Several months ago, Impact Wrestling announced it’s return to the United Kingdom with an open challenge to the best in the UK scene for their live event at the Wrestling Mediacon in Manchester, England on Sunday, September 9. With World of Sport and NXT UK under way, many weren’t sure just who would be left to answer the call for Impact. But as the past few months have shown, Impact Wrestling edges closer and closer to alliances with NJPW, Ring of Honor and the IWGP Conception, and today’s match announcements continue that, as some of Revolution Pro UK (RevPro)‘s stars have been announced as the first UK opponents for the Impact show. While no official confirmation, it’s expected that the Impact vs. UK event will be filmed, either as a live Twitch special (like their previous Twitch specials such as Impact vs. Lucha Underground) or a GWN One Night Only. The first two matches were big ones, starting with a hardcore dream match between “The Draw” Sami Callihan versus the UK’s resident goth madman, Jimmy Havoc. While in tag team action, Impact Tag Team Champions LAX (Santana & Ortiz) continue their monstrous 2018 with a match against UK veterans Jody Fleisch and Jonny Storm.
From today’s press release:
TORONTO | LONDON – IMPACT Wrestling has announced two international dream matches for the company’s first live event in the UK in almost three years.
IMPACT Wrestling returns to Britain with a live show at Wrestling MediaCon 2018 on Sunday, Sept. 9, with tickets on sale now from Ringside World at www.ringsideworld.co.uk.
And the company today revealed two unique marquee matches – pitting IMPACT Wrestling’s top stars against the very best of Britain.
Sami Callihan will take on Jimmy Havoc in a clash of hardcore wrestling icons. Callihan has built a reputation as one of the most disrespectful wrestlers on the planet – attacking management, insulting his peers and almost ending the career of Eddie Edwards in a baseball bat attack. He will face Jimmy Havoc, whose violent and bloody style of wrestling has won him a legion of fans and a collection of championships on the British independent scene.
LAX will put their IMPACT Tag Team Titles on the line in a dream match against two of the UK’s most decorated stars. British high flyers Jody Fleisch and Jonny Storm have won titles all around the world in singles and tag team competition. They will now challenge Santana and Oritz for one of the biggest prizes in professional wrestling today.
An international hardcore dream match for sure, Sami Callihan has been one of North America’s top heels for the past year, bringing elements of danger, madness and violence to every match and story he’s had with Impact Wrestling. From his bloody feud with Eddie Edwards, to the escalating violence of his feud with Pentagon Jr., Callihan is on fire right now and a force to be reckoned with. His opponent is one of the most decorated champions of the UK, a hardcore legend of the British Isles, in the maniacal Jimmy Havoc. A former PROGRESS World Champion (for an astounding 609 days) and IPW:UK World Champion (for an even more resounding 770 days), the current Defiant Hardcore Champion has also began his North American invasion, winning last year’s Combat Zone Wrestling (CZW) Tournament of Death, as well as becoming a regular competitor for Major League Wrestling (MLW) on MLW Fusion. This will not be a match for the feint of heart.
https://twitter.com/JimmyHavoc/status/1027852820681293824
The Impact Tag Team Champions have been on a roll lately, with critically acclaimed matches recently on the PROGRESS Coast to Coast tour in the US against CCK (Chris Brookes & Jonathan Gresham) and Grizzled Young Veterans (Zack Gibson & James Drake), as well as the announcement they’ll be facing The Young Bucks on the Cruise of Jericho in October. They’re putting their Impact World Tag Team titles on the line against two of the UK’s most respected veterans of the past two decades in Fleisch & Storm. Jonny Storm has been wrestling since the mid-90s, and is a former IPW:UK World Champion and 3x IPW All-England Champion. Storm has worked all over the UK, from RevPro to Preston City Wrestling (PCW) to World Association of Wrestling (WAW), as well as throughout Europe. He’s a 4x Cruiserweight Champion (and current) with Athletik Club Wrestling (ACW) in Germany and alongside Fleisch is the reigning tag team champions for World Stars of Wrestling (WSW) in Portugal. Jody Fleisch is another veteran since the 1990s, and like Storm, an early star from Frontier Wrestling Alliance (FWA), which is now X Wrestling Alliance (XWA). And like Storm, Fleisch has worked all over the UK and mainland Europe to great success – 2x FWA British Heavyweight Champion, ACW Cruiserweight Champion, Westside Xtreme Wrestling (wXw) Lightweight Champion in Germany, and WAW Open Light Heavyweight Champion, to name a few. He’s also recently begun testing back into the US indie waters, with appearances with Pro Wrestling Guerrilla (PWG), Absolute Intense Wrestling (AIW) and Game Changer Wrestling (GCW).
More matches are expected to be announced soon.
