December 8th 2020 marked the first time Kenny Omega made his IMPACT/TNA Wrestling debut during a sit down interview with Josh Matthews whilst being flanked by his manager, Don Callis.
Only several days after turning heel and beating Jon Moxley to win his first AEW World Championship on a special edition of AEW Dynamite called Winter is Coming, the ‘Best Bout Machine’ would reunite with his boys in Karl Anderson and Doc Gallows before beating up some of the IMPACT locker room and making his motives clear that he wanted to become the next IMPACT World Champion.
At the height of IMPACT and All Elite Wrestling’s short lived partnership, a match for the ages was made when Dave Melzter’s favorite wrestler took on Rich Swann in one of the biggest cross-promotional/winner takes all title matches in recent history.
It was night full of great action with history making moments and one that payed dividends for TNA…Welcome to Distortion Media and here are 10 Interesting Facts About Rebellion 2021.
10. IMPACT’s Final Pandemic PPV
Since the last Rebellion event, IMPACT (like the rest of the wrestling world at the time) had to find a way to produce matches with zero fans in attendance which is much easier said than done.
Thankfully, the company were able to use this to their advantage when it came to producing moments that wouldn’t have the same type of feel had it happened in front of a live audience.
Little did any of us realize it at the time but we would be months away from fans being allowed to attend wrestling shows again with that year’s Slammiversary being the first IMPACT show to have fans back in the building making this not only the second Rebellion PPV to take place in front of no crowds, but it also marked the final PPV of IMPACT’s pandemic era…may it rest in all of it’s fan restrictive pieces.
9. An Ohio Valley Wrestler Narrated The Opening
The opening video package for Rebellion 2021 shows not only footage of various wrestlers on the IMPACT roster who would be competing at the event but it also shows a man decked in all black clothing giving an intense narration; That man was Jamin Olivencia, a seasoned pro wrestler best known for his work in Ohio Valley Wrestling (or OVW) where his become that promotion’s Television, Tag Team and World Champion with the latter seeing Olivencia become the longest reigning OVW champion at 241 days.
In addition to this and his brief appearances in the WWE and Ring of Honor, Jamin has also competed in TNA and GFW where’s faced off against names like Stevie Richards, Sonjay Dutt and Moose.
Seeing how IMPACT still has a partnership with OVW, it’s possible that management requested someone to do the narration for their major event and OVW decided to send one of their former champions for such a task…And if I’m being honest, he did a good job.
8. AEW Didn’t Promote
The hype going into the PPV was one of the best as the stakes surrounding the main event coupled with the rest of the card made things look like it was going be a great time.
Unfortunately this hype was mostly generated by IMPACT as AEW devoted little to no time promoting the PPV (outside of a few appearances by Tony Khan, Kenny Omega, Jerry Lynn and Don Callis..all which happened on IMPACT television).
Sure, the pay-per-view was produced by IMPACT Wrestling, but the fact that one of AEW’s biggest stars was going to be involved in such a high profiled match, you think they would’ve promoted the match on AEW television especially when you consider that IMPACT was airing Tony Khan’s ‘paid ads’ on their programming to hype the up-and-coming AEW shows.
Evidently, Tony Khan has no problem promoting his show on other promotion’s programming, but he won’t do the same for the others not named NJPW.
7. Big Bill’s Debut Got Spoiled
W. Morrissey (formerly Big Cass in the WWE and now Big Bill in AEW) has did quite well for himself during his time in IMPACT as he displayed a level of intensity that made him come off as a monster during his matches with guys like Willie Mack, Rich Swann and Eddie Edwards.
At Rebellion Morrissey was revealed to be the mystery partner for Violent By Design after the leader of the group, Eric Young was taken out with injury during the previous set of tapings.
This would’ve been a great surprise and it probably was for a number of people…provided that you didn’t check social media or any wrestling news outlets prior to watching the event,
According to a report first noted from Inside the Ropes, it revealed that Morrissey was set to make his debut for IMPACT mere hours before the pay per view thereby ruining the surprise.
Still, the big man and the rest of Violent By Design emerged victorious with Morrissey’s time in IMPACT being so well received that he eventually made his way to All Elite Wrestling.
6. Ellering’s First IMPACT Match in Four Years
Known for being the daughter of a legendary wrestling manager and being super enthusiastic when promotions wish her Happy Birthday a day or two late, Rachael Ellering has been in the business for years as she’s wrestled in promotions like Ring of Honor, WWE and Stardom.
Another company she’s also wrestled for is TNA, where she made her debut during the March 2017 tapings where she lost Allysin Kay and Chelsea Green in singles matches.
Ellering wouldn’t resurface in the company until 2021 when she ran into the ring to help Jordynne Grace during a beatdown by Kiera Hogan and Tasha Steelz which led to the Knockouts Tag Title match that took place at Rebellion just days later.
5. Grace Re-Signed with IMPACT After Title Win
Jordynne Grace and Rachael Ellering would shock everyone when they defeated Fire N’ Flava to become the new Knockouts Tag Team Champions only for fans to shocked again when Hogan and Steelz regained the tag straps at Under Siege ending Grace and Ellering’s run at just 20 days which currently stands as the shortest reign in the belt’s history.
Around the same time the tag belts were being hot potatoes between both teams, Grace’s contract was coming to an end in early to mid 2021; Possibly as a way to keep the former Knockouts Champion in the company, Grace and Ellering won the tag titles at Rebellion only for Jordynne to re-sign with IMPACT just days after winning.
While Jordynne Grace has mentioned in interviews her reasoning to stay in the company was to have an easy work schedule and freedom to pursue other ventures outside of wrestling, you have to wonder if winning the Knockouts Tag Titles was another reason why ‘The Juggernaut’ stuck around.
4. The Origins of the Miguel/Callihan Feud
Trey Miguel’s return to IMPACT in January of 2021, came mere months after he, Zachary Wentz and Dezmond Xavier aka The Rascalz all left the promotion not long after Bound For Glory 2020 with the three high fliers all looking to get signed by the WWE and although Dez and Wentz would get signed, Miguel didn’t with many speculating as to why?
During a media call following NXT Takeover: WarGames, Triple H (who was in charge of the black and yellow brand at the time) was asked about Trey Miguel not getting signed to which Hunter mentioned that the WWE was a company all about heart and passion and that you have to be all in.
This got the wrestling internet exploding with rage over the idea that Trey Miguel didn’t have the passion to be signed to one of the biggest wrestling company’s in the world and Trey would soon head back to IMPACT with one of his first major feuds being with Sami Callihan who chastised Miguel for “not having the passion” for the industry.
While this not so subtle dig wouldn’t be the only time TNA made fun of WWE’s mistakes (for example that time Brian Myers suddenly wore an eye patch for weeks to mock WWE’s Eye for an Eye match between Mysterio and Rollins), the match itself was great as Miguel defeated Callihan in a last man standing match before moving his eyes toward the X Division Championship.
Triple H Comments On Trey Miguel Not Signing With WWE, Trey Issues Personal Update | Fightful News
3. Taylor Wilde’s 1st PPV Appearance in 11 Years
To say the industry had changed considerably in the time Taylor Wilde left and returned to professional wrestling would be a massive understatement as TNA went through various regime changes, appeared on multiple channels and seen over a thousand wrestlers make their way in the company.
Wilde became a member of the Knockouts Division in 2008 where she became a former Knockouts Champion and one half of the ever first Knockouts Tag Team Champions until her departure in December of 2010 and then retiring from the sport altogether in February the following year.
Stories about the WWE wanting her in the 2017 Mae Young Classic made the rounds, but nothing ever came of it due to Wilde suffering an Injury.
It was only until April of 2021 when IMPACT signaled the return of the blonde haired Canadian before attacking Kimber Lee, Susan and Deonna Purrazzo following the latter successfully retaining her Knockouts title against Tenille Dashwood.
2. The First U.S. Inter-Promotion Title Match in 13 Years
Rich Swann and Kenny Omega’s main event bout at Rebellion 2021 is perhaps the biggest cross promotional match in the history of both company’s. While the partnership has been heavily criticized mainly on AEW’s end, the shot of Omega holding the Triple A, AEW, TNA and IMPACT World Championships all at once was the stuff of legend.
In fact, this match marked the first time in over a decade that a Title vs. Title inter-promotional bout occurred with the previous one happening in 2008 when Ring of Honor champion, Nigel McGuiness (aka Desmond Wolfe in TNA) took on reigning NWA World Champion, Adam Pierce (yes, that Adam Pierce) although the match ended in controversial fashion.
Thankfully, that wasn’t the case for this match as Omega picked up the win which made him the first person to be AEW and IMPACT World champion at the same time.
1. The Buyrate
With the prospect of Kenny Omega becoming the AEW and IMPACT World Champion at the same time, it’s not much of a shock to discover that the wrestling world had their eyes set on Rebellion and in the words of Scott Steiner “The Numbers Don’t Lie” except it didn’t spell disaster for TNA, but quite the opposite.
In all, Rebellion 2021 did 9,300 buys which is up by 7,100 buys compared to the 2019 event; According to Dave Melzter, this show did eight times better than Bound For Glory the previous year which saw Rich Swann defeat his rival, Eric Young to capture the IMPACT World Championship in the main event.
For a time, this show was held as the high point in terms of pay-per-view purchases in modern day IMPACT/TNA…that was until 2024 when their annual Hard To Kill event soundly surpassed Rebellion with a cable buy rate of 19,700 and a whopping 60,000 buys if you include streaming numbers; This of course would make the show tied for the most bought TNA Wrestling event in company history since Genesis 2006 with the main event of that show seeing Kurt Angle wrestle the undefeated Samoa Joe for the very first time.
