TNA iMPACT Builds Toward Bound For Glory as BDE Breaks Through and Two New Matches Take Shape
TNA iMPACT had a difficult balancing act Thursday night.
The October 1 episode was dedicated to the memory of Benjamin “PAC” Satterley, continuing what has become a wrestling-wide remembrance of a man whose influence stretched far beyond any one promotion.
But wrestling also has to keep moving.
And with Bound For Glory rapidly approaching, that's exactly what TNA did. This wasn't an episode built around one enormous match or one shocking reveal. Instead, TNA used its television time to move several pieces into position for its biggest event of the year.
BDE earned the biggest singles victory of his TNA run. Order 4 imploded. Two matches were added to Bound For Glory. And Syx made it very clear that attacking The Hardys was only the beginning.
BDE Picks the Right Night to Win: Sometimes your first victory matters. Sometimes when you get that victory matters even more. BDE defeated Mr. Elegance to earn the final position in the six-man X-Division Championship match at Bound For Glory. More importantly, TNA confirmed this was BDE's first singles victory in the company.
That's quite a way to get it.
BDE now joins Cedric Alexander, Fabian Aichner, KC Navarro, Rich Swann and Ryan Nemeth in the match for the X-Division Championship. I've always believed opportunity in wrestling is only as valuable as what you do once somebody gives it to you. Getting booked is an opportunity. Getting television time is an opportunity. Getting a match is an opportunity. But there comes a moment when you have to turn opportunity into momentum. I got one opportunity with TNA and I did everything I could with it, regardless of people's disbelief in me, and despite my own imposter syndrome. Sometimes one chance is all you get, and that's exactly what I asked for in my Gut check. This segment felt like that. The seizing of said opportunity!
For BDE, this could be that moment.
He didn't simply pick up his first singles win. He picked it up with TNA's biggest show of the year waiting on the other side of it. And the X-Division has historically been one of the best places in professional wrestling to make people remember your name.
Now he gets that chance.
Order 4 Finally Breaks: If BDE's night was about a door opening, Order 4's was about one being kicked off its hinges. Mustafa Ali and Special Agent 0 defeated Jason Hotch and John Skyler, but the match itself quickly became secondary to what happened afterward.
Ali continued the attack after the bell.
Hotch intervened.
And then Special Agent 0 showed where his allegiance really stood. At the direction of Tasha Steelz, Agent 0 attacked Hotch and Skyler. Then Steelz gave another order. Take out Mustafa Ali. Suddenly the muscle Ali once had standing beside him was standing over him. The chaos continued backstage until Santino Marella settled the matter the way professional wrestling has settled problems for generations: Put everybody in a ring together.
That gives us one of the two new matches added to Bound For Glory: Mustafa Ali will defend the TNA International Championship against Special Agent 0, Jason Hotch and John Skyler in a four-way match.
For me, this was probably one of the more important story-line developments of the episode. Faction breakups work best when they don't feel like somebody simply flipped a switch. There should be cracks. Then bigger cracks. Then eventually the structure can't support itself anymore. That's what Order 4 has been doing. Now the structure is gone.
Leon Slater Sends a Message to Nic Nemeth: Leon Slater didn't need much time against Joe Alonzo. After Alonzo spent considerably longer talking than Slater eventually spent beating him, the bell rang and Slater put him away almost immediately.
Simple.
Effective.
And exactly what it needed to be.
Nic Nemeth was watching from commentary ahead of his TNA World Championship defense against Slater at Bound For Glory. That's important. There are times when a wrestler needs 15 minutes to prove something. There are other times when the most effective statement you can make is: Bell rings. Move hits. Match over.
This was the latter.
Slater is heading into the biggest opportunity of his career. Presenting him as somebody capable of ending a match before his opponent has even had time to settle into it gives Nemeth something tangible to worry about.
Then came the visual that mattered...
Nemeth left his championships behind. Slater picked them up. Wrestling loves foreshadowing. Whether that image becomes prophetic is another matter entirely.
The Knockouts Championship Gets Personal: Indi Hartwell technically defeated Zoey Serrano, but I'm not sure “won” is the word Hartwell would use to describe her evening. Serrano used a steel chair, resulting in a disqualification, and continued attacking Hartwell afterward. Then TNA Knockouts World Champion Xia Brookside entered the ring and struck her Bound For Glory challenger with the championship itself.
This is exactly the kind of escalation a championship program needs as the pay-per-view gets closer. At some point, wanting a championship has to stop feeling theoretical. The belt needs to represent something. And when the champion uses that championship as a weapon against you, suddenly the thing you're chasing becomes personal.
Ricky Sosa Keeps Fighting The System:
Cedric Alexander defeated Ricky Sosa, but the result doesn't tell the entire story. Sosa had Alexander in trouble before the rest of The System became involved. With distractions piling up, Eddie Edwards entered the ring and delivered a low blow to Sosa, allowing Alexander to capitalize with the Lumbar Check. Sosa lost. But sometimes a loss can advance somebody more effectively than an uncomplicated victory. Especially when the story isn't that you weren't good enough.
It's that an entire group decided you were enough of a problem that they needed to get involved. Sosa faces Eddie Edwards at Bound For Glory. Thursday gave him another reason to want that match.
Syx Wants to Find Out How Hard It Is to Kill The Hardys: Then came Syx.Joseph Sawyer and Samuel Shaw addressed why they've been targeting members of the TNA roster. Their answer was essentially that they aren't finished. And sitting directly in their path are Matt and Jeff Hardy. The Hardys weren't interested in discussing it from a distance. Matt and Jeff confronted Syx, and Matt proposed the perfect environment for two men who have made a habit of attacking people wherever they please: Falls Count Anywhere. No disqualification. And now it's official!
The Hardys vs. Syx at Bound For Glory: I like this pairing for reasons that extend beyond the names involved. TNA isn't pretending The Hardys are simply another tag team. That would miss the entire point. Matt and Jeff Hardy have spent decades building reputations around surviving things professional wrestlers probably shouldn't survive.
Ladders.
Tables.
Falls.
Cages.
Injuries.
Entire eras of professional wrestling.
So if you're introducing a team whose message revolves around destruction, The Hardys are a fascinating measuring stick. You don't prove you're dangerous by attacking somebody easy to destroy. You prove it by trying to destroy the people wrestling has spent decades telling us are almost impossible to kill.
Jeff didn't even want to wait until Bound For Glory. But before the fight could begin, the lights went out. When they came back on, Syx was gone. That's how you leave a question hanging. And now we know exactly where that question will be answered.
Bound For Glory.
Remembering PAC: Above everything else, TNA dedicated Thursday's episode to Benjamin “PAC” Satterley. TNA's official results also preserve that dedication as part of the record of the show. It came one night after AEW dedicated Dynamite to him and amid tributes from wrestlers and promotions across the industry. There isn't really a clever wrestling transition for something like that. There shouldn't be. Sometimes wrestling is storylines, championships and selling tickets to the next show. And sometimes wrestling reminds you just how small this enormous industry can feel when one of its own is gone. TNA acknowledged Ben. Then the bell rang.
And wrestling continued...
Bound For Glory Is Taking Shape: That may ultimately be the biggest takeaway from this week's iMPACT. TNA didn't rely on one development to sell Bound For Glory. BDE earned the biggest singles opportunity of his TNA run...
Order 4 collapsed.
Mustafa Ali suddenly has three challengers for his International Championship.
Leon Slater reminded Nic Nemeth how quickly a match can end.
Indi Hartwell and Xia Brookside became more personal.
Ricky Sosa got another reason to come after Eddie Edwards.
And Syx discovered exactly what happens when you spend weeks attacking The Hardys: Eventually, The Hardys get to choose the rules. Two new matches were added to Bound For Glory in one night, while BDE punched his ticket into another.
That's productive television.
You don't need every segment to end with a shocking reveal.
You need people to leave television wanting to see what happens next.
With Bound For Glory only days away, TNA gave us several reasons to do exactly that.