A new champion for a new era!

Sami Callihan is a lot of things inside the Impact Wrestling ring – violent, vulgar, frequently disgusting – and you can now add WORLD CHAMPION to that list.

The so-called “Callihan Death Machine” defeated Brian Cage in the main event of Tuesday night’s Impact debut on AXS TV, despite being trapped inside a steel cage with a pissed off monster twice his size, and all other members of his oVe family banned from the arena.

Cage defeated Johnny Impact to win the Impact World Championship at the Rebellion pay-per-view in April, but his title run was marred by injuries. He actually suffered a serious back injury just minutes into the title match with Johnny, and spent most of the summer recovering, even working the Slammiversary main event with Michael Elgin while hurt.

This marks Sami Callihan’s first title with the promotion, but more importantly his first legitimate world championship with a major, televised wrestling company. The win has been a long time coming, as his return to the indie scene in 2015 after a stint in NXT sparked a major change to the midwest landscape, with many of the names he and his oVe family have elevated eventually arriving in Impact.