Ace Austin replacing Ken Shamrock in Impact title shot tournament

Impact Wrestling has announced a change to their number one contender’s tournament.

After an angle where Michael Elgin attacked Ken Shamrock and laid him out with a con-chair-to on last week’s Impact, the promotion has announced that Ace Austin is replacing Shamrock in the number one contender’s tournament. Austin vs. Rhino in a first round match will air on this Tuesday’s episode of Impact.

A first round match between Elgin and Sami Callihan is also airing on tomorrow’s Impact.

The winner of Elgin vs. Callihan will advance to face Trey Miguel in the semifinals. The winner of Rhino vs. Austin will face Hernandez in the semifinals.

The wrestler who wins the number one contender’s tournament will challenge Tessa Blanchard for the Impact World Championship. Blanchard was supposed to defend her title against Elgin and Eddie Edwards in a triple threat match at Rebellion, but neither Blanchard nor Edwards were able to attend last month’s Impact tapings due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Austin lost the X-Division Championship to Willie Mack at Rebellion night one. Mack is defending the X-Division title against Johnny Swinger on tomorrow’s Impact. Moose vs. Suicide, Crazzy Steve vs. Dave Crist, and XXXL (Acey Romero & Larry D) vs. TJP & Fallah Bahh are also set for the show.