IMPACT! Wrestling Review - June 30, 2020

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Chris Bey def. Suicide

Bey has been doing some great work lately and this was another solid showing from him. It was a quality contest, but I question Johnny Swinger getting involved. Bey should have picked up the win on his own, especially considering it was against Suicide of all people. Thankfully, it was announced later on in the show that Swinger will be banned from ringside when Bey challenges Willie Mack for the Impact X-Division Championship at Slammiversary. I continue to hope their alliance will be short-lived.

TJP and Fallah Bahh def. Reno Scum

Reno Scum don't do much for me at all, so I was totally fine with this match not being overly long. Meanwhile, TJP and Bahh are a fun duo and managed to make this passable. They worked a chaotic pace and kept things interesting before the babyfaces scored the victory, which was the right call. As we learned later on in the show, TJP and Bahh won't be contending for the Impact World Tag Team Championship at Slammiversary, but I'm glad they're maintaining momentum in the meantime.

Ken Shamrock and Sami Callihan Attacked Impact World Tag Team Champions The North

The North attacked Shamrock before Shamrock's scheduled match with Josh Alexander last week and I was worried that it would lead to Shamrock squashing them in a two-on-one setting. Well, Shamrock will indeed be facing The North at Slammiversary, but he won't be alone. Rather, he'll be teaming up with foe-turned-ally Sami Callihan. They teased a partnership a few months ago, so I'm interested to see whether this tandem sticks or if they're destined to feud again in the not-too-distant future.

Moose def. Crazzy Steve

With Steve being a TNA Original (does that term apply to anyone who competed while the company was called TNA and not necessarily that they were around when it first started?), it made sense for him to "contend" for Moose's TNA World Heavyweight Championship here. Unfortunately, the match was pretty boring aside from the final stretch. In fact, the best thing about this segment was Tommy Dreamer's post-match promo. It was great and all, but I honestly have sub-zero interest in seeing Moose vs. Dreamer at Slammiversary. It feels like a significant step down for Moose at this point in his run, not to mention that Moose already beat him a year ago. Hopefully it'll be a TV matchup and Moose will face a different TNA Original at the pay-per-view.

Kiera Hogan def. Havok

I'm still wondering who the babyfaces are supposed to be in this feud. I know all of these women will be involved in the Impact Knockouts Championship number one contender's Gauntlet at Slammiversary, so that's probably what the purpose of these matches is. They put together a perfectly competent match, but there wasn't anything too special or memorable about it. At least Hogan and Tasha Steelz have been given a string of wins recently and have been built up nicely.

Madman Fulton def. Trey by Disqualification

Madman Fulton is fresh off a victory over Eddie Edwards in last week's main event, so it would have been foolish for him to lose here. I'm happy he did because he's been booked so poorly for so long that wins such as this one will only help his cause, even if it wasn't be pinfall. Despite falling short, Trey gave Fulton a good fight before getting himself intentionally disqualified. It was a smart finish as it protected Trey before he vies for the Impact World Championship at Slammiversary and kept Fulton going strong. I assume the show ended so abruptly because of an appearance from Michael Elgin being edited out.

Overall Show

In addition to the releases already announced early last week, now-former Impact World Champion Tessa Blanchard and Michael Elgin have also since been fired. As a result, the five-way main event for the title at Slammiversary has been made into a four-way with Trey, Ace Austin, Eddie Edwards and a mystery man. All things considered, the company did an efficient job of taping new material for this episode and editing other stuff out to reflect the changes to the card, which is coming together nicely. The two hours succeeded in what they set out to do and, to give the company credit, their hype for Slammiversary so far has been really well done.