Storylines
The event will feature several professional wrestling matches, which involve different wrestlers from pre-existing scripted feuds, plots, and storylines. Wrestlers portrayed heroes, villains, or less distinguishable characters in scripted events that build tension and culminate in a wrestling match or series of matches. Storylines are produced on the company's weekly programs, Impact! and Xplosion , [3] as well as WWE's weekly television program, NXT , following WWE and TNA signing a multi-year partnership in January 2025. [4] [5]
After The Hardys (Jeff Hardy and Matt Hardy) captured the TNA World Tag Team Championship at Slammiversary, they were later confronted in the ring by old rival Bully Ray. While congratulating them on their title win, Ray would later challenge The Hardys to face Team 3D (Ray and Devon) one final time at Bound for Glory, which The Hardys accepted. [6] [7] [8]
Following Trick Williams winning the TNA World Championship from Joe Hendry at NXT Battleground, [9] Williams would have several run-ins with Mike Santana. Confronting each other on the subsequent episode of NXT , Santana would challenge Williams for the title the following week but would lose due to interference from then-rival A. J. Francis. [10] Over a month later at Slammiversary, Williams defended the title against both Hendry and Santana in a three-way match. Williams would appear to have injured his knee during the match, but towards the end, he would run back into the ring and toss Santana out to pin Hendry, thus retaining the title. [6] [7] Santana would continue his pursuit of Williams and the TNA World Championship despite the loss, as on the August 19 edition of NXT, Santana appeared in a box seat, distracting Williams and costing him his match with Je'Von Evans, and subsequently, an NXT Championship match at NXT Heatwave. [11] Williams would appear on the August 21 episode of TNA Impact! two days later, but was quickly interrupted by Santana, who looked to gain another title match. TNA Director of Authority Santino Marella was about to do so; however, Williams rebutted by stating a clause in his contract meant he wouldn't defend the TNA World Championship for 50 days after his last defense, which was on August 15 against Moose at Emergence. [12] [13] This did not mean that Williams couldn't still wrestle, as the following week, he and Francis faced Santana and TNA International Champion Steve Maclin in a tag team match. The latter team won after Santana performed a schoolboy pin on Williams; he then quickly fended off Williams when he tried to attack him after the match. At the end of the show, Williams, along with his lawyer, came out to disparage TNA for what he believes are improper working conditions, while reiterating that following Emergence, he was not required to defend his title for the next 50 days. Marella would then come out and, after realizing that Bound for Glory was after the 50-day threshold, tried to make Williams' next title defense for the event, but was interrupted by his lawyer. He would then strike the lawyer with The Cobra shortly after. [14] The week after, Marella began the show by declaring that Williams would defend the TNA World Championship against Santana at Bound for Glory. [15] However, at NXT Homecoming on September 16, Raw's Grayson Waller hosted his talk show The Grayson Waller Effect with both NXT Champion Oba Femi and challenger, Ricky Saints. They were all interrupted by Williams, still wanting an NXT Championship match. Waller then proposed a Winner Takes All match between Femi and Williams for the following week on NXT with both titles on the line, which both men agreed, and it was subsequently made official, with the winner facing Saints for both titles at No Mercy.
On the August 21 episode of TNA Impact!, a six-woman gauntlet match was held to determine the next challenger to the TNA Knockouts World Championship. In the second-to-last match, Indi Hartwell eliminated Dani Luna but was viciously attacked by her when she tried to show her respect. Jody Threat, Luna's former tag team partner and the last entrant of the match, was briefly able to stop her, only for Luna to return with a steel chair. When Threat again pleaded with her to calm down, Luna knocked her down with a strike, inadvertently making Threat the winner by disqualification. Luna would continue her assault on Hartwell after the match, taking out a security guard in the process. Luna had explained to Threat that she attacked Hartwell "for her," but when she heard Threat ask Santino Marella to reverse the decision of the gauntlet match, she later declared that she was tired of not getting what she deserved. [12] [13] On the following week's episode, Hartwell met with Marella to discuss a number one contender's match between her and Threat, only for Luna to confront them. After a brief argument between the two women, Marella decided to make a three-way match between them and Threat for next week to determine a proper challenger. [14] There, Hartwell would pin Threat to become the number one contender and would officially challenge for the TNA Knockouts World Championship at Bound for Glory. [16] [17] [18]
