Impact recap & reactions (June 29, 2023): Nick Aldis explains his backstabbing heel turn

Nick Aldis has a date to wrestle Alex Shelley for the Impact World Championship at Slammiversary on July 15. The match seemed like it would be centered around two swell babyfaces fighting with respect out of competition to be the best. Aldis threw a curve in that idea when he stabbed Shelley in the back with a blindside attack heel turn. Aldis finally explained his actions during Impact Wrestling (June 29, 2023).

Aldis entered the ring for the main event segment. He played the victim of receiving abuse on social media. Aldis called out Shelley to explain the situation to the champion’s face. Aldis demanded he occupy the ring alone due to Shelley’s potential for outbursts. Aldis wanted a safe working environment as he spoke.

Aldis pointed to the ten-man tag they won together. Chris Sabin was being selfish trying to do all the work by himself. When it came time for an important tag, Aldis was fresh and ready to roll. Sabin tagged in Shelley instead. Aldis accused the Motor City Machine Guns are trying to minimize his exposure, which left him standing there like a putz. Aldis decided it was time to put Shelley in his place.

Aldis accused Shelley of being a fake revolutionary hero with a propaganda campaign for modern wrestling. The past legends, like Harley Race and Dory Funk Jr., endorsed Aldis, and that’s why the National Treasure represents history, legacy, and tradition. Aldis accused Shelley of trying to take wrestling to a dark and nasty place, and he’s going to stop Shelley. Aldis wants to humiliate and expose Shelley at Slammiversary.

Shelley heard enough and popped off. Aldis stepped down to get close, and a brawl erupted. Aldis had the upper hand holding the world title belt ready to strike, but Sabin ran in to snatch the object. Aldis bailed from the ring. As Aldis stood on stage, Lio Rush ran in from behind to attack Sabin. Aldis and Rush stomped the Motor City Machine Guns to close the show.

Watch it all unfold for yourself.

Slammiversary is set with Shelley versus Aldis for the Impact World Championship and Sabin versus Rush for the X-Division Championship. The Motor City Machine Guns will have a chance for payback prior to the PPV in tag team action on Impact Wrestling.

Let’s blitz through the rest of the results from Impact Wrestling.

• X-Division Championship: Chris Sabin retained against Trey Miguel. When Sabin had Trey up for the Cradle Shock, Zachary Wentz made a surprise return to save Trey. The Rascalz reunited to stomp Sabin until Alex Shelley made the save. The match was ruled a disqualification. Backstage, Wentz pointed the finger at the fans abandoning Trey. It’s only right that he came back for the Rascalz to take what’s theirs. (Full details here.)

• Trinity defeated Jai Vidal. Gisele Shaw and Savannah Evans caused distractions and interfered to help Jai. Trinity rallied for the Starstruck submission to win. After the match, Shaw and Evans attacked Trinity. Deonna Purrazzo was on commentary and took her sweet time stopping the beatdown. The Virtuosa eventually intervened to make the save. Tension is increasing between Purrazzo and Trinity as Slammiversary nears for their Knockouts title fight.
• Moose agreed to join Brian Myers as tag team partners, but he told Myers to ditch the dead weight of the Good Hands.

• Johnny Swinger defeated Bhupinder Gujjar on the BTI pre-show thanks to Zicky Dice bending the rules as a crooked referee. Unfortunately for Swinger, Director of Authority Santino Marella ruled that the win doesn’t count in Swinger’s quest to 50 to earn a world title shot. Dice was warned that his referee license will be revoked if he acts that way again.

• Lio Rush defeated Jack Price. The Bad Child won his Impact debut with superior speed to set up a jackknife splash. (Full details here.)

• Dango told the story of how Santino was slapped around by Jim Cornette. The evil empire decided to give Santino a job to avoid a lawsuit. Fast forward 20 years, and now Santino’s daughter is in that system. Dango wondered if she gets slapped around too. Santino responded with anger. Right now, he’s watching over Impact for Scott D’Amore. When D’Amore returns to his leadership post, then Santino will humiliate Dango in the ring.

• Frankie Kazarian approached Eddie Edwards about their breakdown in last week’s tag team match. Edwards pointed the blame at Kaz’s ego. Maybe they are better off as opponents.

• Masha Slamovich defeated KiLynn King. Competitive slugfest. Taylor Wilde interfered to ram Slamovich into the ring post. Killer Kelly ran in to choke Wilde with a dog collar chain. Slamovich took control with a head kick and Snow Plow to win. Afterward, Kelly and Masha bonded over the dog collar.

• Impact played a video package hyping the wrestling and coaching career of Scott D’Amore. 15 world champions have passed through the Can-Am wrestling school. After, Gia Miller interviewed D’Amore and mentioned Darren McCarty as the special enforcer for the Slammiversary tag match against Bully Ray & Steve Maclin. The Good Hands interrupted to blame D’Amore for their bad luck. They wanted a match with him. Instead, D’Amore pulled strings to have PCO wrestle them.

• Kenny King defeated Yuya Uemura. King had to work for the win, and he did it with the Royal Flush. Afterward, Joe Hendry debuted his newest song. Hendry celebrated King’s career as a stripper.

This was a fiery episode of Impact Wrestling. Nick Aldis, Lio Rush, and Zachary Wentz were the major sparks. Aldis did well providing a cockamamie reason to feel slighted. It makes sense from his selfish standpoint. The world title feud got heated real quick. Rush was previously advertised for a match, but the assistance to Aldis was a complete surprise. Rush has his own stake in this game picking a convenient spot to make a statement to the X-Division champ. Rush versus Sabin should be very good. The return of Wentz was totally unexpected. I understand anyone weary of his alleged past. Talking only about what was on screen, Wentz has an edge to him this time around. The Rascalz have created instant interest in their reunion.

The show was well-rounded beyond the newsy headline pieces. The Scott D’Amore video package was excellent and worth watching. I was vaguely aware of his history, but it touched on a lot of background that I didn’t know. Santino Marella cut a strong promo. Even though he has the goofy accent, this might have been the most intense promo of his career. Santino talked me into his future match with Dango beyond a comedy spectacle. The tag team of Masha Slamovich and Killer Kelly is one of those ideas that I never knew I needed until seeing it on screen. They have a kinky chemistry that is appealing. Johnny Swinger’s shenanigans never cease to amuse.

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