With Slammiversary coming up next weekend, this week’s episode of Impact was all about setting the table for that event. Unfortunately for Impact World Champion Kenny Omega, his and Don Callis’ attempts to wage psychological warfare against his challenger Sami Callihan failed. And as a result, the table that was set was the one that he got put through.

The show starts with Gia Miller interviewing AEW Champion Kenny Omega and Don Callis as they made their way into the building. They dismissed any thought that they were worried about what may happen during the contract signing with Sami Callihan later tonight.

 

Match 1: Brian Myers (w/ Sam Beale) vs. Jake Something

The winner of this one has to acknowledge the other as a professional, because the stipulation may as well be as bland and nondescript as this feud. Something started off hot, but when the match went to the floor, Myers got the edge, hitting Something with a Suplex on the ramp. After a bit of a beatdown, Jake powered up, hitting some power moves including a Powerbomb for a near-fall. Some back-and-forth ensued. At one point, Myers delivered a Flying Elbow Smash off the ropes, but Jake kicked out. Myers went for a running attack, but Something simply caught him and dropped him with a huge Black Hole Slam to get the pin. After the match, Myers feigned saying the P-word, but it was a ruse, and instead, he and Beale attacked Something, until Matt Cardona ran in for the save.

 

As if this feud couldn’t be more dull, they’ve now taken it to the next level by adding in Matt Cardona. Yippee.

Winner: Jake Something

Gia Miller interviewed Deonna Purrazzo who said that no matter what her former friends Kimber Lee and Susan said, she didn’t need them to keep her Knockouts Championship. And she was going to prove it by throwing out an open challenge to anyone who wanted to step up.

Gia Miller interviewed Sami Callihan, but before he could say much, a County Sheriff came up to arrest him for assault and battery against Don Callis. A bunch of the Security team forcibly dragged Sami out of the building with the officer.

 

Match 2: Deonna Purrazzo (c) vs. Lady Frost – for the Knockouts Championship

This was Lady Frost’s first time in an Impact ring, and the commentators noted that she has previously wrestled for WWE and AEW. Frost has some skills and she used them to frazzle Purrazzo early on with some whips and throws. She nailed Purrazzo with a nice Roundhouse Kick. But Purrazzo moved out of the way of Frost’s follow-up Moonsault attempt, and Frost landed hard on her knees – ouch. Purrazzo capitalized with some kicks of her own that stunned Frost and knocked her down. The cocky champ actually broke up her own pinfall at the 2-count, instead locking on an Armbar to get the submission win instead of a pin. This was pretty much a squash.

Winner: Deonna Purrazzo

After the match, Purrazzo took the mic and gave a cocky celebratory promo, saying that it doesn’t matter who her opponent would be at Slammiversary. This brought out Hall of Famer Gail Kim, who came to the ring. Purrazzo said that she respected Gail, but she demanded that respect go both ways. Gail said that she did respect Purrazzo and all her accomplishments. Purrazzo assumed Gail was going to throw out a challenge for Slammiversary, but Gail said it wouldn’t be her challenging. Rather, Gail said that Purrazzo’s challenger would be a surprise who would only be revealed come match-time. Purrazzo was understandably not pleased by this development. This was an effective tease for what’s likely to be a returning Mickie James or Chelsea Green, either of whom should be a strong and fresh match-up for Purrazzo at the PPV.

The Flashback Moment of the Week was from Slammiversary 2011, when Mickie James beat Angelina Love to retain the Knockouts Champion. Perhaps this is a tease that Mickie is returning to be Purrazzo’s surprise challenger? If so, then this was a bad way to showcase her as a threat, since the match ended with a pretty badly-botched finishing move.

Chris Sabin showed up to Swinger’s Palace, but the place was closed, because Swinger was apparently in an important meeting. While Sabin waited, he was attacked from behind by Moose and laid out on the Roulette table.

Gia Miller interviewed Chris Bey who talked about last week, when he joined the X-Division babyfaces in their skirmish against the X-Division heels. He basically said that he aligned himself with the faces when it made sense for him to do so, but that doesn’t make it permanent. He’s on his own side.

 

Match 3: W. Morrissey vs. Three Jobbers

Before the match, Morrissey took the mic and said that he has accepted Eddie Edwards’ challenge for a match at Slammiversary. But unlike Edwards’ so-called friends, Morrissey would actually help him. By giving him a preview of what was in store for him when they square off.

The jobbers were named Jason Page, Manny Smith, and Dionte Evans, even though one of them appeared to have Marshall written on the front of his tights (it was hard to tell because his gut hung over his waist, obscuring the lettering to some degree). Morrissey beat the heck out of them, hitting each of them with an Avalance, before hitting chubbs with a Chokeslam, Page with a Powerbomb, and Smith with an F-5. He then stacked them atop each other, and stood on them with one foot to get the pin.

 

This was the second squash match in a row.

Winner: W. Morrissey

Gia Miller interviewed Don Callis about the alleged assault he suffered at the hands of Sami Callihan. Callis was at his smarmiest when he ran down his history of getting beaten up by Sami over the years. He threw to the production truck to show a video of what appeared to be Sami unprovokedly punching him. “Sami” had his back to the camera throughout the video, his hoodie obscured the side of his face, h never spoke, and the tattoos on his arm were obvious facsimiles of Sami’s. Scott D’Amore walked up, and although he knew, he didn’t call out the clear fakery and attempted framing of Sami being perpetrated by Callis. Instead, he told Callis that he still expected Omega and him to come to the ring for the contract signing, not even listening to Callis’ argument that it would be moot since Sami was likely going to be incarcerated and miss Slammiversary.

 

Match 4: Susan and Kimber Lee vs. Rosemary and Havok

Havok and Rosemary had their way with Susan, but Kimber evened things up when she dropped Rosemary with a series of huge kicks to the head. But some miscommunication between her and Susan led to them getting beaten up again by Havok. Havok dispatched Lee to the floor, and then held Susan up and in place to get smashed with a Spear by Rosemary for the pin.

 

This was the third squash match in a row. With the win, Rosemary and Havok should be getting a title shot against Fire N Flava. As for Kimber and Susan, it’s time to repackage Susan once again, and figure out something to do with Lee. Because both of them are being wasted currently.

Winners: Rosemary and Havok

 

“It’s All About Me” segment

Tenille Dashwood and Kaleb introduced Jazz to the set. Dashwood told Jazz she wasn’t pleased that Jazz reunited Rachael Ellering and Jordynne Grace, since Dashwood was hoping to team up with Ellering. Dashwood started yelling at Jazz, who got fed up and tried to leave. Dashwood made a crack about Jazz giving up on her wrestling career, and then ran off when Jazz got into her face. As Jazz turned to leave, Dashwood scampered back in and hit Jazz from behind, knocking her into the camera which blacked out to end the segment.

The show came back with footage shot during the break, when medics checked on Jazz’ condition. Grace and Ellering ran in, and got angry when Jazz told them what had happened.

Ellering and Grace then cut a promo against Dashwood and Kaleb, and said that they were going to face off with them next week.

Rich Swann and Willie Mack came to the ring, and called out Violent By Design. VBD didn’t come to the ring, but TJP and Fallah Bahh did. They said that they had a common enemy in VBD, but they were the first team in line when it came to getting a Tag Team Title match. The teams argued as to who was actually first in line.

This brought out VBD who came to the ring, and they all had an old-fashioned showdown in the centre of the ring.

Before things could get physical, the Good Brothers’ music hit and they made their way down to the ring. They said it didn’t matter to them who had the titles, they would beat any of those teams to once again wear the gold. They got in the ring and the standoff continued.

 

Then, Tommy Dreamer’s music hit and he came out with the news that the four teams would meet in a Four-Way Tag Team match for the titles at Slammiversary. But for now, one person from each team would have to compete in a Four-Way  match tonight, leading to…

 

Match 5: Rich Swann vs. TJP vs. Karl Anderson vs. Deaner

The teammates of all the competitors stayed ringside for this one. For much of this, it would be two men fighting in the ring, while the others paired off and battled on the floor. Swann and TJP had a nice, if too-short sequence early on. But things took a more deliberate tone and pace when Deaner got in there. At one point, Swann took out all three other opponents with a nice Flying Somersault Dive to the floor, to go into the commercial.

 

Back from the ads, and Swann was in control of Deaner in the ring, but a Knee Lift to the gut slowed Swann’s momentum. Anderson tried to join forces with Deaner, but Deaner was having none of it. Before they could damage each other, TJP came in and took control over both of them. In a nice sequence, TJP hit a Destination Kick on Anderson, but missed a Mamba Splash on Deaner, only to get kicked in the head by Swann, who got DeanerDT’d and would have been pinned but for the save by TJP. With Swann down, Deaner and Anderson then dispatched TJP before turning on each other. In the end, Anderson dropped Deaner with a Stun Gun to get the big win.

After the match, the Good Brothers went face-to-face with VBD in the middle of the ring, teasing a potential clash between the big men, Gallows and Doering. But no fists flew, and the segment ended with everyone glaring and each other and measuring up the three other teams.

This was a bit cluttered, but came off fine. It’s odd and a bit unfortunate that the most interesting outcome of this one is a potential heel team vs. heel encounter between VBD and the Good Brothers. But that only shows how mired down Swann and TJP are in their current tag team, both teaming with less good partners.

Winner: Karl Anderson

Susan and Kimber Lee were backstage. Susan was very upset about their earlier loss, but Kimber said she had a back-up plan. Cue the evil laughter and the emergence from the shadows of the Sinister Minister, Father James Mitchell. Kimber told Susan to go with him and things would be okay. Mitchell pulled Kimber aside and asked her if she was really willing to go through with the plan, and Lee said there was no other choice. Mitchell cryptically said he couldn’t guarantee success, but he would do what he could.

 

Slammiversary Main Event Contract Signing

Scott D’Amore was in the ring where there was a table set up with only one chair. D’Amore said that he expected Sami Callihan would be able to still compete at Slammiversary, despite having been arrested earlier. D’Amore said the contract signing would proceed with Don Callis and Kenny Omega, who came to the ring and joined D’Amore.

Callis mocked Sami’s arrest, but said that Omega was really the more important person of the two, so who cares if Sami wasn’t there. Omega sat down and signed the contract.

Then, the lights went out, and a video aired on the big screen. This was a replay of the video of Sami’s attack on Callis. But it was the footage from the building security video. And it showed that after “Sami” punched Don, he unmasked. And it wasn’t actually Sami, but rather that stooge John E. Bravo!

The lights went out again, and Sami’s hacker logo flashed. When the lights came back on, Sami was in the ring, and he hit Omega with a baseball bat.

Callis bailed to the floor, and when Sami glared at him from the ring, Omega recovered and attacked Sami from behind. Omega looked to finish off Sami with a Piledriver, but Sami low-blowed him, and dropped Omega with a Package Piledriver. He then signed the contract to make the match official. And then he punctuated that fact by Powerbombing Omega through the table, and held aloft Omega’s Impact Championship belt to send a signal to Callis. The show ended with a crazed Sami celebrating while Callis checked on a downed Omega in the ring. Good ending, as the Piledriver looked awesome, and Omega lying in the remnants of the table was a strong image.

 

 

Impact Wrestling - July 8th, 2021
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Skyway Studios - Nashville, TN

If you weren’t already interested in Slammiversary, it’s doubtful that this episode would have changed your mind, even with the fun closing segment.  But if you were already planning on watching it, then this may have increased your interest level, particularly in the announcement of the surprise opponent for Purrazzo. So, depending on who the intended audience was, it may or may not have met its objective.