11 Ups & 10 Downs For Impact Wrestling In 2020

5. A Meaningless Tournament

Seeing as the planned Rebellion main event between Tessa Blanchard, Eddie Edwards, and Michael Elgin was cancelled, an eight-man tournament was instead created to decide Tessa's challenger for July's Slammiversary pay-per-view.

All in all, it was a fine tournament that boasted a handful of tantalising contests, alongside a more than deserving winner in Ace Austin. Having Ace rise throughout the X division to the World Championship scene was so seamless that it made him a far bigger star simply by winning such a tournament. Furthermore, the tournament featured a genuinely decent mix of talent - established contenders like Sami Callihan and Michael Elgin, rising X division stars like Austin and Trey Miguel, and veterans of the company like Rhino and Hernandez.

Why is this a Down, then? Because, simply put, the tournament meant f*ck all.

Even though he won the entire tournament by last defeating Zachary Wentz (Miguel had been taken out by a hitman, later unveiled as Madman Fulton), Ace Austin was instead stripped of his number one contender privileges because Impact EVP Scott D'Amore insisted on Tessa defending her title against not only Ace, but also Eddie Edwards, Michael Elgin, and Trey Miguel at the 18 July pay-per-view. Granted, they all had legitimate claims to be challenging 'The Undeniable One' at the pay-per-view, but it rendered this tournament - which lasted a whole month, by the way - pointless.