Reviews

TNA Impact Review – March 27, 2025

By TJR Staff • Published 28th March 2025
TNA Impact March 27 Review

The build towards TNA Rebellion continued, as tensions between The Hardys and The Nemeths reached a boiling point during the main event Impact.

The show opened with the regular recap of lastweek which was definitely the poorest Impact show I have seen in a number of years. Mustafa Ali ran away from his match against Mike Santana to lose by count out and the Knockouts tag division added a couple of NXT teams to the mix. We are moving onwards and upwards, and this week’s line up looks decent.

TNA Impact 27.3.25 from El Paso County Coliseum, El Paso, Texas by Kristian Thompson

Here come the Knockouts Tag Team Champions to kick off tonight’s opening contest.

Match #1: Non-Title Match: Heather and Ash-By-Elegance vs NXT’s Gigi Dolin & Tatum Paxley

I’ll just summarise this match. Dolin and Paxley dominated Ash with some double-team work early on. Ash hit a slap on Paxley and tagged in Heather. Lash Legend and Jakara Jackson were watching backstage. Paxley outwrestled Heather on the mat. She tagged in Dolin and they double-teamed Heather with a Bronco Buster for 2. George Iceman pulled Heather out of the way of a dropkick attempt. Ash interfered with stomps. Heather choked out Dolin in the middle rope and tagged in Ash. Dolin blocked a corner attack and rolled to her corner for the tag. Heather tagged out too. Paxley hit a double crossbody in the corner and a Butterfly suplex on Heather. She nailed a jumping elbow for 2. Iceman pushed Paxley off the top turnbuckle and Ash hit Rarefied Air for the win after 6 minutes.

Winners by pinfall: Heather and Ash-By-Elegance

Analysis: **1/2 It was fine. The tag champs should be going over. The NXT girls were popular with the crowd, though. That’s a good sign. Paxley was the most impressive in the ring, for sure.

Heather and Ash went to celebrate post-match with a cake but Dolin and Paxley showed Ash face-first into the cake. Very predictable. That got the biggest pop of the night. TNA seem to always have to book some revenge angle straight after every heel team wins lately. It’s okay for the bad guys/girls to just leave the ring on top.

Leon Slater cut a quick promo backstage on Nic Nemeth. He said he’s not done after their beat down last week.

Ash was trying to clean the cake off her face backstage. It was really ‘caked’ on there good. She had cake all in her eyes. They put a lot of TV time into this team lately. There’s a lot of faith there I think.

Match #2: First Class & Frankie Kazarian vs The Aztec Warriors & Chavo Guerrero Jr

Chavo is 54 years old. He looked in good shape as he hit a nice missile dropkick to KC early on. Chavo last wrestled in TNA 12 years ago. Laredo Kid tagged in and hit a face-first spinning powerbomb on KC. That was cool. Navarro rolled out of the ring for a breather.

(Commercial break)

Octagon Jr. was dominating KC as we returned. Octagon hit a hurricanrana from the middle rope but he went from behind KC. He hit a spinning head scissors and went to run the ropes but AJ Francis blocked him. AJ tossed him to the outside from inside the ring. KC hit a diving plancha over the top rope then tagged in Francis. Francis chopped Octagon hard in the corner. He tossed him hard into the turnbuckle. The crowd chanted “You can’t wrestle” to Francis. Watch Twitter for another dummy spit from him due to that. Francis stretched Octagon out against the ropes. The Impact Zone chanted “You still suck” as he hit a back suplex. Francis took Laredo and Chavo off the apron with a cheap shot. Francis hit a power slam on both the Lucha wrestlers at once. Chavo broke up the pin at 2. Navarro tagged in. He hit a superkick and then they both collided with crossbody attempts. Kid and Kaz tagged in. Kid hit a tilt awhirl back breaker off the ropes. Kaz bounced back with a hard clothesline and tagged KC back in. Kid fought them both off with a DDT/Flatliner combo. Kid tagged in Chavo. He knocked Kaz off the apron. Chavo hit a Saito suplex on KC then ducked as AJ flew over the top rope. He hit a tilt awhirl backbreaker on KC and the 3 Amigos to the delight of the crowd. He gave Kaz 2 and then AJ attacked Chavo from behind. AJ went for a suplex but Chavo blocked it and him with the 3 Amigos. Great strength from Chavo at 54 years of age! The Luchas took out AJ and Kaz with dives off the top to the outside. Navarro tried to roll up with the tights for 2. Chavo hit the Gory Bomb and the Frog Splash to win the match after 11 minutes.

Winners by pinfall: The Aztec Warriors & Chavo Guerrero Jr

Analysis: ***1/4 That was a fun tag team match to hype the crowd up. Putting it on first might’ve been smarter. Honestly, Chavo looked better than half the roster in there. AJ Francis is a heavyweight and he suplexed him with ease. It helps wrestling in Texas where he is loved. The team of Kid and Octagon are really smooth. Hopefully, they stay together and could build a challenge for the tag team titles.

Santino Marella moderated a sit-down with Sami Callihan and Mance Warner. He asked Sami what he would need to do to end this. Sami said Warner doesn’t belong in TNA. Warner said he came in and kicked the door down then beat Sami at Sacrifice. Sami said he and SDL cheated and have proven nothing. It started to get heated. Marella wanted them to stop assaulting the security and keep the peace. SDL tossed a drink in Sami’s face. Marella was going to announce something to do with the Digital Media Title but he kicked SDL and Warner out.

Match #3: Non-Title Match: Masha Slamovich vs NXT’s Jacy Jayne

Jacy is a part of the heel stable, Fatal Influence, in NXT. She’s very solid in the ring and has always been in the mid-card in NXT with Gigi Dolin and Mandy Rose a few years back. Slamovich was on the attack early. She hit a clothesline that sent Jayne to the outside, then followed up with a twisting crossbody through the ropes. Jayne hit a cheap shot at ringside. She avoided Masha on the opposite side of the ring. Slamovich tried to dive to the outside, but Jayne hit a right hand and followed up with a PK from the ring apron. They went back into the ring and Jayne continued the beatdown. She choked Masha out with her foot in the corner and followed up with a cannonball for 2. Jayne avoided Requiem and hit a running knee. She mounted Slamovich with right hands on the mat. Jayne abused the fans a bit. She was too slow to follow up with her offense so Slamovich hit a running knee in the corner and a spinning heel kick for 2. Masha avoided a roll up and hit a backslide, which Jayne wriggled out of. Jayne hit a perfect knee strike to the jaw for 2. The referee’s count was ridiculously slow there. Jayne avoided a superkick and nailed a step-up enziguiri. She kicked Slamovich out of the ring. Slamovich caught a PK attempt from the apron and sent Jayne face-first into the apron. She hit a brutal knee strike back in the ring for a very close 2 count. That was nice. Jayne countered Requiem again and hit a swinging neckbreaker. She missed a senton and Slamovich hit 2 hard kicks to the head and the Snow Plow for the win after 10 minutes.

Winner by pinfall: Masha Slamovich

Analysis: ***1/4 That was a good battle between two hard strikers. Jayne impressed me here as she’s not always given a lot of singles time in NXT. Her knee strikes looked particularly clean.

Tessa Blanchard blindsided Slamovich from behind after the bell. She beat the champ down with hard forearms. Xia Brookside and Lei Ying Lee came down for back up.

Analysis: I thought we might be saving this until Slammiversary but it looks like Masha vs Tessa at Rebellion. That’s also fine. It’s Tessa time, now. She’s the best they’ve got so put the strap on her.

Match #4: Eric Young w/ The Northern Armory vs Ace Austin

Young hit some cheap stomps in the corner early. Austin used his pace to hit an inside cradle for 2. He used a backslide to get another nearfall. Austin hit a dropkick that sent Young into the corner. He ran into a spinebuster from Young for 2. Young choked Austin against the middle ropes. This allowed Travis Williams to hit a cheap right hand for another 2 count. Austin blocked a corner attack then ran into an Atomic Drop. Austin hit a clothesline and a side Russian Legsweep. He hit a number of clotheslines in the corner then a springboard kick to the face for 2. Austin put Young on the top rope. Young started biting Austin’s forehead. He got nice air on his elbow drop and a nearfall. Austin tried a surprise roll up for 2. He hit a double stomp and set up for The Fold. Williams and Icarus got up on the apron. Austin clotheslined Icarus down and hit a crossbody on the outside to take out Williams. Young avoided a running attack and sent Austin into the middle turnbuckle. He nailed the Piledriver for the win after 7 ½ minutes.

Winner by pinfall: Eric Young

Analysis: *** With his stablemates there, I thought it was pretty obvious Young would win with their help. And that’s what happened. It was a solid match, but nothing memorable.

Let’s Hear from the Champ

Joe Hendry came out to a great ovation as always. I wonder how many of these shiny shirts he has. Surely he has a sponsorship for them. Hendry reiterated that he would defend the title against anyone in any company. There was a Hendry vs Cena sign in the crowd. That would be cool. Elijah came out to the stage. He said he has heard the murmurs of the crowd wondering when Elijah will turn on Hendry. Elijah said he was Hendry’s friend and he can trust him. He sprouted some facts about Hendry. Elijah said he wanted to prove his friendship to Hendry with a song. He sang “You’ve Got a Friend in Me” from Toy Story. The crowd was swaying and singing along. Frankie Kazarian came out and he had had enough. Kaz had a guitar too. He said no one wanted to see this nonsense. Kaz told Elijah and Hendry that he hated them both. He said real men played the bass guitar and it was time for a concert from the King of TNA. Kaz sang a song abusing the fans. His voice was terrible and he barely played the bass. Hendry had disgust on his face. The fans chanted their displeasure at Kaz. Hendry said he was fired from the band and told him to get out of the ring. Kaz said he knew Elijah was going to turn on Joe soon. He said Hendry and Elijah should just get it over with now so he can take his shot and take the title. Kaz poked them both in the chest so they hit him with right hands. Elijah went for a powerslam but Kaz escaped out the back and pushed Elijah into Hendry. Kaz got out of the ring. Elijah and Hendry lead the crowd in singing goodbye to Kaz.

Analysis: This really felt like a filler segment. Kaz has had that trophy for 6 months now. He barely wrestles in singles matches at present. I think Elijah will probably turn, but at present his face shtick is good, clean fun that the crowd enjoyed.

Match #5: Nic Nemeth w/ Ryan vs Leon Slater

There was some mat wrestling early on as Nemeth tried to negate the high-flying style of Slater. Nemeth hit a cheap shot to the knee and raked Slater’s face along the top rope. Slater rallied and tossed Nemeth over the top rope. He hit his ridiculous dive over the corner to take Nemeth out on the floor, which led to a commercial break.

(Commercial break)

Nemeth had control as we returned to the action. Slater avoided a back suplex. He hit a single-leg dropkick. Slater hit a nice twisting suplex for 2. Nemeth blocked a back suplex but Slater took him down to the mat. Nemeth turned a back suplex into a backslide for 2. Slater caught a Fame Asser attempt and dumped him into a Blue Thunder Bomb for 2. Nemeth rolled out of the ring to avoid the Swanton 450. Slater caught a superkick attempt. Nemeth spiked Slater with a Fame Asser. That was very well sold. Slater kicked out at 2. The fans chanted their appreciation. Slater fought back with right hands a big boot. He went for a springboard cutter but Nemeth caught him perfectly in a sleeper hold. Slater rolled over and almost caught Nemeth with a 3 count. Nemeth avoided a leg lariat and hit a neckbreaker for a close 2 count. He put Slater on the top rope. Slater knocked him off but Nemeth recovered quickly and nailed a superplex. Nemeth lined Slater up for the superkick, but Slater was quickly with a big kick. He hit a Twist of Slate and went up high again. Slater went for the Swanton 450 but Nemeth got the knees up and used an inside cradle for a 2 count. Nemeth went for the superkick but Slater caught his leg and rolled him up for a very close nearfall. Slater held on to the ropes to avoid the Danger Zone. Ryan held Slater’s leg so Nic could hit the superkick. Nemeth nailed the Danger Zone to win the match after almost 12 minutes.

Winner by pinfall: Nic Nemeth

Analysis: ***1/2 That was a very good main event that continues to push Slater towards the top level, even though he’s still not winning a lot. I thought Nic might’ve put him over, but it made sense for him to win considering the afters of the show. They matched up well together.

Ryan kept stomping on Slater after the match. The Hardys music hit. Hannifan was going ballistic. Matt had a big shiner on his head as he hobbled down to the ring. The Nemeths backed up the ramp. Matt challenged The Nemeths to a match at Rebellion when they are medically cleared. Matt said they would delete the Nemeths at Rebellion.

Analysis: That’s a big match for the PPV. It’s probably one of the only big tag matches left for the Hardys with the current TNA roster. I saw them call out The Dudleyz or vice vers,a but I don’t know if anyone is clamoring for that in 2025.

Final Rating: 7/10

That was a much better show this week from TNA. I thought the night went by much quicker than the last couple of weeks because we had quality match-ups that were given some decent match times. The build to Rebellion is slow, but the stories are getting there. The main event men’s scene still isn’t that clear. It wouldn’t surprise me if Masha vs Tessa closed the show. The main event match of this week was the best match of the night. Nic and Slater matched up really well. Nic could probably drag a decent match out of me, to be fair, he’s that good. I was impressed with Chavo Guerrero’s return to the ring in an exciting 6-man tag and Jacy Jayne looked better than Masha Slamovich, even though she lost. Masha’s wrestling level seems to be ‘just there’ at present and I’m hoping she can up her effort for a big match with Tessa Blanchard. She just seems slightly off as of late.

The next TNA monthly special is Rebellion from the Galen Center in Los Angeles, California on April 27th. There is a tag team match announced.

Any feedback or comments are welcome. My email address is kristian.l.thompson@gmail.com in case anybody wants to get in touch with me and my Twitter/X handle is @thomok6 as well. Thanks for reading!