TNA Victory Road
September 13, 2024
By: John Siino
Boeing Center at Tech Port in San Antonio, Texas
Commentary: Tom Hannifan & Matthew Rehwoldt
RESULTS
- KUSHIDA over Leon Slater via submission (7:52) (Countdown) (Recommended)
- Hammerstone & Jake Something over Eric Young & Steve Maclin via pinfall (6:56) (Countdown)
- The Hardys over First Class via pinfall (9:39)
- TNA X-Division Championship: Mike Bailey over Zachary Wentz (c) via pinfall (17:43) (Recommended)
- TNA Knockouts World Tag Team Championship: Spitfire over Tasha Steelz & Masha Slamovich (c) (11:09)
- Joe Hendry over Josh Alexander via submission (16:52) (Recommended)
- TNA World Tag Team Championship: The System over ABC (c) via pinfall (15:31)
- TNA Knockouts World Championship: Jordynne Grace (c) over Wendy Choo via pinfall (11:05)
- TNA World Championship: Nic Nemeth (c) over Moose via pinfall (19:39)
Leon Slater vs. KUSHIDA (Countdown to Victory Road)
The crowd seems amped up from the start, as they chant for KUSHIDA. They start the match trying to tie each other down for submission and pin attempts until KUSHIDA traps on a Bow & Arrow on Leon Slater, but he quickly escapes. They start running the ropes until Slater knocks KUSHIDA down with an enziguri followed by a handspring back elbow. Slater heads to the corner but gets knocked to the outside by a handspring kick from KUSHIDA which is followed by a top rope senton to the outside. Back in the ring, they go back to working on each other with KUSHIDA targeting Slater’s arm. Slater comes right back by dodging in the corner and hitting a big dropkick for two. Slater blocks a Hoverboard Lock and puts KUSHIDA on the apron where he kicks him off with a boot but as he goes to dive, KUSHIDA gets out of the way. Despite that, Slater reaches him with a wild twisting dive from over the corner to the outside. They head to the top rope, and KUSHIDA crashes down with a Spanish Fly into the Hoverboard Lock where Slater taps out right away in a great opener.
Winner: KUSHIDA by submission at 7:52
Not Ego, It’s Confidence
Gia Miller tries to get a word with Josh Alexander about his match with Joe Hendry, as Alexander says this fairy tale of Hendry ends tonight and this isn’t Hendry’s story, as Alexander is the hero and Hendry is the court jester. Alexander calls himself the righteous one, god-gifted as a great professional wrestler and Hendry makes it a mockery. Being all show and no go like Hendry is, the bell will ring and Alexander will put him in an ankle lock, then hit the C4 Spike and end this all for all and Hendry will be lucky to ever make a song again. Miller says Alexander is sure of himself, as Alexander says it’s not ego, it’s confidence.
Jake Something & Hammerstone vs. Steve Maclin & Eric Young (Countdown to Victory Road)
Two new duos are being formed here over common enemies, with both sets of partners being very alike to each other. All four go at it before the bell rings, with ‘Stone-Thing’ being dominant until Hammerstone & Steve Maclin are the official ones as the match finally starts. Jake Something tags in, but Maclin is able to fight them both off and send Something to the outside. Stone-Thing keeps taking turns tagging in and out working on Maclin, as the crowd chants for Eric Young. Maclin is able to stop Hammerstone with a Busaiku Knee, before crawling and making the hot tag to Young. Commentary brings up Young being a part of the first-ever Victory Road, 20 years ago as part of Team Canada before he hit a big gut-wrench powerbomb on Something for a two count. Hammerstone is able to tag in and take out Young, puts him on the top rope, but Young is able to knock him down into the Tree of Woe position, as he rolls out and tags out to Maclin where Hammerstone is in the perfection position for Maclin’s crosshairs, followed by Young’s top rope elbow drop, but Something breaks it up just in time. All four go at it until Something catches Young off the ropes into The Void to get the pin and the win.
Winners: Hammerstone & Jake Something by pinfall at 6:56
The Hardys (Jeff Hardy & Matt Hardy) vs. First Class (AJ Francis & KC Navarro)
Jeff Hardy and KC Navarro start the match, as The Hardys are extremely over here. Jeff was in the main event of the first-ever Victory Road against Jeff Jarrett. Navarro starts mocking Jeff’s taunt, but it doesn’t last long as Jeff takes over and tags out to Matt Hardy. Tom Hannifan mentions how Victory Road has the highest attendance and highest ticket sales for any show TNA has done in the United States this year. Matt starts ‘deleting’ Navarro’s head against the turnbuckles as this crowd cheers every movement from The Hardys. As the referee checks on Navarro, AJ Francis takes a cheap shot and holds on to Matt’s leg, but Matt is able to catch Navarro and send him onto Francis on the outside. Navarro takes control and mounts Matt with punches before tagging out to Francis. Francis outpowers Matt, hitting him with Tennessee Whiskey before First Class tags in and out of the ring, keeping Matt in the corners. Francis goes to the top rope and goes for the Swanton Bomb, as Matt luckily is able to roll out of the way. Jeff & Navarro tag in as Jeff hits a faceplant suplex for two. Jeff calls for the Twist of Fate, but Francis stops him and hits the World’s Strongest Slam, before going to the corner where Matt stops him. The Hardys join Francis up top and hit a double superplex, but Navarro is right there to hit a top rope splash on Jeff, that Matt is able to break up. Francis fights off a Twist of Fate and catches both Hardys, trying to hit a double chokeslam, but it gets blocked as he gets hit with a double DDT and then clotheslined to the outside. The Hardys hit a Twist of Fate/neckbreaker combo on Navarro before Matt hits another Twist of Fate followed by the Swanton Bomb as Jeff gets the cover on Navarro for the win.
Winners: The Hardys (Jeff Hardy & Matt Hardy) by pinfall at 9:39
TNA X-Division Championship: Zachary Wentz (c) vs. Mike Bailey
Commentary questions where Zachary Wentz’s head is at after Wes Lee revealed he took out Trey Miguel, causing The Rascalz to not get their NXT Tag Team Championship title shot on last week’s episode of NXT. They start the match fast, running the ropes and dodging each other until Mike Bailey is able to knock Wentz down with a big kick. Wentz gets amped up and tells Bailey to hit him, which causes Bailey off guard before he smacks Wentz, who comes back by taking Bailey down and mounting him as they trade off an armbar and pin attempt. Wentz is still fired up, as he sends Bailey to the outside before diving onto him and constantly screaming. Bailey sends Wentz to the outside next and hits him with a triangle moonsault. Bailey hangs Wentz on the top rope and hits him on the back with double knees. Bailey follows with a leg lock, but Wentz is able to reach the bottom rope to break it up. They go back and forth before Bailey knows down Wentz with a flurry of kicks. Wentz is able to stop Bailey with a German Suplex before they both miss running shooting star presses and knock each other down with kicks. Wentz tells Bailey to hit him again, but this time Bailey tells Wentz to him first. They both go at it with slaps, before sending each other to the outside. Wentz is able to take control on the outside, before getting swept off the apron and hit with the moonsault with the double knees. Wentz seems unable to make the ten count, so Bailey follows him out there just to get spiked head-first into the ramp by Wentz with a headlock DDT. Bailey is able to just beat the count, but Wentz meets him with a stomp, followed by a Swanton Bomb attempt, that Bailey blocks with his knees. They head to the top rope where Wentz hits a cutter, but Bailey kicks out just in time. Bailey catches Wentz in the corner, hitting a powerbomb, heads back to the top rope, and hits a beautiful-looking Shooting Star Press, but Wentz kicks out at two. Tornado Kick by Bailey, but he misses the Ultima Weapon. Wentz takes control, but Bailey stops him with a Poison Rana. Bailey tries another Tornado Kick but gets stopped with a knee and the headlock DDT, but Bailey kicks out yet again. Bailey counters a UFO Cutter, followed by the Flaming Driver to get the pin and the win on Wentz.
Winner: Mike Bailey by pinfall at 17:43, to become the NEW TNA X-Division Champion
Rhino & PCO vs. Matt Cardona & Steph De Lander
Steph De Lander comes out with a ‘Property of Matt Cardona’ shirt in the style of the WWE Performance Center shirts, before she gets her cowgirl hat knocked off her head, as she seems conflicted having to face off against her husband PCO in this match. SDL gets on the mic and says this is the only way she could get Cardona & PCO in the same place and says her career so far has felt like a dream sometimes, from a young girl in Australia to this is magic. She continues to say that she’s proud to be in a TNA ring with her heroes and in front of 2,000 sold-out fans of San Antonio, Texas. Her career has been a roller coaster and the fans have been there every step of the way with her, but this issue between Cardona & PCO needs to be sorted out as it’s hurting her. She admits it’s not the only thing hurting her, as she needs neck surgery and she’s needed it for a long time, waking up every day in pain, but she fought through it to not let anybody down but it has come to that point and it’s something she needs to do to take care of herself. SDL says even though Cardona has been a jerk recently, he’s still her best friend and he found her at her lowest and took her to her highest so she says ‘thank you’ to him. As far as PCO goes, she is so glad that she found true love in him and this friction and fighting is not healthy for her or them, and she needs them both to stand up and figure it out without her. SDL says this is not a retirement speech as she has more to give to this business and company, and to each and every one of the fans. She ends by saying this is not goodbye but see you later before giving PCO a hug and leaving along with PCO. As Rhino goes to leave also, Cardona kicks the rope from up under him and hits him with the Radio Silence. Cardona says it’s all about him now as this match never gets underway in any fashion.
Fighting TNA Champion
Gia Miller is in the back with Nic Nemeth who admits that Moose had his number and kicked his ass, but now he feels rejuvenated as TNA is the place to be and he will proudly defend the TNA World Championship. He will take the most of what matters to Moose, as this title stays right here and The System is out, and this is how it all goes down, with the Wanted Man walking out as your ‘fighting’ TNA Champion.
TNA Knockouts World Tag Team Championship: Masha Slamovich & Tasha Steelz (c) (w/ Alisha Edwards) vs. Spitfire (Dani Luna & Jody Threat)
Tasha Steelz is taking the place of Alisha Edwards in this title defense, as Alisha hasn’t cleared the concussion protocol and after helping Steelz defeat Dani Luna on TNA Xplosion early today, she hand-picked her to represent her as champion. Spitfire, on the other hand, must disband if they lose this match. Steelz & Luna start the match as Tom Hannifan thanks Chris Nowinski and his Concussion Legacy Foundation for all the help they’ve done. Jody Threat & Masha Slamovich quickly tag in with Threat keeping Masha in the corner with multiple clotheslines before hitting an Exploder Suplex for a one count. Spitfire starts double-teaming on Masha while tagging in and out. Luna gets sent to the outside as Masha & Steelz now start working on Threat. Alisha starts yelling at the referee Paige Prinzivalli to count faster, as Steelz starts choking out Threat on the ropes. After being worked on for a while, Threat is finally able to stop Steelz with a tornado DDT and makes the tag out to Luna as Masha meets her on the other side. Luna fights off both Masha & Steelz, suplexing Steelz from the apron into the ring before sending Masha into her with a fall-away slam followed by a powerbomb on Masha for two. Masha comes back with an assisted German Suplex on Luna, before trying a Magic Killer that gets broken up by Threat. All four in here as Luna blocks a Sliced Bread and sends Steelz onto Masha & Threat breaking up that pin after Masha hits a Snow Plow. Luna stops another Magic Killer attempt before they hit Pop Shove It & the Luna Landing at the same time. They follow with the Pressure Drop on Masha, as Threat gets the pin and the win.
Winners: Spitfire (Jody Threat & Dani Luna) by pinfall at 11:09, to become the NEW TNA Knockouts World Tag Team Champions
After the match, Alisha starts yelling at Masha for embarrassing her and calls her a piece of shit, but Masha stops a slap attempt from Alisha as Steelz runs in and takes out Masha with a cutter, as Alisha encourages Steelz to keep attacking her, as Alisha & Steelz have formed a new alliance at the breakup of The Malisha.
We go to Hammerstone & Jake Something in the back, as Something says this is the start and their win on the Countdown was a statement. Hammerstone says Eric Young & Steve Maclin were the first on a very long list as everyone who gets in their way will suffer the same fate.
Josh Alexander vs. Joe Hendry
Josh Alexander starts the match by trying to outmaneuver Joe Hendry, as the crowd starts chanting ‘Walking Weiner’ to Alexander based on the chant Hendry started last night on TNA iMPACT. They start testing each other by running the ropes until Hendry sends Alexander flying to the outside with a shoulder block and a hip toss once Alexander runs back in. Hendry lifts up Alexander for a stalling suplex while marching around the ring, before dropping him onto the middle of the ring where he goes a two count before Alexander rolls to the outside. Alexander snaps Hendry’s arm on the ropes, before taking him back to the outside with a crossbody. After some back and forth, Alexander puts on the ankle lock but Hendry is quick to escape out of it. Hendry comes back with another suplex from a Guillotine position and is able to sidestep a top rope dropkick from Alexander, followed by a fall-away slam. Hendry sets up for the Standing Ovation, but gets blocked and hits a pop-up powerbomb for two, instead. They take it to the outside where Hendry press slams Alexander down, before sending him back inside where he tries the Ego’s Edge, but it’s blocked as Alexander hits a backbreaker for two. Alexander goes to the top but gets stopped and hit with a fallaway slam instead. They trade off shots with Hendry coming out on top, but Alexander quickly is able to trip him right into the ankle lock. With a ‘We Believe’ chant, Hendry is able to power forward to the bottom rope to break it up. Hendry tosses Alexander to the corner and stomps away, but Alexander is able to toss Hendry into the referee, knocking him down. Hendry is able to put the ankle lock on Alexander, who is tapping out but the referee is still down from this. Alexander escapes out of the Standing Ovation and hits a low blow, but it’s revealed that Hendry has on a cup (with his face on it), he follows with a Standing Ovation and puts the ankle lock back on as this time the referee is there to see Alexander tap out.
Winner: Joe Hendry by submission at 16:52
TNA World Tag Team Championship: ABC (Ace Austin & Chris Bey) (c) vs. The System (Eddie Edwards & Brian Myers) (w/ Alisha Edwards)
Tom Hannifan brings up how Chris Bey suffered a rib injury at last night’s title defense Tornado match against First Class. Bey & Brian Myers start the match, as Alisha Edwards is already bickering with a fan on the outside. They run the ropes until Bey hits a dropkick but starts clutching his ribs, as Myers points out to Eddie Edwards that he’s hurt. Ace Austin tags in and stays in control of Myers before tagging in Bey as ABC starts double-teaming on Myers. Edwards enters but gets kicked right to the outside as ABC takes turns diving to the outside, but Austin gets tripped out by Edwards. Alisha gets in front of Bey, as Myers takes advantage and spears Bey right through the ropes to the outside. Edwards keeps working on Bey’s ribs, as The System takes turns on him. Bey tries to fight them off and make the tag to Austin, but Edwards is there to pull him off the apron. The crowd starts chanting ‘Stupid hair’ at Edwards, before transitioning to ‘Shave it off’. Myers ends up power bombing Bey right onto Edwards’ knees but for a two-count. Bey again tries to tag out to Austin, but this time Myers pulls him off. Austin fights him off, gets right back, and is able to tag himself in and go after Edwards with a hurricanrana and side Russian leg sweep. All four end up in the ring before Bey hits a double Art of Finesse, but Edwards kicks out from two when Austin tries the pin. Edwards is able to block the 1-2 Sweet with a Blue Thunder Bomb, as Myers is holding Austin back. Austin gets free, but Myers chases after him, hitting the Roster Cut. Alisha gets involved in distracting Bey who gets hit with a spear from Myers followed by the Boston Knee Party from Edwards to get the pin and the win.
Winners: The System (Eddie Edwards & Brian Myers) by pinfall at 15:31, to become the NEW TNA World Tag Team Champions
TNA Knockouts World Championship: Jordynne Grace (c) vs. Wendy Choo
It’s stated that Jordynne Grace has 20 members in the audience tonight, including her aunt and grandmother in the front row as she’s here in her home state, while Wendy Choo (representing NXT) tries to become the first active WWE roster member to win the Knockouts World Championship. Grace takes it to Choo right away with power moves and pin attempts, as Choo escapes to the outside and grabs her pillow from under the ring. Grace is able to duck it and hits a DDT right in front of her family. Choo gets right into Grace’s grandmother’s face as she takes away the pillow from her. Back in the ring, Choo takes control and hits a cartwheel forearm and a kick to Grace in the corner. Choo puts Grace into the Tree of Woe and hits a dropkick for two. They head to the second rope, where Choo headbutts Grace off just to get hit with an uppercut before Grace joins her back up but Choo is able to trap on the Cobra Clutch, as Grace breaks it up by tossing themselves off the top. Grace hits a couple of body slams followed by a rolling Death Valley Driver for two. Grace follows with a back first and a running Vertebreaker for two. Back to the corner, Choo hits an over-the-head belly-to-belly suplex and a brainbuster for two. Grace comes back with a wild-looking trap suplex for two, but Choo comes back by trapping the Cobra Clutch into a German Suplex and Full Nelson slam, before putting on the sleeper once again. Grace powers her way out of it and catches Choo off the corner into a powerbomb followed by the Juggernaut Driver to get the pin.
Winner: Jordynne Grace by pinfall at 11:05, to retain
As soon as the match is over Rosemary runs out and takes out Grace with a spear followed by As Above So Below, as Choo puts the sleeper back on.
Santino & Arianna
Santino Marella is in the back and very excited when his daughter Arianna Grace walks in. Grace says that he wants to be professional about this, but Santino is very excited and says he is very proud of her as they both say they take their jobs very seriously and are professionals. Santino says how he’s about to cry about his ‘little liaison’, as Arianna shouts ‘Santino!’ at him.
TNA World Championship: Nic Nemeth (c) vs. Moose
Frankie Kazarian comes out before the match and joins the commentary table. The rest of The System brings Moose out before they leave to the back. We see Nic Nemeth entering from the back, as TNA experimented with some camera shots tonight, including starting the show and showing the production truck cue the intro. Moose goes right after Nemeth, as Kazarian tells Hannifan the boys in the back don’t like him. Nemeth comes back with a dropkick and punches Moose in the corner, but he stops him and powerbombs him off. Kazarian says he knows exactly what’s going on between Nemeth & John Layfield but he won’t tell a ‘mark like Hannifan’. Moose catches Nemeth off the corner and hits a Sky High for two. Moose stays in control until Nemeth bites him off before getting stopped yet again with the big dropkick from Moose. They end up fighting outside where Nemeth takes out Moose with a back body drop onto the ramp. Back in the ring, Nemeth sends Moose to the outside yet again, where Moose drops him with a big boot before attempting to powerbomb him onto the apron, just for Nemeth to reverse it with a hurricanrana. When they get up though, Moose does end up hitting the apron bomb. They tussle on the outside for a while as Nemeth hits a German Suplex. Moose ends up catching Nemeth and powerbombs him right through the timekeeper’s table. Back in the ring, Moose sets up for the spear, but Nemeth is able to dodge it, hits a superkick, and the Fameasser for two. As Nemeth goes to the top rope, JDC & Alisha Edwards run out and try to distract Nemeth, but he ends up putting a sleep onto Moose. Moose dodges the Danger Zone and hits the spear, but Nemeth is able to kick out at two. Alisha gives Moose the world title, but Mike Santana runs out, takes it away from him, and fights JDC to the back. Nemeth takes advantage of this distraction and hits the Danger Zone, but Moose kicks out. Nemeth goes to the top rope, where Moose meets him and hits a superplex followed by a powerbomb attempt, Nemeth turns into a Fameasser, but Brian Myers & Eddie Edwards are there to pull the referee Daniel Spencer out of the ring. Spencer is about to disqualify Moose, but Nemeth stops him as he doesn’t want to win that way, so instead Spencer ejects The System to the back. John Layfield shows up and takes out both Edwards & Myers with Clotheslines From Hell as the crowd chants JBL. Nemeth is caught off guard by this as he gets hit with a clothesline and spear, but Nemeth kicks out yet again. They get into a chop-off and go back and forth until Nemeth hits another Danger Zone, this time getting the pin and the win.
Winner: Nic Nemeth by pinfall at 19:39, to retain
FINAL THOUGHTS
This was a very solid show, that had most of the matches hit for me and gave me clear direction on where they wanted to go. Whatever boost NXT has given TNA definitely shows as these big shows continue to sell out and with an arena that suits them well, the crowd stands out and makes it a lively environment throughout, and San Antonio was hot from the start with the fantastic opener on the Countdown between KUSHIDA vs. Leon Slater that might be lost within all the happenings on this show. I didn’t expect as many title changes, as I felt like a lot of these titles just changed hands recently but they all make sense. With The Hardys climbing up the ranks, it makes sense for them to target a heel team in The System, Spitfire getting the titles back was a good way to turn Masha babyface to make up for the loss of Gisele Shaw, and once Wendy Choo & Rosemary are done with Jordynne Grace, I can see them take those titles from them and make an interesting situation where we have a championship being split with members of both TNA & NXT and could make for some interesting back and forth since Jade & Bianca will mostly keep those tag titles on the main roster. It should be stated that Choo looked the best I’ve seen her in a while, despite the goofy gimmick which seems to work a bit better here in TNA where she is given more time to show off the wrestling skills we know Karen Q has always had. The introduction of Xia Zhao (formerly Xia Li) could pose for some interesting dynamics with the talent just mentioned.
Wentz is tied up with Wes Lee in NXT, and whatever distraction he had with Lee taking out Trey Miguel is reasoning enough for him to lose focus and drop the title, in what was a fantastic X-Division match. Josh Alexander had a small mention of ‘ego’, which makes it seem The North might reunite in either company with both having Joe Hendry as a common enemy, Santana will try and end his feud with Moose, while Nemeth’s next challenger seems to be Frankie Kazarian with the mystery of what John Layfield there still lingering. Some interesting production cues here with the opening shot and Nemeth’s introduction, continue to show how TNA isn’t afraid to experiment and evolve as they have more eyeballs on them. I was waiting for the moment father & daughter would meet with Santino & Arianna and I hope their interactions continue on both shows. The only real negative I had for this show was the explanation of the Cardona/SDL vs. PCO/Rhino match. Not that I expected that match to steal the show, but the handling of it not happening felt a bit odd and the crowd definitely felt SDL’s explanation went on for way too long. Even after they left, it would have been a perfect way to just do Cardona vs. Rhino, but it looks like that wasn’t on the table just yet. It should be an interesting couple of months ahead for both TNA & NXT, and makes me wonder how each company could play into the other’s big events coming up with Bound for Glory and NXT’s CW Network debut.
