Exclusive: Johnny Impact Is More Prepared Than Ever For Austin Aries And Bound For Glory

This Sunday at IMPACT Wrestling’s Bound For Glory, Johnny Impact challenges Austin Aries for the IMPACT World Title. The two competitors previously met on Mar. 8, 2018 at IMPACT’s special Crossroads event. On that night, Aries successfully defended his IMPACT World Title, defeating Johnny Impact in just over 18 minutes. 

Prior to Sunday’s contest, Impact spoke with Fightful’s own Sean Ross Sapp about his Bound For Glory match and the extra motivation Aries has given him over the last week.

“You know how Austin Aries feels about his height. Let’s not make any short jokes. I don’t want to short change Austin. You know he gets sensitive. All kidding aside, you can’t take anything away from Aries’ ability in the ring. He’s been in the business a long time and is clearly very successful. You know what they say in wrestling; there’s a rule of three. In comedy, there’s a rule of three. I’m Irish, third time is the charm. It feels like it’s gonna be my time. I’ve had a couple of shots with Aries in the ring and I’ve never been more ready or more motivated than I am right now,” said Impact. “I don’t know if you read the tweets that he was throwing at me and Taya, but a lot of people saw them. They’re motivating. I’ll just put it that way. It’s almost refreshing to feel this motivating to whoop someone’s ass. On Sunday, I think that’s what’s going to happen.”

The tweet in question is Aries calling Impact’s wife, Taya Valkyrie, “husky” while trying to make a point about people using his height, something he can’t control, against him. Aries later deleted the tweet, but still believed people missed the point he was trying to make. 

Speaking of Valkyrie, she will be challenging for her own title on Sunday when she faces Tessa Blanchard for the Knockouts Championship. Impact believes that preparing alongside his wife gives them both an advantage when they step into the ring at Bound For Glory.

“This is the first time in history that newlyweds have been going after championships in a major company. She’s got her title shot, I’ve got my title shot. When we’re at home; we’re both training hard, we’re both motivated, we’re both waking up early and hitting the gym,” said Impact. “A lot of people don’t know this about Taya, but she’s formerly a fitness competitor. She took second place in the Arnold in 2007 and knows a lot about nutrition and diet, which is cool for me. She’s really good about cooking healthy food. That’s one thing, especially when you both have something that you’re preparing for, that is nice.”

Valkyrie and Impact were married on June 1, 2018 after being engaged for just under a year. Before they were married, the couple previously held titles in AAA together. Impact was the AAA World Heavyweight Champion at the same time Valkyrie held the AAA Reina de Reinas Title.

Fightful will provide live coverage of Bound For Glory on Sunday with a post-show podcast to follow.