Impact Bound for Glory notes: Title changes, returns & surprises, Hard to Kill

Several title changes, surprises and debuts highlighted Impact Bound for Glory from Albany, New York, including an unexpected winner in the Call Your Shot gauntlet match.

Returns and debuts

Per usual, the Call Your Shot gauntlet match saw several surprises with five spots open going into the night.

And, surprises there were.

For the first time since September 2014, Bully Ray returned to Impact in the match and ended up winning it. He last was seen in Impact teaming with Devon (Dudley) as part of Team 3D, losing to the American Wolves and the Hardyz in a triple threat match. He was one of the final two competitors in the gauntlet along with Steve Maclin, eventually pinning Maclin after a Bully Bomb.

With the win, Bully Ray now can cash in for a title shot against anyone in Impact at any time.

After Josh Alexander defended the World title against Eddie Edwards in the main event, Honor No More beat down Alexander until Bully Ray came out. He teased joining his old Ring of Honor rostermates before aligning with Alexander to run everyone off. He then went face-to-face with Alexander and said he will be his most legitimate title challenger yet.

After the show, it was announced that Bully Ray & Dreamer will take on Bullet Club’s Ace Austin & Chris Bey at Saturday’s TV taping in Albany.

On the pre-show, Dirty Dango (fka Fandango in WWE) made his Impact debut, answering the open challenge by Digital Media Champion Brian Myers. In late-September, Dango said he would be starting with a company on TV in several weeks. The newly blonde Dango eventually fell in defeat. 

Matt Cardona returned for the first time since April’s Rebellion. He dropped his then-Digital Media title to Rich Swann on a May Pro Wrestling Revolver show before tearing his bicep. Taylor Wilde also returned in the match, in addition to Rhino and Tommy Dreamer. Wilde was eliminated by Cardona, Cardona and Dreamer were eliminated by Bhupinder Gujjar, and Rhino was eliminated by Moose.

Frankie Kazarian returns to X-Division glory

For the sixth time in company history, Frankie Kazarian is the Impact X-Division champion following his win over Mike Bailey in the show opener.

In a fast-paced match, Kazarian tapped out Bailey with his crossface chicken wing after countering Bailey’s Ultima Weapon finisher with a cutter. The win ends Bailey’s near-four month run with the title.

Knockouts Tag Team title change

Nearly two months after losing the Knockouts Tag Team titles, Taya Valkyrie is once again a champion alongside new partner JesSICKa after the Death Dollz defeated VXT to win the titles.

The end came for Deonna Purrazzo & Chelsea Green when JesSICKa hit her Sickishi driver on Green, ending VXT’s 57-day run with the titles. They had won the belts from Valkyrie & Rosemary in August and defended them just once before tonight.

Hard to Kill date & location

Impact announced their return date to pay-per-view as Hard to Kill was announced for Friday, January 13th in Atlanta, Georgia.

Here’s the full results from Friday’s pay-per-view.