IMPACT Wrestling has finalized the line-up for a one-hour TNA Special on Tuesday, March 31, airing directly after the new episode of IMPACT Wrestling television on AXS TV. The tribute to IMPACT Wrestling’s time as Total Nonstop Action (TNA) from 2002-2017 before rebranding as IMPACT Wrestling in March of 2017. While TNA had bigger plans for a more comprehensive tribute to TNA over WrestleMania Week in Tampa, Florida, the cancellation due to the COVID-19 pandemic ended those plans. But a TNA Special will be still be coming, this Tuesday on AXS TV.
Kid Kash & Johnny Swinger vs. Suicide & Manik
Kid Kash makes his IMPACT return for the TNA Special, teaming with former ECW workmate Johnny Swinger. Kash had a decent run in the original ECW, winning the ECW World Television Championship, before heading to TNA in 2002, where he won the X-Division Championship and became a 2x World Tag Team Champion alongside Dallas (aka Lance Archer). He went on to join WWE and capture the WWE Cruiserweight Title but returned to TNA from 2011 to 2015. Swinger, a former hand with ECW, WWE and WCW, made a surprise return to IMPACT Wrestling in the fall of 2019 with his 90s throwback gimmick. Swinger previously worked for TNA from 2002-2004, with sporadic returns throughout the years.
The masked Suicide returned to IMPACT last week after saving Chase Stevens from Moose, marking his first return to an IMPACT program since 2018. Suicide – who has been portrayed by multiple wrestlers such as Christopher Daniels, Frankie Kazarian, TJ Perkins, Jonathan Gresham, and most recently Caleb Konley – has been a part of IMPACT off-and-on since 2008, after making his debut in the TNA Impact! Video Game as an original character, and is a former 2x IMPACT X-Division Champion. Oddly enough, his partner is a character that was originally an off-shoot of Suicide himself. In 2013, Suicide – then portrayed by TJP – altered his mask and changed his name to Manik, soon joining “Cowboy” James Storm‘s new faction The Revolution. Manik was last seen in 2016 when TJP was released and headed to WWE.
Hernandez vs. Chase Stevens
A battle of two men best known for their time in the TNA tag team divisions. Hernandez is one half of the original LAX with Homicide and a 7x World Tag Team Champion in TNA. He collected three with LAX, as well as two runs alongside Chavo Guerrero Jr., plus reigns with Matt Morgan and Anarquia in Mexican America, in a TNA career from 2003 through 2013. He briefly returned with Homicide in 2018 to feud with the new LAX, Santana & Ortiz. He’s facing another TNA tag team specialist in Chase Stevens, who had an unceremonious return to the ring last week when he was brutalized by Moose. But he was with TNA from 2002 through 2007, where he was part of The Naturals alongside Andy Douglas, who won three World Tag Team titles in TNA.
Scott Steiner on the Mic
“Big Poppa Pump” has been an on-again-off-again attraction with IMPACT Wrestling since 2006. A former WCW World Heavyweight Champion and multi-time tag team champion with his brother Rick Steiner in multiple companies, including WCW, NWA, WWF, and NJPW. In IMPACT, Steiner is a 2x World Tag Team Champion, with reigns alongside Booker T and Eli Drake. You never know what will come out of Steiner’s mouth when he has a microphone, as his classic “Steiner math” promo has shown, so anything is fair game when Scott Steiner speaks on Tuesday night.
Rhino vs. Madman Fulton
In the main event, Rhino continues his feud against oVe when he faces Madman Fulton. Rhino and Fulton have had bad blood since last September in Mexico, when Rhino and his ECW co-horts first started feuding with oVe. Since then, he’s faced Fulton in singles competition twice last month – first on IMPACT from Las Vegas, then again at the Ohio Valley Wrestling (OVW) co-production Outbreak on February 21. So far Rhino has had the better over the larger Fulton – Rhino is 2-0 in singles – so Fulton will have to dig down if he wants to put TNA to rest and defeat a man who won the World Championship during his first TNA run from 2005 to 2010.
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