Impact Wrestling celebrates its 16th anniversary as this year’s Slammiversary pay-per-view takes place at The Rebel Entertainment Complex in Toronto, Ontario, Canada tonight.
We’re looking for your thoughts on this show, so you can leave a thumbs up, thumbs down or thumbs in the middle along with a best and worst match to [email protected]
Slammiversary XVI will be headlined by Impact World Champion Austin Aries defending his title against Moose. There will also be three more title matches: Knockouts Champion Su Yung vs. Madison Rayne, Tag Team Champions LAX (Santana & Ortiz) vs. The OGz (Homicide & Hernandez) in a 5150 street fight, and X Division Champion Matt Sydal vs. Brian Cage.
The feud between Pentagon Jr. and Sami Callihan will culminate in a mask vs. hair match, while Eddie Edwards and Tommy Dreamer’s program leads to a House of Hardcore match tonight.
Johnny Impact vs. Taiji Ishimori vs. Fenix vs. Rich Swann was originally supposed to take place, but Petey Williams will replace Swann in the match after Swann suffered a concussion last week.
Tessa Blanchard vs. Allie rounds out tonight’s lineup. Our live coverage starts at 8 p.m. Eastern time.
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By Dave Meltzer
PETEY WILLIAMS VS. TAIJI ISHIMORI VS. FENIX VS. JOHNNY IMPACT
This was an all-action high spot match ending when Impact pinning Fenix with Starship pain. Fenix was the most impressive of the four but it one big move after another, constant big moves dives and such. Fenix did great rope work. Lots of dives., This was like X Division heyday. Everyone did their big moves, Williams with the Canadian Destroyer, Ishimori the tombstone into codebreaker, Fenix did a 450. Ishimori did a top rope moonsault to the floor. Fenix did a twisting flip dive. Williams did a plancha into a hurricanrana on the floor. Strong match to open.
TESSA BLANCHARD VS. ALLIE
Blanchard escaped from the Allie Valley Driver (Death Valley Bomb) and hit a hammerlock DDT for the pin. Blanchard has great ring presence and works a very aggressive physical style, very much like a Japanese male wrestler. It’s a very different thing than any of the WWE women. Allie did a crossbody off the top to the floor. She also did her Allie Valley Driver to the floor. Solidly worked.
TOMMY DREAMER VS. EDDIE EDWARDS IN A HARDCORE RULES MATCH
This was all the ECW cliches like the blood and kendo stick shots. The story here is that Edwards thought Dreamer was having an affair with his wife. After it seemed like Edwards wanted to make up but Dreamer shoved him off. Edwards bled from being stapled in the forehead. Dreamer used a Spicolli driver off the middle rope through two tables. Alisha Edwards came out and told Edwards to shake his hand. Edwards did shake his na d and they hugged. Dreamer handed Edwards a kendo stick like this was a passing of the torch to the new hardcore guy. The crowd was really into this match with ECW chants. The crowd was upset because Dreamer brought out a table and poured lighter fluid on it, but when Dreamer went to set it on fire, Edwards gave him a low blow and a shining wizard into a chari into Dreamer’s head for the pin. Crowd wasn’t into one guy winning or losing, they wanted old ECW stunts so that’s why the finish didn’t really work. The crowd didn’t care about the story either as the handshake when they made up wasn’t cheered either. They were very into the idea of seeing an ECW match, though.
MATT SYDAL VS. BRIAN CAGE FOR THE X TITLE
Cage won the title with the drill claw after Sydal missed a shooting star press when his feet hit the ropes as he landed short, so Cage is the new champion. Cage is heavier than I’ve seen in the past. I think it worked against his style but this was a good match. Fans were chanting “This is awesome.” Sydal did some cool stuff as did Cage. It never felt dramatic.
SU YUNG VS. MADISON RAYNE FOR KNOCKOUTS TITLE
Yung retained in a pretty quick match with the mandible claw. Rayne had most of the offense and wrestled well. Yung went to blow mist at Rayne but she moved and Yung blew mist at one of the undead bridesmaids. Yung picked Rayne up and put her in a coffin after the match.
ORTIZ & SANTANA VS. HOMICIDE & HERNANDEZ IN A STREET FIGHT FOR THE TAG TITLES
This was another weapons match done ECW style. It felt early too similar to the Dreamer match but this had a lot more cool moves and the fans ended up getting really into this. The finish saw Konnan throw thumbtacks to Santana and he poured them on the mat. Santana slammed Homicide him on the thumbtacks and pinned him after a splash off the top rope. A good mount of blood. There were three table breaks. Homicide & Hernandez brought in Drano, which fans thought was lighter fluid so they wanted fire again. Homicide at one point did a tope con giro which put Santana through a table on the floor. Ortiz used a Death Valley bomb to put Homicide through a table and Hernandez gave Ortiz a border toss and put him through a table. After the match King beat down LAX with a flapjack and then they beat down Konnan and hit him with the blackjack and then spray painted the tag title belts.
PENTAGON JR. VS. SAMI CALLIHAN MASK VS. HAIR
This was another weapons ECW style match and three is too many for a show but this was easily the best of the three. Really this was like a classic match of this type in Mexico from the 70s or 80s with the blood and the great heat. Both used spikes on each other and both juiced. There was a ref bump as Callihan threw powder and Pentagon couldn’t see and chopped ref John E. Bravo and then Pentagon broke the ref’s arm. Penta used a Penta driver on Callihan but no ref. Callihan used a piledriver on a chair but again no ref. A second ref came in but Pentagon kicked out. Penta gave him a Penta driver on four chairs but Callihan kicked out. Pentagon broke Callihan’s arm and then used a package piledriver for the pin. Before Pentagon could cut the hair the Crist brother attacked Pentagon while Callihan bailed. Don Callis yelled at Callihan about delivering on the stip. Fenix chased Callihan back out and Fenix and Pentagon superkicked Callihan and security held the Crist Brothers and they cut Callihan’s hair.
They announced Bound for Glory on October 14, 2018 at the Melrose Ballroom in New York which is the same place Court Bauer has been running.
AUSTIN ARIES VS. MOOSE FOR THE IMPACT TITLE
This was a hell of a main event. It as hot from start to finish. Aries looked tremendous and Moose looked like a star. The match had super heat as well. Moose speared him but Aries got his hand on the ropes. Moose missed a dive and crashed onto the ramp. Aries used a brainbuster on the floor and they teased a count out win but Moose beat the count. Aries went for a belt shot but Curtis Granderson of the the Toronto Blue Jays took the belt away and Moose got a great near fall with a schoolboy. But Aries then got the clean pin with a brainbuster to retain the title.
