On July 2, 2013, TNA hosted its annual summer blockbuster Slammiversary in Boston, Massachusetts, and boy it did not disappoint. TNA pulled out all the stops, including a number of very good, very brutal matches, a new Hall of Famer and even a surprise champion. With that being said, lets jump in and take a look match-by-match.

The opening match of the night featured the staple of TNA, the high-flying X Division wrestlers, Chris Sabin, Suicide and the X Division champion himself, Kenny King, in an Ultimate X match. As expected, there was a ton of high-flying, high-risk action on the floor, in the ring and even on the cables suspended high above the ring. My favorite part of the match was when Suicide executed some beautiful athletic manoeuvres, sending his opponents outside the ring and then swiftly hitting a great sequence of springboard moves into a dropkick to both men. In the end all three men were stuck on the cables until Chris Sabin managed to knock Kenny King to the mat and win his 5th X Division belt. In addition, this summer Chris Sabin will be able to cash in his X Division Championship for a shot at the TNA World Title, Hail Sabin indeed.

Hulk Hogan congratulates Sabin and tells him of his championship match, and proceeds to the ring only to be interrupted by Ace’s and Eight’s Mr. Anderson, Garret Bischoff and Wes Briscoe. After a series of very vulgar verbal shots and a middle finger, mostly directed toward Garret and his father, Hogan says the 6-man tag match will be next, as he introduces Magnus, Samoa Joe and the returning Jeff Hardy. Nothing special in this match, Joe and Magnus provided some excellent tag work including a great snapmare, flying elbow drop combination. At end the match we saw Anderson unsuccessfully interfere in the match, and got locked in the Coquina Clutch for his troubles. A Jeff Hardy Swanton Bomb later to Briscoe and team TNA walks out with the win, giving them some momentum for later in the night.

Next we go backstage to Jeremy Borash as he is interviewing Joseph Park in anticipation of his upcoming match against Devon for the TV Championship. He is jumped by Devon and Knux, and is laid out backstage, with a shot of a bloody wall as we fade out.

Up next, we have the two finalists in the Gutcheck competition for a berth in the Bound For Glory series, between Jay Bradley and Sam Shaw. A good, but short bout between the two, as we saw Shaw able to put some very electric moves on the much larger Bradley, before Bradley almost took his head off with his Boomstick Lariat.

Another backstage segment as we see Borash standing with the Dirty Heels themselves, Austin Aries and Bobby Roode. The continue to go off about they’re both former World Champions, but Aries reminds Roode how he beat him for that championship almost a year ago. Despite the obvious tension, they seem to be on track as a team.

Next is supposed to be the TV Championship match between Park and Devon, but Park doesn’t come out to his music. Devon threatens the referee into starting the match and counting to 10 to get the countout victory. Devon then proceeds to rant about how he took care of Park and would do the same thing to his brother Abyss if he were here. As he says that, we are greeted to the music of the Monster himself, as he charges to the ring looking for a fight. Knux and Devon try to take Abyss out before the match starts, but Abyss drills them with a double clothesline and then knocks Knux out of the ring. The match starts to a plodding pace for the two rather large men, which is to be expected. Only a short time later Abyss drops Devon with a big chokeslam and then the Blackhole Slam for the pin and TV Championship. Count that as 2-0 for Team TNA to start their night.

Dixie Carter comes out next to reveal the next member of the TNA Hall Of Fame to be held this year at Bound For Glory. She thanks all the great fans of TNA, for the all the great support for their 11 year history. After bringing out the majority of the roster, she announces that the 2013 Hall Of Famer is none other than the Olympic Gold Medalist Kurt Angle. Angle makes a speech, thanking Dixie, TNA, the great wrestlers like Samoa Joe, Bobby Roode, James Storm and even AJ Styles, as well the fans.

Backstage once again is Borash who has Bad Influence Christopher Daniels and Frankie Kazarian. As always, Bad Influence proceed to make a great promo, claiming that they were the ones who made the tag championships relevant once again, and that they will be the ones coming out on top this night.

Next we have the four team elimination match for the TNA Tag Team Championships between the champions Chavo Guerrero and Hernandez, Aries and Roode, Christopher Daniels and Frankie Kazarian otherwise know as Bad Influence, and the newest team of James Storm and Gunner. This was my second favorite match of the night, full of non-stop action between three great teams, and even Storm and Gunner looked good for being such a new team. The first elimination of the match occurred a ways into the match itself as Christopher Daniels tried to nail Hernandez in the back of the head with one of the title belts, but got disqualified for his efforts. Almost immediately after we saw our second elimination as Roode pins Hernandez after becoming the legal man. Lots of back and forth offence between the remaining teams. Roode and Aries almost win on a number of occasions, including a beautiful 450 Splash from Aries, which only got a two count. Roode tries to interfere with the belt, but gets the Closing Time and a Last Call Superkick to take him out of the picture. Gunner then gets Aries up in his devastating torture rack he calls the Gun Rack, and Aries taps out, meaning Storm and Gunner are our NEW TNA Tag Team Champions in an amazing match.

Brooke Hogan is backstage with Borash, and she talks about how proud she is of the Knockouts Division, and Taryn Terrell as well. Nothing really interesting, until Jeremy asks Brooke if she still loves Bully Ray, Brooke states that interview is over, and takes off.

Next is the Last Knockout Standing Match between Taryn Terrell and Gail Kim, the first match of its kind in TNA. This was a really violent match, something you don’t normally see in women’s wrestling today. After the involvement of a chair, Kim is in firm control until she goes headfirst into her own chair, and after a failed piledriver on the ramp, Terrell manages to hit a bulldog, planting Kim on the floor, to which she is unable to answer a ten count making Taryn Terrell your winner.

For your second to last match of the night, we have The Cyborg Kurt Angle taking on the new Lone Wolf AJ Styles in what promised to be a very good match, and it did not disappoint. Something worth noting is that AJ Styles debuted new entrance theme music, very slow and a strict contrast of his upbeat music, marking a true turn from the old Styles we knew and loved. Back to the match, we see both men trade moves, Styles is going after the leg to set up his new submission the Calfkiller, and Angle is as always looking to set up his patented Ankle Lock. Plenty of kicks, suplexes, submissions, an Angle Slam and a few near falls later, Angle manages to squirm out of the Calfkiller and lock in the Ankle Lock, only for AJ to get out this time. AJ gets desperate and goes for the Styles clash, only for Angle to role through, and stack AJ up for the 3 count much to AJ’s surprise. As we see the new Hall of Famer walk out of the ring, we get a look of a very distraught AJ Stlyes.

Finally, we make it the main event of the evening, but not before we get a short promo from Bully Ray proclaiming that he’s not going to break Sting’s arms or legs, but rather he’s going to use the always dangerous piledriver to break his neck. Sting comes out to an amazing reaction from the Boston crowd, and is followed by Bully Ray who walks out alone. Sting attacks Bully from behind and we start the match. Only a short time into the match we see Bully Ray being clobbered by Sting with a steel chair until Brooke Hogan comes out with a very concerned look on her face for her husband. Sting gets the referee to escort his out of the arena and we get back to the match, with Bully Ray in control with a mangled chair as his weapon of choice. Soon after, we see Bully Ray fulfill his promise as he spikes Sting on his head with a vicious piledriver, but can only manage a two count out of it. Our next extreme spot comes when Bully is being rained down on by the icon’s fists on the turnbuckle, but Bully managed to grab Sting and powerbomb him through a table that had been set up a little while before, but only gets a two count. Bully Ray than gets very devious as he gets a pocket knife and proceeds to cut off part of the ring mat, exposing the wooden planks right below. Sting misses his Scoprion Splash in the corner and Bully Ray drives his head right onto the wood with another piledriver, but again can only get a two count. Bully then gets very desperate and tries to hit Sting with another piledriver on the wood, but is back dropped, but ends up getting back dropped himself right after Sting tried his luck at a piledriver. Bully Ray heads skyward to the top tunbuckle only to whiff on a flying senton misses, and then gets planted with a Scorpion Death Drop on the exposed wooden planks, but only gets a two count. Bischoff, Briscoe, DOC and Knux all come out and begin to beat down the Icon, only for all them to get drilled in the nether regions as their punishment by Sting. Sting then intercepts a chain that was meant for the Bully thrown by Devon, only to get another two count after Devon pulled the referee out of the ring. Sting then tracks down Devon and nails him with the chain as well, and then proceeds to go to the top rope. What he didn’t know is that Mr. Anderson slipped Bully Ray that infamous hammer that Ray had used to win his last two title matches, and as Sting launched off the top rope, he was greeted with a hammer off the skull, and the 1-2-3 as a result. Bully Ray retains his TNA World Championship meaning that Sting can never again challenge for the title again. The Ace’s and Eight’s then celebrate together in the ring over the fallen icon, as the announcers bid us goodnight.

All around a very good PPV put on by TNA. Couple great matches, my highlights were the Ultimate X match, Tag Championship match and Styles-Angle, closely followed by the World Title match. I would give this event a 8.5/10, as I was very impressed by what TNA put on, as normally TNA PPVs can be very hit and miss. Remember to check out the aftermath of Slammiversary this Thursday on Impact.

Article by: Matt Wincherauk

Twitter: @TheMattyWin