Impact recap & reactions: Sami Callihan and Ken Shamrock make better friends than enemies

The latest episode of Impact Wrestling (June 30, 2020) featured Ken Shamrock getting help from an enemy, an extreme vet stepping to Moose, and Trey Miguel going bonkers for revenge.

Let’s roll through the show from beginning to end.

Impact opened by announcing the Slammiversary main event will be a four-way with Ace Austin, Eddie Edwards, Trey Miguel, and a mystery opponent.

Chris Bey defeated Suicide. Johnny Swinger was ringside. Suicide took out the Swingman and Bey with a trust fall bomb on the floor. A short while later, Bey faked a knee injury as a distraction to the referee so Swinger could shove Suicide off the top turnbuckle. Bey immediately pounced with a Famouser to win.

Moose will defend his TNA Heavyweight Championship against Crazzy Steve. Steve acts like it is all fun and games, but fun and games didn’t make Moose the champ. Moose plans to show Steve why he is a 5-star athlete and the real world champion.

Bey and Swinger were happily chatting about Bey’s win. Swinger is the man with the plan to take care of the stooge referees. For Bey’s X-Division title shot against Willie Mack at Slammiversary, Swinger proposed to slip the ref $30 to look the other way. A chumpy official walked up behind and overheard the conversation. The ref was insulted and promised to ban Swinger from ringside. Swinger was upset, but he still has a plan.

TJP & Fallah Bahh defeated Reno Scum. TJP and Bahh were rocking and rolling. They won when TJP escaped a fireman’s carry position on the turnbuckles to shove Adam Thornstowe onto the shoulders of Bahh for a Samoan drop. TJP followed with a mamba splash for the pin.

Locker Room Talk with Madison Rayne. Co-host Johnny Swinger was peeved at earlier news of being banned. Jon E. Bravo was the guest. Rayne wanted to know about Bravo’s relationship with Rosemary. Bravo evaded the questions about his personal life, so Rayne brought in Rosemary as a second guest. Rosemary asked Bravo to explain what’s going on. Swinger butted in to say the sexual tension was so thick that you could cut it was a knife edge chop, daddy. It turns out Swinger was referring to himself and Rosemary. Bravo got in Swinger’s face before Rayne calmed everyone down. Just as Rayne asked if Bravo was in love with Rosemary, Taya entered the scene. Taya asked Rosemary to be her tag partner. Rosemary accepted to end the segment.

The North went to the ring to address their beatdown of Ken Shamrock last week. Ken has no friends because he is too crazy. Shamrock to the ring for a fight. Sami Callihan’s ICU gimmick flashed on the screen to say, “Who needs friends when you got an enemy.” Sami flashed into the ring. Ken and Sami cleaned house on the tag champs. Sami hit his magic device to disappear into the darkness.

Backstage, Scott D’Amore was on the phone talking to a couple of Good Brothers. The North approached all upset about the previous fisticuffs. Ethan Page is a karate man. The outcome would have been different if he was prepared. Page wanted to know if D’Amore was going to let Shamrock and Callihan get away with it. D’Amore sarcastically rambled to make The North defend their tag titles against Shamrock and Callihan at Slammiversary. That was not the outcome The North were expecting.

Jimmy Jacobs knocked on Trey Miguel’s door for an interview. Trey opened hesitantly as he was weary of another ambush. Jacobs asked for reaction to Madman Fulton being revealed as the attacker. Trey is going to break his foot off in Fulton’s ass in the main event.

TNA Heavyweight Championship: Moose retained against Crazzy Steve. Moose caught a slingshot plancha to slam Steve on the apron. Moose then swung Steve into the ring steps. Steve was spitting up blood. Moose continued his assault on Steve’s midsection. Steve countered a superplex into a sunset flip powerbomb. Moose cut the comeback rally short by catching Steve and throwing him via fallaway slam. Moose followed with a spear to win.

After the match, Moose dished out more punishment to Steve. Officials and Tommy Dreamer ran in to separate Moose from pounding Steve even more. Moose walked away then came back to cheap-shot Dreamer.

Back from commercial break, Dreamer was on the mic. He yelled about Moose having natural talent but being a bust by not winning a championship. Moose is only there for the paycheck. He doesn’t have the passion to be the best. Dreamer then dropped a bomb by saying nobody ever bought a ticket to see Moose wrestle. He’ll go down as a footnote in wrestling history and a waste of talent.

Hernandez was collecting paper by winning arm wrestling. He defeated Jake Deaner, so Cody Deaner wanted double or nothing. Cody even turned his hat around like Lincoln Hawk, but SuperMex still squashed him.

Kiera Hogan defeated Jessicka Havok. Tasha Steelz and Nevaeh were ringside. This bout was feistiness versus power. Havok was steamrolling Kiera when Steelz caused a distraction on the apron. She tossed a gas mask into the ring for Hogan to smash on Havok’s head. A high superkick then a low superkick knocked Havok down long enough for Kiera to steal the 1, 2, 3.

Moose responded backstage to Dreamer’s speech. Dreamer doesn’t know anything about Moose. The TNA champ accused Dreamer of slander. Moose demanded a public apology or else he will sue Dreamer and Impact.

Madman Fulton defeated Trey Miguel. Ace Austin was ringside, but he didn’t play a role in the match. Trey started with a speedy flurry. Madman’s power took over with a chokeslam, military press slam, and reverse suplex. Trey rebounded by springboarding onto Fulton’s back for a sleeper. Fulton swung Trey around for a sidewalk slam, but Trey snatched Fulton’s neck again for a sleeper. Madman broke free and the fight went back and forth. Trey had momentum until Madman countered a springboard DDT into a Northern Lights suplex. Fulton was beating Trey in the corner. The Rascal reached down to grab a metal rod and hit Fulton in the head. The referee disqualified Trey. Trey went cuckoo with a chair to bash Ace and Madman.

The closing talent teaser for Slammiversary was a cape for Super Eric (Young).

Impact Wrestling featured interesting matches, however, it was the backstage scenes that made the show enjoyable with so much outlandish humor. I say it each week, and this will be no different. Johnny Swinger steals the show every time for me. He is so ridiculously entertaining with his jargon and egocentric attitude. Hernandez’s arm wrestling gimmick is amusing. I’m wondering if he will run in to someone like Scott Norton for the ultimate showdown. Locker Room Talk had a nice swerve within the context of the segment of Rosemary becoming Taya’s partner. Now, Impact just needs a women’s tag division.

The main event with Trey Miguel and Madman Fulton didn’t please me with the finish. Trey looked weak by grabbing that metal rod when he was near the point of losing. That did nothing to make me think he is ready for his title shot in the four-way at Slammiversary. Thankfully for Trey, he won’t have to compete against Fulton in that match. How Trey exploded with the chair was nice and fit with his mood after being ambushed in previous weeks.

Fulton looked dominant for the second week in a row. If Ace Austin wins the Impact Championship, then he better beware. There’s only so many wrestlers in the locker room for Fulton to destroy before he sets his sights on the title.

It was only a matter of time before Ken Shamrock and Sami Callihan became allies. Callihan is still standoffish, but they do seem to make better friends than enemies. Callihan’s attitude may be their undoing against The North if there is any tag team miscommunication between The World’s Most Dangerous Man and The Draw. While the partnership was expected, the scene still popped when Callihan magically appeared.

I have mixed feelings about this new feud with Moose and Tommy Dreamer. It sounds great for television. Not so much for Slammiversary. Dreamer has been with Impact/TNA for several years, but I don’t associate him with the company. For Slammiversary, a surprise blast from the past would be a better match for Moose given how Impact has been teasing so many former wrestlers to appear.

As for what went down between Moose and Dreamer, I like how Moose is getting increasingly agitated at nobody respecting his run as self-proclaimed TNA Heavyweight Champ. The Innovator of Violence delivered a solid promo to build emotion for the feud. He wasn’t wrong about calling out Moose’s failures to get to the top. They have my attention.

Share your thoughts on Impact. Who stole the show? Which was your favorite bout? How many matches do you think the team of Shamrock and Callihan will last before imploding?