Going into tonight’s episode of Impact Wrestling, Impact was teasing a major announcement in regard to the World Championship. Current title holder Tessa Blanchard has been missing from TV for two months due to coronavirus travel restrictions preventing her to cross the border from her home in Mexico. Executive Scott D’Amore went to the ring to address the situation and declare the main event for Slammiversary.
D’Amore explained the current dilemma regarding the World Championship. Due to Tessa’s absence, the three-way main event for Rebellion with Michael Elgin and Eddie Edwards never took place. Ace Austin is the current #1 contender after winning a tournament. Unfortunately, Tessa is still not in the building. D’Amore’s responsibility is not just to the wrestlers in the back or the champ, but also to the fans and the integrity of the World Championship itself. Just as D’Amore was going to make the announcement, he was interrupted.
Enter Ace Austin. He didn’t want to spoil the surprise, but he was there to be crowned champ as the #1 contender. Right?
Enter Michael Elgin. He believed he should be crowned champ since the match he was clearly going to win at Rebellion never happened. Elgin gave Ace two choices. Get out of the ring or fight him.
Enter Eddie Edwards. He kissed up to D’Amore and made a speech about having to earn the championship. There are no handouts in Impact.
Back to Ace, who was losing his patience with D’Amore. He wanted that porky fellow to name him champ. D’Amore stuck to his guns about having to win the belt in the ring. He then announced that Tessa would defend against them in a five-way match at Slammiversary. Ace looked around the ring and counted four, including the absent Tessa.
Enter Trey Miguel with a springboard dropkick to Ace’s face. Fisticuffs ensued between the four men.
That whole rigmarole was the set-up for Tessa Blanchard to defend the World Championship in a five-way against Ace Austin, Michael Elgin, Eddie Edwards, and Trey Miguel at Slammiversary on July 18.
I have mixed feelings about how this played out. On the positive, that main event for Slammiversary should be high-octane action. It is likely to be exciting with a strong possibility of leaving paying viewers with a feeling of satisfaction. I like that it is a toss-up for who will win. Tessa is the favorite, but I wouldn’t bet money on her. Elgin, Edwards, and Ace all have the status to be legit champs. Trey is the perky underdog who was screwed in the tournament and would make for a feel-good winner.
On the negative, Scott D’Amore is a cowardly character as an executive. Instead of stripping the champ like he was teasing to do, he made the lazy decision to stack all possible contenders into one match. This was a bogus payoff for the past two months of television, and it doesn’t excite me for the next five weeks before Slammiversary. With the line-up set so early, is Impact going to run a bunch of meaningless match variations between those four to fill the time? If so, then pfffft. Impact will need to spice this story up.
One thing I am wondering is if Impact is planning to clear the deck and close doors on all main event stories, so they can jump right into a hot angle when a former WWE talent returns to Impact at Slammiversary.
Speaking of bringing in former WWE talent, Ace has a legitimate gripe about being screwed. I hope he places a call to The Law Offices of David Otunga for a settlement.
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Are you excited about the five-way Slammiversary main event? What’s your take on the segment that got us there? How do you rate the fairness of the situation? How would you have handled the challengers for the World Championship?