Alex Shelley is out of IMPACT Wrestling’s biggest main event in years.

The promotion announced on Friday that due to “unavoidable circumstances”, Shelly will not be able to travel to Nashville for this Saturday’s IMPACT Hard To Kill pay-per-view.

Shelley and Chris Sabin, the Motor City Machine Guns, were originally supposed to team up with IMPACT World Champion Rich Swann to take on AEW World Champion Kenny Omega and the IMPACT World Tag Team Champions Doc Gallows and Karl Anderson.

A six-man tag team match will still headline the event, but it will be the self-proclaimed TNA World Heavyweight Champion Moose stepping in to fill the void for the absent Machine Gun.

This could be an interesting storyline development, as Moose recently beat Rich Swann’s friend Willie Mack to the point of unconsciousness in an “I Quit” match, only stopping when Swann agreed to give him a future championship opportunity.

IMPACT EVP Scott D’Amore issued the following statement in an official press release:

“When we got the news from Alex there was no question what we needed to do. Extraordinary circumstances call for extraordinary measures – I personally contacted Moose and he accepted the match immediately. I know Rich Swann in particular has his issues with Moose. but this is time to put personal issues and egos aside.

“HARD TO KILL is a huge event for IMPACT Wrestling and a historic one for professional wrestling in general. IMPACT Wrestling needs to put our best foot forward. Moose fits that bill. He is a physical specimen, a five-tool athlete, and has proven himself to be a world-class professional wrestler. Kenny Omega and The Good Brothers will have their hands even more full now when they step into the ring with IMPACT World Champion Rich Swann, IMPACT Original Chris Sabin, and the TNA World Heavyweight Champion Moose.”

Welcome to another episode of STF Underground! In this episode, we discuss:

• Could The Undisputed Era Be RAW Bound?
• MSK’s Debut
• The AEW Awards 2020
• The Inner Circle’s Fall From Grace
• Impact Wrestling Hard To Kill Predictions
• & Much More!

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Numbers are in for the Wednesday Night Wars.

AEW Dynamite on January 13 was watched by 762,000 viewers, up 15% from week one of New Year’s Smash. The show drew a 0.30 rating in the target 18-49 demographic, up from 0.25 last week, which was Dynamite’s lowest rating since June 2020.

WWE NXT was watched by 551,000 viewers, down 14% from the NXT New Year’s Evil special. The show drew a 0.14 rating in the target demo, down from 0.16 last week.

There is really no interpreting this week’s key numbers, as mainstream news coverage of President Donald Trump’s second impeachment dominated the evening. CNN and MSNBC took all of the top 15 spots on cable Wednesday night. AEW Dynamite fell all the way to #31 and WWE NXT was #70.