Credit: Impact Fight
Radicalz ‘Trey, 23-year-old Ace Austin, and former world champion Eddie Edwards knew they would compete against a mysterious opponent in the Slammiversary main event. What they did not expect was that it was Rich Swann, fully healed from the ankle injury that left him out earlier this year.
The former cruiserweight champion showed no signs of adverse effects from the injury while dancing in the ring. Before the game could begin, “world-class maniac” Eric Young returned to IMPACT, ready to take his place in the fray, making it a five-way elimination match for the vacant IMPACT World Championship.
Trey and Austin rekindled their intensely personal rivalry at ringside, while Young toppled Edwards with a tummy-to-tummy supplement. Swann sent EY to the floor and teamed up with Trey for a matchless athletic display. Madman Fulton’s interference on Austin’s behalf led to his removal from the ring.
The quick and sudden offensive of the competitors involved continued, each hitting their signature. The focus finally went wild for Trey and Austin before Young broke it apart. A nasty bump on a ring apron buster by Trey in Swann left both men in agony.
Moments later, Young delivered a pile spike to send Trey to pack. Trey is eliminated.
Later, Austin and Edwards rekindled their top-rope rivalry, only to have Young hit Swann against them, sending them crashing into a table.
Swann, his neck ripped apart in pain, countered a breaker on a victory roll and eliminated Young. Young is eliminated.
A furious young man attacked and hit Swann’s ankle, then wrapped him in a chair and stomped on him mercilessly, leaving the inspiring little face screaming in pain. See you, Rich. You brought this with yourself! Young exclaimed as he left.
Like a snake, Austin slipped into the ring and took advantage of the injured Swann. He delivered The Fold for the fall. Swann is eliminated.
With the fight in the hands of Edwards and Austin, the heel tried The Fold but Eddie threw him into the corner with a supplementary supplement. Austin survived The Boston Knee Party to the surprise of the comment team. Austin finally turned in The Fold but Edwards kicked him out.
Eddie bounced back, offered another Boston Knee Party and followed with Die Hard for the win and title.
Fulton reappeared and attacked Edwards. The good brothers interrupted the beating. They scoffed at attacking Edwards, but eventually gave up their heels and stood their ground with the new world champion to close the show.
That is until three tally marks appeared on the screen and EC3 appeared in a video package. A more intense EC3 looked at the camera as the show faded into black.
Outcome
Edwards defeated Austin, Trey, Young and Swann to win the title
Degree
A
Analysis
On the surface, Edwards was the least exciting of the options to win the IMPACT world title. However, it makes sense if you think the company wanted to mark the beginning of this chapter with a familiar face at the top of the card, surrounded by all these fresh new faces.
Pairing Edwards with The Good Brothers makes sense given the tone of the characters, while positioning Austin and Fulton as heels at the start of the title’s reign is appropriate given the richness of the story between them and Eddie.
Beyond that, we have a rivalry between Swann and Young that could very well produce excellent professional wrestling and storytelling, not to mention the brilliant suspense that EC3’s return to the company was.
There will be some who are disappointed by Young and / or Swann’s revelation as the match participants, but their contributions helped raise the overall quality of the match and they, themselves, now have a fight that we can look forward to. .
Looking forward was the theme of the show, really, as IMPACT wrapped up a series of its ongoing stories and looked into a future that is suddenly brighter than it has been for that company in some time. Impressed new stars, old stars will help bolster the roster, and the fact that #Slammiversary ranked # 1 worldwide throughout the show suggests that fans were genuinely interested in what the promotion was all about. had to offer.
Now, it’s up to them to maintain that intrigue, starting with the AXS TV broadcast on Tuesday.
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