Impact Wrestling – October 24, 2025 (Fade To Black): Behind The Curtain
Impact Wrestling
Date: October 23, 2025
Hosts: Tom Hannifan, Matthew Rehwoldt
So after about a week and a half away from Bound For Glory…we’re still not ready for new content. Instead, after last week’s studio show, this week will be a special documentary from the show and the build towards it, called Fade To Black. That’s a cool idea, though I’m not sure if it’s going to make it through two hours. Let’s get to it.
We open with a look at the show coming to Boston (or close enough).
TNA President Carlos Silva addresses the roster, talking about how it’s time to push towards the biggest show of the year and hopefully break their attendance record. He also says how great it is to have everyone here, including Chris Bey, who is still recovering from his horrible neck injury. Bey talks about how the wrestlers in TNA make him work harder to recover.
Boston native Eddie Edwards talks about how important it is to finally have a major event in his city.
Commentary talks about how hard they want to work to live up to the previous teams’ efforts.
Mike Santana’s daughter is excited for her dad’s match.
We look at the Beautiful People and Mickie James being inducted into the Hall Of Fame.
Now we’re on to the show itself, starting with Steve Maclin defeating Frankie Kazarian to regain the International Title. And now, the match itself:
International Title: Steve Maclin vs. Frankie Kazarian
Maclin is challenging and takes Kazarian out with a suicide dive to start fast. Kazarian is sent inside, where he’s able to grab a sunset bomb. Hold on though as Kazarian goes over to yell at Maclin’s mom, who flips him off. Back in and Maclin fights out of a chickenwing before grabbing one of his own.
That’s broken up but Maclin powerbombs a springboard out of the air, setting up a Boston crab. Kazarian gets out and hits Angel’s Wings for two but a middle rope Fade To Black is blocked. Instead Kazarian grabs a slingshot cutter and ties Maclin in the Tree Of Woe. The spear misses though, allowing Maclin to hit the real thing. The KIA gives Maclin the pin and the title back at 8:00.
Rating: C+. It’s a quick, hard hitting match to open the show with a feel good moment for the fans. Maclin getting the title back from Kazarian so soon is more than a surprise, though it’s a good sign for Maclin’s future. I’m not sure what is next for him, but he makes for a good midcard champion so putting him back in the spot isn’t a bad move.
We look at Kelani Jordan retaining the Knockouts Title over Indi Hartwell.
Next up is Eddie Edwards, who is returning to his hometown and wrestled in the Hardcore War as the System defeated Order 4.
We look at Leon Slater pinning Stacks to retain the X-Division Title on NXT. After the match, Slater/Je’Von Evans vs. La Parka/Mr. Iguana was set for Halloween Havoc.
We look at the X-Division Title match from Bound For Glory, featuring a time limit draw and a no contest. Because reasons.
We look at Chris Bey’s injury recovery from his neck injury. Now Bey is walking on his own power and was at Bound For Glory as a special appearance.
We get a video building up the One Final Table match. The Hardys and Team 3D had a long history, dating back over twenty five years and now it’s time for one last match.
Team 3D talks about their history together and how they met when they were training in New York. Then they got together as a team in 1996 and the Hardys watched them to see just how great they were. Eventually they came together and had a tables match at the 2000 Royal Rumble which was rather awesome (though saying they stole the show might be a stretch).
Team 3D then came to TNA and had success but then split up, with Ray eventually becoming Bully Ray and the World Heavyweight Champion. At the same time, D-Von wants his daughters to see him in the ring as they were too young to make that happen. Jeff Hardy’s daughter agrees.
We take a quick look at the match, with the Hardys winning and Team 3D hanging up their boots in their final match together.
Mike Santana’s daughter is proud of her dad for winning after such a long push towards the title. After the match, Santana presented the title to his daughter and told the roster how it’s time to keep moving forward.
We look at the show as a whole.
And now, the main event.
TNA World Title: Trick Williams vs. Mike Santana
Santana is challenging and Williams runs his mouth during the Big Match Intros. As a result, Santana jumps him to start the brawl and they head into the crowd before the opening bell. They get back to ringside with Williams getting in a belt shot. That’s enough for them to get back inside for the opening bell, with the Trick Kick connecting for two. Santana’s comeback is cut off with a backdrop to the floor, where Williams gets in a posting. A shot with the steps misses but Santana, now bleeding, gets backdropped onto said steps.
We take a break and come back with Santana grabbing the Rolling Buck Fifty into the Cannonball for two. Santana goes up but gets slammed down onto the apron for a NASTY crash. Williams yells at Santana’s daughter and gets slapped in the face, earning himself a big flip dive from Santana. A 450 gives Santana two so Williams’ lawyer offers a distraction.
That doesn’t get him very far as Santana boots Williams in the head, only for Williams to grab a super Rock Bottom for two more. Back up and they trade shots to the face until Spin The Block gives Santana two. The lawyer gets in again so it’s Spin The Block to take him down, leaving Williams to hit the Trick Shot for two more. Santana cuts off another Trick Shot with a clothesline though and Spin The Block gives Santana the pin and the title at 13:16 shown of 16:12.
Rating: B. The point here was to have Santana get the win and that is exactly what happened. What matters here is giving Santana the title to save it from NXT and making him into the new big star. The match quality itself, which good enough, is completely secondary to the moment and they nailed that part rather well.
Post match Santana presents the title to his daughter in a great moment (everything with Nic Nemeth/Frankie Kazarian/Elijah is left out, as it should be) to end the show.
Overall Rating: B-. I’m not sure how to rate this, as it was basically a behind the scenes documentary with two matches included as bonus features. The matches are things we’ve seen before, though they need to have something fresh sooner rather than later. What matters here though is it seemed that the wrestlers were all feeling it with this show and putting in their best efforts. It’s a nice look behind the scenes at the biggest show of the year, and for a one off, that was fun to see.
Results
Steve Maclin b. Frankie Kazarian – KIA
Mike Santana b. Trick Williams – Spin The Block
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