10 Interesting Facts About Slammiversary 2016 By Hakeem Fullerton

Intro: 2016 was a time in which the future of the company was completely uncertain. The issues that were plaguing TNA were becoming more and more prevalent in the eyes of onlookers as various new sites would continuously report on the ever-growing problems that were a result of the Hogan/Bischoff era of the early 2010's.

On the on hand, this event could also be seen as something of a turning point as a few names like Eddie Edwards, Allie, Eli Drake, and Rosemary would become popular figures in the later years of the company's history.

While problems would continue to escalate in the company, better days would be coming in the future...So with that said, let's look at 10 interesting facts from what was a very good Slammiversary PPV.

10. A Few TNA Stars Departed The Company Months Earlier

A real shift was starting to show as more young and hungry talent were beginning appear to on the roster, which really began a changing of the guard within the promotion. While the company was bringing in new stars, the ones who had been with the company for years were already looking to relocate elsewhere.

Between March and April of 2016, it was revealed by various new sites that names like Kurt Angle, Eric Young, Bobby Roode and Velvet Sky would be leaving the promotion in the hopes of joining other promotions.

The first to go was Kurt Angle, who was already planning on leaving TNA as evident by Angle's 'Farewell Tour' during the company's recent tapings in the United Kingdom.

The tour saw Angle take on names like Bobby Roode and Drew Galloway, with his last match happening on March 8th against Bobby Lashley to which the pro wrestler/MMA fighter defeated Angle in singles action, ending the Olympic Gold Medalist's ten year run with the promotion.

Speaking of Bobby Roode, he and fellow TNA original Eric Young would be gone not too long after Kurt's depart as the two of them left on March the 19th following the company's 'Sacrifice' event which saw both men lose the Tag Team and King of The Mountain Championships respectively.

One month later, Velvet Sky would be the last to leave after losing a match to newcomer, Sienna with her job at stake; Most of the these names would end up joining the WWE a few months or year later, while Velvet would join Ring Of Honor alongside former TNA alums, Bully Ray and Angelina Love.

9. Drew Galloway Made Some History A Few Months Earlier

Before he made his return to the WWE and later defeating Brock Lesnar to become the WWE champion at WrestleMania 36, Drew Galloway became a free agent following his release from the WWE in June of 2014; During this time, Galloway wrestled in a multitude of promotions like Pro Wrestling Guerilla, EVOLVE and even some time in the independent scene. However, his most notable post-WWE activity saw him becoming the newest member to the TNA roster.

From 2015 to early 2017 Galloway became one of the major draws for the company thanks in large part for his dedication to the sport and his matches with names like Kurt Angle, Moose and Jeff Hardy among others.

Galloway's work in TNA was so impressive that on the March 15th 2016 edition of Impact, Drew cashed in his Feast or Fired briefcase (which he had won months earlier) for a shot at the world title and in the end he defeated Matt Hardy to become the new TNA World Heavyweight champion.

What makes Drew Galloway's victory on that night so historic is due to the fact that in addition to this being his first world title win, this moment also made Galloway the first Scottish born wrestler to become a world champion in company history.

Galloway also became the first TNA wrestler to cash in the Feast or Fired world title briefcase successfully as names like Samoa Joe, Eli Drake, Hernandez and others had all tried and failed to achieve such an accolade...Not too bad for a guy the WWE once put in leather pants and told to act like an obnoxious air guitarist alongside Heath Slater and Jinder Mahal.

8. The Importance Of Davey Richards' Injury

March apparently seems to have been quite a month for TNA in 2016 as in addition to losing their most well known wrestlers of last ten plus years, the company also had to deal with the confirmation that one of their newest wrestlers had suffered an injury.

Davey Richards, was one half of the largely successful tag team known as 'The Wolves' who alongside with his partner Eddie Edwards managed to become TNA Tag Team Champions five times between 2014-16, however during their fifth and final reign as champions it would revealed that Richards had suffered a nasty ACL injury which took him out of action for months.

Now without his partner, the company decided to make Eddie Edwards a solo competitor by putting him in the X Division, for which he ended up becoming a two time X Division Champion.

Davey's injury back in March not only helped in Eddie's rise to single stardom in TNA, which would eventually lead to him getting a shot at and even winning the TNA World Championship, but it also helped in setting up future events like Davey's return to the company, his heel turn on Eddie and few more others events that would culminate in a hardcore tag team match between the former tag partners at next years Slammiversary...but more on that in the next article.

7. The Maria vs. Gail Kim Match Was Cancelled Due To Injury

Continuing our theme of TNA wrestlers getting injured, we have the self proclaimed "First Lady of Professional Wrestling" Maria Kanellis-Bennett. So back in early 2016 Maria alongside her real life husband and pro wrestler, Mike Bennett debuted in TNA and instantly became the newest bad guys on the roster.

While Mike was busy dealing with EC3 in the lead up to Slammiversary, Maria was focusing her efforts on former Knockouts Champion Gail Kim after Gail refused to help make Maria "Go Mainstream" like how she did for other girls like Brooke Tessmacher, Taryn Terrell and Jessicka Havok.

When it came time for Gail to need a partner for the first ever female lethal lockdown match she was left with no choice but to turn to Maria who as you can expect turned on Gail which led to her teams defeat.

In the midst of her feud with Gail, Maria became the new authority figure for the TNA Knockouts Division and she also kayfabe introduced the wrestling world to her new secretary, Allie and her enforcer, Sienna.

With the feud between these two ladies getting more and more intense, the decision was made to have Gail Kim take on Maria at that year's Slammiversary event.

However, the match was cancelled due to the fact that Maria had suffered a broken hand during the Impact TV tapings weeks prior, with Kanellis even sharing photos about her injury on Instagram and Twitter.

Although it's unclear exactly what may have caused her injury in the first place, this caused the company to make the Sienna vs. Jade match for the Knockouts Championship a triple threat; Unfortunately for Gail she was unsuccessful in this match thanks to the outside interference from you guest it: Maria Kanellis-Bennett...But don't worry, things would get a whole lot better for Gail following this event.

6. James Storm Has The Most Appearances At Slammiversary

'The Cowboy' James Storm has been with TNA Wrestling since the company's very first show back in 2002 up until his departure in early 2018.

It's due to Storms longevity within the company that has allowed him to experience some impressive feats like championship success in the mid card, tag team and world title division, but there is an accolade that a majority of fans may not know about the cowboy and that is the fact that James Storm has the most appearances at Slammiversary than any other TNA wrestler.

Storm's appearances at Slammiversary has seen him wrestle first in tag team matches from 2005-07 and again from 2009-11. Storm would then return to the company at Slammiversary 2012 to defeat Crimson and end his undefeated streak, he would return to tag team action in 2013 when he and Gunner would win the tag team titles at that years event, and he would again return to singles action at Slammiversary in 2014, 2015, 2016 and lastly at 2017.

This means that James Storm has wrestled at Slammiversary at least twelve different times during his run, with his Beer Money tag team partner, Bobby Roode having the second most appearances with ten (especially if you include that time he did commentary in the opening tag team title match at Slammiversary 2011).

5. Some Of The Names Involved First Appeared At The One Night Only Events

For those who don't remember or never heard of them, the One Night Only TNA shows were pre-taped events that the company would air on PPV on a yearly basis starting from 2013 until 2017.

Although the outcomes of the matches at these events had little impact (no pun intended) on the main stories on Impact television, it did allow wrestlers from the independent scene or from other companies to participate in tournaments and matches with the athletes on the impact roster in a number of never before seen dream matches and in some cases the wrestlers who took part in these events would eventually get signed by TNA management a few months or a year after appearing.

At Slammiversary 2016, at least six wrestlers who wrestled or appeared at this event were first introduced by TNA/Impact Wrestling fans at the one night only shows; The names in question were, Jade, Braxton Sutter, Allie, Baron Dax and Basile Baraka and finally Sienna.

Many of these names would debut months before this event with both Allie and Sienna first appearing at Knockouts Knockdown 2015 and 2016 respectively where they both faced off against Gail Kim in singles competition, Sutter first appeared at the 2015 X Division themed show called "X-Travaganza" where he lost a triple threat match to Kenny King, and The Tribunal (Dax and Baraka) would lose in a tag team match to the BroMans at the 2016 Victory Road event.

Meanwhile Jade was the first person in the group to have taken part in the one night only events as Jade took part in the first three Knockouts Knockdown events in 2013, 2014 and 2015 where she battled names like Tara, Santana Garrett, Taryn Terrell and Brooke Tessmacher before being officially signed to the roster as a member of The Dollhouse in 2015.

4. Jeff Hardy Wrestled His Final Slammiversary Match On This Night

Jeff Hardy's multiple runs in TNA/Impact Wrestling can best be described as 'tumultuous'.

While Jeff's issues with substance abuse and his injuries have plagued his career both in Impact and WWE, he was able to spend his last five years in TNA/Impact completely sober and which not only led to championship success throughout the rest of his run but it also led to the forgiveness of fans and pro wrestlers who had witness Jeff Hardy at his lowest point in his career at Victory Road 2011.

Slammiversary 2016 saw Jeff take on his brother Matt on PPV once again but this time, under Matt's newly created Broken Hardy gimmick in a full metal mayhem match aka a no countout, no DQ match.

An interesting fact about this match was that this ended up being the last Slammiversary appearance and match for the charismatic enigma.

During his time in the company, Jeff Hardy wrestled in a total of six matches at this yearly event between Slammiversary 2010-13, that one time he wrestled Magnus as his alter ego, Willow at Slammiversary 2014 and of course this show here.

In the end, Jeff Hardy was able to pick up the win in this match however, Matt would end up getting the last laugh as he was able to defeat Jeff in the "Final Deletion" which helped to launch Matt Hardy and his Broken persona into meteoric success throughout 2016-17.

3. Abyss Is The Only TNA Wrestler To Have Fought For All Of The Championships At Slammiversary

James Storm apparently isn't the only TNA original to have made history at Slammiversary as 'The Monster' Abyss also achieved an impressive feat as Abyss is the only man in TNA history to have wrestled at Slammiversary with most of his matches being for the X Division, World Title, Tag Team and Mid Card championships.

Abyss' first foray saw him take part in two back-to-back King of The Mountain matches for the NWA TNA world title at Slammiversary 2005 and 2006.

A few years later, Abyss would retained his X Division championship against Frankie Kazarian and Brian Kendrick at Slammiversary 2011 and he defeated Devon to become the Television Champion at Slammiversary 2013.

Finally his title defense with Decay for the TNA tag team championships at this years Slammiversary makes Abyss the only TNA wrestler to have wrestled for all of the male championships during his in-ring TNA career at Slammiversary.

A feat that not even names like Jeff Jarrett or AJ Styles have been able to achieve. It's no surprise that he would be inducted into the TNA/Impact Hall Of Fame in 2018 for his outstanding accomplishments.

2. Gail Kim Would Be Announced For The Impact Wrestling Hall of Fame Days Later

So Gail Kim didn't have a good Slammiversary on this night; Not only did she not get to wrestle her archrival, Maria Kanellis-Bennett one-on-one, but the interference of Maria and her Lady Squad also cost her the chance to become the Knockouts Champion once again.

However, things did get better for Gail following this event as a mere two days after Slammiversary, it would be announced on the next episode that Gail Kim would be the next inductee into the TNA/Impact Wrestling Hall Of Fame.

This made Gail the first woman to be inducted into the Hall of Fame since it's inception back at Slammiversary 2012; At that year's Bound For Glory event Gail would officially get inducted into the Hall Of Fame and as an added bonus she did have that one-on-one match with Maria Kanellis-Bennett at Bound For Glory where she not only defeated her but also won the Knockouts Championship in the process.

1. It Was The Final Slammiversary PPV Under The TNA Banner

As mentioned in the intro of this article, 2016 was a year of uncertainty for the company as issues regarding finances were a big talking point for the company and it looked as if the company would have to reboot itself in order to have a fresh start.

By the beginning of the new year the company would indeed rebrand itself and start off fresh however, it wouldn't be under the TNA name.

After years of scandals, multiple regime changes and network cancellations. The TNA name had become too badly damaged to continue on further, so when it came time to rebrand the company, everything about the old TNA Wrestling including the belts, staff, most of the wrestlers and even the six sided ring would be gone.

While the TNA brand has since gotten a resurgence in 2020 following the ideas of a one night only TNA show and the return of the custom TNA World Title in recent tapings on Impact T.V., this event would be last one under the TNA name.