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The Final IMPACT Before “Slammiversary XX” – IMPACT – June 16th, 2022 Special Edition Review

BySteph Franchomme

Jun 18, 2022 , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Here is the case. “Until the day, Until the world falls away, Until you say there will no more good-byes, I see it in your eyes, Tomorrow never dies.” It’s time to celebrate the past, the present, and the future. Make sure that tomorrow will never die… And the case continues…
On the menu, from Kissimmee, Florida, Masha Slamovich (happy birthday, miss!) will face off against Alisha Edwards. Trey Miguel and Speedball Mike Bailey will square off for the very first time, one-on-one. Knockouts Champion Tasha Steelz will team up with her friend Savannah Evans against Jordynne Grace and Mia Yim. IMPACT World Tag Team Champions The Briscoes will compete against Bullet Club’s Jay White and Chris Bey. Aces & 8s are back in the Impact Zone, and Wes Brisco and Garrett Bischoff will face Honor No More’s Vincent and Kenny King. We’ll also attend the contract signing between Eric Young and Josh Alexander (who will be thrown into the table?). Of course, I’ll review this episode, but I will use it as a platform to preview the PPV and not to give you my predictions, I hope with this Nutcracking spirit you love so much. So no more words, let’s get ready for some action, but your French Nygma Steph way, of course…

The Nygma’s Chart of the Week

Many recaps and hype videos on ‘Slammiversary’ matches I chose to let you watch. Tom Hannifan and The Drama King Matthew Rewholdt were on commentary. On ‘BTI’, Laredo Kid defeated Blake Christian in a great match. Scott D’Amore joined Tom Hannifan at the commentary table for this match. (BTI is now available only on Impact Wrestling YouTube and Facebook channels at 7.30 PM EST/12.30 AM GMT and on Impact Plus)

  • IMPACT Knockouts Champion Tasha Steelz & Savannah Evans defeated Jordynne Grace & Mia Yim. Chelsea Green and Deonna Purrazzo, the other Queen of the Mountain match participants, were watching backstage.

  • Backstage, Deonna and Chelsea told Gia Miller that there are no teams in a Queen of the Mountain match but they’ll have each other’s back. Gia asked them what if it comes down to only them? Deonna said they understand that only one can be the Queen of the Mountain. Chelsea said, well, she’s right and they walked off.

  • Backstage, Aces & 8s were reminiscing their legendary moments with Gia Miller when Honor No More walked up and talked trash. Things started to break down before D’Lo showed up to break stuff up. Brisco and Bischoff asked D’Lo what happened to him and why he turned office on them. They said they want Honor No More tonight, D’Lo said the good thing about him being office is he can go ask for that match.

  • Hype video for Eric Young vs. Josh Alexander. Watch and then read my press pass report…

  • Trey Miguel defeated Speedball Mike Bailey.

  • Hype video for Moose vs. Sami Callihan.

  • Masha Slamovich defeated Alisha Edwards w/ Gisele Shaw.  After the match, Masha threatened to attack Alisha after the match but Gisele told her to get out of her and, for some reason, she complied and left it for another day. Happy birthday, Hospital Masha…

  • Backstage, Rosemary and Taya Valkyrie were discussing aligning to take out the Influence.

  • IMPACT World Tag Team Champions The Briscoes defeated Bullet Club (Chris Bey & Jay White).
  • Backstage, Raj Singh and Mahabali Shera talked about how they’ll win the reverse battle royal. Johnny Swinger and Zicky Dice walked up and Swinger said he’s a shoo-in to win after his history of getting eliminated so quickly. Singh told him that’s not how it works but he told him he’ll find out later.

  • Backstage, Wes Brisco and Garrett Bischoff were discussing their upcoming match. D’Lo walked up wearing his vest and said the best part of being Aces & 8s is you never walk alone.

  • Hype video on IMPACT Originals vs. Honor No More. It was announced that Nick Aldis has joined Team IMPACT.

  • Honor No More w/ Eddie Edwards defeated Aces & 8s w/ D’Lo Brown. After the match, D’Lo got in the face of all of Honor No More, he sent everyone to the outside and hit King with the Sky High. Taven and Bennett finally hit the ring and made the save. Bennett and Taven set D’Lo up but Chris Sabin, Alex Shelley, and Kaz made the save. Honor No More ran into a series of superkicks. Shelley hit the Shell Shock on Taven, then a Cradle Shock DDT from Sabin on Bennett.
  • D’Amore introduced Eric Young, who made his way to the ring with Deaner and Joe Doering, then Josh Alexander. D’Amore called this a historic first-time singles match. EY asked D’Amore if he gives a damn about history. Scott told Eric to sign the contract but he told Josh to sign it first. Josh said he can’t believe that Eric doesn’t care about the history of Impact because he was a big piece of the last 20 years of Impact. Josh said he started as a fan and, when he tuned into IMPACT, it made him want to chase his dream. They both owe everything to Impact Wrestling and if Eric doesn’t think Slammiversary is a celebration of all things in the past and to come, then he does and he doesn’t know a better way to celebrate other than kicking his ass. EY said that was cute to pander. He sat right there and said those exact words to these people and it was a lie. Josh is lying to himself and he’s lying to them, the truth is he’s nothing like them he’s 1000 times better than they will ever be. They’re going to judge them and pass out five-star ratings but the fans’ opinion doesn’t matter. Eric said it doesn’t matter to Josh and it doesn’t matter to him. He rides the razor-thin line between chaos and order. Chaos can be beautiful and chaos can be violent. At Slammiversary, he will open Josh’s eyes to the truth. EY signed the contract and told Scott he was done and told him to leave. Eric said he has something to say to him alone. Josh said they have a different idea of what alone means before pointing out Deaner and Joe Doering. Eric said this makes him nervous because his family has his back, and the only people that care about Eric are here to watch his back. Eric called Josh scared because he’s alone. Josh asked Eric if he’s confused at Slammiversary, he walks into their match with this entire company’s history on his back with the entire company at his back. Josh said people who built their careers here have his back. People like Abyss, Samoa Joe, Mickie James, Awesome Kong, Rhino, and the MCMG all started here, they’re known around the world because of Impact wrestling. When he started in 2005, all he heard about was the very best from Canada Showtime Eric Young. The same Eric Young that came out here night after night having people chant “Don’t Fire Eric” is here but he’s wasting his breath. Eric Young would be disgusted to see what Eric’s become now. They threw the table away. Josh saved D’Amore from Doering but Eric hit him from behind. Eric and the rest of VBD laid out Josh, Deaner grabbed a weapon to break down the turnbuckle, then the ring by ripping up the canvas. Eric used the hook of the turnbuckle to cut at Josh’s skull. Eric lifted up the ring canvas exposing the wood underneath. Eric choked out Josh with the rope, set Josh up and nailed him with the piledriver on the exposed wood. VBD stood tall over Josh.

The Nygma’s Noticeable Fact(s) of the Week

– Wrestling Reinvented – Volume IV

2022 as if we were in 2010… I loved those segments…

– Ultimately X-Division

These special-edition reviews are preventing me from the weekly Nutcracker and I could have written a load of good things on Trey Miguel and Speedball Mike Bailey. The match was insanely good and absolutely X-Division. Don’t forget it was their first one-on-one… What an appetizer for the Ultimate-X match it was… The cherry on the cake, the BTI match was also a marvel from the X-Division with Blake Christian and Laredo Kid making the show.

– The World Champion vs a TNA Original – Volume V

Storytelling is the key, was saying Eric Young on Wednesday night… He is definitely a master when it comes to it. When you compare the tone of the press pass to the tone of what happened during the contract signing, you understand both Young and Alexander know how to make a match as interesting as it can be deadly…

– What’s next?

The Fallout from Slammiversary will be taped this Monday, then Against All Odds in 2 weeks, then a plethora of tapings in July and August… I just hope Bound For Glory won’t happen too early because the pace this year has just been crazy…

Impact Wrestling’s Slammiversary 20 Preview, Stakes and Predictions

Slammiversary XX is the best answer Impact Wrestling could give to all the people who have buried them alive for 20 years. Twenty years exactly after the first Slammiversary, the company is not only alive but kicking. That’s the reason why I’ve been developing over the last few weeks this theme of past/present/future. TNA/Impact Wrestling has now existed longer than WCW and ECW. The company has never been a better wrestling show to watch. I’ve been trying to convince every one of you for 5 years now that there’s no more black cloud in the sky. The sun is definitely shining high in the Impact Zone.
What a coincidence that my 5th reviewing anniversary and the company’s 20th anniversary are the same week. In fact no. That’s a lovely surprise and the best celebration we could give each other. Once again, the sceptical in me didn’t find any main question around that PPV. Because Slammiversary is a celebration of Impact Wrestling, its incredibly talented roster, its death-defying imagination, the stubbornness of Scott D’Amore, and the genius of the Creative team. There’s no better show on the wrestling business for the Nygma to tell you the tales of…

All the titles are on the line tonight. We have an Ultimate-X, a first-ever Queen of the Mountain, a Reverse Battle Royal, and a Monster’s Ball, which means Impact Wrestling is offering a buffet of its innovations, creations, and successes. All of this is terribly appealing. That’s why there’s no “Nygma Crystal Ball Says” again for the good reason that whoever wins any of the matches, we, the fans are the winners. This card is incredible, the build-up to this PPV has been incredible.
Like I’m used to saying, every Impact Wrestling PPV is a do-or-die one. On Monday around 4 AM GMT, will we be in awe? We’ll see. I will say what I’m used to say, I genuinely want a PPV like Impact Wrestling can do, with good, great and awesome matches. What I absolutely don’t want is to tell you in my review the legendary “I told you” or “I saw it coming”. Let’s scrutinize this card and see what may happen…

  • Countdown to Slammiversary XX – Reverse Battle Royal

one of the most notorious match types in IMPACT Wrestling history makes its long-awaited return as the Reverse Battle Royal comes to Countdown. Featuring a unique set of rules where all competitors start outside of the ring and fight their way in, you never know who may show up for a shot at greatness.
The last one happened in 2007… A Reverse Battle Royal begins with wrestlers surrounding the ring instead of inside it. At the start of the match, they battle for half of them to get into the ring, at which point a standard last person standing wins the battle royal. How many wrestlers will there be and will the rules be the same? The match was heavily criticized on social media but isn’t it a good way to make the whole roster involved in a historic PPV?

  • Countdown to Slammiversary XX– IMPACT Digital Media Championship Match: Rich Swann (c) vs Brian Myers

Despite defeating Matt Cardona at The Wrestling Revolver to become the new Digital Media Champion, Rich Swann does not have possession of the belt he rightfully earned. After Cardona lost, he stole the title and escaped from the venue. But Cardona would suffer an injury, requiring him to step away from in-ring competition. Cardona passed the belt onto his longtime ally, Brian Myers, and the stage is now set. Rich Swann battles Brian Myers with the Digital Media Title up for grabs.
Matt Cardona’s surgery changed the game a little bit and made Brian Myers step in. The most professional free agent of the business will have a lot to deal with… Rich Swann is the Champion and is definitely wanting to retain…

  • Monster’s Ball Match – Moose vs Sami Callihan

At Under Siege, Sami Callihan made his jaw-dropping return to IMPACT Wrestling as he targeted the man who broke his leg and took him out of action last year, Moose. The “Death Machine” vowed to make Moose’s life a living hell, playing mind games with the former IMPACT World Champion at every turn. Callihan even played a role in costing Moose a coveted IMPACT World Title opportunity in the Gauntlet for the Gold. Following a violent brawl on IMPACT! that saw Callihan lock Moose inside of a dark storage room, we can now confirm that a blockbuster match has been made official. Sami Callihan will collide with Moose in a match with no disqualifications, no count-outs and no shortage of weapons – this is Monster’s Ball! What will happen when two of the most accomplished stars in IMPACT Wrestling go head-to-head? Find out at IMPACT’s biggest event of the summer, Slammiversary.
If Sami Callihan has been vocal on social media on the fact it will be his first Monster’s Ball this Sunday, it will be the same for Moose too. The devil in me bet on a Barbed Wire Massacre, it’s a Monster’s Ball. Well, there will be blood, and I like that…

  • IMPACT Originals (Chris Sabin, Alex Shelley, Frankie Kazarian, Nick Aldis, and ??) vs Honor No More (Eddie Edwards, PCO, Vincent, Matt Taven, and Mike Bennett)

If Honor No More doesn’t get what they want, nobody does. When they were denied a rematch with The Good Brothers by IMPACT Executive Vice President Scott D’Amore, they took it upon themselves to interrupt the highly-anticipated bout between IMPACT veterans Chris Sabin and Frankie Kazarian. The attacks continued one week later when they took Rhino out of action with a vicious steel chair assault. Now D’Amore has tasked Chris Sabin, Frankie Kazarian and Alex Shelley with finding two partners who have competed for IMPACT Wrestling in the past to battle Honor No More in a five-on-five showdown at Slammiversary. Who will reign supreme when Honor No More collides with the IMPACT Originals in the birthplace of IMPACT Wrestling, Nashville, Tennessee?
I’m not the greatest fan of 5 vs 5 matches, I just ask myself who will be the 5th member of Team IMPACT…

  • Ultimate-X Match for the X-Division Championship: Ace Austin (c) vs Trey Miguel vs Kenny King vs Mike Bailey vs Jack Evans vs Alex Zayne

The high-risk, high-wire spectacle known as Ultimate X will return at IMPACT’s summer pay-per-view extravaganza, Slammiversary! As one of the most exciting match types in all of professional wrestling, Ultimate X played an important role in putting IMPACT Wrestling on the map. This time, Ace Austin‘s X-Division Championship will be on the line but who will his opponents be? Honor No More‘s Kenny King, “Speedball” Mike Bailey and former X-Division Champion Trey Miguel were victorious in qualifying matches to punch their ticket to Slammiversary. Plus, Jack Evans makes his long-awaited IMPACT return and Ace Austin’s former friend, Alex Zayne, rounds out the field!
That will be one hell of a great match. Kenny King took part in 6 of them before and even won one. Ace Austin took part in 2 but never won one, Trey Miguel 3 and won one. Bailey, Zayne and Evans will face the flames for the first time and could create a big surprise. All I know is everything is possible in a match like this…

  • Impact Knockouts Tag Team Championship Match – The Influence (c) vs Rosemary & AAA Reina de Reinas Champion Taya Valkyrie

At Slammiversary, former friends and enemies Rosemary and AAA Reina de Reinas Champion Taya Valkyrie will join forces to challenge The Influence for the Knockouts World Tag Team Titles! After Havok failed to prove herself to The Influence, she disappeared from the IMPACT! Zone. One week later, Rosemary scored a huge victory over Tenille Dashwood in singles action but quickly found herself on the receiving end of a two-on-one beatdown. There to make the save was Taya Valkyrie as she assisted Rosemary in sending The Influence scurrying to the back. Can Rosemary and Valkyrie coexist in order to add yet another championship milestone to their long list of accolades? Or will The Influence continue their trend-setting reign?
That match is interesting. May La Wera Loca be the key to the Tag Team belts for Rosemary?

  • Impact World Tag Team Championship Match – The Briscoes (c) vs The Good Brothers

Two of the greatest tag teams in professional wrestling history are set to collide at Slammiversary – but only one can be called the best. It was during a backstage altercation between The Good Brothers and reigning IMPACT World Tag Team Champions The Briscoes when Doc Gallows and Karl Anderson reminded “Dem Boys” that they’ve never defeated them in IMPACT Wrestling. Never backing down from a fight, The Briscoes accepted their challenge before IMPACT Executive Vice President Scott D’Amore made the match official. Having scored a victory over Jay and Mark Briscoe earlier this year at Multiverse of Matches, will The Good Brothers reclaim their spot at the top of the mountain? Or will The Briscoes prove that they’re the new face of the IMPACT tag team division?
At Multiverse of Matches, The Good Brothers defeated The Briscoes. Could they do the same with the titles on the line?

  • Queen of The Mountain Match for the Impact Knockouts Championship – Tasha Steelz (c) vs Jordynne Grace vs Deonna Purrazzo vs Chelsea Green vs Mia Yim

It’s time for the Knockouts of IMPACT Wrestling to make history once again. For the first time ever, five Knockouts will compete in a Queen of the Mountain match as Tasha Steelz defends her title in one of the most unique match types in professional wrestling. As revealed by IMPACT Hall of Famer Gail Kim, challenging her will be a lineup of former Knockouts World Champions: Chelsea Green, Jordynne Grace, Deonna Purrazzo and Mia Yim, who made her shocking IMPACT return at Under Siege. Who will climb the ladder and hang the title to leave IMPACT Wrestling’s 20th-anniversary celebration as the Knockouts World Champion? Plus, we now know that Mickie James will be the Special Guest Enforcer to ensure that it’s a fair fight.

The five competitors in the match start out as “ineligible” to win. In order to become “eligible”, a wrestler must score a pinfall or submission on an opponent. The opponent who submits or is pinned is forced to spend two minutes in the “penalty box” cage. More than one wrestler can be in the cage. This often results in wrestlers fighting inside the cage or forming some sort of alliance. Once “eligible”, the wrestler may win the match by retrieving the match’s prize (usually a championship belt) and hanging it on the hook suspended above the ring with the aid of the ladders. An official maintains possession of the belt and circles the ring, staying out of the action as much as possible. When a wrestler wishes to hang the belt, he must retrieve it from the official. Once the belt is in play, any other wrestler who is eligible may attempt to steal the belt and hang it. Once the belt has been dropped and no wrestler is attempting to hang it, a referee returns the belt to the official.
These are the rules. It’s a first, I want to watch that, I want to enjoy that. Then, when it comes to the winner…

  • Impact World Championship Match – Josh Alexander (c) vs Eric Young

In the span of two weeks, Josh Alexander defeated Moose to become the new IMPACT World Champion at Rebellion, defeated him again in a rematch on IMPACT!, then retained the IMPACT World Title over Tomohiro Ishii at Under Siege. Now the “Walking Weapon” turns his attention towards Slammiversary where he will defend his title against the winner of Gauntlet for the Gold, the maniacal leader of Violent By Design, Eric Young! Alexander has made one thing abundantly clear – he is ready to take on all challengers as the new face of IMPACT Wrestling. Will Alexander’s trend-setting reign continue or is Young walking out of Nashville with the gold simply “by design”?
A huge match, there’s no other way to say it. A collision of generations and styles. Two specialists in their own games. A flow of emotions, distractions, anger, hate… and in the end, the World Championship… May the best win…

To be eNYGMAtic…

It was exactly what you can expect from a go-home episode, the tension increasing, feuds at their maximum, the company did a great job with this episode. I already told you so much I think there’s no need to tell you more. Don’t miss the Slammiversary review on Monday.
Next week, I have no clue what’s going to happen. I took part in a Champion vs Challenger press pass, with Moose and Josh Alexander, enjoy this interview. I talked to Chris Sabin earlier this week and shared some words from Scott D’Amore. All of that explains why I’m so late this week… What could I add? Follow me on @FrenchNygma and react to the reviews and interviews. Every like, every word is gold.
On this very “Nygma Says 20 is the new 5” note, until Slammiversary, until next week, stay safe, take care, watch wrestling, and never EVER forget to stay #eNYGMAtic…

All pics, videos, and screenshots courtesy of Impact Wrestling, Fight Network, Fite TV and AXS TV. Photocollage by @frenchnygma exclusively for @steelchairmag.

By Steph Franchomme

News, Reviews, Social Media Editor, Impact Wrestling Reviewer, Interviewer Well, call me The Boss... And French...

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