Impact Bound for Glory live results: Eric Young vs. Rich Swann
Impact’s biggest show of the year, Bound for Glory, takes place tonight.
All of Impact’s titles will be on the line. Eric Young will defend the Impact World title against Rich Swann. Their feud dates back to Slammiversary, when a returning Young was pinned by Swann during an elimination match for the World title. Since then, Young has relentlessly attacked Swann’s leg, nearly causing Swann to retire. Yet, Swann has managed to come back and looks to gain a measure of revenge tonight by winning the World title.
Deonna Purrazzo will defend the Impact Knockouts title against Kylie Rae. Purrazzo has also irked Rae’s friend Susie in recent weeks, who has shown signs of reverting back to her alter ego, Su Yung.
Other title matches include The Motor City Machine Guns defending the Impact World Tag Team titles in a fatal four way against The Good Brothers, The North, and Ace Austin & Madman Fulton. A six way intergender scramble match for the X Division title will also take place, which will include champion Rohit Raju, Chris Bey, Jordynne Grace, TJP, Trey Miguel, and Willie Mack.
The card rounds out with EC3 vs. Moose, Eddie Edwards vs. Ken Shamrock, and an intergender Call Your Shot gauntlet match where the winner will receive a championship match of their choice.
There will be a pre-show event starting at 7 pm Eastern called Countdown to Glory. The Rascalz vs. the Deaners has been set. The Impact Hall of Fame induction ceremony for Ken Shamrock will also take place.
Join us for live coverage starting tonight at 7 pm Eastern.
**********
Pre-show report by Bryan Rose:
Video messages from Bret Hart, Mick Foley, Chael Sonnen, Ariel Helwani, and Bas Rutten were shown, congratulating Shamrock on his Hall of Fame induction.
The Deaners (Cody Deaner and Cousin Jake defeated The Rascalz (Dezmond Xavier and Zachary Wentz)
The Deaners won following the T2G on Dez.
Ken Shamrock’s Impact Hall of Fame induction
The Rock said that he’s shared the ring with many people, but one man he owes debt and gratitude to is Ken Shamrock. At a time where he was cutting his teeth as a heel in WWE, he needed the best hero or badass, and that was Shamrock. He could have refused working with this kid, but he did. He called Ken a founding member of the UFC and the Attitude Era. He said he was extremely proud of Ken and thanked him for the memories.
Matt Striker then introduced Shamrock. He called this a journey and a lot of people got him here to this goal. He thanked Nelson Royal, who helped him get into professional wrestling. He thanked Vince McMahon for giving him the opportunity to enter the WWE at a time when wrestling was hot.
He thanked Bret Hart and The Rock for helping him build his character, and said he appreciated Rock’s speech. He then thanked his family and the fans all across the world. He finished the speech by thanking the fans as without them, athletes can’t do what they do.
**********
Don Callis and Josh Matthews on the commentary table.
X-Division Champion Rohit Raju defeated TJP, Willie Mack, Jordynne Grace, Chris Bey, and Trey Miguel in a scramble match
Contrary to the name of the match, this was one fall to the finish.
Early on, the story of the match was that everyone hates Raju and went after him, but in the pursuit, everyone ended up taking each other out, and meanwhile, Raju just dodged around and hid outside the ring.
TJP, Bey, and Miguel started with a fast pace sequence of counters and reversals, followed by one between Mack and Miguel. In that same vein, Grace and Mack had a powerhouse sequence with shoulder blocks.
TJP had a spot where he locked 4 wrestlers in different submissions at one point, only for Raju to break it all up one by one, taking advantage that none could defend themselves. Raju dominated the ring for a couple of minutes afterwards. He worked the most on Grace until Mack jumped in and took him out, and they went back to all focusing on Raju, taking turns to strike him.
We got everyone taking turns to take each other out in the ring, and into a sequence with everyone hitting dives one at a time. The highlight being Bey dropping kicking Miguel, who was on TJP’s shoulders, and onto the crowd on the floor.
We got a tower of doom spot with Miguel on top, Bey and TJP in the middle, Grace pulling them all from a tree of woe position, only for Raju to jump in, hit a foot stomp on Grace for a two count.
Everyone took turns hitting their signature moves on the prior, ending with TJP coming close to submitting Miguel if not for Grace, that broke it up. Raju took the opportunity, took out Grace to the floor, allowed TJP to hit the Mamba splash, and right before the pin, Raju jumped in, hit a knee on TJP and stole the pin on Miguel. Good action all around, but considerably slower than the usual X-Division match.
– We got a skit from the Rosemary and Bravo wedding, deciding to get married in the ring. Jacobs interrupted them to tell them to get ready for the Call Your Shot Gauntlet. Rhino and Heath hyped each other out.
This is live and we got the Rhino and Heath spot stopped by the director and restarted.
We got a video package introducing the participants, stipulations, and storylines heading into the Call Your Shot Gauntlet.
Rhino pinned Sami Callihan to win the Call Your Shot Gauntlet
Winner of the match gets a shot at any championship they desire, but in addition, Rhino and Heath’s jobs are on the line if neither can win the gauntlet, but in return, if either does, Heath gets a contract with Impact Wrestling.
Opening spots went to Rhino, who lost the 5-way match this last Tuesday’s Impact, and the returning Daivari, who was ripped. 3rd spot went to Larry D from XXXL, who went straight for Rhino, teaming up with Daivari. Crazzy Steve came in as #4. At #5, the other half of XXXL, Acey Romero, came in and started dominating the ring as a team.
Tenille Dashwood came in as number 6, as soon as she noticed that it was all giants in the ring, she sent Kaleb with a K inside instead. Havok came in next, and she wasn’t afraid to mix it up, got in and had a couple of hoss spots with the men, eliminating Kaleb quickly. Tenille got in the ring either way.
Brian Myers entered at #8, eliminated Crazzy Steve with a judo toss over the ropes. Swoggle returned to Impact at #9, and along with Myers, eliminated Daivari. Myers betrayed Swoggle and eliminated him next. Tommy Dreamer came out with Road Warrior Animal face paint, haircut, weapons, and went straight for Myers, with whom he has been feuding with. Swoggle was eliminated, but still helped Dreamer with a mini Doomsday Device.
Alisha Edwads came in next at #11. Before she could do anything, Myers eliminated Dreamer and Edwards. Kiera Hogan entered at #12. While she wrestled Havok, Myers pretended to take a picture with Tenille and eliminated her instead. Lucky 13 was Taya Valkyrie, along with Rosemary and Bravo with her. Taya came in strong, chopped around D and Romero, hit the running hip knee attacks.
Fallah Bahh was next on #14. Havok eliminated Hogan, and Taya eliminated Havok, only to get eliminated by XXXL. During the elimination of Hogan, she was tossed on top of Tasha Steelz, who was out there as second, but Steelz’s head went straight to a garbage can that Dreamer had brought out. No clue if she legit hurt herself.
#15 was the big surprise of the returning James Storm. He took on both XXXL, eliminated D first. Adam Thornstowe was #16. Luster The Legend was #17. Heath came in at 18, eliminated Acey Romero and Brian Myers.
Sami Callihan entered at #19, and finally, as per last week’s stipulation, entered Hernandez at #20. Hernandez and Reno Scum have been a team for some weeks and went straight for Bahh, who stole Hernandez’s money. The spot here was that the money roll fell to the floor and Bahh would rather eliminate himself for the money than win the match. Likewise, Hernandez left the match in pursuit of Bahh.
Thornstowe and Luster were eliminated next, leaving Callihan, Heath, Rhino, and James Storm as the final four. Heath seems to be hurt. Callihan eliminated Storm and Heath. It’s down to Rhino vs Callihan in a one-on-one match.
Callihan hit a cactus special, but Rhino kicked out. Callihan went for a chair, but was taken away by the referee, and with the distraction, Rhino gored him and won the trophy. Ok match, nothing special other than the return of James Storm.
– Gia Miller interviewed The North about their upcoming match. Josh Alexander said that the odds are against them, but they work best under pressure and tonight they’re taking theit title back. Ethan Page said that they won’t only win the titles back, but will also hurt someone. Both fantastic promos, but Page is just on another level.
– We got a video package recapping the ECIII and Moose feud.
Moose vs. EC3 Cinematic Match
This was a cinematic fight and not an official match with a referee. Moose arrived at an underground ring where EC3 was beating up some geek while his disciples watched on the outside. Moose and EC3 got face to face before coming to blows.
EC3 dominated for a couple of minutes until Moose dropped him with a low blow, busting him open with the exposed turnbuckle. Moose beat him up until he seemed to lose his mind which somewhat helped him make a comeback. They brawled outside the ring with EC3 getting the better of Moose.
EC3 started cutting a promo about how the TNA title is for those who earn it like all the champions in the past, and so he pushed Moose to become one. As EC3 was about to hit his finishers, he had some flashbacks to his past that blocked him, allowing Moose to hit the lights out. Moose beat him up some more before EC3’s minions started chanting for him. Right as EC3 told him to ‘control his narrative’, Moose finished him off with a title belt shot.
This wasn’t particularly good and it was long, but if it all ends with Moose finally becoming the world champion, i’m all in.
Aside from the dark atmosphere, it seemed the whole purpose of doing this match as a cinematic match was to make it really bloody and let Moose, who was wearing all white, walk out all full of blood.
– We got a recap of the Impact Hall of Fame induction of Ken Shamrock. They showed The Rock’s promo and some footage of the Shamrock ceremony.
Ken Shamrock (w/ Sami Callihan) defeated Eddie Edwards
They worked this as an MMA match. Shamrock early on caught Eddie with a knee out of nowhere, got his back and started beating him up, got a rear naked choke. Edwards reversed, got in Shamrock’s guard for a bit. All setting up the theme of the match.
Shamrock worked over Edwards for several minutes, switching between punching and kneeing the head, or kicking out Edwards’ injured leg. Edwards in return, would try to use his strong style strikes to make a comeback, but Shamrock would easily cut him off again.
Eventually, Edwards landed a desperation blue thunder bomb and started going after Shamrock’s legs. Edwards landed a dive and missile dropkick to finally turn things around, right before he started chasing the tiger bomb, but once he hit it, Shamrock reversed the pin for a triangle hold. Likewise, Shamrock reversed the backpack stunner pin with a rear naked.
Edwards hit the Boston knee party and locked in a single leg crab for the submission tease, but before he could, Callihan turned off the lights. When they were back, Callihan and Edwards both had weapons, allowing Edwards to take out Callihan, but the discretion was enough for Shamrock to lock in the ankle lock from behind and submit Edwards.
This was good for what it was. Shamrock gave us a good match, some of his strikes looked quite fake, but some looked way stiff.
The North (Ethan Page & Josh Alexander) defeated Motor City Machine Guns (Alex Shelley & Chris Sabin), Ace Austin & Madman Fulton, and The Good Brothers (Karl Anderson & Doc Gallows) to become the new Impact Tag Team Champions
Match started with The North taking out Sabin and Shelley, the latter with a piledriver on the ramp. Teasing that he had a stinger and Sabin had to compete by himself or relinquish the titles. Sabin chose to fight.
Story of the match early on was that Sabin was legal and wouldn’t tag out or was kept away from the Good Brother’s corner while The North, Ace, and Fulton took turns to work over him.
Sabin stayed as babyface in peril for a good part of the match, both heel teams got a lengthy run working over him. It wasn’t until Sabin got a desperation DDT on Fulton that he was able to drag himself to the Good Brother’s corner to tag out.
Karl Anderson got the hot tag and ran wild over Austin. Gallows came in and for the assisted neckbreaker for a near fall, followed by the biggest hoss fight with Gallows taking out Fulton after a striking battle.
Gallows took out The North, but Sabin got the blind tag to run wild over them and Anderson who also got a blind tag a minute later. Sabin and Anderson had a good exchange of strikes until Austin got the blind tag. Sabin started taking everyone out around the ring, hit the cradle shock for a two count when Page broke it off.
Page and Alexander came in, but couldn’t put down Sabin with their finisher, but once again, Sabin had to rely on tagging Anderson and Gallows.
Finish saw Anderson rolled up Josh Alexander, but Alexander kicked out, sending Anderson right into Page who had the title belt at hand, hit Anderson with the belt, and left him open for Alexander to pin him for the win and regain the titles. Great match, no idea why Shelley was gone for the whole match, but the angle gives him and Sabin an argument for a return match.
– Backstage, Rosemary and Havok left to revive Father James Mitchell, but once left alone, John E. Bravo flipped out at Taya. Hints of a Taya betrayal later on.
– We got a great video package for Kylie Rae vs Deonna Purrazzo. Great promos by both.
Su Yung defeated Deonna Purrazzo (with Kimber Lee) to become the new Knockouts Champion
Deonna made her entrance first, but when Kylie Rae’s music came up, she didn’t walk out. Purrazzo cut a promo that Kylie Rae had no-showed and instead, called out anyone who wanted to wrestle. Out came Su Yung. This is a weird development that is going to annoy a lot of people.
Purrazzo pretended to be scared of Su Yung and commentary sold it as her not having prepared for a match with her, but rather for a technical match with Rae.
Su Yung dominated early on, at one point dropping Purrazzo with a backbreaker on the apron. Purrazzo would try taking down Yung with roll ups, but couldn’t keep her down. Yung in return, kept her offense with palm strikes from every corner.
Eventually, Purrazzo managed to block an arachrana and turn things around for her. As usual, she worked over Yung’s arm with quick snaps and submissions on it. In a tribute to SANADA, Purrazzo locked Yung with a nudo on the ropes for the dropkick. She followed with it a trifecta of German supleys, but before she could finish Yung, she got dropped with a DDT for the ten count tease.
Su Yung had a second wind over Purrazzo with palm strikes and a rolling senton from the apron to the floor, followed by a pedigree, but not even that was enough to keep Purrazzo down. Yung brought out her glove.
Amongst the chaos of Yung trying to lock in the mandible claw, the ref took a bump and thus he couldn’t count for Yung’s visible pin. Kimber Lee took out Yung with a chair and helped Purrazzo Pillmanize Yung, who managed to dodge.
Yung got the claw on Purrazzo, poison mist on Lee, but Purrazzo escaped. Su Yung hit a stunner and the Panic Switch and won the match, regaining the title. I can understand where they want to go with this, but ending Purrazzo’s reign and changing a match on the spot is not the right way to do it. Ok match overall, it got really good at the end.
– Matthews, Rayne, and Callis announced that Impact is bringing back the Knockout’s Tag Team Titles, first champions crowned at Hard To Kill 2021, on January 16, live on pay-per-view.
– We got the video package for Young vs Swann, good promos by both.
Rich Swann defeated Eric Young to become the new Impact World Champion
Early on, Young kept trying to go after Swann’s bad leg, but the challenger kept either dodging or reversing, until he got enough momentum to send Young off the ring. They brawled a bit outside the ring after Swann hit a dive, but it was here that Young tossed Swann into the apron, landing head first, teasing that Swann had injured his neck.
Young started going after the neck, he hit a top rope neckbreaker, clubbed at the neck, kicked him behind the head, but Swann kept fighting back. Fantastic selling by Swann after every kickout, and great comments by Callis on how a neck injury spreads through the nerves.
Slowly, but surely, Young started to get cocky, and thus started distracting himself shouting at the camera and at Swann, who in return, started to get angrier and power up, until he exploded into a flurry of strikes and huge top rope takedown.
Swann hit a big diamongiri, jumping leg-scissors, and a frog splash combo for a near fall. Young hit a falling elbow on the neck, and right into a crossface, but Swann made the ropes.
Swann and Young exchanged strikes in the middle of the ring until EY got another neckbreaker on Swann. Young then took down Swann going for the injured ankle again. Swann escaped a piledriver attempt to take down Young with a kick combo and a standing phoenix splash for a two count. Young had Swann on the tree of woe, but Swann got ahold of Young’s neck for leverage and swung around for a cutter.
Finish Swann hit a lethal injection and a phoenix splash for the win. Fantastic match, great storytelling.
The babyface roster came out to celebrate with Swann as the show went off the air.