One of TNA Wrestling‘s top stars reportedly isn’t at the venue for tonight’s Turning Point event, but it appears there’s a bit more to the story.
In the closing moments of last night’s live episode of iMPACT, Frankie Kazarian cashed in his Call Your Shot Trophy to defeat Mike Santana to become the new TNA World Champion. Santana won the TNA World Championship at Bound For Glory last month. This was his first TNA appearance since winning the title.
In an interesting update from Mike Johnson of PWInsider, as of 2 PM ET, Mike Santana has not arrived at Full Sail University, the site of tonight’s TNA Turning Point event. The call time for talent was 1 PM ET.
Santana was also advertised for a meet-and-greet last night following the live episode of iMPACT, but did not appear. Word among talent is that Santana hasn’t returned the company’s calls or texts. When Johnson reached out, TNA officials did not return the request for comment. Santana is currently scheduled to compete in the main event of Turning Point this evening, teaming with Steve Maclin to take on Frankie Kazarian and Nic Nemeth.
For what it’s worth, Fightful’s Sean Ross Sapp is openly questioning this report on social media, indicating that Santana’s absence is a work. Sapp also said he would have an update on the situation shortly.
Update: A subsequent post from Fightful (via Fightful Select) more directly confirms the Santana story is an angle. Specifically, Fightful said “the same official at TNA tried to feed that to us, and provided it elsewhere.” It was noted that they normally wouldn’t call this out, but it’s the first time someone “in an official capacity” reached out with a worked angle to specifically work their audience.
Stay tuned to WrestleZone for more information as it becomes available.
Tonight’s TNA Turning Point card
If Santana makes his booking later this evening, here is the current lineup for tonight’s TNA Turning Point event:
- Mike Santana and Steve Maclin vs. Frankie Kazarian and Nic Nemeth
- TNA X-Division Championship: Leon Slater (c) vs. Rich Swann
- TNA Knockouts Championship: Kelani Jordan (c) vs. M by Elegance
- The Hardys and Cedric Alexander vs. Mustafa Ali and the Great Hands
- AJ Francis vs. B.D.E.
- The Rascalz vs. The System
- TNA Knockouts Tag Team Championship: The IInspiration (c) vs. Tessa Blanchard and Victoria Crawford vs. The Angel Warriors
- No Disqualification: Indi Hartwell vs. Dani Luna
WrestleZone will have live coverage of TNA Turning Point later this evening.
READ MORE: Mike Santana Celebrates A Big Milestone In His Life
What do you make of this report? Do you think Mike Santana is really no-showing TNA Turning Point tonight following his booking on iMPACT? Let us know your thoughts by sounding off in the comments section below.
