Tossing Salt Presents:
Impact Wrestling – Slammiversary XV
Thoughts and Predictions
June 29, 2017

Coming up on Sunday, July 2nd, from the Impact Zone in Orlando, Florida, will be Slammiversary XV, presents by the lovely folks at Impact Wrestling. You know who Impact Wrestling is, right? Reby Hardy’s favorite wrestling promotion. All together now… “F*CK the OWL!”. I really haven’t watched any TNA or Impact or whatever you want to call it in quite a while, but I have been keeping up via the recaps and news articles. And since there are actually a couple of people on this card and matches that have caught my interest, I decided I should be fair and balanced and give Impact the same treatment I would for a WWE pay-per-view event. That means it’s Prediction time. Let’s get right to it, shall we?

Impact Wrestling champion Bobby Lashley with King Mo vs. GFW champion Alberto el Patron with Dos Caras.

Bobby Lashley against the former Alberto Del Rio, who has finally, it seems, decided to take a break from destroying the professional career of WWE Superstar Paige to concentrate once more on the art of professional wrestling. The addition of the two men at ringside, UFC’s “King Mo”, who briefly wrestled for TNA a few years ago and Mexican legend Dos Caras, the brother of Mis Mascaras, who also happens to be Alberto’s father, will provide some extra excitement to the match, but in the end, it will all come down to the two men in the ring and which direction that Impact wants to go with the company. Lashley has turned out to be a pretty good wrestler and a strong name for the company, providing steady leadership through tough times, but Alberto is the former WWE guy, even more recently than Lashley and I think that gives him the edge. I’ll go with King Mo causing a distraction and Alberto getting the pin and win as the result. Thus, Lashley can do a MMA style match against Mo for revenge and Alberto can carry the company for the next few months as the new Impact Champion. Sounds right to me.

Winner and NEW Impact Wrestling Champion: Alberto el Patron

Impact Wrestling X-Division champion Sonjay Dutt vs. Low Ki: Best of Three Falls.

Two great performers and three falls to go, this could be one hell of a match. Is Low Ki still wrestling in the shirt and tie? That’s pretty stupid if you ask me. I think they’ll split the first two falls, as they should, and in the end, Dutt takes a great beating, but manages to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat with a cradle from nowhere to capture the final fall and retain his title.

Winner and STILL X-Division Champion: Sonjay Dutt

Jeremy Borash & Joseph Park vs. Josh Mathews & Scott Steiner.

Probably the least anticipated match of the night, but it could also be the most interesting. It’s either going to be really good and surprise everyone or it’s going to be the train wreck that everyone is expecting. I think Park and Steiner can do some decent wrestling and ever better brawling and carry the bulk of the match to passable levels if Steiner is so inclined. Matthews has some wrestling in-ring experience, but Borasch? I’m sure, after so many years in the business, he’s picked up a thing or two, but enough to be on a pay-per-view match? Well, it’s TNA or Impact or whatever. It’s not like anyone will be watching. Hopefully, this will be very short and sweet and we’ll see Borash quickly tap out in about two minutes to a Steiner Recliner.

Winners: Josh Matthews and Scott Steiner

Impact Wrestling Knockouts champion Rosemary vs. GFW Women’s champion Sienna.

Two strong women making their own way in TNA when they would be great fits for NXT or even for the women’s movement in WWE instead. I think, especially this soon after WWE had their Women’s version of the Money In The Bank match, that these two ladies will pull out all the stops and put out a tremendous effort and match. It could easily go either way, but I’ll go with Sienna on this. No real reason, but I think it will be her night.

Winner: Sienna

Full Metal Mayhem: Davey Richards and Angelina Love vs. Eddie and Alisha Edwards.

Even though all four of these folks are talented performers, I’m just sensing a train wreck of epic proportions here. I’m not familiar with Alisha Edwards, but the rest are familiar to me, with Davey and Eddie having strong runs in ROH a few years ago and Angelina being a TNA mainstay for many years as one of the Beautiful People. Let’s just flip a coin here. Heads! That means Davey and Angelina win.

Winners: Davey Richards and Angelina Love

Impact Wrestling Tag Team champions LAX vs. Naomichi Marufuji & Taiji Ishii vs. Drago & Hio del Fantasma vs. TBA.

Have they announced yet who the fourth team will be? It’s Thursday afternoon as I write this and I haven’t seen yet any definitive mention of any names, at least not officially. Doesn’t really matter though. LAX will retain and keep their Tag Team titles. “Why?”, you ask. Because I said so. That’s why.

Winners and STILL Impact Tag Team Champions: LAX

Strap Match: James Storm vs. EC3.

The Cowboy versus EC3, two men who should be in the main event (or in Storm’s case, headlining a show for NXT), regulated to a strap match in a great feud over… what is it that they’re fighting over anyhow? Hell if I know. Both men are talented and good wrestlers who should be competing over a title instead of these meaningless grudge matches over who gets the best seat at catering or whatever. The match will rock. Bodies will suffer. And in the end, EC3 will walk out with the win.

Winner: EC3

Moose & NFL star DeAngelo Williams vs. Chris Adonis & Eli Drake.

Chris Adonis, the former “Chris Masters” from the WWE, is one of the most talented young men in the business today and one of the reasons I still halfway keep track of Impact. Why he’s not back in WWE is anyone’s guess and a bad error on the WWE’s part. But he is here in Impact and teaming with Eli Drake against Moose and a football guy. Masters and Drake SHOULD win, but they’re wrestling against Moose and a NFL football guy. That means a mention on ESPN and some mainstream publicity and even more if the NFL guy should actually win. So Adonis and Drake will be the company guys and do the right thing. They’re heels and it won’t hurt them in the slightest. And TNA gets a mention in the press.

Winners: Moose and DeAngelo Williams

And there you go with my first Impact Wrestling prediction column in many, many years. I probably won’t be watching the show, but will be keeping up with the match results and show on PWInsiderElite.com, the home of Dave Scherer and Mike Johnson, the best wrestling website ever. It should be a good show though. One thing I’ll give credit to Impact for is that even with the craziness in the management of the company and their other issues, the shows and the superstars always come through with great action and matches. Management has issues, but the wrestlers get the job done and deserve major kudos for their efforts and good matches. And now, I’m out of here. I’ve got a couple of days worth of stuff to play catch up on. Have a great one and thanks for reading. Take care.

Ubuntu!

This is dedicated to the memory of James Kever Rowell. March 28, 1970 – June 29, 2017. Rest in Peace, my friend…