In the first round, Broken Matt, Ethan Carter III, Drew Galloway and Mike Bennett advanced to the semifinals with victories over James Storm, Eli Drake, Bram and Jeff Hardy respectively.

On the August 4 episode of Impact Wrestling, James Storm defeated Eli Drake to win the TNA King of the Mountain Championship.

[6] On the August 19 episode of Impact Wrestling, The Hardys won an Ascension to Hell (Ladder match) to become the number one contenders for the TNA World Tag Team Championship against Decay.

On the September 1 episode of Impact Wrestling, Mike Bennett failed to win the TNA World Heavyweight Champion from Lashley in a no-disqualification match after Moose refused to help him.

The status of the event was called into question in the days preceding it, with reports indicating that the promotion lacked the funds to go forward and was searching for a new buyer [7][8] After spending the week leading into the PPV negotiating with President Billy Corgan, as well as WWE, New York Post reported that an unidentified third party had given the company the funds needed to proceed with the event.