Steve Maclin made his dramatic return to Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) on Thursday night’s “Impact” to take on Mike Santana for the world title.Maclin’s match against Santana at Sacrifice was stopped due to an injury, and later, Maclin was briefly “fired” from the company before Director of Operations Daria Rae worked to get him reinstated. It was a highly anticipated match to see who would become the face of TNA.Rae and Maclin were a part of a segment before the match began. Rae gave Maclin a pep talk of sorts before the match took place.ZERO BS. JUST DAKICH. TAKE THE DON’T @ ME PODCAST ON THE ROAD. DOWNLOAD NOW!”You remember when you got fired? Of course you do. You know what’s so interesting about this company? Everybody loves to brag about loyalty, that is until it’s inconvenient,” she told a stoic Maclin. “You put your hands on Tom Hannifan and this entire company turned on you overnight. They want to erase Steve Maclin from TNA history. But not me. I saw the situation differently. They saw you as a liability, and I saw the value. I saw a man who everybody else feared because they know exactly what you’re capable of when you’re focused.”More importantly, I understand why men like you are built the way you are and what you’re built for. And tonight, you have an opportunity that nobody else is able to do – take out Mike Santana. Rip the heart right out of this company and put the TNA title back on somebody who is worthy of carrying it.”Eric Young, who became the No. 1 contender for the TNA world title, also got into Maclin’s ear ahead of his match. He warned that the winner would have to face Young at his “most masochist.”Maclin vowed to put Santana in a hospital as he tried to confront the champ before their match.But would it be enough to dethrone Santana?It was a fight from the very beginning. The two each had their moments when they had the upper hand in the match. As Santana got back into the match, Maclin was thrown out of the ring. Maclin tried to move out of the way of any aerial moves, but Santana smartly went to the top rope and hit a big splash on the outside.Maclin used the outside to his advantage. He threw Santana into the ring post and got a table set up on the outside. Santana tried to jump off the steps to clothesline Maclin but came up a bit lame. Maclin immediately went to work on the tweaked left leg.As the final minutes of the match wore on, it was go-time for both competitors. Santana hit Maclin with a Rolling Buck 50, but Maclin wouldn’t stay down — not even after a Blue Thunder Bomb.Maclin got caught on the top rope as Santana hit an enziguri, causing Maclin to fall backward through the table he set up. Santana rolled him back into the ring and nailed a frog splash, but only a two count.Santana signed for Spin the Block. Maclin collapsed before Santana could hit it. Santana checked on Maclin to make sure he was OK but fell for the trap. Maclin hit a superkick and tried for the pin, but to n
Mike Santana faces Steve Maclin in grudge match for TNA world title, Cedric Alexander’s challenger and more
