On this, the night of Bound For Glory 2019, I can’t help but reflect.
Impact Wrestling is a storied company, one that a decade ago was at quite a high. But an almost inconceivable plummet followed. Years of shoddy, inconsistent booking brought about by constant shifts of creative heads, mixed with asinine business decisions. The company originally known as NWA: TNA went through rebrand after rebrand, fitting given their lack of identity. Once the undisputed #2 wrestling promotion in America, watched by nearly 2 million viewers on Spike TV, it was a shell of itself by the time that Scott D’Amore and Don Callis took over the day-to-day at the start of 2018.
But if there was ever anything consistently good to say about the company, it’s that somehow, someway, it always survived. And for the last two years, it’s been slowly picking itself back off the ground. They’ve finally established consistency with their product and reviews have been very solid. They did struggle with some awful TV networks, having dipped into the bottom of the barrel with their coverage… but recently, parent company Anthem completed the purchase of AXS TV, the same network that New Japan and Women of Wrestling air their shows on, and Impact unsurprisingly announced the move of their weekly show to this network as well.
That begins immediately after the event that occurred tonight, Bound For Glory 2019.
We stand at a turning point for this company. Pro wrestling as a whole is at the beginning of a unique period, especially in America. WWE’s deal on FOX ensures they will be unfathomably profitable and powerful for the foreseeable future, regardless of where they are in ratings or goodwill. AEW has arrived on the scene in a big way and their ability to draw an audience has shattered expectations every step of the way. MLW is trending upwards. NWA’s newest show Powerrr recently debuted to rave reviews.
And now, it would appear that once again, the unkillable cockroach of the profession known as Impact Wrestling is back on the rise.
One would be remiss not to follow along with the efforts. So here’s a quick rundown of the results of Bound For Glory 2019:
- The opener was referred to as a Call Your Shot Gauntlet match but seems more akin to a Royal Rumble style bout. This involved some surprise entries such as Kylie Rae, Joey Ryan and Swoggle. Veteran Eddie Edwards, who entered from #1, ended up winning the whole thing. Per the stip, he will now have a shot at any title of his choosing. (It was later announced that Joey Ryan had officially signed with the company.)
- Knockouts Champion Taya Valkyrie retained against Tenille Dashwood. Taya already came in with the record for the longest reign in the title’s history. Tenille, better known as WWE and NXT’s Emma, was seemingly not signed to a full-time contract, so the loss isn’t a big shock. It’s a solid time to be a free agent!
- The North retained their Tag Team Championships in a triple threat against the teams of Willie Mack & Rich Swann and Rob Van Dam & Rhyno. This bout surprisingly saw RVD of all people turn heel. He betrayed Rhyno and laying out Mack and Swann before making his leave.
- Michael Elgin defeated Naomichi Marufuji in what was billed as a dream match.
- Ace Austin defeated Daga, Ace Romero, Jake Crist & Tessa Blanchard in a multi-way ladder match for the X-Division Championship.
- Moose defeated the legendary Ken Shamrock.
- Impact World Champion Brian Cage defeated Impact’s #1 heel Sami Callihan in a No DQ match to retain.
