TNA’s annual anniversary pay-per-view is upon us and to celebrate their sixth year in existence, they are taking the show on the road to Memphis, Tennessee. Well, not really Memphis, but across the state line into Southaven, Mississippi, which is close enough. The show is headlined by the Slammiversary staple King of the Mountain match, and will also feature another five matches and a wedding.
Here is the current lineup:
- Samoa Joe vs. Robert Roode vs. Booker T vs. Christian Cage vs. Rhino (King of the Mountain for the TNA World Heavyweight Championship)
- AJ Styles vs. Kurt Angle
- The LAX vs. Team 3D (TNA Tag Team Championship)
- Petey Williams vs. Kaz (X-Division Title)
- Gail Kim/ODB/Roxxi Laveaux vs. the Beautiful People
- Awesome Kong’s $25,000 Challenge
- Jay Lethal & SoCal Val’s wedding
Samoa Joe vs. Robert Roode vs. Booker T vs. Christian Cage vs. Rhino (King of the Mountain for the TNA World Heavyweight Championship)
For this year’s King of the Mountain match, Jim Cornette handpicked four TNA stars who haven’t held the World title and Samoa Joe picked four of whom he felt were the toughest on the roster. Those eight competed in qualifying matches with only one of Cornette’s picks making it to the KotM match. Kevin Nash, who was upset by not being selected as one of Joe’s picks, has made a deal with Jim Cornette to be the special enforcer in the match.
Even with the strange rules, the penalty box and basically being a reverse ladder match, the King of the Mountain match is usually entertaining to watch and this year should be no exception. In recent weeks, TNA has been airing video packages on how the champion going into the KotM match has always lost the title. With that in mind, I feel that TNA is trying to add a little something extra to give more meaning to Samoa Joe’s victory.
Starman’s Prediction: Samoa Joe to retain the TNA World Heavyweight Championship.
AJ Styles vs. Kurt Angle
While in the Angle Alliance, AJ Styles got close to Kurt Angle’s wife, Karen. Maybe even a little too close. So close that Kurt Angle claims that the two had an affair, which Styles denies. The denial didn’t stop Angle and his team of Bad Guys hand out a beat down to Styles on two separate occasions. This has seemed to light a fire in Styles who has now transformed from a country hayseed lackey to a rebirth of the Phenomenal One.
This could easily be match of the night… if all of the performers are in top shape. Kurt Angle hasn’t wrestled in a TNA ring since suffering a neck injury a month ago in South Korea. This could mean that he will either have a little rust or it may limit what he does in the ring. At any rate, I feel that Styles should win this match, unless, of course, the Angle’s are doing the ultimate swerve and have been in-cahoots all along. That wouldn’t surprise me in the least.
Starman’s Prediction: AJ Styles to win the match.
The LAX vs. Team 3D (TNA Tag Team Championship)
Last month’s Sacrifice pay-per-view almost solely focused on the Deuces Wild Tag Team Tournament for the vacated tag team titles. These two teams met in the finals with the LAX winning the match to be crowned the new tag team champs. The following week on Impact, Team 3D extracted a bit of revenge when they beat and bloodied the LAX’s advisor, Hector Guerrero.
These two teams had a long feud over the tag team titles in the first half of 2007 and I wouldn’t doubt if another lengthy feud is on the horizon. Unlike last time, though, the roles of the two teams have been reversed as the LAX are now the fan favorites and Team 3D is the team that everyone loves to hate. However, as the saying goes, history always repeats itself and the LAX come out on top in this match, much like they won the majority of their matches during the last time these two teams feuded.
Starman’s Prediction: The LAX to retain the tag team gold.
Petey Williams vs. Kaz (X-Division Title)
At Sacrifice, Kaz won the TerrorDome match against nine other X Division stars to become the number one contender to the X Division title. Prior to Sacrifice, the X Division champ, Petey Williams, suffered an orbital bone fracture and hasn’t been seen in the ring since. As a matter of fact, very little has been seen of Williams since then and when he does make an appearance, he is wearing dark sunglasses and Scott Steiner usually steals the spotlight.
All of the momentum that Petey Williams had in becoming a miniature version of Scott Steiner came to a screeching halt when he was injured. I was hoping for Williams to have a decent run with the title and help bring it back to some of its former glory, but that hasn’t been able to happen. I think it is time to give the title a fresh start with a new champion with Kaz winning the title at Slammiversary. This would also set up a champion vs. champion match on Impact as Kaz is scheduled to take on the World Champion after winning a King of the Mountain match preview this past week.
Starman’s Prediction: Kaz to win the X Division title.
Gail Kim/ODB/Roxxi Laveaux vs. the Beautiful People
Velvet Sky & Angelina Love, collectively known as the Beautiful People, have been making their presence known throughout the Knockout Division. Over the past month, not only did they cause Roxxi Laveaux to get her head shaved, but they have been interfering in matches, giving women the “brown bag treatment” and are generally getting under the skin of all of the women in TNA. Gail Kim, ODB and Roxxi tried to get back at them, but an unknown woman (Mickie Knuckles) came to assist the Beautiful People and this six-woman tag match was made.
It will be interesting to see how the Beautiful People work with their new partner, who will be providing the muscle for the group. She should give ODB a run for her money when it comes down to brute strength and that should give the Beautiful People all that they need to pick up a victory in this match.
Starman’s Prediction: The Beautiful People to win the match.
Awesome Kong’s $25,000 Challenge
Over the past few weeks on Impact, Awesome Kong has been issuing a $25,000 challenge to any woman who can come in the ring and defeat her. So far, Kong has defeated a few random “fans” and this past week she had a choice between a trio of actual wrestlers. Daffney, who is best known from her days in WCW, was chosen and ended up being the last unlucky participant to the challenge.
The challenge will continue at Slammiversary and I can see this going in one of two ways. I have a feeling that they use this as an opportunity to bring in a new star and either have her come close to winning the match or having Kong make a mistake that costs her the match and the $25,000 cash prize. I have no idea who they may bring in to fill that roll, but I wouldn’t mind seeing Kong take on Cheerleader Melissa. I’m sure there is zero chance of that happening, though.
Since there isn’t an opponent assigned to the match, I reserve the right to not make a prediction.
Jay Lethal & SoCal Val’s Wedding
Much like Jay Lethal’s character, this has been blatantly ripped off from Randy Savage and his marriage to Miss Elizabeth. Even former WWF stars from Savage’s heyday will be in attendance to witness the wedding, such as Koko B. Ware, George “The Animal” Steel, Kamala and Jake “The Snake” Roberts.
Former American Idol contestant, Ace Young, will also be performing during the wedding and Lethal’s best man, Sonjay Dutt, has said that he has something important to say during the ceremony. I am hoping that this will finally lead to something between Dutt and Lethal or else this whole story would have been for nothing.
There is the Slammiversary preview in a nutshell. Aside from the King of the Mountain match, the card is actually pretty vacant of gimmick matches. Since it is Slammiversary, I am willing to let that match slide without complaint as it is a staple of this particular event.
What surprised me even more than the lack of gimmick matches is the fact that they are having regular 1-on-1 matches or tag matches instead of triple threats, four ways or 10 against all matches. Over the past several months, that has been one of my big issues with their pay-per-views and it looks like they may be trying to get rid of that trend as well. I’m sure a lot of the roster will be in attendance of the wedding of Jay Lethal and SoCal Val, but at least they don’t have every single person on the roster participating in a match.
This pay-per-view could turn out to be one of the best ones TNA will have this year as they are letting the wrestlers focus on their matches instead of being overshadowed by the gimmicks and stipulations. If you haven’t already spent all of your hard earned money on the two WWE pay-per-views that took place over the past three weeks, you may want to look into getting this one as well.
As always, live coverage of Slammiversary will be on Gerweck.net starting at 8:00 EST.
