Impact Slammiversary 2023 recap & reactions: Five new champions but not Nick Aldis

Slammiversary (July 15, 2023) crowned five new Impact champions, but none of those were Nick Aldis.

The National Treasure was next in line to wrestle Alex Shelley for the Impact World Championship. Aldis was confident that gold would be in his possession by night’s end. All it takes is one mistake, and Aldis will be ready to pounce. He is a closer.

Shelley came out with an edge. He spit water in Aldis’ face to gain the upper hand for his opening salvo. Shelley was a little overzealous on offense and left himself open to a counter attack. As Shelley was pounding punches in the corner, Aldis lifted him off the turnbuckles for a powerbomb.

Aldis backed up his words in that promo by going for the cloverleaf submission. Shelley crawled to the ropes for the break. Shelley regained control by attacking the knee of Aldis. When the action spilled outside, Shelley shifted focus to damaging the arm and hand of Aldis. That strategy paid off next time Aldis went for the cloverleaf. Shelley was able to manipulate Aldis’ hand with a jolt of pain to break free.

Aldis changed gears to spike Shelley on a tombstone piledriver. After a kick out, he landed a flying elbow drop. Shelley kicked out again. Aldis decided it was time to get dirty. He grabbed the title belt with bad intentions. Shelley kicked Aldis in the midsection to snatch the weapon away. Shelley debated striking Aldis with the foreign object, but the referee talked him out of it. As the ref’s back was turned to get rid of the title, Aldis banged a low blow. He followed with a Michinoku driver. Shelley refused to lose.

Aldis went back to his bag of tricks by grabbing the championship once more. He took a swing, but Shelley was able to duck and deliver a counter DDT on top of the foreign object. Aldis was busted open. A superkick paved the way for Shell Shock and victory. Shelley retained the Impact World Championship, and he did so in impressive fashion. Aldis had more of the highlight moves, but Shelley pretty much picked him apart and kicked his ass for most of the match.

Business picked up in the aftermath when Josh Alexander returned from injury to confront Shelley. Alexander’s message was clear. “I’m back.” As were his intentions to regain the Impact World Championship. (Full details here.)

Let’s blitz through the rest of the show.

Knockouts World Championship: Trinity won the title from Deonna Purrazzo. Trinity turned the tide of the back and forth affair with an avalanche butt buster. She transitioned to the Starstruck hold to stretch Purrazzo into submission. (Full details here.)

Eddie Edwards (with Alisha Edwards) defeated Frankie Kazarian (with Traci Brooks). The wives watched the back of their husband. The referee took a bump during the contest. After a double clothesline, both men were down. Alisha entered the ring with the family kendo stick. Brooks protected Kaz by tackling Alisha and hitting a clothesline. Kaz forced Eddie to tap out to the chickenwing submission, but the ref was still down. As Kaz revived the official, Eddie hit him in the back with the kendo stick. Boston Knee Party sealed the deal for Eddie to win.

Impact World Tag Team Championship: Subculture won the titles in a four-way. Ace Austin & Chris Bey entered as champions. Moose & Brian Myers and Rich Swann & Sami Callihan rounded out the field. ABC was gearing toward victory when the Rascalz ran out to interfere. The winning move came from Mark Andrews with a shooting star press on Myers. (Full details here.)

X-Division Championship: Lio Rush won the title from Chris Sabin. Rush attacked before the bell to rock Sabin’s head. Despite a recommendation from the doctor to cancel the match, Sabin demanded to compete. Rush hit two jackknife splashes to squash Sabin. (Full details here.)

Scott D’Amore & Eric Young defeated Bully Ray & Deaner. Young was revealed as D’Amore’s mystery partner. This match was wild fun with the return of Young, D’Amore’s mother throwing a punch at Bully, the referee bailing on the match so special enforcer Darren McCarty could take charge, Team Canada member A1 clotheslining Kon out of the ring, and more chaos. D’Amore and McCarty chokeslammed Bully through a table. D’Amore hit a Canadian Destroyer on Deaner, and Young followed for a flying elbow drop to win. (Full details here.)

Knockouts World Tag Team Championship: Masha Slamovich & Killer Kelly won the titles from Taylor Wilde & KiLynn King. The Coven were setting up a Hart Attack variation. As King ran the ropes, Kelly grabbed her feet to pull her out of the ring. Slamovich countered Wilde for the Snow Plow to win. Slamovich and Kelly are champions in their first match as a team. (Full details here.)

Ultimate X: Kushida defeated “Speedball” Mike Bailey, Jonathan Gresham, Kushida, Kevin Knight, Alan Angels, and Jake Something. This was a surprise return for Jake. The finish came down to Kushida and Angels hanging high above the ring. Kushida knocked Angels down and retrieved the X. With that win, Kushida earned an X-Division title shot. (Full details here.)

The free pre-show featured two bouts.

Impact Digital Media Championship: Kenny King won the title from Joe Hendry. Sheldon Jean helped King win by holding his feet on the ropes for a crooked roll-up. (Full details here.)

Courtney Rush, Jessicka, & Jody Threat defeated Gisele Shaw, Savannah Evans, & Jai Vidal. Jessicka and Jody knocked Shaw and Evans out of the ring. Vidal was victim to a German suplex from Threat and a spear from Rush on the finish.

Slammiversary was a busy night for Impact. This PPV is must-see for Impact fans. There was so much news with five new champions as well as the returns of Josh Alexander, Eric Young, and Jake Something that next week’s TV episode will be a completely different landscape than last week’s show.

The Slammiversary replay is available for streaming through Fite TV.

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