For the first time since 2013, Mickie James can call herself the Knockouts Champion after ending the near year-long reign of Deonna Purrazzo at Bound for Glory.
The end came when Purrazzo was taunting James, giving her an opening to hit a tornado DDT to pick up the title win.
This is the third reign for James who first won the belt in August 2011 and then again in May 2013. The win ends Purrazzo’s second reign after she regained the belt in November 2020 at Turning Point.
The two have been feuding since before NWA Empower when James helped recruit Purrazzo to the show to defend her title.
James was released by WWE earlier this year and has made appearances for both Impact and NWA since then.
It was a night of title changes for Impact’s biggest pay-per-view of the year as the Impact World title changed hands twice from Josh Alexander to Moose, Trey Miguel won the vacant X-Division title, a new Digital Media Champion was crowned in Jordynne Grace, and the IInspiration won the Knockouts Tag Team titles from Decay.
After Josh Alexander relinquished the title in exchange for a World title shot, Trey Miguel won the X-Division championship in a three-way tournament final at Bound for Glory.
Miguel defeated Steve Maclin and El Phantasmo to kick off his first title reign in Impact Wrestling. All three men earned their slots by winning three-way qualifiers on Impact’s weekly TV show.
The end came when Phantasmo went for a low blow, but Miguel was wearing a cup that blocked the impact. He hit several kicks, a deadlift brain buster and a meteora on ELP to pick up the win.
While the X-Division title has been established for years, the first-ever Digital Media champion was crowned on the Bound for Glory pre-show as Jordynne Grace became the inaugural titleholder in a six-way intergender match.
The finish came when Grace, a former Knockouts singles and Knockouts Tag Team champion, hit the Grace Driver on John Skylar for the win to finish a short match. The title will be defended on the company’s social media channels.
With six title matches on the show, there were also new Knockouts Tag Team Champions crowned as the IInspiration defeated Decay’s Rosemary and Havok for the titles.
In their first official night in the company, The IInspiration won the Knockouts Tag Team titles at Bound for Glory, defeating Rosemary and Havok of Decay.
The former IIconics in WWE, Cassie Lee and Jessie McKay were released by their former employers earlier this year with Impact announcing their signing earlier this month.
The end came when Lee and McKay hit a blind tag, enabling them to hit their finisher on Rosemary and win the titles. The match opened the pay-per-view in one of six title matches scheduled for the night.
The duo previously held tag team gold in WWE, holding the Women’s Tag Team titles from April through August 2019. This was their first in-ring action since their release due to settling work visas due to being from Australia.
The loss ends the 98-day reign of Havok and Rosemary who defeated Fire N’ Flava at July’s Slammiversary for the belts.
The Impact World title will be on the line as Christian Cage defends the gold for the third time when he takes on former X-Division champion Josh Alexander in the main event of Saturday’s Bound for Glory.
Alexander earned the shot by relinquishing his title and exercising Impact’s “Option C” which is the ability to do so and get a World title match. Cage has defended the gold twice since taking it from Kenny Omega on the debut of AEW Rampage in August.
The Knockouts title will be on the line as Deonna Purrazzo defends against former champion Mickie James who returned to an Impact ring for the first time since 2015 Thursday. This has been building since just prior to NWA Empower. Purrazzo is approaching her first full year as champion and is looking for the 16th defense of the gold.
Other title matches include Tag Team Champions The Good Brothers vs. FinJuice vs. Chris Bey & Hikuleo; Steve Maclin vs. Trey Miguel vs. El Phantasmo for the vacant X-Division title; Knockouts Tag Team Champions Decay vs. the former Iiconics and a six-way to crown the first-ever Digital Media champion.
The show will also see a 20-man Call Your Shot gauntlet match, Heath and Rhino vs. Violent by Design, and Awesome Kong entering the Hall of Fame, inducted by Gail Kim.
Our live coverage begins with the Countdown to Glory pre-show.
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Live broadcast from Las Vegas, NV started with Awesome Kong’s Hall of Fame Induction. They initially showed a video package covering Kong’s history on Impact Wrestling, with comments from the Impact Knockouts, talking about Kong’s importance to women’s wrestling.
Gail Kim inducted Awesome Kong, she talked about Kong’s debut and how they worked together to create magic. She talked about how Impact took the risk with two women of color and allowed them to go out and do their thing and how that ended up changing the business. Kim talked about the personal relationship she has with Kong before bringing her out.
Awesome Kong first of all thanked the crowd, for keeping Impact alive and for supporting the wrestlers that work for the company. She thanked God, she thanked Scott D’Amore and Dutch Mantel for working with the Knockouts throughout the years, she thanked her husband, she thanked SHIMMER, Lexi Faye, Dave Prazak, and closed the speech telling everyone to follow their dreams.
The Knockouts locker room, including Cheerleader Melissa, came out to congratulate and accompany Kong on the ramp to close the ceremony.
Jordynne Grace (with Rachael Ellering) defeated Chelsea Green, Fallah Bahh, Madison Rayne (with Kaleb), John Skylar, and Crazzy Steve (with Black Taurus) to become the Inaugural Digital Media Championship
Each participant in this match qualified through a series of matches that took place in the last couple of weeks on Impact’s digital media channels. Originally, Tenille Dashwood had qualified to the match, but after not being able to make it to the show, her tag team partner Madison Rayne took her place.
Match started with a couple of pair ups, but it was Bahh and Grace that paired up inside the ring first, with Grace taking down Bahh with a shoulder tackle, the running elbow, and a Vader bomb for the first near fall of the night. Skylar and Green came in next, with the latter getting rid of Skylar early on with a dropkick. Rayne later on took down Steve with a DDT.
The match continued with a couple more pair ups. Crazzy Steve at one point locked in a double Upside Down on both Rayne and Green.
At the end, Grace dropped Skylar with the Grace driver for the win. The match was really short and not great for the amount of people involved, but it was all about building and crowning Grace as the inaugural champion.
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Main show opened with a video package about Josh Alexander’s rise to become the Impact World Championship challenger in tonight’s main event. Great Package.
The IInspiration (Cassie Lee & Jessie McKay) defeated Knockouts Tag Team Champions Decay (Havok & Rosemary) to become the NEW Champions!
Harley Cameron sang the IInspiration’s theme for the debut. Prior to Decay’s entrance, McKay and Lee took microphones to tell Impact that they are there to inspire us all.
This is The IInspiration’s debut, therefore, these teams have not interacted since the announcement of the match, but they’ve had words for each other leading up to this match.
Match started with Decay in control, they easily overpowered Lee and McKay in their initial efforts. Some of the spots came off as comedy. Rosemary locked in an early Upside Down on McKay but it wasn’t until Rosemary distracted herself with Lee, that the IInspiration managed to cut off Rosemary for a bit.
It wasn’t long before Havok and Lee came in, with the former running wild over both McKay and Lee, but after some miscalculations, Havok ended up on the floor after crashing down. Back in the ring, The IInspiration once again worked over Rosemary, getting a couple of near falls.
Havok came back to the match and got a near fall on Lee after a spear from Rosemary.
Lee got rid of Rosemary, hit a spinning kick on Havok, and along with McKay, sent Havok into the ring post over and over again. Finish followed after a blind tag that Rosemary didn’t see, which allowed Lee to knee Rosemary, set up their finisher, and pin Rosemary to win the titles. Not the smoothest of matches, but there’s room to grow.
– Gia Miller interviewed Deonna Purrazzo about her defense tonight. Purrazzo complained that she is the victim because it’s been James that kept attacking her, but when she did it, they got punished while James got a title shot. Purrazzo said that James is not a legend to her and she will break James’ arms.
Trey Miguel defeated El Phantasmo and Steve Maclin to become the NEW X Division Champion.
After Josh Alexander relinquished the X Division title, a tournament to crown a new X Division championship started. All three men in this match won their qualifying 3-way matches, leading up to BFG.
Match started with all three men in the mix, trading control of the match. First off, Maclin took down Miguel, only to get taken out by ELP, who then got taken out by Miguel.
ELP and Maclin started to work together and take turns striking Miguel. ELP went for the titty twister on Maclin, but he didn’t sell it and instead took down ELP. Miguel came back with a submission on ELP, while he suplexed Maclin, but couldn’t keep them both down.
ELP and Maclin paired up with the former getting the upper hand, using his speed to hit a couple of moonsaults and walking the rope into a step-up-rana. ELP raked both men’s backs with theatrics.
Maclin and ELP once again started working together against Miguel, who took them down with a couple of running forearms, but was quickly cut off. Maclin hit a DDT and Flatliner combo on ELP and Miguel respectively, but couldn’t get a pin on either.
Maclin hit the running spear on ELP. Miguel went for a Lethal Injection, only to get caught with a spear to and into the floor. Maclin followed with a tope suicida on ELP and a flying hip attack on Miguel again. Maclin went for the top rope, but got cut off by ELP, who hit an Asai Moonsault, only to take a cutter on the floor by Miguel.
Miguel and Maclin traded near falls, until ELP cut them off. ELP powerbombed Maclin, hit a super rana, tossing Miguel into Maclin, followed with a plancha on Maclin for a big near fall. Maclin came back with a powerbomb on ELP for a near fall. Maclin blocked a Meteora, but took a couple of kicks by both Miguel and ELP.
ELP went for the low punch, but Miguel had a cup, followed by a couple of kicks and a deadlift brainbuster and Meteora for the win. Fantastic match.
– Miller interviewed Mickie James prior to her match. James acknowledged that Purrazzo may be her hardest challenge ever, but she made it personal by attacking her in her own home. James said that tonight, it will be more than the title, tonight she proves to herself that she can still be the champion.
Heath & Rhino defeated Violent By Design (Joe Doering & Deaner) (with Eric Young)
This story goes back to 2020, when Violent By Design attacked Heath and was sidelined, which would later be followed by Rhino joining Violent By Design and being brainwashed. VBD turned on Rhino a couple of weeks ago after he lost the tag team titles, but right as they were about to make an example out of Rhino, Heath made his comeback. Rhino is still not himself, but Heath believes he can convince Rhino to join him against VBD.
Rhino didn’t come out with Heath initially, so he started the match with the handicap. Deaner and Doering didn’t wait and jumped Heath.
Once the bell rang, Heath did get some offense on Deaner and Doering, but eventually the numbers game was too much and Deaner cut him off while Heath was distracted with Doering. VBD worked over Heath, who had a couple of comeback attempts, but Doering kept cutting him off.
Eventually, Rhino came out when Heath had managed to bring down Deaner. Heath tagged in Rhino, who ran wild over Deaner, hit a belly-to-belly on Deaner, hit Gore on Deaner, and picked up the win. Not much of a match, but perfect for the angle.
After the match, Rhino and Heath embraced and celebrated together.
– Gia Miller interviewed Jordynne Grace about winning the Digital Media title. Grace talked about becoming the first ever triple crown woman in the promotion. Ellering talked about going for the Call Your Shot Gauntlet, but was interrupted by Moose and Morrissey, who said they were going to win.
Moose won the Call Your Shot Gauntlet
Chris Sabin was the number one entrant, after losing to Morrissey a couple of weeks ago, when the #20 spot was on the line. Rocky Romero was entrant number 2. We got two full minutes of Sabin vs Romero chain wrestling, stand-offs, and Romero’s sneaky style.
Entrant #3 was Madman Fulton, who easily overpowered both Sabin and Romero, who worked together to try to eliminate Fulton, with no avail.
#4 entrance was Rohit Raju, who came in and exchanged strikes with Sabin and Romero, and got a good amount of offense. Raju made an alliance with Fulton for the moment.
Tasha Steelz entered as number 5. Raju talked her into joining their little alliance. The numbers game was too much and Raju eliminated Romero.
Rachael Ellering was #6, she went immediately for Steelz, who she feuded with for months. Fulton tried to eliminate her, but she escaped and with the help of Sabin and Raju, eliminated Fulton.
Savannah Evans entered next as number 7 and joined her tag team partner. Steelz and Evans ganged up on Ellering, while Sabin and Raju paired up on the opposite corner. Ellering managed to eliminate Evans just as Johnny Swinger made his entrance as number 8.
We didn’t see Ellering’s elimination by Steelz since the camera focused on Swinger.
#9 entrant was Melina Perez. She went straight for Steelz, but was distracted by a hip-swinging Johnny Swinger. Entrant # 10 was The Demon, yes, WCW’s Demon! Johnny Swinger and I marked out. Swinger asked for an autograph, but instead got eliminated by the Demon. Swinger had been really popular with the crowd.
Brian Myers came out as #11, along with VSK and Zicky Dice as seconds. Myers paired up with The Demon, but couldn’t eliminate him.
#12 was Matt Cardona. The Learning Tree tried to attack him, but Cardona took them down and went straight for Myers in the ring. #13 entrant was Laredo Kid, who paired up with Raju. At this point, Melina eliminated Tasha Steelz, only to get eliminated by Myers.
Sam Beale came in as #14, he was fired from the Learning Tree on Thursday, but he still joined Myers to try and eliminate Cardona.
Rich Swann came in as #15. Swann and Myers have been feuding for some weeks, so he went straight for Beale and Myers, but in the distraction, Beale got the chance to eliminate Myers and took it.
Ace Austin made his entrance at number 16. He eliminated The Demon quickly. #17 entrant was Moose, who also came in strong, powerbombing Beale over the ropes over into Dice and VSK.
Entrant number 18 was Eddie Edwards, making his return after being sent to the hospital by Moose and Morrissey. Edwards tossed out Laredo Kid, who was used as a weapon by Moose, but afterwards, Edwards and Moose brawled to the floor, with Edwards hitting a tope through the middle rope. Moose hit an apron bomb. Alisha Edwards was #19, who brought out kendo sticks for Eddie and herself. They attacked Moose together, but #20 was previously set to be W. Morrissey.
Edwards and Alisha tried to gang up on Morrissey, but he overpowered them, and then military pressed Alisha to eliminate her. Morrissey and Moose joined up and eliminated Edwards fist.
Raju tried to make an alliance, but he was next to be eliminated.
Sabin eliminated Ace Austin, but Fulton came in and hit an End of Days on Sabin, leaving him ready for the elimination at the hands of Moose and Morrissey.
Final four were Cardona, Swann, Moose, and Morrissey. Morrissey was set to eliminate Swann, but Moose snuck up and eliminated both Swann and Morrissey.
Moose worked over Cardona for the final run, but Cardona made a comeback with a huge lariat. Cardona went for Radio Silence, but missed, only to take Moose’s Lights Out for the pin.
Moose has finally earned a singles shot for any title he chooses.
– Gia Miller interviewed Heath and Rhino. Heath talked about being sure that Rhino would end up coming out and backing him up.
Impact Tag Team Champions The Good Brothers (Karl Anderson & Doc Gallows) defeated The Bullet Club (Chris Bey & Hikuleo) and FinJuice (David Finlay & Juice Robinson) to retain their championships.
FinJuice and The Bullet Club have been feuding for months, but it was Anderson and Gallows’ idea to have them wrestle for a shot at the tag titles, as they felt that they had no competition left to wrestle. Both teams wrestled last Thursday, ending with a double pin that was later resolved by D’Amore by making this a 3-way match.
Finlay and Bey started the match with a fantastic sequence of counters and reversals. Robinson came in and continued working on Bey, but it wasn’t long before Gallows and Hikuleo tagged in for the big hoss clash.
Gallows and Hikuleo traded shoulder tackles and strikes, and it was the latter that managed to get the upper hand. Bey tagged in, but before he could take on Gallows, Finlay blind tagged himself against Anderson. The quick tags kept coming as Hikuleo tagged himself in and cut off Finlay. Bullet Club finally controlled the ring, keeping Finlay away from either corner. Eventually, Finlay got an opening to tag in Robinson, who ran wild against both opposing teams. Robinson got a great near fall after a big gut buster.
Match broke down as everyone came in and took turns to attack each other. Juice was the first up and cleared the ring for a superplex from Finlay, followed by Robinson’s plancha, but Anderson snuck in, threw Robinson out, and stole the pin. Good match, but a really underwhelming finish out of nowhere.
– Miller interviewed Christian Cage about his title defense tonight. Cage talked about the sacrifices he has made for Impact and that he’s not ready to pass the torch, nor is he ready to drop the title to Alexander.
Mickie James defeated Knockouts Champion Deonna Purrazzo to become the NEW Champion.
This feud started back when Mickie James invited Deonna Purrazzo to participate in NWA’s Empower show. Purrazzo considered James’ approach as disrespectful, and things only escalated from there. These two have been waiting to get physical after D’Amore proclaimed a ‘no touch’ clause after things had become personal.
James jumped Purrazzo during the championship belt presentation, and immediately took the brawl to the floor and into the ramp area. Purrazzo was able to turn things around and pull James back to the ring by hair.
The match officially started when both women got in the ring. Purrazzo was now in complete control of the match, doing some initial work on James’ back. James started making attempts at a comeback, but Purrazzo kept cutting her off, at one point blocking a rana and turning it into a powerbomb.
James eventually caught Purrazzo with a forearm, followed by a double crossbody that left both women laying. James and Purrazzo traded strikes when James finally got some offense and her first pin attempt. James landed a rana and a Flapjack to bring Purrazzo down, followed with top rope takedown, but couldn’t capitalize and allowed Purrazzo to cut her off again.
Purrazzo started to chase the Queen’s Gambit, but James dodged, hit the Mickie-DT for a huge near fall. Commentary sold it as a move that hadn’t been kicked out before.
Distracted, James fell to Purrazzo’s offense again, now going for the Fujiwara armbar. Purrazzo went for Venus de Milo, but James made the ropes. Purrazzo hit Queen’s Gambit, but James kicked out, and this move I can confirm had never been kicked out of.
Purrazzo went for a chair, but referee Tolle took it away from her before she could use it. They wrestled on the top rope, where James accidentally took out the referee, but she did manage to fend off Purrazzo’s attempt to use the chair. James only got a two count.
Purrazzo blocked another top rope attempt with an armbar, brought down James with an armdrag, but she got cocky and taunted James, allowing James to hit a tornado DDT for the pin. Really good match.
Mickie James ends Purrazzo’s title reign and once again captures the Knockouts Championship. Half of the crowd looked upset at the end of Purrazzo’s reign.
– Hard To Kill will take place on January 8th in Dallas, TX. Next Impact+ special is Final Resolution.
Josh Alexander defeated Impact World Champion Christian Cage to become the NEW Champion!
After one of the best X Division reigns of the last decade, Josh Alexander relinquished the title for a shot at Christian Cage’s Impact World Championship. While this rivalry had been friendly for the most part, things escalated in the last couple of weeks as these men kept making comments on each other.
Match started with a minute long lock up that ended with Cage messing around with Alexander’s headgear, immediately trying to get in Alexander’s head and provoke that anger problem that Cage claims Alexander has. The match quickly escalated to a strike exchange, which ended badly for Cage, who was pushed off the top rope to the floor.
Both men kept trading momentum, countering each other. Cage countered a C4 attempt and sent Alexander to the floor, he tried to follow with a baseball slide, only for Alexander to counter into an ankle lock, which Cage countered, sending Alexander head-first into the guardrail.
Back in the ring, Cage was now in control of the ring, he started working on Alexander’s midsection. Alexander kept chopping his way into a comeback, until he hit a scary release German into the turnbuckles.
Alexander turned things around with a series of running kicks, and after surviving the 20 corner punches, dropped Cage with a powerbomb on his knee.
Cage started to chase the Killswitch at the same time Alexander tried to find the ankle lock. Alexander hit a rolling plunge and a jumping knee, but only got a two count. Cage came back with a tornado DDT for a two count for himself. Alexander dodged a spear into another German.
Alexander finally locked in the ankle lock, but transitioned into a sharpshooter after Cage tried to escape it. Cage made the ropes.
Alexander backdropped Cage from the top rope, but missed the moonsault. Cage followed with a spear, but Alexander kicked out at two. Cag went for Killswitch, but after failing to hit it, Cage snapped Alexander’s neck on the ropes instead. Cage hit a top rope splash, but only got a two again.
Cage blocked a C4, but couldn’t follow up. Alexander locked in the ankle lock, and held on at every attempt from Cage to turn. He stepped on Cage’s left hand and Cage had to tap out. Fantastic match.
Josh Alexander has won the Impact World Championship. Christian Cage himself strapped Alexander before embracing in the middle of the ring. Alexander was joined by his family for the celebration.
Suddenly, Moose ran in the ring and cashed out his Call Your Shot chance!
Moose defeated Impact World Champion Josh Alexander to become the NEW Champion!
Moose immediately hit Lights Out as Alexander tried to protect his family, pinned Alexander, and finally won the title!
Bound For Glory closed with Moose standing tall with the title.
A three-way Impact Tag Team title match is now official for Saturday’s Bound For Glory pay-per-view following Thursday’s show on AXS TV.
Thursday’s number one contenders match between FinJuice and Bullet Club (Hikuleo and Chris Bey) ended in a double pinfall after confusion arose as to who the legal men were. After the first referee was accidentally taken out by Hikuleo, a second one appeared and continued to officiate the match. This led to two roll-up pins by each respective team with each referee counting one pin.
After Scott D’Amore promised a resolution, a decision was eventually made to make Saturday’s title match a three-way encounter between FinJuice, Bey & Hikuleo, and reigning champions The Good Brothers (Doc Gallows & Karl Anderson).
Bound For Glory will emanate from Sam’s Town in Las Vegas, Nevada, at a special start time of 10 PM Eastern.
Here’s the full card for the show:
Impact World Champion Christian Cage vs. Josh Alexander title match
Knockouts Champion Deonna Purrazzo vs. Mickie James title match
Tag Team Champions The Good Brothers vs. Bullet Club (Chris Bey & Hikuelo) vs. FinJuice title match
Trey Miguel vs. Black Taurus vs. El Phantasmo in a three-way match for the vacant X-Division title
Knockouts Tag Team Champions Decay (Rosemary & Havok) vs. The IInspiration title match
Violent By Design vs. Heath & TBA
20-man Call Your Shot gauntlet match
Pre-show: John Skyler vs. Fallah Bahh vs. Jordynne Grace vs. Crazzy Steve vs. Chelsea Green vs. Tenille Dashwood in a six-way for the inaugural Digital Media Championship
Pre-show: Awesome Kong induction into the Hall of Fame
Gail Kim will induct Awesome Kong into the Impact Wrestling Hall of Fame this Saturday at Bound for Glory, announced Thursday on Impact’s weekly TV show.
The ceremony will take place at 9:30 PM Eastern during the Countdown to Glory pre-show that will also see the first-ever Digital Media Champion crowned in a six-way match.
Kong’s induction was initially announced during this month’s Knockouts Knockdown show on Impact Plus. She joins Kim as the only other woman to be inducted.
Kong (Kia Stevens) spent more than six years in TNA/Impact over two stints, winning two Knockouts titles and the Knockouts Tag Team titles as well. She and Kim feuded over the title during both of her runs with their last clash happening in January 2016.
The end of Kong’s career came in AEW where she had a handful of matches in 2019 before what would be her final bout on AEW Dark in January 2020.
In the last few years, she gained notoriety by playing Tamme Dawson on the wrestling-themed Netflix series GLOW that ended after three seasons.
The six-way final for the inaugural Impact Digital Media Championship at this Saturday’s Bound for Glory pre-show has been finalized following this week’s remaining qualifying matches.
Chelsea Green (w/ Matt Cardona) defeated Madison Rayne (w/ The Influence) to advance to the Digital Media Championship tournament final
This was a short match. The Influence kept helping Rayne gain the upper hand until Cardona finally attacked Kaleb with a K. That distraction allowed Green to dodge Rayne who accidentally punched Dashwood off the apron, turned around, and got hit by Green’s Unprettier for the pin.
Tenille Dashwood (w/ The Influence) defeated Alisha Edwards to advance to the Digital Media Championship tournament final
This was a dominant win for Dashwood. She usually gets in most of her offense after being assisted by Kaleb and Rayne but this time, she controlled the match from the get-go. Edwards had a short comeback, but was quickly cut off, taken down with the corner crossbody and hit with the Spotlight kick for the win.
Green and Dashwood will compete against Fallah Bahh, Jordynne Grace, John Skyler and Crazzy Steve in the six-way for the new title that will be defended on the company’s digital media channels.
Here’s the current lineup for this Saturday’s live pay-per-view from Las Vegas:
Impact World Champion Christian Cage vs. Josh Alexander in a title match
Knockouts Champion Deonna Purrazzo vs. Mickie James in a title match
Knockouts Tag Team Champions Decay (Havok & Rosemary) vs. The IInspiration (Cassie Lee & Jessie McKay) in a title match
Vacant X-Division title three-way: Steve Maclin vs. Trey Miguel vs. El Phantasmo
Tag Team Champions The Good Brothers vs. either FinJuice or Bullet Club in a title match
Heath and TBD vs. Violent by Design
Call Your Shot gauntlet match
Impact Digital Media Championship six-way match: John Skyler vs. Crazzy Steve vs. Fallah Bahh vs. Jordynne Grace vs. Tenille Dashwood vs. Chelsea Green
With their biggest pay-per-view of the year looming, some new matches were confirmed for Bound for Glory on Thursday’s Impact Wrestling.
El Phantasmo was confirmed as the final entrant into the three-way match for the vacant X-Division title following his victory over Willie Mack and Rohit Raju Thursday. He will take on Trey Miguel and Steve Maclin at BFG to crown a new champion, ending the title’s 37-day vacancy after Josh Alexander relinquished it.
Heath was shown officially signing his Impact contract following his near year-long injury hiatus. As a favor, he asked Impact VP Scott D’Amore if he would grant him a tag team match at the pay-per-view with himself teaming up with Rhino to take on Violent By Design. D’Amore agreed, but noted that Rhino hadn’t officially accepted and that Heath could be left without a partner in the match.
Four new participants were added to the 20-man Call Your Shot gauntlet match as Ace Austin and Madman Fulton entered themselves in while W. Morrissey won a 20-man battle royal Thursday and will enter last. The runner-up in the match was Chris Sabin, who will now enter the gauntlet match first.
Next Thursday’s show will see either Bullet Club (Hikuleo and Chris Bey) take on FinJuice with the winners challenging Tag Team Champions the Good Brothers at BFG.
Here’s the current Bound For Glory card:
Impact World Champion Christian Cage vs. Josh Alexander in a title match
Knockouts Champion Deonna Purrazzo vs. Mickie James in a title match
Knockouts Tag Team Champions Decay (Havok & Rosemary) vs. The IInspiration (Cassie Lee & Jessie McKay) in a title match
Vacant X-Division title three-way: Steve Maclin vs. Trey Miguel vs. El Phantasmo
Tag Team Champions The Good Brothers vs. either FinJuice or Bullet Club in a title match
Heath and TBD vs. Violent by Design
Call Your Shot gauntlet match
Impact Digital Media Championship six way match: John Skyler vs. Crazzy Steve vs. Fallah Bahh vs. Jordynne Grace vs. TBD vs. TBD
In their Impact Wrestling debut, the former IIconics will challenge for the Knockouts Tag Team titles.
Impact Wrestling announced on Wednesday that The IInspiration (Cassie Lee & Jessica McKay) will challenge Decay (Havok & Rosemary) for the Knockouts Tag Team titles at Bound for Glory. The pay-per-view is taking place at Sam’s Town Live in Las Vegas on Saturday, October 23. It will begin at 10 p.m. Eastern time.
This will be The IInspiration’s first match since being released by WWE this April. During Impact Wrestling’s Knockouts Knockdown special last Saturday, it was announced that Lee & McKay would be debuting for Impact at Bound for Glory. PWInsider reported that Lee & McKay have signed with Impact Wrestling.
Lee & McKay are former WWE Women’s Tag Team Champions. They held the titles from April 2019 to August 2019.
Lee & McKay have also been announced for Impact’s post-Bound for Glory television tapings in Las Vegas on Sunday, October 24 and Monday, October 25.
Here’s the updated card for Bound for Glory:
Impact World Champion Christian Cage defends against Josh Alexander
Impact Knockouts Champion Deonna Purrazzo defends against Mickie James
Impact Knockouts Tag Team Champions Decay defend against The IInspiration
X-Division Championship match: Steve Maclin vs. Trey Miguel vs. TBD
Impact Digital Media Championship tournament finals: John Skyler vs. Crazzy Steve vs. Fallah Bahh vs. Jordynne Grace vs. TBD vs. TBD
20-person Call Your Shot gauntlet match (winner receives a future title shot of their choosing)
The former IIconics are coming to Impact Wrestling.
During Impact Wrestling’s Knockouts Knockdown special on Saturday night, a video aired announcing that The IInspiration (Cassie Lee & Jessica McKay) are coming to Bound for Glory. The pay-per-view is taking place at Sam’s Town Live in Las Vegas on Saturday, October 23. It will start at 10 p.m. Eastern time.
Lee was formerly known as Peyton Royce in WWE and McKay was formerly known as Billie Kay. They were released by WWE during a round of roster cuts this April.
Lee & McKay revealed “The IInspiration” as their new tag team name this August. They haven’t wrestled since being released by WWE. With them originally being from Australia, Lee & McKay had to settle their work visa situation before being able to wrestle in the United States again.
Lee & McKay were one-time Women’s Tag Team Champions in WWE, holding the titles from April 2019 to August 2019.
Bound for Glory will be headlined by Christian Cage vs. Josh Alexander for the Impact World Championship and Deonna Purrazzo vs. Mickie James for the Knockouts Championship.
Awesome Kong is set to be the newest member of the Impact Wrestling Hall of Fame.
The announcement was made on tonight’s Knockouts Knockdown special. Her induction will take place at the Bound For Glory pay-per-view on Saturday, October 23. Kong will join Gail Kim as the only women to be inducted into Impact’s Hall of Fame.
Kong, real name Kia Stevens, spent over over six years with the company over two separate runs. During her time with the company she was a two-time Knockouts Champion, as well as notching a Knockouts Tag Team Championship reign with Hamada.
Kong debuted with then-TNA in 2007. She would go on to win the Knockouts Championship from Kim within four months of her debut. Her first reign would last 169 days, before dropping the title to long-time rival Taylor Wilde. Later that year, Kong regained the title from Wilde and began her second reign, which lasted 178 days.
She was released from the company in early 2010, but would return in early 2015. Kong’s last official match with the promotion was on January 9, 2016.
In between Impact runs, Kong had a stint in WWE as Kharma, including an appearance in the 2012 men’s Royal Rumble match.
Post-Impact, Kong had a run with AEW. She joined the company at the Double or Nothing PPV in May 2019 and appeared sporadically for the remainder of the year. Her final match with the company aired on the January 7, 2020 edition of AEW Dark.
Kong also found success in Hollywood after her full-time wrestling career ended. She was a series regular on Netflix’s GLOW, appearing as Tamme Dawson in 30 episodes.
Former Impact and WWE talent Christy Hemme appeared at Knockouts Knockdown to make the announcement of Kong’s induction.
Steve Maclin is the latest participant to advance to the X-Division title three-way at Bound for Glory following Thursday’s Impact Wrestling.
Maclin earned his slot by defeating Black Taurus and Petey Williams in a three-way Thursday, stealing a pin from Williams after he hit a Canadian destroyer on Taurus. Maclin ran in, hit Mayhem For All on Williams and got the win.
He joins Trey Miguel as the other participant in the three-way for the vacant title with one final three-way to go. Both men have never held the title before.
In other BFG news, both Moose and Eddie Edwards declared their entry into the Call Your Shot gauntlet match where the winner gets to challenge for the title anywhere and anytime.
Here’s the current card for the Saturday, October 23rd pay-per-view from Las Vegas:
Impact World Champion Christian Cage vs. Josh Alexander title match
Knockouts Champion Deonna Purrazzo vs. Mickie James title match
Vacant X-Division title three-way: Steve Maclin vs. Trey Miguel vs. TBD
Tag Team Champions The Good Brothers vs. either FinJuice or Bullet Club (still TBD)
Call Your Shot gauntlet match
Six-way match for inaugural Digital Media Championship (pre-show)
Impact Knockouts Champion Deonna Purrazzo will defend her title against Mickie James at October 23rd’s Bound for Glory, one of three new matches added to the pay-per-view.
Following a brawl on last week’s show where James laid out the champion, the two had a face-to-face confrontation on Thursday’s show after James called her out.
James challenged her to a title match, but Purrazzo insisted that she needed to earn the shot. The two then came to blows again until security and Scott D’Amore came out. He said that while wrestlers don’t book matches, he thought James deserved a title opportunity.
Since regaining the title at November 2020’s Turning Point, she has come away with the belt in thirteen defenses including a title vs. title match in August where she also won the AAA Reina de Reinas title. James will be looking to become a four-time Knockouts Champion with her first reign since 2013.
The finals of the newly-announced tournament for the X-Division title will also take place at Bound for Glory. In the first of three triple threat qualifiers, Trey Miguel vs. Laredo Kid vs. Alex Zayne will kick things off next week with the winner advancing to the finals.
Bound for Glory will also see the return of the Call Your Shot gauntlet match for the third straight year as announced Thursday.
The format is similar to the Royal Rumble where two wrestlers start and another enters after a certain time interval with eliminations done over the top rope. The difference is the last two competitors then compete in a traditional singles match with the winner earning a future title shot of their choice.
Rich Swann and Brian Myers are the first two entrants.
Here’s the current Bound For Glory card in Las Vegas:
World Champion Christian Cage vs. Josh Alexander title match
Knockouts Champion Deonna Purrazzo vs. Mickie James title match
In an ad for October’s Bound for Glory Thursday night, Impact Wrestling announced that the start time for the pay-per-view will be at 10 PM Eastern, two hours later than usual.
While the Saturday, October 23rd, event is being held in Las Vegas, Nevada, the likely reason for the change is that AEW Dynamite is being moved to Saturday that week due to the NHL playoffs on TNT. Given AEW’s start time is 8 PM Eastern, fans can transition from one show to the other.
No card has been announced for Bound for Glory as the next special event for Impact is this month’s Victory Road special on Impact Plus.
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Also on Thursday, Impact announced just one match for next week’s show: a ten-man tag featuring many of the company’s top stars that will serve as a preview for Victory Road on September 18th.
Led by Impact World Champion Christian Cage, Team Cage (X-Division Champion Josh Alexander, Chris Sabin, Sami Callihan and Eddie Edwards) will take on Team Austin, made up of Ace Austin, Moose, W. Morrissey, Madman Fulton and Brian Myers.
The match was set into motion on Thursday’s show when Austin told Scott D’Amore that Cage should be in action next week against Fulton ahead of their title match at Victory Road. D’Amore agreed he should be in action and made it a ten-man tag instead.
Impact Wrestling is headed to Las Vegas for Bound for Glory 2021.
During Slammiversary tonight, a video aired revealing that this year’s Bound for Glory pay-per-view will be held in Las Vegas, Nevada. The PPV will take place on Saturday, October 23.
Impact didn’t announce which venue will host Bound for Glory.
The AEW, Lucha Libre AAA, and NJPW logos appeared in the Bound for Glory announcement video. In the main event of Slammiversary tonight, AEW’s Kenny Omega retained the Impact World Championship by defeating Sami Callihan in a no disqualification match. NJPW’s Jay White then appeared following the match.
Impact also revealed the date and theme for their next Impact Plus special tonight. “Homecoming” will air on Impact Plus on Saturday, July 31. The special will be built around a mixed tag team tournament to crown Impact Wrestling’s Homecoming King and Homecoming Queen.
Slammiversary took place at Skyway Studios in Nashville, Tennessee tonight. With a limited number of fans in attendance, the PPV featured Impact Wrestling’s first live crowd since the COVID-19 pandemic began. Impact had been holding closed set tapings at Skyway Studios since the start of the pandemic era.
