On the August 19 episode of "Impact!", the TNA World Heavyweight Championship was vacated after Rob Van Dam was injured by Abyss. Hardy was entered into an eight-man tournament for the championship, defeating Rob Terry in his first round match. At the semi-finals at No Surrender, Hardy first wrestled Kurt Angle to a twenty-minute time-limit draw, after which Eric Bischoff ordered a five-minute period of extra time. After that and a second five-minute extra time period also ended in draws, it was ruled that Angle was unable to continue and the match ended in a no contest. After wrestling a draw on the September 16 episode of "Impact!", it was announced that both Hardy and Angle would advance to the finals at Bound for Glory, where they would compete with Mr. Anderson in a three–way match.