Impact Wrestling is celebrating their 20th anniversary at Slammiversary on June 19th in Nashville, Tennessee. One of the major matches taking place that night is the first ever Queen of the Mountain match, where Tasha Steelz will be defending her Knockouts Championship against Deonna Purrazzo, Chelsea Green, Jordynne Grace, and Mia Yim. I had the opportunity to chat with Yim ahead of Slammiversary.
Yim is no stranger to Impact, having worked with the company prior to signing with WWE in 2018 under the name Jade. She held the then TNA Knockouts Championship and even wrestled in a Monster’s Ball match.
I asked Yim what led to her decision to return with Impact after having been released by WWE. One of the people she credits for convincing her to sign with the promotion is Gail Kim, who is currently working as the head of the women’s division.
“I am close friends with Gail and I’ve been talking to her ever since I left Impact the first time,” she said. ”So we’ve been talking. I originally didn’t want to sign anywhere, I didn’t want to be on TV. I just didn’t know what I wanted to do. But Gail was putting over the company, putting over the talent, even Scott [D’Amore], putting over everything. I have no questions, no second guesses, no hesitation that if I were to go to Impact under Gail’s leadership everything is gonna be fine. There’s no drama, I didn’t want to deal with drama, politics, if I was gonna wrestle, I just wanted to wrestle and hang out with my friends. And I have a lot of friends [in Impact], I know that I would have a lot of wrestling opportunities, so it was a no brainer to me. I don’t want people to remember me for what I’ve done in the past year or two. I want people to remember me as Mia Yim, that I’ve had decades worth of work under my belt before I had [the WWE run] happen. I want people to remember that I am not just a manager for a group or whatever, I can go. Once I decided I am gonna give wrestling a try, I was like ‘count me in Gail.’ I know that at Impact I am gonna be okay.”
Yim then opened up about how the last two years with WWE, she felt that she was a ‘joke’ and she explained why she did not wrestle for several months following her release last November.
“A lot was going on in my mind. It’s hard to pinpoint one or two specific things,” she said. “Me and Keith [Lee] got released on the same day. It was a lot of figuring out. I’ve done everything I’ve wanted to in my career, everything that I set a goal for myself I’ve done it all. So, do I even want to wrestle anymore? Just with the toxicity of social media and with what I did the last time like I was a joke, I was a joke, so it was like do I even bother? So [me and Keith Lee] got married, we moved two weeks after, bought a house, so a lot of real life stuff was happening. Keith, right after the wedding he went to work, so I am like alright, let me take a couple of months to kinda just hold down the fort, and get everything together with real life first so he doesn’t have to worry about anything and everything will be taken care of at home. So I took a couple months off to do things in my real life, but also to figure out if this is what I wanted to continue to do. It was a lot.”
One of the things Yim also dealt with was anxiety to get back into the ring.
“So my first match back was with Athena, and it was so emotional at the end. I just needed to have that match, not to do a bunch of crazy stuff or whatever but just to have a match to get over that mental block,” she explained. “I didn’t even go train inside of a ring, my anxiety wouldn’t let me. It was a slow progress, where okay I got through my first match, now let me focus and see if I can still lead somebody. So then I had my match with Janai Kai, which went great. Just talking to Keith and Gail, it was like I am getting older, I don’t move like I used to anymore, but I just need to get over it. And either I continue or I don’t, and if I continue I have to go balls to the wall. I don’t like doing things half ass, so if there’s an opportunity that comes I am gonna take it and make something of it.”
Yim also credits the support she received from her husband and friendships with Shelton Benjamin and Mustafa Ali that helped her find the will to return to wrestling.
“I know I bust Shelton’s balls all the time, but he and Keith and even Ali…I had a lot of support,” she said. “Shelton was like ‘Don’t let them define you. Go do what you’re known to do.’ So it was just having the support of others, kinda pushing me, because if it wasn’t for them I probably wouldn’t even be back. Even everyone that is still there like Ali, saying, ‘Yo, you’re a badass, you’re a f’n badass.’
When asked what her goals are for the future, she explains that she wants people to understand who Mia Yim is.
“As far as goals, I just want people to respect and understand Mia Yim. I want people to know who I am and what I can do in the ring. They can watch my range and see that I can do anything if given freedom to. I want to retire at Impact, they have treated me so well thus far, they always have back in the day. “I’ve done everything that I wanted to when I started wrestling.”
You can check out the full interview with Mia Yim below.
A look at the life and career of Paul Orndorff, one of the top stars of the 70s, 80s and 90, is the lead story in the new issue of the Observer.
We go deep into the issue of dementia, his life after wrestling, what he was known for in wrestling, the street fighter talk, the fight with Tony Atlas, the fight with John Matuszak, his high school and college sports stardom in Florida, the unique story about how he got into pro wrestling and another street fight story just as he was breaking in where he wound up arrested and Eddie Graham thought it was great for business, his rise to stardom in the territorial era, the Vader fight, how he got started lifting weights, his second run with Hulk Hogan that remains the most successful live event program in pro wrestling history, the Hogan vs. Orndorff years, both teaming and as rivals, the first WrestleMania, The Big Event in Toronto and how monumental that show was and how it blew away expectations, how WrestleMania III being held at the Pontiac Silverdome came from the success of The Big Event, the injury that changed the trajectory of his career.
Also in this issue:
Dustin Poirier vs. Conor McGregor turned into the second biggest PPV event in UFC history. Ryan Frederick, one of the top insiders in the MMA world, looks in depth at UFC 264, the stories that led to it, the success of the show, and what happens next coming out of it. We look at the McGregor injury and what happened leading up to it. We also look at the rest of the show, new stars to watch out for, business notes plus match-by-match coverage with poll results.
The return of the arena business to WWE and AEW, ticket advances, the Arthur Ashe Stadium & Newark shows for AEW and WWE in Madison Square Garden all at the same time. We look at the numbers and give all the qualifying information. We also look at how other major shows are doing, this coming week’s stuff, SummerSlam update, what AEW show are they peaking for a major event, how the debut of Rampage will change things, the Money in the Bank show, new WWE date and more.
Top matches for SummerSlam, names talked about for Bobby Lashley, NXT schedule change during the Olympics, the Bayley injury and one top star talks about why the training sessions were a bad idea, why employee morale in WWE is up, thoughts on Jimmy Uso and why the Uso will be kept strong, Belair & Banks ESPY, other combat sport ESPY winners, the Riddle/Tavel lawsuit goes away and the story behind that, story behind the debuts of newcomers to main roster television, Mandy Rose stuff, how often WWE,New Japan, NXT and AEW do rematches, where Dwayne Johnson claims the term Smackdown came from, international TV ratings, notes on shows coming up and bookings, Riddle’s heat with Rollins and why, an idea they were considering to make the Bray Wyatt puppets real people, Bea Priestley talks her WWE signing, Big E talks fighting the new Day breakup, WWE stock value and the most-watched videos from WWE this past week.
The Tokyo Dome show this coming week, with the lineup and a look at each match.
Full coverage of the ROH Best in the World show, with business notes, notes on the next show, the title change, the women’s tournament, match-by-match coverage with star ratings and poll results.
A story on Travis Fulton, a former UFC fighter who had more than 300 MMA fights and 75 boxing matches, who committed suicide by hanging while in prison.
More detail on the ratings than any other source, we have how every segment on NXT and AEW did with different age groups, genders and more, plus a look at all other wrestling shows of the past week, how many different viewers the shows had, DVR numbers and how long the average fan watches.
Results of the major pro wrestling events of the past week.
ORDERING INFO: Order the print Wrestling Observer right now and get it delivered via mail, by sending your name, address, Visa or Master Card number and an expiration date to [email protected] or by going to www.paypal.com directing funds to [email protected].
Rates in the United States are $14.50 for 4 issues, $35.50 for 12, $70 for 24, $116 for 40 and $149.50 for 52.
In Canada and Mexico, the rates are $16 for 4, $27 for 8, $38.50 for 12, $76 for 24, $126 for 40 and $162.50 for 52.
For the rest of the world, rates are $18 for 4, $48.50 for 12, $93 for 24, $155 for 40 and $201.50 for 52.
If you order by mail with a check, cash or money order to P.O. Box 1228, Campbell, CA 95009-1228, you can get $1 off in every price range.
SUNDAY NEWS UPDATE
Bryan and I will be back tonight covering Money in the Bank and the rest of the wrestling news. You can send questions for the show to [email protected]. We are looking for reports from the Impact tapings today and tomorrow in Nashville to [email protected]
Money in the Bank is tonight from what will be a sold out Dickie’s Arena in Fort Worth. As of this morning there were only 47 tickets left at the start of the day today so it’s a given they’ll do that many walk-ups. After seeing the Friday show one would expect a hot crowd. The show looks good on paper, particularly the Men’s Money in the Bank match. We are also doing polls for both tonight’s show as well as for Impact Slammiversary so you can leave a thumbs up, thumbs down or thumbs in the middle along with a best and worst match for each show to [email protected]. Both Paddy Power and BetFair have removed the men’s Money in the Bank match from betting. No reason was given. 5Dimes has made Big E the favorite at -170. Big E getting pinned on Friday is the reason he’s the favorite. I can’t argue that logic but that does say something.
Men’s Money in the Bank with Big E, Riddle, Seth Rollins, Drew McIntyre, Kevin Owens, Shinsuke Nakamura, Ricochet and John Morrison. This is really an incredible lineup of talent and on paper looks to be one of the best MITB matches in history. You’ve got great workers and the crazy moves guys which shine in a match like this.
Women’s Money in the Bank with Alexa Bliss, Liv Morgan, Nikki Ash, Asuka, Zelina Vega, Naomi, Natalya and Tamina. Obviously this doesn’t have the talent of the men’s match as far as the daredevils go. Jason Agnew this morning threw an idea out to me about Becky Lynch somehow getting in replacing someone, since she was scheduled to be at the show, and winning, which would be a huge pop and her return would give a giant spark to the women’s side of either brand. Anyway, I don’t expect that but it sounds like a great idea.
Roman Reigns vs. Edge for the Universal title. Another match that looks great on paper. I can’t see Reigns losing the title with the plans for a John Cena match. The only way that could happen is if the match falls through and all week it was insisted to me that they believed it was solid and wouldn’t. I could see Rollins getting involved here based on TV, because Rollins vs. Edge was a match heavily talked about for SummerSlam but not for sure.
Bobby Lashley vs. Kofi Kingston for the WWE title. This should be good, but any result other than a Lashley win would be a surprise.
Rhea Ripley vs. Charlotte Flair for the Raw women’s title. Should be a good match here as well. I could see this going either way. Ripley would be the favorite however.
A.J. Styles & Omos vs. Viking Raiders. Considering Omos role in the match will probably be a hot tag, throwing guys around and most of it will be Styles vs. Raiders, those are three really strong workers. I would not expect a title change here.
Rey & Dominick Mysterio vs. Usos in the pre-show match for the tag team title. This will almost surely be a good match given the participants. Given that the Usos tried and failed twice, and are the pushed act, they would be favored to win the belts here.
The show looks on paper stronger than most and Reigns-Edge looks a sure thing for a great match except you never know if the finish will be weird, and the men’s match could be one of the best matches of the year for the company.
A few notes on last night’s Impact PPV show. The show went off the air as planned. They wanted the commotion, which ended up being an angle for New Japan to build up its 8/14 show in Los Angeles where Jay White laid out David Finlay. White vs. Finlay is one of the two main events for the show at The Torch at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. I would suspect the footage shows up on Thursday’s show and New Japan World. While we don’t know this as a fact, the belief is that the new Drama King wrestler is the former Aiden English, who uses the name Drama King Matt on indie shows. We’re also wondering about the CMLL reaction to New Japan and AAA being both billed as having wrestlers on Bound for Glory on 10/23 in Las Vegas.
For Google searches for the week there is actually a decent amount of stuff in the combat sports world. Today’s WWE show will surely rank high given the fans aspect and Money in the Bank being one of the bigger shows. For Saturday: UFC itself was No. 3 with 200,000 for last night’s Fight Night show, and Miesha Tate also had 200,000 searches for fifth place. The Jernell Charlo vs. Brian Castano was No. 6. On Tuesday, Tyron Woodley was No 13 with 50,000. On Monday, Paul Orndorff was No. 8 with 200,000. One thing we hadn’t checked is the aftermath of the Conor McGregor vs. Dustin Poirier fight garnered so much talk that there were two million more searches Sunday alone bringing the weekend total to 14 million, which is the all-time record for a UFC event. That is a huge mainstream interest.
Kota Ibushi is still out of action due to illness. He’s scheduled to headline next Sunday’s Tokyo Dome and right now is expected back Thursday. New Japan has a huge week with major arena shows Thursday through Sunday.
Congratulations to Sheamus, who proposed to girlfriend Isabella Rivella in Ireland in his home town of County Clare. (thanks to Stephen Lyon)
UFC announced International Fight Week from 9/21 to 9/25 with the big event being UFC 266. The UFC Hall of Fame ceremony will be on 9/23. There will be a two-day UFC Fan Experience on 9/24 and 9/25 featuring top stars from the past and present.
WWE
On Smackdown when they were pushing next week’s show, they billed it from a sold out arena in Cleveland as well as the Rolling Loud Music festival in Miami, the reality is that Cleveland is nowhere close to being sold out and they have many sections unopened. It’s not like it’s going to be a bad house for it’s not selling out legit.
After the sellout in Houston, and at the show, WWE smartly already had tickets ready for purchase for a return on 10/25, which will be a live Raw.
There had been some rumors about SummerSlam being moved up to 7 p.m. so they could get another hour into the show with the 11 p.m. hard out because of the Pacquiao fight. WWE officials have said that the main card is still scheduled for an 8 p.m. Eastern start.
WWE should be announcing the new location for its 9/17 Smackdown show which was to be in Atlanta but was canceled on Friday after about 1,700 tickets were moved. WWE officials said that it just made sense to swap some dates and the new location should be announced soon.
Backroad Entertainment is working on a pro wrestling show which they describe as a cross between Last Chance U and Ultimate Fighter. They are looking for independent wrestlers with a few years experience but have had a rough go with getting noticed and making it. They are also looking for people with interesting family histories or with personal issues they are trying to overcome. The show includes being picked for the cast and being trained by Dustin Rhodes in August in Austin, TX. For those interested, this is the application to fill out.
CBS Sunday morning today mentioned the death of Paul Orndorff (thanks to Mike Lano)
AEW
On my weekend show with Garrett Gonzales, we talked heavily on the AEW ratings and ticket sales for the Arthur Ashe Stadium show. As noted, they are over 15,000 after the first day. The next number to note would be 16,544 which was the MSG New Japan show. If and when that is topped they would be the largest non-WWE or NCAA wrestling crowd in North America since 1999. That would be a WCW show at the Georgia Dome and they will not top that figure.
There has been good movement in ticket sales for Wednesday night in Garland. As of last night, they had 5,118 tickets out so were 476 shy of a sellout. It did not appear a sellout was possible but now there is a fairly decent shot at it.
OTHER NOTES
Warrior Wrestling from last night in Chicago Heights, IL. Not sure of attendance but a fan estimate was 1,000 for the show: Dante Martin b KC Navarro (good), Danhausen b Lee Moriarty (Danhausen over with the crowd, but review we got weren’t good), Calvin Tannkman b Jordan Oliver (fine), Jonathan Gresham b Davey Richards (very good), Brian Pillman Jr. & Griff Garrison b Richard Holiday & Victor Benjamin (decent), Aramis b Dag to keep the Lucha title (excellent), Brian Cage b Ninja Mack (no chemistry), Lance Archer b Robert Ego Anthony no holds barred (Archer threw Frank the Clown off the football bleachers, you couldn’t see the fall, but it wa a big one, likely a crash pad and Frank tweeted after he was quitting wrestling which is likely a storyline), Kylie Rae b Lady Frost to keep the women’s title (felt rushed, Frost had two guys with her, there was a post-match beatdown and Pillman & Garrison made the save so it seemed to set up a six person mixed tag for the next show). Fun show overall (thanks to Lance LeVine)
A story on Kevin Fertig, the former Kevin Thorne, now working in real estate. (thanks to Mike Kuzmuk)
Absolute Intense Wrestling on 7/30 in Cleveland, OH at the Odeon Concert Club and 7/31 in Jefferson, OH at the Ashtabula County Fairgrounds.
Legacy Fighting on UFC Fight Pass is doing a four-man one-night welterweight tournament from the Upper Arena in Rio de Janeiro. It starts at 9 p.m. Eastern. The semi finals are Gabriel Confim (10-0) vs. Brenner Alberth (8-0) and Diego Dias (13-3) vs. Carlos Leal (12-3). The LFA is an American promotion making its Brazilian debut.
Insane Wrestling Revolution from Thursday night in Monroe, MI: Nate Bock b Kenny Urban, Malcolm Monroe III b Sam Beale, Trey Miguel b Ace Austin, DBA b Mysterious Movado, Dread King Logan b Benjamin Boone, Konnor b Dread King Logan, Chinstrap Jesus b Bryan Castle, Rhino & Joe Doering & Deaner b Aaron Orion & Jack Price & Tony Vendetta (thanks to Leonard Brand)
Pro Wrestling Conquest from Friday night in Charleston,WV: Daniel Eads b Calvin Tankman, Levi Everett b Beastman, Cole Karter b Ryan Edons & David Lawless in a handicap match, Mance Warner b Mad Man Fulton, Dani Mo b Megan Meyers, Jock Samson b Danhausen, Mane Event b Money Shot & Renegade.
NOAH Sanctuary will air on FITE TV PPV on 7/28 with English commentary and the 8/1 show from Hiroshima will also be on FITE. Mark Pickering, one of the English announcers has COVID and best wishes to him on recovery. He tested positive on 7/10 so missed calling the Sendai show. He will be back for the shows mentioned above.
Tickets for NWA shows from 8/28 to 8/31 in St. Louis, which was be EmPowerrr, an all women’s show on 8/28, the NWA 73rd anniversary show on 8/29, and TV tapings on 8/30 and 8/31, are available at Ticketmaster. Just to clear something up we talked about on the show last night, Mickie James will not work EmPowerrr but will be the Executive Producer of the show. She will be wrestling on the 8/29 anniversary show.
The MLW Battle Riot match will air on 7/24 on Bein Sports at 10 p.m.
The world premiere of the new pro wrestling TV show Starz Heels will be on 7/29 in New York at the 92nd Street Y. Stephen Amell and other stars and the producers will be doing a Q&A after the first episode airs.The show debuts on television on 8/13 in a Friday night time slot.
T-Mart Promotions presents The Gathering 7/22 to 7/25 at the Charlotte University Hilton. Names listed are The Fabulous Ones, Eric Bischoff, Tony Atlas, Barry Windham, Tom Prichard, Demolition, Tommy Rich, Bobby & Jackie Fulton, Molly Holly, Mike Rotunda, John Nord, Dennis Condrey, Norvell Austin, Eric Embry, Rick Steiner, David Crockett, Ken Resnick, Trevor Murdoch and more. There Is a Saturday night card headlined by Nick Aldis vs. Murdoch for the NWA title and Kamille vs. Kenzie Paige for the NWA women’s title. Sam Houston and Mike Jackson will be working the shows.
On a night filled with surprise appearances, two more stars made unannounced showings at Impact Wrestling’s Slammiversary PPV.
NWA’s Thunder Rosa appeared on the show as Knockouts Champion Deonna Purrazzo’s mystery opponent in a title match.
Following Rosa’s defeat, Mickie James came to the ring to issue an invitation to Purrazzo to appear at the NWA Empower all-women’s PPV on Saturday, August 28. James is serving as executive producer for that event.
Purrazzo did not officially accept the invite, but insulted James and made reference to the trash bag incident that James took public following her April release from WWE. James then laid out Purrazzo with a kick.
Prior to tonight’s event, James last appeared in Impact in 2015. Her most recent in-ring appearance came at WWE Royal Rumble on January 31. She has announced a return to the ring at NWA’s 73rd anniversary event on August 29, one day after Empower.
Tonight’s appearance marks Rosa’s most high-profile match since facing Britt baker in an unsanctioned match on AEW Dynamite in March. Rosa has since primarily appeared on AEW Dark: Elevation and NWA Power.
Green appeared as Matt Cardona’s mystery partner at tonight’s Slammiversary PPV. Green and Cardona defeated Brian Myers and Tenille Dashwood in a mixed tag match.
It has been a busy week for Green, as she also appeared on this past Sunday’s Ring of Honor PPV, Best in the World. Green stated at Best in the World that she wanted to wrestle on that show, but was deemed unfit by the Maryland State Athletic Commission due to her wrist injury, originally suffered on WWE SmackDown in November 2020. Green was released by WWE on April 15, 2021.
Returning to her “Hot Mess” persona, Green wrestled with a cast on her arm at Slammiversary, but it was announced on the broadcast that she had been cleared for competition.
Green had a prior stint in Impact from 2016 to 2018, wrestling primarily as Laurel Van Ness. She claimed the Impact Knockouts Championship one time, beating Rosemary to win the vacant title in 2018.
One of Impact Wrestling’s signature match types is making its return at this year’s Slammiversary pay-per-view.
Impact Wrestling has announced that Josh Alexander will defend his X-Division Championship against Trey Miguel, Ace Austin, Chris Bey, Rohit Raju, and Petey Williams in an Ultimate X match at Slammiversary. The PPV is taking place on Saturday, July 17.
A number one contender’s match featuring Miguel, Austin, Bey, Raju, and Williams had taken place at last Saturday’s Against All Odds Impact Plus special, but it ended in a no contest due to interference by Madman Fulton. Fulton is aligned with Austin.
This will be Impact’s first Ultimate X match since 2019.
Slammiversary is being held at Skyway Studios in Nashville, Tennessee. There will be a limited number of fans in attendance, making this the first Impact show with a live crowd since March 2020. Sami Callihan has been set to challenge for Kenny Omega’s AEW World Championship at the PPV, but Callihan is currently involved in a storyline where he’s been fired from Impact by Don Callis.
Double or Nothing is the lead story in the new issue of the Wrestling Observer. Match-by-match coverage, star ratings, poll results, surprising PPV numbers and reasons why it happened, the atmosphere, what did and didn’t work and the signing of Mark Henry and the situation with Lio Rush.
Also in this issue:
WWE front office hires, their background, the shift in company strategy an how they fit in, as well as the reasons for the controversy regarding Jamie Horowitz and what happened when he was at FOX.
WWE cutting of Braun Strowman, Lana, Ruby Riott, Aleister Black, Murphy and Santana Garrett, reasons all were let go as well as the future prospects for all of them individually.
WWE schedule going forward, with the shows through September, the exclusive first word on plans for NXT going on the road, and a SummerSlam update.
New Japan/WWE talks, the history of Vince McMahon and booking of WWF talent in Japan when working with the Japanese, next Takeover show, more firings, U.K. and Canadian ratings, next week’s TV show and most-watched WWE videos.
A major feature on the life of 60s and 70s star Tony Marino, from his bodybuilding days to his start in wrestling, his international tours, the Battman gimmick from the Batman TV show, his biggest career shows, being part of setting the all-time indoor pro wrestling gate record for North America in 1970 and more.
More detail on ratings than any other source, how every segment on NXT and AEW did with different age groups and more, all other wrestling shows of the past week, how many different viewers the shows had which is very different from the television number, breakdown of who watches the shows, how they watch, DVR numbers and how long the average fan watches.
ORDERING INFO: Order the print Wrestling Observer right now and get it delivered via mail, by sending your name, address, Visa or Master Card number and an expiration date to [email protected] or by going to www.paypal.com directing funds to [email protected].
Rates in the United States are $14.50 for 4 issues, $35.50 for 12, $70 for 24, $116 for 40 and $149.50 for 52.
In Canada and Mexico, the rates are $16 for 4, $27 for 8, $38.50 for 12, $76 for 24, $126 for 40 and $162.50 for 52.
For the rest of the world, rates are $18 for 4, $48.50 for 12, $93 for 24, $155 for 40 and $201.50 for 52.
If you order by mail with a check, cash or money order to P.O. Box 1228, Campbell, CA 95009-1228, you can get $1 off in every price range.
FRIDAY NEWS UPDATE
Garrett Gonzalez and I will be talking about all the news of the week such as WWE hirings and firings, tonight’s TV, AEW business and more with Wrestling Observer Radio. Bryan and I will be doing a show on Saturday night this weekend as well.
Regarding the move of the Kenny Omega vs. Jungle Boy match from the scheduled 6/11 Dynamite show to 6/26, Tony Khan said he decided he wanted the match to air live (6/11 and 6/18 are taped shows) and wanted to make 6/26 a major show.
We don’t have more details but NXT did 668,000 viewers on Tuesday. We’ll have the rest of the numbers in the next issue.
Smackdown tonight at 8 p.m. on FOX:
Apollo Crews vs. Kevin Owens IC title
Rey & Dominik Mysterio vs. Usos for Smackdown tag titles
Bianca Belair will issue a challenge to Bayley
For 205 Live: Austin Grey vs. Ariya Daivari and Ari Sterling vs. Sunil Singh
AEW Dynamite tonight at 10 p.m. on TNT:
Mark Henry, The Inner Circle, Britt Baker, Sting and Darby Allin aer on the show
Red Velvet vs. The Bunny
Cody Rhodes & Lee Johnson vs. QT Marshall & Anthony Agogo
Dustin Rhodes vs. Nick Comoroto bullrope match
Jungle Boy & Christian Cage vs. Private Party
Young Bucks vs. Penta & Pac non-title match
New Japan Strong at 10 p.m. tonight on New Japan World:
Kevin Knight vs. TJP
Adrian Quest vs. Barrett Brown
Satoshi Kojima & Karl Fredericks vs. Danny Limelight & JR Kratos
The celebrity boxing business isn’t looking good based on PPV advance numbers. Granted, most buys are done the day or or day after, but for the shows this weekend based on numbers we received from one significant provider, Odom vs. Carter is dead in the water, NWA When Our Shadows fall is at 6.7 percent of where the AEW show was on the Friday before, and here’s the scary one, Mayweather vs. Paul is at 69 percent of where the AEW show was two days out. Yes, based on advance television PPV buys, it is actually trailing. Of course almost all buys are day or show and right after.
UFC tomorrow on ESPN+ starting at 4 p.m. Eastern:
Claudio Puelles (155) vs. Jordan Leavitt (156)
Sean Woodson (145) vs. Youssef Zalal (146)
Manon Fiorit (125.5) vs. Tabatha Ricci (124.5)
Alan Patrick (154.5) vs. Mason Jones (156)
Makwan Amirkhani (146) vs. Kamuela Kirk (146)
Francisco Trinaldo (169.5) vs. Muslim Salikhov (171)
Tanner Boser (242) vs. Ilir Latifi (240)
Montana de la Rosa (126) vs. Ariane Lipski (124.5)
Tom Breese (186) vs. Antonio Arroyo (186)
Dusko Todorovic (186) vs. Gregory Rodrigues (186)
Santiago Ponzinibbio (170.5) vs. Miguel Baeza (171)
Roman Dolidze (186) vs. Laureano Starpoli (185)
Walt Harris (264) vs. Marcin Tybura (251)
Jairzinho Rozenstruik (254) vs. Augusto Sakai (255.5)
After announcing him for the new season that starts on 7/10 in Philadelphia last night, MLW announces Aramis has signed a multi-year deal with the promotion today.
Here is the complete Josh Alexander vs. TJP 60:00 match from last night’s Impact with no commercial interruptions. Alexander and TJP are looking at touring their match on independent shows, doing various gimmick matches like Iron Man, 2/3 falls, X Division title matches as well as meet and greets and seminars. For more info you can contact Dave Penzer at [email protected]
Impact sold out the few tickets they put on sale for Slammiversary on 7/17 in Nashville.
CyberFight Festival takes place Sunday morning at Midnight on Wrestle Universe and there will be English language announcing with Stewart Fulton and Mark Pickering. It’s from the Saitama Super Arena and is a multi-promotional show. The top matches have Keiji Muto defending the GHC title against Naomichi Marufuji, Jun Akiyama defending the KO-D title against Harashima, Miyu Yamashita defending the Princess of Princess championship against Yuka Sakazaki and Konosuke Takeshita & Yuki Ueno vs. Kaito Kiyomiya & Yoshiki Inamura.
Arena Mexico will be able to increase capacity from 500 to 1,500 on 6/24. They will also start doing weekly Sunday shows in the building to go with the Friday and Tuesday shows. The first Sunday date is 6/13.
AAA’s Verano de Escandalo show, its version of SummerSlam, is set for 7/3.
UFC
The Uriah Hall vs. Sean Strickland fight that was set for the August PPV has been moved up to the main event for a 7/31 show.
The Cage Fury Fighting Championships, which is the MMA group that C.M. Punk announces for, will be starting up a grappling division with the first show on 7/1 in Philadelphia at the 2300 Arena called Fury Professional Grappling with both gi and no gi matches. The next MMA show is 7/3in Philadelphia with welterweight champion Evan Cutts (12-4) facing Yohan Lainesse (6-0) for the title.
NFC has announced a 6/12 show in Anderson, SC at Electric City MMA and 6/25 in Buford,GA at Tannery Row before returning with a Jiu Jitsu show on 6/26 at District Atlanta and an MMA show on 7/24 at District Atlanta.
Invicta on 6/11 with have The Phoenix tournament, with eight 105-pound women, Jessica Delboni, Jillian DeCoursey, Katie Perez, Katie Saull, Lindsey VanZandt, Linda Mihalec, Paulina Granados and Tabatha Watkins that will air live on AXS TV from Memorial Hall in Kansas City. The winner of the tournament will get a shot at the Invicta title. The show will have open scoring, meaning fans and athletes will know the score of the fight after every round.
Jeff Jarrett will do a live show on 6/12 from Jimmy’s Famous Seafood in Baltimore.
Legacy Fighting tonight on UFC Fight Pass at 9 p.m. Eastern from Shawnee, OK
Manuel Medina (125) vs. Kevin Fernandez (126)
Jacobi Jones (156) vs. Caleb Hall (156)
Gerrica Trias (125) vs. Ky Bennett (124.5)
Edwin Cooper Jr. (145.6) vs. Robson Jr. (145.2)
Askar Askar (136) vs. Justin Wetzell (136)
Terrance Mckinney (160) vs. Michael Irizarry (160)
Latin Urban Superstar Farruko will perform on the 6/19 Triller PPV at Loan Depot Park in Miami joining Meek Mill, Myka Towers, Snoop Dogg and Reggaeton performer Lunay in a concert prior the Triller boxing PPV.
After a gym fist fight angle between Real Tarzann Mike Holston and Vitor Belfort, they have been added to the Triller PPV show.
Conor McGregor is getting into the mobile gaming business with European mobile games developer Beetroot Lab for a game called Dystopia: Content of Heroes.
Daisuke Sekimoto and Yasufumi Nakanoue of Big Japan have been pulled from Wednesday’s All Japan show due to a Big Japan COVID outbreak. Yoshitatsu is also off the show due to traveling to the U.S. for non-business reasons.
Galli promotions on Sunday in Villa Park, IL has Black Taurus vs. Laredo Kid and Are & Aramis vs. Gringo Loco & Golden Dragon.
Game Changer Wrestling runs Saturday at 3 p.m. with Tournament of Survival
At July’s Slammiversary pay-per-view, Impact Wrestling will have its first live crowd since the COVID-19 pandemic began.
Impact Wrestling has announced that a “limited number of fans” will be allowed to attend Slammiversary 2021. The PPV is taking place at Skyway Studios in Nashville, Tennessee on Saturday, July 17.
This will be the first Impact Wrestling show with fans in attendance since March 2020. The promotion has been holding closed set tapings and PPVs at Skyway Studios since then.
Slammiversary tickets will go on sale this Friday (June 4) at 10 a.m. Eastern time. Impact Wrestling noted that they will continue to follow all state and local safety protocols.
“Due to the limited number of tickets that will be available, ALL tickets will be part of IMPACT’s new Super Premium VIP Ticket Plan,” Impact Wrestling wrote. “Every seat is on the arena floor, ringside and comes with a bundle of perks that have never been offered in wrestling history.”
Those who purchase tickets will receive:
Commemorative ticket with lanyard
The official Slammiversary T-shirt
The official Slammiversary Mounted Poster
A post-show Commemorative Photo, Ringside or on the Entrance Ramp — with the actual, official X-Division Championship Belt
A Swatch of the official Match-Used Slammiversary Canvas (Fans will have the chance to see the canvas be cut immediately after the PPV)
IMPACT-branded swag
Complimentary water, soft drinks, chips, candy bars and some Robert Irvine’s Fit Crunch Protein Bars – courtesy of Robert Irvine and, of course, Gail Kim
“We have waited over a year to say these three words: Welcome Back, Fans,” IMPACT Executive Vice-President Scott D’Amore said. “We know Slammiversary will be an amazing event, with title defenses, jaw-dropping excitement, breath-taking moves … AND NOW, FANS.
“I speak for everyone at IMPACT Wrestling when I say that we are thrilled to welcome back our fans. IMPACT is going to deliver an amazing night of action in front of the thunderous roar of fans for the first time since early-March 2020 at the two-night A-Town Beatdown in Atlanta.”
Last year’s Slammiversary featured the arrival of several wrestlers who were released by WWE in April 2020. The promotion for this year’s PPV has again been centered around the possibility of wrestlers who were released from WWE this April and other surprises appearing.
After announcing the month for Slammiversary at last month’s Rebellion pay-per-view, Impact Wrestling announced the actual date on Thursday: Saturday, July 17th.
They didn’t announce the location or if there will be fans in attendance. All TV tapings, pay-per-views and Impact Plus events have been held at Skyline Studios in Nashville, Tennessee, during the pandemic with no fans allowed.
The announcement was accompanied by the same video that aired during Rebellion with the same theme from last year’s PPV: returning stars recently released by WWE or Japanese stars. In the video, quick images of Samoa Joe, Chelsea Green, and Mickie James in addition to New Japan’s Okada and Naito, Keiji Mutoh and the Australian and Mexico flags to allude to The IIconics and Andrade are shown.
This will be the 19th Slammiversary, an annual celebration of their first-ever event, held on June 19, 2002. Last year’s show was also preceded by a teaser video featuring WWE stars released during the pandemic cuts. The Good Brothers (Doc Gallows and Karl Anderson) and Heath Miller (Heath Slater) ended up debuting as well as a teaser video for the returning EC3. Additionally, the Motor City Machine Guns returned to the company at the show.
After a short video featuring EC3 ended tonight’s Slammiversary event, it was confirmed that he will appear on Impact this Tuesday.
Slammiversary ended tonight with a short video that showed EC3 throwing a glass into a wall that displayed the roman numeral III. Later on social media, Impact tweeted a picture of the wall and indicated that EC3 will appear on Impact this Tuesday on AXS TV.
EC3 was one of many who were cut by WWE back in April. Once his no-compete ended at midnight EST on July 18, he streamed a video on his YouTube account. The video showed EC3 heading to the ring and attacking another wrestler in what looked like a garage setting. The video ended with EC3 saying “you have been warned”.
A number of talent either made their return or debuted on tonight’s Slammiversary event including Eric Young, The Motor City Machine Guns, The Good Brothers (Karl Anderson & Doc Gallows), and Heath Slater.
Rich Swann, who was out with a knee injury, also returned tonight, taking part in the main event.
For the first time since January’s Hard to Kill, Impact Wrestling returns to pay-per-view Saturday with Slammiversary, one of its biggest events of the year, live from Nashville, Tennessee.
A lot has changed since that January event: a pandemic, canceled shows, firings due to the #SpeakingOut movement, and a need to crown a new World Champion as the company parted ways with Tessa Blanchard in late-June. Blanchard defeated Sami Callihan for the belt in January, but neither of them will be involved in tonight’s main event.
That main event will feature some intrigue as Trey Miguel, Ace Austin, Eddie Edwards, and a mystery fourth entrant will compete in a fatal four-way for the title. Lots of names have been rumored for that fourth spot, teased by the company itself in preview videos.
Meanwhile, two wrestlers recently released by WWE in Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson officially announced they have signed with Impact and will debut on tonight’s show.
In other matches: Knockouts Champion Jordynne Grace will defend against Deonna Purrazzo, X-Division Champion Willie Mack will defend against Chris Bey, The North will defend their tag titles against Callihan and Ken Shamrock, self-proclaimed TNA Champion Moose will defend against Tommy Dreamer, there will be a number one contender’s Knockouts gauntlet match, and The Rascalz have issued an open challenge.
Our coverage begins at 8 p.m. Eastern time.
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Show opened with an extended version of the tease commercial we’ve seen for months now, but now it ran down the card throughout the news cast. Two kids talked about being scared.
Josh Matthews and Don Callis on commentary, they announced that The Good Brothers have signed with Impact.
The Motor City Machine Guns (Alex Shelley & Chris Sabin) defeated The Rascalz (Dezmond Xavier & Zachary Wentz)
The MCMG have made their return to accept The Rascalz’ challenge.
Wentz and Shelley started the match, they went straight for the collar and elbow, a couple of reversals and coutners for wrist control. Xavier and Sabin tagged in for another exchange of reversals and coutners, transitioned into a Sabin armdrag and clothesline for some momentum, but afterwards, Xavier would send Sabin outside with a rana, leaving Shelley aloneffor some double team moves. Sabin came back only to take a kick combo for a two count.
Ranscalz cut the ring in half on Sabin and worked over him with quick tags and sentons. Wentz would eventually get distracted by a kick from Shelley, allowing Sabin to recover and join Shelley for a series of punt kicks on the apron on both Rascalz.
Back in the ring, Xavier is down to tag out Wentz, so Wentz tried to strike out Shelley, who managed to take down Wentz regardless. Double elbow and kick by the MCMG for a two coutn on Wentz. MCMG gets Wentz at bay, also quick quick combos, sending him from corner to corner, kicking him for two counts.
Wetnz tried to comeback with strikes, but ended up getting another double discus elbows for his efforts. Wentz did however, managed to tag Shelley with a jumping knee and get the opening for Xavier to come in.
Dezmond hit several kick combos on Sabin, kept Shelley on the floor, Wentz came back and hit a footstomp on Shelley for a two count. Codebreaker on Sabin to get him out of the ring. Swanton bomb by Wentz on Shelley, but he got th eknees up, hit a desperation release German on Dezmond and tagged in Sabin.
Dropkick by Sabin on Xavier, another tandom strike combo, took out Wentz with the headlock and dropkick combo, and then hit the ASCS rush on Xavier for the win. Awesome opener.
Callis and Matthews ran down tonight’s card and hinted at least two more surprises.
Backstage, Taya berated John E. Bravo that she needed to win. Rosemary came in later and told Bravo that she had to win.
We got the Moose vs Dreamer build up video. Ok stuff.
TNA World Champion Moose defeated Tommy Dreamer in an “old school rules” match to retain
Moose started with control, pushing Dreamer to the corner by the neck, striking him, tossing him, big punt kick, and out of the ring. Dominant start, but Moose went for a dive, only to get a garbage can lid on the face. Dreamer started using some of the weapons on Moose, choked him with a jersey, whipped him to the guardrail, but when he went for the chair shot, Moose dodged, dropped him groin first into the rail, chairshot to the back, and dropped the rail on Dreamer.Moose hit a suplex on the stage.
Back in the ring, Moose used a kendo stick on Dreamer, but missed the last one, giving Dreamer the opening to hit a side leg sweep. Dreamer went for a second rope shot, but Moose caught him with a huge dropkick, completely taking out Dreamer. Dreamer set up a garbage can on Dreamer and followed with another dropkick. Moose, getting cocky, get for a top rope plancha, but Dreamer caught him with a ddt right on top of the garbage can for a two count.
Moose dropped Dreamer with a toe drop hold onto a chair. Moose went to powerbomb Dreamer into a pile of chairs, but Dreamer blocked and fought back with punches, went for a ddt, but Moose coutnered and hit a book end and standing moonsault for a two count.
Moose went for the top rope for another moonsault, but Dreamer moved, hit a ddt for a two count. Dreamer pulled out some tacks and ent for a piledriver, but Moose blocked and hit a low blow on Dreamer. Moose shoved Dreamer’s face into the tacks, but didn’t fully make contact as Dreamer powered up. Moose raked the eyes and slammed Dreamer into thet tacks.
Moose hit the lights out spear and Moose picked up the win. Really slow, but Moose was great.
Gia Miller tried to interview the arrival of a new superstar, but it ended up being Johnny Swinger. He seems to have stolen Karl Anderson’s car.
Kylie Rae won the Knockouts #1 Contender Gauntlet Match
Tasha Steelz and Kylie Rae started the match. They wrestled for wrist control and into headlocks until Tasha caught Rae with a shoulder block, who came out with a rana. Tasha went for one herself, but Rae countered.
Third participant was Taya, well, it was John E. Bravo dressed as Taya. He was superkicked and immediatly eliminated. Rae tried to high five Tasha, but was taken out with a clothesline instead.
Kimber Lee came in as 4th, took out Rae with a sidewalk slam, Tasha with a backbreaker. Delayed vertical suplex on Rae, but as she posed around, Tasha caught Lee with a kick. Rae and Steelz went back at it. Kiera Hogan came in as 5th and joined Steelz, going after Rae. Kimber Lee tried to team up with them, but was striken down by Hogan and Steelz.
Susie was next, who ran down to help out Rae and take everyone out with palm strikes and Thesz press. Susie went for the arachrana on Steelz, but was blocked, only to get a superkick by Rae and get eliminated.
Katie Forbes returned as 7th. She clothslined Susie and Rae, sholder block on Lee. Hogan instead tried to make friends with her, but instead got attacked. Madison Rayne came in next and went straight for Lee and Hogan with enzugiris and clotheslines. She made fun of Susie, but Hogan stepped up and got into a verbal exchanged with her before coming to blows.
Havok was next as 9th. Took down Forbes and Lee first, dropped Hogan with a Sidewalk Slam, took down Susie and Rae, and it was Rayne the only one smart enough to not antagonize her.
The real Taya Valkyrie came in and immediatly took down Lee, Rae, and Havok. Katie Forbes attacked her, but Taya countered and started striking down Forbes in the corner, eliminating her with a kick.
Alisha Edwards was next, hit a couple of ddts until Rae tried to military press her, only for Havok to take Alisha and toss her on Rae. Nevaeh came in and joined Havok, took out Susie, Lee, and Hogan with a combo move. Double team backbreaker and clothesline on Edwards.
Rosemary was next, went straight for Susie wit a spear. Taya and Rosemary eliminated Susie. Another Rosemary came out, it was again Bravo. Taya and Rosemary started fighting over him and Taya accidentally attacked Rosemary. Havok tried to eliminate them, but Bravo snuck up and eliminated Havok. Kylie Rae eliinated Bravo and felt terrible.
Rae eliminated Madison Rayne and apologize afterwards. Lee and Hogan paiered up to eliminate Nevaeh and Alisha Edwards. Rosemary kicked Hogan to eliminate her.
Final four are Kimber Lee, Taya, Rosemary, and Kylie Rae. They came to blows in the middle of the ring. Rae hit a cutter and elimnated Lee. Taya and Rosemary ganged up on Rae, but fought back. Rosemary locked in the upside down, but Taya took advantage to drop Rosemary.
Final two are Kylie Rae and Taya, one-on-one match rules start now. Rae hit an early destroyer and superkick for the win.
Heath Miller made his debut, coming down to the ring. He said that he was planning to challenge the Razcals, but didn’t make it in time. He said that there was a still vacant spot for the World Title and he wanted in. Rohit Raju interrupted him and told him that he wasn’t going to allow him to get a shot before him. Rohit attacked, but was quickly reversed and taken out with a reverse ddt.
We got the Swinger vs Bey video package.
Chris Bey defeated X-Division Champion Willie Mack to win the title
They talked some trash at each other before coming to blows. Mack got the early advantage, they traded lucha armdrags, but Mack hit the standing meteora to send Bey to the floor. Mack tried to follow with a senton, but Bey blocked, only for Willie to caught him on the apron and dropped him with a draping neckbreaker to the floor.
Back in the ring, Mack hit a fallaway slam, kip up and standing moonsault for a two count. Mack elbowed Bey in the corner, they exchanged kicks before Mack went for a superplex. Bey blocked him and went fo the sunset bomb, but instead kicked Mack’s legs in and hit a slingshot slingblade for a two count.
Bey hit a big jumping uppercut and swinging neckbreaker for a two count. Mack started slapping Bey, but Bey came back with a mule kick and bodyscissors for a two count. Third kick and an attempt to the dive, but Mack caught him with a bomb instead.
Mack hit a clothsline and spinning shoulder block, followed with more clotheslines and the running cannonball. Mack went for an exploder, but Bey countered into a roll up. Mack hit the exploder into the turnbuckles for a two count. Bey’s neck is getting destroyed.
Mack went for the 6 star, but Bey hid behind the referee, snuck a kick on Mack and followed with a dropkick to take down Mack. Bey caught Mack with a boot and the destroyer for a two count. Mack hit the stunner, but went for the 6 star that Bey dodged. Bey got pushed into the referee and took advantage to rake Mack’s eyes, hit the final finesse for the win. This match really needed fans.
Backstage, Heath Miller and Rhino had a small reunion. D’Amore walked up and told Miller that he doesn’t work here and that due to the pandemic, they can’t have guests. Rhino told Miller to show up on Tuesday and he’ll figure it out.
Impact World Tag Team Champions The North (Ethan Page & Josh Alexander) defeated Ken Shamrock & Sami Callihan to retain
Alexander and Shamrock started the match, going for some mat wrestling, trading momentum until Shamrock locked in the ankle lock. Callihan slapped himself in, but instead of wrestling, cheap shotted Alexander, took down both Page and Alexander.
Shamrock came back and worked on Page for a bit, punching him around, tagging in and out with Callihan, who would go for headbutts, headlocks, and quick pin attempts. Shamrock went for knees and a ddt. Shamrock and Sami kept the offense until Alexander interfered and pulled Page to safety.
The North ganged up on Shamrock outside and back into the ring. Alexander got Shamrock in the corner with shoulder thrusts. The North went for a double team move, but Shamrock caught them with a double clothesline and tagged out.
Callihan came out, took out Alexander, hit a superkick and brainbuster on Page for a two count. Page managed to get a dropkick on Callihan and tag in Alexander to keep Callihan down. They kept control with double team moves, a lot of striking, and quick tags. Eventually, Sami landed a desperation stunner to get an opening, but Page was smart enough to place himself between Sami and Shamrock. Sami tried to strike his way to his corner, ending in both men taking each other out with kicks.
Shamrock tagged in and ran wild with clotheslines and powerslams on both men. Callihan tagged in back again to early and got the cactus jack countered. The North caught Callihan with a double team Crucifix Bomb for a two count. Callihan once again managed to escape and tag in Shamrock, who came in and hit a belly-to-belly on Alexander to the floor.
Page took out Callihan, but then Shamrock and Alexander locked in the ankle locks on their respective opponents, both submissions were broken. Callihan took out Page, Shamrock locked in the ankle lock on Alexander, but Page managed to toss Callihan into Shamrock.
Shamrock and Callihan had some misdirection. Cactus Special on Alexander for a two count when Page broke it, but Shamrock just stood there, not knowing what to do. Shamrock caught Callihan with a kick accidentally and hit a top rope belly-to-belly on Alexander, who rolled out Shamrock went for a dive, but The North moved out of the way.
Back in the ring, The North finished Shamrock to retain their title. Good match, but it kinda broke down there at the end with Shamrock.
After the match, Page said that no one asked for their comments when they broke the year milestone. He said they decimated an entire division. Alexander said that they promised to make history and they have proved it. Page said that in this company, no one can touch them.
The Motor City Machine Guns came out and told them that in Impact history, the MCMG are the greatest. Sabin announced that office has granted them a title shot at The North on tuesday!
Gia Miller tried to interview The Good Brothers, but instead she got Rich Swann. He said that he was here to support Mack and announce that he wants a shot at the World Title once he is cleared to make his comeback.
We got the Purrazzo vs Grace video package
Deonna Purrazzo defeated Knockouts Champion Jordynne Grace to win the title
Heated collar and elbow to start, Grace drove Purrazzo to the corner and wouldn’t let go. Purrazzo relied on leaving the ring and stalling to get her standing back. Back in the ring, Grace went for Purrazzo’s arm, but was outwrestled, only for Jordynne rely on her power advangage to send Purrazzo back to the floor.
Grace caught Purrazzo with a shoulder block and once again to the floor, but this time, Jordynne followed with a dive, taking her out. Jordynne went for an early muscle buster, but Purrazzo fought her off and dropped a knee on Grace’s arm to finally start working on it.
Purrazzo focused on the arm, switching between strikes, armbars, kicks, and snaps. Purrazzo tried to got for short distance clothesline, but Grace wouldn’t budge, so instead, went back for the armbar until Grace made the ropes.
Purrazzo locked in the Fujiwara armbar, but Grace rolled over. Purrazzo transitioned into another armbar, but Grace blocked and made the ropes again. Purrazzo went back into snapping Grace’s arm over and over again. Grace managed to land an elbow to get some space and latch on the ropes to block Purrazzo, getting the chance to recover and drop Purrazzo with a clothesline and senton for a two count.
Jordynne went for a backplex, but Deonna blocked and got a two count with the O’Connor roll, only for Grace to counter into a sleeper. Purrazzo rolled over for a two count. Grace caught her with a clothesline and got her in a bow and arrow onto the ringpost, but as Grace made her way back to the ring, Purrazzo once again snapped her arm on the ropes.
Grace tried to strike down Purrazzo and got a Grace Driver for a two count. Tried to follow with a powerbomb, but Purrazzo almost got the triangle lock, forcing Grace to release, yet she got a desperation spinebuster in the last second.
Both women started trading strikes in the middle of the ring until Jordynne just started hitting scoop slams over and over, they started trading German suplexes, and lastly, Purrazzo got two kicks in and the pendulum snap suplex for a two count.
Grace caught Purrazzo with kick, hit the running knees and diving elbow, followed with the Vader bomb, but only for a two count. Jordynne chased the Grace Driver again, but Purrazzo kept blocking, so she relied on strikes. Deonna locked in the armbar in the middle of the ring, made it double and submitted Jordynne Grace. Match of the night so far.
Matthews and Callis announced Bound for Glory for October 24th.
We got the video package for the main event.
Mystery opponent was Swann, who came out dancing with the crutches at hand, completely healed. Swann was getting a big push before the injury, and he’s right back at it. After his entrance, a 5th man made his entrance, Eric Young, now going as the World Class Maniac, so I guess this is a 5-way now.
Eric Young took the microphone and confirmed that it’s a 5-way.
Eddie Edwards defeated Ace Austin (w/Madman Fulton), Trey Miguel, Eric Young, and Rich Swann in a fatal five way to win the vacant Impact World Championship
Match stared, Ace and Trey went straight for it outside the ring. Inside, Young, Eddie, and Swann went at it. Young early on dropped Eddie with a slam, but Swann tossed him out with a dropkick. Swann got rid of Ace who tried to get in the ring, but wasn’t able to do the same with Trey, who he traded counters and reversals Jr. Heavyweight style.
Eddie came in and send them both out, went for a dive, but Fulton caught him and slammed him on the apron, prompting the referee to send Fulton to the back, or Ace was DQ’d. Ace sent Fulton acbk to not risk disqualification. The distraction allowe for Trey to recover and go after Austin, but Ace escaped.
Back in the ring, Swann took out Ace, Young took out Swann, then Eddie came in with Kawada style chops on Young and Swann. Mule kick by Swann on Eddie, followed with a rana, but Eddie blocked on powerbombed him into Young.
Backpack Stunner by Eddie on Ace, but Ace reversed, kicked out Eddie and Trey, but Swann was there with the cutter. Blue Thunder Bomb by Eddie on Swann, annndd DVD by Young on Eddie. Finally, Trey caught Young with a footstomp, who is already busted opened.
Trey went back at Ace and they started trading strikes in the middle of the ring. Trey managed to dodge most of Ace’s strikes until he dropped Ace. Trey hit a rana on Ace, but Young returned to the match, only to take a rana by Trey, who followed with a neckbreaker on Ace.
Trey dodged Eddie’s rush, landing in destroyer position on Swann outside the ring. Back in the ring, Young dropped Eddie with a superkick, but Ace was there to hit a suplex on Young to cut him off. Eddie started chasing the tiger driver, but Ace escaped blocked and backed Eddie to the corner, taking out Trey in the process. Eddie pancaked Ace, hit the tiger driver, but Trey was there with the meteora to break the pin. Young picked Trey, hit a piledriver and eliminated Trey Miguel.
Young stomped around everyone left. Swann made a comeback and punched down Young, but was caught with a big backplex for a two count. Young went for a weird piledriver attempt from the second rope, but Swann turned it into a second rope bulldog.
Eddie came back and tried to superplex Ace to the floor, but Swann stopped them. Young took away Swann, bombed him into Ace and Eddie, who crashed down to the timekeepers table outside the ring.
Young went to piledrive Swann, but Swann reversed, rolled up Young, and pinned him, eliminatng Eric Young from the match. Young took out Swann’s bad knee before leaving, Pillmanizing the knee over and over again. Young got taken away by security, shouting at Swann that he asked for it.
They teased Swann being taken out, but Swann denied. Ace went for the easy pick with a figure 4, but Swann kept reversing to pins. Swann started slapping down Ace, but Ace kicked his leg out, hit The Fold, and pinned Rich Swann to eliminate him from the match.
It’s down to Eddie Edwards and Ace Austin. They went straight to simultaneous kicks and trading forearms and chops. After about a minute of strikes, Eddie chopped down Ace to the mat. Ace still hit a desperation spinning kick to get some space.
Ace went for The Fold, but Eddie turned it into a belly-to-belly into the corner. Eddie hit the Boston knee party, but Ace kicked out at two. Ace hit The Fold, but Eddie kicked out at two. Ace went for the top rope, but Eddie dodged, hit a second BKP, hit the diehard flowsion and pinned Ace to win the Impact World Championship for a second time. This was a hell of a match, not the best of the night, but it had it all.
After the match, Madman Fulton attacked Eddie Edwards. Fulton set him up for Ace, but suddenly the Good Brothers made their debut. Karl Anderson and Luke Gallows entered the ring, face off with Fulton and Ace, who tried to make friends, but instead, Anderson hit the gunstun on Ace, Eddie took out Fulton, and one final magic killer on Ace. Anderson and Gallows joined Eddie to celebrate with a beer bash.
Suddenly, the lights went out again, and we got a video of ECIII teasing his return as the show closed.
The Rascalz will be in action at Slammiversary this Saturday (July 18), but their opponents haven’t been revealed.
Impact Wrestling announced today that The Rascalz (Dezmond Xavier & Zachary Wentz) have issued an open challenge for the pay-per-view: “BREAKING: The Rascalz have issued an Open Challenge for #Slammiversary THIS SATURDAY LIVE on PPV and @FiteTV!”
Trey Miguel, who is also part of The Rascalz, will be part of the main event for Slammiversary. He’s facing Eddie Edwards, Ace Austin, and a mystery opponent in a fatal four-way match for the vacant Impact World Championship. Tessa Blanchard had held the title prior to Impact terminating its relationship with her.
Impact has teased that Slammiversary will feature involvement from wrestlers who were released by WWE in April. It’s also been announced that a former World Champion will make his return at the PPV, with Impact saying that he isn’t coming alone.
Here’s the updated card for Slammiversary:
Eddie Edwards vs. Ace Austin vs. Trey Miguel vs. a mystery wrestler for the vacant Impact World Championship
Knockouts Champion Jordynne Grace defending against Deonna Purrazzo
X-Division Champion Willie Mack defending against Chris Bey
Impact Tag Team Champions The North (Josh Alexander & Ethan Page) defending against Sami Callihan & Ken Shamrock
Number one contender’s Knockouts gauntlet match (Rosemary, Nevaeh, Susie, Kiera Hogan, Taya Valkyrie, Tasha Steelz, Alisha Edwards, Kylie Rae, Kimber Lee, Jessicka Havok, and Madison Rayne)
TNA World Heavyweight Champion Moose defending against Tommy Dreamer
Opening video recapped Jordynne Grace’s win over Kimber Lee, as well as Purrazzo’s promo. It also showed Callihan vs Josh Alexander, which showcased the new union between Callihan and Shamrock.
Nevaeh started the match by spearing Tasha, cutting her away from her corner and hitting a double team with Havok. Havok tossed Tashar to Kiera Hogan to tag in. Hogan, Taya, and Lee all came in and were taken out by Havok with a single strike.
Outside the ring, all the heels ganged up on Nevaeh until Susie hit a senton on them, followed by Havok tossing Alisha military style on them. Havok followed with a dive, and just as Rae was going for her dive, Taya returned to the ring and cut Rae off.
Rosemary and Taya worked over Kylie Rae for a bit, mostly strikes and Rosemary locking in the upside-down. Taya hit an assisted german on Rae for a two count. She followed up with the running hip and knee attacks for another two count.
Tasha tagged in and choked Rae, Hogan then tagged in next and cut off Kylie Rae from making a comeback. Kimber Lee tagged in and went straight for kicking Rae in the back, getting a two count from it. Kylie finally managed to dodge one of Lee’s attacks and got to her corner.
Susie tagged in and ran wild on Kimber Lee, hitting the arach-rana for a two count. Everyone came in to take out each other with their finishers until the last two were Rae and Lee. Rae superkicked Lee, allowing Susie to hit the panic switch for the win.
After the match, Susie was having a small breakdown, hinting that a little bit of Su Yung was coming out. Taya and Rosemary attacked Susie and Rae, while the rest of the women started to brawl with each other. At the end, Kylie Rae superkicked Rosemary and Taya to send them out of the ring.
Josh Matthews and Madison Rayne ran down the card for Slammiversary XVIII and some of tonight’s bouts.
We got a video from Dayton, OH with Ace Austin and Fulton heading to Fulton’s old gym to train, with Fulton being quite reluctant to come back to Ohio after leaving oVe.
We were told that Rhino and Hernandez have been in an arm-wrestling match since last week, with neither giving up.
Backstage, Moose asked Hernandez and Rhino to tag with him tonight. They both rejected him. Before Moose left, he slapped Hernandez, causing him to lose his grip and lose the arm-wrestling match. Rhino wanted his money, but Hernandez wouldn’t have it and told Rhino he’d be in the parking lot.
Impact Plus Flashback Moment of the Week was Suicide vs Kenny King vs Chris Sabin from Slammiversary 2013.
The Deaners (Cody Deaner & Cousin Jake) defeated XXXL (Acey Romero & Larry D)
Jake and Larry D started the match with a collar and elbow lock-up, but neither man had the advantage. They traded a couple of shoulder blocks until D managed to drop Jake, only for him to recover and hit a scoop slam on D. He then tagged Cody for the assisted senton for a two count.
Cody was easily overpowered by Larry D, sending him to the corner to tag in Acey. He came in and dropped Cody several times before hitting a crossbody for a two count when Jake broke it up.
Acey pounced Cousin Jake out of the ring and tagged Larry D for the tandem shoulder block. Cody, however, escaped and faked Acey on to the floor outside the ring. Cody hiit a big boot on Larry, but wasn’t able to follow when D swept him, hit a curb stomp, and powerbombed him. But when Cody was up for the powerbomb, he blind tagged Cousin Jake who rolled up D for the win. The Deaners push is continuing. Good match, but somewhat short.
After the match, XXXL attacked The Deaners. They hit a second rope Romero elbow on Cousin Jake to leave him laying.
Rohit Raju was training in the back when Moose approached him, asking to be his tag team partner tonight. Raju complained that he is always everyone’s last choice, but he still said yes.
Johnny Swinger hyped up Chris Bey in the back. Swinger went to the referee that banned him from ringside to complain. The referee, trying to avoid lawsuits, accepted Swinger as Bey’s second for Slammiversary.
We got a video package recapping the story between Chris Bey and Willie Mack.
After the video, Swinger overheard Chris Bey talking trash about him to Gia Miller. Swinger told Bey that he was on his own on Saturday. Interesting that the turn would come before the match.
We got a recap of Deonna Purrazzo’s debut and feud with Jordynne Grace.
Jimmy Jacobs moderated the contract signing between Purrazzo and Grace. Purrazzo told Jordynne that she wanted her to understand that she was stepping in the ring against The Virtuosa, with greatness and sophistication. Jordynne responded by telling Purrazzo that she needed to understand what she had gotten herself into right now and slammed Purrazzo’s face to the table. Jacobs stopped Jordynne from following Purrazzo after she ran off.
We got a recap of The North’s feud with Ken Shamrock that led to them having to defend their tag titles against Shamrock and Callihan.
Sami Callihan and Ken Shamrock cut promos about what they think about each other, putting each other over as tough dudes. Callihan told the story of the scorpion and the frog, which kinda hints that he is going to turn on Shamrock during the match instead of winning.
Tommy Dreamer & Crazzy Steve defeated Moose & Rohit Raju
Dreamer and Rohit started the match with some wrist control wrestling until Dreamer hit a suplex to take down Rohit and tag in Steve.
Rohit cut off Steve with a kick and tagged in Moose, who came in and tossed around Steve with a fallaway slam. Moose went for the corner tackle, but Steve dodged and tagged in Dreamer for a quick team move. Moose and Dreamer gave us a preview of their upcoming match, mostly striking each other and Moose being cocky.
Dreamer sent Moose and Rohit to the floor. Steve went for a dive, but Moose was able to catch him in midair. Dreamer hit a baseball slide into Steve, taking out Moose in the process. Dreamer went for his own dive, but Rohit returned and took him out with a clothesline. Rohit kept Dreamer down until Moose returned to work on Dreamer with more stomps and strikes.
Moose went for a second rope axe handle chop, but Dreamer caught him with a punch and a DDT. Rohit and Steve tagged in. Steve ran circles around Rohit, snapped his neck, hit a side leg sweep and locked in a submission, but Moose broke it off.
Dreamer and Moose brawled to the floor while Rohit went after Steve, but Steve recovered and hit a second rope DDT for the win.
We saw Ace Austin and Madman Fulton arrive at their old gym.
Out in the parking lot, Hernandez and Rhino started brawling for the roll of money that was up for the arm-wrestling match. Rhino quickly hit a low blow on Hernandez and took the money. Hernandez recovered and tried to choke out Rhino with his bandana. Rhino recovered and tried to choke out Hernandez.
They kept brawling with garbage cans and traffic cones. Eventually, Rhino gored Hernandez into a fence. They eventually decided to split it instead. This was a good brawl, but too long for a story that was built with one minute of arm-wrestling.
We got the video package about the Impact World title being vacated and the separate packages on Ace, Eddie, and Trey Miguel.
We got a further look into Eddie Edwards career, with him talking about the ups and downs of his career and life and how everything has led him to the Impact championship. This was great.
Matthews and Rayne made the final rundown of the Slammiversary XVIII card. Don Callis is returning to the announcing booth on Saturday.
Trey Miguel and Zachary Wentz were seen walking down the streets of Dayton, realizing that Ace Austin was around their old gym. They arrived while Ace was berating the gym’s staff/ Wentz attacked Fulton and provoked him, so Fulton chased down Wentz, leaving Ace Austin alone for Trey to confront.
Trey and Ace started brawling around the gym. At one point Ace tossed a chair at Trey, getting some time to dominate him and trash talked, but Trey recovered and continued to brawl. Ace used a broom to attack Trey, once again gaining the upper hand.
Ace used the chair again and choked out Trey. Ace went after the ribs, then chopped him around. It was all Ace Austin until Trey managed to dodge a chop, sending Ace into the cement pillar. They brawled some more around chairs and into a small stage where Trey was to finish off Ace.
However, Fulton re-emerged. Fulton and Trey had a short staredown, but Wentz came back just in time to back up Trey, sending Ace and Fulton packing to close out the show.
After the show, we saw the Slammiversary XVIII teaser commercial, with someone sending in a signed contract to Scott D’Amore. D’Amore was happy with the contract, saying that Slammiversary had just gotten more exciting.
Final Thoughts —
Good go-home show, it made small touches on all the announced Slammiversary matches, either by segments or video packages. The show took a break from delivering hints on debuts and returns, but it allowed the current participants to get their final words in. Nothing outstanding wrestling wise.
Self-appointed TNA World Heavyweight Champion Moose will have a title defense at Slammiversary.
It was announced on this week’s episode of Impact that Moose will defend his TNA World Heavyweight title against Tommy Dreamer at Slammiversary. The pay-per-view is taking place on Saturday, July 18.
Moose retained his TNA World title against Crazzy Steve on Impact last week. He then attacked Steve after the match until Dreamer came out to the ring to stop things and check on Steve. Moose acted like he was going to back off but then kicked Dreamer in the head and attacked him.
After being attacked by Moose, Dreamer cut a promo where he called Moose a waste of talent. Moose later demanded a public apology for what Dreamer said, leading to Dreamer doing an interview on this week’s Impact where he read a prepared statement giving a mock apology to Moose. Moose then appeared and said he didn’t think the apology was sincere enough.
Dreamer said he just got off the phone with the TNA Championship Committee, the TNA board of directors, and the TNA authority and they made him the number one contender to Moose’s title. Moose said the TNA Championship Committee doesn’t exist, and Dreamer responded by saying TNA doesn’t exist anymore either.
It was also announced on this week’s Impact that Madison Rayne will take part in the Knockouts gauntlet match at Slammiversary. The winner will get an upcoming shot at the Knockouts Championship.
Impact Wrestling’s Slammiversary continued to take shape as it was announced The North will defend their tag team titles against Ken Shamrock and Sami Callihan at the July 18th pay-per-view.
The match was made on Tuesday’s show after Ethan Page and Josh Alexander came out for a promo where they continued to verbally run down the former UFC star and how he could never get a partner as he has no friends. Last week, the two jumped Shamrock as he was set to have a match with Alexander.
Shamrock came out to confront them and a Callihan video played with him asking, “Who needs friends when you have an enemy?” The former Impact World Champion then appeared in the ring and the the two laid out the tag champions. He then said, “Thumbs up/thumbs down” to Shamrock and disappeared.
Afterward, Page and Alexander were backstage complaining to Scott D’Amore and he made the match for Slammiversary which they weren’t happy with.
Thus far, the Slammiversary card is as follows:
Vacant Impact World Championship: Eddie Edwards vs. Trey Miguel vs. Ace Austin vs. TBA
Knockouts Champion Jordynne Grace vs. Deonna Purrazzo
X Division Champion Willie Mack vs. Chris Bey
Knockouts Championship #1 contender gauntlet match: Alisha Edwards vs. Havok vs. Kiera Hogan vs. Kimber Lee vs. Kylie Rae vs. Nevaeh vs. Rosemary vs. Susie vs. Tasha Steelz vs. Taya Valkyrie
Tag Team Champions The North vs. Ken Shamrock and Sami Callihan
Impact confirmed on tonight’s episode of Impact Wrestling that the main event of Slammiversary will be a fatal four-way for the Impact championship.
Announcer Josh Mathews confirmed that Trey Miguel, Ace Austin, and Eddie Edwards will compete in a fatal four-way match for the vacant Impact championship. The fourth person in the match is being billed as a yet to be named mystery opponent.
The match originally was a five-way bout. Michael Elgin and Eddie Edwards were originally set to challenge champion Tessa Blanchard at Rebellion, but the match was unable to happen due to travel restrictions relating to the COVID-19 pandemic. Trey Miguel later advanced to the finals of a number one contender’s tournament but was attacked before he could compete. That tournament was then won by Ace Austin.
