Recently some shocking news came down as Tessa Blanchard's contract was terminated by Impact Wrestling even though she was the current World Champion. According to research, Tessa and Impact were unable to reach an agreement on a new contract and it was the reason for the termination. It shocking for the reason alone that she is the current World Champion of the promotion. I feel like this is similar to the Drew Gulak situation and could be worked out in the near future. 

I think that Impact should be working hard to prove that they want to be taken seriously and after spending all this time building Tessa up to the point of her being a credible challenger and champion this seems like a bit of a wash. However, now if you factor in the current situation going on and how the wrestling business has been effected the question remains what is next for Tessa Blanchard. Honestly Tessa is one of the top free agents now, but it is uncertain how quick AEW or WWE will jump to sign her due to the current circumstances. 

During her stay in Impact she definitely showed quite a lot of potential and at 24 years old she has plenty of time to figure it out for herself. I would be curious as to why the contract talks didn't work out with her and Impact as she likely could've been thinking about circumstances to give her even some security on a short term deal. I guess this might be something we will find out in the future!

Even in times of crisis we still need a chance to celebrate the past and remember where we once called home even if it was during dark times. Impact started Slammiversary as an annual event back in June 2005 to celebrate the anniversary of the company becoming another year older. Since then we've seen a number of memorable matches, and moments at the anniversary event and now with this years installment coming up we need to take a second and look back.

The main reason I selected this video as the starting point is, because normally this type of video is found on wrestling youtube's and not shown on major promotion's channels. Reality is that Impact has never really hid from their history even if it would be easier to try and cover up parts of the past especially when things were really really bad within the promotion. Overall this year will be more of a step forward for the promotion still struggling with consistency and finding that building block instead of having to rely on spare parts from WWE like they use to rely on. I'm not alone in saying that I'm looking forward to see what Impact can come up with on July 18. 

It seems to me that at this point Impact might have more of a cohesive Women's division then the WWE does at this point. Impact has taken the opportunity to slowly build up Kiera Hogan and Tasha Steeles as a tandem and they have more momentum then teams in WWE's Women's tag team division. As for Deonna Purazzo someone who has spent time with WWE as well made more of an impact (no pun intended) in her debut then she did while under contract with WWE. Even though not everyone will find their potential in Connecticut they always catch on somewhere else. 

Last time we spoke about Impact's commitment to building up Ace Austin as a future star, but it seems to me that Trey Miguel could be on the same level as Ace with high potential and a bright future. Even though the advent might be a tad questionable it does seem possible that the King of the Mountain could be returning this year with a five man match now advertised for Slammiversary on July 18. This could be the match that allow Austin or Miguel to really cash in on the potential the promotion sees for them at this point. 

The ground is still shaking and the dust is still settling from the earth shattering releases the WWE decided to bring down about a month or so ago. Now with names slowly becoming free from their former employers contracts more names will begin to pop up elsewhere. It seems like Impact has bet on another underrated name that being Deonna Purazzo who will be making her official debut this Tuesday on Impact. It also seems to me that some matches are slowly coming together for the upcoming Slammiversary event set for July 18. 

The last time I wrote about Impact we saw OVE begin to fall a part and the new Joseph Ryan made his presence known and now we know why he did. The only question is did Jake Crist make the right decision to or not and why did he make the decision. As far as the Ace Austin stuff it seems to me that Impact has found someone they want to keep investing in and thus far Ace has shown he is a worthwhile investment for a company still trying to right the ship completely and stay on stable ground.

For a while now one faction has been running Impact Wrestling for lack of a better word and that is OVE or Ohio Vs Everything. Originally a four man faction consisting of Sami Callihan, Dave Crist, Jake Crist, and Madman Fulton, they were at one point of the few true heels in wrestling. At the recent Rebellion event the tension that had been present within the faction for a while boiled over when Sami attacked his stablemates following a loss to Ken Shamrock. 

On a recent edition of Impact it seems like Madman has had enough of the losing and being treated as an afterthought so he left OVE. The only difference between Sami and Madman's departures were the fact that Madman didn't attack his former friends like Callihan did at Rebellion. The reality is the end of OVE has seemingly come after three years together and the only question now is what's next for the former faction. I do believe that Madman Fulton still has upside and untapped potential to realize. One thing Impact seems to be good at is knowing how to elevate a monster up the card. As far as the other three well the Crist Brothers move to the tag team division and Callihan keeps his spot in the main event for right now. Overall all four guys can come out this looking good if Impact wants them all to be looking good. 

Note: I'm unsure if there will be a feud to highlight the break up or not, because I figure that it would be difficult to expect the fans to want to cheer anyone as they were just the top heels in the company. I'm also intrigued by the repackaged gimmick that Joey Ryan currently has it's a nice step away from the comedic joke he was before and I liked it a lot. 

Recently I've been passing along updates that various wrestling companies have been sharing with their fans and we have another today this one is from Impact Wrestling. In a quote taken directly from the Impact Wrestling website: "In light of the restrictions placed upon live events as a result of the coronavirus, IMPACT Wrestling will hold its next major spectacular--IMPACT: Rebellion—on a closed set with only essential personnel in attendance, as per the guidelines put in place by the CDC."
"Originally planned as a pay-per-view special, Rebellion will now expand into a two-part television event airing April 21 and April 28 as part of the weekly flagship series IMPACT!" for the full article click here!

Impact Wrestling has adapted to find a way to still produce new original content for their fans while still putting the safety of their employees at the forefront of each decision. According to recent reports a variety of talent missed the recent tapings due to travel restrictions which namely included anyone from Canada (The North). Current Impact Wrestling World Champion Tessa Blanchard decided on her own not to come to the taping according to Wrestling Observer. Some people just feel safer limiting movement out of a safe zone they may have due to the current situation which is totally understandable. 

The Observer also noted that it was actually a total of around twelve weeks of content shot in three days, which will begin on April 21 with the Rebellion special and last the company through mid-July. Impact will be set for the future and should take the time to come up with a plan and a direction for programming to go in for the remainder of 2020. Especially if they decide to bring in any new talent having a plan for them from the start would make the transition more seamless rather then seem forced. 

At one point Impact was a weekly fixture of the site, but things changed and I started focusing on something different. It had nothing to do with anything Impact Wrestling did it was more just shifting more attention to AEW and not having enough of the spotlight to share it with everyone. Looking at this main event if it was WWE they would've let the title contenders win the tag titles and kill the momentum of the actual tag team. This is the main difference between the two companies as WWE never cares about the division and they believe in singles stars a lot more then the tag teams. 

Tessa has shown she belongs in the main event even if it is only because she is a member of the Impact Wrestling roster. In my opinion, Tessa fits the description of an attraction, because seeing a female wrestler hold the World Title for a promotion is something that nobody expects to see normally. Overall this shows the type of character development that Impact focuses on. For the second year in a row Impact Wrestling will present Rebellion on PPV and though the card seems to be up in the air due to current issues in society if it is on Tessa will defend her title against Eddie Edwards and Michael Elgin. 

Note: As of yesterday it seems likely that Impact Wrestling will be taping Rebellion this week while they're in the Skyline studio in Nashville. According to the report Impact will be taping 6-8 weeks of programming this week similarly to what AEW has done to make sure they have programming to air for a few weeks. For the full article click here or stay tuned into this site for any information I find out!! 

It has been almost a month since the last time I've seen anything from Impact Wrestling and that is not to say I've lost interest in the company or had a reason to give up on them far from it actually. My attention moved to the NWA for the most part and maybe a little AEW, but actually taking a look at Impact something caught my attention. First off the fact that Ken Shamrock is finally going into the Impact Wrestling Hall of Fame is one of the best decisions that Impact could've possibly made at this stage. For those unaware Shamrock was one of the few known names on the very event presented by NWA-TNA. Shamrock would become the first Impact Wrestling World Champion winning the Gauntlet for the Gold defeating Malice. 

After leaving Impact Wrestling many years ago Shamrock pretty much fell out of the limelight at least in the world of wrestling until a few years when he started campaigning for a come back. Last year that come back became a reality when he rejoined Impact for the first time since 2002 as he left the company in the early fall. In all honesty it is insane the fact that at 56 years old Shamrock looks better then wrestlers half his age and could still kick anyone's ass in a fight. As far as this segment I love old school wrestling there are very few things more old school then a fire ball so Impact Wrestling you once again have got my attention. Let's see what happens next!! 

In a moment some thought possible, but nobody saw coming soon after leaving WWE Christian Cage he would appear in TNA Wrestling as one of the first major signings from WWE at the time. Early on from what I remember at this time TNA had focused on mostly developing their own stars and not grabbing anyone from WWE. If memory serves at this point TNA only had signed the Dudley Boys and Rhyno from WWE before they signed Christian. 

It has been a while since I found an event worth talking about mostly, because it is easier to go for a birthday then expect to find an event worth remembering. Looking at this card we see the evidence of how deep the roster at the height of TNA. I remember these days with depth in Impact and fresh feuds still at the forefront of the programming. Like is often the case though looking at the show and remembering the faces that were once in TNA takes us back in the wrestling time machine, to think where some of these talent ended up or where they still are now is crazy. The focal of this show though is the fact that TNA trusted Christian enough to give him a chance to lead, partially due to them needing someone new on top and the other side of it was giving the fans a break from Jeff Jarrett. Either way though Christian got his first chance to be the face of the franchise in TNA on this day 14 years ago. 

Against All Odds 2006

​Andy Douglas & Chase Stevens Def. (Pin) Austin Aries & Roderick Strong
Jay Lethal Def. (Pin) Alex Shelley, Matt Bentley, Petey Williams Fatal 4-Way
B. G. James & Kip James Def. (Pin) Homicide & Machete
Chris Harris & James Storm Def. (Pin) Chris Sabin & Sonjay Dutt NWA Tag Team Titles
Rhino Def. (Pin) Abyss Falls Count Anywhere
Samoa Joe Def. (Pin) A.J. Styles, Christopher Daniels Triple-Threat NWA X-Division Title
Brother Devon & Brother Ray Def. (Pin) Bobby Roode & Eric Young
Christian Cage Def. (Pin) Jeff Jarrett (C) NWA World Heavyweight Title