By Jason Powell, Prowrestling.net Editor (@prowrestlingnet)
Impact Wrestling Bound For Glory 2018
Aired live on pay-per-view and on FITE TV
New York, New York at Melrose Ballroom
A video package opened the show… Josh Mathews and Don Callis were on commentary…
1. Rich Swann and Willie Mack vs. Matt Sydal and Ethan Page. Mathews noted that members of the New York Giants were in attendance. Sydal avoided Mack in the corner. Mack did a handstand on the ropes and split his legs apart a couple times for a pop. The heel duo isolated Swann, who ended up at ringside. Sydal went under the ring and hit him with something. Mathews said it sounded like a chair.
Mack eventually took a hot tag and worked over both heels. Mack performed a standing moonsault on Page for a two count. Swann checked back in and ended up being bodyslammed off the top rope and covered for two. A “this is Impact” chant broke out. Callis spoke about the new signings and praised Impact management (which he is part of) by saying they are doing a hell of a job. Later, Swann performed a Lethal Injection on Sydal and followed up with a 450 splash for the win.
Rich Swann and Willie Mack beat Matt Sydal and Ethan Page in 12:20.
After the match, Mack took the mic and struggled to get it to work. Eventually, they got it to work. Mack fired up the crowd and said he noticed two empty seats in the front row. He said whoever made the most noise could have them. Mathews said the seats were courtesy of their sponsor Comda. Mack pointed to some fans who apparently got the seats…
Powell’s POV: A good, crowd pleasing opening match. I was surprised to see Swann get the win for his team and to see Sydal take the loss for his team, but it makes sense in that the feud was built around them while Mack and Page were late additions. The smaller venue may throw off some viewers, especially if they didn’t see Slammiversary. MLW runs the same venue so I knew what to expect going in. There’s no room at ringside for flip dives at ringside because the guardrail is so close to the ring. On the plus side, the smaller crowd is hot and it’s a good atmosphere.
Mathews and Callis set up footage of Johnny Impact and Taya Valkyrie on TMZ discussing their online beef with Austin Aries. They included a clip of one of the hosts questioning whether this is not part of the script. Footage also aired of an angle between Aries and Impact that occurred at the Impact Wrestling Hall of Fame ceremony on Saturday…
Backstage, Konnan was on the ground laid out when Santana and Ortiz found him. He blamed King and told them to take care business…
Eli Drake came out for his open challenge against any New Yorker. Fans chanted for Y2J. Drake pointed out the New York Giants football players in the crowd and asked how their 1-5 record was treating them. James Ellsworth came out. Mathews pointed out that Ellsworth is from Maryland. Fans weren’t happy and a “delete” chant started.
Drake asked if Ellsworth is even from New York. “Not exactly, but I was dating a girl from Staten Island,” he said in reference to Carmella. Ellsworth said he loves NYC and doesn’t like it when people badmouth it. Fans still booed and a “f— you, Ellsworth” chant started. “Well, it’s obvious you’re a fan favorite,” Drake said. Drake told chin jokes. Ellsworth said he may not have a chin, but Drake has no (fans chanted balls). Ellsworth punched Drake to apparently start the match…
2. Eli Drake vs. James Ellsworth. Ellsworth got a near fall off a superkick. Drake came back with the Gravy Train. Fans chanted for another and he obliged before pinning Ellsworth clean…
Eli Drake pinned James Ellsworth.
Drake said he came to New York and he asked for the best. He said he asked for top guys and Hall of Fame material. Abyss’s music hit and fans cheered. Abyss worked over Drake and put him down with a Blackhole Slam. Abyss pulled a table out from under the ring and set it up in the ring. Drake low blowed Abyss and put him on the table. Drake leapt off the middle rope. Abyss caught him by the throat and chokeslammed him…
Powell’s POV: Fun and disappointing all at the same time. I hope they use Drake as a heel. He’d actually be a fun sidekick for Drake. You had to know Abyss was going to make the feel good appearance at some point tonight. It was feel good enough that the live crowd seemed to forgive the company for not delivering on the New York wrestler tease. Could they revisit this later in the show or is that it? By the way, for those not watching the show, they have the sponsor’s logo in the middle of the ring and on the skirting.
McKenzie Mitchell interviewed Tessa Blanchard on a public street about her title match. Blanchard was cocky and confident… A video package set up the Knockouts Title match…
3. Tessa Blanchard vs. Taya Valkyrie for the Knockouts Championship. Valkyrie wore new or at least different gear than she normally wears in Impact. Valkyrie applied a choke that Blanchard eventually broke by driving her into the corner. Valkyrie hoisted Blanchard onto her shoulders and dropped her face down and got a two count. Blanchard came back with a cutter for a two count.
Blanchard leapt off the top rope. Valkyrie caught her by the throat and performed a clunky chokeslam and a moonsault. Valkyrie applied a submission hold, but Blanchard reached the ropes. Blanchard held onto the apron as Valkyrie pulled her toward the middle of the ring. The referee must be employed by Comda, as he was worried about straightening out the apron and was out of position when Valkyrie hit the Road to Valhalla, so it only lead to a two count. Blanchard came back with her DDT finisher for a good near fall. Blanchard followed up a short time later by leaping off the top rope and performing a Codebreaker on the way down and then got the pin…
Tessa Blanchard defeated Taya Valkyrie in 10:40 to retain the Knockouts Championship.
Powell’s POV: Clunky at times, but the effort was there. I’m happy they didn’t go with the husband and wife both win titles story because they didn’t do a good job of building up to the women’s match. The spot with the referee was really sappy and took away from the match.
McKenzie Mitchell hosted a pre-taped interview with Moose, who wore a dashiki and said its fit for a king. Moose said Mitchell is his queen queen and her outfit is on backorder… A video package set up the Moose vs. Eddie Edwards match…
4. Moose vs. Eddie Edwards. Moose was accompanied to the ring by three women. Two of the women held the ropes open for him and they all kissed him on the cheek. Moose’s ladies left. Edwards came out with a kendo stick. Killer Kross grabbed Edwards from the crowd. In the ring, Kross held Edwards for a weak kick from Moose. Tommy Dreamer came out and cleared the heels from the ring with a kendo stick. Dreamer cut a promo playing to the NYC crowd and apparently making it a tag team match.
Eddie Edwards beat Moose by apparent DQ in 2:00.
5. Tommy Dreamer and Eddie Edwards vs. Moose and Killer Kross. Dreamer removed the ringside padding. Edwards ended up taking a bump on the exposed floor. Moose got into a shoving match with one of the Giants players, who knocked him down from behind the barricade. The production crew only caught part of it and they didn’t have a good replay ready.
In the ring, Edwards put Moose down with a blue thunder bomb. Kross choked Dreamer from behind, but Dreamer kicked him low to break it. Dreamer got the better of an exchange and wanted to use the kendo stick, but Kross performed a Saito suplex. Moose performed a nice powerbomb on Edwards. Moose went after Edwards with the kendo stick, but Edwards rolled him up and pinned him. After the match, Moose and Kross double powerbombed Edwards onto the apron…
Tommy Dreamer and Eddie Edwards beat Moose and Killer Kross in 9:30.
Powell’s POV: A fun brawl with a weak finish. Production must not have had a better angle on the NFL player shoving Moose because they never showed the replay. Dreamer appearing is hardly a surprise, but the live crowd loved it and was really hot for this match.
A pre-taped Sami Callihan and Crist Brothers promo aired… A video package set up the OVE Rules match…
6. Brian Cage, Pentagon Jr., and Fenix vs. “OVE” Sami Callihan, Jake Crist, and Dave Crist in an OVE Rules match. The teams brawled to start and took the approach of having two men in the ring while four were at ringside selling or fighting early on. Pentagon and Fenix threw double superkicks at their opponents and mugged for the crowd. In the ring, Cage performed a fallaway slam on Jake that tossed him over the top rope and onto the pile at ringside. Cage suplexed Callihan into the ring and had him pinned, but Dave broke it up at 5:20.
At 7:30, Fenix went up by the stage and ran down the ramp and leapt over the top rope and performed a cutter on Callihan for a two count. Cage, who had his left thigh wrapped and taped, was kicked from the middle rope by Callihan. There was a botched spot around 11:00 and some fans were quick to let them know it with a brief “you f—ed up” chant. A 12:45, Jake performed a cutter on Cage while they were on the shoulders of Callihan and Dave. Jake covered Cage, who kicked out immediately and motioned for the heels to bring it. OVE hit Cage with repeated kicks. Callihan performed a piledriver and pinned Cage…
Sami Callihan, Jake Crist, and Dave Crist beat Brian Cage, Pentagon Jr., and Fenix in 13:00.
Powell’s POV: This match lived up to the old company name of total nonstop action. I didn’t even try to keep up with all of the craziness because it was spot after spot and very entertaining. The outcome was legitimately surprising and brought the crowd down in the moment, though they have been so hot that I’d be shocked if they weren’t fired up for the next match. Even so, it’s an odd call to have Cage lose. Does this mean we’ll have Cage and Callihan feuding over the X Division Championship? Weird.
Backstage, McKenzie Mitchell interviewed Austin Aries. He said the place was on life support when he returned. He said he’s busted his ass to make the company and the title mean something again and he thinks he’s done a pretty good job. He said Johnny Impact waltzed in when his schedule permitted and claimed the title was the most important thing in the world to him. Aries said he thinks Impact is a liar and the title doesn’t mean any more to him than his other quests like Boone the Bounty Hunter and Survivor. He said things have become personal over the last week and now he doesn’t trust Impact or management. Aries recalled saying he would leave his men in the back, but he’s bringing them with because things change. He encouraged Impact to bring his wife to the ring with him…
Powell’s POV: A very good promo from Aries. He came off like the babyface in a way because he spoke about how much the title means to him. Johnny Impact never stablished what the belt means to him during the build, so Austin’s words rang true. Will we hear a rebuttal from Impact? Even if we do, does he have a strong rebuttal promo in him?
Inside the OGz locker room, King, Homicide, and Hernandez mocked Konnan being injured. King delivered a promo about how it should be a lesson to Santana and Ortiz… A video package set up the Concrete Jungle Death Match…
7. King, Homicide, and Hernandez vs. Santana and Ortiz in a Concrete Jungle Death Match. The ring canvas and pads were pulled, so the ring had ropes and only wood. LAX was played to the ring by rappers. There were no turnbuckle pads and tables were leaned up against the ring posts. Hernandez bled early. There was nothing holding the boards in place so footing was horrible and here were gaps between the boards at times. A couple of the tables were brought into the ring and set up in the corners.
Hernandez picked up Homicide and gave him a Border Toss onto Santana and Ortiz at ringside. Hernandez performed a shoulder block that drove Ortiz through one of the tables. Santana performed a flip dive (there actually is enough room on the hard camera side). Santana worked over King and said he’d kill “this motherf—er.”
King was working over Ortiz when the LAX music payed. Konnan came to the ring and hit King with a slapjack and eventually threw him through one of the tables in the corner. Santana and Ortiz performed their double team blockbuster finisher on King and got the win…
Konnan, Santana, and Ortiz defeated King, Homicide, and Hernandez in a Concrete Jungle Death Match.
Powell’s POV: I hope everyone came out of that mess in one piece. Everyone worked hard, but this match was risky and never should have been approved due to the unsure footing.
Mathews set up Allie entering the undead realm…
Allie was shown entering a coffin with a hatchet in hand. She ended up in a hazy area where Father Jim Mitchell welcomed her. Mitchell reminded her that her soul remains in the undead realm and then let out his sinister laugh. Allie walked into a less hazy area and up a flight of stairs where Su Yung attacked her. Allie hit her with the hatchet. Allie hit her again and blood went flying. They cut to the next scene where she did the same thing to Yung. Only this time, Allie saw her own face like she’s Luke Skywalker or something.
Allie found Kiera Hogan in a casket. Young showed up with an axe or something. She ended up hitting Allie with a baseball bat. She wanted to use the hatchet as a weapon. Allie blocked it, so Yung gave her a mandible claw. Yung wound up to stab Allie with a knife, but Allie drove a weapon into her neck. Allie woke up Hogan and got her out of the casket. They tried to leave through the first casket. Mitchell showed up and revealed it was a word game in that he said she could find her friend, but she never said they could leave. Young’s undead bridesmaids showed up. Rosemary appeared and fought off the bridesmaids. Allie and Hogan ended up in the casket. Yung and Rosemary have special effect hand powers. Yung’s are stronger and Rosemary was overpowered. Allie and Hogan returned to the regular world. Allie’s voice turned demonic as she told Hogan it’s not okay…
Powell’s POV: What the f—? I’m sure some fans enjoy it, but I strongly believe they are outnumbered by fans who find it as ridiculous as I do.
Impact is returning to Nashville at the Asylum on January 6 for a Homecoming event. It’s a Sunday, so it appears to be a pay-per-view…
McKenzie Mitchell interviewed Johnny Impact, who said Impact management would not have called him and his wife if Aries had not made things personal. He added that Aries claiming he carries the company is an insult to everyone else in the company… A video package set up the main event…
Powell’s POV: Johnny didn’t drop any cornball insults, but he didn’t really win me over with this promo or sell me on what the winning the title would mean to him.
8. Austin Aries (w/Moose, Killer Kross) vs. Johnny Impact (w/Taya Valkyrie) for the Impact World Championship. Aries and Impact set the early tone by going right at one another. There was a great spot at ringside where Impact leapt up and put his feet on the ring and barricade, then performed a big moonsault onto Aries from there. Great spot.
After some buffering issues on my end, Impact performed a top rope Spanish Fly for a near fall. Mathews’ voice was very hoarse. Both men traded shots on the apron. Aries performed a Death Valley Driver on the apron. Aries went up top and performed a 450 splash for a near fall. Fan chants were fairly split between the two.
Impact caught Aries with a superkick and followed up with Starship Pain and had Aries pinned. Aries reach up and grabbed the bottom rope at the last moment. Aries came back with a five-arm and a running dropkick in the corner. Aries followed up with a brainbuster. Impact put his foot on the ropes at two. Aries glared a Valkyrie. Impact performed a backslide for a near fall. Aries came back and applied the Last Chancery. Impact reached the ropes to break it. Aries once again glared at Valkyrie and this time turned into a slap.
Aries and Impact exchanged chops and strikes. Aries ran the ropes and ducked a kick from Impact and then took out Valkyrie with a suicide dive. Moose was shown laughing. Impact went after Aries. Back in the ring, Impact performed a brainbuster and followed up with Starship Pain for the win…
Johnny Impact defeated Austin Aries to win the Impact World Championship.
Aries shot up right after the match and jawed at someone before storming out of the ring. Impact got the title belt and finally went to ringside to check on his wife. Impact got Valkyrie to her feet and then they hugged inside the ring. Mathews closed out the show as Impact celebrated with the championship…
Powell’s POV: A good main event. The title change felt overshadowed by Impact continuing to fight rather than check on his wife, and then by Aries no-selling and leaving the ring. I suspect everything with Aries is all an attempt to generate some buzz. I have a hard time believing that Valkyrie would agree to take a suicide dive if there were bad feelings. And Impact Wrestling needs all the buzz it can get right now with the sinking viewership numbers and Pop moving their weekly show to a later time slot. I’ll gladly take this over the supernatural nonsense that preceded it. I will have more to say in my members’ exclusive audio review later tonight.
Check below for the latest Pro Wrestling Boom Podcast with Jason Powell and guest Chris Harrington.
The undead thing was ridiculous but this same guy loved the ‘deletion’ crap? Uh…ok
If you go back and look, my early reviews of Matt Hardy’s broken antics were not favorable. It eventually won me over and there’s no way anyone can deny that it was successful for the company given the numbers it delivered. I have been an advocate for Su Yung’s character, but they lost me and the undead realm video did nothing for me. As I’ve said, if I thought I was in the minority then I’d chalk it up to it just not being for me. Nothing about their viewership numbers says this is working.
If this was an every week thing then your last words would be true but it’s not on every week, it’s funny how you are trying to put the viewership numbers on one thing when we all know that there’s other reasons that viewership is down. And the thing is you people complained for years about TNA/ Impact not being different and now you’re complaining about them being different?
No, I’m not trying to put it all on one thing. For me, the biggest turnoffs are the wannabe Lucha Underground moments including the supernatural story, mob bosses, Richie, etc. I want more of a traditional pro wrestling show than what Impact is offering these days and I suspect some of these things are turning away viewers, whereas the Broken Universe was clearly attracting more viewers regardless of its critics. I know you love all things Impact, Corwin, and that is your right, but it doesn’t solve any of the company’s problems. Football is hurting them. Football has been airing opposite Impact for many years. Yes, Fox has beefed up their coverage, but it’s not like Impact was kicking ass before the season started. Impact has issues and it’s much more constructive to try to put a finger on what those issues are than just saying it’s all great because it falls under the Impact banner.
If you want traditional pro wrestling there’s plenty of it out there. And everything isn’t rosey in my eyes with Impact wrestling but this Broken universe stuff isn’t a issue for me. I just feel fans like you want it both ways, you want to complain about them not being different and then you want to complain when it is different. It just comes off as complaining for the sake of complaining, damned if you and damned if you don’t type of a thing.
And Impact’s issues are largely unknown performers, dead crowds and lack of urgency, not the broken universe stuff! That’s how i see it. If they fix the things i mentioned then the broken universe stuff will not be an issue. Make stars, lively energetic crowds and hard hitting, fast paced wrestling and the show would be great even with the broken universe stuff.
Isn’t it clear that “traditional wrestling shows” dont draw viewers?
I was dreading this being on BFG. I became a bit aggravated when Tessa vs. Taya was 2nd on the card, leaving the “Undead” crap for later. I understand it was a good time for the ring crew to get the ring back in order after the LAX match… Personally, I am not a fan of Allie, Su Yung or Kierra, at all. I’d prefer the KO’s division focus on athleticism going forward. This cinematic crap only works for LAX. If they’re going to continue with that type of stuff, hand it over to Konnan or whoever is behind those segments.
Rosemary’s back! I loved that. 😀
I agree with Corwin somewhat. Impact needs to be different than WWE to attract new viewers but doesn’t want to alienate it’s traditional audience too much. These segments are at least very different to the stale straightforward wrestling matches on Raw and Smackdown week after week.
Ultimately, it doesn’t matter what Impact does creatively. They need a better tv deal on a more mainstream channel so that they can draw more eyeballs to the product. Until then, they’ll continue to tread water as they have over the past 5 years.
okay this was not better than slammiversary at all… I’ve sat through a lot of pro wrestling cheese in my lifetime but the undead realm segment was really really cheesy and bad all at the same time. right now in New York they have a bunch of really cool haunted attractions for the Halloween season and I’m pretty damn sure this Undead realm segment was recorded in one of those attractions because it looks like I’ve seen it on Travel Channel before. it was fun to see Rosemary but when her and Su locked it up like Dr Strange vs Silver surfer at the end i lost it and burst out laughing.
The undead realm segment:
A) Gave one of the more popular performers in Impact (Allie) a major presence on a night when she wasn’t going to compete for the Knockouts title. (There is rarely more than one Knockouts match on a PPV.)
B) Continued to bring James Mitchell into the fold, always a good thing in my view.
C) Furthered the development of Kiera Hogan as a central player in the Knockouts division
D) Advanced the Allie/Su Yung angle
E) Provided a storyline return for another of the most popular performers on the roster, Rosemary.
It also gave Allie – well known as a horror movie and Buffy superfan – a chance to bring some of that into her story. I say good, after all the good work she’s done for the company.
Lastly and most importantly to me, I enjoyed the segment.
Aries jumping right up and walking out is just Aries being Aries. Sad but not unexpected.
Looks like the Aries character being the Aries character to me. And I have no problem with this aside from perhaps that distracted a bit from the title change. Aries is a terrific heel and he’s doing excellent work.
-Isn’t it clear that “traditional wrestling shows” dont draw viewers?
Like the two companies that sold out MSG during WM weekend? Everyone is so busy trying to reinvent pro wrestling that few are really trying traditional pro wrestling. Again, what is there about this company’s viewership trends that suggests any of the stunts are actually working? If it works and it’s not my style then I’d be happy to say that it’s working and it’s just not for me, but there are no signs that their take on Lucha Underground and the Broken Universe is clicking.
-Like the two companies that sold out MSG during WM weekend?
Very true, and they didn’t even announce any matches or confirm any wrestlers to appear at the time.