The Tag Team title match at Bound for Glory 2019 will be a triple threat.
During last night’s Impact episode, it was announced that The North (Josh Alexander & Ethan Page) will defend their titles against Rich Swann & Willie Mack and RVD & Rhino in a triple threat match at Bound for Glory. The pay-per-view is taking place at the Odeum Expo Center in Villa Park, Illinois on Sunday, October 20.
The North have been Impact Tag Team Champions since defeating LAX (Santana & Ortiz) for the titles this July.
Here’s the updated card for Bound for Glory:
Impact World Champion Brian Cage defending against Sami Callihan
Michael Elgin vs. Naomichi Marufuji
Knockouts Champion Taya Valkyrie defending against Tenille Dashwood
X-Division Champion Jake Crist defending against Tessa Blanchard, Daga, and two other wrestlers in a five-way ladder match
Impact Tag Team Champions The North defending against Rich Swann & Willie Mack and RVD & Rhino in a triple threat match
Moose vs. Ken Shamrock
The Rascalz (Dezmond Xavier, Zachary Wentz & Trey Miguel) vs. Dr. Wagner Jr. and two partners
Call Your Shot Gauntlet match (winner gets a future shot at the Impact title of their choosing)
Raw is a loaded show featuring appearances by Brock Lesnar, Hulk Hogan and Ric Flair. Hogan and Flair will be on Miz TV. Lesnar will be there to push his Friday match with Kofi Kingston for the WWE title. They have a PPV show a week from today that they have to shoot angles for as well. Matches announced for tomorrow are A.J. Styles vs. Cedric Alexander for the U.S. title, Sasha Banks vs.; Alexa Bliss, and Robert Roode & Dolph Ziggler vs. Heavy Machinery for the tag titles.
AEW DYNAMITE WEDNESDAY ON TNT AT 8 P.M. EASTERN
Cody vs. Sammy Guevara
MJF vs. Brandon Cutler
Pac vs. Adam Page
Riho vs. Nyla Rose for women’s title
Young Bucks & Kenny Omega vs. Chris Jericho & Mystery partners
SCU vs. Jungle Boy & Luchasaurus & Marko Stunt dark match
WWE NXT WEDNESDAY ON USA AT 8 P.M. EASTERN
Johnny Gargano vs. Shane Thorne
Shayna Baszler vs. Candice LeRae for women’s title
Bobby Fish & Kyle O’Reilly vs. Street Profits for tag titles
NXT took advantage of their head start over AEW by hitting a home run with last week’s live premiere.
It wasn’t surprising that NXT’s first live episode was good — it would have been pretty shocking if it wasn’t. Even if there have been occasional peaks and valleys, NXT has always been a good show. Triple H and his team know what they’re doing and the roster is stacked with talent. But NXT was able to pass one of their most important tests: creating a show that feels must-see and different from what they were already offering viewers.
It’s become clear that NXT is going to be a place that features all of WWE’s non-main roster sub-brands. In addition to the regular NXT talent on display, the show featured an appearance by WWE United Kingdom Champion WALTER and his Imperium stablemates. There was also a Cruiserweight Championship number one contender’s match, with Lio Rush making his return and defeating Oney Lorcan.
Due to the final episodes of the USA Network series “Suits,” the first two live editions of NXT are being split across USA and the WWE Network. Last week’s USA Network hour featured a really good fatal four-way number one contender’s match that saw Candice LeRae defeat Mia Yim, Bianca Belair, and Io Shirai to become NXT Women’s Champion Shayna Baszler’s next challenger. Cameron Grimes squashed Sean Maluta, and Roderick Strong became the new NXT North American Champion by defeating Velveteen Dream. The first NXT broadcast of the USA Network era ended with every member of Undisputed Era holding a title.
With perhaps the most important week for the U.S. industry in a decade coming up, a double issue this week:
Goes through details of the moves by WWE and AEW, what plans are, advertisers wants, promotion and much more.
Includes an extensive look at Battle of Los Angeles, New Japan’s upcoming big shows and Tokyo Dome plans, what to learn from the NXT ratings and much more.
The lead story talks about WWE’s big week, the importance of the different shows, overdoing nostalgia, ticket sales, announcing changes, 205 Live’s future, plans for all the shows, what demos to look at, what happened with AEW and ITV, NXT, Smackdown and AEW on the West Coast, replays shows, Smackdown ad rates, as well as a look at Hell in a Cell.
Impact to AXS and what the plans are for specials leading to the regular show.
The keys in week two’s NXT show and the audience change.
Brock Lesnar’s future, John Hennigan coming in, CM Punk, former UFC legend talks coming to WWE, Shayna Baszler talks her career, WWE injuries, WWE stock update, most-watched shows on WWE Network for the past week, as well as a look at every WWE & NXT arena event over the past week with results, highlights and business notes.
NJPW coverage of Destruction in Kobe, Tokyo Doe direction, King of Pro Wrestling, the Young Lions Cup and match-by-match coverage with star ratings.
Battle of Los Angeles, Bandido’s win, past winners, other PWG alumni, business notes, the good and the bad, the stars of the weekend, the stars of the future, Aramis, Alex Zayne, plus match-by-match coverage with star ratings.
Full coverage of the UFC from Mexico City along with business notes.
Full coverage of all the WWE television shows from the past week.
Results of all the major pro wrestling events around the world over the past week.
ORDERING INFO: Order the print Wrestling Observer right now and get it delivered via mail, by sending your name, address, Visa or Master Card number and an expiration date to [email protected] or by going to www.paypal.com directing funds to [email protected].
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MONDAY NEWS UPDATE
Bryan and I will be back tonight covering Raw as well as the latest pro wrestling and MMA news. You can send questions for the show to [email protected]
Today’s NFL game is Pittsburgh Steelers vs. Cincinnati Bengals, both teams 0-3. So Raw may not be hurt as badly as the past few weeks. Most expect a higher than usual number just due to the hype of the week, and Brock Lesnar, Hulk Hogan and Ric Flair. But Friday’s number is expected to dwarf every other show this week.
TNT will be airing a preview of Dynamite at 8 p.m. Eastern tomorrow. It will also be replayed on Wednesday at 7 p.m.on Tru TV. TBS will air a 30 minute edited version of Dynamite at 10:30 p.m. Sunday night. Not sure how many weeks all these replays will be airing but I believe they are doing a few the next two weeks.
Impact has announced they have invited Joe Maddon, the former manager of the Chicago Cubs, who led to the team to the 2016 World Series championship, to be a guest at Bound for Glory on 10/20 in Chicago’s Odeum Expo Center. They said Maddon would be at ringside for a 20 person Rumble style match where the winner gets a future title match. The idea is that Maddon will give advice to the winner on what title to cash in on.
WWE
Stephanie McMahon appears tomorrow on Fox & Friends on Fox News at 8:30 a.m. She will also air on First Things First on FS 1 at 8:10 a.m. Charlotte Flair airs on both shows Wednesday. Roman Reigns airs on both shows Thursday. Reigns is also booked for a promotional appearance on Thursday night’s NFL game on FOX.
Charlotte Flair did the voiceovers for Sunday’s NASCAR race in Charlotte on NBC. Both she and Ric Flair were shown on video.
Cameron Grimes is booked for Evolve shows on 10/11 in Atlanta against Curt Stallion and 10/12 in Concord, NC against Eddie Kingston. Kassius Ohno faces Josh Briggs on the 10/111 show in a lights out match. Ohno faces Stallion on 10/12.
Evolve announced recruitment camps in front of WWE personnel for 10/11 in Atlanta with William Regal and they will be doing a three-day camp from 11/1 to 11/3 in Largo, FL with Terry Taylor, Johnny Moss, Norman Smiley, Sean Hayes, Jeremy Borash and Gabe Sapolsky.
Steve Corino of WWE will be doing a seminar on 11/17 at 10 a.m. at the CZW Academy in Voorhees Township, NJ. The seminar is limited to 40 people and the price is $99.
Kairi Sane attended last night’s New Japan show in Philadelphia.
MISCELLANEOUS
Nick Newell will be back with Bellator on the 10/26 show at the Mohegan Sun Casino in Uncasville, CT, facing Manny Muro (10-6).
During the Lions-Chiefs game, one of the Lions players gave a Chiefs player something that looked like a suplex and one of the announcers said, “We’ll be seeing a lot of that on October 2.”
KSW announced a 12/7 show in Gliwice, Poland with a main event of Scott Askham (18-6) vs Mamed Khalidov (34-6-2) at 187 pounds, plus a battle of Olympic medalists at 202 pounds with Damian Janikowski (4-1) vs. Szymon Kolecki (7-1).
MLW announced A.J. Kirsch, has joined its broadcast team. Kirsch was on the 2011 version of Tough Enough as a wrestler but has mainly worked as a broadcaster in Northern California in recent years. They also announced Dominic Garrini has signed a multi-year contract.
A new match has been added to the card for Bound for Glory 2019.
Impact Wrestling announced today that a “Call Your Shot Gauntlet match” will take place at the pay-per-view. The stipulation is that the winner will get a future shot at any Impact title of their choosing.
Participants for the match haven’t been revealed, but Impact teased that it’s open to anyone: “The Call Your Shot Gauntlet is coming to Bound for Glory! This match is open to ANYONE and the winner will receive a shot at ANY championship they choose! You never know who might show up… #BFG”
The Odeum Expo Center in Villa Park, Illinois is hosting Bound for Glory on Sunday, October 20. Here’s the updated card for the PPV:
Impact World Champion Brian Cage defending against Sami Callihan
Knockouts Champion Taya Valkyrie defending against Tenille Dashwood
X-Division Champion Jake Crist defending against Tessa Blanchard and three other wrestlers in a ladder match
Michael Elgin vs. Naomichi Marufuji
Moose vs. Ken Shamrock
The Rascalz (Dezmond Xavier, Zachary Wentz & Trey Miguel) vs. Dr. Wagner Jr. and two partners
After debuting for the company last month, Tenille Dashwood is getting her first shot at Impact Wrestling’s Knockouts Championship.
Taya Valkyrie defending her Knockouts title against Dashwood has officially been added to the card for next month’s Bound for Glory pay-per-view. The match was announced on this week’s Impact episode, where Dashwood defeated Madison Rayne in a singles match.
Dashwood’s feud with Valkyrie began when she debuted at Impact’s August television tapings in Mexico City. Dashwood also had her first match for Impact at those tapings, defeating Kiera Hogan.
Dashwood and Valkyrie will be on opposite sides of a six-woman tag match at the Prelude to Glory Impact Plus special in South Bend, Indiana on Friday, October 18. Dashwood will team with Jordynne Grace & Rosemary against Valkyrie, Hogan & Rayne.
The Odeum Expo Center in Villa Park, Illinois is hosting Bound for Glory on Sunday, October 20. Here’s the updated card for the PPV:
Impact World Champion Brian Cage defending against Sami Callihan
Knockouts Champion Taya Valkyrie defending against Tenille Dashwood
X-Division Champion Jake Crist defending against Tessa Blanchard and three other wrestlers in a ladder match
Michael Elgin vs. Naomichi Marufuji
Moose vs. Ken Shamrock
The Rascalz (Dezmond Xavier, Zachary Wentz & Trey Miguel) vs. Dr. Wagner Jr. and two partners
Dr. Wagner Jr. will be in action in a six-man tag match at Bound for Glory 2019.
Impact Wrestling has announced that The Rascalz (Dezmond Xavier, Zachary Wentz & Trey Miguel) will team against Wagner and two partners at Bound for Glory. Wagner wrestling at the pay-per-view was announced when he appeared at Impact’s television tapings in Mexico City last month. Wagner said that he and other wrestlers from Lucha Libre AAA would be at Bound for Glory.
Wagner defeating Texano Jr. aired on this week’s episode of Impact.
Wagner is facing Blue Demon Jr. at AAA’s Invading NY show at the Hulu Theater this Sunday (September 15). Impact Wrestling is partnering with AAA to promote the event. Wagner had to shave his head after losing to Blue Demon Jr. in the main event of Triplemania XXVII last month.
The Odeum Expo Center in Villa Park, Illinois is hosting Bound for Glory on Sunday, October 20. Brian Cage will defend his Impact World Championship against Sami Callihan, Ken Shamrock will face Moose, and Impact has set up a match between Naomichi Marufuji and Michael Elgin.
Ken Shamrock and Moose are officially set to face off next month.
Impact Wrestling has confirmed Shamrock vs. Moose for Bound for Glory 2019. The pay-per-view is taking place at the Odeum Expo Center in Villa Park, Illinois on Sunday, October 20.
The build to Shamrock vs. Moose began via a social media feud between the two, with Shamrock then returning to Impact at their television tapings in Las Vegas earlier this month.
Shamrock became the NWA World Champion on the first-ever TNA show. This is the first time he’s wrestled for the promotion in 15 years.
Impact World Champion Brian Cage will defend his title against Sami Callihan at Bound for Glory. Naomichi Marufuji has also been announced for the PPV. At August’s Impact tapings in Mexico City, Michael Elgin issued a challenge for Marufuji to face him at Bound for Glory.
After Bound for Glory, Impact’s weekly television series will move from the Pursuit Channel to AXS TV. The show will also continue to simulcast on Twitch. Impact has yet to announced which day of the week the show will be airing on when the move to AXS TV happens.
Brian Cage is officially set to defend his Impact World title against Sami Callihan at the pay-per-view. Callihan became the number one contender to the title by defeating Tessa Blanchard at August’s Impact Plus Unbreakable special.
On last week’s Impact, Callihan issued an ultimatum for Impact to give him his title shot or have Cage relinquish the title due to his back issues. The main event angle on last night’s episode featured Cage saying he won’t allow the title to be stripped from him. Cage said he’s going to be ready for Bound for Glory and will defend his title against Callihan.
Bound for Glory is taking place at the Odeum Expo Center in Villa Park, Illinois on Sunday, October 20. Impact has announced Pro Wrestling NOAH’s Naomichi Marufuji for the event. At last month’s Impact tapings in Mexico City, Michael Elgin issued a challenge for Marufuji to face him at the PPV.
A feud between Moose and Ken Shamrock has also been building ahead of Bound for Glory.
Impact Wrestling has officially confirmed a Pro Wrestling NOAH star for next month’s Bound for Glory pay-per-view.
Impact announced on Thursday night that Naomichi Marufuji will be wrestling at Bound for Glory 2019. At last month’s Impact television tapings in Mexico City, Michael Elgin issued a challenge for Marufuji to face him at Bound for Glory.
This will be the first time Marufuji has wrestled for Impact since 2017. He teamed with Taiji Ishimori at Slammiversary XV that year, with LAX (Santana & Ortiz) defeating Drago & El Hijo del Fantasma, Garza Jr. & Laredo Kid, and Marufuji & Ishimori in a four-way tag match. Marufuji was in action at Impact’s post-PPV TV tapings following that event as well.
Marufuji is a former three-time GHC Heavyweight Champion for Pro Wrestling NOAH. He’s also held Junior Heavyweight titles in NOAH, NJPW, and AJPW during his career.
This year’s Bound for Glory PPV is taking place at the Odeum Expo Center in Villa Park, Illinois on Sunday, October 20.
Impact Wrestling is headed to the Chicago area for its next pay-per-view.
During Slammiversary XVII, it was announced that Bound for Glory 2019 will take place in Chicago on Sunday, October 20. The venue wasn’t officially revealed, but Impact has a show listed on the event schedule for The Odeum in Villa Park, Illinois on that date.
This will be Impact’s fourth PPV of the year. Nashville, Tennessee hosted Homecoming in January, Rebellion took place in Toronto, Ontario, Canada in April, and Slammiversary was held in Dallas, Texas this Sunday. The company’s United We Stand iPPV was also held in Rahway, New Jersey in April.
Bound for Glory 2018 took place at the Melrose Ballroom in Queens, New York last October. In what ended up being Austin Aries’ last match for the promotion, Johnny Impact won the World Championship from Aries in the main event. Johnny went on to lose the title to Brian Cage at Rebellion.
The last time Bound for Glory was in the Chicago area, the Sears Centre Arena in Hoffman Estates, Illinois hosted the PPV in 2008.
The announcement video for Bound for Glory 2019 is available to watch below:
What is traditionally Impact Wrestling’s biggest event of the year takes place tonight as the Melrose Ballroom in Queens, New York hosts Bound for Glory 2018.
We’re looking for your thoughts on this show, so you can leave a thumbs up, thumbs down or thumbs in the middle along with a best and worst match to [email protected]
An Impact World Championship match will headline the pay-per-view, with Austin Aries defending his title against Johnny Impact. Aries has been aligned with Killer Kross and Moose (who turned heel during the build to the PPV), and Moose will face Eddie Edwards tonight.
The Knockouts Championship will be on the line as Tessa Blanchard defends against Taya Valkyrie, LAX will face the OGz in a Concrete Jungle Death Match, Pentagon Jr. & Fenix team with Brian Cage against Sami Callihan & oVe, and Rich Swann & Willie Mack take on Matt Sydal & Ethan Page.
Eli Drake issuing a New York open challenge and Allie going to Su Yung’s “Undead Realm” are also advertised for tonight. Our live coverage begins at 8 p.m. Eastern time.
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By Dave Meltzer
RICH SWANN & WILLIE MACK VS. ETHAN PAGE & MATT SYDAL
This match was great. Mack was phenomenal, Page was a great base for soem spots. The finish saw Swann do a springboard cutter on Sydal and then pinned him after a middle rope Phoenix splash. The crowd loved this. The ring is really small and the guard rails are close to dives are problematic and they didn’t do any of them in this match. They didn’t need them. There was a ridiculous spot wehre Sydal did jump to the top rope huracanrana on Swann, who while taking the move off the top then did a huracanrana onto Page. Everything was crisp and explosive.
Mack wanted to cut a promo. The first two mic’s didn’t work. Mack just told the fans to make some noise. Mack said that whoever makes the most noise will get moved to the front row. They haveily plugged their sponsor.comda.com
They are pushing all the Johnny Impact vs. Austin Aries stuff from TMZ and last night now. TMZ was pushing like the angle was a shoot and discussed if Impact would go off the script. I still hate that stuff in the middle of the show.
Fans are chanting Y2J.
Konnan’s been hurt backstage. He said King did it and you guys handle business.
ELI DRAKE’S OPEN CHALLENGE
He insulted the New York Giants and asked how’s that 1-5 record treting you. James Ellsworth came out. People were hoping for Chris Jericho, kind of a big dropoff. Fans were chanting “delete” at him. Drake said to the fans, “Wrong guy.” Drake said he wasn’t from New York. Ellsworth said he dated a girl from Staten Island once and lived in her basement. Ellsworth kissed up to New York and peole were booing him and saying “F*** you Ellsworth.” Drake made fun of the bad reaction. Drake made the first chin joke. Ellsworth said “I might not have a chin, but you don’t have any balls.” Fans were chanting “balls” but he’s not around anymore. And then the match started
ELI DRAKE VS. JAMES ELLSWORTH
Fans were totally behind Drake who won quickly with two Gravy trains. Really the segment completely backfired, people hated it even though it was a set up for something next.
Drake said he didn’t come here to face garbage, he wanted to face a Hall of Famer.
Abyss, who was inducted into their Hall of Fame last night, came out and laid out Drake with a black hole slam. Abyss pulled out a table. Drake made a bief comeback before Abyss choke slammed Drake through a table.
TESSA BLANCHARD VS. TAYA VALKYRIE FOR THE KNOCKOUTS TITLE
Good match, more physical than WWE women’s matches. Taya used the road to Valhalla but the ref had been distracted by Blanchard pulling the apron dressing into the ring. Blanchard used the hammerlock DDT but Taya kicked out. They traded near falls ending when Blanchard flew off the top rope two-thirds of the way across the ring into a codebreaker, like the MX that Bushi uses. Strong overall except a Taya choke slam that didn’t get high enough.
EDDIE EDWARDS VS. MOOSE
Moose came out with three women. Match went seconds with Killer Kross choking out Edwards for the DQ. Tommy Dreamer made the save so it turned into a tag match.
TOMMY DREAMER & EDDIE EDWARDS VS. MOOSE & KILLER KROSS
It was all a brawl. Crowd was into it. Jylen Ware of the New York Giants was at ringside shoved Moose at one point. The cameras missed that and also missed Edwards giving Moose a belly-to-belly overhead on the floor. Edwards pinned Moose with a schoolboy.
The heels beat them down after the match. They gave Edwards a double-team hard power bomb into the ring frame. This was more brutal than most power bombs on the apron.
SAMI CALLIHAN & DAVE & JAKE CRIST VS. PENTAGON JR. & FENIX & BRIAN CAGE IN AN OVE RULES MATCH
Big surprise finish as Callihan pinned Cage after a piledriver. All three gave Cage a ton of superkicks one after the other This is the first time Cage has lost a fall in Impact. Match was all action but a few of the spots wre off. There were some ceazy spots including Fenix running down the ramp jumping over the top rope and hitting a cutter. Callihan piledriver Pentagon on the apron. The building doesn’t allow for spectacular dives so we didn’t get any of that.
Austin Aries interview. He said when he came here the place was on life support and he built the reputation of the company and make the title mean something again. Johnny Impact showed up, while I’m putitng in the work, you do a reality show, nurse injuries and get married. Aries said he doesn’t trust Impact and he doesn’t trust management. Said he was bringing Moose and Kross out and he wants Taya at ringside to see when he exposes Impact.
ORTIZ & SANTANA VS. THE KING & HOMICIDE & HERNANDEZ IN A CONCRETE JUNGLE MATCH
This was very dangerous working a match on the bare boards which kept moving messing with people’s footing. LAX won when Konnan came out for the finish and used a slapjack on everyone and then Santana & Ortiz used the street sweeper which is a combination Doomsday device and blockbuster on King for the pin. There were a lot of bumps on he boads including LAX giving Hernandez a top rope superplex on bare boards.
Jim Michtell allowed Allie to go into the undead world to save Keira Hogan from Su Yung. It’s their own Buffy the Vampire slayer vignette. Allie keeps destroying Su Yung with an ax. But Allie saw he soul which means her soul stays in this dreaded place. Then she found Keira Hogan in a coffin and Su Yung came back and had the ax but keeps missing Allie with ax shots. Su Yung used a baseball bat on Allie several times. This was different. I’m not sure this is what people want out of their wrestling TV shows. . I think Allie killed Su a third time and got Kiera out of the coffin. Jim Mitchell showed up and told her he promised to get her in but never promised to get her out. Rosemary showed up. Evidently she lives there now and she told Allie and Hogan to go back to their realm. Su Yung is alive again by the way and she showed up to stop them from returning to the real world. Allie wanted Rosemary to come with them. She had some supernatural fight with Su Yung and didn’t. Allie and Hogan made it back to the real world. But Allie is now possessed. This was all kinds of embarrassing if anyone ever walked in the room if you were watching this. This was Randy Orton-Bray Wyatt bad.
The next PPV will be in Nashville on Jnauary 6th at the Fairgrounds.
AUSTIN ARIES VS. JOHNNY IMPACT FOR TITLE
They really had a hell of match ending with Impact winning the title with a brainbuster and Starship pain. Aries got right up and walked out. Right before the finish Aries gave Taya a tope. Impact used Starship pain earlier but Aries got his foot on the ropes. Aries hit the brainbuster but Impact mae the ropes. They used a ton of big moves. The only negative is that they opened up working it like a shoot, which was good, but it came right after that undead stuff so they put people in the mood where you couldn’t take anything serious and then tried to work a shoot the first few minutes. They opened up and did a match. Aries is a great worker and a ring general and Impact does cool athletic things. They gave people the title change and went off the air without a celebration past Impact and Taya hugging. Aries looked like he’d lost a lot of weight.
Open challenges, tag team partners and a visit to the Undead Realm were set for Bound for Glory on tonight’s episode of Impact.
It was announced that Allie will meet Su Yung inside the Undead Realm during the show. Allie met with Father James Mitchell and pleaded with him to take her to the Undead Realm so that she could save Kiera Hogan, who was sent there through a coffin by Su Yung. Mitchell agreed to take her there on Sunday.
Eil Drake announced during the show that he will be issuing a special New York open challenge. He made sure to note that the open challenge would only be open to those who were from New York and nowhere else. Drake has been issuing open challenges as of late, most recently losing to La Parka last week on Impact via count out.
Rich Swann meanwhile revealed his partner for Bound For Glory. After the returning Ethan Page was revealed as Matt Sydal’s tag team partner last week, Swann announced this week on Impact that Willie Mack will be teaming with him.
Here is the full card for this Sunday’s Bound For Glory event, which will take place at the Melrose Ballroom in Queens, New York:
Austin Aries vs. Johnny Impact for the Impact World title
oVe vs. Brian Cage, Fenix and Pentagon Jr.
LAX vs. The OGz in a Concrete Jungle death match
Eddie Edwards vs. Moose
Tessa Blanchard vs. Taya Valkyrie for the Impact Knockouts title
The newest member of the Impact Hall of Fame is none other than the monster himself, Abyss.
It was announced during Impact tonight that Abyss (real name Christopher Park) will be inducted into their Hall of Fame during Bound for Glory weekend. The ceremony will be on October 13th at McHale’s Pub in midtown Manhattan.
“I’m absolutely over whelmed with the response to my upcoming @IMPACTWRESTLING Hall of Fame induction,” he wrote on Twitter following the announcement. “Thank you ALL for your messages. This is one of the highlights of my career. I’m over come with emotion. Thank you to everyone who ever supported me. This is for all of YOU!!”
Abyss made his debut as Prince Justice during the first Impact pay-per-view on June 19, 2002, as part of the Gauntlet for the Gold match to crown a new NWA Worlds Heavyweight champion. He was soon repackaged as Abyss. He is formerly a NWA Worlds Heavyweight champion, as well as a X Division, Television and tag team champion, both under the NWA and Impact banners.
The most recent storyline involving Abyss took place this year when Jimmy Jacobs brought Kongo Kong into Impact Wrestling, labeling him the new monster of the promotion. After Jacobs repeatedly goaded Abyss into making a return, he obliged, bringing back James Mitchell as his manager. He lost to Kong in a Monster’s Ball match and hasn’t appeared on Impact since then.
Impact Wrestling’s next pay-per-view is set to take place in New York City.
During tonight’s Slammiversary XVI broadcast, it was announced that Bound for Glory 2018 will be held at the Melrose Ballroom in Queens on Sunday, October 14. It will be Impact’s third PPV of 2018. Slammiversary took place at the Rebel Entertainment Complex in Toronto tonight, while Redemption was held at the Impact Zone in Orlando this April.
Last year’s Bound for Glory event took place at the Aberdeen Pavilion in Ottawa and was headlined by Eli Drake defending the company’s Global Championship against Johnny Impact.
MLW ran the Melrose Ballroom for their Battle Riot show last week and will be returning to the venue on October 4. Game Changer Wrestling and Joey Janela’s Lost in New York will be held there on August 17, which is the Friday of SummerSlam weekend.
Click play below to watch the announcement video for Bound for Glory 2018:
Impact Wrestling returns to pay-per-view with their biggest show of the year tonight as the Aberdeen Pavilion in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada hosts Bound for Glory 2017. The venue will also be home to five days of Impact television tapings this week.
Four title matches are set for the Bound for Glory card, topped by Eli Drake defending his Global Championship against Johnny Impact. Former champion Alberto El Patron is also expected to be on the show in some form.
In the night’s other title matches, Sienna will defend her Knockouts Championship against Gail Kim and Allie, the tag titles will be on the line in a 5150 street fight between OVE and LAX, and a six-way match for X Division gold has Trevor Lee defending against Matt Sydal, Dezmond Xavier, Sonjay Dutt, Garza Jr., and Petey Williams.
Moose’s feud with Bobby Lashley and American Top Team will continue as he & Stephan Bonnar face Lashley & King Mo in Six Sides of Steel, Abyss will take on Grado in a Monster’s Ball match, and Ethan Carter III, James Storm & Eddie Edwards team against El Hijo Del Fantasma, Pagano & Texano.
We’re looking for your thoughts on this show, as well as UFC 217 and New Japan Power Struggle for the weekend, so you can send a thumbs up, thumbs down or thumbs in the middle along with a best and worst match to [email protected]
Our live coverage begins at 8 p.m. Eastern time.
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The show opened with Alberto El Patron showing up and them asking what is he going to be doing here tonight.
X-DIVISION CHAMPION TREVOR LEE VS. DEZMOND XAVIER VS. GARZA JR. VS. SONJAY DUTT VS. MATT SYDAL VS. PETEY WILLIAMS
They announced this as “Lucha style” meaning no tags but two people legal. However, it’s not an elimination match but the first pin or submission wins. Because they are in Canada, Williams got a huge reaction and came out to “O’ Canada” with the flag.
This was a good match with lots of high flying. Not everything was super crisp but it was a fun match that the crowd liked. Highlights included Xavier doing a Space Flying Tiger Drop, Williams doing a pescado into a huracanrana, and a triple tope spot. Sydal looked good. Garza’s shoulder is messed up from surgery and he clearly wasn’t ready to be back.
The finish saw Williams finally hit the Canadian Destroyer (which the match built to) on Xavier but Lee threw Williams out of the ring and stole the pin.
TYSON DUX VS. TAIJI ISHIMORI
They called Dux the hottest free agent in Canada. NOAH Chairman Masayuki Uchida came out with Ishimori. They pushed that the winner would be in line for a shot at Lee. This was a short match that was more like a TV enhancement match. Ishimori won ith a 450, so they are probably doing Lee vs. Ishimori at TV Monday or later in the week.
Grado saw Abyss, called him Joseph, and said we don’t need to do this. Abyss said, “There’s no Joseph here but you’re about to feel pain and suffering and carnage” and said he’s about to be exported. (Actually, deported). Grado stood up to him, said it’s a different Grado and called him Joseph again.
ALBERTO EL PATRON PROMO
Alberto el Patron is now out and wants to give us a history lesson. He got a good reaction but not overwhelming. He’s doing an anti-authority gimmick. He talked about what the company, the cowards, and the perros did to him. They screwed him and destroyed him because they have no cajones. He called them backstabbers. They believed all the lies instead of reading the reports because “as the reports will tell you, I didn’t do anything but they suspended me and stopped paying me.” The announcers are acting like it’s a shoot and talked about pulling the mic.
Alberto said they stripped him of the title, that the current champion is fake and he has to beat him to be the real champion. He said this place didn’t care about his family, his young children, and said there’s a loser who wanted to spread lies and stuff that never happened. He said after showing that he didn’t do anything, none of them called or texted him and nobody came to his house. He vowed to do something tonight and said the place was filled with losers, cowards and backstabbers.
He went to Jeremy Borash and said he thought they were friends and asked him where he was three months ago. He said JB never called or texted him. Fans wanted him to put Borash through a table. He told Borash to tell the people if he called. Borash said he never called, never texted, and apologized. He and Borash shook hands and Borash acted all nervous. Alberto said he was going to make a statement. JB said they should talk about this tonight, but then Alberto did nothing and said, “Maybe not”. He just said, “Tonight would be amazing” and then he left.
GRADO VS. ABYSS IN A MONSTER’S BALL MATCH WHERE GRADO’S VISA IS AT STAKE
This was a mess. They did the thumbtacks and barbed wire boards including Grado splashing on board with Abyss in the middle, making a barbed wire board sandwich. At one point, Van Ness interfered and gave Grado a low blow for not marrying her. Van Ness got Janice the nail board and then the lights went out. Rosemary came out and attacked Van Ness and saved Grado by blowing mist at Van Ness. Abyss was about to chokeslam Rosemary, but they were a team before and she stroked his forehead. She went to blow mist at Grado who moved, and Abyss got the mist in the eyes. Abyss was blinded and chokeslammed Rosemary on thumbtacks instead. Grado then schoolboyed Abyss for a three count and the bell rang. Borash, who knew it wasn’t the right finish, said he kicked out at two and the timekeeper rang the bell early. Abyss won with a black hole slam on a barbed wire board right afterward.
TEAM IMPACT (ETHAN CARTER III & JAMES STORM & EDDIE EDWARDS) VS. TEAM AAA (TEXANO & EL HIJO DEL FANTASMA & PAGANO)
Dorian Roldan was out with Team AAA. They mentioned Edwards was going to defend the GHC title on Impact Thursday night, so that’s being taped tomorrow.
This was a long match that was really sloppy a lot of the way. Pagano isn’t good at all and a lot of the other stuff looked mistimed, but they did a lot of big moves and the crowd was into the Impact vs. outsiders idea. Storm pinned Pagano with a superkick that didn’t land solid after ECIII used low blows on Pagano & Texano at the same time that led to a double One Percenter. Early on they teased that ECIII wouldn’t tag in but later he did, and at the end, he was all in on the team and celebrated with Storm. Edwards took a package tombstone from Fantasma and was taken out, although he was celebrating, to set up Storm’s win.
TAG TEAM CHAMPIONS OVE VS. LAX FOR THE TAG TITLES IN A 5150 STREET FIGHT
The rules basically were that it’s a gang war so everyone can legally interfere.
OVE retained the titles in a big brawl with all the weapons used again. The finish saw Sami Callihan throw powder in Konnan’s eyes and then throw Santana off the top rope onto a ladder bridge. He then gave Ortiz a piledriver off the apron through a table and both Crist Brothers pinned Ortiz to win. They buried LAX under a Mexican flag when it was over.
Before the match, Callihan had supposedly hit someone with a pipe and the idea was that it was Homicide backstage buried under a Mexican flag and taken out. Most likely, it was just some extra. At one point, Santana did a New Jack dive on Dave off a light stand through a table after Ortiz had powerbomed Jake off the stage through a table. There was a chair shot to the head as well. These guys took a ton of punishment to get the match over. There was some sloppiness in the sense this wouldn’t be a good match on a major league show but it worked here and the crowd liked it.
KNOCKOUTS CHAMPION SIENNA VS. GAIL KIM VS. ALLIE
Anthony Carelli (Santino Marella) was shown at ringside. They called him Anthony Carelli and Josh Matthews said he’s known him so long he calls him Boris (his OVW name a long time ago).
The match was sloppy. The whole story was about Kim trying to win the title in her final Bound for Glory, which she did, pinning Sienna with the Eat Defeat off the middle rope. When the match was over, Borash said it was Gail’s final match and that was was retiring on top. I guess she’ll retire with the title on TV. The crowd like Kim so the story worked, but it’s not like they went crazy for it.
Jimmy Jacobs showed up which is interesting that he was on both ROH and Impact. They said how Jacobs doesn’t work here. He said, “I don’t work here? That’s what you think.”
BOBBY LASHLEY & KING MO LAWAL VS. STEPHAN BONNAR & MOOSE
They showed UFC welterweight Colby Covington backstage with Dan Lambert and a couple of other guys as ATT.
Lashley pinned Moose with a spear after Moose was distracted by Covington. It was a numbers game as there were four ATT guys who interfered and were in the cage so it was 6-on-2 at the end. Moose and Lashley carried it and would break it up whenever Mo squared off with Bonnar. When Mo and Bonnar finally went at it after several teases, they did basic MMA stuff and it was okay. It was more a story match. I wouldn’t call it good or bad but it wasn’t as if the angle was super hot here.
Moose and Mo ended up going out the door. Lambert then threw Mo in and all the ATT guys (including Lambert) got in the cage and Lambert locked the cage door with Moose out of the cage. Bonnar had a quick spot of cleaning house until he was beaten down. The big spot saw Moose climb the cage and do a crossbody off the top of the cage onto everyone. Moose also did a tree slam off the top rope on John Harnett, a smaller guy who is a manager at ATT who took a good bump.
GLOBAL CHAMPION ELI DRAKE VS. JOHNNY IMPACT
Chris Adonis is in Drake’s corner.
They were having a good match, but it was nowhere near world title heat. The finish was overbooked and turned out to be all about Alberto. They did a ton of near falls. Impact had it won but Adonis interfered. Impact laid out Adonis with a belt shot that Adonis had brought in. Impact later hit Starship Pain and Alberto el Patron showed up and pulled the ref out of the ring. Impact went for a dive on Alberto, who moved, and Impact wiped out the ref. Alberto then nailed Drake with a belt shot, acting like he didn’t care who won. Then, he nailed Impact with a hard unprotected chair shot to the head. Alberto then put Drake on top of Impact and the ref counted the pin with Drake retaining the title.
This was a good match but the interference in so many matches earlier made this more annoying than heated by the time they got here.
Bound for Glory is headed to Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.
Impact Wrestling announced today that the Aberdeen Pavilion would be hosting the pay-per-view on November 5th, with television tapings also set for the venue on November 6-10.
When the word got out that the tapings were being moved to Canada, a number of people in wrestling inquired about the status of Jim Cornette, who has been all over the recent television shows as the head of authority for the promotion.
Cornette hasn’t been to Canada for years because he was turned away at the border in 2010 when they ran his record, which included a number of assaults, mostly stemming from incidents involving fights with fans who attacked him while he was a manager at matches in the 80s. He had been going to Canada for years, including his WWF run, with no incident, prior to 2010. When he worked for ROH, he never attended the shows in Toronto.
Because of that, Cornette won’t be at the next set of tapings and is done with the promotion, which he said there is no heat over and it’s just a matter of circumstances.
Cornette is expected to go into more detail on this on his podcast on Thursday.
GFW officials confirmed his being done yesterday as did Cornette today. Cornette noted that he came to GFW after being called in August by Jeff Jarrett, and the agreement was just to work one set of television tapings to facilitate a few storylines, which were the stripping of the championship from Alberto El Patron and the gauntlet match, the on-screen firing of Bruce Prichard so he could return as a heel manager, and to try and make Anthem Sports & Entertainment babyfaces to the wrestling fans.
After the tapings, he and Jarrett agreed that he would come back for Bound for Glory and for a few days at the next tapings in November. Cornette didn’t know his status with Jarrett now out of the company and the company’s creative, headed by Scott D’Amore and Sonjay Dutt, said to be more focused on in-ring action and less on authority figure angles.
Cornette hadn’t heard from anyone in the company other than Bob Ryder, who told him not to believe what he read on the Internet, and spoke to Dutch Mantell, where he explained with the tapings being done in Canada that he wouldn’t be able to appear.
Cornette agreed to come to Nashville and do whatever would be needed on camera to do a storyline exit. Right now there is nothing on the table for it.
