Surprising Departure From Impact Wrestling Following Slammiversary

Impact Wrestling celebrated its 21st anniversary this past weekend. Slammiversary featured a number of notable moments including Trinity (formerly known as Naomi in WWE) defeating Deonna Purrazzo to become Impact Knockouts Champion as well as Eric Young making his return (from the dead) to the company to reunite with Scott D'Amore in a battle against Bully Ray and Deaner. The surprises continued in Slammiversary's main event, as Impact World Champion Alex Shelley defeated challenger Nick Aldis to retain his title. Aldis had just returned to Impact this past April and seemed poised to become world champion sooner than later.

As reported by PWInsider, Aldis has finished his Impact Wrestling run. The former NWA Worlds Heavyweight Champion also worked a match against Eric Young on a television taping this past weekend, which as of this writing is his last scheduled Impact Wrestling match.

Aldis's departure comes as somewhat of a surprise. Leading up to Slammiversary, Aldis appeared to be positioned as a top star, even if that meant running without a championship. Impact Wrestling, then known as TNA, was Aldis's home for over seven years prior, as his initial run with the company saw him ascend to the TNA World Heavyweight Championship. 

After exiting the company in 2015, Aldis made his biggest name in the rebooted National Wrestling Alliance. There, he won the NWA Worlds Heavyweight Championship on two occasions, and his second run lasted for over 1,000 days. Aldis famously put that title on the line at 2018's ALL IN against Cody Rhodes.

"That minute in Chicago with Cody when the bell rang," Aldis told ComicBook.com in 2022. "That one minute where it was just sort of like, 'All right, this is it.' There's very few opportunities that I've had, having never had an opportunity with WWE, that I could really genuinely feel like all the eyes of the wrestling world are on me and this match right now. But I did feel that way in Chicago."

Aldis's future from here remains uncertain. WWE was rumored to have interest in him and a couple of other top free agents, including Hikuleo and Tama Tonga, earlier this year but a company-wide hiring freeze prevented them from landing deals. Aldis was offered a contract with AEW in 2019 but he turned it down due to being unable to work for the NWA at the same time.