Mike Santana beat Eric Young to retain the TNA World Championship in the opening bout of “TNA Impact.”
Santana started the match confidently, taking time after the starting bell to intentionally keep his back to Young before turning and overwhelming with a big boot and strikes in the corner. The champion kept that same energy as the action went to the outside, though Young ultimately got the better of him, sending him into the ringsteps and continuing to target the neck.
The action returned to the ring with Young at the advantage, targeting the neck some more before he was ripped from the top rope by Santana. Santana found his feet first, averting what Young was desperately throwing at him, connecting with a bulldog and a rolling buck fifty for the near-fall.
Santana inadvertently sent Young into the referee, connecting with Spin The Block and going for the cover with no one there to count. He attempted to raise the referee, turning into a low blow from Young. Young then went to the outside of the ring, grabbing the title belt and returning to the ring to hit Santana with it, connecting with the piledriver and going for the cover as the referee returned to make the count.
Santana got his hand on the bottom rope before the third second to break the count. And then an infuriated Young set up the title belt in the middle of the ring, setting Santana up for a piledriver onto it.
Ricky Sosa’s music played to mark his return, distracting Young long enough to get rolled up for the winning pinfall. Young ran up the ramp to chase Sosa after the match, leaving Santana in the ring to be confronting by Call Your Shot holder Nic Nemeth.
Nemeth teased cashing it in immediately before eventually making the challenge for the title at Slammiversary instead as promised, and they shook hands to cement it.
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