TNA Slammiversary 2016 Preview: Drew Galloway vs. Bobby Lashley

Drew Galloway (c) vs. Bobby Lashley

TNA Championship Match

Must win by Tap Out or Knockout

The first blow in this war between Drew Galloway and Bobby Lashley was back in March and it was delivered by Lashley. The Destroyer had just defeated Kurt Angle in the final match of Kurt’s retirement tour. Angle had announced in January that he was going to retire from TNA, and he spent his final days there wrestling opponents of his choosing. Lashley was his final match and it was an emotional moment for the Olympic Gold Medalist afterwards... until Lashley speared him for no reason. Drew Galloway, the only other man to defeat Kurt Angle during his farewell tour, came out to confront Lashley and took a spear for his troubles. The men would go their separate ways for a bit, but they were destined to meet again.

Drew would go on to win the TNA title from the ICONIC Matt Hardy. Lashley picked on the Pope D’Angelo Dinero for a bit. But Lashley always kept an eye on Drew and made a move when he felt it most beneficial. He made his intentions known with a trio of spears to the champ after Drew had competed in a tag match. Bobby knew that's all it would take to get a TNA title shot. He knew that Drew is a bit of a hot head who will fight any time and anywhere, regardless of his health status or how advantageous. All it’d take was a couple of spears.

And like Lashley predicted, Drew bit hook, line, and sinker. Drew called out Lashley telling him he'd fight him any time. Dixie Carter made sure Lashley earned his shot in a triple threat match and when he did, there was no stopping this collision.

Before they even got to the ring, their tensions boiled and they brawled at an MMA training gym, inside a practice Octagon that MMA fighter Bobby Lashley knows all too well. In order to try to contain these two, Dixie Carter ordered that their title match be a Lumberjack match. Unfortunately, as is common with such a match, too many people from the outside interfered and this title match ended in a No Contest, leaving the bubbling distain between both men unresolved.

The new decree by Dixie Carter was to make sure there would be a winner when these two finally battled each other for the title. She made the stipulation for the match that it must be won by knockout or tap out.

Surely this stipulation puts the champion at a disadvantage. Lashley is an established MMA fighter who fights in the Bellator promotion, so he is used to needing to knock someone out or make them submit. Galloway may wrestle around the world, but this is not the type of match he is accustomed to. But the Scot never backs down from a challenge and he does have a submission finish in his belt. In fact, when he beat Kurt Angle earlier this year, he won with his Iron Maiden submission. In Kurt’s career, it was very uncommon that he was submitted.

It should be of little surprise that the two men battling for TNA’s top prize are the only two men who defeated Kurt Angle during his farewell tour. In the end, this will be a clash of the titans, two heavyweights throwing blows until one of them gives up or loses consciousness. This match will likely be a brutal affair where the pent up hatred between both men is finally unleashed in the ring.

For further coverage of Slammiversary, which is tonight at 8 EST on PPV, you can see our predictions here and the overall preview of the show here. And keep it at CagesideSeats.com for the live blog and reactions post during and after the show.