Despite the last difficult years, impact wrestling it has continued to try to regain momentum after the massive slump that followed Dixie Carter’s leadership. In recent years, Impact has provided fans with some of the best matches in North America, cementing its status as an underrated promotion packed with top-tier talent.
Despite having held only one title during his time on Impact, Sami Callihan has become one of the most prominent wrestlers on Impact today, putting on some of the best matches of his career and delivering strong performances as a babyface and heel. For those who want to learn more about the former Impact World Champion, there’s a lot to learn!
10/10 He made his name in Combat Zone Wrestling
Breaking out in 2008, Sami Callihan would debut in Combat Zone Wrestling, an independent promotion infamous for its level of violence. Despite the company’s reputation, CZW would spawn some big stars, with Sami Callihan, Jon Moxley, Drew Gulak, MJF and Adam Cole leaving CZW.
While performing in Combat Zone Wrestling, Sami would find his fair share of success, winning the CZW Iron Man, Ultraviolent Underground, and World Junior Heavyweight Championships, as well as winning the company’s Best of the Best tournament in 2012.
9/10 He used to lead his own faction
Arriving on the scene at Impact Wrestling in 2017, Sami Callihan would not come alone, as he would debut in the company as a heel, leading the faction known as Ohio Versus Everything. Teaming up with brothers Crist, Jake, and Dave, the trio would take over Impact as a new high-level unit, taking on LAX, The Lucha Bros, and Tommy Dreamer.
In 2020, Dave Crist would be kicked out during the Speaking Out movement, and with issues growing within Impact between him and the other roster members, the company would release him, with Jake leaving Impact at the end of the year. Leaving Callihan the only member of OvE, Sami would only find more stardom over the next two years, cementing himself as one of the best babyfaces on Impact.
8/10 Engaged to Jessicka Havok
Wrestling partners tend to be a thing in most major promotions, and Impact is not excluded from that rule. It turns out that Sami Callihan is currently engaged to one half of the Impact Wrestling Knockouts Tag Team Champions, Jessicka Havok.
With the two officially getting engaged in 2021, on Havok’s birthday, they have yet to get married, but at least they still plan to. During an interview with Vickie Guerrero, Havok revealed that they had not only gotten engaged, but had been in a low-key relationship since Sami’s NXT days in 2013.
7/10 He has only had one championship on Impact
Even though Sami Callihan is currently considered one of the best wrestlers in Impact Wrestling, fans may be surprised to find out that he has only held one championship during his entire career with the company. Signing with Impact in 2017, this year marks Callihan’s fifth year as part of the Impact Wrestling roster, and yet the only belt he has won is the Impact World Championship.
Dethroning Brian Cage during their feud in late 2019, Callihan would lose the belt to Tessa Blanchard in 2020. Since then, he has remained atop the card, even facing Kenny Omega in 2021 in one of the best matches in history. his career. him though he has failed to capture more gold.
6/10 He only successfully defended the world title 4 times
After defeating Brian Cage in October 2019 to become the new Impact Wrestling World Champion, Callihan would not hold the belt for long as he would only make four successful defenses while champion. These would be against Brian Cage, Clayton Gainz, Rich Swann and Rhino. In early 2020, Sami would lose the belt in a famous match against Tessa Blanchard.
Even though Tessa Blanchard shot her career in the foot, looking back on her rise to the main event scene within Impact Wrestling, it was a genuinely great and compelling storyline, with Callihan playing his heel role to perfection.
5/10 Partnered with Juice Robinson in NJPW
Entering NJPW’s World Tag League tournament in 2017, Sami Callihan would enter the tournament for the first and only time in his career, teaming alongside Juice Robinson as the tag team dubbed “DeathJuice”. The two would surprise everyone by finishing in second place.
Despite being a random tag team, this would serve as a reminder to long-time NXT fans as Callihan made his WWE developmental system debut against Juice Robinson’s character CJ Parker before they both men left the company in the same year.
4/10 Won Impact Match of the Year twice
While he may not have won the Wrestling Observer Match of the Year twice, Sami Callihan did win the Impact fan-voted Match of the Year on two separate occasions. First, for his violent Hair vs. Mask Match against future AEW World Tag Team and Trios Champion Pentagon Jr. in 2018. slammiversary pay-per-view The two men would tear each other apart, with the Pentagon gaining the victory and Sami having to go bald after their fight.
The following year, in slammiversary again, Sami Callihan would defeat Tessa Blanchard in a special intergender match for the main event of the pay-per-view. This would mark the first time Callihan has won Impact’s Match of the Year and would also serve as a preview of when Blanchard would dethrone Sami from the Impact World Championship in 2020.
3/10 He was under contract with WWE for three years
Upon signing with WWE in 2013, Sami Callihan’s career would take a nosedive while working for Vince McMahon. Not debuting for over a year, wrestling under the ring name Solomon Crowe, he would finally debut in early 2015, sporting a hacker gimmick as he would target CJ Parker and Bull Dempsey.
Crowe’s final televised match would come later that same year, suffering a loss to Apollo Crews in less than 5 minutes. He would be released in November 2015 before returning to the independent scene and eventually making it to Impact.
2/10 Competed in three hair vs. mask matches
As for the aforementioned hair vs. mask match between Callihan and Pentagon Jr., that’s not Sami’s only match with that stipulation, as he’s competed in three of them throughout his career. With his first Hair vs Mask Match being a tag team match against Pentagon Jr, it would be more than that as it would be a tag team match with the Fenix and Pentagon masks on the line while Sami’s hair would be on the line, and your partner’s career would be in jeopardy.
For his second hair vs. mask match, Sami would face Pentagon’s brother Rey Fenix in late 2016, Sami would lose the match, allowing Fenix to keep his mask. As of now, the 2018 fight against the Pentagon in slammiversary It would be Sami’s last Hair vs. Mask Match, although one can never say never.
1/10 He was a partner of Jon Moxley
By forming an alliance during his time in CZW, Jon Moxley would be linked to Sami Callihan from the moment the former debuted in the company, as he would help Sami capture the CZW Iron Man Championship. Callihan would later rename the belt the CZW New Horror Championship, and he and Moxley would become known as The Switchblade Conspiracy, a new tag team on the scene.
Wrestling together from 2009 to 2011, the duo would be highly regarded by wrestling fans around the world, with an overall average Cagematch rating of 9.37. The two would meet once for the CZW World Heavyweight Championship, with Callihan unable to dethrone his partner. In July 2022, while serving as the Interim AEW World Champion, Moxley and Callihan would have their first match together since 2011, defeating The Wolves.