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Santino Marella has been cleared of wrongdoing thanks to a star witness. He didn’t waste any time getting back to work as Director of Authority in TNA. Santino booked several title matches for next week on Impact.
A few weeks back, Santino was beefing with Stacks. Arianna Grace hid her man in the women’s locker room. Thanks for help from Indi Hartwell making sure nobody else was in the room, Santino went to pound town on Stacks. Indi got some licks in on Arianna. When Daria Rae heard of this commotion, she suspended Santino indefinitely for indecent behavior. Indi stood up for Santino, so Daria suspended her as well.
On Thursday night Impact (Apr. 30, 2026), Santino was still at home in Canada. Sonna ma gun. However, he had good news that the board of directors cleared his case. Santino announced several upcoming matches, and Indi’s suspension is also lifted.
Daria didn’t take the news well. She threatened not to renew Indi’s contract when the time comes.
The May 7 edition of Impact includes:
- Knockouts Championship: Arianna Grace (c) vs. Lei Ying Lee
- TNA World Tag Team Championship: Brian Myers & Bear Bronson (c) vs. Nic Nemeth & KC Navarro
- EC3 vs. Eric Young
- Leon Slater & Moose vs. Cedric Alexander & Eddie Edwards
Santino granted Lee a rematch due to shenanigans foiling the last round. Xia Brookside will be banned from ringside after her betrayal. Lee was initially going to pass on the opportunity. Her heart was still broken from losing her best friend. Lee wanted to return home to China to be with family. Tommy Dreamer stepped in with a pep talk to convince Lee to stay in the game.
Nic Nemeth pinned Bear Bronson in singles action, so that earned him a tag title match from Santino. You would think that Ryan Nemeth would be the partner, however, KC Navarro gets the spot as Nic’s little brother. Ryan had a funny scene venting his frustration to AJ Francis, who didn’t care about this Nemeth family drama.
Eric Young took matters into his own hands to challenge EC3 to combat. No rules. Anything goes.
Daria lashed out at Leon Slater and Moose two weeks ago to book them in a 2-on-4 match against the System. Cedric Alexander pinned Slater to win. Santino booked a standard 2-on-2 tag match for next week to make it fair. Slater replied on Impact about making history. He will pass the longest X-Division Championship reign on May 15. He is willing to give Alexander another crack to shut him up. Slater beat Alexander twice before, and he will do it a third time.
That brings us to an interesting match for the May 14 episode of Impact. Slater will defend the X-Division Championship against Alexander in 2 Out of 3 Falls.
Share your thoughts on the matchmaking from Santino Marella and Daria Rae. Which of these contests intrigues you most?
