Billed as the event where “The World Changes…Again”, the 2021 Impact Slammiversary looks like it may live up to that moniker, as there are three matches where a mystery participant will be revealed, an unpredictable main event in the form of a No DQ match for the Impact World title, plus who the hell knows who might show up in Nashville on Saturday?
I am joined by Mike Charlip from “Mouthing Off with Mike Charlip” (@MikeJC821) breaking down each match on the Slammiversary card and our humble predictions of what will the outcomes be. Please note that all the graphics below are from the Impact Wrestling Twitter account.
Eddie Edwards vs. W. Morrissey
KWK: At first when I saw Morrissey’s debut, I thought he was an additional member of Violent By Design, which made me wonder if VBD needed THREE big hosses in that faction. But it turns out he was only playing the hired gun role, as he has become his own man and taken down every opponent ever since. He mowed through a former X Division Champion, Willie Mack, and former Impact Champion Rich Swann. The build is clearly evident for Morrissey as this unstoppable monster, with a capable intelligent promo to boot; I find little to disagree with what he says on his promos based on how I’ve know his career has unfolded. As decorated a veteran and champion Eddie Edwards is, Edwards doesn’t actually need this win, but W. Morrissey does.
Winner: W. Morrissey
MC: This should be an interesting match, but I don’t think the winner is in doubt at all. W. Morrissey has been on a tear, beating former champions left and right and he’s going to continue that here. They clearly have big plans for him and him getting a loss here certainly wouldn’t help that at all. Also he’s definitely gone out of his way to get in shape and look good in the ring and I’m excited for him to see how his hard work of getting bigger and better pays off. Eddie Edwards is untouchable in Impact he’s basically the top guy that has job security who is putting people over now and he’s happy doing it as long as it matter and he’s having good matches and that will continue here.
Winner: W.Morrissey
Brian Myers & Tenille Dashwood vs. Matt Cardona & TBA
KWK: I wasn’t expecting Cardona to be back so soon because it seems he is currently wrapped up in a feud with death-match wrestler Nick Gage. I certainly also wasn’t expecting a rekindling of personal tensions with the inclusion of Tenille Dashwood, who is Cardona’s real life ex-girlfriend, into this never ending Cardona v. Myers feud. The X factor of this match is Cardona’s mystery partner, which will really decide this match’s outcome.
My top three choices are Chelsea Green, Cassie Lee and Taylor Wilde. If I was a WWE booker, I would just pick Wilde as there has been prior storylines of Dashwood attempting to team with her but Wilde wasn’t exactly enthusiastic about that partnership, but in all honestly that would generate the least amount of pop, especially since Impact is NOT WWE and they want fans to give a huge pop for the first show with live audiences back. Therefore I think it’s either going to be Green or Lee (formerly Peyton Royce from WWE); Green being of course Cardona’s real life fiance and Lee also being a fellow Australian like Dashwood.
Winner: Matt Cardona and TBA
MC: This match was put together on the last Impact episode before this pay-per-view. Brian Myers is still obsessed with Matt Cardona being in Impact accusing Cardona of stealing his spotlight and Cardona saying that isn’t true at all. Then this week he was trying to get the upper hand on Cardona by getting someone to help him and he happened to run into Tenille who happens to be an ex girlfriend of Cardona. It’s out of left field for sure and I think with that said immediate speculation is that Chelsea Green would be teaming with Cardona who happens to be his current girlfriend. Chelsea Green just appeared for Ring of Honor but reportedly hasn’t signed there so it’s completely possible despite them saying she isn’t cleared. So it’s also very possible this could be someone else coming in to team with Cardona, who that would be I have no clue. Either way I think whoever it is Cardona’s team will get the win and then maybe everyone involved can move on.
Winner: Matt Cardona & TBA
Chris Sabin vs. Moose
KWK: Moose is still the odds on favourite to eventually dethrone Omega for the Impact World Championship, but before that he needs to get past a former champion like Sabin. I would expect this match to be hard hitting considering the personal animosity that has been built up the past several weeks since Sabin reappeared to extract his ‘pound of flesh’ from Moose over the injuries sustained by his partner James Storm.
I would expect Moose to finish this match with a win but then attempt to injure Sabin’s knee (Sabin’s had a few surgeries in the past) but Storm returning to chase off the ‘Wrestling God’, setting up a final confrontation with Moose at some point in time. Moose being able to beat two former world champions would give him the credibility to challenge Omega again.
Winner: Moose
MC: As much as this will probably be a great match, it’s a throw away. Moose is winning, there’s no way he doesn’t unless they do a distraction finish where a returning James Storm comes back for revenge since him and Sabin are technically still a team. I don’t see it happening that way, I think Moose will win decisively, Sabin will put up a fight of course by Moose will ultimately win. Moose is still my pick to dethrone Kenny Omega of the Impact championship and this is the first step to getting him back in the title picture. I think James Storm will return on this show probably after this match to get revenge on Moose and set up a rematch between them. I’ve been saying since Kenny won the title that Moose would be the one to take it off of him and sticking by that so he needs to get the momentum back.
Winner: Moose
Impact World Tag Team Championship Violent By Design (c) vs. Rich Swann & Willie Mack vs. vs. The Good Brothers vs. TBA
The original match that was booked included the team of TJP and Fallah Bahh but as of this writing Impact made this announcement:
KWK: As if there wasn’t enough speculation on who will show up on Slammiversary on the women’s side, now this unexpected monkey wrench has been thrown in the works. With Impact saying this will still go on as a four way tag team match, who will replace the team of TJP and Fallah?
Does Fallah get a new partner or does a whole new team get inserted into the mix? Safe and available bets would be either XXXL or Decay, but I did hear new Impact star Steve Maclin (formerly Steve Cutler from NXT’s Forgotten Sons) speak up this past week. Could he be joined by his old buddy and partner Wesley Blake for this incursion? If Fallah gets a new partner, I think the only appropriate choice would be Heath, given his past with Rhyno.
I’m not sure if a new team or competitor’s inclusion would do much in changing the perception that this will come down to Violent By Design, which looks like they’ll be represented by Joe Doering and Rhyno and the Good Brothers. After months of being by Omega and the Young Bucks’ side on Impact and AEW, it’s good to see Karl Anderson and the Big LG back in the title picture after they dropped the belts to FinJuice at Rebellion. I am willing to make a leap of faith and say Gallows and Anderson get back on track and become two time Impact Tag Team Champions.
Winner: The Good Brothers (Karl Anderson and The Big LG Doc Gallows)
MC: At last minute TJP was not cleared to compete so now him and Fallah Bahh are out and a new team will be added and the question now is who that team is. That puts a whole new wrinkle into this match because if it had gone as scheduled I would have said VBD would be retaining but now I fully expect whoever the replacement is to win. Now who do I think that replacement is, Steve Maclin has been in Impact for a few weeks now and has been destroying local talent. A former partner of his, the former Wesley Blake now going by Westin Blake is officially a free agent and I think Impact would be a good fit for him. So I think they are going to be the surprise team here and win the titles. I’ve kind of expected Willie Mack to turn on Rich Swann, because to me Mack has just been portrayed as Rich’s friend, and I think he’s going to eventually going to look at it from Morrissey’s point of view that having friends doesn’t get you anywhere and he will turn on Rich, that’s what I expect out of those two so they probably wouldn’t win here. The Good Brothers are enthralled in The Elite stuff and can always get back in the title picture later on, they were kind of put to the side after FinJuice lost the belts to VBD and they will get the titles again just not now. As mentioned before the TJP injury I fully expected VBD to retain and now the surprise team is the favorite to me, and you can always put Deaner in there to take the pin because that’s kind of been his role in the group and that’s probably what will happen.
Winner: TBA
Impact Knockouts Championship Fire N’ Flava (c) vs. Rosemary & Havok
KWK: Kiera Hogan and Tasha Steelz have been doing yeomen’s work in giving credibility to the Knockouts Tag Championships during their two reigns. But in a feud like this involving such characters, I find that a title change is the only way to conclude this story-line. It’s become evident to me that the slow build has always been for Havoc to become a full fledged member of Decay, alongside Rosemary, Crazy Steve and Black Taurus. The Way over on NXT shows it’s possible to have a group that hits gender parity.
On Impact this past week, we saw that Father James Mitchell, responsible for suppressing Su Yung into Susan (or maybe now vice versa), inserting himself into the Rosemary and Havoc situation, giving me a stronger belief that Havoc will emerge “reborn” for her match alongside the Demon Assassin. A similar transformation occurred when Decay debuted about five years ago, with Abyss ditching his mask in favour of matching Decay face paint, which led to him and Steve capturing the Impact tag team titles.
It looks like Susan/Su Yung may end up making Kimber ‘an undead bride’, and with Havoc obviously becoming part of Decay and the possibility of the former IIconics showing up at Slammiversary, this Knockouts tag division is looking more solid by the week. With that being said, in my mind, all roads right now lead to Rosemary and Havoc emerging victorious with the titles.
Winner: Rosemary and Havoc
MC: This should be a really good match. Both of these teams are very good workers in the ring and the chemistry they’ve had in separate singles matches has proved that. I’ve been saying for a long time that this is the perfect time for the former Iiconics to show up and get involved in this division it’s literally tailor made for them and Tenille has been looking for a partner so why not two fellow Australians to form a trio who share the belts like VBD does down the line. With that said in regards to this match, I think it’s time for Rosemary and Havok to get the win here I would love to see them as the champions going forward and being the team that feuds with Cassie Lee & Jessica McKay in the near future again this is all speculation on my part and there’s no guarantee that would even happen but that’s how I’m going to think about it going in. Fire N’ Flava have had a good run as a team but, I think it’s time for Kiera Hogan to have a singles run if she decides to stay in Impact we’ll see but she’s the star of that team to me and deserves a run down the line.
Winner: Rosemary & Havok
Ultimate X Match X Division Championship Josh Alexander (c) vs. Petey Williams vs. Chris Bey vs. Ace Austin vs. Rohit Raju vs. Trey Miguel
KWK: To me, Josh Alexander is the local hometown hero and I can’t wait to see my first full Ultimate X match. I’ve only seen clips of an Ultimate X, but from what I’ve seen it looks wild judging from the heights that wrestlers have to scale in order to retrieve the X Division title. Unlike other six man matches, alliances have formed between Austin and Rohit, and Josh, Trey and Petey Williams. Chris Bey briefly aligned himself with the latter before turning on everyone and basically becoming like the Renegade like in that card game Bang.
In retrospect, what Bey did makes the most sense as this match is everyone for themselves, even though Austin and Rohit have formed a partnership, backed up by their respective hosses in Madman Fulton and Shera, who no doubt would play a role in this match with the potential for chaos to ensue. But you know, Austin and Rohit, with their massively inflated egos, will eventually turn on each other…because after all, only one man can walk out X Division Champion. The outcome looks like a tossup, but Josh has been built a solid run as champion and I think he will ‘ultimately’ walk away with win…and the opportunity to cash in on “Option C”.
Winner: Josh Alexander
MC: Man I love this mach stipulation. The Ultimate X match is always exciting to me and it’s the one original idea from the history of Impact and TNA that has been actually good. The match always has big moments and things to remember. All of these competitors could possibly win as well. To me Josh Alexander needs to have a super long run and shouldn’t lose the belt at all. He should do the option C route down the line and trade in the belt for a world title shot because he is a star and it would be a great deal of momentum for him to get to that point. All the challengers have had a great deal of momentum coming into this match and the likes of Trey Miguel, Ace Austin and Chris Bey are all future world champions. Rohit has been doing a great job in his role and he could absolutely win here but I don’t think he will for reasons mentioned earlier and Petey Williams doesn’t need it, he’s a veteran who really doesn’t need to be winning titles.
Winner: Josh Alexander
Impact Knockouts Championship Deonna Purrazzo (c) vs. TBA
KWK: I have little doubt that Deonna Purrazzo (aka the Forever Champion) is going to win this match, no matter who her opponent is; in fact it’s most likely that she will surpass the one year mark as Knockouts Champion, as a possible collision course with AEW Women’s Champion Dr. Britt Baker D.M.D. building up, maybe even at AEW’s All Out.
So that leaves the main question as to who The Virtuosa will face in her title defense? The most common speculation is either Chelsea Green or Mickie James, both former Impact stars whose images have graced Slammiversary commercials for several months. But I mentioned earlier that Green would most likely be tagging with her man Matt Cardona is that mixed tag match, and with James working on producing an all women’s show on NWA does she even have the time?
Therefore I’m willing to say Purrazzo’s opponent will be AEW’s Hikaru Shida, since it’s too early to start a program with Dr. Baker just yet, as the AEW Champion has her own title defense against Nyla Rose on Night 2 of Fyter Fest this coming Wednesday. Shida was the immediate past AEW Women’s Champion, the longest reigning title holder as she won the belt at last year’s Double or Nothing and dropped in on the same show one year later to Baker. She’s got that street cred, and with the Japanese style it’s not something I’ve seen Deonna be put up against before.
Winner: Deonna Purrazzo
MC: So it’s no secret, Deonna Purrazzo has been the face of this division since arriving in Impact last year. She’s beaten everyone there is to beat right now, she’s beaten returning legends, she’s beaten current stars, she’s had an answer for everything put in front of her. So now Gail Kim told her she should be good enough to go into the biggest show not knowing her opponent at all. So here we are, now who is it going to be? I think it’s going to be Mickie James. They’ve been making a lot of hints to her returning even a garbage bag with her name on it in a segment as a jab at WWE for the trashbag gate stuff. Regardless of all that, I think it will be Mickie as her opponent, and Deonna will retain. Deonna has been on this roll and there’s no reason to end it here. If the opponent is Mickie it should be a hell of a match as Deonna has had great matches with anyone and I’m not just saying that because she’s one of my favorites in wrestling today.
Winner: Deonna Purrazzo
No DQ Match Impact World Championship Kenny Omega (c) vs. Sami Callihan
KWK: As Mike said, knowing this is now a No Disqualifcation match opens up the door to many shenanigans; the Good Brothers could run interference. Hell, maybe even the Young Bucks show up in the Impact Zone for the first time in years (I do not count their run-in on Moose at Against All Odds since that was at AEW’s home turf of Daily’s Place). It is passing strange for Omega at this point to continue playing the concerned champion over Callihan’s violent tenancies, considering Omega was in an Exploding Barbed Wire Death match against Jon Moxley earlier this year.
Again, like the match with Moose I’m not sensing this is the right time for Omega to start dropping gold. Both companies are going to play this Belt Collector gimmick to the hilt and have this continue well into the fall as more fans are welcomed back on both companies’ shows so they can get a genuine pop for when Omega does start losing gold. As violent as this match has the potential of turning out, Omega still walks away with the win.
Winner: Kenny Omega
MC: I haven’t loved this feud for the soul reason that Don Callis has really put himself in front of it and it’s gotten a little out of hand. Saying Sami is dangerous and wanting to protect Kenny from the likes of him just makes Kenny look and sound weak. Kenny shouldn’t care about “how dangerous” his opponent is he should be trying to figure out every way he can to defeat him because he’s done the exact thing before with Moxley. Of course I think we all know the reason this was made a no DQ match was to allow for interference and I’m sure there will be a lot of it on the behalf of Kenny Omega. The question is will anyone help Sami just because they’d be helping Impact to possibly get the belt off Kenny and I think it’s possible something like that could happen but it not working out in the end, because Kenny is absolutely retaining here, this match doesn’t feel big enough for it to be the end of this reign for Omega, and I fully believe that his downward spiral of losing all his belts is still not going to happen until at least August or September til he loses one of his other belts first and start the domino effect of losing all the others, does it start with him losing the AAA Mega Championship in August or the AEW World Championship in September only time will tell.
Winner: Kenny Omega
An average professional doing the 9-5 grind who really loves wrestling across all platforms. Here's hoping wrestlers finally get some basic workers rights in 2021.
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