Slammiversary 2017 is often regarded by some fans as one of the worse years in company history. Through a combination of negative press from the previous years and a disastrous merger with Global Force Wrestling, Impact was truly experiencing a low period in its history…and yet somehow the promotion was able to put on tremendous Slammiversary 2017!
A show that featured amazing matches and in some cases felt like a giant nostalgia act with some of the stars from TNA’s past interacting with the Impact stars of the future.
While the year would get a lot worse for the company, this event is easily one of the best things to come out of it and today I’ll be talking about the 10 Interesting Facts About Slammiversary 2017.
10. A WWE Superstar Was In The Crowd
Wrestling promoters hate to see one of their own superstars appear on a rival promotion, especially if they’re still signed with the company when they appear on the opposing side.
At Slammiversary 2017 something like this happened when “a fan” wearing a black shirt and a blue polka-dotted Lucha mask was spotted sitting in the front row and enjoying the show. Now at first, no one knew who this person was but it wasn’t until some eagle-eyed observers looked at a few photos taken of this individual and they began to deduce that this person was more than just a fan, but in fact, it was none other than former WWE NXT Champion, Paige.
At the time Paige was dating and later engaged to then GFW world champion, Alberto El Patron and to make sure that she didn’t lose her job with the WWE, Paige donned a disguise complete with a fake name to ensure that no one would recognize her.
For the most part, the large majority of people in attendance didn’t recognize her and Paige was able to keep her job with the WWE without worries of being given her walking papers.
9. Barry Scott Returns For The PPV Cold Open
Depending on how long you’ve been watching the product, the name Barry Scott may not immediately click upon hearing it for the first time. However, even if you don’t recognize his name, you will most certainly recognize his voice.
Barry Scott is the man who is known for being the narrator to many of TNA/Impact Wrestling’s promo and video packages with his most memorable one being his narration of the “Cross The Line” video which would begin and end an episode of TNA Wrestling in the late 2000s.
After years of being away from the company, the man that some fans call “The Voice of TNA” would make his return by both narrating and even appearing on camera for the cold open video for Slammiversary 2017, a moment that gave die-hard TNA fans a nostalgia trip that they wouldn’t soon forget.
Proving after all this time that he hadn’t lost a step, the company would have Barry Scott voice over the cold open for Slammiversary 2018 as well as few more narrations in the current product until his death on September 10th 2020.
Here’s a link to the Slammiversary 2017 Cold Open, for those who haven’t seen it:
2017 Slammiversary XV Cold Open Will Make You Remember Why You Love Impact Wrestling – YouTube
8. The Event Was Filled With Star Studded Cameos
In recent years, Slammiversary has pretty much replaced Bound For Glory when it comes to being the most must-see pay per view in Impact Wrestling history and on this night that this was proven to be true.
The show featured a large number of stars from the sports world including names like MMA stars and personalities like King Mo and Dan Lambert, Legendary Mexican pro wrestlers, Dos Caras and El Hijo de Dos Caras and even TNA originals like Shark Boy and Father James Mitchell appeared on the show.
Other sports celebrities who appeared on this show were professional stock car racer, Austin Dillion and former Cleveland Browns footballer, Gary Barnidge was also seen accompanying NFL star, DeAngelo Williams to his match…speaking of.
7. DeAngelo Williams’ Performance
The second match of the show saw former NFL star turn pro wrestler, Moose taking on the team of Eli Drake and Chris Adonis (Chris Masters in the WWE) with his partner: former Pittsburgh Stealers lead running back, DeAngelo Williams.
Williams’ involvement with the company first saw him getting confronted by former TNA tag team champion, Davey Richards before helping out Moose on an episode of Impact.
In the lead up to this event, Williams would mention how he loves professional wrestling and how he respected the sport and the people involved, before announcing to places like ESPN that he would be stepping into the ring at Slammiversary.
The match itself was a success with Bryan Alvarez talking about Williams’ performance in 2017 and mentioned: “Pretty damn amazing in his first-ever match”.
Dave Meltzer’s response to DeAngelo’s performance was truly something as Meltzer went out to talk about Williams’ performance by saying:
“Has the potential to be one of the greatest wrestlers I’ve ever seen” and compared him to names like Kurt Angle and Matt Riddle.”
Unfortunately, as soon as his time in wrestling started, it ended as a mere few days following the event Williams would reportedly state that he was retiring from pro wrestling on July 5th 2017.
Williams would make one more appearance in Impact Wrestling as DeAngelo was seen interacting in a segment with Austin Aries in the lead up to Slammiversary 2018’s main event.
Reviews About DeAngelo Williams At Slammiversary:
6. Alisha Edwards Signed With The Company Months Earlier
In the lead up to the intergender tag team, metal mayhem match at Slammiversary, Davey Richards and Angelina Love were attacking Eddie Edwards on an almost weekly basis but this feud would end up becoming a family affair as Davey’s then significant other, Angelina Love not only got involved but so was Eddie’s wife.
Eddie Edwards’ real-life wife and pro wrestler, Alisha got herself involved in this storyline following a surprise attack by Angelina during the main event match with Lashley and Eddie on an episode of Impact.
To this day it remains one of Alisha’s best matches within the company, however, there may be some fans who may mistakenly see this intergender tag match as her very first match within the company but in reality, this wasn’t her first time in the company.
Alisha first appeared in the company in 2008 taking on Awesome Kong for the Knockouts Championship before returning to Impact as a part of the one night only TNA shows.
In 2017, months before Slammiversary, Alisha took part in another one of these one night only shows, this one called ‘Victory Road: Knockouts Knockdown’.
Alisha would advance to the finals of a four-on-four tag team match which saw her team come out victorious, But before the show came to an end Karen Jarrett came out and announced to the world and Alisha herself that she would the newest Knockouts on the roster and she’s been with the company ever since.
5. EC3 Is Undefeated At Slammiversary
Ethan Carter the Third is also known as EC3 became a megastar during his run in TNA in the mid to late 2010s following his first departure from the WWE and its third brand, NXT.
In the early stages of his time in the company, EC3 had obtained a massive unbeaten streak where he was never pinned or submitted since his debut at Bound For Glory 2013 until 2016 where he was pinned by “The Miracle” Mike Bennett on an episode of Impact.
However, there is another undefeated streak that EC3 has and that would be his win-loss record at Slammiversary with EC3 having four wins with zero losses at this yearly PPV (as of the timing of this article).
The first one saw him defeating Bully Ray in a Texas Death Match at Slammiversary 2014, his second victory in a tag team match at Slammiversary 2015, his third win over Mike Bennett at Slammiversary 2016 and lastly his victory against James Storm in a strap match at Slammiversary 2017.
With EC3 currently competing in Ring Of Honor, it appears for the time being that his undefeated streak will remain in tack.
EC3 vs James Storm: STRAP MATCH (Slammiversary 2017) | IMPACT Wrestling Full Matches – YouTube
4. James Storm’s “Concussion”
Speaking of that strap match, at Slammiversary EC3 took on James Storm and everything was going according to plan until that moment in the match where EC3 rammed Storm’s head into the ring post which would later see Storm become disoriented and collapse in the midst of the match ensuring Ethan Carter’s victory.
Following the event, reports began to come out that James Storm had suffered a 3rd-grade concussion in the match which leaves the person suffering from it completely unconscious for several seconds requiring months of physical therapy to recover.
However, it turns out that James Storm had not suffered a concussion at all and that it was all a work; According to Storm who talks about this situation with Nick Aldis in a recent YouTube interview, the finish to the match was to see Storm “suffer from a concussion” in the middle of the match thus leading to EC3’s controversial win and as a result, he would be off of TV for a couple of months.
The Cowboy also mentions how people would ask him if he was really suffering from a concussion despite the fact Storm had no medical records to back up this claim; Even those working at Anthem Sports were curious only for Storm to respond ‘no’ to those who asked him.
In any case, Storm was written off TV following Slammiversary and he wouldn’t be seen on Impact programming again until September of that same year.
3. Alberto’s Promo After The Event
Alberto El Patron’s second exit from the WWE and what came afterwards was a whirlwind of madness, to say the least; As the former WWE and World Heavyweight Champion would not only get into a relationship with WWE wrestler Paige, but he would also find himself wrestling in Impact (then merged with Global Force Wrestling) wherein the main of Slammiversary 2017 he would take on Bobby Lashley in a unification title bout for the TNA and GFW championships.
The show concluded with Alberto defeating Lashley to become the undisputed champion but there is one part of the show that pay per view audiences didn’t see and that was El Patron’s shoot promo on his former company.
In a video posted on YouTube, the crowd is heard cheering following the conclusion of the main event, when Alberto grabs the mic and begins cutting a very passionate promo where he thanks Lashley for giving him the fight his of life and can be heard using profanity throughout especially when referring to the WWE.
In the closing moments of this promo, “The Pride of Mexico” mentions that he wants to wrestle Lashley once again and that “This isn’t F###ing Sports Entertainment” before the crowd could be heard chanting “F### WWE”.
2. El Patron Wrestled His Last Impact PPV Match At This Event
Despite winning the gold in the main event of Slammiversary, things would go downhill for both Alberto as a few weeks following the show, El Patron would be stripped of his titles and suspended for months by the promotion following some personal issues that became public.
Alberto would be back at Bound For Glory 2017 but with a new regime in the form of Don Callis and Scott D’Amore taking over, the company planned to give Alberto another chance and put him in the main event against Austin Aries for the Impact World Championship at the Redemption PPV in 2018.
Sadly Alberto’s problems got in the way once again as he no-showed an Impact vs. Lucha Underground event that was taking place days before. This caused the new regime to terminate El Patron’s contract with Impact Wrestling immediately following the cross-promotion event making this bout with Lashley at Slammiversary 2017 the last pay-per-view match for the Pride of Mexico.
Rey Fenix and Pentagon Jr. would end taking Alberto’s place at Redemption thus turning the world title match into a triple threat match and the rest as they say is history.
1. Mike Tenay Refused To Do Commentary For The Event
Slammiversary 2017 was booked to be the beginning of a new chapter for the company while also have few familiar faces from the past. One of those familiar faces was former colour commentary and salesmen, ‘DW’ Don West, who returned to the company to do commentary one more time just like the old days.
While Don West was more than happy to return to do commentary for the company once again, his former commentary partner Mike Tenay wasn’t so happy. According to reports, the company were trying to convince “The Professor” Mike Tenay to return to the commentary table for one more time but Tenay refused.
A persistent story that’s been making the rounds for the last couple of years is that Mike Tenay left the company as he wasn’t being used on TV or commentary following the appointment of former WWE employee, Josh Matthews as the new play-by-play man for the commentary team. Tenay would then officially retire from the world of professional wrestling following his departure from TNA in June of 2016.
As a result, sports journalist and pro wrestling fan, Robert Flores was given the assignment to do commentary with Don West instead and the two did a remarkable job for a first-time pairing.
Though many say that the split between the company and the professor was amicable, he hasn’t be heard from since his exit and despite the pleads of many fans to see him come back for one more run at the commentary table or the very least, be inducted into the TNA/Impact Hall of Fame, it looks as though that he might be gone with no chance of coming back.