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A.J. Styles returned to a Total Nonstop Action (TNA) wrestling ring for the first time since December 2013 on Sunday night during the Slammiversary pay-per-view.
Styles came out to his most well-known entrance music. As soon as “get ready to fly” was heard in the UBS Arena, the fans on Long Island, New York, nearly blew the lid off the place. Styles took in the moment and addressed the crowd.
“It’s been a long road. Here I am in this ring in this company where my name was built. I am the phenomenal A.J. Styles,” he said to the roaring crowd. “There was a time where they said you may not be able to come back. But here I am, and I’m telling you the lights are a little bit brighter here, the crowd is a little bit louder here and Leon (Slater), the talent is better than it’s ever been.”
Styles put over Slater, who had just defeated Moose to win the X-Division Championship and become the youngest X-Division titleholder in TNA’s history.
“The Phenomenal One” is considered to be the greatest TNA wrestler of all-time. He was a six-time X-Division champion and won the TNA World Heavyweight Championship twice. He was also a three-time National Wrestling Alliance heavyweight champion when the company was aligned with TNA. He joined WWE in 2014.
It was far from the only highlight of the night.
WWE NXT women’s champion Jacy Jayne went head-to-head against TNA knockouts champion Masha Slamovich in a winner-takes-all match.
Jayne proved that it was her world and everyone else was living it. She nailed Slamovich with the Rolling Encore and pinned her for the win. It was one of the best matches of the night, and Jayne will get to waltz into NXT on Tuesday night as a double champ.
Jeff and Matt Hardy, the legendary tag team known as The Hardys, were challenging for the TNA Tag Team Championship in a four-way ladder match. Nic and Ryan Nemeth were defending their tiles, with A.J. Francis and KC Navarro and Myron Reed and Zachary Wentz also entering the fray.
Jeff Hardy showcased that he still has some high-flying tricks up his sleeve. He hit two swanton dives onto Reed and Wentz and then dropped a swing-rope ladder into the match.
The Hardys fended off the Nemeths in the ring, and Jeff climbed the ladder to obtain the titles.
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At the end of the match, TNA Hall of Famer Bully Ray came out to address the Hardys. Bully Ray, one half of Team 3D with D’Von Dudley, challenged The Hardys to one last match at Bound for Glory in October. The three men shook hands in the ring, and it appeared the match was on.
In the main event, WWE NXT star Trick Williams put the TNA World Championship on the line against Mike Santana and Joe Hendry. It looked like it was going to be Santana’s night. He came out through the crowd with a ton of fans behind him.
The champion walked out to the Harlem Gospel Ensemble singing his entrance music. It had a big fight feel.
Toward the end of the match, Williams was nowhere to be found. It looked like he was hurt as TNA medical personnel attended to him for the final five minutes or so. Santana got his hands on Hendry and hit him with Spin the Block. He tried to go for the pin.
At the last second, Williams rushed back into the ring and threw him out of it. He pinned Hendry to pick up the win and retain the title.
Slammiversary set the record for most-attended U.S. event of all time as 7,623 people showed up to the event.
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