{"id":221306,"date":"2026-08-24T11:06:14","date_gmt":"2026-08-24T16:06:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/?p=221306"},"modified":"2026-08-24T11:07:36","modified_gmt":"2026-08-24T16:07:36","slug":"impact-feud-tracker-8-21-final-build-to-lockdown-mustafa-ali-vs-hotch-fabian-aichner-vs-brian-myers-cedric-alexander-vs-leon-slater-more","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/2026\/08\/24\/impact-feud-tracker-8-21-final-build-to-lockdown-mustafa-ali-vs-hotch-fabian-aichner-vs-brian-myers-cedric-alexander-vs-leon-slater-more\/","title":{"rendered":"TNA IMPACT FEUD TRACKER (8\/21): Final build to Lockdown, Mustafa Ali vs. Hotch, Fabian Aichner vs. Brian Myers, Cedric Alexander vs. Leon Slater, more"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"pwtor-2004215407\" class=\"pwtor-before-content pwtor-entity-placement\"><hr \/><b>SPOTLIGHTED PODCAST ALERT (YOUR ARTICLE BEGINS A FEW INCHES DOWN)... <\/b>\r\n\r\n<iframe src=\"https:\/\/widget.spreaker.com\/player?show_id=3076978&theme=light&playlist=false&playlist-continuous=false&autoplay=false&live-autoplay=false&chapters-image=true&episode_image_position=right&hide-logo=false&hide-likes=false&hide-comments=false&hide-sharing=false&hide-download=true\" width=\"100%\" height=\"140px\" frameborder=\"0\"><\/iframe>\r\n<hr \/><\/div><p><strong>INTRO<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>TNA Impact opened its final episode before the Lockdown PPV with a video recap of the Mustafa Ali-Jason Hotch feud over the International Title, as well as Trey Miguel\u2019s return to TNA. The video package also covered Nic Nemeth\u2019s successful defense of the TNA World Championship against Jeff Hardy last week, ahead of the Nemeths-Hardys tag title match at Lockdown PPV.<\/p>\n<p>Tom Hannifan introduced the show with a shot of Philadelphia city-scape, and threw to Mustafa Ali who was already in the ring with Order 4.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><strong>MUSTAFA ALI &amp; ORDER 4 IN-RING PROMO<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>FEUD: JASON HOTCH vs. MUSTAFA ALI<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Jason Hotch defeated Mustafa Ali for the International Title a few weeks ago; Mustafa Ali declared that Hotch is not a good man, and that Ali is the man of Hotch\u2019s household, playing further into the weird personal angle of being creepy towards Jason Hotch\u2019s family. Ali demanded John Skyler\u2019s loyalty to him and Order 4 as he announced that the Great Hands tag partners, Hotch &amp; Skyler would face off against each other.<\/p>\n<p>Breakdown: The Ali promo was pretty good aside from Ali continuing to use the creepy comments about Jason Hotch\u2019s family to make the feud more personal. Once Ali got past the random disconnected character traits, the promo smoothed out and was pretty good. Ali forcing Skyler to prove his loyalty to Order 4 by fighting his friend and tag partner is a good progression of the story as it seems the faction is destined to crumble.<\/p>\n<p>Grade: B<\/p><div id=\"pwtor-2556549744\" class=\"pwtor-content pwtor-entity-placement\"><div align=\"center\" data-freestar-ad=\"__336x280 __336x280\" id=\"pwtorchcom_test_300x250\">\r\n  <script data-cfasync=\"false\" type=\"text\/javascript\">\r\n    freestar.config.enabled_slots.push({ placementName: \"pwtorchcom_test_300x250\", slotId: \"pwtorchcom_test_300x250\" });\r\n  <\/script>\r\n<\/div><\/div>\n<hr \/>\n<p>Immediately following the in-ring promo by Mustafa Ali, Jason Hotch responded in a backstage promo where he refused to fight his best friend, John Skyler, until Daria Rae threatened to suspend or strip Hotch of the International Title if he did not face Skyler.<\/p>\n<p>Breakdown: Hotch continued to shine and make the most of his chances to cut promos. Daria Rae re-entering herself into this storyline is a bit of a drag for me, but I remain interested in the feud and the match at Lockdown.<\/p>\n<p>Grade: B<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><strong>RICH SWANN (w\/BDE) vs. MR. ELEGANCE (w\/ELEGANCE BRAND)<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Personal Concierge insulted the fans and introduced Mr. Elegance, now sporting white cloth gloves for some reason. Tom Hannifan noted that Mr. Elegance has not lost a singles match since arriving in TNA. Hannifan also made note of Allie\u2019s search for Rosemary, portending potential Undead shenanigans. Heather &amp; M by Elegance interfered and attacked Rich Swann, giving Mr. Elegance the upperhand on Swann. After a back and forth match with a lot of Elegance Brand interference and Mr. Elegance over-confidence, Rich Swann secured the roll-up pin to hand Mr. Elegance his first singles loss in TNA. After the match, as Swann &amp; BDE celebrated the victory, Dutch &amp; Vincent of The Righteous appeared on the ramp.<\/p>\n<p>Breakdown: After defeating other wrestlers higher on the card for months, Mr. Elegance\u2019s first loss in TNA came at the hands of Rich Swann. The match was fine, but the decision to randomly beat Mr. Elegance to Swann is odd to me considering the booking over the last month or so. I assume The Righteous are going to feud with BDE-Swann, but perhaps there is a recruitment angle coming.<\/p>\n<p>Grade: D+<\/p>\n<p><em>ARTICLE CONTINUED BELOW&#8230;<\/em><\/p><div id=\"pwtor-3261596089\" class=\"pwtor-content-1 pwtor-entity-placement\"><!-- Tag ID: pwtorchcom_test_300x600 -->\r\n<div align=\"center\" data-freestar-ad=\"__336x280 __300x600\" id=\"pwtorchcom_test_300x600\">\r\n  <script data-cfasync=\"false\" type=\"text\/javascript\">\r\n    freestar.config.enabled_slots.push({ placementName: \"pwtorchcom_test_300x600\", slotId: \"pwtorchcom_test_300x600\" });\r\n  <\/script>\r\n<\/div><\/div>\n<hr \/>\n<h3>Check out the latest episode of &#8220;Destination Impact&#8221; with Zac Clarke and Jerud Buhagiar, part of the PWTorch Dailycast line-up: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.spreaker.com\/episode\/destination-impact-zac-jb-preview-tna-lockdown-ppv-card-discuss-issues-with-booking-of-knockouts-tv-title-tournament-jason-hotch-push--74268355\">CLICK HERE<\/a> to stream (or search \u201cpwtorch\u201d on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or any other iOS or Android app to subscribe free)<\/h3>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Destination Impact - Zac &amp; JB preview TNA Lockdown PPV card, discuss issues with booking of Knockouts TV Title tournament, Jason Hotch push\" src=\"https:\/\/widget.spreaker.com\/player?episode_id=74268355&amp;theme=light&amp;playlist=false&amp;playlist-continuous=false&amp;chapters-image=true&amp;episode_image_position=right&amp;hide-logo=false&amp;hide-likes=false&amp;hide-comments=false&amp;hide-sharing=false&amp;hide-download=true\" width=\"100%\" height=\"200px\" frameborder=\"0\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><strong>KNOCKOUTS TV TITLE TOURNAMENT SEMIFINAL MATCH<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>JADA STONE vs. HEATHER BY ELEGANCE<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Heather By Elegance entered this round of the tournament with an opportunity to secure an All-Elegance Brand final to the TV Title Tournament, if able to defeat Jada Stone. Jada Stone faked being distracted by the rest of the Elegance Brand at ringside, which was a nice touch. After both wrestlers narrowly avoided a countout, Jada Stone hit the Spark Stunner for the victory over Heather by Elegance, securing her spot in the final of the Knockouts TV Title Tournament against M By Elegance.<\/p>\n<p>Breakdown: Stone-Elegance had a decent match with minimal involvement from the rest of the Elegance Brand, and a clean win for Jada Stone. Fortunately, TNA did use the tournament to elevate Jada Stone. Aside from the elevation of Jada Stone, the tournament left a lot to be desired. At least we were saved from an All-Elegance Brand TV Title tournament final.<\/p>\n<p>Grade: C+<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><strong>SATELLITE PROMO BY ELAYNA BLACK-XIA BROOKSIDE<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The two Knockouts wrestling for the TNA Knockouts World Championship, Elayna Black-Xia Brookside, took part in a zoom-style video call promo segment to build up their match at Lockdown. Brookside claimed we would never see Lei Ying Lee again, which is either a tease of Lee\u2019s return, or a hint at TNA letting another talent go; I lean with the former.<\/p>\n<p>Breakdown: The feud has been a struggle with Elayna Black\u2019s arbitrary face-turn for seemingly this match alone. I did like the change of pace with this style of promo segment as opposed to the overly produced cinematic segments TNA has been using frequently as of late. I also thought this was a more likeable version of the babyface character for Elayna Black. I expect Brookside to retain and predict a triple threat match at Bound For Glory between Brookside-Black-Indi Hartwell.<\/p>\n<p>Grade: C+<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><strong>BACKSTAGE WITH ELEGANCE BRAND &amp; THE AGONY OF DEFEAT<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The Elegance Brand sulked in their combined defeat following Heather By Elegance\u2019s loss in the TV Title Tournament and Mr. Elegance\u2019s first singles loss in TNA. Personal Concierge declared that Elegance Brand would win the TNA Tag Titles from DemonBunny with Rosemary absent, and that M By Elegance would be the first TNA Knockouts TV Champion.<\/p>\n<p>Breakdown: Mr. Elegance was actually the most effective part of this segment, in my opinion, with a believable display of the agony of defeat. Aside from that, it was a forgettable segment led by the Personal Concierge.<\/p>\n<p>Grade: C<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><strong>LETHAL LOCKDOWN ADVANTAGE MATCH<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>FABIAN AICHNER vs. BRIAN MYERS<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>With Brian Myers already in the ring, Fabian Aichner made his entrance ahead of their Advantage match to determine which team gets the numbers advantage in Lethal Lockdown. After overcoming an early match attack by Myers, Aichner took control with a number of acrobatic athletic maneuvers. Aichner really milked a 9-count, avoiding the count out, but Myers continued to control the match. Aichner hit one of the more impactful crossbody presses that I can recall seeing. In the latter stage of the match, Aichner leapt from the top turnbuckle to the floor, making some minimal contact with Myers. Aichner would recover and continue using his athleticism, gaining a near fall after a springboard DDT. Myers scored a near-fall after a low blow and spear. Myers used another low blow with the referee unable to catch it, securing the victory over Aichner, and the advantage for The System in Lethal Lockdown.<\/p>\n<p>Breakdown: The Heels having the advantage in Lethal Lockdown match makes sense but I remain critical of how Fabian Aichner has been booked since coming into TNA. He has consistently wrestled good matches and made the most of his opportunities, but has little to show for it. I expect the babyface team to win at Lockdown, but I would like to see the younger and fresher talents get more wins on TV.<\/p>\n<p>Grade: C+<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><strong>INJURY REPORT<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The new normal Injury Report is Tom Hannifan running down the storyline injuries followed by Matthew Rehwoldt aggressively putting over Nic Nemeth. This has gotten old fast.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><strong>TNA INTERNATIONAL CHAMPION JASON HOTCH vs. JOHN SKYLER<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>FEUD: JASON HOTCH vs. MUSTAFA ALI<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>In the aftermath of his International Championship victory a couple weeks ago, Jason Hotch has continued to make waves. Ali demanded John Skyler to face his best friend\/tag partner Jason Hotch, in the ongoing struggles within Order 4. The two agreed to have a good wrestling match, but were interrupted shortly into the match by Mila Moore, who reminded Skyler that the assignment was to take out Hotch. Then the Order 4 entrance music played and random goons attempted to get involved but Agent Zero took the upper hand, leading to a disqualification finish. Ali entered the ring to proclaim \u201cin Ali we trust\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>Breakdown: I was actually interested to see a full match between Hotch &amp; Skyler. The interruption by Mila Moore and the rest of Order 4 led to a dreadful finish, and Skyler didn\u2019t play a part in the post-match. TNA has worked hard to build this match up. Some choices in the build have worked, and some haven\u2019t, but I remain interested enough in the Lockdown match.<\/p>\n<p>Grade: C-<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><strong>THE RIGHTEOUS RECRUITMENT VIGNETTE<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The Righteous appeared on the ramp at the end of the Rich Swann match earlier in the broadcast. In this video package, The Righteous set their sights on a recruitment pitch to lure BDE away from Rich Swann.<\/p>\n<p>Breakdown: BDE, in my opinion, is a strange first choice for The Righteous to attempt at recruitment. The Righteous also remain solidly in the heel alignment, from the framing of this vignette.<\/p>\n<p>Grade: D<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><strong>ALISHA EDWARDS (w\/EDDIE EDWARDS) vs. HARLEY HUDSON<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Harley Hudson was the random focus of Daria Rae\u2019s ire a few weeks ago, when Rae declared she needed to trim the fat off the roster, and that Harley Hudson was her first target. Last week, one of the highlights of the Impact broadcast was Harley Hudson\u2019s video package, which did a strong job of telling her story and building her character. Hudson framed this week\u2019s match against Alisha Edwards as a must win for herself. Daria Rae was also randomly on commentary during this match. As a side note, Alisha Edwards\u2019 ring gear is cringe; Hannifan asked repeatedly when Alisha Edwards last won a match, defending Hudson against the attacks of Daria Rae &amp; Matthew Rehwoldt. Daria Rae proclaimed herself as the greatest authority figure in pro wrestling. Following Edwards\u2019 chastising her, Hudson scored the victory on a surprise roll-up. After the match, the Edwards\u2019 looked to double team attack Hudson, but Jada Stone made the save.<\/p>\n<p>Breakdown: This match between Edwards-Hudson actually served its purpose well. Hudson was able to show her skills in the ring, and her ability to show great babyface-fire. Edwards is an effective heel against Hudson in this match, and I am happy that TNA realizes they need to elevate some younger talent. I also like the chemistry between Harley Hudson &amp; Jada Stone. Daria Rae\u2019s presence in the match was less desirable, though she did a pretty good job on commentary.<\/p>\n<p>Grade: B+<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><strong>VIGNETTE ON CEDRIC ALEXANDER-LEON SLATER X-DIVISION TITLE MATCH AT LOCKDOWN<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>FEUD: CEDRIC ALEXANDER vs. LEON SLATER<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The Alexander-Slater feud has been going on since before Slammiversary a few months ago, when Alexander won the X-Division Championship from Slater just before Slater\u2019s reign would have become the longest in TNA history. Last week, Cedric Alexander refused to face Slater for the X-Division Title, until Slater offered to do anything Alexander wanted for the rematch. Alexander landed on striking Slater\u2019s second X-Division Title reign from the record books, which Slater agreed to. All that is left to do is see these two face off again, this time at Lockdown.<\/p>\n<p>Breakdown: The \u201csecond reign stricken from the record books\u201d stipulation may be one of the most inconsequential stipulations in wrestling history and really brings into question several of the creative decisions made by TNA Booking over the span of this feud. Why would Leon Slater care about his second X-Division title reign? The reign was ended by Alexander one day short of breaking the all-time record. The match should be much better than the build, though, so I look forward to that.<\/p>\n<p>Grade: B-<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><strong>THE NEMETHS, AJ FRANCIS &amp; FRANKIE KAZARIAN vs. THE HARDYS, MOOSE &amp; ELIJAH<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>In an All-Star 8-man tag match main event on Impact this week, two teams of wrestlers facing off against each other at Lockdown joined forces to go head to head here. Rehwoldt emphasized a change in the Hardys since emerging from the Lake of Reincarnation.<\/p>\n<p>Breakdown: The main event made sense with a number of different matches being highlighted between the two teams. I enjoyed the chemistry of the babyface team, whereas the heel team was not as unified, in my view. Generally, I sigh a bit when a main event before a PPV is a multi man tag match, and this was a decent incarnation of that style of match. Toward the end of the match, things broke down as the referee lost control of the match; AJ Francis looked to gain the upperhand over Jeff Hardy but the babyface team regained control, and gained the victory with a Jeff Hardy-Swanton Bomb.<\/p>\n<p>Grade: C+<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p>At the very end of the show, cameras showed Cedric Alexander had been beaten down and left in a heap.<\/p>\n<p>Breakdown: I am not a huge fan of this style angle that TNA has used several times over the last few months. At this time, I would doubt Alexander was beat down by Slater. Could this be a returning star or is it a debuting star?<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"PWT Talks NXT - PWTorch NXT Post-Show (8\/11) w\/Lindberg &amp; Wells\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/a8oygIPwbkA?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<div class=\"pwtor-end-article-groups pwtor-entity-placement\" id=\"pwtor-2845340984\"><div id=\"pwtor-3711934646\"><div align=\"center\" data-freestar-ad=\"__336x280\" id=\"pwtorchcom_medrec_3\">\r\n  <script data-cfasync=\"false\" type=\"text\/javascript\">\r\n    freestar.config.enabled_slots.push({ placementName: \"pwtorchcom_medrec_3\", slotId: \"pwtorchcom_medrec_3\" });\r\n  <\/script>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\nTHANK YOU FOR VISITING<\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div class=\"mh-excerpt\"><p>INTRO TNA Impact opened its final episode before the Lockdown PPV with a video recap of the Mustafa Ali-Jason Hotch feud over the International Title, as well as Trey Miguel\u2019s return to TNA. The video <a class=\"mh-excerpt-more\" href=\"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/2026\/08\/24\/impact-feud-tracker-8-21-final-build-to-lockdown-mustafa-ali-vs-hotch-fabian-aichner-vs-brian-myers-cedric-alexander-vs-leon-slater-more\/\" title=\"TNA IMPACT FEUD TRACKER (8\/21): Final build to Lockdown, Mustafa Ali vs. Hotch, Fabian Aichner vs. Brian Myers, Cedric Alexander vs. Leon Slater, more\">[&#8230;]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":221308,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","itunes_episode_number":"","itunes_title":"","itunes_season_number":"","itunes_episode_type":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[52,6447,27],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-221306","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-opnionandanalysis","category-feud-tracker","category-specialists"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/post\/2026\/08\/Screenshot-2026-08-24-at-11.03.19-AM.png","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/221306","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=221306"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/221306\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":221311,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/221306\/revisions\/221311"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/221308"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=221306"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=221306"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=221306"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}