Not completely sure how to feel about this card. It feels like a lot of fodder that probably won’t lead anywhere and just hopes that the Hardys and Oba can carry people’s interest to the end. TNA is continuing the tradition from last year of maybe having one month of decent booking and then looking blind and inept for a while. Like if you look up the definition for “The Blind Leading the Blind”, it shows you a picture of the TNA booking room.

Well let’s see if I hate this episode or if something interesting manifests.

.@WWENXT's @CoraJadeWWE just BLINDSIDED @mashaslamovich!

Watch #TNAiMPACT on TNA+: https://t.co/StCMC8U0CP pic.twitter.com/tdkPfAcrIS

— TNA Wrestling (@ThisIsTNA) February 28, 2025

Ratings:

• Oro Mensah vs Mike Santana: Santana wins via Spin the Block – ** 3/4
• Tessa Blanchard vs Kelsey Heather: Tessa wins via Buzzsaw DDT – ** 1/4
• KC Navarro w/AJ Francis vs Steve Maclin: Maclin wins via K.I.A. – ***
• TNA Knockouts Tag Titles: The Elegance Clique w/Personal Concierge vs Spitfire (c): Spitfire retain via Pressure Drop – ** 1/2
• Mance Warner w/SDL vs Sami Callihan: Mance wins via DQ – N/A
• Ace Austin vs Frankie Kazarian: Kaz wins via Slingshot Cutter – ** 1/4
• The Hardys & Oba Femi vs Moose, Brian Myers & Eddie Edwards w/JDC & Lish: The System wis via Lights Out – ***

Results:

The System opens the show and the only one getting any real wrestling reaction is Moose gets the ole “Oba’s Gonna Kill You”. The crowd is disinterested in anything the others say, even trying to get themselves over at different points. System isn’t doing themselves any favors either because this is the most cookie cutter heel exposition promo. To add to lack of interest, The System call out The Colons to join them. Colons come out to no reaction and play the “smart heel” angle of “Why fight them when we can just join them”. So for now they’re all friends, but who knows…and Full Sail definitely doesn’t care.

Oh a Spitfire promo that is cringe. I love Dani Luna, but Jody is just Millennial Cringe as a person. Every time she speaks I get both bored and annoyed at the same time.

Oro Mensah vs Mike Santana

Sadly my browser decided to have a heart attack and disconnect after the first 20 minutes and didn’t save the already typed information. So this will be extremely abbreviated because I don’t remember exactly how it played out.

They start off with trading so Wrist Lock Arm Drags and Wringers before a few strikes give Santana the advantage, which is then immediately cut off with Oro hitting a Satellite Arm Drag. Some back and forth where Santana has the advantage, but Oro manages to counter a Back Body Drop by rolling back and Santana immediately pulls off the Rolling Buck Fifty for a two count.

Oro hits a combination of strikes, tries to hook Santana’s head for a cradle but he fights back. He hits Call of Autumn but again only a near fall. Decent back and forth but Santana punctuates things well bouncing Oro off the corner buckles and then laying him out with a Spin the Block.

Tessa Blanchard vs Kelsey Heather

Tessa comes out of the gates hot, just raining down forearms, fast and aggressive. Kelsey manages to catch Tessa with a Spinning Head Scissors and that just annoys Tessa. So a swift kick and Snap Suplex into the bottom buckle keeps the enhancement talent rocked. John Woo drop kick, Running Forearm, Whips her into the opposite corner and charges, Kelsey screams and covers up so Tessa stops and just Slaps Kelsey for good measure. A few Cradles from Kelsey gave her a moment of effort, but a Cutter into the Buzzsaw DDT and Tessa wins.

KC Navarro w/AJ Francis vs Steve Maclin

Rope run start and it’s a lot of KC dodging, misdirection and leaping over Steve. Maclin gives him a look after KC poses and acts arrogant after the one flip counter, KC sortuv apologizes and then Maclin just lights him up. No Fun Maclin beats on KC, throws him into the center of the ring and lays him out with a Sliding Lariat. KC powders, so AJ starts distracting Maclin with words, KC Stun Guns Maclin and takes the referee’s attention so AJ gets in some cheapshots and then drops him face first on the apron. AJ tries to throw in KC for the easy win, but Maclin kicks out at one.

A little more offense and a Double Stomp from KC but only a one count again. The Northern Armoury stalks down the ramp so both KC and AJ are a little distracted but KC maintains his control after a few strikes and Slingblade. But two Lariats and a Thesz Press has KC reeling, Olympic Slam gets Maclin a two count. KC manages to kick Maclin’s legs out from under him while trying to set up, KC nails the Frog Splash, but Maclin kicks out at two. 305 from KC, another Frog Splash misses, Satellite DDT attempt but Maclin holds on, smirks and kisses KC Navarro on the forehead before Deep Sixing him! Tree of Woe, Caught in the Crosshairs, K.I.A. and Steve wins.

Tessa Blanchard vs. @TheLeiYingLee at #TNASacrifice?!

Watch #TNAiMPACT on TNA+: https://t.co/StCMC8Uysn pic.twitter.com/JPc0ZGj4h4

— TNA Wrestling (@ThisIsTNA) February 28, 2025

TNA Knockouts Tag Titles: The Elegance Clique w/Personal Concierge vs Spitfire (c)

Ash and Jody start, and its…I don’t know. Posturing, a weird looking Headlock Takeover from Jody. Just…ugh, and not because of Ash. Jody tries a Rollup but only gets a one and Ash immediately tags out. Heather looks a little deer in headlights, but charges and immediately gets smashed into the Spitfire corner and they start teaming up and isolating the my size Barbie. Sliding Lariat, Fun Splash, just really quick tandem offense keeps Heather on the receiving end. Concierge distracts the ref and Jody, so Ash and Heather take advantage of the situation with Heather hitting the Codebreaker and now the Clique are isolating Jody.

Jody manages to catch Heather’s foot, kick her back, make space and simultaneous tags to Dani and Ash. Dani brutalizes Ash, throws her all around, Ash starts crawling towards Heather and Dani snaps off a great Snap German before she gets to her corner twice. Takes too long for the third and Heather manages to pull her forward into the ropes. Tandem Backstabber/Double Stomp from Elegance but Jody breaks it up. Dani manages to tag out, Jody nearly hits Pop Shove It on Heather, but she slips it, tags out but Ash hits an immediate Michinoku Driver.

Dani has really great aggression in this match, Ash tags out but Spitfire manage to crash Ash to the floor, Heather is surprised and Dani just hits the Outside IN Rope Assisted German Suplex. Heather looks out of it (purely selling), they hit the Pressure Drop and retain so now the heels need to be the Personal Concierges. Heather slowly rolls to the apron to cry with Ash that they now have to work for Spitfire.

Mance Warner w/SDL vs Sami Callihan

Warner charges at the bell, Sami sidesteps and hits a Stunner sending Mance to powder. Sami grabs a chair, starts hitting him with the chair and the match is thrown out.

This is stupid, why even say there’s gonna be a match to DQ it in 30 seconds and just do a brawl with another pull apart. You can build to a No DQ match without booking the card into a corner. 

Ace Austin vs Frankie Kazarian

Ace starts quick, grounded Enzuigiri, a few quick strikes, a pop over the rope, Ace tries to outsmart Kaz but not jumping into the Cutter, but when he does Springboard Kaz just lays on the ropes to cause Ace to crash. Kaz takes full control of the situation, some simple offense into the Springboard Guillotine Leg Drop. Kaz even does the Shawn Michaels pose since Ace likes to to it. Ace fires a little with a flurry of cradles but a Wrestler’s Bridge gets Kaz out of the locomotion Cradles. Kaz tries a quick cheapshot to the leg, but Ace doesn’t stop coming forward. Click Click Boom, the Seated Lariat into 10 Count Lariats in the corner followed by the Triangle Kick sending Kaz retreating to the floor. Ace wants the Fosbury Flop but Kaz hides towards Tyson, Tyriek and Wes Lee who are at commentary.

Ace is of course somewhat distracted but laying in kicks until his temper gets the best of him and he mouths off to the heel trio. Kaz tries to take advantage, but Ace dodges and sees Wes out of the corner of his eye so he gets distracted again, Kaz Slingshots him in for the Slingshot Cutter and that’s all she wrote. Kaz wins and the NXT Trio start beating on Ace until The Rascalz run down with chairs in hand.

The Hardys & Oba Femi vs Moose, Brian Myers & Eddie Edwards w/JDC & Lish

Moose calls Oba out, looks like he wants to start off but tags out in expected heel fashion. Eddie gets tagged in and tries to shove Oba but Oba gets annoyed and throws Eddie around, Myers comes in just to eat a Double Clothesline as the Hardys then run in to lay em out over the ropes.

We come back from commercial to a Poetry in Motion and Lish get on the apron to distract the referee so let the System take some short cuts and a few quick tags but Myers is the legal on now. Isolating Jeff, Eddie gets tagged in and distracts the ref so Lish can choke Hardy from outside but Jeff hits the Jawbreaker for space. Eddie tags out to Moose, Moose tries to clear the enemy apron but only gets Oba, a Twist of Hate from Jeff  gets the time needed to tag in Matt! Matt hits the Delete Head Smashes, Tornado DDT, Side Effect…and Eddie breaks up the pin. Eddie tries to Dive on Oba but Oba catches him and Chokeslams him into the apron. Plot Twist on Moose in the ring! 1-2-Myers barely makes the save by shoving Jeff into the ref. Signature spam momentit comes down to Oba and Moose. Oba eats a Carbon Foot Print from Moose and stays standing, hits a Backbreaker to drop Moose, the Colons interfere enough for Moose to hit the Spear on Oba! Matt also eats a Spear after cracking Matt with a bejeweled ring fist and then Lights Out from Moose, The System wins!

Post-Match Elijah and Hendry run out to stop the post match beatdown. Santino Marella comes out with Sacrifice announcements. Jeff vs Moose for the X Division Title in a Ladder Match. Then a 10 man, the remnants of The System vs Matt Hardy and Joe Hendry’s choice of 3 extra dudes. 

Overall Score: 4/10

This whole show dragged, the crowd was dead for most of the show, the predictable things happened and most of the stuff was very low influence. Tessa having her first match back on iMPACT in like 4 years was irrelevant, the backstage segment with her and Lei Ying Lee wasn’t bad though. The System isn’t really getting any reactions which is embarrassing when even NXT has tried to frame them decently, and the Full Sail crowd doesn’t care. The Elegances are comedy so their stuff is fine, and they’re actually somewhat enjoyable…but Spitfire…mainly Jody, is freakin useless. Mance and Sami has been directionless with no heat. Mustafa’s cabinet has some potential but already getting pitted against Santana feels like a byproduct of a bad main event/upper mid card scene.

I nearly fell asleep a few times with how boring this damn show was. It wasn’t insanely offensive, but it was sooooo…boring. Dreamer’s era of booking makes me long for the Russo years because at least the stories were interesting even if they were inane and edgy just for the sake of it. God…I didn’t think anything would make me look fondly upon Russo booking. Eww…I feel dirty…I’m going to sleep now.

Filming at Full Sail seems to have set the stage nicely this week! Going into a Live episode we got Moose and The Hardy Boyz on NXT, as well as Jordynne Grace’s involvement with Steph and Giulia giving a little shine to TNA happenings since she’s newly WWE.

This episode should be interesting, we finally see Lei Ying Lee (fka Xia Li) back in action, Rascalz take on Tyson and Tyriek, Tessa should be seeing some action as well…so generally interesting happenings for the second Live iMPACT! of 2025. Let’s see how this one goes down!

No matter where @ManceWarner and @stephdelander go, @TheSamiCallihan WILL FIND THEM!

Watch #TNAiMPACT on TNA+: https://t.co/NY8HgI02kY pic.twitter.com/mXz9U7m9PL

— TNA Wrestling (@ThisIsTNA) February 21, 2025

Ratings:

• Tyson & Tyriek w/Wes Lee vs The Rascalz w/Ace Austin: Rascalz win via Meteora/Swanton Combo – ***
• Lei Ying Lee vs Rosemary: Lei wins via Thunderstruck – **
• NoDQ Match: Leon Slater vs JDC: Dango wins via The System help – ** 3/4
• Masha Slamovich vs Mila Moore: Masha wins via Requiem – N/A
• Elijah & Joe Hendry vs The Colons: Elijah wins via Tombstone Piledriver – *** 1/4

Results:

Oh yeah, and another Hendry concert is…cut off by a commercial, LOLTNA. First Hendry is cut off by AXSTV’s new Anime Hour bumper, and now Primo and Epico are showing up in TNA. I definitely didn’t have this on my BINGO card. The crowd starts chanting “Where’s Carlito”, which they do acknowledge and play off of well. Oh they’re using their shoot names of Orlando and Eddie now…but before they attack the lights go out and we get another guitar strum! ELIAH/ELIAS/EZEKIEL/EBENERZER/EMERY/EL VAGABUNDO – shows up to back up Hendry. Okay I can apologize away the redundant concert since it played into an Elijah debut. The crowd is immediately popping and chanting “This is Awesome” 10 minutes into the show. 

Tyson & Tyriek w/Wes Lee vs The Rascalz w/Ace Austin

Treehouse bros take it to the bigger men quickly, a few fast dives, a little MCMG style tandem strikes, Tyson fires and tries to take them out but they Low Bridge him. Tyriek comes in and they try similar things but Tyriek manhandles them both and throws them out of the ring, Trey is the first one back up and Tyriek and Tyson take his damn head off with his Corkscrew Running Euro Upper. Trey finally manages to flip out of the manhandle, tags in Wentz and Wentz goes for the hot and spicy cleaning house spot. Corner to Corner Knee Lifts for both big men, a Rolling Snapmare, into a Superkick for Tyson and Standing Shoot Star on Tyriek but only for two because Wes feints like he’s going to interfere.

Tyson and Tyriek pull off a tandem Assisted Backdrop Driver, but Wentz breaks it up, Tyson gets knocked out, Wentz hits the Tornillo, Wes tries to interfere again after Trey gets perched on the corner buckle but Ace runs around and trips Wes at the last second causing him to faceplant on the apron, Trey hits the Meteora, Wentz hits a Swanton from the other side of the ring and Trey gets the pinfall victory.

It was fast paced, all gas no brakes, but it didn’t overstay its welcome, so it was pretty fun all things considered.

After the match Wes grabs a mic, complains a little but challenges them to a 6 man match as Sacrifice. So we’re THAT’S where we’re getting the expected 3v3. 

Fir$t Cla$$ comes out with an entourage of hot chicks and probably influencers or something. The “First Class Penthouse” , Gabby AF, Mafiosa Valentina, and Carolina are apparently known in their own way. Gabby I know was the awful one who did something for Impact a last year and sucked, but she’s part of the Busted Open Network I believe so that’s why she’s around. Two of them look like Noelle Foley and Frank the Clown…oh they actually are. Look at that. I do love KC Navarro as the Hype Man, they have this whole set up of AJ being mad that they haven’t gotten more Tag Title shots, so TNA placated him with his own Piper’s Pit and he’s *pregnant pause* totally happy with that. He says he loved Piper and hated Hogan before it was cool.

This is actually quality content and AJ is cutting a nice promo in this segment. They introduce their first guest, the greatest performer in TNA history, many whole say he’s Phenomenal with a whole lot of style….it’s A-J-Francis. 

.@AJFrancis410 is GOING OFF!

Watch #TNAiMPACT on TNA+: https://t.co/NY8HgI02kY pic.twitter.com/kGehtp9iTE

— TNA Wrestling (@ThisIsTNA) February 21, 2025

Lei Ying Lee vs Rosemary

Things were slow until Rosemary took her into a corner quickly, hit the Upside Down, and we get a lot of Lei trying to avoid Rosemary’s offense. Rosemary goes for a Spear in the corner and Lei forward rolls, starts connecting with a bunch of right hands, backs Rosemary into the corner, goes for 10 Count Punches, pulls her out, Airplane Spin TKO for only a two count. Rosemary tries As Above So Below, Lei shrugs it off, Rosemary tries to go after Lei anyway and eats Thunderstruck! Lei Ying Lee wins!

After the match Rosemary catches Lei on the ramp and hits the Green mist in the eyes. Match was far too short and so many of Lei’s set up moves look better than her finish. We’ve seen Kofi Kingston do it for years so it’s not bad, just the current Knockouts Division are awful and don’t take the move well. 

Eric Young and the jabronis come out, EY cuts a very basic power crazed psycho kind of promo, gets the “What” chants from the crowds. EY is trying to recruit Maclin even though Maclin made his line in the sand last week. EY tries to spin it as maybe he took out Josh FOR Maclin instead of in spite of his trust. This really doesn’t seem interesting at all, but that’s probably because I hate the two Jabronis EY is with. 

NoDQ Match: Leon Slater vs JDC

I really don’t have any interest in Slater. He’s got no personality beyond “flippy guy with a British accent”. 

Dango immediately powders, grabs a chair and goes to swing on him but misses. So Leon is making JDC look dumb by dodging the post chop, using the chair to shield himself from a punch by JDC, and then clapping Dango’s fingers between the chair. So typical System match, look inept for the first few minutes, then take advantage of something to take over. Oh look, Leon takes too long setting up the table, Dango gets in a few pot shots, tries to whip him into the table but Leon leaps over it, and then leaps back over to clobber Dango. Dango is still trying to recover so Leon hits his over the corner post con hilo, and the crowd appreciates it but I’m not interested. Leon panders to the crowd after the big spot and then eats an X-Plex into the chair from Dango.

JDC throws Leon back in, goes for a pinfall that’s only a two and we cut to a commercial. Coming out of the commercial JDC is in control with a Kendo Stick until he isn’t, Leon counters and takes the keno stick, brutalizes Dango a few times then comes off the ropes with the kendo shot for 2. Leon goes for another table, and again, at least the crowd is receptive to this match. Leon sets it up, looks for something off the apron but Dango stops him first until he eats a dropkick to fall onto the table, Leon hits the Swanton 450 through the table on the outside. Does it look cool? Sure. Do I care about dumbass moves? Nope.

Oh thankfully the rest of The System comes out to stop the pinfall, Shield Bomb Leon through the first table, and roll him back in for Dango to win.

The Hardy Boyz come out to try and make the save, but the numbers are against them, so Oba Femi’s music hits! Oba cleans house but doesn’t get his hands on Moose, so they’re at least building the eventual clash between Moose and Oba. 

The crowd starts a “Tessa, we comin for you” chant before she even starts talking. Tessa is actually playing off the crowd well, Santino’s music hits and Tessa thinks he’ll help her out with the crowd and Santino calls bullshit basically. Santino says if Tessa doesn’t wrestle next week, she’s fired and Masha’s music hits. Masha decides to step in for Tessa’s enhancement talent match. 

Masha Slamovich vs Mila Moore

Jobber tries to attack Masha early but Masha stops her, rocks her and Requiem ends the match.

Masha stares down Tessa, and then Cora Jade attacks from behind and hits Jaded. 

Ryan Nemeth comes out to his Abyss music remix. What will Mokuba say today? “MYYYY BIIIGG BBRROOOOTTHHHEEEEER” he repeats at least 4 times and it’s hilariously cringe. He announces that Nic will return at Sacrifice, he literally just came out to give a PSA. 

Elijah & Joe Hendry vs The Colons

Hendry starts with Eddie, after a brief tie up it seems like Hendry reads the room and points at Elijah and the crowd wants him in. So Joe tags in Elijah, a little back and forth, Shoulder Tackle from Elijah, Rope Walk with Elijah lays out Eddie and a tag to Joe allows for a quick tandem knockdown, but Eddie powders as the Walking and Talking Duo hold the ring going into the final commercial break.

We come back and Hendry is bouncing Orlando off the ropes as he return a strike, but Orlando is obviously losing, eats a Euro Upper, and then gets walked around in the Stalling Suplex for posterity. Eddie tries a sneak attack but gets caught and Sack of Shit, into Kip Up, turn and then Orlando with the ambush! A few quick short cuts and an Irish Whip/Dropkick combo gives the Colons a near fall. Hendry does get locomotion variation cradles, but eats a Dropkick to stop the attempt at momentum. Orlando stays on Joe, but Joe finally starts to fire up as the crowd starts to get behind him. Euro Uppers make some space, but a Snapmare says no.

Eddie gets tagged in and a quick Leg Sweep into a Front Chancery keeps Eddie in control. As Joe tries to get back up, Eddie turns it into a Guillotine, but finally the Suplex counter connects for Hendry! Simultaneous tags! Elijah bulls over Orlando, catches a Leap Frogging Orlando with the Manhattan Drop as Orlando retreats to a corner, Stinger Splash into Spinebuster for two.  Elijah tries to keep up the attacks but Orlando finds a few ways to make space, launches himself from the middle rope and eats the Jumping Knee! Eddie breaks up the pinfall, Hendry takes Eddie out and Elijah hits the Tombstone Piledriver for the win!

Overall Score: 6/10

Well there were more live hiccups than the first episode, and this felt both more epic and less epic at the same time. Elijah and the Colons debuting was a nice way to kick things off, Oba Femi showing up for the save was fantastic. There were a few decent matches, but also a lot of really short and rushed matches. Tessa played off the crowd well, but Masha really is useless on the mic. Lei Ying Lee needs to framed stronger, her matches have done nothing to show off her ability. It just proves that the Knockouts don’t know how to sell a kick to the head because they all take it in the shoulder and fall in corny ways.

Viva La Sam could be something fun if the next 3 weeks are just hand cam footage of him being like “I’m Sami Callihan and I’m gonna kick Mance Warner’s ass”, Elegance Clique getting the rematch with a stipulation is nice to see and while I like Fir$t Cla$$, that segment went a little long for a cornball swerve payoff. It’s one thing to placate the Influencer squad especially when we’ve seen Logan Paul and Ishowspeed do so well in WWE…but these are like Z Tier Influencers that no one cares about. These kind of dorks stream on Kick because they aren’t relevant enough for Twitch, not because they chose Kick over it.

So yeah, the low lights were pretty low, and the highs were a little fleeting, but at least they were pretty fun. Not a bad show, just clunky with noticeable issues and Masha shouldn’t be allowed to speak English anymore. She’s such a charisma vacuum when she’s not rambling in Russian.