With Bound for Glory just 24 hours away, Thursday's Impact on AXS will finish setting up the pay-per-view including the Call Your Shot gauntlet match.
In the featured match, rivals Steve Maclin and Moose will go head-to-head with mutual rival Sami Callihan as special referee. Both Maclin and Moose are part of the Friday's gauntlet match -- one Moose won last year.
Ahead of their title match Friday, Knockouts Champion Jordynne Grace and Masha Slamovich will sign their contract and come face-to-face.
In a preview of Friday's Tag Team title match, The Kingdom's Matt Taven will face Alex Shelley one-on-one.
As he prepares to challenge X-Division Champion Mike Bailey Friday, Frankie Kazarian takes on Kenny King.
Mia Yim will take on Gisele Shaw ahead of her match with Mickie James Friday. Shaw is also in the gauntlet match.
The BTI pre-show match will feature Bullet Club's Juice Robinson vs. Alex Zayne.
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Before the Impact
The BTI preshow featured a match between the two NJPW talents.
Juice Robinson vs Alex Zayne
Despite Zayne being a part of the junior division and Robinson being a heavyweight, there wasn’t too much difference in size between the two men. Juice was slightly more powerful, dumping Zayne onto the apron with a spinebuster which looked brutal. Zayne took Robinson over with a head scissors, but Juice was able to follow up with a side kick and then a cannonball.
Zayne hit a springboard moonsault onto Juice on the floor, but Robinson cut him off while he was on the top rope. Robinson hit a superplex and then held on to give Zayne a front suplex onto the ropes before hitting a double knee gut buster for a 2-count.
Robinson missed a second cannonball attempt but did a back rake to Zayne and hit the Left Hand of God before going for a powerbomb. Zayne countered out of it with a hurricanara and eventually hit a powerbomb of his own for a 2-count. Zayne took Robinson off the top turnbuckle with a hurricanara but Robinson hot the knees up when he went for the Cinnamon Twist. Robinson hit a lariat for a 2-count, but hit the Rockslide for the win.
WINNER: Juice Robinson
The show opened with a tribute image for Antonio Inoki, which was a classy thing to do.
Frankie Kazarian vs Kenny King
Good opening match from Kazarian and King here with Kazarian getting a needed win before his X-Division title match at Bound for Glory.
Kazarian and King showed some nice technical wrestling to open the match before going into a series of roll ups for 2-counts. King blocked an O’Connor roll, but ate a clothesline. Kazarian missed his guillotine leg drop on the apron and King dropkicked the ropes into the face of Kazarian. I liked that spot.
King hit a tope and started to get the heat for a few minutes. King stole Kazarian’s springboard leg drop and got a 2-count of it. Both men returned to exchanging pinfall attempts, and it ended with Kazarian hitting a belly-to-belly into the corner on King. King seemed to crash right onto his head, and I’m not sure if he didn’t go up enough or if Kazarian didn’t lift enough, but it looked brutal.
Kazarian hit a float over spinning neckbreaker for a 2-count. Kazarian hit a springboard legdrop of his own for a 2-count. King hit a capture suplex for a 2-count and hit a dragon suplex followed by a tiger driver for a 2-count. Kazarian locked King in a crossface chicken wing after countering out of a TKO attempt for the win.
WINNER: Frankie Kazarian
A highlight video aired of Kazarian’s time as X-Division champion in the past while highlighting Mike Bailey’s accomplishments in his first X-Division reign. This was very good.
A highlight video aired for Josh Alexander and Eddie Edwards, showing how desperate Edwards is to become the Impact Champion. I really liked this, as it highlighted everything Edwards is doing to be champ.
A video aired showing more of Mike Bailey’s X-Division title reign, this time with Bailey doing the voiceover and highlighting that he had to beat Kazarian to establish his own legacy, leaving Kazarian in the past.
Mia Yim vs Gisele Shaw
Mickie James, Yim's opponent for Friday, was on commentary.
Good match from Yim and Shaw, with Shaw taking one of the best bumps for eat da feet that I have seen.
Yim hit a hurricanrana on Shaw early on in the match, leaving Shaw on the floor to trash talk Mickie James at the commentary table. Yim locked on a guillotine choke, but Shaw drove Yim back to the corner to break it. Shaw necked Yim on the ropes and hit a tornillo to the floor on Yim. Shaw hit a suplex, but Yim fired up with chops soon thereafter.
Shaw hit a spinning kick and then Yim hit a headbutt and both crashed to the mat. Yim hit a cannonball on Shaw in the corner, but Shaw grabbed the ropes to break the pin. Shaw went for a knee strike and Yim countered it into eat da feet for the pinfall.
James and Yim came face to face after the match, showing respect while making it clear neither was going to back down when James’ career is on the line tomorrow at Bound for Glory.
WINNER: Mia Yim
A video aired for the Call Your Shot gauntlet, highlighting the previous winners and the rules.
A video aired of the terrible finish at Victory Road when Killer Kelly choked out the referee when she faced Tasha Steelz, saying that she was going to be in the Call Your Shot gauntlet. As she was sitting on her red couch in the creepy red room, Steelz and Savannah Evans attacked her while the production crew filming her video stood on. I liked this until that happened.
A video showed Raven’s debut in Impact Wrestling way back in 2003 and talked about his induction to the Impact Hall of Fame. Raven’s match with Jeff Jarrett for the title was my first TNA show years ago.
Brian Myers was walking backstage talking about how he was going to defend his Digital Media title in an open challenge tomorrow night. Some weird dude that’s been hanging out with Eric Young walked in yelling. Delirious screamed at him about the Twilight Zone and other gibberish, which was a better promo than many can cut. Myers then yelled at a random woman because he thought she was the agent for Black Taurus.
A recap of the feud between Masha Slamovich and Jordynne Grace aired.
Steve Maclin vs Moose [Sami Callihan As Special Guest Referee]
If Callihan wanted Maclin to win, he could have just DQ’d Moose for something stupid rather than letting a match go for 15 minutes, but I still enjoyed this for what it was. It seems the feud between those three is far from over despite a barbed wire match at Victory Road.
Moose and Maclin picked right up where they left off at Victory Road, throwing punches. Callihan went to enforce the rules in the corner, but turned his back and then said “Keep going” to both guys, letting them get away with it. Whoever got Callihan his referee license should be fired, but it makes for an interesting match.
Maclin hit a tope suicida as blood started pouring from his forehead again, with the wounds from Victory Road showing. Moose and Maclin brawled around ringside as Callihan yelled, “Wrestling!” to pop the crowd while not enforcing the rules. Callihan checked on the wrestlers and asked if they were okay in a funny way.
Callihan’s commentary and antics got over, but took away from the match itself as it made the referee the focus. It was entertaining though. Callihan told Moose he was doing a good job for hitting a flying back elbow. Moose wiped Maclin’s blood on Callihan’s shirt. Moose nailed Maclin with a big boot and Callihan marked out a little and said, “That was a good one!”
Moose went for a rolling elbow, but Maclin countered with a forearm and hit a hard spear in the corner on Moose. Callihan took hit time getting to the mat, counting slowly, which made Maclin mad. Matt Rehwoldt told us Scott D’Amore made Callihan the guess referee, so I guess we know who to fire. Moose hit a spear on Maclin but Callihan decided to piledrive Moose and Maclin both before rolling Maclin onto Moose.
WINNER: Steve Maclin
Backstage, Shogun, Jack Price and Jason Hotch were arguing about who would be the final entrant in the 20-person Call Your Shot Gauntlet. Hotch won a game of rock/paper/scissors over Shogun and as he was going to Scott D'Amore's office, Joe Hendry popped out and revealed he was the final entrant instead. His music hit and everyone danced, including the production crew. I loved this so much.
The Death Dollz (Taya Valkyrie & JesSICKa) vs The Swingerellas (w/ Johnny Swinger & Zicky Dice)
Valkyrie and JesSICKa took out Swingerella #1 and #2 as VXT looked on. Jessicka hit the Sickishi driver for the pinfall quickly as a very alarmed Dice tried to get Swingerella #2 out of the ring.
Gia Miller talked to VXT. Deonna Purrazzo & Chelsea Green indicated that the last time they faced JesSICKa, she had to be repackaged from Havok to what she is now.
WINNERS: The Death Dollz
Alex Shelley vs Matt Taven (w/ Mike Bennett & Maria Kanellis)
It’s extremely difficult for Alex Shelley to have a bad match, and this was not the exception. Shelley and Taven had a good one here, though I could do with slightly less interference. I liked how the babyfaces overcame it though, and it did get heat for the Kingdom.
Taven went for the climax early on in the match, but Shelley countered into a border city stretch attempt. Taven bailed to the floor to regroup. Taven came back in and hit a dropkick on Shelley. Bennett tripped Shelley while the referee wasn’t looking, so Sabin did the same to Taven.
Taven raked the eyes of Shelly and hit a butterfly suplex into a backbreaker for a 2-count. Taven hit a Russian leg sweep but missed the lionsault. Shelley hit Taven with a kitchen sink knee and transitioned into the border city stretch, but Taven fought out. Shelley did an arm breaker on Taven, but Taven responded with a spinning kick and hit a lionsault for a 2-count.
Shelley hit a flatliner into the middle turnbuckle and hit a tornado DDT. Bennett got on the apron but Sabin pulled him off. Shelley hit the Sliced Bread #2 on Taven, but Maria put Taven’s foot on the ropes. Taven hit a springboard kick and went for a frog splash, but Shelley got his knees up.
Maria distracted the referee again, leading to Taven hitting a running knee, but Shelley kicked out. Taven went for the climax again, but Shelley countered into Shell Shocked for the pinfall.
WINNER: Alex Shelley
There were no new additions to Friday's Bound for Glory card.
A video aired showing Eddie Edwards getting into the face of Impact World Champion Josh Alexander when he was being interviewed by Tom Hannifan. Aisha Edwards came up to Edwards and said that this obsession of his needed to end as otherwise, they were going to be over. I smell a swerve here with Aisha joining Honor No More after low blowing Alexander or something like that.
Contract Signing - Jordynne Grace vs Masha Slamovich At Bound For Glory
The show closed with the contract signing for Masha Slamovich & Knockouts Champion Jordynne Grace. Slamovich grabbed the mic to say something but put it down and signed the contract. Grace talked about how she respected Slamovich, but she wasn’t ready to give up the Knockouts title and she was going to bring the fight to her.
Slamovich grabbed a mic and spoke in Russian, saying that “Masha’s going to kill you” before attacking Grace and hitting a snowplow through the table.