So I watched Slammiversary this past weekend… no, I didn’t attend the show – it took place in Montreal in front of a packed 5000+ at the Verdun Auditorium, which was probably the biggest crowd TNA has done in a long, LONG time, so good for them – but I did catch the PPV and to say that stuff happened on this show would be an understatement.
Though, yes, let’s the big lemon out of the way; Joe Hendry didn’t win the TNA title in the main event six-man elimination match. Honestly, I didn’t really expect him to despite the massive pop he got in the arena, but this was all about Nic Nemeth proving that he’s still got it and while I’m sure people are upset and going “TNA DOESN’T BELIEVE” or something like that, I have a feeling Joe Hendry is going to get a big run somewhere down the line… so long as he isn’t poached by WWE once his contract expires, of course.
In any event, there was a PPV. I have some quick thoughts and here we go…
BROKEN Matt Hardy DELETED JDC in the opening match and then made him further OBSOLETE with three more Twists Of Fate. I guess the System (Moose’s group) is no longer going to be a thing? Anyway, this was a thing that happened; something to hold us over until the next Deletion mini movie thing comes to mind, I suppose.
ABC (Ace Austin and Chris Bey) defeated TNA Tag-Team Champions The System (Eddie Edwards and Brian Myers) to win the titles. Perfectly acceptable tag match. Fairly enjoyable.
Mike Santana defeated Jake Something in a fun little hoss fight with two hoss-like guys just brawling it out. Simple, straightforward. Happy to see Santana spread himself out a little more.
The Rascals (Trey Miguel, Zackary Wentz, and NXT’s Wes Lee) defeated NXT’s No Quarters Catch Clup (Charlie Dempsey, Tavion Heights, and Myles Borne) in a pretty enjoyable little tag match. I’ve not watched enough NXT to know or care about the No Quarters Catch People, but they’re apparently something of a big deal there, so this has to be a good deal for the Rascals while the Catch people get some outside experience.
PCO defeated TNA Digital Media Champion and Lutte International Heavyweight Champion AJ Francis in a pretty brutal but still very satisfying Montreal Street Fight to win both titles… and then that De Lander lady comes out and proposes to PCO, who says Oui. That is from the future obscure language known as French. Couple crazy spots with PCO landing badly on a chair – the guy is in his fifties or so; he needn’t take that kind of abuse, but oh look, he’s fine because he’s not from Toronto. (TRIGGERED). Fun little street fight thing and AJ Francis didn’t flip. So that’s good.
TNA Knockouts Champion Jordynne Grace defeated Ash By Elegance to retain the title… because we can’t have ALL the champions drop their titles on this show, now can we? Honestly surprised that Ash didn’t win here, but I’m not complaining. This was a perfectly acceptable wrestling match and Grace continues her winning ways. Where this leads to… who knows? More importantly, who cares?
“Speedball” Mike Bailey defeated X-Division Champion Mustafa Ali to win the title, while the loser gets a TNA World title match at the next set of TNA tapings… who is getting the better end of the deal here, honestly? I thought it was a fun match; I could have done without Earl Hebner out there trying to relive Montreal (because we need to get over that shit – are you sure it’s not the other way around?) but other than that, it was a fun time regardless. Sadly, it’d be the last time anyone would have fun at the end of a match.
Nic Nemeth defeated TNA World Champion MOOSE, Steve Maclin, Joe Hendry, Josh Alexander, and Frankie Kazarian in a six-man elimination match to win the title in a somewhat controversial decision for some people. I’ve given my thoughts on that in the opening blurb, so I won’t repeat here. But Moose eliminated Maclin first, but would be eliminated by Hendry soon after, which gave me some hope that TNA is at least going to do something with the guy on a higher level, especially if his next feud is going to be with Josh Alexander, who promptly kicked Joe in the Hendries to send him packing. Alas, Josh goes cocky and quickly gets rolled up by Nemeth, who would later pin Kazarian to win the match and the title. Naturally, people wanting to see Hendry get his moment – I don’t blame them in the slightest – instead got the former Dolph Ziggler be given the hero’s celebration with a number of other wrestlers while the crowd just give off a polite reaction, but not much more than that. Yes, we may believe in Joe Hendry, but TNA? They’re still in that “We got put over every ex-WWE guy we can to the top and nothing else matters mentality.” All in all, I thought the match was a fine little main event. I’m sort of happy that they went with a straight elimination match rather than one of their usual gimmicks like King Of The Mountain or some other silly thing like that.
I thought Slammiversary on a whole was a pretty fun show and a pretty eventful one with a lot of new champions being crowned and the seeming end of the System as a dominant force in TNA. The main event booking soured some folks, I’m sure, but I’m going to hold out hope… because I still believe.
We’ll be going back to old AEW PPVs next week and maybe dive into Summerslam along the way.
dtm666 