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IMPACT Wrestling offered up a ton of teasers and hype for Slammiversary. While they promised nothing, they assured fans that something major was going to happen on July 17th.
IMPACT Wrestling delivered, folks. More than that, they hit a game-winning goal. They knocked it out of the park. They threw a forty-yard hail mary pass to win the Super Bowl. With seven debuting or returning acts appearing alongside one of the strongest cards the company's had in some time, it's impossible to walk away from Slammiversary disappointed.
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There were a few things here or there that could've been improved, but if I'm being honest, two of them are nitpicks at best. Genuinely, IMPACT Wrestling Slammiversary was one of the best pay-per-views of 2021 to date.
We'll go over the best and worst of the show today, starting with the IMPACT Wrestling Knockouts Tag Titles.
#3 Worst: Leaving Fire 'N Flava off of IMPACT Wrestling Slammiversary's main card
The IMPACT Wrestling Knockouts Tag Team Titles changed hands tonight as Fire 'N Flava lost the gold to Rosemary and Havok in an excellent tag team match. It was phenomenal, with the speed of Hogan and Steelz clashing wonderfully with the aggression and strength of the challengers.
Genuinely, it was one of the best matches of the night. It's a shame it didn't make the actual card. IMPACT Wrestling held a kick-off show filled with vignettes and previews for every single match on the card. However, the last fifteen minutes were saved for the IMPACT Wrestling Knockouts Tag Title match.
Fire 'N Flava's Kiera Hogan and Tasha Steelz have been MVPs for IMPACT Wrestling in the Pandemic Era. Genuinely, every time they've been on TV, they've stolen the show. Thanks to them, the Knockouts Tag Team Division is incredibly strong, despite teams breaking up left and right.
At the moment, the only teams in the division are Fire 'N Flava, Decay's Rosemary and Havok, and former IMPACT Wrestling Knockouts Tag Champions Jordynne Grace and Rachael Ellering. Past and present teams have all ended up dealing with Hogan and Steelz, with them genuinely being one of the best tag teams around.
If it weren't for Fire 'N Flava, those titles would be in a worse spot than they are now. Thanks to them, they're one of the most sought after prizes in the company. Knowing that, they should've been a part of the main show.
#3 Best: The Ultimate X Match for the IMPACT Wrestling X-Division Championship
IMPACT Wrestling, from its initial days to now, has always had a great weapon in its X-Division. A division based around incredible high-flying, perfect mat wrestling, and the occasional heavyweight: "It's not about weight limits. It's about no limits."
That's exactly what we got with the Ultimate X Match at IMPACT Wrestling Slammiversary. The hard-hitting powerhouse and X-Division Champion Josh Alexander was at a severe disadvantage. He not only had to defend the belt against five of the best high flyers on the brand, but he had to cross the Ultimate X hanging above the ring to retain the gold.
Chris Bey, Ace Austin, Trey Miguel, Petey Williams, and Rohit Raju were all better suited for the match. With all of them having a lot less mass to carry across the ropes, their athleticism gave them the upper hand over The Walking Weapon.
Or so you'd think. Josh Alexander was not afraid of heights and was ready to do whatever was necessary to retain the IMPACT Wrestling X-Division. It was a match that highlighted the best of every man in it. Meanwhile, Trey Miguel, Ace Austin and Chris Bey were consistent highlight reels throughout the bout.
Rohit Raju brought a lot of comedy on the night, trying to do everything he could to win the title, aside from climbing the Ultimate X structure. Petey Williams hit a variety of Canadian Destroyers, and Josh Alexander beat everyone he saw into the mat.
In the end, Alexander retained the championship in a stellar opening contest. There may not have been a better way to kick off this show than with what was without a doubt the most exciting match on the card.
These six men were ready to steal the show at IMPACT Wrestling Slammiversary, and were very close to doing that.
#2 Worst: Everything that happened to Moose at IMPACT Wrestling Slammiversary
IMPACT Wrestling recently re-signed Moose to a two-year deal. After helping carry the company through a very tough period, both the pandemic and a point in time where there was no real world champion, Moose has proven himself a major player in IMPACT Wrestling.
2021 started off well for Moose, as the TNA World Championship he'd been carrying for nearly a year was made into an official belt. He went on to lose the title to Rich Swann in one of the best matches of the year. Though he lost, Moose looked great in defeat and proved that he was worthy of the main event.
After Swann lost both the TNA and IMPACT Wrestling World Titles to Kenny Omega, Moose was next in line to challenge. At Against All Odds, Moose was cheated out of the gold by The Young Bucks, and it seemed that he'd be in line for another shot in the near future.
Instead, after the news of his contract was revealed, Moose was placed into a feud with Chris Sabin, whom he'd injured prior to facing Omega. Sabin, rightfully so, wanted revenge. So at IMPACT Wrestling Slammiversary, the two faced off against one another.
Moose lost for some reason. It was an odd choice to say the least. As great as Chris Sabin is, Moose is someone who should be the company's number one star. That was obvious with the reaction from the crowd tonight, as everyone in attendance was chanting "Moose" as he walked to the ring. The crowd was clear on who they wanted to win, and relentlessly cheered Moose throughout the match.
Moose fell to Sabin thanks to a roll-up after demolishing the Motor City Machine Gun for the better part of twelve minutes. Moose has now lost two pay-per-view or IMPACT Plus special event matches back-to-back. He's also still a heel despite the crowd tonight vehemently cheering him on, another misstep in the booking.
Moose should be on his way back to the world title, and he should be IMPACT Wresting's top babyface at that. As great as the match was, it felt like a step backward for Mr. IMPACT Wrestling.
#2 Best: Deonna Purrazzo stole the show on an IMPACT Wrestling card full of excellent matches
IMPACT Wrestling Slammiversary was one of the best pay-per-views of the company's year so far. IMPACT or otherwise, it may be one of the best events of 2021. Every match, save for the impromptu FinJuice-Shera/Madman Fulton match, was stellar.
Knowing that, it's pretty impressive for anyone to have stolen the show. The aforementioned Ultimate X match was one of the best of that stipulation. W. Morrissey and Eddie Edwards had an incredible and brutal war. Both tag team divisions were highlighted with great title matches.
All that, and the show was capped off with a No Disqualification Match between Sami Calllihan and IMPACT Wrestling World Champion Kenny Omega. From top to bottom, this was one of the strongest pay-per-views of the year.
And Deonna Purrazzo completely stole the show. Part of it had to do with the surprise opponent she had. We saw some NWA talent appear tonight, as The Virtuosa defended the IMPACT Wrestling Knockouts Title against Thunder Rosa.
We had two of the greatest women's wrestlers on the planet in the ring tonight, and it was exactly what any fan would want out of these two. In a surprising turn, Purrazzo was the underdog. She was consistently outclassed by Thunder Rosa, fighting from the bottom from the opening bell.
She tried to weaken the arm of the former NWA World Champion, but Thunder Rosa had an answer for everything. She was even able to escape the Fujiwara Armbar and counter the Venus Demilo, nearly getting a submission victory with the Rear Naked Choke.
The IMPACT Wrestling 2020 Wrestler of the Year was always at a disadvantage, but refused to bow down. She took some serious punishment but kept on running. She managed to avoid the Thunder Driver, and spiked her challenger with the Queen's Gambit to pin Thunder Rosa clean in the middle of the ring.
As great as the match was, that wasn't even the end of her night. Immediately after, she was confronted by Mickie James. The former IMPACT Wrestling Knockouts Champion praised Purrazzo and wanted to invite her to NWA EmPowerrr.
Purrazzo took it differently, upset that James was ruining her moment. She refused and told James to get her trash bag and leave. For that, she ate a Mick Kick.
Will we see Purrazzo on EmPowerrr on August 28th? Though she denied James' invite, odds are she'll want to get revenge.
#1 Worst: The ending to IMPACT Wrestling Slammiversary
IMPACT Wrestling capped off with a fantastic and brutal main event between Sami Callihan and the IMPACT Wrestling World Champion, Kenny Omega. They threw everything at each other but the kitchen sink. Seriously, there were pizza cutters, forks, barbed wire chairs, plywood, thumbtacks and more in this No Disqualification match.
In the end, Omega retained by driving Callihan into a pile of thumbtacks with the One Winged Angel. They brutalized each other and it was exactly what fans were wanting in a match between these two. It may be the best match Kenny Omega has had while working with IMPACT Wresting this year.
You may be wondering why I'm calling this a "worst." Well, here's why.
That's NJPW Never Openweight Champion, and Bullet Club leader, 'Switchblade' Jay White. He is one of the most exciting professional wrestlers on the planet, and the man in charge of the group that Kenny Omega, The Good Brothers, The Young Bucks, Cody Rhodes and Hangman Adam Page left, in order to start All Elite Wrestling.
Jay White sauntered to the ring before staring Omega down. Omega had The Good Brothers and Don Calllis with him, and they all offered the olive branch with a "Too Sweet."
Before Switchblade could respond, we saw a blurry image run down the ramp. Now, you may be wondering who that was or what happened after that. I really wish we could've found out.
That's exactly when the feed was cut. We have all since learned that it was David Finlay who rushed the ring. Either you learned that here or you saw it on Twitter. It shouldn't matter how you find out.
Why was the feed cut there? Why did we not finish whatever that was supposed to be during the event? Is IMPACT Wrestling supposed to be hyping up White vs Finlay, which is taking place at NJPW Resurgence?
If that's the case, why did we not get a clear shot of Finlay before the feed cut? Well, the action played out after IMPACT Wrestling went off the air. FinJuice attacked Jay White, but White apparently nailed one of them with his finish before leaving the ring. Was this saved for IMPACT Wrestling's next episode?
If fans didn't see the news about what happened online, would they be happy with waiting five days for that? Some people wondered if maybe it was an accident, if we were supposed to see the fallout and there was a technical error.
That's terrible as well. I'm not sure which one is worse. To finish up one of the greatest pay-per-view events, delivering on all the hype that was promised, with something like that, is awful. IMPACT Wrestling should know better.
#1 Best: IMPACT Wrestling Slammiversary delivered on the surprises
As bad as the ending was, IMPACT Wrestling overdelivered. Whether you dislike the ending as much as I do or not, we got over three hours of top-tier action that also featured some incredible surprises.
It started out with some pretty fun ones. We all expected Chelsea Green to team up with Matt Cardona, but she still got a great reaction from the live crowd. Aiden English being teased? No Way (formerly Jose) joining the IMPACT Wrestling Tag Team Title match when TJP got hurt? Those brought a smile to my face.
And then the surprises kept coming. FinJuice returned, which is always great. Then Deonna Purrazzo beat the debuting Thunder Rosa and had a confrontation with Mickie James. After all of that, the end of the pay-per-view saw the debut of NJPW's Jay White.
D'Lo Brown and Matt Striker also said on commentary that we are likely to see more in the coming weeks. IMPACT Wrestling killed it tonight. If all we got was a show full of great in-ring action, the return of fans to the building, and some genuinely shocking title changes it would have been a major success.
IMPACT Wrestling made sure Slammiversary was one for the record books. Not even that ending could ruin what was, for my money, the best pay-per-view they've produced in a long time. Considering how great their shows have been in the past few years, that's saying something.
What's even better was the teaser we got from IMPACT Wrestling regarding Bound for Glory that hyped up something special. We are likely to get a match card featuring IMPACT Wrestling, AEW, AAA, and NJPW talent.
They're following their biggest pay-per-view of the year so far by hyping up their "WrestleMania" with a teaser that makes it feel like the next biggest show of the year.
Well played, IMPACT. You knocked it out of the park.
