Impact Wrestling Slammiversary XVII - July 7, 2019

[DreamBroken]

Slammiversary is this Sunday. Looks like a lot of potential for some great matches as usual with some solid build throughout. Last year's Slam was the show of the year for Impact, this one doesn't quite have that one's build but hope it delivers similarly.

Final card:

IMPACT WORLDS CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH
Brian Cage(c) vs. Michael Elgin

IMPACT X DIVISION CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH
Rich Swann(c) vs. Johnny Impact

IMPACT KNOCKOUTS CHAMPIONSHIP MONSTERS BALL
Taya Valkyrie(c) vs. Rosemary vs. Su Yung vs. Havok

IMPACT TAG TEAM CHAMPIONSHIPS MATCH
The North (Ethan Page & Josh Alexander) vs. LAX (Ortiz & Santana) vs. The Rascalz (Dezmond Xavier & Zachary Wentz)

FIRST BLOOD MATCH
Eddie Edwards vs. Killer Kross

Sami Callihan vs. Tessa Blanchard

Moose vs. Rob Van Dam

TJP's X Division Open Challenge

[Wee Bey]

 

[DreamBroken]

Pretty great show! Tag title match was a pretty good sprint but I feel like inserting the North changed the dynamic and kind of took away from the LAX/Rascalz rivalry that had been building nicely from their last match. Eddie/Kross was another fun brawl. Really liked RVD/Moose, just a super solid match all the way through. Surprised Moose got the win, but a great win for him. Monsters Ball was an awesome brawl with the last portion being wild. Curb Stomp into the tacks looked brutal. I love Taya, this is her year. Shocked that Swann retained here, thought for sure this was where his reign would end. It's been a great reign but I'm not sure who should be the guy to beat him if not Johnny, definitely expected Johnny to get the win here but a great match either way.

Cage/Elgin was the bomb throwing war exactly as it should've been. Unexpected finish, but I dug it a lot. Elgin has been a showstealer consistently since showing up here and Cage feels like he fits the role now as the top star babyface, delivering the goods and coming off like the man. Awesome post-match angle! I love the idea of Elgin/Rhino. Crowd was super hot here, good stuff. Thought the commentary throughout the night was very good, always enjoy Don & Josh together. As soon as I heard Sami/Tessa was headlining, I figured they were going all out for a real memorable match with two of the MVPs of the past year. Finish was kinda flat for what they were going for, felt like it ended right as it was starting to get really awesome. Story and spot on the card felt like Tessa had to win but Sami needed to win one too after awhile. With the post-match, I guess it all worked out. Definitely an enjoyable show all the way through.

Full results for any one who missed:

 

*Willie Mack def. TJP, Jake Crist, & Trey Miguel (9:30) with the frog splash on Jake.

*The North (Ethan Page & Josh Alexander)(c) def. LAX (Ortiz & Santana w/ Konnan) & The Rascalz (Dezmond Xavier & Zachary Wentz) (6:05) to retain the tag team championships when they pinned Ortiz after Page powerbombed Dez onto Ortiz.. Santana was injured during the match and was helped to the back after.

*Video promo from Sami Callihan, who said he threatened to walk out if he didn't get what he wanted but he got it; him vs. Tessa in the main event of Slammiversary, the first intergender PPV main event.

*Eddie Edwards def. Killer Kross (12:14) in a First Blood match after Eddie broke his kendo stick Kenny in two to use the sharp end in Kross' mouth to draw blood.

*Moose def. Rob Van Dam (14:00) with the Spear after RVD missed the 5 Star Frog Splash and landed on a steel chair.

*Taya Valkyrie(c) def. Rosemary, Su Yung, & Havok (w/ Father James Mitchell) (11:45) to retain the knockouts championship in Monsters Ball after Havok used a 2nd rope Tombstone through thumbtacks on Yung but Taya stole the pin.

*Rich Swann(c) def. Johnny Impact (w/ John E Bravo) (15:10) with the Phoenix Splash to retain the X Division Championship

*Brian Cage(c) def. Michael Elgin (14:18) via sitdown on a sunset flip attempt to retain the Impact Worlds Heavyweight Championship. After the match, Elgin knocked Cage from the ring and went after Don Callis. Elgin attempted to powerbomb Callis when an unidentified masked man (Rhino) nailed Elgin with the GORE to make the save! "Was that...? But he doesn't work....!"

*Impact returns to PPV on October 20 with Bound for Glory in Chicago

*Sami Callihan def. Tessa Blanchard (14:33) after the Piledriver. After the match, Sami handed Tessa her baseball bat in a show of respect and left the ring.

Edited July 11, 2019 by DreamBroken

[Nice Guy Eddie]

I've seen it reported by multiple sources Rhino's contract doesn't expire until 7/17. I assume this was someone with a similar body type under the mask to give the impression it's Rhino.

[LoneWolf&Subs]

8 hours ago, Nice Guy Eddie said:

I've seen it reported by multiple sources Rhino's contract doesn't expire until 7/17. I assume this was someone with a similar body type under the mask to give the impression it's Rhino.

I hope not, and Rhino has a Midnight Rider gimmick for no reason.

[Nice Guy Eddie]

2 hours ago, LoneWolf&Subs said:

I hope not, and Rhino has a Midnight Rider gimmick for no reason.

I'm thinking of it more as Arn Anderson being the masked man attacking Hogan because WCW couldn't get Hennig at the time, until they decided on turning Beefcake into the Butcher.

[RIPPA]

The 7/17 date came from Rhyno himself in an interview

It is entirely possible he had the date wrong or the WWE just let him walk a little early because a) he left the "right" way and/orb b) they don't consider Impact competition

(And in regards to B - this is why reportedly you are hearing more and more references to TNA on Network programming.)

[AverageKong]

The womens 4way was pretty extreme. I want to say probably the most hardcore I've seen females in a mainstream promotion here in the US get. Rosemary and Yung taking those suplexes onto the ladder was insane. The finish was brutal too. I've seen Havok and Yung do the second rope tombstone before but the thumbtacks were a nice touch. 

[John from Cincinnati]

Whole show sounds good. I may need to check this one out to see the four way and Tessa main eventing. 

Edited July 8, 2019 by West Newbury Bad Boy

[dokdoyle]

On 7/8/2019 at 12:12 PM, RIPPA said:

The 7/17 date came from Rhyno himself in an interview

It is entirely possible he had the date wrong or the WWE just let him walk a little early because a) he left the "right" way and/orb b) they don't consider Impact competition

(And in regards to B - this is why reportedly you are hearing more and more references to TNA on Network programming.)

Any chance there is a lawsuit settlement somewhere where WWE gets right of first refusal on a sale of the company?  like that's ever happened before...

[John from Cincinnati]

On 7/7/2019 at 9:21 PM, DreamBroken said:

As soon as I heard Sami/Tessa was headlining, I figured they were going all out for a real memorable match with two of the MVPs of the past year. Finish was kinda flat for what they were going for, felt like it ended right as it was starting to get really awesome.

I think they were going for half of the Taker-Michaels Mania 26 psychology, with Shawn being too defiant to stay down and Taker hitting that one last jumping tombstone to finish the job. The problem here is Tessa wasn't selling so much sympathetic like Shawn as she was ten feet tall and ready for more. So going right into the piledriver and pin seemed... off. That upright defiance did feel like they were going to kick it into gear for another two minutes. I got what they were going for though. 

Great match and great story, but that would be my one nitpick. Tessa is so clearly the star of this company right now and Tessa vs Taya should headline the next PPV. 

[Wee Bey]

 

[Hail Sabin]

They are going to do a Mash Up tournament and Sami/Tessa is one of the teams. 

This week's TV was a 2 hour Recap of Slammiversary with backstage promos like Reloaded that they use to do. There were also 2 matches Muta/Dreamer vs. Impact/Elgin and Madison Rayne vs. Jordynne Grace vs. Keira Hogan which was the main event. 

[Web Conn]

On 7/13/2019 at 4:37 AM, Hail Sabin said:

They are going to do a Mash Up tournament and Sami/Tessa is one of the teams. 

This week's TV was a 2 hour Recap of Slammiversary with backstage promos like Reloaded that they use to do. There were also 2 matches Muta/Dreamer vs. Impact/Elgin and Madison Rayne vs. Jordynne Grace vs. Keira Hogan which was the main event. 

Late to the party but i was back in washington for a wedding this weekend and staying at the folks house. They have a Vizio TV with Pluto TV. Impact has a Pluto channel, the episode on right now is the July 12th episode. Based on the clips I saw Slammiversary looks like it was a fun show. I may have to watch it, lasts years was a really good show.

The Impact/Elgin-Muta/Dreamer was a lot of fun. The Arena was always a hot crowd. Muta can barely move, I thought Jado was bad but holy moley Muta was the bad knee shuffle down pat. 

The triple threat women's match is really fucking good. Impacts women's division has always been one of its strong suites and these three put on a fucking show. Just a fun fast paced contest. I thought hogans leg sweep og Rayne which led to an inadvertent stunner to Grace was a really cool move.