Impact Wrestling Prelude to Glory

Prelude to Glory
Promotional poster featuring various Impact wrestlers
Promotion	Impact Wrestling
Date	October 18, 2019
City	South Bend, Indiana
Venue	Palais Royale
Impact Plus Monthly Specials chronology
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Prelude to Glory ^[1] was a professional wrestling event produced by Impact Wrestling. The event was held on October 18, 2019, at the Palais Royale in South Bend, Indiana, and aired live on Impact Plus. ^[2] It was one of two events taking place during the weekend of that year's Bound for Glory on October 20; a free, live event, "All Glory", was held on October 19 on Twitch. ^[3]

Ten professional wrestling matches were contested at the event. The main event was a six-man tag team match, featuring Naomichi Marufuji, Rob Van Dam and Rhino against their respective Bound for Glory opponents The North (Ethan Page and Josh Alexander) and Michael Elgin. Other prominent matches on the card were a Street Fight between Eddie Edwards and Ace Austin, a six-woman tag team match pitting Jordynne Grace, Rosemary and Tenille Dashwood against Kiera Hogan, Madison Rayne and Taya Valkyrie and a tag team match pitting Brian Cage and Tessa Blanchard against Ohio Versus Everything (Jake Crist and Madman Fulton).

Production

Background

On August 15, 2019, it was announced that Impact Wrestling would begin a partnership with a travel and media company Wrestling Travel, which would serve as the sponsor for the Impact Plus event Prelude to Glory, which would take place on October 18 at the Palais Royale in South Bend, Indiana. ^[4]

Storylines

Brian Cage was the reigning World Champion heading into the event.

The event featured wrestlers from pre-existing scripted feuds and storylines. Wrestlers portrayed villains, heroes, or less distinguishable characters in the scripted events that built tension and culminated in a wrestling match or series of matches. ^[5] Storylines were played out on Impact's weekly television show.

On September 22, the first match announced for Prelude to Glory was a six-woman tag team match, featuring the Knockouts Champion Taya Valkyrie, Madison Rayne and Kiera Hogan against Tenille Dashwood, Jordynne Grace and Rosemary. ^[6]

On the July 26 episode of Impact!, Ace Austin began trying to impress and flirt with Eddie Edwards' wife Alisha Edwards which continued throughout the following two months and faked injury by walking through a wheelchair to arouse feelings of sympathy within Alisha and tried to create dissension between Eddie and Alisha. ^{[7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13]} The rivalry further escalated when Eddie Edwards attacked Austin after his match on Impact! and was driven crazy with the feud which led to Edwards losing to Austin via disqualification in two matches. ^{[14] [15] [16]} On September 30, it was announced that Edwards would face Austin in a street fight at Prelude to Glory. ^[17] On the October 11 episode of Impact!, Austin defeated Edwards to qualify for a spot in the five-way ladder match for the X Division Championship at Bound for Glory. ^[18]

A few more matches were added to the card stemming from matches scheduled for the Bound for Glory card. ^[19]

Event

Preliminary matches

The event kicked off with a tag team match pitting Rich Swann and Willie Mack against The Desi Hit Squad (Mahabali Shera and Rohit Raju). Swann nailed a Lethal Injection to Raju and then Swann and Mack nailed an electric chair, neckbreaker combination to Raju for the win.

Next, Fallah Bahh took on Johnny Swinger. Bahh nailed a Banzai Drop to Swinger for the win.

Next, two local wrestlers Russ Jones and Theo Storm competed in a match, which was quickly interrupted by Moose, who attacked Storm and took him out of the match and wrestled Jones in a match, which Moose quickly won by performing two Game Changers to Jones for the win.

Next, Havok took on local wrestler Elayna Black. Havok dominated the match with her power moves and hit a tombstone for the win.

In the following match, Sami Callihan took on Dez. Dez was about to perform a Final Flash on Callihan but Callihan shoved the referee into the ropes and executed a Cactus Special on Dez for the win.

After the match, Callihan insulted his Bound for Glory opponent Brian Cage and made personal remarks regarding Cage's wife Melissa Santos, which led to Cage attacking Callihan with a F5 and then his scheduled opponents and Callihan's oVe teammates Jake Crist and Madman Fulton attacked Cage until Tessa Blanchard made the save, leading to a tag team match pitting Cage and Blanchard against Crist and Fulton. Cage took out Fulton with a superplex and then Blanchard nailed a Magnum to Crist and Cage executed a Drill Claw on Crist for the win.

Main event matches

Naomichi Marufuji competed in the main event of Prelude to Glory.

Later, a six-woman tag team match took place pitting Kiera Hogan, Madison Rayne and Taya Valkyrie against Jordynne Grace, Rosemary and Tenille Dashwood. After Rayne accidentally attacked Valkyrie, Dashwood nailed a Spotlight to Valkyrie for the win.

The penultimate match of the event was a Street Fight between Eddie Edwards and Ace Austin. Edwards attacked Austin backstage before the match to begin the match. After brawling through the arena and the ringside, the match spilled to the ring. Edwards hit Austin repeatedly with the Kenny and then nailed a Boston Knee Party to Austin for the win.

The main event was a six-man tag team match pitting The North (Ethan Page and Josh Alexander) and Michael Elgin against their Bound for Glory opponents Naomichi Marufuji, Rhino and Rob Van Dam. Van Dam nailed a Five-Star Frog Splash on Page for the win.

Reception

Larry Csonka of 411Mania rated the event 6, criticizing the first half of the show, "rather dire" having "nothing good in the ring" and criticized "production issues" citing that one "could constantly hear the producer talk over the show," "couldn’t hear backstage promos" and "the crowd was horribly mic’d". He also criticized the commentary saying that "(Scott) D’Amore & (Josh) Mathews seemed too concerned with amusing themselves throughout instead of adding to the show." However, he praised the second half of the event, which he considered to have "picked up and saved this show, making Impact Prelude to Glory 2019 a solid show that could have been better." ^[20]

Aftermath

Several matches from the event were prelude to the Bound for Glory pay-per-view, which took place two days later on October 20. Taya Valkyrie was able to retain the Knockouts Championship against Tenille Dashwood, The North successfully defended the World Tag Team Championship against the teams of Rob Van Dam and Rhino and Rich Swann and Willie Mack, Michael Elgin defeated Naomichi Marufuji, Jake Crist lost the X Division Championship to Ace Austin in a five-way ladder match and Brian Cage successfully defended the World Championship against Sami Callihan in the main event. ^[21]

Results

No.	Results	Stipulations	Times
1	Rich Swann and Willie Mack defeated The Desi Hit Squad (Mahabali Shera and Rohit Raju)	Tag team match	13:27
2	Fallah Bahh defeated Johnny Swinger	Singles match	06:19
3	Russ Jones vs. Theo Storm ended in a No Contest	Singles match	01:03
4	Moose defeated Russ Jones	Singles match	01:12
5	Havok defeated Elayna Black	Singles match	03:12
6	Sami Callihan defeated Dez	Singles match	13:53
7	Brian Cage and Tessa Blanchard defeated Ohio Versus Everything (Jake Crist and Madman Fulton)	Intergender tag team match	12:42
8	Jordynne Grace, Rosemary and Tenille Dashwood defeated Kiera Hogan, Madison Rayne and Taya Valkyrie (with John E. Bravo)	Six-woman tag team match	10:46
9	Eddie Edwards defeated Ace Austin	Street Fight	22:35
10	Naomichi Marufuji, Rhino and Rob Van Dam defeated The North (Ethan Page and Josh Alexander) and Michael Elgin	Six-man tag team match	11:46

References

1. "Impact Wrestling Prelude To Glory". www.cagematch.net. Retrieved 2019-10-27.
2. "Prelude to Glory: Presented by Wrestling Travel". www.impactwrestling.com. Retrieved 2019-08-16.
3. "IMPACT Wrestling Bound For Glory 2019 Weekend: Prelude To Glory & All Glory Updates, More". ewrestlingnews. Retrieved 2021-12-09.
4. "IMPACT Wrestling Partners with Industry Leader Wrestling Travel". Big Gold Belt Group. August 15, 2019. Retrieved 5 February 2020.
5. Grabianowski, Ed. "How Pro Wrestling Works". HowStuffWorks, Inc. Discovery Communications . Retrieved 2015-11-15.
6. "Six Knockouts Tag Team Match at Prelude to Glory". Big Gold Belt Group. September 22, 2019. Retrieved 5 February 2020.
7. John Moore (July 27, 2019). "7/26 Impact Wrestling TV Results: Moore's review of Impact World Champion Brian Cage vs. Michael Elgin in a non-title street fight, Kiera Hogan vs. Jordynne Grace, Rich Swann vs. Jake Crist for the X Division Title, Moose in action". Pro Wrestling Dot Net. Retrieved 5 February 2020.
8. John Moore (August 17, 2019). "8/16 Impact Wrestling TV Results: Moore's review of Sami Callihan and Dave Crist vs. Tessa Blanchard and Tommy Dreamer, Rob Van Dam, Rich Swann, and Willie Mack vs. The Rascalz, Madison Rayne and Kiera Hogan vs. Jordynne Grace and Alexia Nicole". Pro Wrestling Dot Net. Retrieved 5 February 2020.
9. John Moore (August 24, 2019). "8/23 Impact Wrestling TV Results: Moore's review of Michael Elgin vs. Rhino, Jake Crist vs. Rich Swann for the X Division Championship, The North's open challenge to any team from the West Coast for an Impact Tag Title match". Pro Wrestling Dot Net. Retrieved 5 February 2020.
10. John Moore (August 31, 2019). "8/30 Impact Wrestling TV Results: Moore's review of Ken Shamrock responding to Moose, Michael Elgin vs. Rhino in a Falls Count Anywhere match, Taya Valkyrie defending the Knockouts Championship, Trey Miguel vs. TJP vs. Taurus vs. Golden Magic in a four-way". Pro Wrestling Dot Net. Retrieved 5 February 2020.
11. John Moore (September 7, 2019). "9/6 Impact Wrestling TV Results: Moore's review of The North vs. LAX in an Impact Tag Titles vs. Careers match, Rob Van Dam vs. Madman Fulton, Moose vs. Fallah Bahh". Pro Wrestling Dot Net. Retrieved 5 February 2020.
12. John Moore (September 21, 2019). "9/21 Impact Wrestling TV Results: Moore's review of Santana and Ortiz facing Rich Swann and Willie Mack in the final LAX match, OVE vs. Tessa Blanchard, Rob Van Dam, Rhino, and Tommy Dreamer in a street fight, Jessicka Havok vs. Su Yung in a No DQ match". Pro Wrestling Dot Net. Retrieved 5 February 2020.
13. John Moore (September 28, 2019). "9/27 Impact Wrestling TV Results: Moore's review of the Brian Cage and Melissa Santos wedding angle, Tessa Blanchard vs. Dave Crist in a qualifier for the X Division Title match at BFG, Madison Rayne vs. Tenille Dashwood, Mahabali Shera vs. Cousin Jake". Pro Wrestling Dot Net. Retrieved 5 February 2020.
14. John Moore (August 3, 2019). "8/3 Impact Wrestling TV Results: Moore's review of Tessa Blanchard vs. Madman Fulton, "The North" Josh Alexander and Ethan Page vs. "The Rascalz" Dezmond Xavier and Trey Miguel". Pro Wrestling Dot Net. Retrieved 5 February 2020.
15. John Moore (August 10, 2019). "8/9 Impact Wrestling TV Results: Moore's review of "The North" Josh Alexander and Ethan Page vs. Daga and Ortiz for the Impact Tag Titles, Taya Valkyrie vs. Jessicka Havok for the Knockouts Championship, Jake Crist vs. Aiden Prince for the X Division Title". Pro Wrestling Dot Net. Retrieved 5 February 2020.
16. John Moore (September 14, 2019). "9/14 Impact Wrestling TV Results: Moore's review of Tessa Blanchard and Tommy Dreamer vs. Sami Callihan and Jake Crist in a street fight, Ace Austin vs. Eddie Edwards, Dr. Wagner Jr. vs. El Texano Jr., Michael Elgin in action". Pro Wrestling Dot Net. Retrieved 5 February 2020.
17. "Can Eddie Stop Ace Austin from getting to Alisha Edwards?". Big Gold Belt Group. September 30, 2019. Retrieved 5 February 2020.
18. John Moore (October 13, 2019). "10/11 Impact Wrestling TV Results: Moore's review of Taya Valkyrie vs. Havok for the Knockouts Title, Eddie Edwards vs. Ace Austin in a qualifier for the X Division Title match at BFG, Moose vs. Stephan Bonnar, Tessa Blanchard and Daga vs. Jake Crist and Madman Fulton". Pro Wrestling Dot Net. Retrieved 5 February 2020.
19. Jamie Greer (October 17, 2019). "Preview: IMPACT Wrestling – Prelude to Glory (10/18/19)". Last Word on Pro Wrestling. Retrieved 5 February 2020.
20. Larry Csonka (October 20, 2019). "Csonka's Impact Prelude to Glory 2019 Review". 411Mania. Retrieved 5 February 2020.
21. Jason Powell (October 20, 2019). "10/20 Powell's Impact Wrestling Bound For Glory live review: Brian Cage vs. Sami Callihan for the Impact World Championship, Ken Shamrock vs. Moose, Taya Valkyrie vs. Tenille Dashwood for the Knockouts Championship, The North vs. RVD and Rhino vs. Rich Swann and Willie Mack for the Impact Tag Titles". Pro Wrestling Dot Net. Retrieved 5 February 2020.