Simon Diamond made his grand return, unfortunately now he has Trytan with him.  I guess he’s an improvement over the Muskateer and the Prodigette.  Sonny Siaki and Apollo stood no chance, taking the loss after a T3 on Siaki from Trytan. 

We cut backstage to see Jeff in handcuffs and his dad talking to the police.  That’s a pretty sorry Father’s Day gift there Jeff.  Raven broke in, yelling and screaming like the lunatic that he is.  Zybysko also showed up, and gave Raven what he wanted.  Raven is replacing Jeff Jarrett in the King of the Mountain match tonight. 

The PPV proper kicked off with the now customary awesome intro video.  Nice work on including some childhood pictures of TNA stars. 

ELIX SKIPPER V. ZACH GOWAN V. DELIRIOUS V. SHARK BOY V. AMAZING RED V. JERELLE CLARK

First pin or submission ends the match, two men are in the ring at a time, and you enter by tagging in.  I didn’t get to see Xplosion when Delirious was on so this is my first time seeing him.  My main reaction is, “What the hell?”  The beginning was a little slow, until Clark picked up the pace.  I like that they kept up with the issues between Shark Boy and Gowan from last month.  Gowan’s cockiness is pretty entertaining.  The action spilled the floor.  Gowan kept trying to hit a moonsault to the outside, but was interrupted on two different occasions.  Amazing Red hit the InfraRed, a corkscrew moonsault to the outside, as Don West’s head exploded.  Once they all crawled back into the ring, they hit a super silly Tower of Doom spot on Delirious.  Big moves a plenty, with the highlight being a sick driver of some sort by Clark on Red, led to numerous near falls.  The end came after a Dead Sea Drop by Shark Boy on Delirious.  Sharky is your winner.  Fun action with lots of crazy moves, not a bad way to kick things off. 

Abyss is backstage, admiring himself in the mirror.  I guess he wasn’t too happy with what he saw, since he smashed the mirror.  There goes his chance to win tonight, now he’s cursed. 

Shane Douglas interviewed Shocker backstage.  Shocker was in full 1000% Guapo regalia.  In the shock of the night, Alex Shelley interrupted and actually spoke.  He had been in TNA for a while before, and I had no idea he had vocal cords.  He’s pretty good at using them too, telling Shocker that his lucha is no match for Shelley’s hybrid style.  Shocker is furious and tells him off in Spanish, which leads to a great Shane Douglas confused face.  Nice segment that did more to set up their match than anything they could have done on Impact. 

SHOCKER V. ALEX SHELLEY

Mike Tenay really put over Shelley’s abilities.  The dueling chants got started in the crowd early tonight.  Mat wrestling to start, with Shocker constantly blocking Shelley’s takedown attempts.  Shelley was frustrated and offered to shake hands with Shocker in a show of respect.  Then he kissed Shocker’s boot.  While Shocker and everyone else tried to figure out what the hell was going on, Shelley kicked Shocker in the gut.  Score one on the punkass meter for Alex.  The action was fast and furious after that, with them trading a wide variety of suplexes and holds.  They traded versions of the Mahistrol Cradle pin, with Tenay noting that Shocker used the Mexican version and Shelley countered with the European version.  Nice touch.  After Shelley became the Man of 1004 Pin Attempts, Shocker finally found one Shelley couldn’t get out of.  The description doesn’t do it justice, I just don’t know what over half of the moves these guys pulled out are called.  Great mat wrestling and action that put both guys over.  I want a rematch at some point. 

The #5 moment in TNA history is shown and it’s AJ’s first NWA World Title win over Jeff Jarrett and Raven from early 2003.  Shane Douglas catches up with 3 Live Kru and their recent troubles are recapped.  Konnan and the Truth decide to give BG James another chance. 

RON KILLINGS V. THE OUTLAW

The match was a pairing of Outlaw’s size against Killings’ quickness, at least in the early stages.  It was a draw, everything was just sloppy for the most part.  Outlaw took control for the most part, and the crowd tried to get behind Killings.  The end came when Killings missed an axe kick, but Outlaw hit the Fame-Asser.  He then went for the One & Only, but Killings rolled him up to get the win.  This one just didn’t work for me at all, I expected it to be better. 

Outlaw doesn’t take too kindly to losing though, and did get to hit the One & Only after the match.  He then went for a chair, which brought out BG James.  The crowd was chanting “New Age Outlaws.”  James ended up doing nothing to Outlaw, as usual.  Konnan came out to run Outlaw off. 

The #4 moment was Raven’s debut.  That should have been higher, it was one of my all time favorites for sure. 

We go backstage again and Shane Douglas is with Team Canada.  Bobby Roode talks junk about Lance Hoyt, which made a few fans in the pit cry.  Be nice Bobby, they’re sensitive.  He said he was going to “Canadianize” Hoyt.  I’m not sure I want to witness that.  Douglas asked D’Amore about The Naturals’ new spiritual advisor.  D’Amore said he wasn’t worried, and then went on to say his coaching of Team Canada was in the same league as the military leadership of Stalin, Hitler, and Mussolini.  Somebody’s been watching a little too much History Channel, eh?

NWA WORLD TAG TEAM TITLE MATCH:  THE NATURALS (C) V. TEAM CANADA (WILLIAMS/YOUNG)

Don West made some good points about the growth of The Naturals in the past year.  Young and Stevens start out trading punches, which results in goofy bump #1 from Young.  Williams and Douglas tag in, with Douglas getting a nice submission hold on Petey.  Young breaks it up and it’s chaos.  Young hurt his knee after a leapfrog.  Unfortunately, The Naturals bought the shenanigans and believed the lying bastard.  Stevens was knocked outside and both A-1 and D’Amore were taking their cheap shots.  Young and Williams traded tags at least 97 times and just destroyed Chase Stevens.  He’s a great heel, but also plays a pretty good sympathetic babyface.  The crowd was chanting “USA” to try to get him back in the match.  A-1 and D’Amore also get in their shots.  Williams hit a slingshot legdrop on Stevens on the apron, which looked brutal.  West and Tenay were wondering how much more Chase could take, West was even looking to throw in the towel for him.  Stevens finally broke free of Young and Williams, but A-1 grabbed his leg to prevent him from getting across the ring for the tag.  Andy Douglas had seen enough and ran around to break that up, but then he couldn’t get back to his corner in time for the tag.  The crowd was ready to explode, and they did when Stevens finally fought his way free and made the hot tag to Douglas.  The action broke down eventually, with all four in the ring.  The Natural Disaster killed Young, but Petey broke up the pin.  D’Amore hit Douglas with the hockey stick, but Jimmy Hart ran down to make the save.  He tossed his megaphone to Stevens, who then destroyed Williams’ face with it.  Stevens got the pin and The Naturals retained their titles.  Petey’s nose looked to be broken.  I wasn’t sure if this match would work so well with The Naturals as faces, but it was great.  See, there’s more to TNA tag teams than AMW and XXX.  I like the pairing of Jimmy Hart with The Naturals as well. 

The #3 moment in TNA history was the Lockdown PPV.  I smell shenanigans on that one.  Look, I liked the PPV too.  The all-cage match concept worked out better than anyone expected.  It wasn’t that good though.  Don’t short change the rest of your history for that one PPV. 

SAMOA JOE V. SONJAY DUTT

Tenay said that Joe has only one loss in the last three years and he held the ROH title for nearly two years and that he is currently the ROH Pure Wrestling champion.  That should satisfy the ROH fanboys who were crying about Joe working for TNA.  The crowd was definitely behind Joe, cheering for everything he did.  The beginning of the match saw Joe just beat the ever loving crap out of Sonjay with a UFC-styled offense.  Lots of strikes and kicks, and he mixed a nice senton and facewash in the corner for good measure.  Sonjay’s quickness came into play, avoiding a charge from Joe and then hitting a dive to the outside.  He hit some kicks of his own and a sweet springboard dropkick for a two count.  The Hindu Press also got a two count.  Joe took control for good with a nasty looking snap powerslam.  He then ended things with the Muscle Buster and choked Dutt out.  Awesome debut for Joe, the crowd loved him, and he looked really impressive.  He definitely adds something different to TNA, I’ll be curious to see who he’ll feud with. 

They ran a graphic for TNA’s October PPV Bound for Glory and Tenay said that it will be TNA’s “World Series”.  Interesting…

Raven was next up with a promo.  Transcribing it wouldn’t do it justice.  Get the replay or find a video of this.  That guy has some issues.

BOBBY ROODE V. LANCE HOYT

Fans in the front row have “Hoytamania” shirts on.  Now I’ve seen everything.  The pop Lance gets is insane.  He feeds off the crowd early, dominating Roode.  D’Amore interferes, giving Roode the advantage.  When Hoyt starts his comeback, the crowd chants “Hoyt” with every punch.  He scores a choke slam, but D’Amore breaks up the moonsault attempt.  That allows Roode to hit a running powerbomb out of the corner for a two count.  Hoyt came back again, but D’Amore interfered long enough for Roode to hit the Northern Lariat and get the win.  The crowd is not happy with the result, there could be tears.  The match was actually pretty good, both of these guys have improved a great deal since their TNA debuts. 

D’Amore grabs a mic and begins talking trash to Hoyt in the ring.  He and Roode double team Hoyt, taking him out.  D’Amore then takes his shirt off to the delight of no one and tries a moonsault.  Hoyt escapes just in time to avoid becoming a Canadian pancake.  A big boot sends Roode to the floor and Hoyt choke slams D’Amore.  He then shows him a proper moonsault and crowd goes nuts.  They then serenade D’Amore as he’s stretchered out. 

The #2 moment in TNA history was Jeff Hardy’s debut.  Okay, now I know this is rigged.  Shane Douglas interviewed AJ Styles about the King of the Mountain match. 

AMERICA’S MOST WANTED V. 3 LIVE KRU (KONNAN/JAMES)

The story of this match is which team can get it together enough to snap out of their funk.  Neither team is getting along all that well.  Konnan takes advantage of early miscommunication between AMW.  He is getting quite skilled at his patented shoe toss, nailing both Harris and Storm.  James is tagged in and there’s small “We Want Outlaw” chant.  James is in control, until Storm scores with a side kick.  AMW aggressively beat down both James and Konnan, but they’re still not as crisp as they usually are.  Konnan breaks up the pin attempt after Storm’s 8 Second Ride.  Harris and Storm collide, giving 3LK an opening.  However, Outlaw shows up and Konnan attacks him.  BG tries to tag out, but Konnan isn’t in the corner.  Another double team move from AMW ends the match.  Good storyline stuff, the action took a bit of a backseat.  We’ll see what the payoff is. 

BG was not very happy with Konnan after the match.  Konnan tries to explain, but James is having none of it.  The crowd is chanting “New Age Outlaws” but James doesn’t go with either Konnan or Outlaw and walked out of the arena.  The storyline is good, but we need to start getting to the conclusion at some point. 

The #1 TNA moment is Elix Skipper’s tightrope hurricanrana off the top of the cage at Turning Point.  Finally, one I can agree with. 

X DIVISION TITLE MATCH:  CHRISTOPHER DANIELS (C) V. CHRIS SABIN V. MICHAEL SHANE

Traci and Trinity try to upstage the match with their outfits.  I have to give the trophy to Traci, but Trinity gave a good effort.  It’s elimination rules here, unlike past TNA triple threat matches.  The action was fast and furious in this one.  Shane kept going for any pin attempt possible, but couldn’t score a fall on either Daniels or Sabin.  He coerces Daniels into working with him, only to double cross him about five seconds later.  Rule #83, don’t trust Michael Shane.  The quick action wore down all three men pretty quickly.  Sabin goes for a plancha to the outside on Daniels, but it’s reversed into a gutbuster in one of the more painful moves I’ve seen in a while.  Back in the ring, Sabin hits his classic enziguiri DDT, kicking Daniels while hitting Shane with a tornado DDT.  Sabin scored again with a flip dive on Daniels on the outside.  Back in the ring, he went after Shane, but Traci tripped him at the ropes.  Trinity then tripped Shane, and both ladies were fired up.  Bonus points to TNA for the catfight.  Trinity gets the better of it as Traci is knocked to the outside.  Shane goes after Trinity, but Sabin stops him with a kick.  He then hits the Cradle Shock to eliminate Shane. 

Daniels was holding Trinity the whole time, and gives her the Angel’s Wings to eliminate any advantage Sabin might have.  Sabin didn’t really seem to care, as he said that his deal with Trinity was simply business to get revenge on Shane and Traci.  Sabin took the early advantage as the crowd chanted for both men.  A powerslam and a suplex got two counts for Sabin.  Both guys were exhausted by this point.  Daniels comes back with a series of headbutts and an STO, also only getting a two count.  He then goes for the BME, which also only gets a two count.  Sabin hit a sick springboard tornado DDT, but Daniels again kicked out.  Sabin went for another springboard off the ropes, but Daniels blocked it by kicking the ropes.  The win was sealed with another Angel’s Wings and Daniels retained his title.  Great action, although it might have been a bit too fast at times.  I like the story between Sabin and Shane, hopefully that can continue. 

Shane Douglas interviews Monty Brown backstage.  The highlight was Monty saying Jeff Jarrett’s name like 50 Cent says G-G-G-G-G G-Unit.  At least I got a laugh out of it…

KING OF THE MOUNTAIN MATCH FOR THE NWA WORLD TITLE:  AJ STYLES (C) V. MONTY BROWN V. ABYSS V. SEAN WALTMAN V. RAVEN

All five men start at the same time.  You have to score a pin or submission to be eligible to win the match.  When you are pinned or submit, you have to spend two minutes in the penalty box at ringside.  To win the match, you have to hang the title belt from a hook above the ring.  Jeremy Borash did the boxing style main event introductions of all five entrants.  I kept expecting a run-in from Jeff Jarrett, but thankfully I was wrong.  Waltman started things off with a dive off the top of the penalty box onto Raven.  AJ then hit a hurricanrana off the top of a ladder onto Abyss.  Brown surprised a stunned Raven with a Pounce and pinned him.  As the fight continued, Raven busted out of the box a few seconds early, while Borash kept counting over the PA system.  Brown hit an Alpha Bomb on Waltman to send him to the box.  The referees at ringside had to carry Waltman into the box.  AJ hit another big move, but we missed as the cameras focused on Waltman.  The action was too fast for a replay.  Brown surprised AJ with a Pounce that knocked him out of the ring.  The Alpha Male was on fire early.  Raven took advantage of the Pounce though, and pinned AJ to become eligible to win the match.  Raven then brought the hardcore style with trash can shots to Abyss and Brown.  Waltman and Styles talked strategy while they were both in the box.  When his time was up, Waltman also smashed Brown and Abyss with the trash can.  Brown went for another Pounce, but Abyss caught him with a Black Hole Slam to pin him.  Abyss is now the third man eligible to win.  Raven went for the Evenflow DDT on AJ, but it was reversed into a Styles Clash.  Abyss broke up the pin though, keeping AJ from becoming eligible to win.  That was a nice little bit of psychology in this madness.  AJ knocked Abyss out of the ring with a kick, and Waltman set up him up on the table.  Styles killed Abyss with the Spiral Tap through the table.  Actually, he looked like he killed himself in the process.  He was able to get the pin though, and AJ was the fourth man eligible to win.  Brown came out of the box and fought with Raven on the outside.  AJ took advantage and tried to climb the ladder to win.  He dropped the belt though on his way up.  Waltman grabbed it for him though and climbed up to give it to him.  It was all a double cross though, as Waltman delivered a nasty X-Factor from the top of the ladder.  He got the three count and made everybody eligible to get the win. 

Raven ended Waltman’s party with a staple gun to the head.  Waltman reversed things with a low blow and upped the ante with a staple gun shot to the crotch.  West screamed about seeing a vasectomy live in the ring   Waltman also delivered one to the returning Abyss for good measure.  As AJ’s time expired, Waltman climbed the ladder.  AJ stopped him, but Abyss tossed them both off and they clattered outside the ring.  Styles went through a table on the outside.  Brown then hit a Pounce that sent Abyss through a table propped up in the corner.  Raven caught Brown by surprise though with an Evenflow DDT.  Raven grabbed the belt and climbed.  Abyss tried to stop him, but Raven kicked off the ladder and hung the belt, becoming the NWA World Champion.  The match could have been a bit longer, but it was a lot of fun to watch.  The last five minute or so was really crazy.  I would have liked to have seen AJ have a longer reign as champ, but Raven’s been overdue for a run with the belt.  With all the ECW nostalgia right now, I can’t think of a better time.  Hey, they even got the hook to stay up this time. 

CLOSING THOUGHTS

Tenay also announced that Impact will be on the TNA website starting this Friday.  They are doing a taping for the show this Tuesday night.  I guess this makes sense with the WGN deal supposedly dead and the rumors of TNA heading to a Saturday night timeslot on Spike TV after UFC.  They won’t be able to start on Spike until after WWE leaves, sometime around October.  This also goes along with TNA’s announcement of October’s Bound for Glory being their big PPV of the year. 

My thoughts on it?  Personally, I liked the proposed Monday night slot on WGN better.  Most people I’ve talked to seem to think that the Spike TV deal is better, even if it was a Friday or Saturday night slot.  I guess I just wanted to have a flashback to the Monday night wars.  I liked being able to flip back and forth between the shows and was kind of looking forward to that happening again.  By most accounts, TNA backed out of the WGN deal because they preferred the Spike TV deal.  We’ll see down the line if that was a good choice.  Spike could be so pissed off about the way WWE handled their renegotiations that they might give TNA a good bit of exposure.  We’ll see if/when that deal is announced. 

I’m glad there will be at least some sort of show to build up to the next few PPV’s.  TNA has dates announced all the way up through October on PPV.  It will be an interesting experiment to see how well they do with only internet shows to build to the PPV’s.  TNA is banking on the fact that the current fans they do have are hardcore enough about the promotion to seek out their shows and PPV’s.  I’m leaning towards agreeing with them at this point, but it’s tough to not have TV and still do PPV’s.  Ask ECW in early 2001.  Times are different now with so many more people online and already watching shows over the internet.  I hope it works, but I’m not sure just yet.  They really don’t have any other options though, if they’re waiting on the Spike TV availability. 

Slammiversary overall was a good show, definitely better than last month’s Hard Justice.  For TNA, it was a solid, above average, show.  Vengeance could change this, but I’m sure WWE would take the quality of this show over most of their PPV’s this year (Wrestlemania and ECW excluded).  The highlights were the King of the Mountain, Naturals/Team Canada, and Shocker/Shelley.  The X Division title match was very good.  The six man opener, Joe/Dutt, Hoyt/Roode, and AMW/3LK accomplished their goals.  The only real stinker was Killings/Outlaw.  They have some interesting new directions they can go in now.  Let’s see where the Raven era takes us. 

Oh yeah, I think I’ll take the high road in regards to Friday’s predictions.  While Michael might have eked out a win with six picks correct, just remember who picked Raven, who wasn’t even in the match at that point, to win the World Title…