TNA Knockouts #1 contender determined with help from Matt Cardona

A pair of familiar faces stopped by TNA on the Thursday night edition of Impact (Mar. 28, 2024). One was officially invited to participate in a Knockouts #1 contender contest, and the other crashed the party. When the smoke cleared, Matt Cardona helped Steph De Lander earn a title shot.

TNA went with the 8-4-1 format to determine Jordynne Grace’s challenger at the Rebellion PPV on April 20. The concept starts as an 8-woman tag match. The winning team then battles in a 4-way bout. The victorious wrestler is the 1 to receive the championship opportunity.

Sides for the tag match were supposed to be Havok, Alisha Edwards, Masha Slamovich, and Jody Threat against Rosemary, Xia Brookside, Dani Luna, and Ash by Elegance. One problem though. Ash arrived on stage with her faced wrapped after a cosmetic procedure. She wasn’t allowed to be touched for 72 hours. Santino Marella used his Director of Authority power to find a replacement. Enter De Lander.

The tag match broke down to leave Slamovich and Luna battling in the ring. Slamovich nailed the spinning backfist strike. As the Russian set up for the Snow Plow finisher, Luna countered for a roll-up to win.

Stage two was a duel between Rosemary, Brookside, Luna, and De Lander, except it was far from fair. Slamovich immediately pummeled Luna after losing the first stage. Rosemary knocked Brookside off the apron crashing into Ash. The perfume model was irate at being touched, so she smashed Brookside into the ring post. The referee was occupied with all this chaos, and that’s when Cardona made his move to rush the ring for the Radio Silence leg lariat on Rosemary. De Lander had easy pickings on the demon assassin for a TKO maneuver to win.

Information for those that don’t follow the indie scene. Cardona employs De Lander as his heater. The Australian is always ready to help Cardona win matches, and he repaid the favor on this evening in TNA.

The Rebellion card currently includes:

• TNA World Championship: Moose (c) vs. Nic Nemeth
• Knockouts Championship: Jordynne Grace (c) vs. Steph De Lander
• TNA World Tag Team Championship: The System (Brian Myers & Eddie Edwards) (c) vs. Speedball Mountain (Mike Bailey & Trent Seven)
• X-Division Championship: Mustafa Ali (c) vs. Jake Something
• Full Metal Mayhem: Eric Young vs. Frankie Kazarian

Are you excited to see Steph De Lander in a TNA title bout?