Cero Reviews Impact Wrestling Slammiversary 2021

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Cero Reviews Impact Wrestling Slammiversary 2021

Post by cero2k » Jul 18th, '21, 19:18

Impact Wrestling Slammiversary 2021
July 17, 2021
Nashville, TN
Live Coverage: https://www.f4wonline.com/tna-results/i ... han-347246

From Countdown To Slammiversary
Knockouts Tag Team Championship Match
Fire 'n Flava vs Decay (Rosemary & Havok) (w/Crazzy Steve & Black Taurus) - 4.5/10
I was somewhat disappointed that this match was moved to the pre-show, while I thought that it would be good to give some extra time to the other matches, I was kinda hoping for an Iconic debut coming off the result of this match. That aside, I thought it was an ok match, nothing really special, it was the same formula from most of Fire 'n Flava matches with them having trouble for being the smaller team, but eventually gaining control due to their tricks and tag team proficiency. The only difference is that when the babyfaces made a comeback, they actually ended up winning when Havok Tombstoned Hogan for the win.

This was for the best, Fire 'n Flava had already gone through the tag roster and if the Iconics were not debuting, may as well to put the titles on a new team, and with how over Rosemary and Decay are, may as well be them.

Impact X-Division Championship Ultimate X Match
Josh Alexander (c) vs. Petey Williams vs. Trey Miguel vs. Rohit Raju vs. Ace Austin vs. Chris Bey - 7.5/10
After watching this match, I can imagine all six guys and whoever is booking the X Division sitting in a living room and watching all of the Ultimate X matches from the 2010's and deciding that they need to come up with crazy and new shit, and oh boy, they had new stuff.

Early in the match, Raju had a little story that he couldn't reach the ropes that go corner to corner, so he tried throwing a rope over the cross and climb vertically or trying to use a hook to bring the title down. Nothing worked, but it was a nice little touch for a heel. It would eventually pay off with him finally reaching the ropes, only to get taken out again.

As for innovative spots, we saw a submission human centipede with everyone having a submission on the next, the cool thing was that Alexander actually hanged from the ropes as he locked in the ankle lock on Bey. The setup took a lot, but it looked cool. Also, we saw Petey hit a destroyer as he dropped from the ropes into Bey, who was on the shoulders of Alexander. It looked dangerous, but Bey seemed ok, it was a move with a small window to avoid failure, both to look good and protect Bey.

Finish finally came when Bey and Alexander both raced and had a little tug of war with the title as they hang, they even dodged an Ace Austin that tried to do the springboard steal, but at the end, Alexander dropped Bey for the win. I'm glad they had this match, so that Alexander can go back to normal single awesome matches.

Brian Myers & Tenille Dashwood (w/Kaleb With A K & Sam Beale) vs. Chelsea Green & Matt Cardona - 6.5/10
Green came back for what should been an awkward match, but it actually worked pretty well. Cardona and Green had matching attires, with half Cardona half Hot Mess looks.

The match was mostly Myers getting heat on Cardona until Green got her hands on Dashwood. Nothing much happened in the match until the end when Dashwood tried to low blow Cardona, but he had a protective cup. Green hit a destroyer on Myers and then the Unprettier on Dashwood for the win. Good babyface win over the heels, perfect for the story and position in the card.

I do not know where any of them will go from here, I wouldn't be surprised if Cardona vs Myers is still not done.

Eddie Edwards vs. W. Morrissey - 6.5/10
This was really weird for me, it was perfectly good wrestling, the story itself was making some sense, I just didn't give a single F about it, I actually ended up dreading a Morrissey victory because I have to imagine he will eventually rank enough wins to chase some sort of position or title in the company. It also didn't help that this match actually saw Morrissey cheat to win.

It made sense that Eddie Edwards would give Morrissey a big fight, but I still think that the way the match was going, you could have Morrissey power up or take advantage of an accident for him to get the win over Edwards. Either way, it does make me wonder where he is going with the promotion, he's definitely being built, but I don't know to what end, he's not championship material, I don't even think he's world title challenger material, I don't think anyone wants to see Big Cass vs Omega. You can't even do the Kevin Nash vs X Division story because Josh Alexander is a legit ass kicker that has taken out Madman Fulton by himself.

Madman Fulton & Shera vs. FinJuice (David Finlay & Juice Robinson) - Dud
Prior to the match, Mahabali Shera and Madman Fulton came out to complain about being banned for the Ultimate X match. D'Amore came out and booked them in a match if they really wanted to be on the show, they could fight the returning FinJuice.

The squash itself wasn't just one team overpowering the other, it actually came because Shera and Fulton are not a tag team at all, they don't even like each other, they just happen to be the muscle of two guys that ended up working together in the X Division, and so as they argued with each other, FinJuice got the better of them and picked up the easy win.

Chris Sabin vs. Moose - 8/10
This may have been my favorite match of the night. Straight up wrestling, Sabin looked great and strong against someone like Moose, working his leg as part of the storyline they had for the last month. Moose looked strong as a wrestler that just couldn't be put down, at least until Sabin got him with a roll up and Moose failed to escape in time.

Other than bringing up Moose's Revolution Fly spot, I don't think there is much to say about the match, it was just good wrestling, but I do think it's worth analyzing this result. Up until the surprise debut of tonight's main event, I've expected a Moose vs Omega rematch at Bound For Glory with a full babyface Moose, so I don't know if a loss to Sabin is something that would take us in that direction, but with four months until then, this may had been more about building Sabin towards a title shot against Omega in a smaller Impact+ special. Sabin is a former champion and company original, in other words, a perfect choice for the 'bring the title back to Impact' storyline that they've ran with both Callihan and Moose. I don't know if Impact will do a Destination X this year, but a show built around Josh Alexander defending his title and Sabin challenging Omega could be a huge deal. Then again, the next show is Homecoming, another good name for someone like Sabin going for the title.

Impact World Tag Team Championship Four Way Match
Violent By Design (Joe Doering & Rhino) (w/Deaner & Eric Young) (c) vs. Fallah Bahh & No Way vs. Rich Swann & Willie Mack vs. The Good Brothers (Doc Gallows & Karl Anderson) - 7/10
I don't know the reason, but TJP was supposed to be there and was announced off about two days prior to the show, and so we had a surprise partner for Bahh, that ended up being No Way Jose, who I think now goes as No Way only, I say I think because they called him No Way Jose at points, but his nameplate graphic only said No Way. I really don't know, don't care that much either, he's not someone I care to see on Impact unless he drops the dumb conga line gimmick.

This was underwhelming the talent involved. The tease of Doering versus Gallows was big, the curiosity to see if No Way actually has something worth getting excited for, the potential for a good Anderson vs Swann pair up, it was all there in the match, but nothing was really given that much time or it was straight up meh.

After No Way and Swann got their dancing spot out of the way, half of the match went to the Good Brothers cutting off Swann and working over him, just in their little corner with chokes and stuff, nothing really special. The hot tag came and then they just got everything in, the sequence with everyone hitting their finisher, the Gallows vs Doering half a minute strike exchange, and at the end, when it seemed that VBD was retaining, Good Brothers jumped in, cutter and Magic Killer for the win.

I can't say that I'm super excited for the Good Brothers winning the titles again, but I think it serves a purpose given everything that is happening with AEW and NJPW. It may be a way to get the titles on someone like Mox and Kingston, or with the Guerrillas of Destiny, and that way, try to get them on Bound For Glory.

Impact Knockouts Championship Match
Deonna Purrazzo (c) vs. Thunder Rosa - 8/10
Thunder Rosa was the big surprise challenger that Gail Kim got for Purrazzo. People have argued that someone like Rosa should had been promoted (assuming the booking was finalized by the time of the tapings), and while I can see the argument, I do wonder what sells more, the idea of Rosa vs Purrazzo, or the allure of a surprise debut.

The match was great, it was a speed lucha vs technical submission clash. We saw Rosa mostly have the upper hand, but when Purrazzo would catch her, she would only focus on the arm and as the match went on, Purrazzo's focus on the arm started to weight on Rosa, and so Purrazzo got more and more offense until she got Rosa in the Queen's Gambit and got the win. I think the finish could had been better built to, it kinda came out in a snap second, but overall a good story.

Post-match - Mickie James made her return to Impact, much to the dismay of Purrazzo. James told Purrazzo she wasn't there to confront her or anything, she actually respected her and wanted to invite her to NWA's EMPOWERRR show. Purrazzo said that if she respected her that much, then she shouldn't interrupt her moment, and so she declined the invitation. After exchanging some words, MJ ended up superkicking Purrazzo.

I think we either got the EMPOWERRR or Bound For Glory title match right here.

Impact World Championship No Disqualification Match
Kenny Omega (c) vs. Sami Callihan - 9/10
This was a bloody brawl, I expected violence, but this ended up being quite out there, to the level of Callihan weapon matches and some of Omega's weapon stuff in AEW. It was within a minute or two that Callihan busted Omega open with a pizza cutter, and just a couple more minutes later, Omega stabbed Callihan with a fork to make things equal.

The story of the match itself was that as good as Omega is in weapon matches, he's playing with the Deathmachine himself, so while Omega was a better wrestler and could cut off Callihan with some spot, Callihan would come back with a level of violence that Omega just wasn't expecting. As the match went on and the violence escalated, Omega slowly started to get more of his arsenal in and after a while, he had Callihan ready for a trifecta of V-Triggers involving tacks and the One Winged Angel to put him down. Omega did give A LOT to Callihan, that's something that I can't complain much about Omega, he's been giving a lot to his opponents in Impact.

Post-match - As the Elite celebrated, the lights went out and his music played, and he was JAY FREAKING WHITE! He had a stare down with Omega and company, who offered a two sweet, but before he accepted or rejected, we went off with a cliffhanger.

For those live, there was a spot with FinJuice coming out and going after White, since it will be White vs Finlay at NJPW STRONG Resurgence. It was NOT supposed to be part of the main show, so stop complaining, dorks.

OVERALL THOUGHTS
I thought the show was really fun. By moving a title match to the pre-show, the show felt like it went by faster, more matches had more time to develop, and nothing in the main show felt unnecessary. I did think that this show sacrificed a bit of match quality for the sake of 'entertainment', both in the surprise returns and debuts, and also for the crazy stuff with the Ultimate X or the main event matches.
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