Impact Wrestling News: Multiple Former WWE Superstars Debut Or Return At ‘Slammiversary’
Just as teased by the series of commercials that aired over the past few weeks, a number of former WWE superstars either made their Impact Wrestling debuts or returns at the Slammiversary pay-per-view on Saturday night.
As recapped by Forbes, Heath Slater was the first ex-superstar to debut at Slammiversary, doing so just 12 days after he made a final appearance for his former employer on Monday Night Raw and got involved in the feud between Dolph Ziggler and current WWE Champion Drew McIntyre.
Now billed simply by his first name, Heath attacked Rohit Raju before reuniting with Rhyno, who he had partnered with when they became the inaugural SmackDown Tag Team Champions in 2016. He was, however, asked to leave the building by Impact executive Scott D’Amore due to coronavirus precautions.
I told you all to watch the hell out….. @IMPACTWRESTLING pic.twitter.com/SJ3rvOiFZv
— HEATHXXII (@HEATHXXII) July 19, 2020
During his time in WWE, Eric Young initially achieved success as the leader of the SAnitY faction on NXT but was barely utilized after the group was called up to the main roster in 2018, as separately noted by Comic Book. In his return to the company where he became a household name as a former world champion, Young was announced as the surprise fifth entry in the main event match for the Impact World Championship.
Although longtime Impact mainstay Eddie Edwards ultimately won the title bout, Forbes observed that Young “came off as a much bigger star” in what could be a return to an upper-card role going forward.
Despite announcing ahead of Slammiversary in a now-deleted tweet that they have officially signed with Impact, Doc Gallows (formerly Luke Gallows) and Karl Anderson — aka The Good Brothers — were only confirmed to have joined the company after the main event. During their segment, they aligned with Edwards by attacking Ace Austin and Madman Fulton and drinking beer with the new champ to celebrate his victory, per WrestlingNews.co.
While this year’s Slammiversary marked Anderson’s debut for Impact, his partner had previously seen action for the promotion, where he was most notably a member of the Aces and Eights stable in the early 2010s.
EC3 was the final debuting or returning star to make his presence felt at Slammiversary, wrapping up the show by appearing in a brief vignette where he threw a glass against a wall. Much like Young, EC3 is a former Impact World Champion and is expected to “pick off right where he left off” and return to prominence as part of Impact’s upper card, as speculated by Forbes.
