TNA Sacrifice 2025
March 14, 2025
El Paso County Coliseum
El Paso, Texas
Watch: TNA+
TNA Wrestling returns to live broadcast this Friday (March 14th) for Sacrifice, their first live special since Genesis in mid-January.
Emanating from the El Paso County Coliseum in El Paso, Texas, the main event will see Moose defend the X-Division Championship against Jeff Hardy in a Ladder Match.
Since January’s Genesis PPV, the weekly programming has been dominated by the promotional intersection with NXT and the arrival of a number of former WWE acts. The promotion and build for NXT’s Roadblock show was relatively effective but it’s not exactly been a terrific watch, particularly when the fresh faces they’ve brought in are Elijah and The Colons.
They’re touting Sacrifice as one of their best-paid events in the USA in years and that it’ll outsell last year’s Victory Road event, which had 2,000 paid. That drawing ability can be put down to the popularity of The Hardys, the NXT interest, and the acceptance that the WWE link has given to their fans—the sense articulated by Joe Lanza on the Flagship that WWE fans have been made to feel that TNA is okay to watch.
Countdown to TNA Sacrifice 2025
First Class (AJ Francis & KC Navarro) vs. Laredo Kid & Octagon Jr
I’ll admit to having been down on AJ Francis when TNA first brought him in 14 months ago but he’s turned it around. His in-ring work has improved, his promos are quite entertaining and he’s been a great foil for KC Navarro. His talk show segments over the last few weeks, however, have been flat out dreadful.
As for Laredo Kid, he lost to Wes Lee on the go-home show and that’s par for the course for the Mexican native. Since dropping the Digital Media title to AJ Francis last year, he’s won just three times in 16 outings and two of those wins came against people no longer contracted to the promotion. Will his fortunes change in Texas, teaming with former MLW Caribbean Heavyweight Champion Octagon Jr? I doubt it, but I hope so. Prediction: Laredo Kid & Octagon Jr
The Rascalz (Trey Miguel & Zachary Wentz) & Ace Austin vs. Wes Lee, Tyriek Igwe & Tyson Dupont
The issues between Ace Austin and Wes Lee date back to January, with Lee’s issues with his former Rascalz teammates dating back to his turn on them last Autumn.
Over the last few weeks, both sides have got the upper hand at various stages as they’ve interfered in each other’s matches and affected results. Those results have been fairly predictable too – Lee, as the pushed NXT commodity, hasn’t lost but his backups in Igwe and Dupont have taken falls.
I expect that to continue here, with the babyfaces getting the decisive win to end this programme, likely with Ace Austin picking up the victory. As matches on this card go, this has the potential to be one of the best. Prediction: Ace Austin & The Rascalz
Tessa Blanchard vs. Lei Ying Lee
I found it genuinely baffling that TNA had Tessa Blanchard out there doing their local media rounds before this show, but there again I wouldn’t have rehired her in the first place.
Blanchard is obviously next up for the Knockouts title, something hammered home by her pinning Masha Slamovich on the go-home show. As such, this match outcome isn’t in any doubt but I’m interested in two things.
One, how does Lei Ying Lee look in the most significant outing of her (limited) TNA tenure? Two, how negative is the live reaction for Tessa? Prediction: Tessa Blanchard
Steve Maclin vs. Frankie Kazarian
The current TNA booking regime aren’t exactly big on nuance or subtlety but I have quite enjoyed the way they’ve tried to tell the story with Steve Maclin and Eric Young.
Maclin, now completely babyface, wasn’t interested in Eric Young’s switch to work with The Northern Armoury and the way Young ended Josh Alexander’s TNA run. The two men talked it out and seemed to draw a line under it on the go-home show, without it descending into something really corny or melodramatic.
There’s no real backstory to this singles match and there’s no real booking baggage either, as while Frankie Kazarian’s got the Call Your Shot trophy, they won’t worry about protecting him. That could and should open the door for a Maclin win, but it’s also easy to visualise Young and his crew costing him to continue that feud and keep Kaz ticking over. Prediction: Frankie Kazarian
Mustafa Ali (w/ Jason Hotch, John Skyler & Tasha Steelz) vs. Mike Santana
Man, how wrong were we all about Mustafa Ali? We all seemed to think he was this coiled spring being held back by WWE that was going to moonwalk into AEW after his release and just explode.
Turns out he’s not got those hidden depths, huh. His creative mind isn’t great either as his campaign gimmick in TNA grated on me very quickly and he’s doing a lot of the same schtick following his return in January.
This program has very much not been for me either. I think there is an effective way of Ali being a malicious heel that’s questioning Santana’s sobriety and ability to be the locker-room leader and ace that he’s being positioned as. They’ve gotten close to that track a couple of times, including on the go-home show, but too often it’s descended into cheap melodrama or corny bits like Ali requesting a urine test and then demanding another one.
In terms of long-term direction, Santana is definitely winning the title at Slammiversary in his native New York. They’ll want to keep him busy until then, so a multi-show feud with Ali over a personal issue like this would be an effective distraction. As such, that means we probably get a pretty decent match here with a screwy finish so this can continue. Prediction: Mustafa Ali
Street Fight
Mance Warner (w/Steph De Lander) vs. Sami Callihan
I quite enjoyed the creative way that TNA resolved the Digital Media Championship issue after PCO’s acrimonious departure, saying that Steph De Lander had won it in her “divorce” and immediately pairing her up with her shoot boyfriend Mance Warner.
The ‘23’ angle that ended up being De Lander and Warner was clearly originally supposed to be something involving Callihan and PCO but again, the pivot worked, as the brawls between Warner and Callihan have been quite entertaining and the most I’ve enjoyed Callihan in ages.
Even though Callihan’s in-ring capabilities are pretty limited these days, the chemistry these two have from their work in MLW and AAW and their shared propensity for bleeding should make this quite entertaining. I’d love to see them commit to pushing Warner out the gate and give him the win but I’m not convinced. Prediction: Sami Callihan
Steel Cage Match
Joe Hendry, Matt Hardy, Elijah, Leon Slater & Nic Nemeth vs. The System (Eddie Edwards, Brian Myers & JDC) and The Colons (Eddie & Primo Colon)
What a collection of 10 men this is. Especially for the promotion’s first cage match since October 2019…
I can somewhat understand the decision to bring in Elijah, as there’s at least some short-term fun to be had with Joe Hendry.
The Colons, though. Nope, I’m out. How much are they moving the needle? How much are they adding to the product? What’s the long-term play with those guys in 2025?
This match is the bringing together of a few different issues and I’ll give them some credit for diligently weaving them in over the last couple of weeks and ending the go-home show with a decent brawl.
The match will be worked along Lethal Lockdown rules, with the heels constantly having the one man advantage until the end thanks to Eddie Edwards’ win over Leon Slater on the go-home show.
Given how they’ve booked him over the last few weeks, this match strikes me as the perfect opportunity for TNA to finally give Leon Slater a big win and a big moment. Doing that and then moving him towards challenging Moose for the X-Division title would be the right play, without question.
He’ll undoubtedly be the highlight of this match, especially given how one-paced most of the other guys in this one are. Whether or not Slater wins, the babyfaces should go over here. Prediction: Joe Hendry, Matt Hardy, Elijan, Nic Nemeth & Leon Slater
2-on-3 Handicap match for the TNA Knockouts World Tag Team Championship
Spitfire (Dani Luna & Jody Threat) (C) vs. Ash By Elegance, Heather By Elegance & The Personal Concierge
Please, can this feud just end?
I thought they’d do the title change between these teams at Genesis but instead Spitfire retained.
They then went with a TV rematch which Spitfire again won, albeit that time with the added stipulation that the losing team had to become their helpers (I know) for 24 hours.
Somehow Ash and Heather now have another shot but with the addition of their helper George Iceman now on their team in a handicap match. A man in a three-on-two handicap. For the women’s tag team titles. Good work, Dreamer.
Yep, this stinks. They could completely t-bone the heels here and put Spitfire over again but surely they swap the titles over? Prediction: Ash By Elegance & Heather By Elegance
TNA Knockouts World Championship
Masha Slamovich (C) vs. Cora Jade
I’ve got a genuine curiousity about Cora Jade. She’s been wrestling for almost 7 years now and she’s been in the WWE system since 2021. And I still don’t think she’s good at anything.
That sounds mean but I feel like Tom Hanks in Big – I don’t get it. Her in-ring work is slow, cumbersome and entirely unthreatening. Her promos are marble-mouthed and stilted. And even something as silly as walking, yes just ambulating backstage, she even manages to do that in an unnatural fashion. There’s just no natural instincts there at all.
She’s very much a placeholder defence for Masha Slamovich so that they can pivot to building Masha v Tessa Blanchard for Rebellion in April. The result isn’t in doubt but I’m genuinely intrigued to see if Jade shows me anything in the match. Prediction: Masha Slamovich
Ladder Match – TNA X-Division Championship
Moose (C) vs. Jeff Hardy
It’s nice to see Jeff Hardy getting his once a decade shot at the X-Division title after previous tilts in 2004 and 2013.
He’s got two wins over Moose in recent weeks, which is why we’ve got this match. The Ladder stipulation, as much as they’re billing it as Hardy’s speciality, is there so they can incorporate more bells, whistles and shenanigans to take away from the limited in-ring capabilities of Hardy.
Moose has a decent track record in plunder matches but I don’t think he’s been good overall in quite a while. His World title matches last year were dull in the main and he’s not changed that track since winning this X-Division title from Mike Bailey. He did look better against Oba Femi on the NXT show on Tuesday but even that wasn’t as good as people made out (quel surprise).
There’ll be a lot of overspill in this match from the Cage Match either earlier or later in the show, all of which should lead to Moose retaining. Prediction: Moose
