Normally IMPACT Wrestling spends the week between each episode hyping up the matches of the next week, but coming out of this past Sunday’s Slammiversary – which saw multiple title changes and returns and/or debuts with the company – IMPACT’s landscape has been dramatically altered. So far, IMPACT has only announced three matches for the evening, a World Tag Team title match, but expect even more surprises and shenanigans as the company gets ready to plot its next era following the monumental shift coming out of Slammiversary.
IMPACT World Tag Team Championships: The North (Ethan Page & Josh Alexander) (c) vs. Motor City Machine Guns (Alex Shelley & Chris Sabin)
The first announced match-up is a dream match for the ages. The North just passed Taya Valkyrie‘s 377-days as IMPACT Knockouts Champion to become the longest-reigning champions of any kind in TNA/IMPACT history, but of late they’ve lamented the lack of competition due to beating every team in the company. They may have bitten off more than they can chew with those comments, as the returning Motor City Machine Guns are now facing The North on Tuesday night to compete for a championship that Sabin and Shelley haven’t worn since 2011. The last time the MCMG held tag team gold was in 2018 in Ring of Honor and since then, the duo has hardly worked together. But they’re back in IMPACT Wrestling and gunning for their second IMPACT Tag Team titles.
Tasha Steelz & Kiera Hogan vs. Nevaeh & Jessicka Havok
Another match set for Tuesday night is the long-awaited tag team match between the new alliance of Kiera Hogan and Tasha Steelz against the veteran indie duo (but recently united in IMPACT) of Havok & Nevaeh. These two have been going at it for weeks now backstage, culminating in singles matches that saw Steelz defeat Nevaeh on June 23 and Hogan defeat Havok a week later, but now the two teams will collide in tag team action for the first time since their beef began.
New Champions
Saturday night saw new Champions crowned when Eddie Edwards become IMPACT World Champion for the second time in his career, while Deonna Purrazzo and Chris Bey won their first IMPACT Knockouts and IMPACT X-Division Championships respectively. All three will have targets on their back, so it could be anyone coming after the new champions to knock them off their thrones. Edwards, whose previous World title run lasted only 97-days back in 2016, will have back-up this time to help watch his back, as the debuting Good Brothers (Karl Anderson & Doc Gallows) arrived on Saturday to back-up the new World Champion.
IMPACT X-Division Championship: Chris Bey (c) vs. Willie Mack
Of the new champions, Chris Bey will have his first test on Tuesday night, as he has a Slammiversary rematch against Willie Mack, the man whom he defeated on Saturday to take the title. Mack held the belt for 88-days after winning it this past April, and he’s getting his rematch quickly to try and prove whether or not his loss was a fluke or not. Chris Bey is running on momentum now, so it will be tough to crack “The Ultimate Finesser” so early in his run.
Returns and Feuds
Former IMPACT World Champion Eric Young also returned to the company on Saturday and after failing to recapture the World title, he got into a tussle with another returning star in Rich Swann (who was returning after injury time off). Expect their feud continue, perhaps as early as Tuesday night. Kylie Rae won the #1 Contendership spot for the Knockouts Championship, so she will begin her pursuit of new Champion Deonna Purrazzo. And Heath Miller (formerly WWE Superstar Heath Slater) made his IMPACT debut, although apparently he’s still a “free agent”. Former WWE Tag Team Champion partner Rhino is seeking to help Heath join IMPACT full time, but we’ll have to see how his story plays out.
.@HEATHXXII and @Rhyno313's reunion at #Slammiversary was short lived.
What does Rhino have planned TOMORROW at 8/7c on @AXSTV? pic.twitter.com/kMvuG0EbpQ
— TNA Wrestling (@ThisIsTNA) July 20, 2020
Changing the Narrative
Perhaps the most impactful return at Slammiversary was the man who did nothing except smash a glass against the wall as the PPV went off the air – signaling the return of former 2x World Champion EC3 to the company after a self-imposed exile in the WWE Universe since 2018. Since departing WWE this past April, EC3 has been on a crusade of personal redemption, breaking down every character trait he’s possessed over the past decade, to reinvent himself as a hungry new warrior. He dropped a 7-minute short film over the weekend to issue his final warning to the roster, and his return to the company on Tuesday night will surely be one of the show’s highlights.
#TheNarrative@therealec3 pic.twitter.com/ZGC8aGpJ4S
— TNA Wrestling (@ThisIsTNA) July 20, 2020
Stay tuned to the Last Word on Pro Wrestling for more on this and other stories from around the world of wrestling, as they develop. You can always count on LWOPW to be on top of the major news in the wrestling world. We provide you with analysis, previews, videos, interviews, and editorials on the wrestling world. You can watch IMPACT every Tuesday on AXS-TV at 8pm EST and see past episodes of IMPACT Wrestling on IMPACT+.
