Impact notes: New Tag Team Champions, Grace vs. Slamovich at BFG

Impact Wrestling has new Tag Team Champions following Thursday’s AXS show.

After earning a shot with Honor No More’s win at Emergence, The OGK (Mike Bennett & Matt Taven) took advantage by defeating The Good Brothers to win their first Impact gold.

The win came after Doc Gallows was thrown into the stairs and Bennett & Taven hit Anderson with the Proton Pack to get the victory.

The win ends the two-month+ reign for Gallows and Anderson — one that saw them defend the titles successfully just once.

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Like the aforementioned OGK, Masha Slamovich will look to get her first taste of Impact gold as she will challenge Knockouts Champion Jordynne Grace at October’s Bound For Glory.

Slamovich defeated former champion Deonna Purrazzo on Thursday to earn the opportunity, which was followed by a confrontation between the champion and challenger.

Since losing to Purrazzo at Knockouts Knockdown in September 2021, Slamovich has won 15 straight matches dating back to January 2022. Grace will be looking for the fourth defense of the title she regained at June’s Slammiversary.

The two have squared off in Impact before on a June 2019 edition of Xplosion where Grace got the win.

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Mickie James’ big announcement is that she isn’t retiring…yet. 

In a promo Thursday, James said she had been doing some soul searching in her near two months away from the ring and was overwhelmed with doubt. She didn’t know if she could match up to the competition in Impact, but wanted to find out. 

She then issued an open challenge to begin what she hopes is a path back to the Knockouts title. But, that plan comes with a familiar catch: if she loses any match along the way which includes a title opportunity, she will retire.

James was last seen in an Impact ring in early-July picking up a win over Chelsea Green and held the Knockouts title as recently as March.

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Mascara Dorada, the former Gran Metalik in WWE, made his debut a notable one Thursday, defeating Alex Zayne and earning a future X-Division title match against champion “Speedball” Mike Bailey.

While they didn’t announce the date, it was recently taped in Dallas, Texas, and will air later this month.