Eli Drake is staying with Impact Wrestling.

The promotion made the news official in a post shared on their official Twitter account on Monday. Impact wrote the following:

“BREAKING NEWS: We’re delighted to announce that dummies will be named and shamed long into the future as @TheEliDrake has signed a contract extension with IMPACT Wrestling.”

BREAKING NEWS: We’re delighted to announce that dummies will be named and shamed long into the future as @TheEliDrake has signed a contract extension with IMPACT Wrestling. pic.twitter.com/eZJGQ4Bmq0

— TNA Wrestling (@ThisIsTNA) June 25, 2018

Dave Meltzer reported earlier this month in an edition of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter that Drake had signed another short-term contract extension, which will keep him with Impact Wrestling through July 31st.

A few months ago, the belief was that if Drake didn’t sign a new deal with Impact then he could be headed to the WWE. With a short extension of his contract, the two sides could be working on a longer deal or Drake will finish up his commitments with Impact through the summer. Time will tell how this plays out. 

What are your thoughts on Drake staying with Impact Wrestling? Sound off in the comment section.

Impact Wrestling has said tonight’s episode will be the last before the promotion begins airing matches from their tapings held in Windsor, ON, Canada at the beginning of the month.

The company is building towards Slammiversary on July 22nd from Toronto’s Rebel nightclub.

THIS THURSDAY on IMPACT – the train to Slammiversary keeps on rolling as July 22nd in Toronto is coming up fast!

oVe vs. Fantasma and Pentagon, LAX vs. Z&E for the tag titles, the Aries/Moose press conference, Madison Rayne vs. Taya plus what does Killer Kross want in IMPACT! pic.twitter.com/oDMrHYYygZ

— TNA Wrestling (@ThisIsTNA) June 19, 2018

Impact Wrestling 6/21/18 Preview

1) Madison Rayne vs Taya Valkyrie

The winner of this match likely moves into contention for a title shot at Su Yung. With both Rosemary and Allie out of action, the Knockouts division is wide open. Madison Rayne scored a victory over Tessa Blanchard recently on Impact. She also defeated KC Spinelli on the most recent One Night Only pay-per-view, Zero Fear.

As for Taya, she defeated Rebel in her last match out. She lost a title match to Allie earlier in the year, however. Taya is currently celebrating her “HoneyMundo” with John Hennigan in Hawaii. The couple was married recently. Taya can also be seen competing in the 4th season of Lucha Underground.

2) Impact Tag Team Championships
Z&E (c) vs LAX

LAX had fallen down the rankings without their leader Konnan but things are looking up for them now. Eddie Kingston, going by just King, is now the new defacto leader of the group. After bringing the stable back to their winning ways, they now have their first chance to win titles under King’s leadership. Diamante and the other members of LAX seem suspicious of him, however.

Z&E defeated Eli Drake and Scott Steiner for the titles. They have defended the belts once so far with a win over Aerostar and Drago.

3) oVe vs Fantasma and Pentagon Jr

Two of Lucha Underground’s biggest stars, El Hijo Del Fantasma (King Cuerno) and Pentagon Jr, will face the brothers from oVe tonight as well.

After losing the Impact World Championship to Austin Aries at Under Pressure, what will Pentagon have in store tonight?

Also booked for tonight’s show:

• Footage of Austin Aries and Moose from the Impact Press Conference in Toronto. Moose defeated Eli Drake last week to earn the right to challenge Aries at Slammiversary on July 22nd, 2018.
• Last week, Killer Kross was revealed as the mystery man behind the attacks in the back. Tonight, Impact Wrestling is teasing we will find out more about the man tonight.

Australia’s World Series Wrestling (WSW) promotion has reached an agreement with the Global Wrestling Network (streaming service run by Anthem Sports and Entertainment).

World Series of Wrestling joins promotions such as Border City Wrestling, RISE, Smash, and Destiny Wrestling on the GWN roster of promotions. World Series of Wrestling events can now be seen in their entirety on the Global Wrestling Network app.

The streaming service is most closely associated with Impact Wrestling but features events from other promotions as well. The app has reportedly seen a rise in downloads since Impact footage appeared on WWE programming as part of the Hardy Boyz documentary. The app has the entire Hardy Saga available for viewing.

The most recent exclusive event on the service was Impact Wrestling’s “Zero Fear One Night Only” pay-per-view. The event featured a main event of Austin Aries taking on Rich Swann from Mississauga, ON, Canada.

We are delighted to present some of the very best from Australia as we welcome @WSWWrestlingAUS as a @GWNapp partner. Past and future @WSWWrestlingAUS events will appear on GWN!

MORE: https://t.co/Oiv0CZ4vFb pic.twitter.com/Du4mKGhGkR

— TNA Wrestling (@ThisIsTNA) June 20, 2018

World Series Wrestling on GWN APP

“Founded in 2005, WSW has toured across Australia, hosting shows in Melbourne, Sydney, Adelaide and Newcastle. The reigning WSW World Champion, Austin Aries, appropriately nicknamed “The Belt Collector,” is also the current IMPACT World Champion. Events have showcased other stars from IMPACT Wrestling, including Brian Cage and Tessa Blanchard, plus popular independent wrestling talent such as Ricochet, Marty Scurll, The Young Bucks, Matt Riddle, Zack Sabre Jr. and The Briscoes.”

Recently on episodes of Impact Wrestling, footage of Brian Cage wrestling for World Series Wrestling has been shown.

Austin Aries is the current heavyweight champion of the promotion. He defeated Ricochet for the honors. The name of the tag-team champions is the “Concrete Dongs”. Joey Ryan and Concrete Davidson make up the team. The previous champions before them had been the Young Bucks.

World Series Wrestling will be filming matches in upcoming shows for a pay-per-view show scheduled to air on the FITE app.

Former WWE and TNA official Bruce Prichard recently took to his WWE Network special, Something Else To Wrestle, and discussed current WWE Champion AJ Styles’ run in TNA several years ago. Co-host Conrad Thompson asked Prichard what TNA officials thought of Styles as a top guy in the company.

Here’s what Prichard had to say on the matter:

“I had never worked with AJ beyond his tryout matches for WWE so immediately I’m hearing the negative,” Prichard said when co-host Conrad Thompson asked what TNA officials thought about AJ as a top guy. “I hear that, ‘AJ, he just wants to wrestle his matches and do all these high spots, he doesn’t listen, doesn’t want to change, doesn’t want to grow. He’s a pain in the ass.

“We’re trying to build him into a bigger star and he’s bucking us at every single opportunity.’ The feeling was that AJ just wasn’t willing to do what it took to become a star. For example… they wanted AJ to bleach his hair blonde like Ric Flair. AJ didn’t want to do that. They wanted AJ to wear robes like Ric Flair but it looked like something that his daughter put together. It just wasn’t a good look and AJ wasn’t comfortable being Ric Flair.

“He didn’t want to talk about being up all night with the women. AJ’s happily married and a very religious guy. He didn’t want that perception. Every time you suggest something new to AJ, he doesn’t want to do it. Unless it’s just wrestling a match with one of his buddies, he doesn’t want to do it. I learned early on in my career that you try to judge people on how they treat you.

“And I tried talking to AJ and found that he was pretty receptive to things. He had good reasons why he didn’t want to do some of the things suggested to him. So, now all of a sudden I’m trying to find a way to get into AJ, in a way to pitch him ideas and try to do some different things with him which he was open to, at least with me.”

H/T Wrestling Inc. for the transcriptions

Impact Wrestling tonight will feature an X-Division Championship match. Brian Cage, who is undefeated for the promotion, will challenge X-Division champion, Matt Sydal. Moose and Eli Drake will also clash with the winner receiving a title shot against Austin Aries at Slammiversary.

The promotion is beginning the build to their Slammiversary pay-per-view on July 22nd, 2018 from Toronto’s Rebel nightclub.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RvR_0EeKaKk

Impact Wrestling (6/14/18) Preview

• X-Division Championship
  Matt Sydal (c) vs Brian Cage
  • Cage earned this match by defeating Dezmond Xavier on a previous episode of Impact.
  • Lately on Impact, the promotion has been showing footage of Cage wrestling from promotions all around the world. He’s wrestled for companies such as Destiny, World Series of Wrestling, and Pro Wrestling NOAH.
  • Sydal most recently defended the title successfully against El Hijo Del Fantasma. He won the title from Taiji Ishimori, who is also booked for Slammiversary despite now wrestling for NJPW as well.
• NO DQ
  Tessa Blanchard vs Kiera Hogan
  • Two women in their early-20s just starting to get their careers going will clash tonight with no DQ.
  • Blanchard wants to bounce back from her recent loss to Madison Rayne.
  • ImpactWrestling.com notes the winner of this match could be in a position to challenge Su Yung for the Knockouts title.
• Eli Drake vs Moose
  • The winner of this match will earn the right to challenge Austin Aries for the Impact World Championship at Slammiversary.
  • As for the champion, he is likely still on vacation this week. That’s where Aries was last week when Josh Matthews conducted a Skype interview with him.
  • Aries has been on vacation since defeating Pentagon Jr for the Impact World Championship at Under Pressure.

Also booked for tonight’s show:

• Jake Crist vs El Hijo Del Fantasma
• Update on the mystery attacks in the back
• Fallout from Sami Callihan and Eddie Edwards’ “Fight in the Woods”.

Zero Fear Friday

Also in Impact news, the company’s One Night Only PPV event “Zero Fear Friday” airs tomorrow. That show featured Austin Aries facing Rich Swann, Sami Callihan vs Josh Alexander, Matt Sydal vs Dezmond Xavier, Su Yung vs Katarina, Madison Rayne vs KC Spinelli, and Eddie Edwards vs Trevor Lee.

Impact Wrestling has hired Alicia Atout as the company’s new backstage interviewer. Atout runs the award-winning blog and interview site, AMBY. The site posts interviews with wrestlers and musicians.

Atout was brought in by the company for the latest set of TV Tapings in Windsor. She recently posted to her social media account that she is now with the company in a more permanent role.

https://www.instagram.com/p/Bj8QuU7Ah1y/?hl=en&taken-by=aliciaatout

Changes At Impact Wrestling

Impact’s previous host, McKenzie Mitchell, recently posted about moving on to new adventures. This should lead some to believe she is no longer going to be working with the promotion.

Wherever you go, go with all of your heart ? time for a new adventure! Next new home: #LosAngeles pic.twitter.com/f0g8XL9qQn

— McKenzie Mitchell (@mckenzienmitch) June 11, 2018

The company likely chose to bring in Atout over McKenzie at the most recent set of tapings due to geographical convenience. McKenzie is based out of Nashville and it had been easy to bring her in for the Orlando shows. As the tapings earlier this month took place in Windsor, ON, Canada it would have been cheaper for the company to bring in Atout, who is from Toronto.

Atout has also interviewed wrestlers for promotions such as Smash Wrestling, RISE, Shimmer, and appears frequently on the Fight Network in Canada.

https://www.instagram.com/p/Bixn_uvAfxs/?hl=en&taken-by=aliciaatout

IMPACT Wrestling star Eddie Edwards recently did an interview with Wrestling Epicenter to talk about several professional wrestling topics. Edwards first discussed what it’s like to play a more unhinged persona:

“I’m enjoying it. It is a chance for me to do some things I’ve never done in my career, obviously. To be able to go and try this here, that there. It’s cool! It definitely has my creative juices flowing. And also, with vignettes and stuff behind the scenes also … a lot of things are going on. It is definitely a change of pace, but it is a welcomed change of pace for me.”

He then discussed some elements of his persona mirroring Tommy Dreamer during his old feud with Raven in ECW:

“I don’t know how much thought went into it. It just so happened that Tommy is my guy and was around at that point. It just so happened that it resembled that Tommy Dreamer in ECW type look. We were definitely going for that grungier type look especially going out there to oVe’s territory. But, I think it was a happy accident. That is the direction we were going for, a more gritty, hardcore style.”

Edwards then discussed his brutal feud with Sami Callihan and how quickly it has escalated:

“We kind of found ourselves in this. Obviously, it began with the baseball bat. We had to escalate from that. As tough as it was to escalate from that, things have escalated! We’ve had to step it up and step it up and step it up time and time again. This has been a perfect storm of incidents and accidents – A perfect storm of emotion, really!”

You can check out Edwards’ full interview with Wrestling Epicenter by clicking this link here.

Impact Wrestling airs a show tonight main event’ed by a “Fight in the Woods” match between Sami Callihan and Eddie Edwards.

The tag team championships will also be on the line and Josh Matthews will sit down with 3x and current Impact World Champion, Austin Aries.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2DpkLH5HiEE

Impact Wrestling 6/7/18 Preview

Eddie Edwards and Sami Callihan Fight in the Woods

Edwards has spiraled in recent weeks, arguably becoming just as sadistic as Callihan. Several people in Edwards’ life, including his wife and Tommy Dreamer, have attempted to calm him down but Edwards won’t move forward until his business with Callihan is finished.

Callihan and Edwards will face each other in an unsanctioned “Fight in the Woods” tonight.

Impact Tag Team Championships
Z&E (c) vs Aerostar and Drago

Luchadors from Lucha Underground will get a chance to win tag title gold on Impact tonight. It will be the last episode of Impact before the next season of Lucha Underground begins airing next Wednesday.

Z&E won the titles from Steiner and Eli Drake recently but there is no rest for the champs, they will be in tough to keep the titles around their waists throughout television leading up to Slammiversary.

Will the Mystery Attacker Come Forward?

Last week, X-Division veteran Sonjay Dutt was attacked in the backstage area. Joseph Park and Jimmy Jacobs have also been attacked in the back. Sonjay has said he has no memory of what happened let alone of who it was who attacked him.

Will the Mystery Attacker come forward tonight? Or will someone else be attacked in the back?

Su Yung Segment

Impact Wrestling has promised a segment tonight will be devoted to the new Knockouts Champion, Su Yung. The deranged undead bride has been the talk of the promotion as of late. Last week, Yung defeated Allie in a Last Rites (coffin) match to win the Knockouts title. She’s now locked both Rosemary and Allie in coffins, so a new challenger will have to be determined for the undead bride before Slammiversary (her opponent was actually announced earlier this week but it will play out on television).

Sit-Down Interview with Madison Rayne

It appears Madison Rayne’s in-ring career will be continuing in Impact. She recently pulled off a victory over the highly-touted Tessa Blanchard last week. Blanchard had controlled much of the match, however, before Rayne scored a victory on a roll-up.

Tonight we will find out more about the 5x Knockouts Champion’s plans for the future.

LAX vs the Cult of Lee

LAX returns to action tonight but will still be without their leader, Konnan. In his place, however, will be Eddie Kingston (now known as King).

The Cult of Lee could be in some trouble. Trevor Lee recently had this to say regarding his partner and their challenge tonight against LAX. “As long as Caleb listens to me and follows my instructions, we will be just fine,” Lee said. “We aren’t worried about LAX or any other tag team in IMPACT Wrestling. The fact that Z&E or E&Z or whatever they are called are tag team champions is a joke! We prove that tonight on IMPACT against these guys.”

Austin Aries interview w/ Josh Matthews

After regaining his Impact World Championship in controversial fashion last week, Austin Aries will be on vacation this week. He sat down with Josh Matthews for an interview regardless, however. That interview will air tonight.

At the press conference in Toronto this week, Aries announced he was merging the Impact Grand Championship and World Championship. This will probably be mentioned tonight as well.

Impact Wrestling recently held a press conference in Toronto to promote their upcoming Slammiversary pay-per-view.

During the conference, I asked Callis about Canadian wrestling prospects he might be interested in signing. His answer surprised me. “There’s a young Canadian kid I like, we’d love to sign him, his name is Kenny Omega,” Callis said. “Another is Chris Jericho.”

Can’t wait to get to Osaka and hang out with @KennyOmegamanX . #WinnipegBiz

— The Invisible Hand (@TheDonCallis) June 6, 2018

Chris Jericho likely isn’t working for an English language-based company other than WWE anytime soon. The potential for Kenny Omega ending up in Impact Wrestling somewhere down the line, however, is far greater.

NJPW Stars To Impact Wrestling?

Impact recently announced Taiji Ishimori will be returning to the company. Following Ishimori’s debut in NJPW, it was believed he was done with Impact. Ishimori was recently announced as competing at Slammiversary, however, indicating a deal has been reached for him to work for both companies.

Ishimori working for NJPW and Impact Wrestling is an interesting development. NJPW has talent-sharing agreements with CMLL and ROH. Impact Wrestling, in TNA form, previously had such an agreement as well.  After Kazuchika Okada’s excursion to the company went poorly, however, there was said to be a falling out between the two companies.

While one bridge between Impact and NJPW had been burnt, NJPW’s color commentator being hired as Impact Wrestling’s new co-Vice President built another. The Ishimori signing indicates Impact has at least cracked the door open for a talent-sharing arrangement with the talent-rich promotion. If that door opens fully, Kenny Omega will be the first one Callis brings in.

While it’s unknown if ROH and NJPW’s talent-sharing agreement is exclusive in the United States and Canada, it has worked out that way ever since TNA and NJPW had a falling out. ROH and Impact Wrestling don’t seem to mind sharing talent, however. They have already done so with Austin Aries.

To make things even more interesting, Chris Jericho recently announced Impact Wrestling will be apart of his cruise later this fall.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BjqRD0BFl_j/?taken-by=chrisjerichofozzy

Christian has discussed his time in TNA.

During a recent episode of the E&C’s Pod of Awesomeness podcast, the former WWE World Champion and WWE Hall of Famer Edge took questions from fans that led to them talking about various topics.

One fan asked Christian about if he preferred a traditional ring or a six-sided ring when he worked for TNA. If you recall, the promotion, which started in 2002, had a six-sided ring to stand out from other promotions instead of a traditional squared ring for many years.

“I’m a traditionalist; I like the square one,” said Christian (transcript courtesy of Wrestling Inc). “I get that the six-sided [ring] looked different, but I don’t think it was enough to be like, ‘oh, man this ring is so different.’ It was a little bit awkward to wrestle in, because sometimes when you are shooting somebody corner to corner, you had to adjust because it wasn’t directly across. And it was also really hard, like it was a hard ring. If you weren’t bumping pretty much around the middle of it, like around the edges were super, super hard, and it hurt.

Christian continued by stating, “So, I’ve always been partial to the square ring. I got used to it, and I didn’t think of it at a certain time, but even little things like when you climb up the ropes to jump off the top rope, the foot positioning is farther apart because of where the ropes are, the distance, I guess, that they have to travel to the next post is different than when the ring is square. So, it was a smaller area to put your feet on a regular ring, and it was further apart and I always found it harder to jump off the top rope with your feet really far apart.”

Christian added that he liked a traditional ring better than a six-sided ring and the appeal of it.

What are your thoughts on Christian’s comments? Sound off in the comment section below.

The Background

Christian had found a ton of success while working for the sports entertainment company. He started out as a member of The Brood and had plenty of Tag Team Title reigns alongside Edge.

Christian ended up departing from the WWE and spending some time forging friendships in Florida while a part of TNA. As a result of his time in TNA, when he finally returned to WWE in 2009, he was pushed as a big star, which is something that he deserved for his hardwork.

As a result of his history with concussions, WWE wouldn’t clear him, and he was forced to retire from in-ring competition. It could be argued that if it were a different time in the professional wrestling business, then he could still be competing.

Austin Aries defeated Pentagon Jr. during the Under Pressure special of Impact and won the Impact World Championship back from the Mexican star last week.

The big question after Aries’ victory was whether he’ll continue his rivalry with the Lucha Underground star or move on to a feud with an Impact star instead and it appears we now have the answer to this.

During the press conference for the upcoming Slammiversary event, it was announced that Austin will be defending his title against Moose at the upcoming show, meaning he’ll be wrapping up his feud with Pentagon.

Though, this wasn’t the only match announced for the event as the company also revealed that Su Yung will defend the Impact Knockouts Championship against Madison Rayne.

It’s worth mentioning here that Yung also became the champion during the same Impact episode where she defeated Allie to win the title.

Apart from this, the company has also announced that both Johnny Impact and Taiji Ishimori will be competing at the upcoming PPV but their opponents for the show are yet to be revealed. After the announcement, below is the updated Slammiversary match card:

Impact World Championship
Austin Aries (c) vs. Moose

Impact Knockouts Championship
Su Yung (c) vs. Madison Rayne

Johnny Impact vs. TBD

Taiji Ishimori vs. TBD

Slammiversary will take place on July 22 at The Rebel Complex in Toronto, Ontario.

After a few weeks of teasers on his social media accounts, Chris Jericho has made a big announcement.

That announcement made by the former WWE Champion was that members of the Impact Wrestling roster would be on his upcoming cruise. He wrote the following on his official Instagram account:

“BIG ANNOUNCEMENT- @impactwrestling will now be on the @jericho_cruise! Things are getting INTERESTING! Book your cabin NOW at chrisJerichoCruise.com and be a part of history!!”

https://instagram.com/p/BjqRD0BFl_j/?utm_source=ig_embed

Chris Jericho’s Rock ‘N’ Wrestling Rager at Sea is slated to go down from October 27-31, 2018. If you recall, Jericho had been posting teasers on Twitter that led to some fans even speculating that he could be headed to Impact Wrestling. That is not the case.

Outside of WWE, Jericho made several surprise appearances for New Japan Pro Wrestling including his match against Kenny Omega at the Wrestle Kingdom event at the Tokyo Dome.

Jericho is slated to take on Tetsuya Naito at the upcoming NJPW Dominion event.

What are your thoughts on Impact Wrestling being added to his cruise? Sound off in the comment section below.

Move over Papa Shango, here comes Rosemary. The former Knockouts Champion recently sat down for an interview with Alicia Atout and revealed she’s been working on a controversial new in-ring strategy.

“There are so many forms of the black arts in this world, child,” Rosemary explained. “Admittedly, we are not up on all of them as we’d like to be.”

Rosemary, who references herself in the plural, recently was in New Orleans and admitted to studying voodoo while she was there.

Rosemary Learning Voodoo

“Yes, we definitely wanted to learn more about voodoo, and tarot,” she expressed. “Would it not be helpful to see the future? So much better to plan. ”

When asked if she plans to use her newly gained knowledge of the black arts while wrestling, Rosemary didn’t hesitate in her answer.

“Yes, of course,” Rosemary said. “How better to control them all with dear?”

New Impact Wrestling backstage correspondent, Alicia Atout, hosted Rosemary on her YouTube and Blog site, Amby. You can watch the interview in its entirety below:

Demons, Bunnies, and Undead Brides

The Impact Wrestling Knockouts division is reminiscent of a Rob Zombie film at times. Most recently, Allie lost the Knockout Championship to undead bride Su Yung in a Last Rites (coffin) match. Previously, Yung had locked Rosemary in a coffin as well.

Rosemary suffered a torn ACL last month and could be out of action for the rest of the year. Her injury actual worked out conveniently for storyline purposes, however, as she had just recently been locked in a coffin by Su Yung and her army of undead brides.

When Allie faced Su Yung at “Under Pressure” last Thursday, she painted her face in a way reminiscent of Rosemary and came out to her music as well. Yung will defend the Knockouts Championship at Slammiversary on July 22nd, with her challenger being revealed in the coming weeks on television.

Impact Wrestling has decided to retire the Grand Championship. 

On Monday, June 4, 2018, the promotion officially announced that the Grand title has been merged with the World Championship, thus creating one title: the Undisputed World Championship.

BREAKING NEWS: @AustinAries has officially merged the IMPACT World and Grand Championship into one undisputed World Championship. pic.twitter.com/bY77HbJPqm

— TNA Wrestling (@ThisIsTNA) June 4, 2018

What are your thoughts on this decision and new design? Sound off in the comment section below.

Legacy Of The Grand Title

The Grand Title was introduced at the August 13th, 2016 Impact Wrestling tapings by then-TNA President Billy Corgan. It initially replaced the King of the Mountain Championship.

Matches for the Grand Title featured three 3-minute rounds and could be won by pinfall or submission. If there was no winner after 3 rounds, a panel of judges deciding the winner by considering physicality, aggressiveness, and control.

There was an 8-man tournament held to crown the first champion Aaron Rex (Damien Sandow) earned the achievement to be the inaugural Grand Champion at the 2016 Bound for Glory pay-per-view event.

If you recall, Austin Aries held both titles before the merger was announced. When Aries returned to the promotion in February of this year, he beat Eli Drake to become the new World Champion on his first night back. He would go onto beat Matt Sydal the following week to win the Grand Title. Although he would lose the World Title to Pentagon Jr. at the Redemption PPV, he would win it back on an episode of Impact Wrestling. 

It was also announced on Monday who Aries would be defending the World Title against at the upcoming Slammiversary PPV event. For more on the two matches announced for this event, please click here. 

Impact Wrestling just announced 2 championship matches for their July 22nd Slammiversary PPV in Toronto.

The promotion finished a set of TV tapings in Windsor this weekend and then filmed a One Night Only PPV in Mississauga last night. This morning, Impact’s management team held a press conference in Toronto and announced the Impact World Championship and Knockouts Championship matches.

Impact announcer, Josh Matthews, announced Su Yung will defend her Knockouts Championship against Madison Rayne. Also announced, Impact World Champion, Austin Aries, will defend against Moose.

Knockouts Championship: Su Yung (c) vs Madison Rayne

Madison Rayne was on hand in Toronto and was announced as Su Yung’s challenger for the Knockouts Championship on July 22nd. Rayne was speaking with media when she was interrupted by a video of Knockouts champion, Su Yung.

Impact World Championship: Austin Aries (c) vs Moose

Moose was also on hand in Toronto this morning. The former NFL’er was announced as Austin Aries’ challenger at the upcoming PPV. Aries came out shortly after Moose. In addition to announcing the title match, Aries announced he was merging the Impact World and Grand Championships into one.

When asked what merging the titles will mean for the championship picture in Impact, Aries took a shot at a former champion. Aries stated that ever since Josh Matthews was Impact Grand Champion, the title lost all value. He then continued to say the title was created under a different regime and under different rules.

Impact Wrestling Returns

Impact also announced the return of two members of their roster. Johnny Impact will return to action at Slammiversary. The popular star hasn’t been seen in the promotion since earlier this year. His absence on television has been explained via an injury angle with Kongo Kong.

Johnny Impact and member of the Impact Knockouts division, Taya Valkyrie, were married over the weekend. The former Lucha Underground Champion will be a contestant on the upcoming season of Survivor. He will also be featured in the upcoming season of Lucha Underground as well (begins airing June 13th, 2018).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mWflEr3JHV8

Impact Wrestling and MLW star Sami Callihan is threatening to show up on Chris Jericho’s cruise this fall. Callihan is not officially booked for the cruise, but his recent comments suggest he might show up there anyway.

Cameras caught up with Callihan yesterday as he was arriving for the Impact Wrestling TV tapings in Windsor, ON, Canada.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=1&v=irMgSd-1j_Q

Sami Callihan Threatens Chris Jericho and Ring of Honor

”I don’t care if it’s the Chris Jericho cruise, a cruise I didn’t even get booked on, which is bullshit,” Callihan said. “What are you guys, afraid? Chris Jericho, are you just afraid of Sami Callihan? Ring of Honor, are you afraid of making money with The Draw, Sami Callihan? That is my question. I am sick of being disrespected because I am The Draw and there is not one person that will tell me differently.

The way I’m looking at it right now, the only bigger bitches than Impact management is Ring of Honor and Chris Jericho. So here’s the thing: I might just have to get my baseball bat and show up on this cruise because I do what I want, when I want.”

Not long after, Chris Jericho responded.

Hmmm …now this is interesting. @TheSamiCallihan @ringofhonor @jericho_cruise @IMPACTWRESTLING https://t.co/E0SvSrEauB

— Chris Jericho (@IAmJericho) June 2, 2018

Sami Callihan in Impact Wrestling

Ever since the promotion’s TV tapings in January, Callihan has been playing up the “loose cannon” gimmick. He broke Eddie Edwards’s orbital bone during a segment filmed in January which received a lot of coverage.

Since that time, Callahan and Edwards have wrestled on Impact Wrestling and in Tommy Dreamer’s House of Hardcore promotion. They are scheduled to face each other on Impact Wrestling again this Thursday in a match filmed in the woods.

Transcripts via Cagesideseats

IMPACT Wrestling’s Dezmond Xavier spoke to the Wrestling Epicenter for an interview where he discussed Impact working with other promotions, doing high-risk moves and more. You can check out some highlights from the interview below:

On the larger talent working in the X Division of late:

“I am still a firm believer that it is not about weight limits, it is about no limits. If you feel you can stretch the boundaries of reality, go ahead and step into the X Division and lets see what you can do! Brian Cage felt he can and has proven he can do so. It definitely goes to show it isn’t about size, it is about what you can do.”

On zero fear in doing the high risk moves:

“I kind of walked in with that mind set being influenced by some of the smaller guys and the X Division stars. Seeing the capabilities of the human body, I just went for it! I have a fearless nature so I was ready to dive in and see what my body could and couldn’t do. I think that is what put me in the position I’m in right now. I do know what my body is capable of doing and I’m capable of doing more. When the time is right, I do plan on bringing that out.”

On Impact working with external companies like Lucha Underground:

“I think that it is awesome. Unity in wrestling is something that I’ve always hoped would come about more. Instead of us trying to belittle someone else’s craft, lets uplift it! Ultimately, it is bettering overall wrestling. The unity between companies and breaking that 4th wall and it is going to reap beautiful benefits for multiple parties.”

On Impact Wrestling’s new direction under Scott D’Amore and Don Callis:

“I 100% support it. It is moving us towards our ultimate goal which is to be seen by more fans so they can have an appreciation for a different style of wrestling – New stars, new things to be seen! Just, different! We’re here to show you that wrestling is not just one way. There is another way you can have your ice cream, there is another way you can have your pizza, there is another way you can have your chicken wings. There is another way you can enjoy something you’ve been watching for a lot of years. It might be the way that you like it initially but, hey, you might come around to it!”

On his goals in Impact Wrestling going forward:

“(laughs) Number one is to win the X Division championship. Number two is to go down as the greatest X Division champion. And three, who knows? Maybe be a triple crown winner!”

Xavier also discussed his previous matches, his finishing move, his upcoming matches, and more. You can listen to the entire interview in the video below or read more highlights by clicking here.

IMPACT Wrestling’s Executive Vice President Don Callis appeared on Busted Open Radio where he shared his thoughts on Tessa Blanchard, Eli Drake while also revealing who he is emotionally invested into as a fan. Here are some highlights they sent in:

Don Callis on Tessa Blanchard:

“Love her. I just think she’s… I’m not even going to say she’s a great Knockout but she’s a great wrestler. It’s always those gender issues with respect to wrestling. It’s the man’s match, the woman’s match. Sometimes when you start talking about matches in the context of just ‘No, that was my favourite match’ and I had that back in the day when Gail Kim and Awesome Kong were working together. That was my favourite match, not just my favourite Knockouts match, that was just my favourite match of the night. And I think Tessa has the potential to be one of those transformational performers where it’s not about Knockouts match, non-Knockouts match, it’s just about her being a great wrestler. I like everything about her. She’s just so polished, she’s got a great mean streak and she’s got something that’s rare in the business, she’s got a fifth gear that she could kick into.”

Don Callis on who he is emotionally invested into as a fan:

“I’m pretty emotionally invested as a fan in Brian Cage and what’s gonna happen with Brian Cage. I think we’ve just really scratched the surface of establishing him as a monster and people always say Goldberg and at the start of this, my reference in booking meetings was always 911. I was like, ‘This is how we need to bring this guy out. It needs to be a slow build etc.’ So I think what’s really interesting to me as a wrestling fan is I want to get to know more about Brian Cage. We’ve seen him destroy people, we’ve seen he’s not just a big muscle guy, now we’ve seen him flying around with the best of them. I want to get to know Brian Cage the personality, ’cause he hasn’t talked yet. And I think that makes him for me as a fan, those are the guys that I was always like, ‘I wanna know more about what’s going on behind the curtain here’.”

“That would be a guy I would be invested in and on the Knockout’s side, how can you not as a fan be fascinated by Su Yung. The look that she has, the presence, the stuff that she does, very Muta-esque, and I was a big Muta mark back in the day. So those would be the two if I were watching the product that I’d go, ‘I need to see more of this’.”

On Eli Drake:

“I remember talking to Paul Heyman one night at a Denny’s, and Bully may have even been there for this one. And I remember I didn’t get a lot of time with Paul because I was always flying in for a couple of days and flying out, and I just had the sense, ‘I need to pick this guy’s brain, he’s such a resource’ and I remember saying to him, ‘Who’s the greatest… you know we’re talking about managers, I think Bobby Heenan and Jim Cornette are the two greatest managers of all time’ and he looked at me and he went, ‘Yeah?’, I go, ‘You don’t think so?’ and he goes, ‘Well the problem with those two is they’re too entertaining. So how are they heels?’. And Bobby Heenan was arguably one of the most talented people ever in the business, and I thought about that and I thought, ‘Yeah’. And I think that with Eli.”

“To use a baseball analogy, he’s a five tool player. But one of the things about Eli and I’ve said this to him, ‘You’re so damn entertaining on the mic that it’s easy for guys like that to slide into becoming a babyface. So it’s almost like you’re so good that maybe you need to be not quite that good and not quite that entertaining.'”

You can listen to the full interview here:

The feud between Eddie Edwards and Sami Callihan continues to roll on in Impact Wrestling. The rivalry has spilled into other promotions as well such as Tommy Dreamer’s House of Hardcore and Santino Marella’s Destiny Wrestling.

Last night on Impact Wrestling’s “Under Pressure” it was revealed that Callihan and Edwards will face each other once more next week. The match will be a “Fight in the Woods”. By the sounds of it, Impact will film (or already has done so) a match between the two in the middle of a forest with no fans present.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7wxEasAFw9g

Sami Callihan vs Eddie Edwards

So far in 2018, Eddie Edwards and Sami Callihan have faced each other on 4 occasions. Here are the results:

1. Impact Wrestling January 13th: Edwards defeated Callihan
2. Redemption PPV (Hardcore Rules): Callihan and oVe defeated Edwards, Moose, and Dreamer
3. House of Hardcore 41 (Street Fight): Edwards defeated Callihan
4. House of Hardcore 42 (Street Fight): Edwards defeated Callihan

Edwards spoke to the Mirror UK website about the recent changes in Impact Wrestling.

“Since (the new management team) came in it feels like a new regime but in a good way,” Edwards said. “Feels like at this point from the guys in the locker room to the guys in the office, Scott, Don, Sonjay and creative are all on the same page. We are trying to slowly but surely turn things around and get back to where we were in the heyday.”

Edwards continued to say he is pleased with the level of creative freedom and communication which currently exists in the promotion.

“Right now the lines of communication are open between everybody which is great,” he continued. “To be able to go back and forth with ideas and creative stuff. It’s nice to just have the team all on the same page going forward and that’s the biggest thing. We can’t have people going in different directions that doesn’t work. Right now it’s a good time.”

Impact Wrestling’s management and roster are in for a busy few days. The company is currently in Windsor, ON, Canada for the first of two nights of television tapings. Following the 3rd set of TV tapings under the new management, the promotion will head to Mississauga, ON, Canada for a One Night Only PPV on Sunday.

Impact co-Vice President, Don Callis, recently appeared on the Busted Open Radio show.

"Eliminate the stupid stuff and don't insult the fan's intelligence" @IMPACTWRESTLING EVP @CyrusOverHuge on the changes that needed to happen and his vision for the future of the company.@davidlagreca1 @bullyray5150 #IMPACTonPOP #UnderPressure pic.twitter.com/9N00uxDBdl

— SiriusXM Busted Open (@BustedOpenRadio) May 31, 2018

Don Callis Interview Highlights

For much of its existence, Impact Wrestling has been a poorly reviewed promotion. Callis was asked how he plans to rebuild a new reputation for Impact Wrestling.

“You’ve got to start making the small changes, the changes that make sense. For us, that meant eliminating the stupid stuff. Don’t insult the fans’ intelligence, and also getting the talent roster the way you want it,” Callis said. “I think that despite the fact that when I came in here with Scott [D’Amore] for the first tapings in January, people were flustered by the fact that ‘oh EC3 is leaving’ and this guy is leaving, but they would never say ‘but they just signed Brian Cage, they just signed Sami Callihan’, etc. I said it would take a couple of months to get the roster the way we wanted it.”

Callis was also asked what the company has to do to create a buzz.

“I think the way you create buzz— we’ve had a bit of a honeymoon period, as any kind of new coach or whatever does — is you get compelling talents in storylines that people are invested in, and you do a good job promoting it and you go from there.”

transcriptions courtesy of WrestleZone

Impact Wrestling’s Under Pressure aired last night. During the show, Austin Aries won back the Impact World Championship and Su Yung defeated Allie to win the Knockouts title.

It was a real surprise when Pentagon Jr. won the Impact World Championship from Austin Aries during the Triple Threat main event of their Redemption PPV.

However this change didn’t last for very long and after almost a month-long reign of the Lucha Underground Champion, A-Double won the World Title back during the ‘Under Pressure’ special of Impact.

Austin won the title in a controversial match which was restarted not once but 3 times. The bout was first stopped when Aries refused to release a submission hold and both men were counted out.

Both stars then agreed to restart the bout but they were counted out again after Pentagon hit a Package Piledriver on Austin on the ring apron:

OH MY GOD!

Package Piledriver on the ring apron by @PENTAELZEROM! #UnderPressure pic.twitter.com/BbiYGXrsqk

— TNA Wrestling (@ThisIsTNA) June 1, 2018

After this, the Mexican Star cut a promo demanding to restart the bout once again, though it didn’t go very well for him. As soon as the referee turned around to restart the bout, the former WWE Star low-blowed his opponent and then pinned him after hitting a brainbuster:

.@AustinAries punts @PENTAELZEROM low, connects with the Brainbuster and WE HAVE A NEW WORLD CHAMPION! #UnderPressure pic.twitter.com/M8XdzKyppF

— TNA Wrestling (@ThisIsTNA) June 1, 2018

It’s worth mentioning that this wasn’t the only title change during the night as Su Yung defeated Allie during the show and was crowned the new Knockouts Champion.

This is Austin Aries’ third reign with the Impact World Championship and now it’d be interesting to see if he continues his feud with Pentagon Jr. or moves on to a rivalry with an Impact Wrestling star instead.

Tonight on Impact Wrestling’s “Under Pressure” Tessa Blanchard will take on Madison Rayne. Blanchard made her debut with the company at the Redemption PPV on April 22nd, 2018 and let the rest of the division know she plans on cutting in line to the top of the card.

Blanchard defeated up-and-comer Kiera Hogan on a recent episode of Impact. She then opted to continue the beating on her opponent after the match. Rayne then ran in to make the save.

Blanchard is someone the company appears to be high on. The Knockouts division has added several new talents recently but none with as much potential as the 22-year-old Blanchard.

She recently took part in an Impact Wrestling media teleconference.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4zlhgATPs2E

Tessa Blanchard Interview Highlights

“Things are about to get very, very, interesting” Tessa Blanchard on what is next for her in Impact Wrestling.

During the call, Blanchard was asked about her father’s history with the 4 Horseman and what influence he has had on her career.

“I have huge respect for the 4 Horsemen, all bias aside,” Blanchard said of her father’s old faction. “I think my Dad and Arn were one of the greatest tag-teams of all time.”

Blanchard would say that her father’s era of professional wrestling is one she studies often. The gritty and more realistic approach to wrestling from Tully Blanchard’s era in the 4 Horseman is something which appeals to the younger Blanchard.

“I watch that era of professional wrestling for inspiration and to study tape,” Blanchard continued to say. “I want to portray that style through my work.”

Blanchard was also asked about recent media reports that she was broken-hearted when she wasn’t signed to WWE after her tryout in 2014. She clarified that she believes everything happens for a reason and she does not believe she would be the wrestler she is today if she had signed with WWE 4 years ago.

“These life experiences, these personal experiences through wrestling, if I was signed on (with WWE), my entire path would be different,” she said. “I’m very blessed for things to have played out the way they have.”

Blanchard also revealed she broke her collarbone while wrestling in Lucha Underground. She otherwise praised the company, talent, and how they treated her, however.

Impact Wrestling presents a branded episode tonight titled “Under Pressure”. The matches taped for tonight’s show will be the last to air from the company’s tapings held in Orlando this April.

After tonight’s show, the company heads to Windsor for 2 days of television tapings on Friday and Saturday. They will be in Mississauga on Sunday for a One Night Only PPV in collaboration with Santino Marella’s Destiny Wrestling.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R97ZEWhHBsk

Impact Wrestling Under Pressure Confirmed Matches

Brian Cage vs Dezmond Xavier

Recently on Impact Wrestling, Brian Cage has been shown wrestling in Japan, Australia, and Canada. Tonight he will return to Impact to face Dezmond Xavier.

Scott Steiner vs Eli Drake

The former tag team champions appear to blame one another for their losing the belts to Z&E. Steiner accidentally hit Drake in the head with a chair to cost their team their titles. Tonight they will go one-on-one with each other at Impact Wrestling’s Under Pressure.

Tessa Blanchard vs Madison Rayne

Madison Rayne has returned to pro-wrestling. She saved Kiera Hogan from suffering a post-match beatdown at the hands of Blanchard on a previous episode but tonight she will have to face the 3rd generation star herself.

Knockouts Championship
Allie (c) vs Su Yung

In recent weeks, we have seen Allie adopt a new and darker persona. After watching her friend, Rosemary, be locked in a coffin by the devious Su Yung, Allie appears to have gone unstable.

Yung’s army of undead bridesmaids may also be in attendance, however.

Impact Wrestling World Championship
Pentagon Jr. (c) vs Austin Aries

Following the departure of Alberto El Patron, Pentagon and his brother Fenix found themselves in an Impact World Championship match at Redemption on April 22nd. Pentagon came out the victor but has yet to have his one-on-one rematch with former champion Austin Aries.

Aries will get his chance to add more gold to his belt collection tonight and avenge his title loss at Redemption.

Impact wrestling will host two days of television tapings this weekend from Windsor, Ontario, Canada. The city is home to Scott D’Amore’s long-running Border City Wrestling promotion. Border City Wrestling has long been a top feeder promotion to bigger organizations especially during periods in which D’Amore has been working with Impact Wrestling.

Tickets for the tapings are still available although all floor seats have been sold. Impact will then head to Mississauga, ON, Canada on Sunday to film a One Night Only PPV.

Confirmed Matches for Upcoming Impact Wrestling Tapings

The following matches are being advertised for the first night of tapings on June 1st, 2018:

• Austin Aries vs Aiden Prince
• Matt Sydal and Kongo Kong vs Reverso and A1
• Dezmond Xavier vs Phil Atlas

The following matches are confirmed for the 2nd night of tapings held on June 2:

• A1 and Moose vs Austin Aries and Phil Atlas
• Fenix vs Rich Swann

New wrestlers debuting during the tapings:

Aiden Prince: 

Prince is a local wrestler from Windsor who has been a pro since 2012. In addition to wrestling with BCW, Prince is active in the Toronto independent wrestling scene. He has competed with Smash Wrestling and Greektown Wrestling in Toronto.

Prince has also wrestled on Impact Wrestling One Night Only PPVs run in association with BCW. Prince also wrestles for Santino Marella’s Destiny Wrestling promotion in Mississauga.

El Reverso

Another local Windsor talent, El Reverso wrestled from 2004 to 2008 with BCW before retiring. He recently ended a nine-year retirement and has been competing in Windsor and the surrounding area.

A1

A former member of TNA’s Team Canada stable in 2006, A1 is a long time veteran. As with El Reverso, he retired in 2008 during a low period for the business. He returned to the independent scene in 2015, however, wrestling for various promotions. Border City wrestling has always remained his home, however.

Phil Atlas

33-year-old Phil Atlas has also been a regular for Border City Wrestling, and Destiny Wrestling, which are basically both feeder systems for Impact at this point. He’s also wrestled for the Toronto promotion, Superkick’d, and several other Canadian independent companies.

Chris Jericho surprised everyone last year when he announced that he will be wrestling for NJPW. However, he didn’t stop there and Chris worked in collaboration with ROH for his upcoming Cruise as well.

These events made many wonder if the former World Champion could go even further and work for some other promotions in future like Impact Wrestling.

The topic was also discussed during a latest interview with Impact Officials and talking about Jericho, Co-Executive Vice Presidents Don Callis had said that they would open the door for someone like Y2J if he wants to work with the company.

All this was enough to start rumors about Jericho possibly working for Impact in future and a fan ended up asking the former Champion if he could be heading to the company formerly known as TNA.

Although Jericho did not answer the question directly. He instead re-tweeted the post as seen below which has only added fuel to the speculations that he could be headed to the Impact Zone:

https://twitter.com/Sea25030474/status/1001173947633864705

This could very well be a case of Chris trolling internet fans but we also have to consider the fact that his rivalry with Kenny Omega also started with a tweet.

Given that WWE has developed a working relationship with Impact in the past several months and they even promoted the GWN on WWE Network, fans hope that the Officials could happily allow Jericho to work for the promotion.

Whether or not he actually ends up wrestling for the company will be revealed in future but for now, everything looks to be heading into a positive direction and Jericho making his Impact debut somewhere down the line is starting to look like a possible scenario.

Discussion: Do you think Chris Jericho working for Impact Wrestling would be a good idea? Let us know your thoughts in the comment section.