A video package highlighting the matches at Slammiversary kicks off Impact. The pyro then goes off in the Impact Zone and we head to the announce table who hypes Slammiversary and tonight’s return to the ring for Kurt Angle. We will also see footage of Sting’s attack on Jeff Jarrett at Sacrifice.
AJ Styles’ music hits as he comes down to the ring with Beer Money, Desmond Wolfe and Kazarian. Styles says that Flair is out tonight so he will take control of tonight’s situation. Styles says they are scheduled to be in an 8-man tag match tonight, however, there are five of them in the ring. Styles says the soulution is to kick Kazarian to the curb, so he tells him to hit the bricks.
Ric Flair’s music then hits and Jay Lethal comes out and pulls off his best Flair impersonation. Lethal says Styles was right about there being an 8-man tag and introduces his team, which consists of Abyss and Mr. Anderson. Styles says he can’t count as there are five on his side and three on his side. Lethal says Abyss counts as two guys and storms the ring.
The two side get into a brawl as Jeff Hardy’s music hits and he helps out to get Styles and his crew out of the ring. Mike Tenay says they now know who their fourth partner is and the two sides will meet in tonight’s main event.
Brian Kendrick is with the docu-cam who says he understands his true purpose and he is here in TNA to capture the X Division Championship, which is a championship that shows no limits and is a title for the truly courageous.
Match 1: Brian Kendrick vs. Homicide
As the match starts, Douglas Williams comes out and joins the announce team to see his Slammiversary opponent up close. The match starts and Homicide goes on the attack and goes for the Gringo Killer, but Kendrick squirms out of it. Homicide, though, goes back on the attack and takes Kendrick down with a t-bone suplex which gives him a two count.
Homicide begins choking Kendrick with his athletic tape but Kendrick is able to fight back with an enziguri that sends Homicide out to the ramp. Kendrick follows him out and smashes his head on the ramp until the referee pulls him off. Homicide then goes under the ring and grabs a tool box with a hammer in it but the ref takes it away. Kendrick then kicks Homicide in the face and picks up the pin fall.
A fight is in the back between Team 3D and Ink Inc. Security is holding both sides apart as we head into a commercial break.
After the break, Ink Inc. are in the ring and Jesse Neal calls out Brother Ray so he can talk to him man-to-man. Brother Ray comes out and is being held back by Brother Devon and security and agents. Neal wants to know why he has been laying them out in the back and putting cards on them. Ray says he doesn’t know what he is talking about but he needs an ego check. Ray says before Team 3D showed him the way, he was nothing but a failure in the Navy. This sets of Neal and Ray turns his attention to Shannon Moore.
Moore calls Ray the biggest douche bag in the business. Devon steps in and says he never liked Moore but gets a free pass since he is with Neal, who is a product of theirs. Devon then tells Ray to get his head on straight before leaving the ring. Ray then blindsides Neal before leaving the ring.
Mike Tenay then sets up the footage from Sacrifice where Sting brutally beat down Jeff Jarrett. The footage airs where we see Sting beat down a bloody Jeff Jarrett and the graphic footage of what it looks like Jarrett’s shoulder popping out of socket. After beating Jarrett to a bloody pulp, Sting rolls Jarrett into the ring and scores the pin fall after hitting a Scorpion Death Drop. Afterwards, Sting says the blood is not on his hands, but it is on Hogan’s hands.
The docu-cam sneaks up on Matt Morgan who is with Eric Bischoff. Morgan cuts to the chase and wants to know who his partner is at Slammiversary. Bischoff says a partner has been selected and his partner will love him to death. In fact, he will find out tonight as his title match will take place tonight. Morgan doesn’t want anything to do with it and can’t believe that it is him.
A video of Jeff Jarrett talking about his match with Sting at Sacrifice is aired. Jarrett says this is a different Sting that he knows from before and that he is possessed with an evil that he has never seen. Jarrett vows revenge, but says it won’t happen any time soon as his arm is in a sling. Jarrett says he has a personal connection to Slammiversary and promises to get answers from Sting.
Prior to the tag team match, Hulk Hogan comes out while Matt Morgan is in the ring. Hogan says he has his tag team partner and it is Hernandez. Hernandez comes, flies into the ring and takes out Morgan. Hernandez strangles Morgan with his t-shirt and chokes him out. Hogan, who is at the announce table, announces that he is going to put Hernandez in a match against Matt Morgan at Slammiversary.
Morgan is tended to by trainers and is placed on a stretcher as the Band’s music hits. The three come down to the ring and the bell rings for the tag team title match.
Match 2: Matt Morgan vs. the Band (TNA Tag Team Championship)
While Morgan is strapped down to the stretcher, Eric Young goes and covers Morgan to pick up the pin fall.
Christy is with RVD who says he is going to show Sting why he is champion at Slammiversary. RVD is blindsided, though, by Sting and he begins to choke him out before laying into him with some hard fists. Sting then picks up the TNA World Championship and walks away with the title.
After a break, trainers check on RVD who is concerned with his World Championship that is missing. RVD then leaves and goes off to look for Sting.
Kurt Angle’s music then hits as he comes out to the ring with a microphone. Angle says he will be taking on Kazarian this Sunday at Slammiversary, so to prepare he invited a friend to wrestle him who is one of the best X Division wrestlers in the company. He told him not to hold anything back as he is going to do the same.
Match 3: Kurt Angle vs. Amazing Red
The match starts and Red takes Angle down with a head scissors but Angle pops right back up. Angle fires back with a belly-to-belly suplex and charges at Red but is sidestepped and Angle falls out to the floor. Red then comes back and hits a hurricanrana from the ring apron and sends him crashing into the floor.
The match returns to the ring where Angle quickly takes control of the match with a hard clothesline. Angle sets up for an Angle Slam but Red counters into a DDT. Red then takes Angle down with a second DDT and nearly picks up the pin fall. Red again almost picks up a pin fall after landing a standing moonsault but Angle kicks out.
Red heads to the top and misses with a high risk move and Angle hits the Angle Slam to pick up the pin fall. After the match, Angle picks up Red and shakes his hand.
Sting is seen in the back where he says he is in possession of the TNA World Championship but after Sunday he will own it. Sting promises to lift the veil over TNA and says the word of the month is ‘deception’ as it is now written on the title. Sting then says change is coming.
A video package highlighting the history of Slammiversary is aired. Both Dixie Carter and Hulk Hogan give their thoughts on TNA, their growth and their talent. The package then highlights the big matches on the card with well put together footage.
RVD is seen walking around in the back and is heading up to the rafters looking for Sting and his TNA World Championship.
Match 4: AJ Styles/Beer Money/Desmond Wolfe vs. Abyss/Jay Lethal/Mr. Anderson/Jeff Hardy
Jay Lethal starts out strong against Robert Roode before tagging in Abyss. Abyss takes out both members of Beer Money as does Mr. Anderson and Jeff Hardy. Storm finally pokes Hardy in the eyes and tags in Desmond Wolfe, who gains control of the match. His team starts working over Hardy with quick tags and double team moves while picking up a few near falls.
Hardy finally lands a jawbreaker on Styles and makes the hot tag to Jay Lethal who takes out all four of his opponents. This match then breaks down with everybody hitting their signature moves with Wolfe ending it with a lairet to Abyss. Wolfe begins to yell at Chelsea to give him a chair but she is reluctant to do so. Wolfe finally gets it from her but Abyss punches it in his face.
Styles then springboards into the ring and takes Abyss out with a flying forearm. Styles then counters a springboard from Lethal with the Styles Clash to pick up the pin fall for his team. Styles’ team then celebrate in the ring with their victory.
Sting is seen in the back with the title around his waist. He tells “Robbie” to keep looking for him and promises to stay where he is standing as we head into a commercial break.
We return to see RVD looking around in the back and is attacked from behind by Sting. RVD begins to fight back as the wreck havoc on the merchandise stand before heading underneath the bleachers. The two brawl into the Impact Zone and into the ring where RVD begins to choke Sting with his own trench coat. RVD strips the title from around his waist before putting a steel chair in between the ropes. Sting, though, drives RVD’s head through the chair before hitting him in the back with it.
Sting grabs the title belt back and places the title across RVD’s chest and says it is his until Sunday before walking away and Impact comes to a close.
Quick Results
- Brian Kendrick defeated Homicide by pin fall.
- The Band defeated Matt Morgan by pin fall to retain the TNA Tag Team Championship.
- Kurt Angle defeated Amazing Red by pin fall.
- AJ Styles/Beer Money/Desmond Wolfe defeated Abyss/Jay Lethal/Mr. Anderson/Jeff Hardy by pin fall.
Starman’s Thoughts
Tonight was a solid go-home show for Slammiversary and TNA did a great job putting over the pay-per-view and making it look like it is really a huge event. There wasn’t a lot tonight in the form of matches, but those that did take place (with the exception of one) were great.
For starters, every match tonight hyped the Slammiversary card at least in some way, shape or form. The first match put Brian Kendrick against Homicide and gave Kendrick some face time on television before going up against Douglas Williams for the X Division Championship. Kendrick won his match, and it surprisingly wasn’t a squash at all. Actually, Homicide looked pretty good in the match and got in the majority of the offense.
That match was very similar to the match between Kurt Angle and Amazing Red. Angle won, of course, but Red looked like a million bucks and got a few believable near falls on Angle in the process. Angle said he chose to fight Red since he has a similar X Division style as Kazarian, and if these two can put on a great match in under five minutes, I cannot wait to see what Kazarian and Angle can do when given even more time.
The main event was also very good and put over several matches on the Slammiversary card. I especially enjoyed the exchange at the top of the program between the two sides. Jay Lethal is great at his Ric Flair impersonation, although I hope it is only done in small doses. One thing that did bother me, though, was that it did seem like Styles was pretty much burying Kazarian out there, plus, wasn’t he supposed to go home or something? It seemed a little odd with Styles out there and nobody seemed to mind.
The tag team match was pretty much bogus, but the less of the Band on television the better, in my opinion. The match didn’t mean much anyway as it was pretty much there to give Morgan his rematch and give Hernandez a hot return. It looks like these two big men will be feuding with each other and hopefully Morgan will be removed from the stacked tag team division and move on to better things.
At first, the thought of RVD and Sting fighting over the TNA World Championship didn’t do much for me. In the past couple of weeks, though, this match has grown on me. After tonight’s show I am actually looking forward to the match on Sunday. I still have the possibility of Sting winning the championship in the back of my mind and that possibility has grown a lot over the past couple of hours.
I also have to give some credit to the TNA video department who put together a great video package for Slammiversary. It was a nice, quick, stroll down memory lane and put over the importance of the show and the accomplishments TNA have made over the years. Slammiversary isn’t a throwaway PPV by any means, and this did a good job putting it over.
As always, I will return this weekend for my Slammiversary preview and predictions.
I really liked the tweak they gave Kendrick’s gimmick. It made him look different, in my opinion.