Thus far, six matches are advertised for the Saturday pay-per-view with five championship bouts set to take place. Let’s examine the full card below. Remember, these are just my predictions as I have no inside knowledge of what’s going to happen. Let’s get started.
Elimination Four Way match for the vacant Impact World Championship: Ace Austin vs. Eddie Edwards vs. Trey Miguel vs. A Mystery Person
I’m going to quickly eliminate Trey Miguel and Eddie Edwards from winning the Impact World title. Miguel is still in his transition phase of his main event push. The Rascalz member hasn’t been pushed strongly enough to warrant winning the world title right now. Miguel needs a big feud with a main eventer that allows him to showcase whether he can hang with the big boys in the main event scene.
Impact can also throw another tournament with Miguel being pushed as the underdog who ultimately wins the entire competition. If officials continue to push him strongly after Slammiversary then it’s possible that he could challenge for the Impact World title at Bound For Glory.
In terms of Eddie Edwards, the former TNA World Heavyweight Champion seems to be in the gatekeeper role at this point in his career. Impact has done a nice job of building Eddie up as a potential winner this Saturday; however, I just don’t see Edwards walking out as the champion unless he changes the cartoonish gimmick that’s been holding him back.
That leaves Ace Austin and the mystery person. The former X-Division Champion has been one of the bright spots of Impact and I have no doubt that Austin has the charisma and in-ring skills to carry the main event scene. I see a little bit of Austin Aries in him. With Madman Fulton added to his act then it wouldn’t surprise me if he wins the Impact World Championship.
However, I’m going to make a bold prediction here. I’m picking former WWE superstar Rusev to be the mystery man and win the Impact World Championship. Hear my crazy theory out. Impact has made it too obvious that both EC3 and Eric Young will strongly make their return to the company Saturday. To me, that’s a red herring to hide the true mystery man. Impact hasn’t spoken a word about Rusev since teasing his appearance in their first trailer for Slammiversary.
Rusev recently revealed that he tested positive for the coronavirus, so naturally many assume that he won't be competing anytime soon. However, my conspiracy theory hat is on and I feel Rusev is fabricating to throw the scent off him showing up on Saturday. I saw the entire video and the former WWE superstar never showcases his actual test results that confirms his statement. Not only that, but it wouldn’t be the first time that a wrestler lied to hide a surprise appearance/debut. The most recent example is Brian Cage, who went out of his way to deny that he signed an AEW contract.
Rusev is a name that would actually get the wrestling world talking about Impact Wrestling in a positive light. While my second pick goes to EC3 as the mystery man, I’m confident enough to make this bold prediction. So, the new Impact World Champion at Slammiversary will be…
Winner: Miro (former WWE superstar Rusev) becomes the Impact World Champion.
X-Division Championship match: Willie Mack (c) vs. Chris Bey
Impact has done a nice job building up Bey; however, I just don’t see Mack dropping the X-Division title until he finally gets the chance to feud with Rich Swann. Before Swann was injured earlier this year, the company was strongly teasing Mack turning on the Baltimore native eventually.
Swann is expected to make his return around September, which is a month before Bound For Glory. I expect the company to resume the build between Swann and Mack, with the X-Division Champion turning heel after he drops the belt to Swann. Most likely, Johnny Swinger will be the cause of Bey’s defeat, which protects the challenger from taking a clean loss.
Winner: Willie Mack retains the X-Division Championship
Impact Knockouts Championship match: Jordynne Grace (c) vs. Deonna Purrazzo
Purrazzo has been very impressive since her return to Impact last month and I wish WWE did more with the talented superstar. However, I don’t see her walking out of Slammiversary as the new Impact Knockouts Champion due to Purrazzo’s reported per appearance agreement with the company.
While it’s possible that the 26-year-old has signed a long-term deal with the promotion by Slammiversary, this more so feels like the same push that they gave Tenille Dashwood when she first arrived to the company last October. Grace gets a big win over a name talent and Purrazzo may move onto another company following her brief stint with Impact.
If Purrazzo does win then that likely means she’s signed a lengthy deal with the promotion. I like to think that Impact is smart enough to not put the belt on her unless she’s locked in for a certain period of time. It’s possible that Grace retains and Purrazzo continues to wrestle for Impact; however, I feel the former WWE superstar’s momentum would suffer a bit if she losses.
Winner: Jordynne Grace retains the Impact Knockouts title
Impact World Tag Team Championship match: The North (c) vs. Ken Shamrock and Sami Callihan.
Sami Callihan and Ken Shamrock are simply challengers of the month. The North have plowed through every tag team on the roster so the pairing of the former world champions was done to give Ethan Page and Josh Alexander a prominent match with fresh challengers. The North will drop the belts very soon; however, The Good Brothers will most likely be the team to take the belts off the duo.
Winner: The North retains the Impact World Tag Team titles
Old School Rules match for the TNA World Heavyweight Championship: Moose (c) vs. Tommy Dreamer
I find it odd that Impact doesn’t recognize the TNA Heavyweight Championship as a real belt anymore and yet, officials keep booking title matches for a fake belt. That logic aside, Tommy Dreamer is here to put over Moose, that’s it. There’s no gain for Dreamer winning on Saturday and Moose would actually lose some momentum if he takes a clean loss to Dreamer.
One of the former TNA World Heavyweight Champions will make his return following the match-up and I’m picking Eric Young for that spot. Again, EC3 has made it too obvious that he’ll be making his return to the company at Slammiversary. Personally, I believe that EC3 would fit best in either NWA or Impact Wrestling. I wouldn’t be surprised if he makes his return to Impact, though I see EC3 returning in a prominent role like the main event, not in a feud over a fake title.
Winner: Moose retains the fake title TNA World Heavyweight Championship
A Gauntlet match to determine the No. 1 contender to the Knockouts Championship: Rosemary vs. Nevaeh vs. Su Yung vs. Kiera Hogan vs. Taya Valkyrie vs. Tasha Steelz vs. Alisha Edwards vs. Kylie Rae vs. Kimber Lee vs. Havok vs. Madison Rayne
The only knockouts I can see winning are either Rosemary or Su Yung. Everyone else is either in a tag team (Havok/ Nevaeh, Kiera Hogan/Tasha Steelz) or glorified enhancement talent (Alisha Edwards and Kimber Lee). For Madison Rayne, she’s currently a backstage personality these days and I don’t see her leaving that role anytime soon. Valkyrie is just coming out of a feud with Grace, so she won't be in the title picture anytime soon.
As far as Kylie Rae goes, I can see her winning the match if Deonna Purrazzo emerges victorious in the Impact Knockouts Championship bout. The clash of personalities could make for a compelling feud between the two. Otherwise, Rae will have a strong showing, but will be eliminated in the end. That leaves Rosemary and Su Yung. While Rosemary is also teaming with Valkyrie, a heel Rosemary could be an interesting opponent for Grace. The former TNA Knockouts Champion is one of the best talents on the roster so she’ll definitely bring the best out of the champion, as long as they stay away from the undead realm non sense.
Impact teased the return of Su Yung this past Tuesday, so it’s likely that the Susie character will be done on Saturday. However, since Susie did win in the ten-woman tag team match, that result tells me that the next contender for the knockouts championship is…
Winner: Rosemary
That’s it! If you have your own predictions then feel free to do yours in the comment section. Thanks for reading!