10 Interesting Facts About Bound For Glory 2019 By Hakeem Fullerton

Intro: Bound For Glory 2019...was a good pay per view, while the build up to this event wasn't as grand like the events from the early TNA days it certainly wasn't as bad as the event take took place in 2017. It was a good show filled with amazing action, an engaged crowd and a whole lot of surprising moments.

A night that saw Impact continue it's hot streak of consistency whilst also being an event that was loaded with Indy stars, legends, future hall of famers and a match between a former football player and a former WWE Intercontinental and UFC Champion in Moose vs. Ken Shamrock.

With big moves like their debut to AXS TV and a brand new year on the horizon, Impact were looking to hit a home run with this event and it's safe to say they did a good job.

But with that said, there are few things that happened surrounding this event that some people might not know of, so I'm here to tell you about ten interesting facts about the final pay per view for Impact Wrestling in 2019.

10. Some Of The Roster Were Given Pay Raises A Few Days Following The Event

Six days following this event, reports had surfaced that Impact management had gone out and paid some their talents 'pay raises' as a way to reward them for the work they've all put into making the company flourish on a weekly basis.

Of those names that were mentioned in these reports were Ace Austin, The Rascalz (Trey, Dez and Wentz), Jessicka Havok, The North (Ethan Page and Josh Alexander) and reportedly one unidentified talent who burst into tears after hearing the news that they would be getting bonuses, which is kind of heartwarming to hear.

These reports also mention that some of wrestlers on the roster were told about this before the event and to be honest, the fact that a company like Impact Wrestling that was at one time criticized for not paying their wrestlers finally has enough money to pay them bonuses.

Just some really good news for a company that spent most this decade in a large amount of financial woes.

9. More People Attended Bound For Glory Than A Ring Of Honor Event

For those who don't know, Global Wars Espectacular was a three night event that saw Ring of Honor team up with Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (or CMLL for short), the events aired in Dearborn Michigan, and Milwaukee Wisconsin and Villa Park Illinois in the month of September.

However, the event that took place in Illinois drew the lowest number despite matches like Matt Taven vs. Volador Jr., Joe Hendry vs. Shane Taylor, a tag team match involving Kenny King, Marty Scrull, Colt Cabana and Dalton Castle; not to mention that Villain Enterprises were in action and so much more.

But like I said, the attendance numbers weren't good for this event as the show drew a mere 200 people into the Odeum Expo Center for the event.

To give you a better perspective of how one sided this is, the lowest attended Bound For Glory event in the company's history was it's very first BFG which drew an alleged 900 people and the worst Bound for Glory in company history, BFG 2017 drew an alleged 1,000 people, meaning that even during one the worst periods in TNA/Impact History and they were still able draw more people to their event than ROH...Ouch!

When one of ROH's big events in 2019 can only garner a fraction of the amount of people Impact had for it's first and worst BFG respectively then you know that business is not looking good and considering the reports that have emerged about ROH in 2019 thanks to Joey Mercury blowing the whistle on the shady practices of it's higher-ups, that's probably not saying much.

8. Tenille Dashwood Debuted Months Before The Event

Bound for Glory 2019 saw a lot of stars on the Impact roster making their BFG Debuts including, the likes of Jordynne Grace, The Desi Hit Squad and Madman Fulton. However there was another wrestler who made her BFG debut on this event and that was Tenille Dashwood.

The former WWE superstar best known under her ring name, Emma was announced to have signed with Impact Wrestling via the company's social media accounts on July 29th of this year before making her onscreen debut during the Mexico tapings in August which saw her go after Taya Valkyrie and her Knockouts championship, which would lead to the two ladies battling each other for the title at Bound For Glory.

Though many have speculated that her contract would be coming up soon, her recent appearances on Impact television and her inclusion on the promotional footage and postures for future events clearly show that the sunglasses wearing Aussie is far from finished and we will just have to wait and see how she progresses both on the roster and into the new year.

7. A Familiar Face Returns To Referee A Title Match

Speaking of that Knockouts title match, Tenille vs. Taya was a surprisingly good matchup which saw Taya retain her title and continue her lengthy championship reign.

While the majority of fans were watching the match, many eagle eyed observers might of notice somebody from the company's past making a surprise return and that somebody is former pro wrestling referee Brian Stiffler.

For those of you who don't know, Stiffler worked as a primary referee and employee for TNA and Impact Wrestling for 13 years until his exit from the company back in 2017 along side former Impact and WWE referees, Earl and Brian Hebner.

This was do to the fact that the company was in serious financial problems and as a result many employees were let out including wrestlers, referees and backstage staffers alike.

Fortunately, the former Impact referee was able to appear on this show and officiate one more match for the company (as of the writing of this article).

6. Shotzi Blackheart Signed With WWE Before Her Match at BFG

NXT fans are getting to know the Ballsy Badass, Shotzi Blackheart as she's one of the newest acquisitions to join the black and yellow brand.

But before she did that, she wrestled a match with former Knockouts champion, Madison Rayne in a decent one-on-one match on the preshow, however there was a lot of talk about miss Blackheart leading to the event.

You see, weeks before her match for the Zelo Women's Championship at All Glory, an Impact event that happened during Bound For Glory weekend, multiple news sources reported that Shotzi had signed with the WWE and it left many fans wondering she'll be able to appear at the event never mind wrestle as Vince McMahon has been notorious for messing with other promotions going all the way back to early 1980's.

This led to the inclusion of an independent star that I'll being talking about soon, being added to the match, just in case the advertised Shotzi vs. Laynie Luck match didn't happen due to the former being pulled out of the event at the behest of Vince McMahon and the WWE.

Thankfully for Impact she was able to not only take part in the match at All Glory but also managed to wrestle on Impact's biggest stage.

5. Dr. Wagner Jr.'s Appearance For BFG Was Spoiled By The Spanish Tabloids

Nobody likes to have things spoiled for them, especially when it comes to pro wrestling; However this was the case for Impact when it came time to announce a six man tag team match between the Rascalz vs. Dr. Wagner Jr. and his partners, Aero Star and Taurus.

Weeks before this match was announced by Impact themselves, a number of Hispanic news sources revealed Dr. Wagner's involvement in a match that would take place during Impact's trip to Mexico as well as a match for Bound For Glory.

You can probably imagine that this made the higher ups in Impact Wrestling not to pleased when this news was made known...however unless you attended the show in person or you watched the two hour special called "This Is Impact" on AXS TV days after BFG then you most likely never got to see this match.

4. It Was Kylie Rae's First Major Wrestling Appearance Since Double Or Nothing

To say that the smart mark and internet community lost their sh## when they saw indy darling, Kylie Rae wrestle in the 'Call Your Shot Gauntlet' match at Bound For Glory would be a massive understatement.

Following her participation in the Zelo Women's Title match at All Glory, in case Shotzi Blackheart was to be pulled from the event (as previously mentioned), nobody knew that Rae would wrestle on Impact's biggest show until she came out as number 13 in the match, which not only popped the crowd but also probably led to whole lot of smart marks needing a new pair of pants.

What made her appearance so shocking is that 4 months earlier she wrestled at All Elite Wrestling's Double or Nothing Event in a match against Nyla Rose, Britt Baker and Awesome Kong.

However, to the shock of many AEW fans she would ask for her release from the company one month later at AEW's Fyter Fest event.

While her reasons for leaving AEW is unknown at time of me writing this article, what is clear is that she looks ready to step back into the ring...And if it is with Impact Wrestling I wouldn't be surprised, I mean this the same company who managed to get Tessa Blanchard and Michael Elgin on their roster.

3. Rohit Raju Was Initially Suppose To Be In The X Division Ladder Match

The five person ladder match for the X Division title, was certainly one of the high points about this Bound For Glory; from Tessa Blanchard's all platinum ring attire to Daga hitting a Canadian Destroyer on Jake Crist onto a ladder to a Gif worthy moment where Acey Romero falls off the ladder into a table.

The match was insane but, it almost could of looked a lot differently from what we got.

In the lead up to their debut on AXS TV, Impact personalities Josh Matthews and Scott D'Amore presented Impact's previous pay per views: Homecoming, Rebellion and Slammiversary all the way up to Bound For Glory. However for those who saw Impact Wrestling's Slammiversary on AXS might of notice something...kinda spoilery.

At one point in the show, a graphic for the up and coming ladder match shows an image that includes Ace Austin, Daga, Jake Crist, Tessa Blanchard and...Rohit Raju?

This is strange as the final match to determine who would take that last spot in the ladder match hadn't aired on television yet thus spoiling who would of advanced.

However, things got weird when the match between Rohit and Sabu to see who would advance ended in a double count out which led many (the company included) to announce that both men had advance to the ladder match

However, at they eleventh hour both Rohit and Sabu are seen taking part in the 'Call Your Show Gauntlet' match and the final entry in the ladder match was the recently signed Acey Romero with no explanation as to how he got his spot in this match.

Don't get me wrong the match was great but this seems like another case Rohit getting shafted by Impact management.

2. Joey Ryan Repeats History At Bound For Glory

Bound For Glory Weekend in 2019 was a busy time for fans, wrestlers and the company as a whole as not only were expectations running wild for the namesake event itself but Impact partnered with various other promotions like Warrior and Zelo Pro Wrestling to host Prelude and All Glory, two events that saw wrestlers both on and off the Impact roster compete in a series matches.

As fortune would have it some of the names who took part in that event would get signed to the Impact Roster during or after the show.

Acey Romero was given a 2-3 year contract by Impact Executive VP, Scott D'Amore himself at the All Glory event, Adam Thornstone and Luster the Legend of Reno Scum were signed to the Impact roster before the show ended. But the biggest signing out of all of them would have to be Joey Ryan.

Although it might be hard for a lot of people to believe but the self proclaimed "King of Dong Style" was being offered contracts from various promotions including AEW and the WWE.

However, due to All Elite Wrestling's desire to keep all of their contracted wrestlers exclusive to their brand, not to mention the fact that Joey Ryan's sleazy gimmick and D### plex maneuver would in no way come close to appearing on WWE programming, it made all the sense in the world that Joey Ryan would sign with Impact.

But what makes Joey Ryan's signing with Impact at BFG so interesting is the fact that this wasn't the first time he did something like this at BFG.

Seven years earlier at Bound For Glory 2012, Ryan was in a match against Al Snow where he won a contract and became a member of the Impact Wrestling roster and then seven years later he would wrestle at Bound For Glory and by the end of the show he would be signed to Impact Wrestling...coincidence...maybe?

1. It's The Second Most Attended BFG Event In Company History

Impact Wrestling managed to sell out the Odeum Center with a reported 5,000 plus people packed into the center, which makes BFG 2019 the second most attended event in the company's history.

To give you a little backstory, the Bound For Glory events from the pre Hogan/ Bischoff era (2005-09) garnered between 900-5,000 people, with Bound For Glory 2008 (which took place in Chicago by the way) had between 5,000-5,500 people making it the highest attended BFG show in the companies near two decade existence.

The events from 2010-18 only attracted 1,100-3,000 people with Bound For Glory 2012 gardening only 3,000 people; Even Slammiversary 2019, the PPV before this one only got a mere 1,200 people in attendance.

In short, while Bound For Glory 2019 was a good show ,the sold out attendance numbers are truly remarkable and are a clear indication that if Impact continues to go on the path their on, then it's safe to expect great things from the former TNA Wrestling.