TNA Against All Odds June 14th 2024

Hey everybody, I know it’s weird for me to review something that isn’t a Japanese wrestling show streamed for 1500 weirdos, but I also like American wrestling shows streamed for 1500 weirdos. By no means am I trying to step on Tommy’s toes here, but this show looks so uh, interesting I felt like I should toss my hat in the ring and give it a review. I will tell you that I am actually a TNA fan and do enjoy the product and want it to do well so if I am mean or cruel to this show, understand that it comes from a place of love and the hope that TNA reaches the heights I know it can reach.

Sami Callihan vs. Jonathan Gresham

Background: Gresham is a tiny technical wizard who recently turned evil and wears a mask and coughs toxic black ink on people. Sami is a violent babyface brawler who cosplays as Mick Foley. Gresham inked Sami before and now they’re back for round 2. Oh also the ref is wearing a mask cause Gresham is poisonous and is getting people sick with his evil ink.

The Match: Hot start as Sami jumps Gresham before the bell on the outside and does his antics and goes for the piledriver but Gresham flips out and stomps on Sami’s hand and works over the fingers and I think they’ve been outside for 3 minutes with no count from the refs. Gresham bites the hand, Sami suplexes Jon on the mats outside but Gresham rolls under the ring and attacks Sami’s arm again and I guess the match hasn’t started yet as the bell FINALLY rings. Callihan can’t do an Irish Whip cause his arm is hurt but he gets a legdrop instead. Sami can’t get the piledriver though and Gresham rips off the mask of the ref and prepares to spit ink on Sami but KUSHIDA runs down with a mask and a labcoat to swab Jonathan’s mouth for ink and he puts it in a vial. This lets Sami hit the piledriver and win. Whatever.

*½

Not really much match here but the angle with Kushida made me laugh.

Alisha Edwards and Masha Slamovich (c) vs. The Hex (Alysin Kay and Marti Belle) – TNA Knockouts World Tag Team Championship

Background: Alisha is part of the System but as part of the Get All The Gold endeavor she recruited Masha who is a dominant tag-wrestler in the KO division, they’re not portrayed as friends as Masha only speaks Russian and Alisha is an annoying twerp. Masha has curly dark hair with red highlights and red and white gear IC champion Shawn Michaels-inspired gear (it has a zebra pattern on it!) while Alisha is in Celtics green so you can tell she’s a heel. The Hex are also jerks and they’re wearing black gear with yellow trim, they’ve shown up a few times as kind of generic mean heels with a spooky bent to them sometimes. Bizarre match as it’s heel vs. heel but Masha is so cool she’s basically a babyface.

The Match: Alisha wants Alysin but Belle ambushes her to start and then tags in Kay. They do some quick double-teams but Alisha tags in Masha who eats a hotshot and gets stomped by The Hex. More quick tags and I don’t know why Masha got no shine at all before getting heat for Alisha, which is a weird use of the team’s talent in my opinion. Masha starts to make a comeback but can’t get it going until Alisha pulls Alysin’s hair from the outside. Masha gets a kick and then Alisha comes in and taunts the crowd and commentary is now kind of acting like The Hex are faces here? Masha in and she’s getting some stuff on Alysin but we get a double down and a Marti Belle hot tag? And we get the clotheslines and the crowd is chanting for Marti. This is all pretty mediocre outside of the brief moments of Masha. The Hex isolate Alisha and try to set up Hex Marks the Spot but Masha kicks more butt and this match has totally fallen apart. Small package, sunset flip, get out of there. The Hex hit Hex Marks the Spot but Masha barely breaks it up and then Alisha gets a corner powerbomb on Kay and then a Bulldog Device gets 3 on Marti.

*¼ Well Masha is good. That’s all I got. I really missed that The Hex were faces as nothing about them screams babyface but eh, whatever.

Mike Santana and Steve Maclin vs. The Rascalz (Zachary Wentz and Trey Miguel)

Background: Maclin has been a decently established upper-card heel that is now gone tweener. He’s a burly white guy with a crew cut and black trunks with a skull design on them (hrm). Mike Santana (formerly of LAX) is now in TNA as a heroic babyface, he has a ponytail and baggy pants to hide the kneebrace. Mike and Steve wrestled at a prior show in Santana’s re-debut and won. Maclin wanted a rematch but the Rascalz (who used to team with Maclin before it fell apart) jumped them. Steve and Mike agreed to team up for ONE MATCH to beat up the Rascalz and settle that. Rascalz are dressed in black and green and Wentz used to be Nash Carter in NXT. Rascalz also cheat by blinding people with spraypaint.

The Match: Santana and Wentz start and Santana who is a good 20 pounds heavier than Wentz shrugs off some shoulderblocks and drops Zach who responds by going fast and Mike keeps up with that too. Commentary also reminds me that LAX and the Rascalz used to feud back in the day so that adds some levels to this. Mike ALMOST decapitates Zach with Spin the Block. Maclin and Miguel come in and Steve flattens Trey and tags in Mike for a double-team but Wentz helps Trey escape it and they work Santana over with some cheating and double-teams but Mike comes back with a double clothesline and brings in Maclin. Steve gets a huge ura-nage backbreaker on Miguel and then an Olympic slam on Wentz. Rascalz just pinball for Steve but his tope is cut off by Wentz snapping his neck on the ropes and the Rascalz do some quick doubles on Steve and some choking on the ropes. Trey gets a slick arm-catch single leg crab but Santana just pops in to break it up. Trey keeps control with a low kick though as Steve is still getting worked in the corner and the Rascalz start on Maclin’s arm as he’s our Marine in Peril. More abuse but Maclin finally gets some forearms to get space and Trey goes for a standing Meteora but Maclin backdrops him in a nasty spot. Hot tag Santana and he just flies in with some chops but misses an enzuigiri to give Wentz a chance…and Santana dumps him with a Fireman’s Carry facebuster and a mildly contrived double-team DDT headscissors on the Rascalz. Maclin pops in and saves Santana from being thrown into the corner and assists him for the Rolling Buck 50 (backwards roll into a cutter) and Steve follows with a Busaiku Knee for a breakup. We go back to Wentz and Maclin and Zach cuts Maclin off going up and they get double team elevated senton bomb for 2.99. Maclin tries fighting back 1v2 with some strikes but the Rascalz gets their Spinebsuter into a backbreaker/double-stomp combo for 1-2-and Santana gets a perfectly timed breakup on it. Maclin gets the knees up to counter the assisted standing moonsault and positions himself on an O’Connor Roll so when Wentz kicks out Maclin flies to the corner for a tag. But the Rascalz don’t see it and Maclin tanks 3 kicks, setting up Santana to pop in the ring and demolish Trey with a lariat and Wentz with a superkick. Now Mike gets the enzuigiri, but when Trey pops in with the spraypaint Maclin cuts it off, and Santana sets up the tree of woe so Maclin can hit his corner spear while Santana flips into the corner for a cannonball on Wentz. Maclin throws Zach into Spin the Block and that’s an easy 3.

***½

Man I really liked this match, obviously Mike and Steve are both accomplished tag guys but them learning to trust each other and developing chemistry in real time of the course of the match was pretty awesome. And after years I think I need to admit that the Rascalz are a good team. Tarnation.

Post-match, crowd wants a hug but Maclin extends the hand instead…and they shake and Steve brings him in for the hug, d’aww.

PCO vs. Rich Swann (w/AJ Francis)

Background: Rich Swann (the former Cruiserweight) has recently teamed with AJ Francis (the former Top Dolla) as obnoxious heels in First Class. PCO is the former Pierre Carl Oulette from the Quebecers and he is now a Frankenstein Monster thing. He is also romantically interested in Steph De Lander which AJ mocked, leading to this match.

The Match: Swann sticks and moves to stay away from PCO but a big boot and slam into the corner gets PCO in control. AJ distracts PCO and Swann low-bridges him and of course PCO takes a disgusting bump to the floor and Swann gets a 450 off the apron. Back inside and Swann jumps on PCO who is leaning on the ropes and AJ gets a cheapshot from the outside. Swann showboats and misses the 450 off the second rope and PCO Frankenstein ups and goes at Rich with some clotheslines and a DDT. Swann is held up in the ropes and PCO gets a diving legdrop…and AJ puts Swann’s legs on the rope to break the pin. PCO goes out to confront AJ and he gets tripped on the apron and then tossed back inside. But before Swann can do anything PCO pops up and gets the facebreaker and hits a dive on AJ. PCOsault and that’s 3.

**

Look I’m not a complicated man, sometimes I just wanna see a heroic corpse fling his body on an annoying little guy with some truly reckless spots.

Post-match Steph comes out to the ring and she agrees to go on a date with PCO.

The System (Brian Myers and Eddie Edwards) (c) vs. Nic Nemeth and Ryan Nemeth – TNA World Tag Team Championships

Background: Nic Nemeth was Dolph Ziggler, he’s still basically Dolph Ziggler but now he sometimes does an Olympic Slam, Ryan is his less talented brother. Brian and Edwards are in The System, which is the top heel stable in TNA and they’re just kind of generic “we have the power” heels. Brian is a redhead and has longish hair and a singlet/pants combo, and Eddie is wearing his t-shirt of shame along with a fauxhawk.

The Match: Brian and Ryan start the match and do some technical stuff with Nemeth winning. Then Nic comes and when Alisha interferes on the outside, Dirty Dango of all people comes out to bring it to the refs attention and gets her ejected, System use this to take over and get heat on Nic with double-teams. Nic backflips out of a back suplex and in comes Ryan with a weak hot-tag. Eddie gets a cheapshot on the outside and it’s back to working over Ryan with a Brian Myers spear. More simple stuff on Ryan with elbow drops and a tag out of a sunset flip lets them keep the abuse going. Ryan is not an especially interesting Ricky Morton. Brian does some decent heel 201 taunting to keep the crowd engaged. Ryan gets a jumping mat slam on Brian though and Moose comes out ringside as well. Hot tag from Nic and he comes in with a house remotely approaching fire at least. He does the regular Nic Nemeth stuff but he gets cut off and we get the Backpack Stunner/Diving Elbow combo for 2. Ryan trips Eddie though and Nic gets a pair of superkicks and then Ryan gets a jumping reverse STO and Nic gets the Danger Zone but Moose yanks the ref out of the ring and when the ref admonishes him…Dango gets a cheapshot on Ryan and Eddie’s Boston Knee Party gets 3.

**

Crazy overbooked ending aside, a pretty standard meat and potatoes tag match. The System are cromulent, Nic is a good tag guy, and Ryan was uh, in the ring sometimes.

Joe Hendry (w/Ace Steel) vs. Frankie Kazarian

Background: Joe Hendry is a rising babyface who has a pretty fun gimmick where he writes and performs insulting songs about people. He’s a burly guy with a hairy chest and bleached hair. Kazarian is crispy brown from tanning and is a bitter heel veteran who declared himself the King of TNA. He’s dressed like how he always dresses.

The Match: Chippy start as they shoulderblock into each other and trade wristrlocks Kaz gets a knee out of a suplex attempt from Joe but Joe comes back with a spinning body slam and a delayed suplex. Frankie gets a cheapshot though and goes to work with the regular Frankie stuff. Joe fires up out of a guillotine when the crowd chants that they believe in him. Hendry catches Kazarian out of a reverse springboard crossbody and gets the fallaway slam and a kip-up but Frankie floats over the Standing Ovation and gets the Chickenwing and they do a pretty rough pinfall reversal sequence. Frankie goes for a B-Driver, Hendry rolls into a powerbomb attempt but Frankie slips out, gets a backstabber but Hendry gets a pop-up powerbomb to reset. And Kazarian gets a phantom object and hits Hendry on a back suplex attempt and gets the dirty pin.

*½

What the heck was that?! Like…the match was just whatever but that finish was so horrible that I’m detracting a star for it. Ridiculous.

And then post-match Frankie beats up Joe more but Ace Steel rescues him. My goodness this was horrible.

Mustafa Ali (c) vs. Trent Seven – TNA X-Division Championship

Background: Mustafa is our evil X-Division champion doing a gimmick where he acts like a bloviating corrupt politician. Trent Seven is the guy from Mustache Mountain who is getting an X-Division title shot, I would tell you more about his gimmick in TNA but he’s basically just “this guy was in WWE.”

The Match: Before the match Trent Seven has damning footage of Ali saying…something but the audio is so bad we can’t make it out, but I guess it’s bad and we’re supposed to dislike him now despite him already being a heel. Hot start with Trent getting the Seven Star Lariat early and Ali powdering to yell at commentator Tom Hannifan. Trent attacks him out there but gets ambushed coming back into the ring. And the crowd chants “we still love you” at Ali so uh, don’t think that worked. Trent DDTs Ali. Ali tries to come back with a headscissors and a tope, but Trent no sells it and throws Mustafa back into the apron and then Dragon Suplexes him and the crowd is still wild for Ali. Trent misses a senton bomb to reset the match and Ali gets a few dropkicks into the corner before Seven catches and powerbombs him. Mustafa desperately cheats and finally gets the between the ropes neckbreaker to get a bit of heat on Seven. Ali with a chinlock but Trent gets an Emerald Flowsion to break that. Seven no-sells a bunch of Ali forearms and gets Bop and Bang, another Dragon Suplex, and a Tiger Driver for 2. Trent does the fingerbreak and goes for the Bitter End but Ali slips out, kicks Trent low and gets his own Seven Star Lariat for 2. More stuff happens and Trent gets a super Emerald Flowsion out of an Ali huracanrana attempt. Ali gets an eye-gouge out of the Burning Hammer attempt and flips out. They meet on the top turnbuckle and slug it out and both fall and Ali is up first and gets the 450 on Trent when he rolls back in. Ali gets his belt and goes for the shot and Trent kicks him low and gets the Birminghammer for 2.999. Trent sets up the super Birminghammer but Ali goes back to the eyes, hits the leg again, and then 450s the leg and goes for the sharpshooter for the tap.

**½

This was basically 100% Ali but man, Ali is AWESOME. Trent absolutely got way too much offense, but Ali’s ability to win with speed and agility and still be a dirty, mean, low-down heel is really top-notch.

Frankie Kazarian cuts a promo about how good he is and Santino pops up and sets up a street fight with him and Ace Steel…super glad we’re using this as a chance to get Ace Steel heat.

Josh Alexander and Eric Young vs. ABC (Ace Austin and Chris Bey)

Background: Josh is the ace of TNA, most established babyface champion and a very credible guy as the Walking Weapon. He’s bald, wears headgear, and has a singlet. Eric is also bald and has a singlet but he doesn’t have headgear. ABC are a very talented group of younger, smaller guys who are kind of struggling recently and teasing a breakup. Ace is white but has huge thighs for his size and floppy hair and a headband. Bey is Black, wearing tights and is in great shape but is very lean, he has braids.

The Match: Eric and Bey start and trade internationals and give a little too sweet to each other for some reason. Ace comes in and trades stuff with Eric next. Bey comes in and takes over on Eric with his speed and Ace comes back in and their sequences are definitely chippier than Bey and Eric. ABC do some double-teams and Bey works over Eric with strikes. Ace back in and these tags are quick and precise. Ace headscissors on the mat grinds out Young whose head is turning purple. Eric makes the ropes but ABC continue the abuse until Josh breaks up a pin. Josh makes the tag and matches the speed of Bey until he gets a German on a float-over and just THROWS Chris across the ring. Eric in and they double-team Chris. Bey grabs Josh’s uh…yambag and Alexander responds the favor. Eric Young does some stuff that is pretty boring and we’re back to Ace and Josh. Ace gets the legsweep and the Click-Click Boom legdrop, Eric interferes and gets bulldogged by Ace who has a slick sequence with Josh that ends with Bey getting a plancha on Josh and then an Eric tope wipes out everybody. We reset to Ace and Josh with chops but Ace cuts off Josh going up and they work him over before Josh suplexes both members of ABC at the same time and brings in Eric to hit a DVD on Ace. He almost gets a double-DVD but ABC slip out and wipes out Eric with kicks. Bey comes in next but ABC can’t get the brainbuster kick and it’s breaking down in Illinois! Everybody is hitting each other with everything until Josh gets a disgusting powerbomb backbreaker on Chris and gets a rolling fireman’s carry to set up Eric’s elbow drop and Ace breaks it up. Eric accidentally hits Josh and Ace hits The Fold and Bey gets the rollup on Young.

***

Well…huh, shocked at the result but not upset at all. A bit too long to be more than good but it was good.

Jordynne Grace (c) vs. Tatum Paxley- Open Challenge for the TNA Knockouts World Championship

Background: Grace is the super dominant babyface woman’s champ, she is jacked up and has a half-perm. She was in NXT recently where she lost via a cluster and people interfering so she’s irked and is willing to give a title shot to anybody so she can regain her mojo. One of those people interfering was Tatum Paxley, who has a belt fetish and a sort of creepy goth gimmick with purple and black gear.

The Match: The Personal Concierge comes out with Ash and says they won’t sue Grace for assaulting Ash. Paxley and Grace start slow with Jordynne dominating with power, a headlock and a shoulderblock, but Tatum gives Jordynne pause by remaining in a guard and inviting Jordynne in for a mount. Tatum gets tossed around some more and gets a camel clutch on Paxley but Tatum breaks it with a bite and powders and hides under the ring. When Grace seeks to pull Tatum out from beneath the ring and Tatum bounces her head off the metal beam and rolls Grace back inside. Paxley can’t get the Psycho Trap but rolls underneath for a single leg crab. They do some nice reversals in the corner but Grace eventually gets the Vader Bomb and sets up the Juggernaut Driver but can’t get it, they fight in the corner and Grace pulls Tatum down for the Muscle Buster. Pinfall reversal sequence goes even and floats over into the corner but is slow getting to the top and Grace cuts her off, Grace can’t anything going and Tatum gets a spinning neckbreaker with them both on the ropes. Tatum goes for the injured ear and tries to set up an arm triangle with their legs interlocked. Grace breaks the submission and they trade shots on their knees, Grace wins and does some ground and pound until Tatum goes for a guillotine but Grace is too strong and gets the Jackhammer to break it. Slugfest is won by Grace with an uraken and a death valley driver sets up the Juggernaut Driver for 3.

**¾

The crowd clearly didn’t know who Paxley was and didn’t really care, but Tatum played her role well and the Daffney references were pretty cute. Additionally Grace is such a good worker she could lead the green but game Paxley through something.

Post-match Ash tries to ambush Jordynne and goes after the knee but Grace kicks her butt, tosses her outside the ring (Ash screaming that her back is broken), pours Ash’s expensive champagne on her and drinks the rest of it. Ash makes sure to take plenty of pratfall bumps on the ‘spilled champagne’ as she screams it got in her eyes. Well that was entertaining.

Moose (c) vs. “Broken”Matt Hardy – Broken Rules match for the TNA World Championship

Background: Moose is the leader of the System and our dominant heel champion. He’s African-American, tall, bald, covered in tattoos, and in good shape, he shows up in pretty swank robes. Broken Matt Hardy is, okay I’m not going to explain it but he’s back in TNA now and he’s doing the Broken Matt business.

The Match: The Nemeth Brothers come out and drag Brian and Eddie to the back and Moose and Matt go at it, with Moose taking a ridiculous bump off a clothesline and flipping around for a Hardy DDT. Matt gets a Side Effect on the apron and Moose rolls away like a gutted fish and takes a handstand bump for a Twist of Fate. Moose gets a trashcan lid against Hardy for his first offense of the match. Moose just destroys Matt with a chair as Alisha claps on the outside. Moose goes for the powerbomb on a chair but Matt goes low and gets his own chairshots and they brawl in the crowd. And literally we can’t see what’s happening as they don’t have a camera guy nearby. They finally get back in the ring and Hardy rips the shirt off and hits the elbow drop. Matt can’t get the Twist and Moose gets the standing ura-nage and looks for another weapon. Moose sets up a table and then just pitches a chair at Matt’s head. Moose superplexes Matt onto a pile of chairs. And then Matt Hardy powerbombs Moose into some chairs. Matt pulls out a cardboard box but Moose taks him out and then HE opens it up and it’s his Patriots helmet and puts it on…and he drops into a three-point stance and charges but Matt backdrops him over the top rope into a ladder in a pretty sick spot. More of a really long time between spots and Moose is laid on a table and Matt jumps off a ladder to do the leg drop to remind everybody of 25 years ago. Wooo. Twist of Fate onto a chair but Alisha comes in with a cane to break it up and now Reby Hardy is here and my god, Reby is so bad she’s making Alisha look like Akira Hokuto in there. Anyway, Matt Hardy spears Reby through a table and then Moose spears Matt Hardy and the match is over. Thank the heavens.

*

Saved from DUD status by Moose taking some fantastic bumps, but man, watching this is just sad in 2024. Matt Hardy looked…okay, but he’s so slow and seeing guys doing played out Attitude Era garbage brawl spots 25 years later is just…it’s sad to me.

Post-match the System stomps on Matt Hardy, but the Nemeth Brothers show up to save and get stomped, then Joe Hendry runs out…and gets stomped, but boy oh boy we’ got Jeff Hardy running down to be the real star and does the real save.

Well I guess it wasn’t as terrible as I feared but still an upsetting and disappointing show. Hendry losing that match is inexcusable, IMO, and him being just a guy’d in the main-event didn’t help either. Why must TNA always do this? And for Jeff Hardy? AGAIN?