The Trashville Fairgrounds was a tough venue to navigate. A large piece of land, I ended up traveling through a speedway and a futbol game that was already in contention to gain entrance. Sliding under a gate, by literally the skin of my teeth, I came to the line of the event with not a stain (or a hole) on my shirt (always carry a handkerchief kids) ready for the games to begin. With seats located in the back, I finagled my way to ringside and found myself sitting next to a Karen who’s imaginary husband never appeared. Slammiversary was already off to a crazy start and the dark matches hadn’t even begun. Only in Trashville. But even with my preference for Memphis as the crown city of the … odd state of Tennessee, I can positively say that not once throughout the event did I wonder why Slammiversary wasn’t held at the FedEx Forum. I may not enjoy the city, but I can recognize one thing the attendees had that is impossible to remiss : Trashvillians love their wrasslin’.
Starting the 20th anniversary extravaganza of Impact as chants of “TNA” rained down from the crowd was Savannah Evans in a dark match trying her hand at some singles action, instead of being just a valet/enforcer. A local competitor named Alisa decked out in red trunks and bralette came to the ring in the wake of Evans in regal black and gold who panned to a crowd that ate up nearly every minute.
From the bell, Evans began pummeling her smaller opponent. The size difference playing a major factor within not only the early minutes of the match up, but throughout the entire battle.
Imposing and with menace, Evans dominated Alisa with forearm blows and driving her opponent through the ropes and into the turnbuckles to keep the breath out of Alisa. Though there was an exchange of pinfall attempts and Alisa was able to get the crowd to repeatedly rally for her, as things winded down and a guillotine attempt was reversed into a faceplant and then followed up by a fall-away slam for the victory, it was obvious that this opener was a squash intended to sell the premise of a dominating Evans drawing crowds and in that, Evans v. Alisa could be described as nothing short of effective.
Rosemary and Valkyrie arrived to the ring looking like an odd couple, though The Influence arrived in tandem to defend their Knockouts tag titles. The challengers controlled things early with Rosemary taking bites off her opponents face and Valkyrie delivering chops that thudded throughout the nearly sold out crowd. As the tides turned, The Influence took their time dismantling Rosemary inside and out the ring, until Dashwood got too cocky and Rosemary was able to reverse a slam. Near falls occurred from both sides, one most interesting coming from a double spear executed by Rosemary and Valkyrie, finally appearing to gel as a cohesive unit. It wasn’t enough to keep The Inspiration out of contention though, as Dashwood delivered some neck breakers and leg drops to keep Valkyrie grounded. Valkyrie and Rosemary couldn’t be held down though, and as Rosemary was able to score another fall on one half of the Inspiration – after a collision that looked like a car crash, Valkyrie withheld the other half of the champions from interrupting the pin attempt and a new era of the Impact’s Women’s Tag Team division was ushered in at Slammiversary.
The final match for the women’s division came with the champion Tasha Steelz taking on several other competitors in a Queen of The Mountain Match with a complicated set of rules in a contest that had never been contested before in the Impact Women’s Division. A melee broke out between Steelz and the former champions as soon as the bell rang, with Steelz having a target on her back as big as her belt. Things got off to a poor start for the Boricua Badass as she was pinned not once, but twice consecutively and became the first competitor sent to the penalty box : a fun concept that placed opponents who were pinned or submitted in a cage for two minutes as they watched their opponents helplessly fight on with the possibility to climb the ladder to victory that much closer.
There were some memorable spots from the bevy of women that filled the square circle : Grace’s negative pull-up while hand-standing on the top rope was a thing of beauty, and the carnage that resulted from Yim crashing off the top of the ladder was can’t miss. But even with these moments, my eyes while at my stolen ringside seat were glued on the fiery Steelz. The flurry of fists exchanged between Green and Yim was cool, but the near falls Steelz almost captured against Green were just … better! Sure, Purazzo’s chops on Grace had weight behind them that sounded clear as thunder as they cracked like lightning on the other side of the ring, but watching Steelz take down the imposing former “Champ Champ” was nothing short of biblical. I was upset when Evans decked in black and grey army fatigues like Big Pun in his prime was ejected from the ring, even when I usually don’t respect such heelish tactics.
Mickie James is a legend. I wouldn’t even have bothered to watch Impact if she hadn’t opened the Forbidden Door back in January, but it felt so good to watch Steelz blatantly disrespect James and knock her stupid hat off. Steelz wildly searching for a way out the penalty box either with Evans or solo further down into the match while James taunted her each time… such a dedication was expressed by Tasha Steelz in her performance, it was impossible not to see that the brightest of the limelight was deservedly on her. The cutter, the neck breaker, setting up the table early with Evans for future devastation, surviving crashing into the ladder after arising fresh out the penalty box, belting out a heelish “I don’t care about your rules” which effortlessly could find itself turned into a slogan on thousands of T-shirts; the biggest moments of the Queen of The Mountain match belonged to Steelz, so it was such a shame that she was not able to retain her title.
After being sent to the penalty box for a third time after a one-on-one with Grace, with all the other women wiped out outside of the ring for this marathon of a match, Grace kind of just strolled up the ladder and hooked the title to the top to become the new Knockouts World Champion. With the a majority of the crowd cheering for the new guard, Steelz threw a tantrum on my corner of the ring, and while I attempted the console her over the overwhelming elation of the crowd, I couldn’t help but notice how Tasha Steelz selling a loss was far more interesting than Jordynne Grace scoring a win. Steelz may have walked out of Slammiversary a former Knockouts Champion, but with the captivating action and acting she was able to deliver (even while in defeat) it should not be long before gold goes back around her Brick-City made waist once more, where it belongs.
Score : 5/5
*Was Live on June 19th, 2022 from the Asylum in Nashville, Tennessee
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