Tonight’s TNA Impact is the final show before Impact moves to AMC next week.
Matt and Jeff Hardy are scheduled to kick off this week’s show. They will likely address The Righteous, Vincent and Dutch, who have been playing mind games with them in recent weeks.
Mike Santana and Frankie Kazarian are scheduled to take part in a contract signing segment tonight. Santana will challenge Kazarian for the TNA World Championship on next week’s live episode.
The TNA International Championship will be on the line as Channing “Stacks” Lorenzo defends against former champion Steve Maclin.
An eight-person tag team match scheduled for the show will see Cedric Alexander, Leon Slater, and The Hardys face The System’s Brian Myers, Eddie Edwards, JDC, and Moose.
Dani Luna returns to singles action tonight against Harley Hudson. This follows Luna’s attack on Knockouts Champion Lei Ying Lee on last week’s show.
Matches for this week’s episode were taped last month at the El Paso County Coliseum.
Our live coverage begins at 8 p.m. Eastern.
**********
Taped from El Paso, Texas.
Tom Hannifan & Matthew Rehwoldt were on commentary.
The Hardys Opened The Show
Matt and Jeff made their way down to the ring, angry at Vincent and Dutch for redecorating their locker room last week. Oh, and the kidnapping too. The Righteous “crossed the line” and there’s no coming back from that blasphemy. Matt’s words, not mine. Jeff wanted the Righteous to step up and face them like real men!
Cue Vincent and Dutch’s music, and from the safety of the entrance stage Vincent tried to apologize. Matt just wants to “DELETE!” the Righteous and demanded a match, right here in El Paso! The crowd was behind the Hardys and bored with the Righteous. Vincent isn’t ready to do the match tonight, and would like some time to prepare. He suggested Genesis, and Jeff agreed.
So, Hardys v. Righteous at Genesis for the TNA World Tag Team Titles at Genesis.
— Gian interviewed Steve Maclin, and it’s time for him to get his title back tonight. Eric Young interrupted and told Maclin to complete his mission or else “the Cleanse is coming.” I thought (hoped?) they’d dropped that.
Dani Luna vs. Harley Hudson (w/ Myla Grace)
Hudson got a near fall after a springboard bulldog and a legdrop. Hudson went for a front face lock, and Luna just shrugged her off and hit a boot, then finished her off with the Luna Landing.
After the match, Myla Grace checked on Hudson, so Luna attacked her and dropped her with the Luna Landing and then dumped the referee. Lei Ying Lee ran in to chase off Luna, but Luna jumped the champ and choked her out. Xia Brookside tried to save the champ, but Luna laid her out, too.
Match Result: Luna pinned Hudson (3:00) then laid out half of the Knockouts division.
— Ryan Nemeth thinks Mara Shade is into her and tried flirting, so she superkicked some sense into him.
— Order 4 can’t find Agent Zero before Mustafa Ali’s State of the Union address. Pan to the back and Agent Zero is slumped over on the floor, with a guitar broken over his head. Elijah appeared with a satisfied smirk.
— The Elegance Brand has finally found their Mr. Elegance: some random production assistant who’s worked for the company for 8 years. The Elegance Brand left to take their find to the gym and give him a makeover. After they left, someone dressed in green kimono emerged from under a table a said, “I must protect the Elegance Brand.”
That was actually a thing that happened, yes.
Mustafa Ali and The State of the Union
Mustafa Ali is here to propose a way to eliminate the distractions that Elijah brings to TNA: no more concerts, no more guitars, no more cowboy hats. He polled the crowd for votes, and gets booed. The crowd further chanted “no!” to make it clear. Ali called the crowd idiots, and Elijah showed up on horseback with his guitar to chase off Order 4.
After the break, the Order 4 ran out of the arena and into the parking lot, and right into Elijah and his horse. They did a slow motion chase scene out of the parking lot.
Steve Maclin v. Stacks (w/ Arianna Grace & The NXT Outlaws) for the TNA International Championship
Maclin hit a double leg and pounded Stacks. Maclin hit a backbreaker and a back elbow. Maclin dumped Stacks to the floor.
Maclin followed Stacks on the floor and was soon surrounded by the other NXT outlaws. Brooks Jensen tripped up Maclin as he got back into the ring, allowing Stacks to take the advantage.
Stacks wore down Maclin with a cravat. Maclin came back with a release German suplex. Maclin charged at Stacks and ate a boot, and Sacks got a near fall with a modified flapjack. Stacks dumped Maclin to the floor, and distracted the ref so his cohorts on the floor could beat down Maclin some more.
Stacks got a near fall after a double stomp.
Stacks wore down Maclin with a modified bulldog choke. Maclin escaped the choke and tried for a back suplex, but Stacks flipped out of it and tripped Maclin into the ropes. Tyreke tried to choke Maclin behind the ref’s back, but the ref caught him and sent Tyreke to the back. The rest of the NXT geeks were allowed to stay though.
Maclin hit an Olympic Slam. Arianna Grace ran in and got in between Maclin and Stacks, so Maclin dove at Tyson on the floor. Maclin then took out Brooks Jensen and Lexis King as well. Maclin hung Stacks upside down in the corner to set up his running shoulder block, so Grace got in the ring a second time (the first time was probably a misstep), and Grace clawed out Maclin’s eyes. The NXT invaders then jumped Maclin again and Stacks hit Maclin with a sliding knee to the back.
Match Result: Steve Maclin wins by disqualification, Stacks retains the International Title (7:29 aired).
The TNA Injury Report:
- All the knockouts Dani Luna beat up in the opening match are being evaluated.
- Everyone in the main event has been cleared.
- Santino Marella is not physically injured, but psychologically damaged.
- Mike Santana’s arm has a boo-boo, but he’s cleared for his TNA World Title match next Thursday.
- Steve Maclin is en route to being evaluated.
— In a digital exclusive, on the First Class Penthouse, AJ Francis ran down Rich Swann for being such a poor champion they couldn’t get ten people into the building! Swann snuck up behind Swann to hit Francis with a baseball bat, then put Francis through a table with a crossbody off the middle rope. Swann also destroyed Franc’s vinyl record.
Genesis Rundown:
- The Hardys v. The Righteous for the TNA Tag Titles
- Lei Ying Lee v. Dani Luna for the Knockouts Title
- Cedric Alexander v. Moose v. Leon Slater for the X-Division Title.
- Eddie Edwards v. JDC
- Elijah v. Mustafa Ali
- AJ Francis v. Rich Swann
- Someone will say Joe Hendry’s name, because he will appear.
Next Week’s Impact (the debut on AMC):
- Order 4 v. Elijah & Hardys
- The IInspiration v. The Elegance Brand for the TNA Knockouts Tag Titles
- Frankie Kazarian v. Mike Santana for the TNA World Title.
Obviously some fallout from the first AMC show will fill out the Genesis card.
The System v. Cedric Alexander, Leon Slater & The Hardys
The entrances for this started before 9:20 and then they went to commercial before the start of the match, so they’re really stretching this one out. Hopefully the AMC deal allows TNA to do more than one taping a month.
Matt Hardy and Moose lead the crowd in dueling “Delete!” “Moose!” chants. Hardy sucker-punched Moose and then deleted his head into the turnbuckles. Edwards was double-teamed by the Hardys in their corner, and Jeff worked a chinlock. Leon Staler go the tag used Jeff as a springboard for a little Poetry in Motion.
Edwards came back with a rana. Moose got the tag and hit Slater with a dropkick. Moose hit a uranage and a senton. Moose charged, but Slater low bridged him and hit a crossbody off through the ropes and soon it was dives from everybody! Edward! Cedric! The Hardys! Alisha Edwards even got one in, but noticeably JDC did not.
Back in the ring, Moose hit Slater with a dropkick. Slater and JDC almost spent a minute on a spot where Slater struggled to get JDC over for a sunset flip, and JDC struggled to keep from falling over. That was pretty funny.
JDC got the tag and went to work on Slater’s arm. Myers dropped Slater with a suplex for a near fall. Myers wore down Slater with a bearhug on the mat, then went to a side headlock to slow the pace down.
Slater got the tag to Jeff Hardy, who gave Myers a double legdrop to the abdomen and a hit a seated dropkick for a near fall. Myers avoided the Twist of Fate and hit an implant DDT. JDC got the tag and covered for a near fall. JDC tried to wear down Jeff with a chinlock, then a side headlock. Edwards gave Jeff a double stomp.
Jeff hit both Edwards and JDC with a clothesline off the middle rope. Alexander and Moose got the tags. Alexander blocked a boot and took Moose down with a dragon screw leg whip, then hit Edwards with a superkick. Alexander hit a flatliner on Moose for a near fall.
Moose hit Alexander with an ugly sit-out choke bomb for near fall. The Systems all teamed up on Alexander. Every member of the System hit a finisher on Alexander, but he managed to kick out.
Jeff Hardy hit Moose with a Twist of Fate. The Hardys Team hit Myers and Edwards with stereo Plot Twists. Moose speared Slater out of his shoes, then planted Alexander with a pop up powerbomb. Moose went for a spear, but Alexander caught him with a quick rollup and got the pinfall to send JDC home a loser.
Match Result: The Hardys, Alexander & Slater were victorious when Alexander rolled up Moose (15:25 aired).
AMC Premiere Main Event Contract Signing (The End of the AXS Era)
Depressed Santino Marella is out to officiate the contract signing for the first Main Event of the AMC era. Marella explains that if Kazarian wins the title, then Santana goes to the back of the line. But if Santana wins the title, then he “will be defending the title at Genesis.” I think Santino was supposed to say that Santana would defend against Kazarian, because then he turns back to Kazarian and says he’ll have to defend the title “against another contender” if he wins at Genesis. It was a little confusing.
Kazarian took a mic and confessed he was he was addicted to being TNA World Champion. Santana talked about how he and Kazarian were at a place that “tired to drain their love of pro wrestling” but they left that place and came to TNA and then found their passion again. Santana promised he would walk out of Dallas next week as a 2 time TNA World Champion. Santana then said if he can’t win the title next week, maybe he doesn’t belong in TNA.
Santana went to sign the contract, but Nic Nemeth came out with his Call Your Shot trophy. Nemeth knows Santana and Kazarian are going to beat each other to death next week, and once the match is over, Nemeth will cash in his guaranteed title shot and leave the AMC Premiere as champion. Nemeth encouraged both guys to sign the papers. Which they did.
Santana and Kazarian stood face to face in the ring, with Marella in between them, while Nemeth loomed in the background holding up his trophy, to end the show.
So, tune in next week to AMC for a main event and immediate screw job, I guess? Hopefully that they’re telegraphing the screwjob so hard, Santana will wind up standing tall with belt and beating both guys by the end of the night.
This show very much felt like the scraps of two days of taping with a lot of filler to pad out the runtime.
