Ace Austin ultra-confident going into Bound For Glory

Greg Oliver

12th October, 2020

Ace Austin tosses out the word “inevitable” a lot, and who can blame him? He’s been on a roll ever since arriving in Impact Wrestling. He won the promotion’s X Division title a year ago at Bound For Glory, and predicts that he and partner Madman Fulton will win the Impact tag team titles on Saturday, October 24th at Bound For Glory.

The titles are at stake in a four-team battle, with the champions, The Motor City Machine Guns (Alex Shelley and Chris Sabin) facing The Good Brothers (Doc Gallows and Karl Anderson), The North (Ethan Page and Josh Alexander), and Ace Austin and Madman Fulton.

“I think that initially, I might have been a little upset that this match was a four way tag match at Bound for Glory. I mean, I think that me and Mad Man Fulton more than deserve a one on one for those tag titles. Especially considering again, I have pinfall victory over Chris Sabin,” said Austin in an Impact media call on Tuesday, October 6.

The 23-year-old really does believe in himself. Full stop.

“The inevitable thing is a lot more than just a moniker. Okay? I’m always prepared. I’m always ready. Success is bound to be mine. There’s no way it can’t be,” said Austin, who was born Austin Highley and grew up in Atlantic City.

One media member noted that Austin was a “future face” of Impact. He scoffed.

“Future face? Slammiversary might not have gone my way” — Eddie Edwards beat Ace Austin, Eric Young, Rich Swann and Trey for the vacant Impact World Championship — “but I don’t think there’s any doubt that Impact Wrestling is mine, that I am the face. So I guess you could say the future, yes, because I don’t plan on letting that go anytime soon. But I’m right here and I’m right now.”

Also on the call was Sabin of The Motor City Machine Guns. He noted that he saw some of himself in Ace Austin, and not just because both have held the X Division title.

“I think Ace is super talented, but I just think he’s young,” said Sabin. “His attitude is the only thing that holds him back at this point. But you know, what can I say? When I was his age I was just as cocky as could be. When you’re that young and you’re on national television wrestling every week, it’s going to go to your head. So can I say I blame them? No, but at some point he’s going to realize that that only holds him back.”

Later in the call, Sabin brought up the same point, saying that as one ages, “you realize that your ego holds you back more than it helps you.”

Austin was ready, and spat back, “I don’t know. I’m the youngest X Division champion of all time, seems like I’ve got a pretty good track record going for myself.”

Being a relatively new team is a plus, insisted Austin, that there was little to scout about their styles.

“About 90% of what I do is something you haven’t seen before,” insisted Austin. “I think I’m one of the most authentic and original professional wrestlers of not just this generation, but any generation. And you’re absolutely right. I started this year as a singles competitor, and I certainly never saw myself in a tag team picture. But when things didn’t quite go according to plan at Slammiversary, it seemed like the only logical thing to do would be to go ahead and just jump in that tag division. Why not become a Triple Crown Champion during my time with Impact Wrestling? I think that’s just inevitable. I think already X Division champion, I think next up, we have the tag champs, and then I’ll come back around to that world championship.”

Plus, he’s not one to worry.

“If you know anything about Ace Austin, you know that Ace Austin’s always got an ace up his sleeve. So of course, of course, there’s always something loaded. I’ve always got a plan, and if plan A doesn’t go, there’s always a plan B and a plan C, so on and so forth. It’s inevitable,” he said.

Asked about a “Plan M” by the call’s host Josh Matthews, Austin conceded. “I guess I don’t need that many backup plans if you got somebody like Madman, the largest human being to grace Impact Wrestling, behind me.”

Fulton (Jacob Southwick) is older, at age 30, thought relatively new to the spotlight. “I think what what he might lack in the big match experience he certainly makes up for in absolute raw power, size, strength,” said Austin. “Look at the man. There’s not much he needs to do to get ready. He’s an immovable object.”

Naturally, Austin was fine going out with a prediction.

“My final thought is that a new champ, a new set of tag team champions at Bound for Glory, is inevitable.”

Bound For Glory will be available on Pay-Per-View in North America at on Saturday, October 24 8pm ET/5pm PT on Saturday on InDemand, DISH, DirecTV, Vubiquity, Rogers, Bell, Shaw, Sasktel and around the world digitally via FITE TV.

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