Three days ago Impact Wrestling set the wrestling world forward with one of the best and most complete events of the year. Impact Wrestling has been flying under the radar for years and seem like they have found there own path and have some momentum to continue to build forward for the promotion. Back in April the WWE shockingly fired a number of wrestlers to cut expenses down and what was WWE's lose has now became Impact Wrestling's gain. 

The reason I held off this article is to allow anyone who would like to see the debuts for themselves. We've knew from the start that Karl Anderson and Doc Gallows would be joining Impact Wrestling. On the shocking side I wasn't expecting to see Chris Sabin and Alex Shelley returning to the company partially due to the thought that one of the two was retired. It is possible that this will allow the veterans for one more run in the promotion that gave them their names. 

Heath Slater was the shocking debut especially after his recent one off appearance with WWE a few weeks ago. Slater has one of the more interesting debut angles as they allowed him to debut as a free agent almost playing off his recent appearance to cast doubt on his contract status with the promotion. I know that it's a little random to allow someone who had the status of Heath in WWE this type of angle, but we need to see what happens next. As for Ethan Carter III and Eric Young it seems like the promotion has big plans for at least one of them, but again we will have to wait and see what happens next on Impact Wrestling!! 

It has hit the final countdown for Slammiversary and Impact is pulling out all the stops ahead of the biggest event of the year. After 373 days it seems like Impact has ran out of ideas of teams to challenge The North at this point which is special in itself, because it is a rare occasion in modern wrestling for champions to hold any championship for over a year. The North has established themselves as one of the top tag teams in the world and due to them being in Impact Wrestling and flying under the radar. 

Shamrock and Callahan had a heated rivalry and even though it's possible that things aren't over between the former rivals they're trying to shift the focus to unite against a common enemy. The main difference between when WWE does this is that they do it as a lazy booking tool to add something to an upcoming match. However, it seems like Impact will either keep the belts on The North or if Shamrock/Callahan win the gold they will get a sizable reign with the gold to maximize the effect of Shamrock and Callahan finally being the tandem to defeat the unbeatable North. 

Rumors have abound in recent weeks and months about the impending arrival of some new talent for Impact Wrestling. Back in April, WWE shockingly terminated over thirty superstars some of whom are now highly sought after free agents. Right now it seems academic that Karl Anderson and Doc Gallows will be joining Impact Wrestling once their no compete clauses expire. The former Impact World Champion Ethan Carter III also has hinted at a return to the company that made him a star. 

The person I wanted to focus on though is the former "Long Island Iced Z" who called WWE home for the better part of 14 years not counting the time he spent in developmental. At one point Zack Ryder had a chance to become a star in WWE at a time when they really needed a fresh face on the top of the card even if he was just going to be a temporary headliner. Now after spending a majority of his career in one place Zack has a chance to reinvent himself somewhere new.  

Check out what he posted on his Instagram three days ago!! For those who may not get it the big deal about July 18 is that Impact Wrestling will be holding their annual Slammiversary event on that date this year. It is possible that Zack was trying to create a bit of a buzz, but it's also possible that Ryder might've been hinting that he is following Anderson & Gallows. A few years ago Impact had a bad reputation for taking former WWE stars, but now they really need to create a buzz and it could benefit the promotion signing a few former WWE stars. The real questions how many is too many for the promotion that the talent they currently have would then get lost in the shuffle. Rumors can do crazy things, but I for one think that Impact Wrestling would be a perfect place for Zack or Matt to reinvent himself for the first time in over a decade. 

With the countdown coming to a close within the next week another chapter for Impact Wrestling's second biggest PPV will write it's next chapter. To know how high the expectations are for Slammiversary 2020 we need to take a step back for Slammiversary 2019. It highlights how far some of the stars have come in the last year, but also what has changed in the last year for Impact Wrestling. 

A lot has changed for Impact Wrestling in the last few months including seeing both Joey Ryan and Tessa Blanchard leave the company for very different reasons, but both departures leave a big whole for the company. At this time last year Johnny Impact was wrapping up his run with Impact Wrestling before he would return to WWE and the same was the case for Santana and Ortiz who would jump to AEW to join the Inner Circle. 

A year later and a lot has changed with a number of rumors a bound about new stars joining the ranks in Impact Wrestling. Namely Karl Anderson, Doc Gallows and a certain Long Island Iced Z seem to be on the top of Impact Wrestling list. However, we have to wait around a week to find out for certain who will be making their debut or return on July 18 at Slammiversary 2020. Ken Shamrock will be joining the Impact Wrestling Hall of Fame this year in case you've forgotten!! 

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.