Impact Wrestling Preview: The Road to Slammiversary Begins

This past Sunday, TNA Wrestling delivered their best pay-per-view of the year in Sacrifice. Filled with great matches and overall storytelling, the annual May PPV will be tough to top.

It very well could happen, though, with TNA’s 10th anniversary show, Slammiversary.

This week begins the road to their big anniversary show and the company has confirmed a title match as well as a segment for this week’s Impact Wrestling.

While that isn’t much, the fallout of Sacrifice will provide plenty for this week.

A Scandal in TNA: A.J. Styles Explains the Photos of Himself and Dixie Carter

The feud between A.J. Styles and Christopher Daniels has been a long one. They have been going at it on and off for years but it has never lasted this long before.

This chapter has been going on for almost a year with Kazarian entering into it last December. The feud lost some steam after March’s Victory Road but picked right back up after Lockdown.

Daniels and Kazarian appeared during Styles’ match with Kurt Angle and gave him a picture. The blackmail began and they revealed the picture and more last week. Styles’ rivals showed the world pictures of him with TNA president Dixie Carter and the former world champion’s position in TNA over the last 10 years is now in question.

At Sacrifice, Styles lost to Kurt Angle while Daniels and Kazarian defeated Samoa Joe and Magnus to become the new TNA tag team champions. Not only have they possibly ruined Styles’ life, they now have bragging rights over him.

This week, Styles will try to explain the pictures of himself with Dixie.

What will he have to say? Do Christopher Daniels and Kazarian have more to reveal?

Gail Kim vs. Velvet Sky vs. Brooke Tessmacher: Knockouts Championship

Gail Kim returned to TNA in October and quickly won the Knockouts Championship, defeating Velvet Sky at Turning Point. Gail has spent the last six months at the top of the Knockouts division and has defeated everyone TNA has put in front of her.

She wasn’t looking like a champion the past few weeks, though.

After Lockdown she was pinned by Brooke Tessmacher in an eight-Knockout’s tag-team match and was then defeated by her the following two weeks. Tessmacher was granted a title shot but her dreams were shattered when Gail’s winning ways started right back up.

Now just four days after Sacrifice Gail must defend her title again, this time in a triple threat match.

Can Gail Kim fend off both Velvet Sky and Brooke Tessmacher or will TNA fans see a new champion?

The Road to Slammiversary: How Will the Fallout of Sacrifice Influence the PPV?

At Sacrifice, Bobby Roode defended his TNA World Heavyweight Championship against Rob Van Dam in a ladder match. It was a hard fought battle that ended with Roode climbing the ladder and grabbing the title to retain.

With that win, Roode is well on his way in becoming the longest reigning world champion in company history.

Now that he’s finished with RVD, the champion needs a new challenger for TNA’s 10th anniversary show. Could any of the other winning wrestlers at Sacrifice step up to the plate?

Kurt Angle has been out of the title picture for about six months now. During that time he has battled James Storm and Jeff Hardy, losing both feuds in the process.

He has recently set his sights on A.J. Styles, wanting to prove he was the better wrestler. Angle did that at the PPV, but will defeating him put him in line for a title shot?

Mr. Anderson defeated Hardy at the event and after being out of the title hunt for almost a year, his sights will no doubt be set on Roode and the World Heavyweight Championship.

TNA fans can’t discount Austin Aries either after his victory over Bully Ray. The X-Division champion has proved time and time again that he is the best the division has seen in years, but his win over the former Dudley boy shows that he’s ready for the top.

Will his victory gain him a future shot at the world title?

The wrestlers who came up short at the PPV can’t be forgotten either. Despite losing, they gave it their all in their matches. Is that enough to move up the ladder even slightly?

Sunday’s PPV will no doubt shape this week’s episode and influence Slammiversary. How it will do that, though, remains to be seen.

This week’s episode of Impact Wrestling could very well end up a great show.

Will it be? Tune in to find out!