-Borash welcomes us to TNA Slammiversary with the entire roster and crew on stage, and leads Orlando in a moment of silence for the victims of this morning’s mass shooting.
X-Division Championship Match
Trevor Lee (c) vs. Andrew Everett vs. Eddie Edwards vs. DJZ
JB announces that Gregory Shane Helms has been banned from ringside by TNA management. We get a partnership early on with Edwards and DJZ teaming up against Helms’ boys. Everett scores the first big move of the match with a springboard corkscrew moonsault over the ropes to take everyone out. The alliances continue for most of the match until Everett tries to pin DJZ and the champion isn’t happy about it. Edwards chops both of them down a few dozen times and almost wins it with a Blue Thunder Bomb. Several late game, chaotic false-finish sequences with some incredible moves by all four guys. Edwards scouts Trevor’s Fisherman’s Buster into a small package to steal it out of nowhere. Winner and NEW CHAMPION: Eddie Edwards.
-We head backstage where JB is with Ethan Carter III. He says Bennett is very good and he was the first person to beat him, but that was the catalyst he needed to become one of the very best professional wrestlers in the world. EC3 goes on a great rant about how Bennett isn’t a “god” but a false prophet, and how he’s coming down Mount Sinai with two fists, ten knuckles and some “old testament vengeance”.
Basile Baraka & Baron Dax vs. Grado & Mahabali Shera
Al Snow does his post-match promo thing, praising Donald Trump and wanting to make pro wrestling great again. The match is fairly back-and-forth, with a lot of double teaming on Grado and trying to keep Shera out of the action as much as possible. Grado has it won at the end, but Al Snow distracts the referee and The Tribunal drops Grado to pick up the win. Winners: Basile Baraka & Baron Dax.
-Gail Kim comes out for her match with Maria, who has a broken hand and cannot compete tonight. Billy Corgan brings out x-rays to prove that Maria’s injury is legitimate. Gail demands a match, so Corgan adds her to the Knockouts Championship match, which is apparently happening next.
Knockouts Championship Match
Jade (c) vs. Sienna vs. Gail Kim
Maria and Allie are watching on from the ramp. Lots of three-way moves and roll-ups until it breaks down to Gail and Jade both going after Sienna. Jade with a possible spot of the match, coming off a springboard into a beautiful tilt-a-whirl DDT, almost immediately followed by a top rope hurricanrana. Gail hits Eat Da Feet on Sienna but is pulled out of the ring by Allie, and goes right after Maria. Sienna is going to hit Jade with the title belt, but Marti Bell shows up out of nowhere and nails the champ with some kind of foreign object; Sienna picks up the pin. Winner and NEW CHAMPION: Sienna.
-James Storm comes to the ring dressed to compete, as JB wonders who he’s in action against tonight. Storm says that 14 years ago a man gave a bunch of kids an opportunity, and now he’s standing here a veteran in the wrestling business after all that time. He says in 14 years he wants to be sitting at home, hearing about how James Storm gave someone the same opportunity, so he will be facing Braxton Sutter tonight on PPV.
James Storm vs. Braxton Sutter
Basic stuff early on with Sutter trying to get in some offense on the veteran. He hits a nice release suplex into the bottom turnbuckle. He runs right into Closing Time, followed by the Last Call superkick and the Cowboy picks up the “W”. The two shake hands and drink beer after the match. Surprisingly, no one turns on anyone, and nothing bad happens at all. Winner: James Storm.
-Eli Drake with a backstage promo to hype the King of the Mountain title match.
King of the Mountain Championship Match
Eli Drake (c) vs. Bram
Drake almost flung himself off the ropes, botching on his entrance. Bram goes absolutely crazy on him as soon as the match starts, fighting up and down the ramp, ripping up the padded floor outside the ring, but Drake back body drops him onto the concrete. Bram barely makes it back into the ring after a (very) extended 10-count, and gets dropped with a running neckbreaker. Back and forth brawling heading into the end; Bram hits his second wind with a big DDT, but Drake rolls to the outside, gets rolled back in, but Drake was playing possum and hits Blunt Force Trauma for three. Winner and still champion: Eli Drake.
Mike Bennett vs. Ethan Carter III
Lots of “no we don’t” and “EC3” chants early on. Ethan is in control from the start until Bennett runs him into the turnbuckle and beats him down on the outside. From there the match is one-sided, slowing down the pace as Bennett drops EC3 with big power moves every time he builds a little momentum, including a DDT off the barricade, and a spinebuster. The Miracle with a cutter, but Carter no-sells it and hits a clotheslines to finally get back into the match. Flapjack into the One-Percenter, but Bennett kicks out at two. The brawl to the apron and EC3 hits the TK3 on the apron but might have hurt himself more with it in the process. Bennett catches him out of the air with a cutter (out of nowhere!) for two. Carter tries for a submission but Mike grabs a hold of the referee and low blows EC3, followed by a big piledriver…again, for two. Carter hits a trio of German suplexes and another One-Percenter, but the ref is distracted by a chair that Maria threw into the ring. He goes after Maria and the ref bails to eject her from ringside, but Bennett takes advantage with the Miracle in Progress onto a chair…for another two-count. EC3 with a second TK3 and a third One-Percenter for the pin. Winner: Ethan Carter III.
Full Metal Mayhem
Broken Matt vs. Brother Nero
Jeff attacks his brother with a trash can as he’s making his entrance. They brawl into the ring and Jeff hits a spear before they go back to the outside to find more toys. Matt sandwiches him into the rails with a ladder, Jeff flattens two trash cans across his back and nearly breaks an extra tall ladder against him. He sets his brother on a table on the floor and Jeff crashes through him with top rope splash for two. Jeff has a one-sided ladder that he extends from one side of the ring all the way to the other, perched between the ropes. Twist of Fate on top of the ladder, followed by another splash that breaks it (and them) in half – another two. Another Twist of Fate attempt but Matt escaped and turns his brother inside out with a lariat, followed by a wicket Side Effect on the apron. Matt goes back under the ring and pulls out… a keyboard? He sets it up between the ring and the barricade and Jeff goes crashing through it with a hard looking powerbomb for two-and-a-half. There’s a teased double table spot to the floor, but both guys end up falling off a ladder into the ropes instead. Jeff is back up first: another Twist of Fate followed by the Swanton for two. They fight to the floor and now it’s time for the double table spot it seems; Jeff puts him through one table with another TOF but apparently neither of these guys can be pinned. He sets up the second table, climbs back into the ring, and comes off the top rope with a Swanton through the table and…gets the pin. Winner: Jeff Hardy.
TNA Tag Team Championship Match
Abyss (c) & Crazzy Steve (c) vs. Robbie E & Jessie Godderz
Robbie ends up flying over the ropes to take out both members of Decay. Rosemary goes after Jessie Godderz, and he picks her up and throws her over the ropes into all three of them. Steve trips Jessie off a springboard and plants him on the apron, and thus starts Abyss slowing down the pace in their corner. After a few minutes Robbie makes the hot tag and the BroMans start their comeback. Rosemary accidentally blinds Abyss with the poison mist and he accidentally chokeslams his own partner. BroMans with their finisher on Steve and Jessie has him tapping out, but Abyss pulls the referee from the ring and hits him with the mist. Rosemary and Raquel go at it which is enough of a distraction for Steve to nail Robbie with the title belts for…. NOPE, Robbie kicks out. They hit Steve with their finisher again and lock in the Boston Crab, but Abyss takes them out, then chokeslams his partner into Godderz for the win. Great, great finish. Winners and still champions: Abyss & Crazzy Steve.
TNA Heavyweight Championship Match
Knock Out or Tap Out
Drew Galloway (c) vs. Bobby Lashley
Galloway on the attack right away, but Lashley comes right back and turns him out with a lariat. Early parts of the match are back and forth with a lot of mat based grappling and submissions. Galloway broke up an armbar attempt with a boot right to face, which actually opens up the challenger the hard way right above his eye. They fight up for a top rope spot, but Galloway drops him down on his face and follows up with a double ax handle, then the Claymore Kick. Another Claymore Kick, followed by another, but on the third attempt Lashley comes out of nowhere with a huge spear. A brawl takes them to the floor where Bobby gets thrown into the ring steps. The champ lifts the big man up and plants a Celtic Cross on top of the steps. He locks in a Sharpshooter on the steps, but for some reason the referee makes him break the hold because he’s in the ropes… and he listens and breaks the hold? Drew brings out a table (because we have no ref consistency, apparently) and puts Lashley on top of it, but ends up crashing and burning through it solo on a tope. Drew is back to his feet at a count of nine, busted open from the forehead. He comes off the top rope but Lashley catches him with an armbar and transitions into a crossface; Galloway somehow gets up and counters the hold into a Tombstone Piledriver. Both men down – Galloway up at a count of five, Lashley up at the last second. He side steps a Claymore Kick and puts the champ in a chokehold; Galloway passes out and the ref calls for the bell. Winner and NEW CHAMPION: Lashley
