On Sunday the 7th of July, Impact Wrestling presents Slammiversary XVII. Headline by Brian Cage vs. Michael Elgin for the Impact World Heavyweight Championship, Slammiversary looks to be one for the ages. For this special preview, I will be looking at the build to a few of the matches, offering my thoughts and also offering some roundtable predictions from my fellow Team Venom contributors Sarah Dennis and David Burston.
Intergender Match: Tessa Blanchard vs. Sami Callihan
This one has been building for quite some time with Blanchard being presented as one of the heads of the Knockouts devision and Sami just generally being an asshole. Tessa Blanchard has had several interender matches before (including against current World Heavyweight Champion, Brian Cage). I'm hoping this leads to Blanchard going back after the Knockouts Championship as a result and Callihan going back after the X-Division.
Rory: Tessa Blanchard
Sarah: Tessa Blanchard
David: Tessa Blanchard
Overall Prediction: Tessa Blanchard (3-0)
Moose vs. Rob Van Dam
Moose has consistently been one of the best heels in Impact in recent years and is someone that we've spoken to on numerous occasions over at Team Venom as part of the Impact Wrestling Press Pass Podcast as well as in-depth for exclusive interviews and in person at the 2018 WrestleMediaCon and Rob Van Dam has been a personal favourite of mine since the mid-90s (and someone we've also had the priviledge of chatting to in the past) so this is one of the matches that I genuinely can't wait to see. Both of their styles should mesh well and we should be looking at an instant classic
Rory: Moose
Sarah: Moose
David: Rob Van Dam
Overal Prediction: Moose (2-1)
Monster's Ball Fatal 4 Way Impact Wrestling Knockouts Championship: Taya Valkyrie vs. Su Yung vs. Rosemary vs. Jessica Havok
This is an incredibly difficult match to predict. All four competitors are pretty much at equal level in terms of skill and dominance so it will be interesting to see how this plays out. Rosemary and Su Yung have been having some incredible matches sine Rosemary's return to Impact, Taya's been on fire since winning the title and her following heel-turn and Havok has momentum on her side from her recent return so it will be interesting to see how it all plays out.
Rory: Jessica Havok
Sarah: Rosemary
David: Rosemary
Overall Prediction: Rosemary (2-1)
Impact Wrestling Tag Team Championship: The North (Champions) vs. The Rascalz vs. LAX
I've been a fan of LAX since Ortiz and Santana feuded with the OGz (Homicide and Hernandez - the original LAX) to earn their team name and have watched them become the most consistent tag team in all of pro-wrestling. As they had already became the longest running Tag Team Champions (in terms of combine reigns), I wouldn't be surprised to see them pick up the win here, however, the current champions (Ethan Page and Josh Alexander) won't be easily defeated given that they literally just won the titles on this week's Impact (Hence their exclusion from the graphics) and The Rascalz add a chaotic element to the whole thing, so this could be a barn-burner!
Rory: The North
Sarah: The Rascalz
David: LAX
Overall Prediction: Anyone!
Impact Wrestling X-Division Championship: Rich Swann (Champion) vs. Johnny Impact
Damn, this match-up has "match of the year candidate" written all over it. Swann has been a consistently top-tier performer since his Impact debut and his X-Division title run has been fantastic so far but Johnny Impact is coming fresh off a World title run and with his insanely athletic parkour style, could easily showcase the high-flying, no limit style that the X-Division title was founded on.
Rory: Rich Swann
Sarah: Rich Swann
David: Johnny Impact
Overall Prediction: Rich Swann (2-1)
Impact Wrestling World Heavyweight Championship: Brian Cage (Champion) vs. Michael Elgin
This has been a highly personal feud stemming from Elgin's debut moments after Cage's title win and his subsequent attack on Cage. Both men are considered two of the best heavyweights in pro-wrestling today so this match should be an absolute knock-down, drag-out brawl. We had the opportunity to speak to Cage earlier this week and he told us (and several other members of the media) how much preparation he's been doing for this match as well as how much it means to him to be victorious, so smart money's on Cage.
Rory: Brian Cage
Sarah: Brian Cage
David: Brian Cage
Overall Prediction: Brian Cage (3-0)
Match of the Night Predictions:
Rory: I'm leaning towards the X-Dvision Title and World Title matches being highlights but every match announced has the potential to steal the show.
Sarah: I think The Rascalz vs. LAX vs. The North will be the match of the night but am genuinley excited for the Monster's Ball match and Tessa beating Sami - She's creating waves for women's wrestling right now.
David: I easily think this will be Tessa and Sami - all eyes are on them for this match and I don't think either will disappoint
Comments