The Bound for Glory main event will be shown in its entirety on this week’s episode of Impact Wrestling.
At Bound for Glory, Alex Shelley defeated Josh Alexander to retain the Impact World Championship. That complete match will air on Impact this Thursday (October 26). Impact has also announced that “exclusive highlights” from Trinity vs. Mickie James and Will Ospreay vs. Mike Bailey will be shown on Thursday’s episode.
Impact Wrestling wrote:
Relive the earth-shattering event that was Bound For Glory 2023, featuring an unforgettable night of action from Chicago. See exclusive highlights from the Knockouts World Championship match as Trinity defended against Mickie James, and the epic showdown pitting Will Ospreay vs. ‘Speedball’ Mike Bailey. Plus, the IMPACT World Championship match between Alex Shelley and Josh Alexander will be shown in its entirety! Tune in to IMPACT! this Thursday at 8/7c on AXS TV and 8:30pm ET on YouTube for IMPACT Insiders.
Bound for Glory took place on Saturday night and ended with the announcement that TNA Wrestling will be making its return starting with Hard to Kill in January 2024.
Impact held a set of television tapings the day after Bound for Glory. Those matches will air on Impact in the coming weeks. Spoilers from the tapings can be found here.
Chris Bey & Ace Austin gained a measure of revenge against the team that cost them the Impact Tag Team titles at Saturday’s Bound for Glory by defeating The Rascalz for the belts.
The end of the match came when The Rascalz’s Zachary Wentz accidentally sprayed partner Trey Miguel with spray paint and then got hit with the Art of Finesse/Fold combo to give Bey & Austin their second title run.
The Rascalz initially screwed then-champions Bey & Austin over by interfering in a multi-team title match at July’s Slammiversary, leading to Subculture winning the titles. Miguel & Wentz then interfered again in Bey & Austin’s rematch with Subculture, causing them to lose.
Bey & Austin earned a Feast or Fired briefcase last month which contained a future Tag Team title shot they chose to cash in for Bound for Glory.
The loss ends the brief reign for The Rascalz who defeated Subculture for the titles at August’s Emergence, picking up three title defenses along the way.
It was the only title change on a night that featured nearly every title on the line. Both Impact World Champion Alex Shelley and Knockouts Champion Trinity retained as did X-Division Champion Chris Sabin.
Knockouts Tag Team champions Masha Slamovich & Killer Kelly retained their titles on a dark match over Deonna Purrazzo & Tasha Steelz that was originally slated for broadcast.
At Bound for Glory on Saturday night, a former AEW wrestler made their surprise Impact Wrestling debut.
Sonny Kiss appeared as one of the entrants in the Call Your Shot gauntlet match at Bound for Glory. Kiss entered the 20-person match as the ninth entrant. She was eliminated by Matt Cardona and Brian Myers.
This September, Tony Khan confirmed that he did not renew Kiss’ AEW contract. Kiss had been with the promotion since its launch in 2019. Khan said he really likes Kiss, but it’s hard to get everyone on television with such a big roster.
Cardona and Juventud Guerrera were other surprise participants in the Call Your Shot gauntlet. The match came down to Jordynne Grace and Bully Ray. After hitting the Grace Driver, Grace pinned Bully Ray to get the victory.
The Call Your Shot winner receives a title shot of their choosing whenever they want it. And it didn’t take long for Grace to reveal her plans. Grace declared that she’ll be challenging for the Knockouts Championship at Impact’s Hard to Kill pay-per-view in January 2024.
Bound for Glory — Impact Wrestling’s biggest event of the year — emanates from Cicero, Illinois’ Cicero Stadium tonight.
The pay-per-view will be headlined by Alex Shelley vs. Josh Alexander for the Impact World Championship, and Trinity vs. Mickie James for the Knockouts Championship.
Will Ospreay makes his return to Impact, taking on “Speedball” Mike Bailey in a match that could steal the show.
KENTA is also back in Impact for the show, challenging Chris Sabin for the X-Division Championship.
Two Tag Team title matches are set as The Rascalz defend their titles against Ace Austin & Chris Bey while Deonna Purrazzo & Tasha Steelz challenge Killer Kelly & Masha Slamovich for the Knockouts Tag Team titles.
There will be a Monster’s Ball match between Steve Maclin, Moose, Rhino, and PCO in addition to the annual Call Your Shot gauntlet match.
Tonight will see Mike Tenay, Don West, and Traci Brooks inducted into the Impact Wrestling Hall of Fame. The inductions are taking place on tonight’s pre-show, which begins at 7:30 PM Eastern.
Pre-Show Hall of Fame inductions:
Traci Brooks
Gail Kim, also an Impact Hall of Famer, inducted Brooks. The two worked together extensively and have known each other since 2000 when they started wrestling school together. She said they wrestled in their first bikini match together (which they hated) and their first hardcore match (which they didn’t know about beforehand).
Brooks came out with husband Frankie Kazarian and their son, Rebel. She did the usual, thanking her parents and brothers. She then thanked Kazarian, her in-laws, and told her son to dream big. She then thanked Kim, who was her also her maid of honor. She also thanked Beth Phoenix, Mickie James, The Beautiful People, So Cal Val and others in addition to a slew of men’s wrestlers, executives, the fans, and others.
Brooks is the third-ever woman inducted. This was a pretty straightforward and emotional speech, but you could tell it meant a lot to her to be inducted.
Mike Tenay & Don West
Scott D’Amore inducted the legendary announcing duo. West, of course, sadly passed away in December of last year after a battle with cancer while Tenay has been out of the pro wrestling spotlight since his Impact/TNA days were done, save for a few appearances with Dave Meltzer on Wrestling Observer Radio.
D’Amore told a story about how West accidentally auctioned off a Team Canada jacket prior to 2017’s Slammiversary that was actually D’Amore’s. He said he was the best salesperson in this or any other business. “He had to be. He sold Scott D’Amore memorabilia!”
Both Tenay and West’s families were in attendance. Tenay then accepted the honor, coming out to the old rap-rock TNA theme which I haven’t heard in decades.
Tenay spent the majority of the speech putting over West, his story and how Tenay’s son said West was his favorite announcer. He said in wrestling, you make many acquaintances but not many true friends but to him, West was a true friend.
Tenay told some Bobby Heenan stories and then thanked some people including Eric Bischoff, Zane Bresloff, the Jarrett family, the Sahadi family, Konnan, Keith Mitchell, and others.
He joked his granddaughter asked him if he should be called “Mr. Hall of Fame” and he said it would be a good idea if she wanted to be in the will. He thanked his wife (“the true Hall of Famer in the family”) to close things out and then pitched to Tom Hannifan and Matthew Rehwoldt.
This was a good speech and worth checking out on YouTube.
Main Show:
X-Division Champion Chris Sabin defeated KENTA to retain the title
According to Cagematch, this is their first ever singles match but they did share the ring earlier this year on opposite sides of a trios match.
Sabin set the record tonight with his 13th Bound for Glory match. He’s in his tenth reign as champion so the title might as well be renamed after him at this point.
Since this was the opener, you know it would be good with two veterans. This was competitive with KENTA nearly getting the pin with his feet on the ropes after a roll-up and then again after a double foot stomp to the chest. KENTA called for the GTS (in Chicago, no less) but Sabin got out of it, only to be slapped repeatedly.
Sabin got the pin after the Clothesline from Hell, Michigan and the Cradle Shock for his second successful title defense.
PCO won a Monsters Ball match over Steve Maclin, Moose and Rhino
PCO’s deal is up at the end of this month after another interesting run in Impact. All four men were kept in separate dark rooms for 24 hours with no food, water or light with all squinting when their doors were opened up. Malnourishment going into a fight is no way to go.
This was a brawl from the start with Maclin attacking Rhino as he came out followed by Moose laying him out. PCO then came out a few minutes later for his last big entrance. Moose’s attire was akin to plaid pajama pants with red sneakers. I kinda like it! He then backdropped PCO over the top rope into a ladder in a gnarly looking spot.
PCO got on a roll, focusing on Maclin. He hit a De-Animator (swanton) onto Maclin as he laid on the outside of the ring in another gnarly spot. I don’t know how long PCO’s body will hold up, but he is certainly going until the wheels not only fall off but explode into flames.
Moose got the upper hand on PCO and spread thumbtacks onto a bed of cinder blocks on the outside of the ring, followed by a power bomb that saw tacks go into the back of PCO’s head. Ouch.
Rhino re-entered the fray and answered the fans and got not just a table, but a barbed wire table that went unused…for a few minutes. Bully Ray eventually came out and pushed Maclin off the top rope through the table, revenge for Maclin calling him “soft” recently.
PCO and Moose went at it, made more ridiculous with PCO wearing tacks all over his head and shoulders. Moose then got gored by Rhino with a chair in his hands, laying out both of them. PCO then hit another Re-Animator from the top and got the surprise win to end a pretty wild and entertaining match. How about that?
Chris Bey & Ace Austin defeated The Rascalz to win the Impact Tag Team titles
This feud goes back months as Trey Miguel & Zachary Wentz cost Bey & Austin the titles at Slammiversary and then again in their subsequent rematch for the titles. Bey & Austin won a Feast or Fired briefcase and, imagine this, a Tag Team title shot was in there. The Rascalz are looking for their fourth defense of the titles they won by defeating Subculture.
Interesting fact: Wentz and Miguel went into this match undefeated as a duo (8-0) dating back four years. While these four have shared the ring a lot in the past around the world, this is only their second-ever tag match against each other and the first in Impact.
Similar to the opener, this was competitive. All four guys showed out thanks to their athleticism and knowledge of each other. The end came when Wentz accidentally sprayed Miguel with spray paint and then got hit with the Art of Finesse/Fold combo to give Bey & Austin their second title run.
I think they are running behind on time as they went right to an Ospreay/Bailey video package.
Will Ospreay defeated “Speedball” Mike Bailey
This was originally slated for the inaugural Impact x NJPW Multiverse United PPV, but Ospreay had to pull out with a shoulder injury. This is their fourth-ever meeting, but the first outside the UK. Ospreay has won all of them to date.
His NJPW UK/US title was not on the line here. He is scheduled to wrestle as part of Impact’s UK tour for one date for what it’s worth.
From the start, this had the big fight feeling as the fans kicked it up a notch. Both men were going 100mph at the onset, eventually slowing the pace down for. like, a minute or so. An Ospreay chop knocked Bailey to the floor. However, Bailey avoided a dive, jumped on the top rope, and nailed Ospreay with a twisting leap.
These two continued to have ridiculous sequences where just as one guy got the advantage, another rallied to regain it like when Ospreay hit an Os Cutter on the ring apron. As Bailey barely made it back in, he hit another one that got two. Later, the two had an incredible “you frickin’ gotta see this” kicking exchange that ended with a Hidden Blade out of nowhere.
Bailey nearly got the win on multiple occasions, including off an Ultimo Weapon and Meteor Rain (flipping fisherman’s buster off the top). Ospreay matched him with a Styles Clash and a Storm Driver ’93. Ospreay followed with another Hidden Blade and a Storm Breaker to get the win to close an excellent match.
As much as Ospreay has got his flowers for being so god damn good at this, Bailey has earned the right to make his name on an even bigger stage.
Jordynne Grace won the 20-person Call Your Shot gauntlet match
For the uninitiated, this is an intergender match where two wrestlers start and another one enters after two minutes. The final two then go heads up to determine the winner. Eliminations are over the top rope. The winner earns an Impact title shot of their choosing anytime, anywhere over the next year.
Jake Something and Eddie Edwards (the 2020 winner) kicked things off followed by Kenny King (3), complete with a cape. Who doesn’t love a good cape in pro wrestling? Edwards and King used to be in the Honor No More faction and teamed up on Something.
Juventud Guerrera (!) was the fourth entrant, followed by Johnny Swinger (5). Guerrera eliminated King after a sequence and after Swinger randomly hugged the former WCW star, Crazzy Steve attacked both men with a Fest or Fired briefcase. Gisele Shaw (6) came out as security got Steve out of there. Shaw then got Swinger out of there as Steve threatened to attack Swinger with a fork. Tommy Dreamer then emerged to run Steve off as they brawled throughout the crowd.
Jody Threat (7) was up next as these entrances definitely didn’t feel like two minutes each. KiLynn King (8) entered as we’re on a run of female entrants. Guerrera was eliminated by Edwards after stupidly jumping on the ring apron after a move. That led to the debuting Sonny King (9) who tossed Shaw out of the ring.
About 30 seconds later, Bully Ray (10) entered the fray. he immediately squared up with King in a sentence I never thought I’d write in 2023. King danced, Ray danced and then, nothing happened. Matt Cardona (11) returned which led to Ray teaming with King to do the Whazzup drop on the “Indy God.”
Jordynne Grace (12) went face-to-face with old rival Ray, but that got dissipated quickly. Eric Young (13) was up pretty quickly after as these entrance times are all over the frickin’ place. He eventually eliminated Young as Joe Hendry (14) was up next followed by Brian Myers (15). He tossed out Hendry quickly and after hugging Cardona, they tossed out a charging Kiss.
Heath (16) was up next and delivered a slew of Wake Up Calls before getting tossed by Myers. Kazarian (17) and Rich Swann (18) were in next as the ring continued to fill up. Jonathan Gresham (19) came in and got his first elimination on Threat and then got into it with his wife, Grace.
Dirty Dango (20) was the final entrant and was tossed out by Dango virtually the second he got in the ring. Oleg Prudius (the former Kozlov in WWE and Dango’s second) then got in the ring and laid out some wrestlers before security tossed him. Cardona and Myers tossed Kazarian as Gresham and Grace tried to eliminate each other.
Swann got tossed and then Young got eliminated by Cardona and Myers. Something got rid of Gresham and then went on a run against Cardona and Myers, but a Myers low blow led to his elimination. Cardona then eliminated Myers in a surprise, giving us our final four. Grace eliminated Cardona while Ray took out King, leaving us with Ray and Grace to determine the winner. Again, a sentence I didn’t think I’d type in 2023.
Ray’s power was too much early on, but he kept missing big moves. Grace eventually hit a Grace Driver to get the pin and win, becoming the first women’s wrestler to win it. She then wasted no time in calling her shot: a Knockouts title match at January’s Hard to Kill. Hey now!
This was a fun 30 minutes with some surprises and twists.
Knockouts Champion Trinity defeated Mickie James to retain
If you’re reading this, you know James never lost the title in the ring and had to vacate the gold earlier this year due to multiple injuries. Trinity has been on a run since debuting with the company in June, defeating Deonna Purrazzo for the title. This a first time ever bout and one has added intrigue considering James’ husband now works on Fridays for WWE.
After the last two matches, the crowd was tired for this early on. An interesting sequence woke them up with Trinity shaking her butt in James’ face in the corner which James retorted to with a lewd gesture to show she was up for it. Or, something like that.
This was entertaining when it was all said and done. After a sequence, Trinity eventually got the tap off her Starstruck submission, reapplying it twice for more leverage. I think this Impact run has been a good experience for Trinity. While she could make her way back to WWE at some point, this run on her own will pay dividends down the road.
– Moose said that no matter what, he is going to walk out of Hard to Kill as the Impact World Champion. He owns one of the Feast or Fired briefcases, you see.
Impact World Champion Alex Shelley defeated Josh Alexander to retain
Stop me if you’ve heard this before, but this was a competitive match. The backstory is that Alexander, like James, had to relinquish the title earlier this year due to injury. Shelley defeated Steve Maclin, whom Alexander was set to defend against in April, in June and has defended it ever since.
Shelley worked over Alexander’s surgically repaired arm and also his fingers for some time with Alexander eventually locking in a Bret Hart-esque figure four around the outside ring post to temporarily regain advantage. The injured arm was the focus because even with surgery, it never truly has healed, right?
The closing stretch saw Alexander attempting to ensnare the ankle lock and a leg lock with Shelley escaping and slapping Alexander’s head gear off. Shelley hit Shellshock, but didn’t go for the pin right away and kicked Alexander’s mouthpiece out with a superkick followed by another Shellshock for the definitive pin and win. So, there you go.
Alexander will now face Ospreay at the Bound for Glory TV taping Sunday while we don’t know what is next for Shelley.
Then, we got the most surprising news of the night: Impact is rebranding as TNA starting with January’s Hard to Kill. Yes, you read that right and there’s a video to prove it:
TNA IS BACK!
TNA Wrestling RETURNS starting from Hard To Kill on January 13 LIVE on PPV from the Palms in Las Vegas. pic.twitter.com/2qyaiDxvKI
Ace Steel is reportedly set to work Bound for Glory as a producer.
PWInsider reported on Friday night that Steel was in Chicago for Saturday’s Bound for Glory pay-per-view event, where he will be receiving a tryout as a producer. According to the report, Impact wanted Steel as a producer after he was fired from AEW last year before he was re-hired earlier this year when CM Punk returned to the company.
“One source categorized Steel as having a tryout as a Producer this weekend, noting that Impact Wrestling had wanted to bring him in before he returned to work for AEW in a remote position,” PWInsider wrote. “Now that Steel is again free and clear of his AEW contract, we are told Impact once again reached out and offered the same opportunity.”
Steel was released by AEW last month shortly after Punk was fired from AEW. Punk had gotten into a backstage altercation with Jack Perry during AEW’s All In event back in late August, and his contracts with the company were terminated with cause following an investigation.
Steel had previously made appearances in Impact Wrestling back in 2002 as a wrestler, appearing on their weekly pay-per-view events.
The Impact World Tag Team and Impact Knockouts World Tag Team Championships will be on the line at Bound for Glory on October 21.
As revealed during this week’s Impact Wrestling, ABC’s Chris Bey & Ace Austin will challenge for the Impact World Tag Team titles at the Bound for Glory pay-per-view on Saturday, October 21. They will face the winners of next week’s Tag Team title match between current champs The Rascalz and challengers Sami Callihan & Rich Swann.
A Knockouts World Tag Team title bout is also set for Bound for Glory, with champs MK Ultra (Masha Slamovich & Killer Kelly) defending against the team of Deonna Purrazzo & Tasha Steelz.
The updated lineup for Bound for Glory:
Impact World Championship: Alex Shelley defends against Josh Alexander
Impact Knockouts World Championship: Trinity defends against Mickie James
Impact X-Division Championship: Chris Sabin defends against KENTA
Impact World Tag Team Championship: The Rascalz or Sami Callihan & Rich Swann defend against ABC (Ace Austin & Chris Bey)
Impact Knockouts World Tag Team Championship: MK Ultra (Masha Slamovich & Killer Kelly) defend against Deonna Purrazzo & Tasha Steelz
Will Ospreay vs. “Speedball” Mike Bailey
20-person intergender Call Your Shot Gauntlet match: Bully Ray vs. Jody Threat vs. KiLynn King vs. Shera vs. Brian Myers vs. Jordynne Grace vs. Eric Young vs. Champagne Singh vs. Dirty Dango vs. Jake Something vs. 10 TBA
Don West, Mike Tenay, Traci Brooks will be inducted into the Impact Wrestling Hall of Fame
Mickie James is gunning for the title she never lost.
As revealed during the closing segment of Thursday’s Impact Wrestling episode, James will challenge Trinity for the Knockouts World Championship at the Bound for Glory pay-per-view set for Saturday, October 21 in Chicago.
James made the save for Trinity as the champ faced a two-on-one attack from Savannah Evans & Jai Vidal following a win over Giselle Shaw in the main event of this week’s Impact show. James then announced her intentions to challenge Trinity at Bound for Glory. Impact then officially announced the bout in a social media post.
James was forced to relinquish the Knockouts World title due to injury this past April, and never lost the Championship in the ring.
The Knockouts title bout is one of two new matches announced for Bound for Glory, as an X-Division title match with Chris Sabin defending against KENTA was also added to the lineup this week.
Here is the current Bound for Glory card:
The updated Bound for Glory lineup:
Impact World Championship: Alex Shelley defends against Josh Alexander
Impact Knockouts World Championship: Trinity defends against Mickie James
Impact X-Division Championship: Chris Sabin defends against KENTA
Will Ospreay vs. “Speedball” Mike Bailey
Don West, Mike Tenay, Traci Brooks will be inducted into the Impact Wrestling Hall of Fame
KENTA is returning to Impact Wrestling and has his sights set on gold.
Impact announced during Thursday’s Impact Wrestling episode that KENTA will return to the promotion at the Saturday, October 21 Bound for Glory pay-per-view in Chicago to challenge Chris Sabin for the X-Division Championship.
KENTA’s last Impact appearance came in August at the joint Impact x NJPW Multiverse United pay-per-view event in a 12-man tag team match. In total, the Japanese legend has wrestled five times for the company this year.
The X-Division title match is one of two new title bouts announced for Bound for Glory. It was also revealed during Thursday’s episode that Mickie James will challenge Trinity for the Knockouts World Championship at the event.
Already announced for Bound for Glory, Josh Alexander will challenge Alex Shelley for the Impact World Championship, plus Will Ospreay will take on “Speedball” Mike Bailey at the pay-per-view.
The updated Bound for Glory lineup:
Impact World Championship: Alex Shelley defends against Josh Alexander
Impact Knockouts World Championship: Trinity defends against Mickie James
Impact X-Division Championship: Chris Sabin defends against KENTA
Will Ospreay vs. “Speedball” Mike Bailey
Don West, Mike Tenay, Traci Brooks will be inducted into the Impact Wrestling Hall of Fame
Will Ospreay and “Speedball” Mike Bailey are set for a big pay-per-view clash.
Impact Wrestling has announced that Ospreay vs. Bailey will take place at Bound for Glory next month. Cicero Stadium in Illinois is hosting the PPV on Saturday, October 21.
Impact revealed this August that Ospreay would be returning to the promotion for a match at Bound for Glory. It marks the first time Ospreay has wrestled for Impact since 2016. That year, he worked a set of Impact shows in the United Kingdom.
Ospreay is the current IWGP UK Heavyweight Champion in NJPW.
The last time Ospreay and Bailey faced off was at Revolution Pro Wrestling’s 10th anniversary show in 2022. They’ve had four singles matches against each other in total.
Bailey is a former Impact X-Division Champion.
The announcement of the Ospreay vs. Bailey match was made during week two of Impact Wrestling’s 1000th episode. Also on the episode, it was confirmed that Alex Shelley will defend his Impact World Championship against Josh Alexander at Bound for Glory.
In March of this year, Alexander had to vacate the Impact World Championship due to a torn triceps. Alexander made his return at Impact’s Slammiversary PPV this July.
Shelley defeated Steve Maclin in June to become Impact World Champion.
Hours after he defeated Chris Jericho at AEW All In at London’s Wembley Stadium, Impact Wrestling announced that Will Ospreay will be making his return to the company at October’s Bound for Glory.
The pay-per-view is set for Chicago on Saturday, October 21st. Impact made the announcement with a video at the conclusion of Sunday’s Emergence streaming special.
Ospreay appeared briefly for the promotion back in January 2016, appearing in five matches over a three-day span while the company was touring the UK. He competed for their Tag Team titles in addition to being in a King of the Mountain match for then-champion Eric Young’s World title.
Ospreay made news this past week by saying in an AEW Dynamite promo that he will be a free agent in six months and is expecting to make millions on his next deal.
The 30-year-old is the current IWGP U.S. Champion for NJPW which is where his primary promotional home is. He recently advanced to the G1 semifinals, losing to eventual winner Tetsuya Naito in the semifinals.
BREAKING: @WillOspreay returns to IMPACT at #BoundForGlory LIVE October 21st from Cicero Stadium in Chicago.
Scott D’Amore spoke with our own Josh Nason regarding Impact’s live event schedule, the promotion’s future on AXS TV, and the upcoming Bound For Glory pay-per-view.
During an episode of JNPO released on Tuesday, The Impact VP was asked about the company’s recent switch to presenting pay-per-views on Friday nights.
“It is a busy night but one of the things is the way people consume content differently in this day and age. You see sometimes what we think is competition isn’t as much competition as we really think because there are people that are going to watch it. This isn’t as much of a live content-consuming world as it used to be,” D’Amore said.
“There is great stuff out there on Friday nights,’ he continued. “I’ll be totally honest with you, Josh, we might turn around and look at this in a handful of months and go ‘you know what? Fridays isn’t the day to do.'”
“There is so much competition on every night of the week out there these days that we went and looked at it and said, ‘You know what? Friday and Saturday are great nights to block for live events, let’s take a look, and let’s see how the Friday night pay-per-views do.'”
“Friday night is a night that we might look at it and we might find that Friday night people are already in the wrestling groove. They might decide they want to DVR SmackDown and Rampage and watch our show or they might want to watch SmackDown and Rampage and DVR our pay-per-view.”
“One thing we’ve always been, Josh, is open to trying different things. Sometimes you invent Ultimate-X and sometimes you come up with the Reverse Battle Royal.”
D’Amore was also asked if he is happy with how things turned out regarding Impact’s collaboration with AEW last year.
“We had our ups and downs and we felt our way through a lot of things, and that always happens. I know some of our fanbase was frustrated at times as we got to it, but to me, to culminate in a guy like Christian Cage, who is as Impact Wrestling as Impact can be, a guy who has always said coming to Impact Wrestling is where he was allowed to make his bones and become a world champion and prove that he could be the guy, to have his return here to basically be the passing of the torch to Josh Alexander, to me, was a great culmination.”
D’Amore would continue to praise Impact’s relationship with AAA.
“I don’t know if I’ve ever seen a better partner than what we’ve had in AAA from Mexico. They have been fantastically supportive of us, we’ve done our darndest to always be supportive of them.”
Nason asked D’Amore if he feels Impact will remain on AXS TV or move to another network.
“We’re open to exploring anything. I can tell you this, I sit here, I wear a couple of hats, I’m the EVP of Impact Wrestling and I’m also the EVP of Anthem Sports and Entertainment Sports Media Group and Impact is such a juggernaut on AXS TV for us. I know it’s, at times, frustrating for fans. It’s one of the reasons why we added the show weekly on the YouTube subscription for 99 cents,” D’Amore said.
“We will always look to keep Impact Wrestling as one of the staples of AXS TV and frankly, our other broadcast networks both domestically and in Canada and such but we will also look for other growth opportunities. To me, it’s a great opportunity to serve two masters. We’ve got Impact Wrestling, which is so great on AXS TV, especially paired with New Japan, but if we’re out there and the right deal pops forward, we would be more than happy to sit in a room and look at a deal with a different network. The other thing is we’ll continue to work at other streaming platforms and opportunities.”
Regarding a rumor that he met with then-free agent Braun Strowman earlier this year in Detroit, D’Amore said, “I spend a lot of time on the Detroit side of the border and yeah, got together, sat with Braun, had a nice bite to eat, had a drink. We weren’t hiding, we we’re doing nothing.”
He continued to say that they made plans to meet up as Strowman was in the area for a comic con.
“We got together, we chatted, was a great talk, wish him all the best,” D’Amore continued.
D’Amore and Nason would also discuss where Impact fits into the current wrestling ecosystem, the build to Friday’s Bound For Glory, and more. The show is available here.
Impact Wrestling’s next pay-per-view will be heading to the Northeast United States.
Fightful reported Wednesday that the previously announced Bound For Glory now has a destination as they will head to Danbury, Connecticut, on Saturday, October 8th.
They didn’t have the actual location the show will emanate from, only that the promotion will be there for several days, presumably for their traditional post-PPV TV taping. This will be their first visit to the city since a 2010 house show.
Impact has yet to confirm the news.
Here’s a look at their upcoming schedule:
Emergence Impact Plus special: Friday, August 12th in Chicago, IL
Second City Slamm TV taping: Saturday, August 13rd in Chicago, IL
Lone Star Stampede Dallas TV tapings: Friday, August 26th and Saturday, August 27th
Bound For Glory: Saturday, October 8th in Danbury, CT
Overdrive Impact Plus special: Friday, November 18th in Louisville, KY
Kentucky Chaos TV taping: Saturday, November 19th in Louisville, KY
The Good Brothers officially challenged The Motor City Machine Guns to an Impact Tag Team title match at Bound For Glory.
The two teams confronted one another tonight on Impact, with Shelley mocking Anderson for his run in Japan.
Later, The Good Brothers defeated The Rascalz in a tag team match. Following that bout, Anderson called out Shelley and Sabin, saying that while they came here for money, they also came for titles, and challenged them to a title match at Bound for Glory. MCMG did not issue a reply.
The MCMG won the titles on July 19, defeating The North on an episode of Impact Wrestling.
Two other title matches have been announced for the show: Deonna Purrazzo will defend the Impact Knockouts title against Kylie Rae and Eric Young will defend the Impact World title against Rich Swann.
Prior to Bound for Glory, Eric Young and Deonna Purrazzo will defend their titles at Victory Road, which takes place on October 3. Purrazzo will defend against Rae’s friend Susie (Su Yung’s alter ego), while Young will defend against Eddie Edwards in a rematch from their title bout earlier this month.
