A tag team clash previewing this month's Slammiversary will highlight tonight's Impact Wrestling on AXS TV.

The Motor City Machine Guns will take on Nick Aldis & Lio Rush after last Thursday's incident where Aldis attacked Alex Shelley, was run off by Chris Sabin and then Sabin was laid out by Rush.

Shelley will defend the World title against Aldis while Sabin defends the X-Division title against Rush at the pay-per-view.

After a failed effort to be tag team partners, Frankie Kazarian will have a rematch with Eddie Edwards.

PCO will take on The Good Hands in a handicap match after John Skyler & Jason Hotch tried to bait PCO's Slammiversary tag team partner Scott D'Amore into a warmup match last week.

In a preview of the Ultimate X match, Jonathan Gresham goes one-on-one with Angels.

Gisele Shaw will battle Courtney Rush while Sami Callihan & Rich Swann will be in tag team action. Dirty Dango vs. Crazzy Steve will be on the BTI pre-show.

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BTI pre-show:

George Iceman promised surprises for Impact Slammiversary.

Dirty Dango defeated Crazzy Steve

Dango came out and said he hated pro wrestling before Steve made his entrance. Dango won this after a few minutes with an inverted DDT.

Dango took a mic after the match and said he was going to enjoy ending Santino's "puppet," the cobra, at Slammiversary. Santino came out and claimed that the cobra was martial arts, while listing several others that he trained in. Santino said that he was going make Dango pay as Heath ran out and hit the Wake Up Call on Dango to Santino's surprise.

Tom Hannifan noted that Heath said he was going to start fighting for what he believed in, which is apparently attacking unsuspecting people from behind.

Main Card:

Eddie Edwards (w/ Alisha Edwards) defeated Frankie Kazarian

This was a great match to open the show. I suspect we’ll be seeing more of these two given the finish.

Alisha was immediately trash talking Kazarian when the bell rang, and it briefly distracted Kazarian, but to no effect as he hit a right hand and some clubbing blows before hitting a suplex. Alisha hit a tornado DDT on Kazarian when she jumped off the apron onto him when the referee’s back was turned.

Kazarian tried to fire back, but Edwards raked the eyes and hit some chops. Alisha kept attacking at several points, always letting Edwards get the advantage, but after Eddie was kissing Alisha, Kazarian managed to hit a slingshot DDT over the ropes onto Edwards on the apron. Kazarian hit a springboard leg drop back in the ring for a 2-count.

Edwards went for the backpack stunner, but Kazarian countered out. After a few more counters, Kazarian hit a Unprettier for a 2-count. Kazarian went for the chicken wing, but Edwards countered out. Kazarian hit a back stabber, and Edwards hit a lariat before hitting a Tiger Driver for a two count.

Edwards went for a Boston Knee Party, but Kazarian ducked under and put on the crossface chicken wing. Alisha got on the apron and distracted the referee as Edwards drove Kazarian backwards into the referee. Kazarian went for the Flux Capacitor but Alisha Edwards hit Kazarian with a kendo stick, and Edwards followed up with the Boston Knee Party for the win.

– In a promo that initially aired on Twitter after last Thursday's Impact, Chris Sabin cut a promo after being attacked by Lio Rush last week, saying that he was challenging Rush for Slammiversary and put his X-Division Championship on the line.

Rush then talked about how he wasn’t in Impact to make friends when Nick Aldis walked up and said that he didn’t do enough to beat Sabin yet, and they needed to win their tag match tonight. Aldis said that he didn’t want Rush’s ego to get in his way of winning tonight.

– Kazarian was backstage and talked about how Edwards cheated and wanted him one more time. Kazarian said that since Alisha would be at ringside, so he as bringing his wife, former Impact star Traci Brooks, to ringside for the trilogy match at Slammiversary.

Rich Swann & Sami Callihan defeated Champagne Singh & Shera

This was mostly a squash match with Swann and Callihan getting the win with Callihan picking Singh up for a piledriver, then Swann superkicking Singh in the face before the drop down for the win.

Moose & Brian Myers were backstage with Gia Miller scouting the match, and Miller wondered what they were going to do. Moose announced that they would be facing Callihan and Swann next week.

– Dango did another video package promo, talking about the last time he watched wrestling, apparently in 1998. His advice for all the young wrestlers was for them to go back to school. He said talking about the concrete construction of the wall behind him was more interesting than wrestling. Dango claimed Santino Marella wasn’t talented in any way and was just a one hit wonder. He claimed Heath was just hanging on and not a star, and suggested he work at Home Depot.

Jonathan Gresham defeated Angels (w/ the Design)

This was a quick, but fun match. Gresham is always a delight, and Angels is really good too.

The early parts of this match saw Angels getting into arguments with Deaner, with Deaner yelling that Angels should listen to him. Gresham took advantage of this and took control, hitting a dropkick that sent Angels to the floor to face more yelling from Deaner. Both men struggled over a vertical suplex, with neither being able to get it, and Angels hit a hip toss to drop Gresham.

Angels hit a half and half suplex on Gresham and then 10-punches in the corner. Angels hit a Northern Lights suplex for a 2-count. Angels and Gresham exchanged a series of pinfall attempts to no luck from either one until Gresham was finally able to lock on the Octopus stretch and pull Gresham to the mat for the tap out.

Gresham offered a handshake, but Deaner told Angels not to do it. Angels told Deaner that he decides what he does, and shoved Deaner away before shaking hands with Gresham and leaving. Deaner tried to tell Kon to take out Angels, but Kon tried to play peacemaker.

– ABC was backstage and talked about how they would be defending the Impact Tag Team titles and The Rascalz walked up and talked about wanting a shot. ABC said that they couldn’t jump the line, but Trey Miguel challenged Chris Bey, and said that if he won, they would be added to the match at Slammiversary.

– PCO was using car cables to electrocute himself while Scott D’Amore looked on in fear in preparation for PCO’s handicap match against The Good Hands.

– Highlights of the tour of Australia were shown with all the charity work they did, and the great time they had on the tour. This was great.

PCO defeated The Good Hands in a handicap match

D’Amore joined the commentary team for this match as the Good Hands (John Skyler & Jason Hotch) came out and said they were going to slay the monster, PCO. The Good Hands punched PCO, and it hurt them. PCO hit a double lariat and then a cannonball suicida to the floor. PCO hit a moonsault on to both men for the pinfall.

Hotch attacked D’Amore after the bell, but D’Amore responded with a popup sit-out power bomb and was about to hit the Canadian Destroyer when Bully Ray’s music hit and he came out. Steve Maclin came in through the crowd and low blowed PCO before hitting D’Amore with a chair.

Ray and Maclin beat on both men with chairs before handcuffing D’Amore to the ropes and getting a table from Hotch to put PCO through. Maclin and Ray put PCO through the table and then backstage, where they poured battery acid on his face and down his throat. Bully Ray then covered him in lighter fluid and set him on fire as PCO ran at the camera and collapsed in front of it. This was a crazy heat angle, which is fitting for the fire, and for Bully Ray — no pun intended.

Gia Miller met with D’Amore backstage and asked how all that would effect the match at Slammiversary. He said he didn’t know or care at the moment.

Gisele Shaw (w/ Jai Vidal & Savannah Evans) defeated Courtney Rush (w/ Jessicka)

I liked this match. Rush in this character is much needed change for her, and she was a fantastic babyface in this one. Solid performance from both wrestlers!

Shaw was trying to recover from a loss at the Impact Down Under tour, but had to retreat when Rush went for the sharpshooter. Shaw hit several running elbows in the corner before hitting a running European uppercut. Rush was draped across the middle ropes and got hit with a stomp from Shaw. Rush hit a Samoan drop after dodging the Denouement, but Savannah Evans and Vidal distracted Rush by attacking Jessicka on the floor so Shaw was able to roll up Rush and grab the tights for the win.

– Kenny King and Sheldon Jean were backstage when a fan walked up to King and asked for a picture. Then the fan tried to slip him some money because of Joe Hendry’s song exposing King’s time as a dancer. Another person walked up trying the same and said after that video the previous week, they were curious.

King said, “Don’t you dare say his name!” and Hendry showed up. Jean and King claimed that Hendry had no friends or backup, and his music hit again, and Yuya Uemura showed up with a new version of Hendry’s song. Hendry then asked how to say “champion” in Japanese. Uemura replied, “Champion.” I loved this so much.

Nick Aldis & Lio Rush defeated The Motor City Machine Guns

This long run of putting the Machine Guns in long matches on TV is paying off for Impact lately, because they have a fantastic match every single time. Lio Rush and Nick Aldis were excellent as well. This was a really great TV main event.

Aldis and Rush got the heat on Chris Sabin in the early portion of the match, using both Aldis’ size and Rush’s speed to keep the advantage. Sabin was able to break free when he slid to the floor after being Irish whipped and blind tagged by Alex Shelley. Sabin pulled Aldis from the apron before coming back in and hitting a double team PK with Shelley.

Aldis was able to ambush Shelley with some help form Rush before the ad break. When they came back, Rush and Aldis were continuing to get the heat on Shelley. Shelley blocked a punch from Rush and hit a flatliner into the middle turnbuckle on Aldis allowing Sabin to get the hot tag. Sabin ran wild, hitting dropkicks on both Aldis and Rush before punting Aldis from the apron and sending Rush backwards with a sunset flip into a rolling elbow from Shelley followed by a magic killer for a 2-count.

Rush managed to hit a handspring kick on both Machine Guns and then a tope con giro to the floor. Rush hit a Michinoku Driver on Sabin for a 2-count, and then Aldis hit a flying elbow, allowing Rush to get another 2-count. Sabin rolled out of a frog splash attempt and then hit some classic MCMG offence on Rush. Aldis made the save in a pinfall and locked the Kingsland cloverleaf on Shelley, but ate a superkick from Sabin. Rush hit a low blow on Sabin and then hit The Final Hour on Sabin while Aldis managed to keep Shelley from making the save.

Final Thoughts:

This was a very good episode of Impact this week, featuring some great wrestling and good build for Slammiversary. It honestly would have functioned well as a go-home show, but that will be next week. We’ll see if they can top this one.

Next Week:

Click Here: Atletico de Madrid Jersey SaleZachary Wentz vs. Chris Bey with a Slammiversary Tag Team title opportunity on the lineKevin Knight vs. Mike BaileyMoose & Brian Myers vs. Rich Swann & Sami CallihanDeonna Purrazzo open challenge

New for Impact Slammiversary (July 15):

Impact Digital Media Champion Joe Hendry (w/ Yuya Uemura) defends against Kenny King (w/ Sheldon Jean)Frankie Kazarian (w/ Traci Brooks) vs. Eddie Edwards (w/ Alisha Edwards)