Whether or not you like the idea of an outsider holding the Impact World Championship, there’s no denying that Kenny Omega has put on some stellar matches for the company against every opponent he’s faced so far.  His title vs. title match with Rich Swann was a career high for Swann, and Moose’s match against Omega might have been his best ever. His record – like his belt collection – not only remained intact after he beat Sami Callihan in a No Disqualification match for the title at Slammiversary on Saturday night, but also took his reign to the extreme.

You could sense the match was going to have a hardcore edge when Sami attacked Omega from behind and hit a Piledriver right at the opening bell, and the ref came within a hair of hitting the mat for a third time. But then any doubts were removed when Sami introduced some weaponry, namely a chair, a garbage can, a fork, and ultimately a pizza cutter, which he used to slice open Kenny’s forehead. He ran the pizza cutter across Omega’s forehead repeatedly, causing blood to gush out of Omega’s forehead in a great visual.

 

Sami caught Omega in a running charge attempt and hit him with a Death Valley Driver that sent Kenny rolling to the floor. Sami went for a running dive, but Omega blasted him in the face with a cookie sheet to stun him. Omega followed that up with more cookie sheet and garbage can lid shots, but a defiant Sami only flipped him the bird. Omega finally smashed Sami down, and then hurt him with a garbage can assisted Moonsault (he didn’t land in the right spot, but the commentators saved this by saying he deliberately targeted the ankle).

After an exchange of moves, Sami ended up eating a chair that had been wedged up in the corner, and after that, he was covered in blood as well.

Weakened, he was unable to stop Omega from picking up a fork and giving him the Abdullah treatment, stabbing him in the forehead and then ramming the fork into Sami’s mouth.

The match went to the floor, where it might seem that Sami should have the advantage, but Omega only upped his advantage. After hitting Sami with a Spinebuster on the apron edge, he turned up the notch on the violence meter, putting a table on top of Sami and then hitting a Stomp onto it from the apron. Omega set up a table beside the ring, and tried to Snapdragon Suplex Sami off the apron through it, but Sami blocked it. And then Sami hit Omega with a Piledriver through the table on the floor, which looked great.

 

Omega struggled to climb back in the ring, while Sami got some more plunder – and even had time to throw a garbage can from the floor, aiming it perfectly to land on Omega’s back halfway across the ring. Nice.

In the ring, Sami dropped Sami back-first onto the top of an open garbage can and then Powerbombed him through a metal-backed board propped up in the corner. Sami then upped the ante further, getting out a chair wrapped with barbed wire from that he had hidden under the ring steps. But before he could use it, Omega dropped Callihan onto the chair face-first with a Jumping Legdrop, and followed that up with a Powerbomb on the chair. He hit a V-Trigger, but luckily for Sami, the impact sent him into the ropes, so the pin attempt was moot.

Omega then hit a Superplex through the board which was platformed on a garbage can, earning a very close fall. Omega went for One-Winged Angel, but Sami escaped, flipped it over, and hit Omega with a Tombstone on the barbed wire chair for a 2-count.

As Sami fired up, Omega rolled out of the ring and went digging underneath it for some more weaponry. Sami went to grab him, and Kenny threw a handful of salt into his eyes, blinding him. Sami, unable to see who was in front of him, grabbed the ref and, thinking it was Omega, hit him with a Piledriver. Omega sneaked up behind a still-blind Sami, and hit him with his title, and then a Piledriver of his own. But despite Sami being down, there was no ref to count it, and by the time a second one came in, Sami had enough in the tank to kick out at 2. In frustration, Omega knocked out the second ref.

The Good Brothers tried to run in to help Sami, but Sabin and Edwards ran out and chased them back to the ring. After that, Sami hit a Piledriver for a very close two-count.

Sami then grabbed a sack of thumbtacks and poured it out in the centre of the ring. He was setting Omega up for the killing blow, but Don Callis (whose performance in this match, from the ring announcing to the commentary to his involvement was absolutely tremendous) – abandoned his commentary post and ran to the ring, distracting Sami. Omega threw a handful of tacks into Sami’s face, and then loaded up his knee with more tacks and hit Sami with a V-Trigger. Sami kicked out.  Omega then shoved a bunch of tacks into Sami’s mouth and hit another V-Trigger for 2. Omega then hit a One-Winged Angel on Sami onto the pile of tacks, and that was finally enough to keep Sami down for the count.

Purists will undoubtedly hate this match, but for the bloodthirsty among us, this was great. And while many people will dismiss this as merely ‘garbage wrestling’, when done right, as it was here, it was as entertaining as anything else Omega has done recently. And in some ways, even better.

SLAMMIVERSARY – FULL RESULTS

Pre-Show Match: Havok and Rosemary vs. Fire N Flava (c) (w/ Decay) – for the Knockouts Tag Team Championship

The challengers dominated early on with their strength, with Havok throwing around her opponents. Rosemary took Hogan to the Underground, but when she let go, a distraction by Steelz on the floor led to Hogan hitting a cheap shot, which put the ball in their court.

Then, technical difficulties caused the feed to cut out, so I missed the rest of the match. #RogersSucks

Reportedly, after Rosemary took out Steelz with a flying dive on the floor, Havok hit a Tombstone Piledriver on Kiera Hogan to get the pin.

Winners, and new Knockouts Tag Team Champions: Havok and Rosemary

Earlier today, Sami Callihan entered the building – but unlike the normal wrestling trope of showing a wrestler come in the back, he walked up through the front entrance where the fans cheered him on.

 

Match 1: Trey Miguel vs. Ace Austin vs. Petey Williams vs. Rohit Raju vs. Chris Bey vs. Josh Alexander (c) – Ultimate X match for the X-Division Championship

It was noted that Shera and Mad Man Fulton, the hired goons of Raju and Austin respectively, were banned from ringside for this one.

The action started off fast and furious, with Bey scaling the scaffolding and going for the X within 10 seconds. But he got caught. The action was really quick to call, so here is a list of highlights:

  • Alexander hit a huge Release German Suplex on Austin that looked awesome.
  • Raju climbed to the top turnbuckle, but was too short to reach the X cables – and he crashed and burned when he tried to jump up to reach them
  • At one point, Raju and Austin were both on the scaffolding. Raju pushed him off and Austin went sailing to the floor where he landed on everyone else with a High Cross Body.
  • Raju had a back-up plan to make up for his vertical deficiencies: he threw a rope up on the strand and then tried to grapple-climb his way up. Points for creativity, but he did get caught and pulled down hard.
  • Later, Raju hit a big Spear on Petey to send him flying off the cables, which looked nice.
  • As Alexander was setting up everyone else for a Tower of Doom spot, Raju found a long hook that he tried to use to pull down the title, even using a chair to help get closer. But then he got blasted him with a Missile Dropkick that sent Raju flying off the chair and hard on the mat.
  • A neat sequence saw them do a daisy chain of submissions, with Alexander hanging upside down from the cables to lock one of them in an Ankle Lock. It was silly for Alexander to not reach for the belt at this point since everyone else was tied up, but the visual was cool.
  • At one point, Bey hit a Flying Stunner type move that took Austin down off the cable, earning the first “Holy S***!” chant of the night.
  • Petey hit a Canadian Destroyer on Raju, and followed that up with a Running Canadian Destroyer on Trey. And then he hit an Elevated Canadian Destroyer on Bey, jumping down from the cables to take over Bey who Alexander had picked up on his shoulders. Nice, but at some point, it becomes a case of less is more, no?

  • Alexander and Try slugged it out, but then Raju took them both down with a simultaneous shot that hit Trey with a Flatliner and a Facebuster on Alexander. It was kind of weird and hard to describe, but trust me, it was neat.

In the end, with everyone else taken out, Bey and Josh raced to the centre of the X and unclipped the title at the same time. Alexander won the tug of war, sending Bey crashing to the mat sans title, and the ref called for the bell, awarding the match to Alexander for being in sole possession of the belt.

This was a good spot-fest that really got the crowd going. The ending seemed a bit anti-climactic after some of the earlier action – possibly they were going for something bigger than Bey simply falling down? But that’s a minor quibble and didn’t take away from the action that did happen.

Winner, and still X-Division Champion: Josh Alexander

Match Rating: 8/10

Gia Miller interviewed Don Callis outside of Kenny Omega’s dressing room. Callis trashed Sami Callihan as a no-good garbage wrestler who shouldn’t be allowed to compete for the world title. Callis said that Sami may be a dangerous man and that normally a No Disqualification match would be to his advantage. But Omega was a god, and Sami would not be able to kick out of the One-Winged Angel.

 

Match 2: Brian Myers and Tenille Dashwood (w/ Sam Beale and Kaleb) vs. Matt Cardona and Chelsea Green

“Hot Mess” Chelsea Green, the recent WWE departee and Cardona’s real-life fiancée was the first surprise of the night, and the Impact crowd was glad to see her, judging from the “Welcome back!” chants.

Cardona was the first to fall victim to the numbers on the outside, as interference from Kaleb and Beale allowed Myers to drop him face-first on the steel ramp. They celebrated by dragging Cardona back into the ring, and posing for a team selfie while Myers choked him out. Cardona nearly got a tag to Green, but Dashwood had sneaked around the ring and pulled Green off the apron, allowing the beating on Myers to continue for a bit longer.

He finally did escape and both ladies came in, wih Green dominating Dashwood, only losing control when Myers interfered. Later, more outside distractions prevented the ref from seeing Dashwood come up behind Cardona and hit him with a big low blow. But it had no effect! Not because Cardona has no genitals, but rather because he was wearing a protective cup. Which he then put over Myers’ face – gross. Chelsea hit Myers with a Canadian Destroyer, and that sent him rolling to the floor (see what I mean about the over-use of that move? It makes it less special when others are doing it as mere transitional moves in the very next match), where he was laid out by a Flying Dive by Cardona. This left the ladies in the ring. Green hit Dashwood with a low blow (reinforced with the cast she was wearing) and then hit the Unprettier to get the pin.

This was as good as could be with both Myers and Cardona in there. Chelsea is a welcome return to the company, and is a good personality to add to the Knockouts roster.

Winners: Matt Cardona and Chelsea Green

Match Rating: 7/10

Match 3: W. Morrissey vs. Eddie Edwards

They started with an exchange of shots, but not in the fun drinking way. Morrissey ended that exchange quickly, going to his power game to take Eddie down with a big Powerslam. He beat on Eddie for a while, including hitting him with a huge boot that sent Eddie to the floor. Eddie had some better luck out on the floor, but it didn’t last long, and Morrissey continued to punish him, including hitting a Body Block that sent Eddie flying off the apron and into the ringside barrier.

He then battered Edwards in and around the ring, hitting big clubbing smashes to Eddie’s heart. But that’s Eddie’s strongest muscle, and Eddie was able to come back with a Suplex and a series of chops. He got caught in a Flying Dive attempt though and Chokeslammed onto the edge of the apron – ouch!

 

Morrissey dragged Eddie to the top of the entrance ramp to end things, but Eddie fought back and reversed the situation, putting Morrissey down hard, and buying himself some breathing room. But not much, because when things got back in the ring, Morrissey continued the beating, hitting an F-5 that was so ugly it should only be called an F-2. He then looked to end things with a top rope move, but Eddie went over the top and hit a Super Sunset Bomb, and a Blue Thunder Bomb for a 2-and-7/8ths. Eddie was going for the Boston Knee Party, but Morrissey used the referee as a human shield and when Eddie swerved to avoid the ref, Morrissey hit him instead.

Eddie finally did nail him with the Boston Knee Party, but Morrissey rolled to the floor before he could get pinned. There, he took a chain out of his boot. When he got back in the ring, he knocked Eddie in the head with a chain-rapped fist. Then he hit a staggered Eddie with a Powerbomb to get the pin.

This was good, and keeping Morrissey’s momentum going with a win was the right call.

Winner: W. Morrissey

Match Rating: 7/10

Moose cut a promo on Chris Sabin, predicting that he would win their match tonight, but saying it as only Moose can.

In a teaser clip, someone who wasn’t seen painted “Long Live the DRAMA King” on canvas. It looks like they may be doing some kind of tortured artist character.

 

Gia Miller introduced the winner of the fan contest who won a free trip to Slammiversary. The interview was interrupted when Mad Man Fulton and Shera hit the ring. They were angry, presumably because they were banned from ringside earlier, and started yelling at the referee. This brought out Impact Executive Vice-President Scott D’Amore. He said that since those guys appeared to be looking for a fight, he would oblige. And introduced David Finlay and Juice Robinson – FinJuice – who made their return to the company.

 

Match 4: FinJuice vs. Shera and Mad Man Fulton

Shera and Fulton weren’t able to get along, and after they started arguing, FinJuice was able to divide and conquer. They hit Fulton with a series of double-team moves to get the win in less than two minutes.

The reaction for D’Amore’s introduction of FinJuice was the only thing worth mentioning about this one.

Winners: FinJuice

Match Rating: 3/10

Match 5: Moose vs. Chris Sabin

Sabin tried a hit-and-move strategy, which worked for a while in the early stages, and then tried to even up the huge size differential by grounding Moose with leg whips and a Figure Four Leglock. But then Moose powered up, picked up Sabin, and then freaking Lawn Darted Sabin halfway across the ring face first into the middle turnbuckle, kind of like a Flying Snake Eyes, which looked absolutely brutal.

Moose then tied Sabin in the ropes and hit him with a pair of huge chest-caving chops and a big Dropkick. Moose used a combination of power moves and dirty tactics to take over. But Sabin moved out the way of a Moonsault, and Moose was hurt. This allowed Sabin to mount a comeback, including a big Flying Dive to the floor, followed by a Tornado DDT in the ring that got him a big two-count.

Sabin went up top, but Moose scrambled up there and hit Sabin with a Fallaway Moonsault Slam that looked dangerous, but ended well.

 

After that, Moose pummeled Sabin, POwerbombing him hard on the apron, and then swinging him even harder into the guard rail repeatedly. That nearly saw Sabin get counted out, but he was able to get back in the ring in time.

There, Sabin picked up the action, and after a series of counters and reversals, Sabin was able to roll up Moose for a shocking pin.

This was good, but dragged in a couple of spots. After the guardrail beating, it didn’t seem reasonable for Sabin to be walking much less to be able to razzle-dazzle his way to a rollup pin.

Winner: Chris Sabin

Match Rating: 6/10

They replayed the ending of the Knockouts Tag Team Championship match. Apparently, Havok is now a full-fledged member of Decay. They all did a promo afterwards, celebrating their win earlier. Again, #RogersSucks.

 

Match 6: Rich Swann and Willie Mack vs. Fallah Bahh and No Way Jose vs. the Good Brothers vs. Joe Doering and Rhino (c) (w/ Violent By Design)

They had actually teased the potential return of No Way Jose on Impact on Thursday, but the way it was done, it seemed more like a throwaway line than an actual possibility. Nonetheless, Baah introduced him as the replacement for TJP, whose absence wasn’t explained, but it was implied he is off with an injury. Jose came out complete with a Conga line that included John E. Bravo, Johnny Swinger, and Alisha Edwards.

After some comedy between the two babyface teams, things got more deliberate in mood and pace when the Good Brothers came in and lay an extended beating on Rich Swann. They controlled him for several minutes, which felt much longer. But Swann was finally able to escape, but Mack had been knocked from the corner, so Swann tagged in Jose instead. Through some tags, eventually we got to the battle of the titans in Gallows and Doering, who had a short slugfest, until everyone else just came in and everyone started brawling, including the two face teams going at it.

A big Lariat by Doering nearly kept Jose down for good, but Mack shoved Rhino into Joe to break up the pin. But this angered VBD, and after Doering took both Mack and Swann to the floor, Rhino put Jose in his sights for a GORE GORE GORE. But Gallows distracted the ref, and Anderson hit a Gun Stun on Rhino. He and Gallows followed that up with the Magic Killer, which put Rhino down for good.

This was fine, but felt really S…L…O…W at times. Putting the titles on the Good Brothers seems like a step backwards from the great booking of VBD. Presumably, these two teams will now spin off into a feud, which follows the logical direction of the story. But how do you overcome the confusing heel vs. heel dynamic?

Winners, and new Tag Team Champions: the Good Brothers

Match Rating: 6/10

Alesha Zappitella, Invicta fighter, was shown in the crowd.

 

Match 7: Deonna Purrazzo (c) vs. Thunder Rosa – for the Knockouts Championship

An awesome surprise here in Thunder Rosa, as these are two of the top five women wrestlers in the world today.

The beginning of the match was highly-technical, with them stalemating a few times. Purrazzo went to her tried and true strategy by working on Rosa’s arm, hitting her with Divorce Court and then going for an Octopus submission. She took Rosa up top, but Rosa was able to push her off and hit a Missile Dropkick that hurt the champ. Rosa hit a flurry of moves, but Purrazzo still had the presence of mind to continue going for her trademark submissions, the Armbar and the Venus De Milo. Every time she did, Rosa had to lay off and go on the defensive.

But she won a battle on the top and threw Purrazzo down to the mat, then followed up with a Double Stomp to the back. But she went in a bit cautiously to turn Purrazzo over and possibly expose her arm, and that slight delay allowed Purrazzo to kick out.

 

They had a nice striking exchange, and Purrazzo came out on top of that. And then she hit the Queen’s Gambit to get the definitive win.

This was really good while it lasted, but the ending kind of came out of nowhere. Surprising to see Rosa get beat so definitively, too.

Winner, and still Knockouts Champion: Deonna Purrazzo

Match Rating: 8/10

After the match, Purrazzo grabbed the mic, but before she could say anything, Mickie James’ theme, “Hardcore Country” started blasting and she hit the ring. Purrazzo was angered by the interruption and let Mickie know. Mickie told her that she wasn’t there to argue. But rather, she wanted to invite Purrazzo to come to be part of her NWA Empowerrr show. Purrazzo rudely rejected the offer, telling James to take her trash bag and leave, and this led to Mickie James laying out Purrazzo with a slap and a Chick Kick. This was great.

 

Match 8: Sami Callihan vs. Kenny Omega (c) (w/ Don Callis) – No Disqualification match or the Impact World Championship

Winner, and still Impact World Champion: Kenny Omega

Match Rating: 10/10

After the match, the Good Brothers came to the ring to celebrate with Omega and Don Callis. As they were Too Sweeting, the lights went out. And the Bullet Club logo came on the big screen. The lights came back on, and out walked “Switchblade” Jay White, who is apparently the leader of the Bullet Club.

He came to the ring as Team Omega looked on confusion. He met them in the centre of the ring, where he was offered a Too Sweet. But before we could see his response, the show came to an inconclusive end.

Reports from people who were there revealed that FinJuice came to the ring and got into a scrap with White who won the confrontation and left the ring.

This was an awkward way to end the show. Presumably they were looking to deliver a cliffhanger of sorts and get people to tune in on Thursday to see the fallout. But after the match between Omega and Callihan, immediately throwing to an entirely new angle, introducing a character with no context into the mix, and having them feud with someone who wasn’t involved in the main event… what, did Impact take a page out of AEW’s booking playbook? They shouldn’t have, because it was a bad way to end what was otherwise a strong PPV.

Slammiversary - June 17th, 2021
4.5

Skyway Studios - Nashville, TN

The fans in attendance, and everyone watching from home got to see a great show tonight. Highlighted by the stellar main event, the other matches all delivered as well. The weird and disjointed ending of the PPV was a mis-step and took away from the entire experience. But everything else before those past few minutes was still worth going out of your way to see.