TNA crowns new World Champion on live Impact episode
TNA has crowned a new World Champion, ending Mike Santana’s brief reign atop the promotion.
Frankie Kazarian is the new TNA World Champion following Thursday night’s live Impact episode, as the TNA veteran defeated Santana by cashing in his Call Your Shot Gauntlet trophy won at Bound for Glory to capture the title.
Santana made his one and only defense of the TNA World title on Thursday’s episode, defeating Ryan Nemeth in some kind of DQ/no contest/schmoz after a group of WWE NXT wrestlers ran in and attacked Santana during the match.
After the ring cleared, Kazarian cashed in his trophy and became the sixth Grand Slam champion in TNA history.
Santana and Steve Maclin will team against Kazarian and Nic Nemeth on Friday night’s Turning Point streaming special on TNA Plus. The event will be held in winter Park, Florida at Full Sail University, the second of three consecutive nights in the building for TNA.
It is an abrupt end to the first World title reign of Santana’s career after a months-long chase culminated in him winning the gold at TNA’s biggest event of the year Bound for Glory last month.
Our full report from Thursday’s live TNA Impact is available here.
An F4WOnline Editor since 2019, Ethan has been covering wrestling and MMA since 2011. He has hosted The Wrestling Life Podcast since 2014, and is a former Baltimore Sun TV/Tribune Media contributor. He is also a Baltimore Ravens and Baltimore Orioles fan.