Category: TNA

Ex-TNA Head Scott D’Amore Says He’s Signed Mauro Rannallo For Maple Leaf Pro

Despite being fired from TNA, Scott D’Amore isn’t letting that keep him from continuing his efforts in the pro wrestling industry. Back in May, D’Amore filed a trademark for “Maple Leaf Pro Wrestling,” a promotion established in the 1930s. Since then, D’Amore has taken more steps to debut the promotion, and in an interview with “INSIGHT with Chris Van Vliet,” he revealed one of the names he’s already signed.

During the interview, D’Amore confirmed that former “WWE NXT” and “SmackDown” commentator, Mauro Rannallo, has agreed to be the voice of Maple Leaf Pro Wrestling. “I mean, he’s the man. And Mauro has got a passion for wrestling,” D’Amore proclaimed. He then recalled the first time he met Rannallo, 25 years ago in Stampede Wrestling. “I was coming in as a heel to feud with Sabu. And he was the 20-21-year-old kid who was doing the play-by-play with Bad News Brown, and we connected then over the years,” D’Amore recalled.

D’Amore also reflected on Ranallo’s presence in the field of combat sports announcing: “He loves wrestling. He’s the best. You turned on Showtime for any big boxing fight, or you turned on to watch a lot of the big MMA fights with Pride and everything, Mauro is that voice.”

D’Amore’s exit from TNA was sudden and shocked many fans and even TNA talent. Not too long ago, he D’Amore recalled finding out about his TNA firing days before their Hard to Kill pay-per-view, which was the first event held under the promotion’s former name since it changed to IMPACT Wrestling back in 2017. 

Source: Wrestling Inc.

Scott D’Amore Comments On Launching Maple Leaf Pro Wrestling

Former TNA Wrestling executive Scott D’Amore announced the launch of Maple Leaf Pro Wrestling earlier this month, with the first shows set to take place on October 19th and 20th. D’Amore spoke with CBC on a number of topics, including growing up watching Maple Leaf Wrestling.

D’Amore said, “It was what came through on Saturdays on CHCH out of Hamilton. Every week they took a match from one of the Maple Leaf Gardens house shows, live events, and they showed it on TV, and the only place you got to see that was on Maple Leaf Wrestling.”

On launching Maple Leaf Pro Wrestling:

“Canadian talent has to work twice as hard, three times as hard as U.S. talent … I think we can give that platform for Canadian talent to go out there and compete with the best in the world and show how good they are.”

Source: PWMania

TNA Impact Preview 8/15/2024

TNA Wrestling will present a new episode of Impact tonight on AXS TV.

  • TNA World Championship: Nic Nemeth (c) vs. Josh Alexander
  • Ultimate X Qualifier: Riley Osborne vs. Chris Bey vs. John Skyler
  • Ultimate X Qualifier: Rich Swann vs. Jason Hotch vs. Ace Austin
  • Moose vs. Mike Santana
  • Gisele Shaw vs. Tasha Steelz
  • We’ll hear from Jordynne Grace
  • We’ll hear from Steve Maclin

TNA Impact Preview 8/8/2024

TNA Wrestling will present a new episode of Impact tonight on AXS TV, featuring more crossover with WWE NXT.

TNA Knockouts World Championship: Jordynne Grace (c) vs. TBD
Ultimate X Qualifier: Mike Bailey vs. Trent Seven vs. Jake Something
Ultimate X Qualifier: KC Navarro vs. Zachary Wentz vs. TBD
Joe Hendry vs. NXT’s Wolfgang
KUSHIDA vs. Jonathan Gresham
Fallout from PCO and Steph de Lander’s wedding
Bound for Glory location announcement

Wes Lee Turns On His The Rascalz Teammates Following Tag Title Match Loss At NXT GAB

The Rascalz are no more following a heel turn by former NXT North American Champion Wes Lee following a loss for the NXT Tag Team Championships against Axiom and Nathan Frazer on Tuesday’s episode of “WWE NXT.” Lee and Zachary Wentz, collectively known as MSK, fought for the championships they never lost, as they were forfeited when Wentz was previously released from WWE, but the pair came up short. Frazer and Axiom had been having their own issues as a tag team for weeks, and even suffered miscommunication in the match where Axiom accidentally super kicked Frazer, but the pair held on to the gold.

Following the match, Trey Miguel got in the ring to console his stablemates, but was met with violence from Lee’s end. The group hugged in the middle of the ring, but as Miguel pulled away, he ate a kick from Lee and Wentz received a low blow. Lee said he wanted to be left alone and continued beating down his partners, end sending Miguel through the ring barricade and Wentz into the ring steps. As he walked back the ramp with his head held high, Lee offered no explanation for his actions. As for Wentz and Miguel, as of this writing, there is currently no word on if they will continue to appear on “WWE NXT” through the company’s ongoing relationship with TNA Wrestling to continue a feud with their former friend.

Source: Wrestling Inc.

Matt Cardona Returned To TNA Wrestling On last Night’s Impact

Matt Cardona has returned to TNA Wrestling.

During last night’s episode of TNA Impact on AXS TV, Cardona appeared to interfere with Steph De Lander’s wedding to PCO in the main event segment.

On this week’s show, Cardona hit PCO with a cinder block during the wedding. De Lander, who quickly confronted Cardona, was not happy and refused to leave with him.

TNA Impact Preview 8/1/2024

TNA Wrestling will present a new episode of TNA Impact tonight on AXS TV, continuing the build to TNA Emergence 2024.

  • TNA World Championship: Nic Nemeth (c) vs. Mustafa Ali
  • Jody Threat vs. Masha Slamovich*
  • Ryan Nemeth vs. Frankie Kazarian
  • The Rascalz vs. Trent Seven, Mike Bailey & KUSHIDA
  • Rosemary vs. TBD
  • We’ll hear from Joe Hendry
  • PCO and Steph de Lander get married

The Hardy Boyz Would Be Interested In The WWE NXT-TNA Wrestling Crossover

The Hardy Boyz, who are now working for TNA Wrestling, were recently asked by Bill Apter of Sportskeeda’s “Wrestle Binge” podcast if they were interested in making an appearance on the WWE NXT brand as part of the ongoing WWE-TNA Wrestling crossover.

You can check out some highlights from the podcast below:

Matt Hardy on the possibility: “In wrestling, never say never and I will say that the NXT Tag Team Titles are not on the list of titles that we’ve won so we are interested in that. I think this crossover between NXT and TNA is great. It’s exciting. It’s unpredictable and I think that’s a positive for the business and the industry.”

Jeff Hardy on the possibility: “I’m a fan of first time evers and us in NXT and just the vision of that is very exciting to me.”

Source: eWn

TNA Impact Preview 7/25/2024

TNA Wrestling will present a new episode of TNA Impact tonight on AXS TV.

  • Fallout from TNA Slammiversary
  • New TNA World Champion Nic Nemeth kicks off the show
  • Jordynne Grace & Eric Young vs. Hammerstone & Ash By Elegance
  • AJ Francis vs. Sami Callihan
  • Cody Deaner vs. Steve Maclin
  • Matt Hardy & ABC vs. The System & JDC
  • We’ll hear from Josh Alexander

TNA Slammiversary 7/20/2024 (Results)

Pre-show

Tasha Steelz defeated Faby Apache, Gisele Shaw, and Xia Brookside. Four-way action. Shaw was the star with a double stack fireman’s carry slam to Steelz and Brookside, catching Apache for a powerbomb, and spearing Brookside. Shaw delivered a running knee to Brookside, but Steelz shoved Shaw aside to steal the pin.

Kushida defeated Rich Swann. TNA announced that Jonathan Gresham was unable to compete (not a storyline). Swann was the replacement. Kushida had a new look with Buddhist symbols on his body reminiscent of Hakushi. The Time Splitter prevailed with a flipping Hoverboard Lock off the turnbuckles to win via submission.

Knockouts Tag Team Championship: Masha Slamovich & Alisha Edwards defeated Jody Threat & Dani Luna to retain the titles. Spitfire connected on the Hart Attack clothesline to Edwards, but Slamovich made the save on the pin. As Spitfire set up their finisher, Edwards raked the eyes, and Slamovich hit the Snow Plow on Threat. Kick out on the cover. Slamovich grabbed both title belts to use as foreign objects. The referee confiscated one strap and took his sweet time with his back turned. Meanwhile, Slamovich tripped Threat with a drop toehold to collide into the other belt in the corner. The Malisha executed a doomsday bulldog on Threat for victory.

Director of Authority Santino Marella booked a surprise match.

Eric Young defeated Alexander Hammerstone. EY escaped a torture rack for a roll-up victory.

Slammiversary PPV

Matt Hardy defeated Johnny Dango Curtis. Hardy rallied for a Twist of Fate. JDC kicked out and came back for a Falcon Arrow slam. As Dango climbed the corner, Hardy sprang up for a Twist of Fate off the turnbuckles to win. Hardy added two more Twist of Fate maneuvers for good measure after the match. It could be considered symbolically one for Jeff Hardy and one for Reby Hardy as payback for JDC’s previous attacks.

TNA World Tag Team Championship: Ace Austin & Chris Bey defeated Brian Myers & Eddie Edwards to win the titles. Alisha Edwards was a pest throughout. She ran in to block ABC from their finisher. After a brief pause, Bey leaped toward Myers for a cutter. Eddie pulled his partner out of the way, and Bey accidentally clocked Alisha. ABC made use of the distraction for a double cutter and the Art of Finesse with The Fold combo for Ace to pin Myers.

Mike Santana defeated Jake Something. Rugged fight. Jake caught Santana for a powerbomb. Kick out on the cover. Jake scaled the corner, then Santana sprang up to execute an avalanche German suplex. For the finish, fisticuffs were footloose and fancy-free. Santana had more oomph in his tank and finished with a discus lariat.

Rascalz defeated No Quarter Catch Crew. Trey Miguel and Zachary Wentz reunited with Wes Lee (aka Dezmond Xavier) from NXT. Their opponents were Charlie Dempsey, Myles Borne, and Tavion Heights representing NXT. The style was high-flying versus catch wrestling. Dempsey’s crew grounded the Rascalz for much of the match. Hot tag to Lee, and the excitement cooked. The Rascalz were able to use dives to keep NQCC at bay on the outside toward the finish. Went lifted Heights into a torture rack position. Trey hit a flying stomp, then Wentz slammed Heights. Wentz and Lee joined forces for the Hot Fire Flame splash. Wentz pinned Heights to win.

TNA Digital Media Championship & International Heavyweight Wrestling Championship: PCO defeated AJ Francis in a Montreal Street Fight to win both titles. Santino Marella didn’t want the match to end in a DQ, so he added the stipulation. Francis had help from Rich Swann and Josh Bishop, but they couldn’t keep PCO down. Sami Callihan and Rhino evened the odds to help the monster. PCO landed a moonsault. Kick out by Francis. Top Dolla hit a tombstone piledriver. Kick out by PCO. The French-Canadian Frankenstein had the final salvo with a chokeslam onto chairs and a moonsault to win. After the match, Steph De Lander returned from Australia to propose marriage to PCO. He said yes!

Knockouts Championship: Jordynne Grace defeated Ash by Elegance to retain the title. Ash worked the spine, but Grace was still able to hit a musclebuster. Ash was slick on defense to frequently counter Grace’s power offense, however, it was only a matter of time until the Juggernaut connected on the pumphandle driver to win.

X-Division Championship: Mike Bailey defeated Mustafa Ali to win the title. Ref bump! Bailey accidentally kicked the referee. Ali took advantage of the situation for his security guards to beat up Bailey. They held Bailey down for two 450 splashes from Ali. 1, 2, the ref was pulled out of the ring by Trent Seven in disguise. Ali took him out with a suicide dive. Since the referee was still compromised, Ali attacked Bailey with a chair. He waved in his backup plan. Earl Hebner came to the ring to recreate the Montreal Screwjob, but he couldn’t go through with it. When Ali threatened Hebner, Bailey took control for a Sharpshooter of his own. Ali tapped out in defeat.

TNA World Championship: Nic Nemeth defeated Moose, Josh Alexander, Frankie Kazarian, Steve Maclin, and Joe Hendry to win the title. Six-way elimination bout. Maclin was the first elimination via spear from Moose. Moose was the second elimination via Standing Ovation chokeslam from Hendry. Hendry was the third elimination via low blow kick and a C4 spike piledriver from Alexander. It appears that Alexander just turned heel. Alexander was the fourth elimination via superkick from Nemeth. Kazarian had previously been superkicked off stage crashing through a table. He made his timely return to catch Nemeth off guard for a Fade to Black piledriver. 1, 2, kick out by Nemeth. They tussled back and forth with high drama, then Nemeth hit the Danger Zone to win.