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Slammiversary (2021)

Results & Afterthoughts

Slammiversary (2021) was a professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by Impact Wrestling. It took place on July 17, 2021 at the Skyway Studios in Nashville, Tennessee. It was the 17th event under the Slammiversary chronology.

Nine matches were contested at the event, with one match contested on the pre-show. In the main event, Kenny Omega defeated Sami Callihan to retain the Impact World Championship. In other prominent matches, Deonna Purrazzo defeated Thunder Rosa to retain the Impact Knockouts Championship, and Josh Alexander defeated Ace Austin, Chris Bey, Petey Williams, Rohit Raju, and Trey Miguel in an Ultimate X match to retain the X Division Championship in the opening bout. The event also marked the Impact debuts of Jay White, No Way, and Thunder Rosa, and the returns of Mickie James and Chelsea Green (formerly known as Laurel Van Ness).

Match Results:

Pre-Show: Tag Team Match for the Impact Knockouts Tag Team Championship

Decay (Havok and Rosemary) (with Black Taurus and Crazzy Steve) def. Fire 'N Flava (Kiera Hogan and Tasha Steelz) (c) by pinfall

Not a bad match at all. This served as the appetizer of sorts to bring the kick-off/pre-show to a close on YouTube before the main card started. I was glad to see Fire 'N Flava get to work their magic in front of a live crowd for once instead of in the empty buildings where Anthem have been recording these episodes of IMPACT for the past year. Fire 'N Flava were one of the consistently good things about that show in terms of entertainment and I think they don't get enough props for their growth as in-ring competitors. Tasha Steelz has improved a lot but Kiera Hogan has definitely leveled up her game from when she first signed to this company.

I couldn't help but laugh at them "twerking" on Havok and Rosemary at various points of this match to the delight of the crowd. It stopped being fun and games once Havok and Rosemary got the ball rolling off the hot tag and started steamrolling over the opposition. The match ended - and rightfully so - with a Tombstone Piledriver to Kiera Hogan for Decay to lay claim over the Knockouts Tag Team titles.

Ultimate X match for the Impact X Division Championship

Josh Alexander (c) def. Ace Austin, Chris Bey, Petey Williams, Rohit Raju, and Trey Miguel

Excellent opener for this show from bell to bell with a lot of innovative and unique spots for this match that haven't been done to death in this match type, including but not limited to Alexander hanging upside down and trapping Chris Bey within ankle lock while five other submission holds are applied simultaneously to everyone else standing and laying down in the ring. That shit was beautiful to see. I hope Josh Alexander keeps that X-Division title long enough to cash it in for Option C.

I have to give Matt Striker props on the save for the finish/result being announced prematurely. Alexandler had already grabbed the title up on the ropes, but didn't hit the floor like previous bouts when they announced the winner. Striker quickly explains that this is a new ruling to save face, which didn't bother me in the least.

Mixed Tag Team Match

Matt Cardona and Chelsea Green def. Brian Myers (with Sam Beale) and Tenille Dashwood (with Kaleb with a K) by pinfall

There were so many people on social media that were convinced that the former Laurel Van Ness AKA Chelsea Green wasn't going to be Cardona's partner for this match with a laundry list of reasons and/or excuses, ranging from "She has a broken arm", "She's already booked elsewhere (against Lady Frost) that same day", and so on. This match was short, sweet, and to the point. Loved that it didn't overstay its welcome.

I wonder how this is going to work out with Chelsea Green already debuting for Ring of Honor a few weeks prior to this appearance. I guess this could be a one-off, but I wouldn't be surprised if she sticks around for a bit.

Singles Match

W. Morrissey def. Eddie Edwards by pinfall

I didn't care for Big Cass when he was split from Enzo Amore when his partner was sidelined with an injury in NXT for a while and I felt the same when they were split up on the main roster and he was being pushed as a monster heel. Whether he's heel or babyface, he always comes off extremely bland and boring for a big dude for me. Eddie Edwards is one hell of a worker and has firmly established himself as a company man for this current regime of IMPACT Wrestling, so he knew how to keep this match interesting for the most part. Can't say that I've been crazy about Eddie's "wannabe hardcore" gimmick that he's been rolling with for the last few years either. This match wasn't awful, but it definitely overstayed its welcome.

Impromptu Tag Team Match

FinJuice (David Finlay and Juice Robinson) def. Madman Fulton and Shera by pinfall

Scott D'Amore made this match on a whim and FinJuice wasted no time putting down Fulton and Shera. You got no complaints for me as I didn't want to see Fulton and Shera on this card to begin with.

Singles Match

Chris Sabin def. Moose by pinfall.

This is the kind of David vs. Goliath match that Morrissey and Edwards should have had earlier tonight. Much like his last minute replacement matches with Kenny Omega & the Good Brothers to his matches with Rich Swann and EC3, Moose is putting on the best matches of his career as of late and this match is no different. I can't take anything away here from Chris Sabin too as he definitely deserved some props, despite the fact that I watch all of his current matches half-expecting his knees to explode. I wasn't expecting to see Sabin pull out the upset win over Moose at all. I'm guessing that all of these loses are setting Moose up for going onto a tear for whenever he FINALLY wins the World title later this year.

Four-way Tag Team Match for the Impact World Tag Team Championship

The Good Brothers (Doc Gallows and Karl Anderson) def. Violent By Design (Joe Doering and Rhino) (c) (with Eric Young and Deaner), Rich Swann and Willie Mack, and Fallah Bahh and No Way by pinfall

I couldn't help but bust out laughing at the announcement of No Way Jose debuting in this company to be Fallah Bahh's partner since TJP couldn't make the show. I wasn't even aware that the guy wasn't even working for WWE anymore. In hindsight, I vaguely remember him being on one of those talent release lists, but still, it was pretty darn shocking.

Singles Match for the Impact Knockouts Championship

Deonna Purrazzo (c) def. Thunder Rosa by pinfall

My jaw went to the floor when Thunder Rosa came out to answer the challenge as Deonna's mystery opponent. I was convinced that it was going to be the recently released Ruby Riott/Heidi Lovelace (or whatever name she had decided to go by going forward on the indies), Santana Garrett, or Gail Kim herself coming out of retirement (for what, the 2nd or 3rd time?). Boy, this was a great surprise. Deonna and Rosa worked as well as one could imagine, but I felt like this was a match that could have done better with another 5-10 minutes, but I can't complain too much. Deonna went over - rightfully so - and we got a great performance out of Thunder Rosa here.

I couldn't be happier with this... That is until the aftermath of this match.

Deonna Purrazzo is celebrating her win in the ring when "HARDCORE COUNTRY" blasts over the speakers and we get the return of Mickie James back into the IMPACT Zone. I love that goddamn song. Mickie James offered Deonna an invitation to take part of NWA's upcoming all-female EMPOWERRR event next month, but Deonna quickly shot her down before belittling the former Knockouts Champion with a "trash bag" line (in reference to her recent WWE firing). Mickie was quick to fire back with a Mick Kick as a rebuttal to lay the champion out. If they want to go with Deonna vs. Mickie James for the main event of that EMPOWERRR show, then I'm all for it. Either way, this is great for garnering interest for that show as it shows that NWA are willing to work with any promotion (that's not WWE obviously) get the best possible card going for this thing.

No Disqualification Match for the Impact World Championship

Kenny Omega (c) (with Don Callis) def. Sami Callihan by pinfall

Whether you're a fan of Sami Callihan or not, this was pretty much your run of the mill hardcore match that is essentially the norm for these types of matches in modern wrestling. You got your table spots, the spots with thumbtacks, and the pizza slicer for added measure - no thanks to the infamy of Nick Gage being glamourized on this season's Dark Side of The Ring. To his credit, Kenny Omega took a LOT of punishment in this match. I found that to be shocking, given that he's been working hurt and putting off some undisclosed injury to keep his obligations to all of the companies that he's holding titles in right now. In that regard, it's admirable that he's willing to keep rolling on, despite his injuries. I just hope that he's not cutting years off his career for waiting so long to take time off and allow his body to heal. I did like the story of this match was Sami avoiding the One Winged Angel for the entire match and finding ways out of it until Omega finally hit it to seal his fate. It's ironic that SOME of these guys in modern wrestling have protected finishers when it seems like you need a tactical nuke to put down most other opponents.

I honestly was shocked that they didn't go ahead and let Sami pick up the title here which left me puzzled on where they were going to go next with the IMPACT World title being held "hostage" so to speak by Kenny Omega. Rich Swann failed to capture the AEW World title and lost IMPACT's top prizes in the first place. That was followed by Moose losing his shot at redemption and now we can add Sami Callihan to that list as well. I hope they aren't looking to put Chris Sabin in that position of being the one who would pull the upset victory and win the title back. Alternatively, I wouldn't have an issue if they are going to have Moose get a rematch against Omega for the title or if they go with Josh Alexander. He would have to still have the X-Division Championship in a few more months and cashes in Option C to win the title back for the company at Destination X. The only issue with the latter plan is that IMPACT hasn't used the Option C concept since 2018 when Brian Cage cashed in the title at Impact Wrestling's Homecoming event.

Afterthoughts:

After the main event, the Good Brothers, Kenny Omega, and Don Callis are all celebrating in the ring and patting themselves on the back for a job well done tonight, when New Japan's current leader of the Bullet Club - Jay White, holding the NEVER Openweight Championship - walks down to the ring. The Elite guys all invite him to do a "Too Sweet" gesture with them when the feed cuts out. Apparently, reports are going around saying that IMPACT did that on purpose to get people talking as you could see someone (live fan reports say it was FinJuice) rushing out to fight the Good Brothers. They fought them off and Jay White shows no allegence to anyone before leaving. It's an interesting cliffhanger to end on for a show that delivered on a lot of levels.

IMPACT Wrestling continues to be the Little Engine That Could. A lot of people still don't pay much attention to them, which is a darn shame when WWE has gotten free passes over the years - and continue to do so - while AEW's mistakes and shortcomings are immediately brushed under the rug, but IMPACT really made this a great show from start to finish. They didn't overhype any of the "surprises" and boy, were there a lot of them on this show with the "forbidden door" being kicked wide open. I'm glad to see that these non-WWE entities are finding a common ground to work together for the benefit for not just the fans, but for everyone involved. It's win-win all around. I can't wait to see where these partnerships/crossovers go next. We already got Bound for Glory to look forward to with AAA, NWA, IMPACT, and AEW representation already confirmed for the event.

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