Cero Reviews Impact Wrestling Slammiversary XVII

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Cero Reviews Impact Wrestling Slammiversary XVII

Post by cero2k » Jul 15th, '19, 20:15

Slammiversary XVII
July 7th, 2019
Dallas, TX

Disclaimer: I'm rating this from a live perspective, I have not re-watched this show via broadcast, and so there are surely things I've missed or straight up don't remember by now.

Dark Match
Jordynne Grace vs Madison Rayne vs Kiera Hogan - 6.5/10
This was surprisingly good considering both the talent, the position of the card, it being taped for the show, and the time it got. Match saw Grace and Hogan wanting to only focus on each other as their feud is ongoing, but Madison Rayne would keep coming and getting in there. At one point, Hogan got rid of Grace and beat Rayne too. Hogan looked great, Grace look dominant, and Rayne was there. Grace won with the Grace Driver.

Post-match - Rayne turned heel and attacked Grace after the match.

TJP Open Challenge
TJP vs Willie Mack vs Jake Crist vs Trey Miguel - 7/10
This was your usual X-Division spotty opener with ton of guys doing a million things. Of those million, there was some cool spots like Mack hitting a foot stomp on Miguel that was being held in a Mexican Surfboard by Miguel, WHILE Crist tried to pin Miguel. Everyone looked great in their own stuff, Jake Crist I think has to be one of the most underrated wrestlers, at least in Impact. While I was surprised TJP didn't win the match, at least he didn't take the fall. Mack won with a Frog Splash.

Impact Tag Team Championship 3-Way Match
The North (C) vs LAX w/Konnan vs The Rascalz - 7/10
This was underwhelming considering the teams, and the fact that it was changed last day into a three way. The issue here is that there was an injury angle with Santana that live, I didn't know it was a work. All I saw was Konnan, the announce table, and some refs going crazy over the injury, but I couldn't tell that the cameras had actually focused on them. After that, the match just kinda went home with the North beating Ortiz. Aside from that, the match was spotty, a lot of team moves and all. I feel robbed of ever getting LAX vs Rascalz with a lot of time, but at least I hope to get a good feud now with Rascalz vs North going forward.

Sami Callihan Promo - Callihan cut a promo saying that tonight, he and Tessa have the first ever PPV Intergender main event in history. Traditional PPV i'm guessing, I have to believe that others have main evented iPPVs.

First Blood Match
Killer Kross vs Eddie Edwards - 6/10
Kross came out sporting face paint that I guess was supposed to be a skull or something, but he looks kinda off. At least he wasn't wearing that stupid camo attire he'd been wearing lately.

The match wasn't exactly violent or anything, it was just a fight that build and build to the introduction of the kendo stick. They did a lot of strikes that would play into maybe getting busted open, and there was a spot that Kross fought he was busted open and he was covering himself from the ref, but he wasn't just yet. Finish saw Eddie go so violent that he broke that kendo stick he so much loves and use the broken side to cut Kross' mouth. Finish was kinda meh.

I don't really know where this goes. To begin with, I don't know what is Kross' status with the company, so if they want to write him off, this is good enough. If not, do they keep this going beyond a first blood match? Does Eddie get a new dumb angle to get a new stick? Can we get American Wolf Edwards and the Cerebral Killer Kross again?

RVD Interview - Santos interviewed RVD who looked high in the sense that he wasn't making any sense and wasn't really saying much. He pretty much said he respected Moose.

Moose vs Rob Van Dam - 6.5/10
I'm soo glad that Moose won, I was really worried that RVD was going to get the win. Match was nothing special, RVD did all his greatest hits, which at his age, are not as impressive or awesome. Moose was awesome however, he carries himself like a superstar, his entrance is great. Moose is another that I think needs to get back into title contention.

Monster's Ball for the Impact Knockout's Championship
Taya Valkyrie (C) vs Rosemary vs Su Yung w/James Mitchell vs Havok w/James Mitchell - 7/10
This had a non-kayfabe really cool thing about it. We're supposed to believe that Rosemary, Havok, and Yung are these hardcore demon warriors that take it to the extreme, while in reality, it's Taya that has always been the hardcore one, la Perra del Mal with some classic hardcore bouts in AAA. These chicks have nothing on Taya when it comes to hardcore and in this match, it showed. Taya looked like a badass superstar in there.

The match had the usual trash and kitchen ware, tacks, chairs, a table, and Taya used it all on everyone. The bigger deal here was Su Yung pretty much turning heel against Havok and Mitchell, but it's one of those that I don't know what to make of it until I see it play out, she's a weird character to have as a babyface. Taya at one point hit a Super Dragon vs Kevin Steen style Curb Stomp on Rosemary on top of the tacks. Taya retained when she stole Havok's pin after his hit a Super Tombstone on Yung on the tacks.

Impact X-Division Championship Match
Rich Swann (C) vs Johnny Impact w/Johnny Bravo - 8.5/10
This was a great match, arguably best in the show wrestling-wise. It was all athletic and fast paced. Johnny Bravo played his part perfectly, he's just a great old-school stooge.

There was a really smart spot to distract the ref and Swann that saw Bravo use some tacks and throw them in the ring, then implying that they were left over from the previous match and that the ref had made a terrible job at making sure the ring was suitable for the match. This obviously made the ref go and pick them up, Swann kinda left his guard down thinking this was a bit of a time-out, and it was obviously, the chance for Johnny to get a cheap shot at Swann. This is not a spot to be repeated a lot, and it really only works after a Monster's Ball type of match has taken place right before.

Rest of the match was a lot of high impact moves (no pun intended on either promotion or Johnny). There were some great near falls towards the end, Johnny hit Starship Pain for a two count. Swann won with a 2-cutter-1-Phoenix-Splash combo.

Impact World Championship Match
"The Machine" Brian Cage (C) vs "Unbreakable" Michael Elgin - 8/10
This was a hoss fight with a couple of Cage's speed spots. This was for the most part two huge dudes striking and tackling each other in the middle of the ring, and as the match went on, they started tossing each other and slamming one another. The story here was that early in the match, Elgin went after Cage's fucked up back from the Rebellion PPV and worked over it. Cage battled through the pain and came back and won it all. Great near falls towards the end since they would start their usual powerbomb combos, but never able to either finish them, or pin the other guy. After soo many big spots, it was a roll up from Cage that got him the victory. Great match.

Post-match - Elgin, furious of this loss, attacked Cage and went after Don Callis. A masked man, looking really familiar to someone that is still under contract with someone else, hit a move really similar to the Gore and saved Callis' ass.

Tessa Blanchard vs Sami Callihan - 9/10
I mentioned that Swann vs Impact was arguably the best wrestled match, but to me, this was match of the night, mainly in terms of big match feel, heat, intensity, and overall atmosphere in the venue. Tessa looked super badass, like on a whole other level of most of the roster, male and female. Callihan was that heel that you hate, you respect, but you hate his fucking guts, because he doesn't run away, and when he says he's going to beat your ass, woman or man, he does it and he mocks you while doing it.

Match saw Callihan have the strength advantage, while Tessa had the fire. Callihan pretty much beat up Tessa a lot, while Tessa kept coming back with hope spots, but Callihan couldn't keep Tessa down for the pin, he hit her with everything and Tessa kept coming back. Eventually, it all led to a ref bump and baseball bats make their way to the match. Callihan hit Tessa with the bat and a second ref counted, but Tessa kicked out. Callihan took out that ref, giving Tessa the opening to grab her bat, hit Sami and a Magnum, but Sami kicked out too. Tessa went for a submission, tons of heat right now, but Sami overpowered her, hit a Tombstone. Finish finally saw a valiant Tessa stand up after the Tombstone, and give the thumbs down to Sami, only for him to hit the Cactus Special and get the win.

It was saw seeing Tessa lose, but it wouldn't make sense at this point. At this point I think that Callihan is way overdue a title chase and Tessa could easily chase the X-Division title if she wanted to. Maybe win it and Option C it at Bound For Glory? Sami vs Tessa II for the World Title? Book it Don!

Post-match - Sami showed respect to Tessa for bringing it and passed her bat back to her. Tessa got a standing ovation afterwards.

OVERALL THOUGHTS
Pretty awesome show, especially live I think. I think the whole card was pretty solid with maybe one or two matches that could had been either better, or better to just happen on a taped show. The last three matches however were definitely great.
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