo night one. That same night, Nemeth won the Global title from David Finlay. The match was Nemeth’s NJPW in-ring debut.
The Sakura Genesis match against Tanahashi was set to be Nemeth’s first title defense. Nemeth, formerly known as Dolph Ziggler, was released by WWE in September 2023.
The first match for NJPW Sakura Genesis has been made.
The new IWGP Global Champion Nic Nemeth will defend his title against company president Hiroshi Tanahashi on the show.
Nemeth issued a challenge to Tanahashi after picking up a victory on Saturday at The New Beginning in Sapporo in a tag match. Tanahashi, who was seated at the commentary table, quickly accepted his challenge.
NJPW revealed on Monday that the match will take place at Sakura Genesis on Saturday, April 6. The event will be held at the Ryogoku Kokugikan in Tokyo. The only other match announced for the show is Tetsuya Naito defending the IWGP World Championship against the winner of the 2024 New Japan Cup.
Nemeth defeated David Finlay to win the Global Championship on Friday at night 1 of The New Beginning in Sapporo. On Saturday’s TNA TV taping in Louisiana, Nemeth appeared via video and announced he will defend the belt on March 8 at TNA Sacrifice.
Nic Nemeth has challenged NJPW President Hiroshi Tanahashi to an IWGP Global Heavyweight Championship bout.
After picking up a victory in a tag team contest at Saturday’s The New Beginning in Sapporo, Nemeth challenged Tanahashi to be his first challenger for the Global title. Tanahashi was at ringside on commentary, and answered “I agree with you” in English to Nemeth.
No date has been set for the bout.
Tanahashi had been scheduled to wrestle on Saturday’s event as part of Kazuchika Okada’s team in Okada’s farewell 10-man tag, but was pulled from the show just prior to bell time with a right ankle injury.
There have been no reports as of yet to the severity of the injury to Tanahashi, but the fact that the Nemeth match was agreed to indicates that he is not expected to miss a lot of time.
Nemeth defeated David Finlay in the main event of Friday’s The New Beginning show to win the Global title in his in-ring debut for NJPW. On the same show, Tanahashi dropped the NJPW World TV title to Matt Riddle.
Also on Saturday’s show, YOH stole SHO’s IWGP Junior Heavyweight title belt in an angle to set up a future championship bout between the former tag partners.
Saturday’s event also featured Okada and Tama Tonga’s farewell matches for the promotion.
Our full coverage of The New Beginning in Sapporo is here.
Video of Nemeth’s challenge to Tanahashi is embedded below.
Nic Nemeth’s unique post-WWE tour will continue during WrestleMania weekend as he will take on “Speedball” Mike Bailey as part of Josh Barnett’s Bloodsport X.
The streaming event takes place on Thursday, April 4th as part of the GCW Collective in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Nemeth will be making his Bloodsport debut while Bailey (0-2) is looking for his first event win after losses to Yuya Uemura and Kota Ibushi, respectively.
Nemeth made his GCW debut earlier this month at The Coldest Winter 2, losing to Matt Cardona. He will make his NJPW in-ring debut later this month and recently made his TNA Wrestling debut as well.
An homage to the classic action movie, Bloodsport matches are conducted in a ring without ropes or turnbuckles where wins can only come via knockout or submission.
Here’s the current card:
Nic Nemeth vs. Mike Bailey
Timothy Thatcher vs. Axel Tischer
AKIRA vs. Matt Makowski
Fuminori Abe vs. Takuya Nomura
Four-woman tournament: Masha Slamovich, Lady Frost, Marina Shafir and Lindsay Snow
Nearly two months after making his surprise NJPW debut, Nic Nemeth will finally make his in-ring debut for the promotion later this month.
The road to get there began with the former Dolph Ziggler’s release from WWE last September — ending a 19-year run with the company and a bevy of title runs behind him.
Many fans were surprised at the release given his longevity in WWE. However, it wasn’t long after that he would go on to surprise people with his next moves.
The first surprise came on January 4th when Nemeth made his NJPW debut at Wrestle Kingdom 18, appearing with his brother, Ryan. During the post-event press conference, Nemeth attacked then-new IWGP Global Heavyweight Champion David Finlay. Now, Nemeth is set to challenge Finlay as part of night one of The New Beginning event in Sapporo on February 23rd.
In our talk that you can watch above on YouTube, I asked Nemeth what his confidence level was heading into the match, knowing people are going to critique whether or not he belongs in an NJPW ring.
“Yeah, that goes through my head every day and I’m not even kidding,” he said.
“…That confidence, even for those three-minute matches the last year in WWE, I could have been smoking a cigarette and like texting somebody and go, ‘And still crushing it.’ But in this case, I’m very nervous.”
Nemeth said that he considers this a glorious and huge opportunity and one he views as a “sink or swim” moment.
“It is a big deal, no matter who you are or what you’re doing. That is huge. This opportunity, If I go out there and give it like a C+ or an A- minus effort, I don’t belong there and that might get exposed right away. I’m nervous about it. Like I said, I’m confident, but every day I go, ‘This is the big one here.’
He went on to say that this opportunity will either tell the entire world he’s full of crap and a big phony or that he still has it for several more years.
“At 43, (after) 19 years of wrestling, you’re not supposed to be totally standing up straight, feeling better than you ever have. But I do and I can’t wait to continue to keep doing things.”
The end of his WWE run
Nemeth said that for nearly 11 of the 19 years that he was in WWE, he was constantly waiting for that call ahead of WrestleMania when he wasn’t booked in hopes that it may be his moment.
“You pitched your ideas, you left your heart out there. But, sometimes it’s show business. It doesn’t work out.”
He said that in the last five years he became the guy where if you needed someone for an emergency main event, he would be there. However, that role came with some pros and cons. On one hand, he realized he was good at his job and lucky to have that position and the respect of the locker room.
But on the other hand, he wanted more.
“There’s some respect in that from the locker room, but I hate it because everybody wants to be the world champ. Everyone in their mind, I hope, thinks that they are the best, thinks they should be main eventing WrestleMania, thinks they should have the company on their back. Not everybody should, but everybody should feel that way because if you don’t, then what the hell are you doing here?”
He shared that he actually pitched leaving WWE for a few months or more and that they would agree but then call him right back immediately.
“It would be different if I was hobbling around or if I didn’t get reactions or wasn’t good at my job. I would be happy to take a backseat and help people out. But I’m sitting around six days a week not working basically in the prime of my career. So let’s get going. And so I said, ‘How about this? How about I leave for six months? How about I leave for a year?’ How about I get the hell out of here?’ But even a couple of years ago when they said yes, the next Sunday I’d get a phone call, saying, ;Hey, we need you.’ It’s great.”
He said for the last few years, most of the time he was only needed for a four or five minute match and even then, most of the match would get cut and that it was more of a position for an enhancement talent, not someone who was being paid millions of dollars to be there.
“If we have 90 seconds or three minutes, I really feel like we should have an enhancement talent here — not a guy you’re paying millions of dollars to.”
Nemeth said his sentiments about that fell on deaf ears for about two years until he decided to write an email to everybody in charge. Only Vince McMahon responded.
“…Finally I wrote a really, really, really heartfelt, really long, mostly positive but some negative, six-page email to everybody in charge. Vince was the only one to write me back and he said, ‘Wow, I can’t believe this. Let’s talk.’
He said he offered to fly to Stamford, Connecticut, the next day if needed but McMahon said he needed a few weeks to figure it out.
“I said, ‘Ok, but I gotta leave. Let’s talk about how.'”
Two weeks after the initial email and the email conversation with McMahon, Nemeth was released.
I return on another Big Vinny V Show to review the latest episode of TNA Impact.
Our main event sees TNA Tag Team Champions ABC (Chris Bey & Ace Austin) take on the Grizzled Young Veterans (James Drake & Zack Gibson) in the first of their three-match series. I explain how Austin has improved and also how the Veterans were so utterly wasted in WWE NXT.
TNA looked back at Jordynne Grace’s big day in the WWE Royal Rumble in a tremendous video package that stands in stark contrast to other parts of the show.
Elsewhere, Nic Nemeth’s enemies continued to grow, a new challenger for Chris Sabin’s X-Division title emerged, and one segment appeared to be designed to mock this very podcast.
All this and more on the latest edition of The Big Vinny V Show!
The second TNA Impact of the new era will feature the in-ring promotional debut of Nic Nemeth, the return of NJPW legend Kazuchika Okada, and a Knockouts title rematch from Hard to Kill.
In his first TNA bout, Nemeth will go against The Rascalz’ Zachary Wentz after making his surprise debut at Hard to Kill in a confrontation with TNA World Champion Moose. In his debut promo last week, Nemeth was confronted by Steve Maclin.
Okada will team with the Motor City Machine Guns (Alex Shelley & Chris Sabin) against The System (Moose, Brian Myers & Eddie Edwards) in a high-profile trios bout. This will be Okada’s first TNA match since 2011.
Trinity will look to regain the title she lost earlier this month as she faces Knockouts Champion Jordynne Grace.
Chris Bey will take on Kevin Knight in singles action while former Knockouts Tag Team Champions MK Ultra (Masha Slamovich & Killer Kelly) face Dani Luna & Jody Threat.
**********
Impact began with a tribute graphic for Francisco Ciatso alongside a recap of Nic Nemeth’s promo after Hard to Kill promising to become TNA World Champion and his brawl with Steve Maclin. The show is very hit or miss visually with a lot of odd problems happening – so hopefully that gets resolved soon.
Chris Bey defeated Kevin Knight
Bey has been in a groove during his entire Impact/TNA run and Kevin Knight has been a low-key showstealer live when I’ve seen him on NJPW shows – so this should be a lot of fun. Bey got a quick two count off a cradle before Knight gained an advantage with a tornado armdrag. Knight missed a dive to the floor, but did a flatfooted jump to the ring apron before taking a top-rope necksnap. Knight sent Bey into the corner with his gorgeous dropkick before a floating Stinger splash landed perfectly. Knight double-stomped the arm to avoid a backdrop and landed a brainbuster for 2. Bey avoided a frog splash and landed a corner enzuiguri before hitting a draping second-rope elbow drop. The Art of Finesse hits for the win.
After the win, the Grizzled Young Veterans attacked Bey before taking out Ace Austin. Gibson and Drake took out Bey with Grit Your Teeth – the double-team codebreaker to boos. An Ash By Elegance cheesecake video aired to hype her eventual in-ring debut.
A recap of Kazarian turning on Eric Young and being a heel for the first time in many years in TNA airs. Kazarian said that he has nothing to explain right now and he’ll explain it next week. Swann interrupted him and Kazarian tells him to join him because he’s doing nothing. AJ Francis told Swann that he’ll be there for him when he faces Hendry. Francis asks where they met and it was in the back row of a plane five years ago and now he flies first class while Swann flies at the back. Well that sure makes the former TNA World Champion look great.
Dirty Dango and Oleg Prudius defeated Dante King and Darian Drake
Prudius demolished both opponents while Dango sat on the apron talking on his phone. Prudius is working this in a way that reminds me of something Wade Keller said about Kevin Nash where you could place a camera above him and see how little he’s actually moving. Dango tagged in and hit an Eye of the Hurricane to win.
The Grizzled Young Veterans complained about being put into a four-way title match on day one, while Santino let them know that a best two out of three series will begin next week between the GYVs and ABC for the tag titles. Backstage, Gia Miller interviewed the Motor City Machine Guns and Kazuchika Okada and they’ll show everyone what nonstop action is.
Jordynne Grace defeated Trinity to retain the Knockouts Title
A “knockouts” chant started the match off before Trinity worked as a heel landing forearms during a handshake. Trinity landed a V trigger and got Starstruck on early before Grace got to the rope quickly. Grace escaped a corner charge with a massive forearm and got two off a Double A spinebuster. Grace hopped up top, but got kicked down before sending Trinity down and getting two off a Vader bomb.
Grace went for a vertebreaker before Trinity rolled out and landed an enzuiguri. Trinity trapped her in the ropes and landed a headscissor variant of the Heatseeker for two. Grace backed her into the corner off a full nelson bomb attempt and wanted a superplex, but settled for a few headbutts and knee strikes before finally landing a delayed superplex and Juggernaut jackhammer for two.
They go back and forth on slaps before Trinity fell and Grace yelled at her to get up and see if she wants it. Trinity got a desperation full nelson bomb for 2, but couldn’t follow up with Starstruck. Grace wanted a muscle buster, but Trinity got two off a sunset flip off the top before a slew of one count cradles. They lead to a two count, then a cradle that Trinity turned into Starstruck, but was then turned into a pinfall to win it for Grace. This was one of the better matches in either woman’s careers and the best knockouts title match on TV in many years.
Gisele Shaw and her goons beat up both women and she V triggered Trinity down and out. Backstage, the System said that they’re the standard bearers in TNA and Moose as the TNA World Champion proves that the System works. Josh Alexander talked about living his dream since he was 15 – wrestling in a TNA ring and then wrestling the best in the world in Will Ospreay and putting him down to become the world beater. Alan Angels let him know that he could be the first guest on his new show the Sound Check and Alexander agrees. The announcers hyped up Nemeth’s first TNA match being his first match outside of WWE ever.
Nic Nemeth defeated Zachary Wentz
A giant “wanted man” chant started things off hot with just a tie-up. Zentz got out and wanted a superkick, but ate a dropkick. A Trey Miguel trip on the outside led to Wentz getting an edge with a pumping knee strike. Wentz wore him down with a kneeling surfboard before Nemeth slugged away to escape. Nemeth landed a stinger splash and Rude awakening out of the corner for two. Wentz avoided a corner charge and got a schoolboy with the trunks for two. Nemeth’s leaping DDT got two. Wentz got a slick handspring knee strike and a half-nelson slam for two. A snapmare driver from Wentz was countered into the Zig Zag/Danger Zone for the win.
Miguel came in and took a Danger Zone before a Maclin run-in took out Nemeth. He wanted KIA, but ate a Danger Zone instead. Well, other than this continuing the formula of a winner having their heat cut off by a run-in and beatdown tonight, this did at least get the Danger Zone name over. A Crazzy Steve video airs saying that Tommy Dreamer held him back. He is going to use the Digital Media Title to carve a scar into the history books of TNA Wrestling. Rhino confronted him and wants the title. Well, that’s better than Steve wanting to scar TNA by having a Digital Media Title match with Cheex. A Decay video airs saying that they’re here to be reborn in the reborn TNA.
MK Ultra defeated Dani Luna and Jody Threat
Luna started off with Slamovich and a tie-up that Luna turned into a fireman’s carry. Threat tagged in for a quick two. MK Ultra double-boots Luna down for two. Threat comes in and lands a pump knee and shotgun knees on the second rope for two on Kelly. MK Ultra hits a slick double-team short-drop powerbomb on Threat for the win. This was pretty fun and a nice showcase for everyone involved. After the match, instead of a run-in, MK Ultra just keeps beating up Dani Luna and hit the same short-drop double powerbomb.
The Motor City Machine Guns and Kazuchika Okada defeat Moose, Brian Myers, and Eddie Edwards
The Machine Guns’ entrance gained so much with the fans chanting “motor city” alongside their theme and Hannifan openly talked about how much Okada hated his first TNA run – but loves the company in its current incarnation. Shelley started the match off working over Edwards’ arm before Myers is tagged in to face off with Sabin. Sabin ran wild with fast backhands before Okada and Moose go at it mid-ring. Moose got a quick two off a schoolboy and avoided a Rainmaker.
Shelley and Edwards came in with the Guns taking down Edwards with a series of kicks to the body. Okada tagged in to drop elbows on Edwards’ knee before Shelley lands a grounded dragon screw. Myers came in and locked on a chinlock before they returned from a break with Shelley sending him down with a boot before Sabin tagged in and ran wild. Sabin landed an apron PK on Moose before a tornado DDT to Edwards got two.
Eddie got Shelley stuck in the corner and a Sabin helluva kick hit Shelley by mistake. I love this – they’re setting up Shelley vs. Sabin, possibly Shelley getting the X Title from him and then can go with Option C to get Shelley a World Title match. Sabin landed a big top rope crossbody on Myers and Edwards before a run-up tornado DDT! Moose and Okada came back in before Moose got spiked on a DDT. An Okada flapjack hits Myers before landing the air raid crash neckbreaker to Moose for 2.
Okada landed the diving elbow before the rainmaker pose, but Moose avoided the rainmaker but ate the dropkick. Moose responded in kind with one of his own! Edwards avoids shell shock and the backpack stunner gets two. A ___the System chant got muted before Moose ate a double superkick from the Guns. Combo dropkick lands before Myers hits a jumping knee to Shelley. Roster Cut misses on Okada, but the Rainmaker doesn’t and the Shell Shock wins it! The faces close the show out with a hug and Okada gets one last rainmaker pose on US TV while in New Japan.
Mustafa Ali
A video teasing Ali’s TNA debut aired after the post-show credits.
The following are results and spoilers from Friday’s TNA Wrestling’s TV tapings from Orlando, Florida. The company returns Saturday night with another set.
These come courtesy of PWInsider.
TNA Explosion:
Rhino defeated Champagne Singh. Digital Media Champion Crazzy Steve attacked Rhino afterward to set up a future match.
Jason Hotch defeated Rich Swann. AJ Francis was on commentary and cost Swann the victory.
Laredo Kid defeated Jai Vidal
Jake Something defeated Shera
TNA Impact:
Nic Nemeth defeated Trey Miguel. Steve Maclin attacked Nemeth afterward and was joined by all three Rascalz members.
TNA Knockouts Tag Team Champions Decay defeated Mila Moore & Savannah Gore
Brian Myers defeated Kevin Knight. KUSHIDA came out to save Knight after Myers, Eddie & Alisha Edwards were about to attack him post-match.
Frankie Kazarian cut a promo about why he betrayed Eric Young.
PCO defeated Deaner. Big Kon attacked PCO afterward and left him laying.
Grizzled Young Vets defeated TNA Tag Team Champions Ace Austin & Chris Bey in a non title match
TNA X Division Champion Chris Sabin defeated John Skyler
Alex Shelley defeated Eddie Edwards (w/ Alisha Edwards). KUSHIDA and Knight aided Shelley as Myers and Edwards were about to attack Shelley.
Zachary Wentz defeated “Speedball” Mike Bailey. Wentz and Trey Miguel attacked Bailey afterward and were joined by Maclin when Nemeth and Trent Seven made the save.
Josh Alexander defeated Alan Angels. Alexander was attacked by a masked man in the stands who revealed himself to be Simon Gotch. Gotch wrestled in TNA in a single match back in 2006.
TNA World Champion Moose defeated KUSHIDA. A brawl between Moose, Edwards and Myers and Shelley, Knight and KUSHIDA then broke out.
Steve Maclin (w/ The Rascalz) defeated Trent Seven (w/ “Speedball” Mike Bailey)
Nic Nemeth’s in-ring TNA debut, Kazuchika Okada in action, plus a Knockouts World title rematch are set for the Thursday, January 25 Impact show.
TNA has officially announced three matches for next Thursday’s episode, including the former Dolph Ziggler’s first match with the company as he takes on Zachary Wentz.
Kazuchika Okada will also wrestle on Impact next week as he teams with Motor City Machine Guns against The System’s Moose, Brian Myers, and Eddie Edwards.
The TNA Knockouts World Championship will also be on the line in a rematch from last Saturday’s Hard to Kill pay-per-view, with new title holder Jordynne Grace defending against former champion Trinity.
Matches for next week’s Impact episode were taped this past Sunday in Las Vegas. Spoilers from the taping are available here.
The announced card for the Thursday, January 25 TNA Impact:
Nic Nemeth’s TNA in-ring debut vs. Zachary Wentz
Kazuchika Okada & Motor City Machine Guns (Alex Shelley & Chris Sabin) vs. The System (Moose, Brian Myers & Eddie Edwards)
TNA Knockouts World Champion Jordynne Grace defends against Trinity
The promotion announced on Monday that Nemeth will wrestle Matt Cardona at GCW The Coldest Winter 2. The event takes place on Saturday, February 3 at the Ukrainian Cultural Center in Los Angeles.
It makes me sick to my stomach that all these ex-WWE guys are coming over to the indies and they’re trying to leech off companies like GCW to get buzz, who would do something like that?
He continued:
Let me remind you Nic, I’m the man that beat you to become the WWE United States Champion and I fully intend to beat you again.
ICYMI
Matt Cardona wasn't able to make it to #GCWCompadre on Friday in Chicago, but that didn't stop him from checking in "LIVE VIA SATELLITE" from his home in Orlando.
The Indie God challenged @NicTNemeth to a match on February 3rd at GCW in Los Angeles…
The former Dolph Ziggler wrestled the first match of his post-WWE career on Sunday’s TNA TV taping in Las Vegas. He’s also scheduled to make his WWC debut in Puerto Rico next weekend and his NJPW in-ring debut next month at New Beginning in Sapporo.
Nemeth spoke with TNA’s Sam Laterna following his appearance at Hard to Kill. During the discussion, Nemeth said he feels fortunate that multiple promotions reached out to him following his WWE release.
Nemeth said:
I had a lot of time to think in the last three, four, five, six months, to where, what can I do to extend my legacy but also have an entirely different chapter, a different mindset, a different person? And I said, I really feel like I’m a wanted man because the day I left my last job, I’m so lucky that I had so many people reach out, not to say thank you or whatever, none of that stuff, congrats. A bunch of people reached out instantly and said, ‘We want you here’ and I go, man, it is great to feel that. I’m very fortunate and lucky.
He continued:
This is so exciting for me that I want to bounce around. You’re going to see me on the independents, you’re going to see me back showing up, hitting Puerto Rico this weekend and bouncing around.
I hope I can make that work to where it’s like I show up somewhere, everybody’s better because I was there and now you want to come back next time because you know I’m coming back again. I want to do that as many possible places as I can and there’s a million people out there that I want to get in the ring with.
Nemeth wrestled Zachary Wentz of the Rascalz at the TV taping. TNA has yet to announce when the match will air. Spoilers from the show are available here.
The following are spoilers from TNA’s Snake Eyes TV taping in Las Vegas, Nevada, Sunday — the follow-up to Saturday’s Hard to Kill that saw nearly every title change hands.
While most of the matches were taped for the weekly TNA Impact TV show on AXS TV, several matches were also taped for Xplosion — their former secondary show in the previous TNA era. It’s unknown if that will replace Before The Impact on AXS TV.
The following come courtesy of Fightful’s Joel Pearl.
Rhino defeated Shera
Joe Hendry defeated Rich Swann
Jake Something defeated KUSHIDA, El Hijo Del Vikingo, Trey Miguel, Laredo Kid & Mike Bailey in a multi-man match
Nic Nemeth cut a promo about wanting to become the TNA World Champion before he was interrupted by Steve Maclin. Maclin called Nemeth a phony and that it’s his time as Nemeth had 20 years to tell his story. Nemeth hit a Zig Zag on him to end the segment.
Xia Brookside defeated Tasha Steelz
Grizzled Young Veterans (James Drake & Zack Gibson) defeated Eric Young & Frankie Kazarian. After the match, Kazarian turned on Young.
PCO defeated Jai Vidal
Chris Bey defeated Kevin Knight. Afterward, the Grizzled Young Veterans laid out Bey and Ace Austin.
I am back with another Sunday edition of Wrestling Observer Live.
Saturday was a crazy night in wrestling as the newly-rebranded TNA ran its Hard to Kill pay-per-view in Las Vegas, NJPW had Battle in the Valley in San Jose, and AEW ran both Collision and Battle of the Belts IX in Norfolk, Virginia.
I break down the highlights from all these shows, including surprises from Jack Perry and Nic Nemeth who both showed up in new places.
Also, I give my thoughts about WWE SmackDown from Friday with the building tension between Bayley and her Damage CTRL teammates, and the latest on the Bloodline Saga which leads into the build to this year’s Royal Rumble which takes place in just two weeks.
Plus, I talk the latest on Mercedes Mone, the timeline of her next appearance, and whether she is still AEW-bound.
Two released WWE stars are now part of the new era of TNA.
Nic Nemeth, the former Dolph Ziggler in WWE, appeared following the main event of Saturday’s Hard to Kill that saw Moose begin his second World title reign with a win over Alex Shelley.
Nemeth and Moose went face-to-face before Nemeth hit a superkick and the Zig Zag before he left the ring and celebrated in the stands, avoiding a potential beatdown by Moose’s new faction called The System.
Nemeth’s first match in his new home is official as he will take on Zachary Wentz of The Rascalz as part of Sunday’s TV taping in Las Vegas, Nevada.
**********
Nemeth wasn’t the only former WWE star to debut as Dana Brooke appeared in the crowd during the Knockouts title match between now-former champion Trinity and Jordynne Grace.
Brooke, who was flanked by a gentleman, was identified as Ash by Elegance — a tie-in to her real name of Ashley Mae Sebera. She did not confront Grace after she won the title, nor was there an indication of what she was doing there.
Earlier in the night, former NFL running back and one-time TNA wrestler DeAngelo Williams made his return to the promotion for the first time since 2017.
Williams, who teamed with Moose at Slammiversary that same year, is now part of Moose’s new aforementioned faction. Williams hasn’t wrestled since that lone match although his performance impressed many at the time.
As of this writing, TNA has not formally announced any of the three are under contract.
