| Slammiversary | |||
|---|---|---|---|
_Poster.jpg) Promotional poster | |||
| Promotion | Total Nonstop Action Wrestling | ||
| Date | July 20, 2024 | ||
| City | Montreal,Quebec, Canada | ||
| Venue | Verdun Auditorium | ||
| Attendance | 4,100 | ||
| Pay-per-view chronology | |||
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| Slammiversary chronology | |||
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The 2024Slammiversary was aprofessional wrestlingpay-per-view (PPV)event produced byTotal Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) that took place on July 20, 2024, atVerdun Auditorium inMontreal,Quebec, Canada. It was the 20th event under theSlammiversary chronology, and celebrated the promotion's 22nd anniversary. The event featured wrestlers from partner promotionLucha Libre AAA Worldwide (AAA), andWWE'sNXT brand; as part of a crossover between the two promotions which began earlier that Summer. It was also the first Slammiversary event to be hosted under the Total Nonstop Action Wrestling name since the2016 event.
Twelve matches were contested at the event, including four on the pre-show. In the main event,Nic Nemeth defeated defending championMoose,Josh Alexander,Steve Maclin,Frankie Kazarian, andJoe Hendry in asix-way elimination match to win theTNA World Championship. In other prominent matches,Jordynne Grace defeatedAsh by Elegance to retain theTNA Knockouts World Championship,Mike Bailey defeatedMustafa Ali bysubmission to win theTNA X Division Championship, andABC (Ace Austin andChris Bey) defeatedThe System (Brian Myers andEddie Edwards) to win theTNA World Tag Team Championship. The event also featured special appearances byEarl Hebner andVeda Scott.
Slammiversary is aprofessional wrestlingpay-per-view event produced byTotal Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) to celebrate the anniversary of the company's first event, which was held on June 19, 2002. As such, the event is usually held in the summer (June or July). The first event took place nearly a year after that event on June 18, 2003, and has since been considered one of Impact's premiere PPV events, along withBound for Glory and – since 2020 –Hard To Kill, andRebellion.[1]
On April 20, 2024, atRebellion, it was announced by TNA that Slammiversary would take place on July 20, 2024, atVerdun Auditorium inMontreal,Quebec, Canada.[2][3]
| Role: | Name: |
|---|---|
| Commentators | Tom Hannifan |
| Matthew Rehwoldt | |
| Ring announcer | Jennifer Chung |
| Referees | Daniel Spencer |
| Paige Prinzivalli | |
| Frank Gastineau | |
| Interviewer | Gia Miller |
The event featured severalprofessional wrestling matches, which involve different wrestlers from pre-existingscriptedfeuds,plots, andstorylines. Wrestlers portrayheroes,villains, orless distinguishable characters in scripted events that built tension and culminate in a wrestling match or series of matches. Storylines were produced on the company's weekly programs,Impact! andXplosion.[4]
On the June 20 episode ofTNA Impact!, TNA Director of AuthoritySantino Marella announced the "Road to Slammiversary Series," where five singles matches would take place over the next few weeks. The winner of each match would go on to Slammiversary to challengeTNA World ChampionMoose in asix-way elimination match. The Road to Slammiversary began that same episode, withJosh Alexander defeatingEric Young to qualify.[5][6] The following week,Steve Maclin andNic Nemeth qualified by defeatingSami Callihan andRich Swann, respectively.[7] And the week after,Frankie Kazarian andJoe Hendry defeatedMike Santana andJake Something, respectively, to earn the final two spots in the match.[8][9][10]
AtHard To Kill,Ash by Elegance (formerly Dana Brooke inWWE), was spotted in the crowd during theTNA Knockouts World Championship match betweenJordynne Grace andTrinity, the former defeating the latter to win the title.[11][12] Since then, the newly signed Ash took to sitting ringside for Grace's title matches, scouting potential competition. Ash would even return to WWE atNXT Battleground during Grace's match withNXT Women's ChampionRoxanne Perez, preventingTatum Paxley from stealing the Knockouts World Championship before being hit with it by Grace.[13][14] Five days later atAgainst All Odds, after Grace retained her title against Paxley in an open challenge, Ash tried getting physical with Grace for the first time but was unsuccessful.[15][16] However, on the subsequent episode ofTNA Impact!, Ash tried sending a message to Grace after a victory, putting her opponent down with Grace's finisher, theJuggernaut Driver. This brought Grace to the ring, but she was laid out by Ash, who then held the Knockouts World Championship over a fallen Grace.[5][6] On the next week's episode, a furious Grace granted Ash a title match for that night, but the latter's "Personal Concierge" declared that the two would have their match at Slammiversary instead, which TNA made official.[17] It was later announced that their match would be sponsored by the upcomingDetained movie.[18]
On the May 23TNA Impact!,Mike Bailey andTrent Seven faced off to see who would challengeMustafa Ali for theTNA X Division Championship at Against All Odds. Near the end of the match, Ali, who came out to sit ringside and was inadvertently knocked down by Bailey, tried to lunge at the latter, who was perched on the top turnbuckle. This allowedChampagne Singh, who would later join Ali as "Campaign Singh," to shove Bailey off and allow Seven to pick up the win and earn the title shot.[19] At Against All Odds, however, before their match, Seven revealed unseen footage from Ali's interview withTom Hannifan a few weeks ago, where Ali disavowed and dismissed his hometown of Chicago, where the show was being held. Regardless, Ali was able to defend his title against Seven.[15][16] Two weeks later on the June 27TNA Impact!, Ali held a "State of the Union Address" to discuss the footage from Against All Odds, trying to pass it off as AI-generated slander. However, several fans began heckling Ali by chanting for Mike Bailey, who many believe Ali to be avoiding. Ali tried to have the fans escorted from the arena. But, when one of them threw water in Ali's face, he snapped and attacked the fan, before being stopped by Speedball Mountain (Bailey and Seven).[7] Angered at the injunction and believing Bailey had ruined his return to Chicago, Ali threatened to ruin Bailey's return to Montreal as he challenged him to an X Division Championship match at Slammiversary.[20] However, the following week, Ali confronted Santino Marella to call off the match, saying that Bailey hadn't earned it. Marella reluctantly agreed and made a three-way number one contender's match for next week between Bailey,Kushida, andJonathan Gresham to determine Ali's Slammiversary challenger.[8][9] Nonetheless, Bailey would pin Gresham in the match to earn his X Division Title opportunity.[21][22]
For the past month, Fir$t Cla$$ (TNA Digital Media ChampionA. J. Francis andRich Swann) took to mocking the budding romance betweenPCO andSteph De Lander, starting on the June 13TNA Impact! when they took the black rose PCO had given De Lander before being attacked by PCO.[23][24] This later led to a match between PCO and Swann at Against All Odds, which PCO won despite interference from Francis.[15][16] It was after the match that De Lander accepted PCO's offer for a date, which the two had in-ring on the followingTNA Impact! Unfortunately, Fir$t Cla$$ crashed the date, attacking and tying PCO to the ropes before Francis chokeslammed De Lander through a table.[5][6] Fir$t Cla$$ continued to mock PCO the following week, when Francis, with the help ofDJ Whoo Kid, purchased theCanadian International Heavyweight Championship, a retired title that had been defended during the 1970s and 80s in PCO's nativeQuebec, and upon gaining ownership of the title, Francis revived it as an active championship and declared himself as champion.[7] The week after, Santino Marella confronted Fir$t Cla$$ and announced that Francis would face PCO at Slammiversary for the Canadian International Heavyweight Championship and the TNA Digital Media Championship.[25]
AtUnder Siege,The Malisha (Alisha Edwards andMasha Slamovich) defeated Spitfire (Dani Luna andJody Threat) to win theTNA Knockouts World Tag Team Championship.[26][27] As The Malisha continued their reign, Spitfire, under the direction of their mentorLars Frederiksen, had competed in several trial matches before they would invoke their rematch clause. The final trial was a 10-minute challenge match between Luna and Threat on the July 4 episode ofTNA Impact! that ended in a time-limit draw. They were granted five extra minutes to finish the match, but The Malisha ran out to attack Spitfire.[8][9] On July 9, TNA announced on their website that Spitfire would have their rematch against The Malisha for the Knockouts World Tag Team Championship on the Countdown to Slammiversary pre-show.[28]
AtSacrifice,The System'sBrian Myers andEddie Edwards defeatedABC (Ace Austin andChris Bey) to win theTNA World Tag Team Championship.[29][30] For the next few months, while The System continued to reign, ABC began showing signs of dissolution, with miscues in their tag team matches and brief forays in singles competition. But the two had worked it out in the past month and began calling for their title rematch. After The System retained the TNA World Tag Team Championship againstThe Hardys ("Broken" Matt Hardy andJeff Hardy) on the July 18TNA Impact!, TNA announced that they would now defend them against ABC at Slammiversary.[31][32]
The TNA World Tag Team Championship match on the July 18 episode ended in disqualification when System associateJDC shoved Jeff Hardy off the top rope. JDC, Myers, and Edwards would conduct a post-match assault on The Hardys, forcing Matt to watch Jeff thrown into the ring post with a chair around his neck. As Jeff was stretchered out of the arena,Tommy Dreamer pulled Matt to a scene where his wifeRebecca Hardy was attacked by who she claims was JDC.[31] As a result of these attacks, Matt would now face JDC at Slammiversary.[32]
On the July 4 episode ofTNA Impact,NXT wrestlerCharlie Dempsey interrupted a match betweenZachary Wentz andLeon Slater, attacking both men as well as Wentz'sRascalz partnerTrey Miguel. The Rascalz would return the favor by appearing on the July 9 episode ofNXT, reuniting with former partnerWes Lee (Dezmond Xavier in TNA, then known as Impact Wrestling).[33] Three days later onTNA Impact!, Dempsey defeated Wentz due to a distraction by Dempsey'sNo Quarter Catch Crew (NQCC) stablemateMyles Borne, who attacked Miguel.[21][22] The following week, NQCC (Dempsey, Borne, andTavion Heights) would defeat The Rascalz (Miguel and Wentz) and Kushida in a six-man tag team match.[31] In the following segment, Lee, appearing on TNA television for the first time in over three years, meets Miguel and Wentz in their "treehouse," challenging NQCC to a match at Slammiversary. TNA would officially announce the match later in the night.[32]
On July 18, during thepress conference for Slammiversary, afour-way match was announced to take place on the event betweenFaby Apache,Gisele Shaw,Tasha Steelz, andXia Brookside.[34]
Following Hard To Kill, Jonathan Gresham appeared via vignette in therapy sessions, growing obsessed with the "masks" people wore to hide their true selves. It was during these sessions that a new character for Gresham began haunting him, a black-masked figure dubbed "The Octopus." Gresham, as The Octopus, returned to action at Under Siege, defeating Kushida with a mandible claw with his hand coated in black "ink" he spewed from his mouth.[26][27] This ink was later revealed to have sickened Kushida on the May 17 episode ofTNA Xplosion.[35] It also caused the referees for Gresham's matches to be sickened at the slightest contact, causing those who officiate his matches to be gloved and masked. A month later on the Countdown to Against All Odds, Gresham faced Sami Callihan where near the end of the match, Kushida ran down and swabbed Gresham's ink from his mouth with a towel, which he took back to Japan to find a cure for it.[15][16] On the July 18 episode ofTNA Impact!, Gresham lured Kushida away from his six-man tag team match, causing his team to lose. TNA later announced the two would face each other once again on the Countdown to Slammiversary.[34] However, on July 20, TNA announced that due to travel issues, Gresham would be unable to compete at Slammiversary and would be replaced by Rich Swann.[36]
| Eliminated | Wrestler | Eliminated by | Method of elimination | Time |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Steve Maclin | Moose | Pinned after theLights Out Spear | 10:45 |
| 2 | Moose (c) | Joe Hendry | Pinned after theStanding Ovation | 21:40 |
| 3 | Joe Hendry | Josh Alexander | Pinned after theC4 Spike | 22:45 |
| 4 | Josh Alexander | Nic Nemeth | Pinned after asuperkick | 28:50 |
| 5 | Frankie Kazarian | Pinned after theDanger Zone | 30:55 | |
| Winner | Nic Nemeth | — | ||