TNA Rebellion Review - April 27, 2025

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Pre-Show: Fatal Influence (Jacy Jane, Fallon Henley and Jazmyn Nyx) def. Xia Brookside, Rosemary and Lei Ying Lee

Fatal Influence are regulars on WWE NXT TV, but it's cool that they've made appearances in TNA as of late, too. This was a smart use of them as Brookside and Rosemary get closer to forming an alliance. This was a well-worked six-woman tag team match. I liked that the heels went over and that Brookside and Rosemary aren't a cohesive unit just yet, unless they're going to feud instead (which I'd also be totally fine with).

Pre-Show: Elijah def. Shane Haste

I know this was the pre-show, but when Elijah said he was issuing an open challenge to anyone in any company, I (like most people) had higher hopes for who'd it be. Haste is a talented dude, but he's also just a member of TMDK and there's nothing overly special about him. Thus, this was a basic bout, so it was wise to position this on the pre-show. At least the crowd was behind Elijah throughout.

TNA X-Division Champion Moose def. Leon Slater, Matt Cardona, El Hijo del Vikingo, Sidney Akeem and KC Navarro in an Ultimate X Match

This match felt like it was announced out of nowhere (not to mention half of these wrestlers aren't signed to TNA full-time), but it virtually didn't matter because the stipulation always sells itself. Put six guys who can go in there and the crowd won't care about a nonexistent build. This was a really enjoyable opener as you'd expect given who was involved. It wasn't the right time for Moose to lose, but based on the finish, I hope this is leading to Slater being the one to eventually dethrone him.

TNA Knockouts World Tag Team Champions Ash and Heather by Elegance def. Spitfire, The Meta-Four (Lash Legend and Jakara Jackson) and Gigi Dolin & Tatum Paxley in a Four-Way Tag Team Match

It's a shame NXT just did a four-way tag team match with the women on the Stand & Deliver pre-show last weekend because that one also featured Meta-Four and Dolin and Paxley and it was actually better than this. That isn't to take anything away from the effort of these teams (and this had been built up at least a month or so in advance), but the crowd largely sounded quiet. It's been nice to see some variety in the women's tag team division, if nothing else.

The Rascalz and Ace Austin def. The System (TNA X-Division Champion Moose, Eddie Edwards and Brian Myers)

I mistakenly thought Austin and Trey Miguel were calling upon Sean Waltman to be their partner for this match. Instead, he was just in their corner (with Wentz returning after only being attacked a week ago at Unbreakable), but it was still sweet when Waltman did his thing toward the end. With the way he was moving around, I don't doubt that he has another match left in him. This was a fun six-man tag team matchup and Wentz pinning Moose should earn him the next shot at the TNA X-Division Championship.

TNA International Champion Steve Maclin def. Eric Young

Maclin turned down multiple offers from Young to join The Northern Armory, so they were full-fledged rivals once the bell rang. I've liked the story these two have told coming into this contest, making it more meaningful in the process. This was well done and the finish not being decisive created the need for a rematch. That was confirmed by Young's post-match attack on Maclin.

Mike Santana def. Mustafa Ali in a Falls Count Anywhere Match

I've said it before, but props to these two for having such a fantastic feud this year. Santana continues to excel as a singles star and Ali has been awesome since returning to TNA. They've had wonderful chemistry to boot and that was once again evident in this outing where they made the most of the stipulation by brawling around ringside. At this rate, Santana has to be TNA World Champion by Bound for Glory, right?

TNA Knockouts World Champion Masha Slamovich def. Tessa Blanchard

Slamovich has had a solid title run, but she needs to do more to connect with the audience. Hopefully this win is a step in the right direction. This crowd heavily booed Blanchard, but they never really rallied behind Slamovich. That's a bummer because I thought they had a great match. Blanchard's in-ring ability has never been the issue. That said, Slamovich retaining was a pleasant surprise. Blanchard can win it in a rematch, and this established that Slamovich is more than a transitional champ.

The Nemeths def. The Hardys to Win the TNA World Tag Team Championship

The Hardys being so damn over makes all of their matches a treat, regardless of whether they look their age in the ring these days. He's a competent wrestler, btu Ryan looked out of place in there with the other three. That's why he scored the pinfall win, but no matter how much TNA tries, I still won't give a shit about him. The title change extends the feud and the match was good.

TNA World Champion Joe Hendry def. Ethan Page and Frankie Kazarian in a Three-Way Match

It feels like Page is on the cusp of a main roster call-up in WWE and Kazarian was never viewed as a legitimate threat to the title, so the big selling point coming into this main event was that Hendry was "injured" (and fresh off a busy week between Unbreakable, WrestleMania 41, NXT and Thursday's iMPACT!). That definitely added some suspense to the outcome. This was an entertaining three-way and Hendry pinning Page was perfect so he could avenge his loss to him from NXT No Mercy last year. Trick Williams coming out afterward to attack Hendry was also excellent because it cements his heel turn and gives us a big feud for the title going into Slammiversary, though I could see them doing it sooner than that.

Overall Show

When it matters most, TNA hits home runs. Rebellion was a top-notch show on the whole, and even with only one title change, it felt like a newsworthy night. That included the announcement that Indi Hartwell has joined the Knockouts division, a terrific addition. This was a jam-packed event and I didn't have an issue with anything we got. The working relationship with NXT has helped a ton, but TNA is just a consistently strong product in general and this pay-per-view was proof of that.

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