IMPACT Wrestling: Bound For Glory 2020 (Oct. 24, 2020) -- Results & Afterthoughts

Bound for Glory was a professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by Impact Wrestling. It took place on October 24, 2020 at the Skyway Studios in Nashville, Tennessee. It was the 16th event under the Bound for Glory chronology.

Eight matches were contested at the event, including one on the pre-show. In the main event, Rich Swann defeated Eric Young to win the Impact World Championship. In other prominent matches, The North (Ethan Page and Josh Alexander) defeated The Motor City Machine Guns (Alex Shelley and Chris Sabin), The Good Brothers (Doc Gallows and Karl Anderson), and Ace Austin and Madman Fulton to win the Impact World Tag Team Championship, and Su Yung defeated Deonna Purrazzo to win the Impact Knockouts Championship.

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The pre-show/countdown to BFG special held the induction ceremony for Ken Shamrock being inducted into the IMPACT Hall of Fame, where The Rock/Dwayne Johnson appeared on IMPACT Wrestling (via satellite) to give a few words into his honor. I'm sure a few people in the IWC and over in WWE's heads exploded to see him on an IMPACT show of all places. 

Never say never in 2020, folks. 

Tag Team Match
The Deaners (Cody Deaner and Cousin Jake) def. The Rascalz (Dez and Wentz)

Six-way Intergender Scramble Match for the Impact X Division Championship

Rohit Raju (c) def. Chris Bey, Jordynne Grace, TJP, Trey, and Willie Mack

This was a fun match to kick this show off to a great start. IMPACT never seems to disappoint with these X-Division openers for their annual Bound For Glory events, and this match was no different. This match served to highlight the athletism of everyone involved in the X-Division with a lot of back and forth action, where I was honestly convinced that anyone could walk away from this match as the champion at one point. Jordynne Grace even held her own against the boys and didn't look like a stranger in paradise doing it either. I loved Rohit's spot where he shouted, "EQUALITY!" before giving her a Ropehung Diving Double Foot Stomp. I was a little scared at first from Jordynne's landing afterwards, but she seemed to be fine.

After jobbing for the better part of a year or two, I have to admit that Rohit Raju is turning me into a fan of his character from his ongoing success as this chicken shit heel that seems to slip out of every close call to capturing his precious X-Division Championship. 

20 wrestler Intergender Call Your Shot Gauntlet Match; where the winner could choose any championship match of their choice.

Rhino won by last eliminating Sami Callihan

Since Rhino won, then Heath also won a full time contract with Impact Wrestling. Had neither Heath nor Rhino won, Rhino would be fired.

This was your typical Royal Rumble-esque over-the-top-rope battle royal with a few surprise entrants, such as Shawn Daivari (who I was surprised that he wasn't going by his previous IMPACT name of Sheik Abdul Bashir), Swoggle (formerly Hornswoggle in WWE), and Tommy Dreamer (who was paying a homage to the late Road Warrior Animal by wearing his merchandise and signature face paint. There were reports going around stating that Heath Slater was originally set to win this match, but Slater ended up getting injured shortly after hitting the ring. Fortunately, Rhino was able to pick up the win instead and save face for this match stipulation. Outside of that, this match easily forgettable, even though it was no less entertaining. 

Singles Match

Moose def. EC3

IMPACT Wrestling was the company that first popularized these "cinematic" matches back with the infamous "Final Deletion" segments with Broken Matt Hardy, so you know they weren't going to allow themselves to be upstaged by WWE and All Elite Wrestling's attempts over the past few months.

I can't say that this is my favorite cinematic match of the year, but this match definitely served it's purpose as I was wondering where they were going with this feud between Moose and EC3. EC3 ultimately became the sacrificial lamb to give Moose the hardened edge that he needed instead of parading around on delusions of grandeur while hanging onto relics of the past. 

Control the narrative. 

If they want to direct Moose towards the IMPACT World Championship in the coming months, then I'm all for it. I'm ready to see what this new and improved Moose can do with this new direction. As for EC3, I don't think this was a burial either. I think he did this to steer Moose towards his true purpose - the IMPACT World Championship. As long as Moose was content with parading around with that relic of the old regime, he would be forever disregarded as a contender and a threat to the proper IMPACT World Championship.

Singles Match

Ken Shamrock (with Sami Callihan) def. Eddie Edwards by submission

The newest member of the IMPACT Wrestling Hall of Fame bested Eddie Edwards in a match that I could have seen them doing on this upcoming episode of IMPACT Wrestling on AXS TV. It wasn't a bad match, just nothing that I could have seen as PPV worthy. The match played to both men's strengths and it didn't look like Shamrock wasn't gassed like he normally looks in singles matches like this nowadays. Plus, the interference from Sami Callihan during the finish gives Edwards the excuse for a rematch too so it's win-win all around. 

Four-way Tag Team Match for the Impact World Tag Team Championship

The North (Ethan Page and Josh Alexander) def. The Motor City Machine Guns (Alex Shelley and Chris Sabin) (c), The Good Brothers (Doc Gallows and Karl Anderson), and Ace Austin and Madman Fulton

This match started off with an injury angle to write Alex Shelley out of the contest, forcing Chris Sabin to go the entire title defense alone. He put up a good fight and definitely proved why he's one of IMPACT's only Triple Crown winners in company history, but in the end, the numbers game got the best of him. I'm still iffy about the pairing of Madman Fulton and Ace Austin, but I thought they did fine with their spots in this match. I really liked how Madman Fulton was chopped down to size while he had Austin on his shoulders. I popped huge for The North picking up the win with everything right again in the world with them as the IMPACT World Tag Team Champions. 

If I could be selfish, I wish The North could have faced The Revival/FTR in this company over going to AEW. That match would have ruled too.

Singles Match for the Impact Knockouts Championship
Su Yung def. Deonna Purrazzo (c) (with Kimber Lee)

Going into this match, IMPACT continued to air the promotional packages and promos from both Deonna and Kylie Rae leading up to the actual match, but when it came time for the match, Kylie Rae was nowhere to be found. Watching this live, I thought it was strange that Deonna came out first being the defending champion, but what was going on was made painfully clear when Kylie Rae was nowhere to be found. I know that a lot of people were upset that this match didn't transpire, despite IMPACT putting a lot of time into promoting the match. Various news outlets are reporting that Kylie Rae suffered some sort of undisclosed injury and wasn't cleared to compete. Su Yung serving as the impromptu replacement was a clever move as they can EASILY write this off as Su Yung reemerging as part of the storyline between Suzie and her best friend, Kylie Rae. 

Whatever they do to explain Kylie Rae's absence, they have an easy and ripe storyline sitting there for the taking with the built-in narrative already established about Suzie and Kylie's friendship over the last few months. 

Suzie has been having "episodes" of Su Yung coming out for months in her matches and it makes absolutely perfect sense that Su Yung would reemerge after the vicious beating that Deonna and Kimber Lee gave Suzie on IMPACT a few weeks ago. Plus, there's no denying that Su Yung fits the occasion with Halloween right around the corner. That's why I wasn't upset that Deonna lost the title here, even though it was announced that she had recently signed a long-term deal with the company despite working without one for the last few months. Hell, she was lucky to be promoted and pushed this high within the division for this long without a contract period. I wouldn't be worried though as they could easily put the title back on her on the next set of TV tapings, depending how they play out the aftermath of this match.

Singles Match for the Impact World Championship

Rich Swann def. Eric Young (c)

After the excellent build to this match over the course of the last few months, we finally have come down to Rich Swann and Eric Young headlining this PPV. Who would have called this as the main event for Bound For Glory 2020 a year or two ago before the pandemic swept up the world? IMPACT has done a masterful job of rehabilitating Eric Young after WWE completely neglected and misused him on the main roster. If I'm perfectly honest, I wasn't too crazy about his NXT run as the leader of Sanity either, but that's besides the point. EY played the part of a sadistic maniac, willing to do anything and everything to put Rich Swann on the shelf for good. Swann put his livelihood and his career on the line and kept coming back for more and more punishment until he was finally to put EY away. That was the narrative of this match and it just worked. My only knock against this match is that it dragged on a little longer than I would have liked, but I get it - it was the final chapter in this monumental feud and they wanted to drive the point home before Swann got his fairy tale ending. 

Not a bad show from start to finish. Both Swann and his real life wife, Su Yung, can both go home happy as IMPACT's resident married couple both holding championship gold.

That was definitely a positive note to end on tonight.