By John Moore, ProWrestling.net Staffer (@liljohnm)
TNA Impact “Fade to Black” (Episode 1,109)
Simulcast October 23, 2025, on AXS TV and TNA+
The show started off with a narrated hype package for the Bound for Glory 2025 show…
The show started off with TNA President Carlos Silva giving a speech to the TNA roster a day before Bound for Glory in an empty arena. Silva advised the roster that after the meeting, they need to hop on Social Media to promote Bound for Glory and help them sell the remaining seats in the arena. Silva hyped the Hall of Fame.
He praised the injured KC Navarro attending the meeting. Silva congratulated the roster for putting on a good show and ratings number with their “colleagues” from NXT at the NXT Showdown show. Silva praised Chris Bey attending the show and called Bey’s miracle recovery the greatest story ever. Silva said that it feels like Chris is back to normal compared to a few months ago when things looked grim.
Silva presented Chris Bey with a glass trophy. Bey said the award belongs to everyone and God is Great. Bey said he’s had a tough year. He said that makes for a good story, but he is also inspired seeing what the rest of the roster has been doing without him, which inspires him to move forward. Bey announced that he got successfully discharged from Physical Therapy and Rehab…
The show cut to Eddie Edwards loving the show happening at his stomping grounds of Boston. Tom Hannifan talked about how he’s proud to follow Mike Tenay, Don West, and other TNA announcers at calling TNA’s biggest show of the year. Eric Young mentioned that TNA is going to make more history today. Matthew Rehwoldt talked about how Slammiversary was like hitting the lottery in terms of success, but Bound for Glory is the fruit of hard work.
Santana’s daughter Ariana mentioned that she’s super excited to see her dad’s match. The narrator hyped recaps…[c]
A recap of the TNA Hall of Fame ceremony aired featuring Angelina Love, Velvet Sky, and Mickie James…
The show moved on to the main show and a recap of the Frankie Kazarian vs. Steve Maclin international championship match. Both men talked about how they wrestle for their families. Kazarian closed the recap by saying he’s proud at the man that Maclin has become for himself and his family too. The show then went to a replay of the Kazarian vs. Maclin match at Bound for Glory which Macliln won to regain the International Championship…[c]
A recap aired for the Kelani Jordan vs. Indi Hartwell Knockouts Championship match aired, where Kelani Jordan retained the Knockouts title…
The narrator then shifted the show to a focus on Eddie Edwards. The narrator noted that Eddie is the current longest tenured wrestler on the TNA roster. The narrator recapped Eddie’s championships. Eddie talked about Bound for Glory being a culmination of his entire career, and he was happy that it was in his hometown. The show then went to a recap of The System vs. Order 4 Hardcore War Match which featured weapons and a ton of thumbtacks…
A recap aired of the Leon Slater vs. Channing Lorenzo X Division Championship match from this past week’s NXT. Rehwoldt hyped Evans and Slater vs. Mr. Iguana and La Parka for NXT Halloween Havoc…
A recap package aired for the wonderful Leon Slater vs. Je’von Evans X Division Championship Match at Bound for Glory…
The show cut to a focus on Chris Bey, who was injured the day after Bound for Glory last year when he got paralyzed in a match against he Hardy Boyz. Bey said he couldn’t stand for 5 minutes at times this year, but it was watching TNA that helped him stand up and fight through the rehab. The show cut to Chris Bey’s segment from Bound for Glory. Backstage, Bey recapped how grim things felt for him during PT and how he never thought he would move his legs ever again.
He said he cried, staring at his motionless legs, and it was worse when doctors gave him 20-30% chance to ever walk again. He said he inspired himself to do six days of therapy per week to eventually get back to walking again…[c]
The show then moved on to a focus on the Hardys vs. Dudleys match at Bound for Glory. Devon talked about how he gave up a football career to start a wrestling career. He talked about how he was trained at a boxing gym by Johnny Rodz. Bully Ray said he was supposed to be trained by Rodz, but wasn’t. Bully said the first day he every met Johnny, Johnny immediately put Bully in the ring while a local New York news show was filming a segment at the gym.
Devon noted that boxing greats like Mohammed Ali and George Foreman used that gym to train and Johnny Rodz took a small part of that gym to train pro wrestlers. Bully talked about Devon being Bully’s opponent in that impromptu match that Johnny Rodz put him in. Jeff Hardy talked about how he and Matt were fans of the Dudleys when watching ECW Hardcore TV and how that led to them wondering what it would be like to be in the ring with them.
Bully talked about how he and Devon were polar opposites as characters with Devon being the Righteous brother while he was the happy-go-lucky stuttering guy. Matt Hardy said he noticed the Dudleys innovating in 1998, especially by putting people through regular and flaming tables. Bully talked about how the fans loved him while they hated Devon for bullying his character. Devon said he and Bully’s goal was to get to WWE, but he was scared of leaving their small pond of ECW.
Bully said WWE was serious about bringing them in and they told Paul Heyman that if Heyman would just offer them one dollar more than what WWE was offering, they would stay because they thought they were really building something in ECW. Bully noted that Heyman told him that he can’t go into a bidding war against WWE. Bully said that Heyman didn’t make sense because $1 was not a bidding war, and how that made Bully realize that Heyman was in bed with WWE.
Matt said he and Jeff bonded quickly with the Dudleys when they joined WWE and how he loved the contrast of brawlers being against high flyers. Devon said he really liked their instant chemistry going against each other and how it felt like they were in sync in the ring. Bully talked about how he knew that there was instant chemistry and that led to Royal Rumble 2000 for their famous first Tables Match. Bully said that tables match put tag team matches back on the map in pro wrestling.[c]
The Dudleys vs. Hardys focus package continued. Bully talked about how he and Devon left WWE amicably in 2005. A replay aired of Brother Ray and Brother Devon debuting in TNA in 2005. Bully talked about how he really wanted a meaningful story and reason for the Dudleys to break up and they decided to make their story around the one move no one has kicked out of, the Dudley Death Drop.
Bully said that the 3D is the most protected finisher in pro wrestling and Chris Sabin kicked out of it when Devon pinned him. Bully noted that them getting shocked led to them eating Skull and Bones and losing the match. Bully then recapped their fake retirement segment that led to Bubba turning on Devon to become “Bully Ray”. Bully said that his run set the table for a huge run.
Matt said seeing Bully break away from his tag team partner and risk against the guaranteed cheers was so intriguing to him. Matt said Bully did such a great job getting people to hate him and forget about the lovable Dudleys. Devon talked about wanting to have this final match to show his younger kids who didn’t know him as a wrestler to know how great he was. Devon’s younger daughter did an interview with her dad.
Jeff and Jeff’s daughter gave some words about how they love each other and how the daughters are proud at the impact that Jeff has had on people. A graphic hyped The Hardys vs. DarkState NXT Championship match for Halloween Havoc. The narrator gave final hype for the Dudleys vs. Hardys match at Bound for Glory. Highlights then aired of the Dudleys and Hardys final match where the Dudleys left their boots in the ring…
The show then moved on to focus on the Trick Williams vs. Mike Santana World Championship match. Clips were shown of Santana’s daughter Ariana and Konnan’s mentor Konnan were shown as they were backstage with Santana throughout the day. Santana talked about how he was looking to represent his family and Puerto Rican heritage. The narrator noted that Satnana became the new face of TNA Wrestling and how his story has just begun.
Santana gave a speech backstage and said each and everyone in the locker room got him and that he’s ready to rock the F’n world with all of them. Santana told the interviewer that he’s the first Puerto Rican world champion in TNA and nobody is going to take that from him. He said he’s usually humble, but let him be selfish for once and have this one. Santana shouted out Pedro Morales, Savio Vega, Colon Family, Homicide, Amazing Red, Low Ki, and other latinos for setting a good legacy.
Santana said everyone better come with the same intensity as him when they come after the title because Santana started from the dirt to get to where he is today. He said he’s losing the title over his dead body…
The Narrator gave an overall recap and hype speech about TNA and Bound for Glory…
The Fade to Black special closed with a replay of the Trick Williams vs. Mike Santana match for the TNA Championship at Bound for Glory…
John’s Thoughts: A good recap and clip episode of TNA and both a better post show than last week’s put together show, as well as this was a good sales pitch for Bound for Glory. Giving away the International and World Title matches on this show actually works as a sales pitch because while those were good matches, you can easily rank the Hardys vs. Dudleys and Slater vs. Evans matches as being objectively better and matches that would be worth buying a replay.
You can tell that this show was meant to sell replays given that a majority of the time was given to the Hardys and Dudleys. Nostalgia is a hell of a drug, and reliable in selling tickets and PPV buys. I was at TNA Rebellion when they were at the University of Southern California earlier in the year, and I could swear that around 60%, if not more, of the attendance was there for the Hardys (especially Jeff). The Hardys are TNA’s biggest asset right now and they have to make sure to keep them on the roster and as healthy as possible.
Past the nostalgia, TNA has developed into a solid wrestling product with storytelling that is satisfying rather than being frustrating. This Fade to Black documentary video started off good too, with some bonus DLC. It’s interesting seeing how front-facing Carlos Silva is making himself. He’s walking the fine line between being Cary Silkin and Dixie Carter. Let’s hope he doesn’t make himself the main character of the show like Dixie did (and arguably D’Amore did randomly at points).
All this said, uhm, what is next week’s show? What are the next few weeks of shows because the next TNA taping is a live show on November 13 at Full Sail University? I guess if you want to see first-run TNA content, you might just have to watch NXT on CW and Halloween Havoc, where TNA talent are consistently featured.
Bully Ray truly is a prick just to be a prick as well as beyond arrogant.
True story.