Let’s set the stage for the main event at TNA No Surrender (Feb. 13, 2026). The matchup was Mike Santana and Leon Slater tagging against Nic Nemeth and Eddie Edwards. Santana holds the TNA World Championship. The story coming in to No Surrender was how any of the other three men could cash in for an instant title shot. Nemeth has the Call Your Shot trophy. Edwards has the Feast or Fired briefcase. Slater can use Option C to vacate the X-Division Championship in exchange for a shot at glory.
The tag
match on its own was pretty worthless, especially as a headliner for the special event. The major draw was to see if anyone cashes in. For context, TNA even tweeted about this scenario.
Surely, TNA will deliver some juicy drama around the world title, right? Right? RIGHT!?!? Wrong.
TNA did the exact opposite. They concocted angles so Santana disappeared in the middle of the match, and the whole cash-in story was completely abandoned on this night. Not only that, but Santana was busy fighting with a man who was fired from the company.
The action was rocking for a tag team bout with Slater launching his big play dive outside onto Edwards.
The System encroached on Slater, so the referee attempted to restore order. This is when the match went off the rails.
On the opposite side, Steve Maclin rushed through the crowd to ambush Santana. Remember that Maclin was fired from TNA as a consequence of Feast or Fired. He flipped his lid to attack Santana on the way out the door. Now, Maclin came back again as an unemployed man at No Surrender. Santana and Maclin tussled through the crowd. The world champ would not be seen again for this match. So much for any ideas of cashing in.
The main event continued with Slater against the odds. He managed to execute a spinning slam for a three-count as counted by the crowd, however, the referee took a bump from Nemeth’s swinging legs. Ref down! The System stormed the ring to pound Slater. Moose! The big man rumbled to the ring to smash the System. Moose and Edwards brawled up the stage to the back.
What was once a tag team bout was effectively a singles match now between Slater and Nemeth. The Wanted Man connected on the Fameasser. Nemeth got cocky tuning up the band for a superkick. Slater was a step quicker to stun Nemeth with a spinning heel kick. Slater closed with the swanton 450 for the win.
To be fair, the action was hot, the crowd was energetic, Slater earned a strong pin on the main event stage, and the story pieces did make sense. My issue is being jerked around on the world title cash-in tease. TNA tells a story to get invested, then they go in a completely different direction in the middle of the bout. Once Santana disappeared with Maclin, there was zero chance of a cash-in, which was the whole selling point of the main event. The closest to a cash-in tease was Nemeth eyeing his trophy while nobody was in danger and everybody was still fresh. That wasn’t a very compelling tease at all. Come on, bro.
Share your thoughts on the main event from TNA No Surrender. Get full results from the special event (here). The No Surrender replay is available through TNA+ and TrillerTV.
