TNA: No Surrender
February 23, 2024
by Doc Allen
Live from the Alario Center in Westwego, Louisiana. The venue is a small arena, I'd guesstimate attendance at 450. Our hosts are Tom Hannifan and Matthew Rehwoldt.
Eric Young vs. Frankie Kazarian
Young cosplays as Dr. Doom, fitting for all the Fantastic Four MCU rumors floating around this week. Kazarian is evil now and demands to be introduced as the King of TNA. While we're at it, going forward I want to be known as the Lord of Dollar General. They feel each other out until Kazarian slaps the face. They both go down with stereo clotheslines and bump foreheads on their way back up. Back suplex and side leg sweep by Kazarian gets 2. Eric dodges a springboard leg drop and makes a grizzled veteran comeback. Eric hits a cracking headbutt and flying elbow drop for a nice nearfall. Kazarian answers with a guillotine leg drop and swinging DDT. Eric won't stay down, so Kazarian hits a backstabber and Fade to Black. Eric kicks out of Kazarian's finish to absolutely no crowd reaction. Kaz b!tches to the referee, and Eric ambushes with a crucifix bomb to win at 9:23. Kazarian's heel run is off to a rip roaring start. Match was competent, but they seemed to play down to the dead crowd, **.Winner: Frankie Kazarian
Kazarian attacks the referee and actually gets the fans to boo him. This actually turns into one of the more vicious referee beatdowns I can recall before security runs in late. One guy in the front row chants "King of Sh!t" which is just mean, Kaz has feelings too, you know?
Backstage interview with the Grizzled Young Veterans, complete with audio technical problems.
TNA Tag Team Championship:
ABC © (Chris Bey and Ace Austin) vs. Grizzled Young Veterans (Zack Gibson and James Drake)
It feels odd watching Ace play babyface, he feels out Gibson and stomps him into the canvas. Blind tag by Drake allows the GYV to cut the ring in half. Ace slips away and Bey flies in with a double crossbody. ABC swarm Drake with tandem offense. GYV recover by flapjacking Bey throat-first onto the ropes. The crowd's lack of interest makes the GYV beatdown on Bey feel like a drag. Are they serving Dramamine at the concession stands? The fans wake up a bit when Drake chokes Bey with a shirt while the ref is busy keeping Ace from interfering. The fans muster an "ABC" chant while Gibson rag dolls Bey around in a chinlock. Bey finally slips away and earns a pop for the hot tag to Austin. Ace clears the ring and hits Soar to Glory on Gibson. Ace smashes Drake's face into the mat, Gibson breaks the pinfall. Ace slams Gibson down for Bey's frog splash. ABC hit Drake with double spin kicks. Ace hits a twisting moonsault for only 2. Drake catches Bey in a sleeper while Gibson puts Ace in Shankly Gates. Bey reverses into a pinfall for a 2.9999 count. GYV challenge each other to be evil, and give Ace a TOPE SUICIDA DOOMSDAY DEVICE! Bey sells a throat injury but is willing to go it alone against GYV. Bey holds his own and hits a step up Fame-asser on Gibson! Gibson hits a lungblower aimed at Bey's hurt throat, and Drake helps with a Coast to Coast dropkick, but BEY KICKS OUT! Fans emerge from their comas to chant "This is awesome!" Ace attacks Gibson with a scarf, Bey hits the Art of Finesse, and Ace finishes Drake with The Fold at 17:51! Creative and ambitious outing, they had to work extra hard to pull the dead crowd into the action but they ultimately succeeded, ****.Winners and still TNA Tag Team Champions: ABC
The Rascalz caused a lot of trouble on the preshow and now they have targets on their backs.
Kon vs. PCO
Kon is the former Konnor of The Ascension, and he's totally reinvented himself in TNA by losing the second syllable of his name. PCO's entrance is my favorite kind of wrestling campiness, as medics revive his corpse, and whoever they found to play the lead doctor is enjoying himself way too much. PCO doesn't have much ring rust from being dead and enjoys a hot start pummeling Kon around. They exchange clotheslines, Kon blocks PCO's somersault senton with a closed fist. PCO no-sells a chokeslam on the apron and clotheslines Kon outside. PCO misses the de-animator and bounces his spine off the ring frame. Kon hits blatant chair shots to get DQed at 3:47. Good, I think 3 minutes was about all they had in them, *.Winner via DQ: PCO
Kon buries PCO under a pile of chairs and takes a break to beat up the timekeeper. TNA seems like a toxic work environment, if you ask me. PCO comes back to life and barely connects with the somersault senton. PCO hits many, many chair shots, but Kon pops back up for a low blow. Kon slams PCO onto the stage and zip ties him to the entrance tunnel. Kon wraps a chair around PCO's neck for another neck snap. I suppose this means they'll have to fight again later, the fans seem less than sympathetic about PCO's suffering.
The Motor City Machine Guns give KUSHIDA and Kevin Knight a pep talk. It's just unintentionally patronizing enough that you could imagine a betrayal angle later on.
TNA Knockouts Tag Team Championship:
Decay © (Rosemary and Havok) vs. MK Ultra (Killer Kelly and Masha Slamovich)
Havok and Masha begin with a brawl. Havok hits a backbreaker/clothesline sequence. Rosemary helps with an exploder suplex. Rosemary bites Masha in the face. Kelly trips Rosemary, allowing Masha to hit a double stomp to the gut. MK Ultra use quick tags to keep Rosemary away from a tag. Kelly and Rosemary take turns mounting each other (for lack of better words), but despite from fire from Rosemary, MK Ultra retains control. Havok eventually gets a hot tag and piles MK Ultra up for a running hip attack. Havok gives Kelly a DVD for only 2. Decay hit a tandem powerbomb, Masha breaks the pinfall. Masha blocks Rosemary's spear and hits the Snowplow to win at 7:29. Decent short match with the right kind of energy for it's place on the card, **¼.Winners and new TNA Tag Team Champions: MK Ultra
MK Ultra aren't satisfied and put the boots to Decay, but Jody Threat Dani Luna rush in to clear them out.
TNA World Champion Moose orders his friends not to interfere in his title defense, which of course means they will definitely be interfering in his title defense.
Simon Gotch vs. Josh Alexander
Gotch, the former Vaudevillian, arrives dressed up for The Purge, and flips the bird at Alexander. They settle in for some crafty chain wrestling. Gotch feels the ankle lock coming and flees into the ropes. Alexander demands and wins a slugfest, but Gotch pops up for an ambush. Gotch delivers a tight knee strike to the chin, followed by a back senton onto the ring frame. Josh recovers with a dead lift German suplex, leading to rolling Germans. Gotch desperately kicks the ear and collapses into a cover for 2. I'm not sure why the guy who just took 4 Germans is suddenly in control, but Gotch hits a back senton for another 2 count. They trade open hand slaps until Gotch hits an enziguri. Alexander musters a desperation missile dropkick, but Gotch answers with a leaping kick. Gotch trips Alexander on the ring frame, but misses a back senton! Josh capitalizes with a low crossbody slide to the spine! Josh continues his comeback with an exploder suplex for 2. (Some) fans chant "This is awesome!" Gotch blocks the C4, Josh blocks the Gotch Piledriver, but Gotch pulls off Alexander's headgear for the bulldog choke! Josh reverses into the ankle lock, pulls Gotch away from the ropes, but Gotch still escapes. Josh hits a backbreaker onto his knee and nails the C4 Spike to win at 16:44. This succeeded at giving Alexander an impressive victory in front of a supportive crowd, but some of the narrative hiccups took me out of this, **¾.Winner: Josh Alexander
AJ Francis approaches Rich Swann to stir the pot about his recent career setbacks.
TNA World Championship (No Surrender Rules Match):
Moose © (with Brian Myers, Eddie Edwards, and Alisha) vs. Alex Shelley (with Kevin Knight and KUSHIDA)
Westside Gunn, "world renowned rapper" and wrestling superfan, is in the front row to support Moose. The stipulation states that the title can change hands if the cornermen throw in the towel, and I'm getting PTSD Russo vibes. First the entrance tunnels, and now this. Bell rings, Shelley charges in for a flurry of offense. Shelley softens up Moose's shoulder and applies an armbar. Moose blocks an armbreaker, so Shelley hyper extends his arm with a stomp. Shelley misses a baseball slide, Moose makes him pay with a powerbomb onto the apron! Moose goes to work on the spine and dares KUSHIDA and Knight to do something about it. Shelley chopblocks Moose's bad knee and stares down Myers before hitting the Pillamizer. KUSHIDA and Knight keep The System away while Shelley bends Moose's fingers with a wrench. :Moose retaliates with chair shots to Shelley's hand. Shelley answers with a dragon screw in the ropes. Shelley unloads kendo stick shots to Moose's bad knee. Myers and Edwards pretend to throw in the towel and manage to steal Shelley's kendo stick. Moose plants Shelley, but is too injured to capitalize and requests a trash can. Moose positions the can in an upside down position, but Shelly powerbombs him onto it for a BRUTAL landing. Shelley applies a Figure Four, Moose quickly reverses, but Shelley reverses again. Moose escapes with wild kendo stick shots and orders The System to bring in a table. Moose nearly hits the table with a missed spear, but Shelly delivers a low blow and Border City Stretch. Myers sends in brass knuckles for Moose to escape. Moose tosses away the knuckles and misses a head of steam through the table! Shelley wraps a chain through Mooses' mouth for the Border City Stretch. Knight helps with a dive onto The System. Shelley takes the towel away from Alisha, and gets blindsided by Moose's spear. Moose wraps himself in the chain and hits another spear, daring KUSHIDA to throw in the towel. KUSHIDA gives in and throws the towel at 20:09, but Moose spears Shelley again anyway. This actually turned into a pretty awesome fight, the injured body parts were used to enhance the drama and championship jeopardy, and the towel stipulation became a plus rather than a minus, ****.Winner and still TNA World Champion: Moose
TNA Knockouts Championship:
Jordynne Grace © vs. Giselle Shaw
Ash by Elegance (FKA Dana Brooke) is introduced as a special ringside guest. Bell rings, Giselle runs away in terror. Grace catches up to her and blocks a tope with an uppercut. Grace hits a fallaway slam on the floor, which only moderately impresses Ash by Elegance. Giselle shields herself with the referee and throws Grace into the buckles to gain the upper hand. Grace reverses a suplex and hits a pendulum kick. Giselle haplessly runs into some scoop slams. Giselle musters a flying kick for a polite nearfall. They trade counters on the apron until Grace hits a nasty back senton. Giselle blocks the Juggernaut Driver and nails a Spanish Fly from the apron! Fans chant "TNA!" Giselle's late cover attempts get 2. Grace reverses into a spinebuster for another 2. Shaw hits a knee to the face, Grace saves herself with a rope break. Grace powers to her feet for a slugfest. Superkick by Shaw, but Grace blocks the Cody Cutter with a handstand! Grace nails the Juggernaut Driver to win at 10:36! I'm guilty of having written Giselle off as an unworthy challenger early on, and she proved me wrong with her gutsy high spots and ability to trade reversals with the always-game Grace. Sleeper hit of the night, ***.Winner and still TNA Knockouts Champion: Jordynne Grace
Jake Something is happy to see the X-Division Championship back in the main event and he's coming for it.
X-Division Championship:
Chris Sabin © vs. Mustafa Ali (with security)
They take some time to let the moment breath before feeling each other out and reaching a stalemate. They exchange hammerlock counters until Ali grabs a side headlock. Sabin escapes and they sprint to another stalemate. Fans chant "Ali" and Sabin looks flustered. They run the ropes again and Sabin traps Ali in a surfboard predicament. Sabin slips on a Bow and Arrow, but Ali makes it look like he countered and mocks the champ by dusting his shoes. Sabin becomes irate and grabs the hair, but Ali snaps his neck on the ropes. Sabin surprises with a head scissors takedown from the apron! High crossbody by Sabin, then a nice chinlock. Ali escapes with a stunner, but Ali hits a 450 splash to the arm! Ali grabs an aggressive STF and declares that Sabin is NOT the champion we deserve. Sabin delivers a surprise German suplex. They exchange fancy kicks and take a breather for an ovation. Sabin sells an arm injury while making a comeback to a mixed reaction. Flying DDT by Sabin only gets 2! Fans chant "this is awesome!" Sabin grabs a crossface while fans cheer for Ali. Rope break by Ali sends Sabin into a rage, allowing Ali to dropkick him outside. Sabin knocks Ali from the top rope but then flies into Ali's dropkick! Ali misses a 450 and Sabin throws him into the buckles! They stumble through a slugfest, Sabin then dropkicks Ali to the outside yet again. Sabin misses a dive and lands on Ali's security. The Good Hands show up for a distraction, and Ali grabs Sabin's tights for a nearfall. King Kong lariat by Sabin, then the Cradle Shock, but ALI KICKS OUT! Sabin tries a top rope Cradle Shock, but Ali reverses into a sunset flip bomb! Ali pulls himself up for the 450 splash to win at 19:38! Stellar match that had me feeling nostalgic for the late 90's cruiserweights and affirmed my love of this type of action, ****.Winner and new X-Division Champion: Mustafa Ali
Ali is overjoyed to be X-Division Champion, his campaign is complete.
Final Thoughts: Three **** matches is nothing to sneeze at, even though these are three matches that will probably be overlooked by all the bigger things happening this weekend. The TNA crew had to overcome an initially dead crowd but managed to make No Surrender a show worth checking out.
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