IMPACT Wrestling Slammiversary 2021: Every Match Ranked From Worst To Best
Crowds returned on a night where IMPACT Wrestling's world changed again.
An appropriate return to limited capacity crowds at Skyway Studios saw IMPACT Wrestling inexplicably produce the most banging Slammiversary ever.
The audience was absolutely needed for a show like this. You see, the 2020 pay-per-view was superb. The arrival in IMPACT of Eric Young, the Good Brothers, and others was met with rave reviews online, but there was an aura missing. The aura of a few fans losing their pissing minds at, for example, the Rascalz' open challenge being answered by the Motor City Machine Guns.
Here, that wasn't an issue. The Nashville crowd lapped up every surprise with rapturous applause each time; hell, even No Way (Jose) received a bigger pop than Doc Gallows and Karl Anderson. It's a strange timeline we're currently living in, but regardless, it was refreshing after 498 days of audience-free IMPACT shows.
The intrigue surrounding the surprises benefitted from the contests being - mostly - stellar displays of wrestling. Chelsea Green being Matt Cardona's surprise partner wasn't much of a surprise, however, she wrestled a near banger. Thunder Rosa, meanwhile, was entirely unexpected as Deonna Purrazzo's mystery opponent. They, too, had a match befitting the Slammiversary stage.
All eyes now look ahead to Bound For Glory, with AEW, AAA, and NJPW involved, on 23 October. Until then, how was Slammiversary?
9. Violent By Design (c) Vs. The Good Brothers Vs. Rich Swann & Willie Mack Vs. Fallah Bahh & No Way
https://twitter.com/IMPACTWRESTLING/status/1416574865516204036
— Tweet
Result: Rhino fell to the Magic Killer as the Good Brothers became two-time World Tag Team Champions (10:10).
Rating: This was a letdown immediately from the unveiling of No Way (Jose) as Fallah Bahh's surprise partner. Compared to the other surprises throughout the evening, this was simply far too underwhelming a moment, regardless of if your writer popped for John E. Bravo and Johnny Swinger being in his conga line.
The match suffered a huge hit from its pacing. Wrestling at too slow a speed for a match involving the likes of Rich Swann, the only actual highlights included an elevated Flatliner a la the late Chris Kanyon from No Way, and a sweet Samoan drop from Willie Mack to the larger Bahh.
A dull ending saw 'The War Machine' somehow distracted by his own teammates at ringside, that resulted in Karl Anderson laying him out with a Gun Stun. A Magic Killer ruled Anderson and Doc Gallows the new tag champions.
IMPACT's doubles division took a severe hit when the Lucha Bros and LAX departed for AEW, and another when the North disbanded. This match proved that. Crowning the Good Brothers as champions felt more like a way to have the Super Elite draped in gold, rather than boosting the other teams in the bout. 2/10