This has been a pretty grim and dour read, if I’m being completely honest. It can be easy to forget that, at the end of the day, wrestling –like movies– is for the dreamers. You can get jaded and cynical, but sometimes the right combination of earnestness, sincerity, and passion will remind you exactly why you started watching this ridiculous thing in the first place.

Wrestling is a lot like a Neil Diamond tribute band. You might hate “Sweet Caroline” deep in your bones, and think that the lead singer looks ridiculous trying to conjure the ghost of a man who is still alive, but you can’t deny the artistry or the passion.

Yes, “Song Sung Blue” is a kind of ridiculous, manipulative movie, but damned if it doesn’t scratch that same corny, high-fructose itch that good wrestling usually does. Carny dreamers in ridiculous outfits, fighting backstage over time and gimmicks. 

If Marty Mauser is who most wrestlers are behind the scenes, Lightning & Thunder are what every wrestler aspires to be when the lights are on: Someone who can make even an ardent Neil Diamond hater like me sing along to “Soolaimon.”

Next month, Aleister Black will mark the one-year anniversary of his WWE return, where he blasted The Miz with a Black Mass on the WrestleMania 41 fallout episode of “WWE SmackDown.” Since then, he’s notably challenged for the United States Championship, headlined WWE’s blue brand with veteran Randy Orton, and survived a heated rivalry with Damian Priest. All together, Black says it equals a “massive success” for him.

“A lot more work, a lot more things that I have done inside the ring and outside the ring,” Black told The Stunner when asked for his personal evaluation of his WWE return. “I like being busy; once I feel like I am not busy, I feel like I am not doing something right. The amount of work I have had within WWE has been a lot, which is good. Several main events, headlining several Smackdown episodes, merchandise sales, commercials, various interviews, and then obviously as of recently, working the main event with Randy Orton and beating him. I cannot really complain when it comes to that.”

While considering his second run an overall success so far, Black also acknowledges that there will always be room for improvement, whether it be from a character or in-ring perspective. In the latter department, Black has brought his “Dark Father” gimmick over to WWE, with its aim being to corrupt other talents on the roster. 

Most recently, Black approached Sami Zayn backstage on “SmackDown” amidst his ongoing frustrations with the now-three-time Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes. Black specifically told Zayn not to worry about Rhodes, as it was “just the nature of the beast.”

Well, hey, that was a solid episode of “TNA Impact,” as far as episodes of “Impact” go. It was no coincidence that the show featured six matches and tighter promos, cutting out a lot of the kinds of segments that lead to recurring mistakes for this promotion. While there weren’t any titles on the line during this installment, the show continued to build up to TNA Sacrifice later this month, including by devoting some more time to the world title feud between Mike Santana and Steve Maclin. TNA Wrestling

Oh, friends. I can honestly say I’m extremely excited for where this TNA World Championship will go at Sacrifice in two weeks, especially now that Mr. Mayhem has introduced himself to Dr. Death for the first time.

Weeks ago, the champ, Mike Santana, warned Steve Maclin that after you knock on death’s door often, eventually he’ll open. Santana will play that role come March 27. Rather than cower, Maclin maintained his “front toward enemy” motto and introduced his alter-ego, who will put up a hell of a fight against Dr. Death.

What I loved about this promo from Maclin tonight was how he mentioned the fact that “The Realest” asks for pity from the fans, which in the former World Champ’s eyes, makes him look weak. Side note: Anyone who overcomes addiction is a warrior among the pack. But maybe Maclin is on to something. We all love to watch someone rise from the ashes of despair, but is Maclin right? Did we take pity on Santana only because we’re aware that he was a former addict? Would we have cheered when he won the title for the first time in his career at last year’s Bound for Glory? It makes you wonder.

Now, I know that WWE is involved with TNA behind the scenes, and that excessive gore is prohibited from in-ring contests. But how can’t there be any bloodshed when these two alter-egos meet in the ring? To watch these two sacrifice themselves for our amusement, that day can’t come soon enough!

Written by Brie Coder

With Sacrifice fast approaching, one of the storylines receiving the most attention has been Mike Santana defending his TNA World Championship against Steve Maclin. Unfortunately, from my perspective, the build has been downright boring.

In weeks past, Maclin was continuing to show up to work despite being fired, but not much was being done to keep him away. Maclin was then reinstated during last week’s show, and his title match against Santana was booked for the next big event. Nothing offensively bad so far, but there was no real hook, either.

They followed that up with their segment tonight, which saw Maclin “apologizing” to Tom Hannifan before things broke down into a war of words between Maclin and Santana. Maclin insulted the champion, and brought up his dead father, which just felt like a watered down version of the recent promo segment between CM Punk and Roman Reigns on “WWE Raw.”

As my esteemed colleague Max states elsewhere in this column, TNA feels like a company without any strong direction, and nowhere is that more evident than in the world title picture. Whoever wins between these two, does it feel like there is another strong challenger waiting in the wings? Frankie Kazarian is still hanging around, but the top of the card in TNA is pretty slim right now, and that needs to change if they want to make this show truly fun to watch on a regular basis.

Written by Nick Miller

Having watched TNA Wrestling properly now for the last several weeks, Order 4 and BDE have become some of my favorite talents currently signed with the company to watch on a weekly basis. For that reason, I was always bound to love it when they were thrown in the ring with one another with two other talented individuals in Rich Swann and Trey Miguel.

This is basically everything that you could want in a six-man tag team match: excitement, high flying action, a little bit of intensity, and a feel good babyface win. There may have only been a backstage confrontation last Thursday that set this one up and didn’t have a ton of long term storytelling that went into it, but it didn’t really need that seeing as it was just a bit of fun that this lackluster edition of “TNA Impact” benefitted from.

I also liked the inclusion of Tasha Steelz and Jada Stone in this one. It was pretty expected that Stone would show up at some point in light of the recent tensions between the two women, but it was still welcomed to see them have their moment to shine in the match and not be pushed to the side as the storyline between them continues to play out. It added that little extra something to an already great match, and made it that much more engaging to watch without taking away from things by having an interference or disqualification ending.

Written by Olivia Quinlan

Allie, otherwise known as The Bunny, returned to TNA in a backstage segment with Rosemary during “TNA Impact.” 

Allie spent time with TNA from 2013 until 2019, winning the TNA Knockouts Championship twice, and serving both as a teammate and rival to Rosemary. 

She was written off of TV as dying in Rosemary’s arms, before joining AEW and becoming known as the Bunny – working alongside the Butcher and the Blade as a manager, and wrestling alongside Penelope Ford in a tag team – until her departure in 2023. 

Allie began training for her return to the ring last year, appearing at Border Brawl as Team Canada’s coach, and returned to the ring formally for Evil Uno’s Mystery Wrestling alongside Ford. Her return alongside Rosemary was teased via social media by Raven only recently, with the former ECW, WWE, WCW, and TNA veteran sharing a snap of the three together at a TNA taping. 

Everything is going according to plan for @WeAreRosemary…

Is @AllieWrestling…coming back? #TNAiMPACT pic.twitter.com/ylPLBZYaib

— TNA Wrestling (@ThisIsTNA) March 13, 2026

Segments involving Rosemary have been cryptic and prior to Allie’s cameo this week she was shown to be talking to Johnny Swinger. He notably called someone in the bunny costume walking by the “Gobbledy Gooker.” 

“The Youngest in Charge” Leon Slater has lived up to this nickname, especially after winning and becoming the youngest TNA X-Division Champion in company history. However, the ante of his challengers has upped now that Eric Young has appeared in the picture.

After taking Slater out and putting him on a temporary self last week with a nasty piledriver, “The World Class Maniac” is ready to take their hostilities from out of the ring and into it. On this week’s episode of “TNA iMPACT,” Young officially challenged Slater for the title at Sacrifice on Friday, March 27, in New Orleans.

.@TheEricYoung will challenge @LEONSLATER_ for the X-Division Title at #TNASacrifice. #TNAiMPACT

Use promo code SACRIFICE26 for one month FREE of TNA+: https://t.co/EkIqqcuYSK pic.twitter.com/szJVWRoGCX

— TNA Wrestling (@ThisIsTNA) March 13, 2026

With an impressive résumé, should Young win in two weeks, it’ll be the second time in his tenured career that he’s held this specific championship. The last time he held it, it was only for a day at Final Resolution in 2008. It was only for a day because former Management Director, Jim Cornette, felt the win was controversial. As for Slater, the British prospect won it from Moose at last year’s Slammiversary. As of this report, Slater has had the title for 236 days. His title defense against Young will be his 11th title defense.

Slater versus Young now joins another highly anticipated clashing between TNA World Champion Mike Santana and  Steve Maclin. Sacrifice will air live on TNA+ at 8 p.m. EST.