page_title: Hardcore Justice
section_title: 2013
hierarchical_section_title: Hardcore Justice / Event history / Television specials / 2013
context_page_description: Hardcore Justice, originally known as Hard Justice, was an annual professional wrestling pay-per-view event held by Total Nonstop Action Wrestling. The first event was held in May 2005 and since 2006, they have all been held in August. Until 2010, the event was known as Hard Justice. TNA dropped Hardcore Justice as a pay-per-view event in 2013 after announcing only four pay-per-view events would take place through the year and it was retained as a special episode of TNA's weekly broadcast of Impact Wrestling.
context_section_description: Hardcore Justice (2013) (a.k.a. Impact Wrestling: Hardcore Justice) was the ninth Hardcore Justice event, which took place on August 15, 2013 at the Constant Center in Norfolk, Virginia. In 2013, TNA dropped most of the pay-per-view events and Hardcore Justice was retained as a special edition of TNA's weekly broadcast of Impact Wrestling. It aired as a television special on the August 15 and August 22 broadcasts of TNA's weekly flagship program Impact Wrestling.
  The August 15 episode featured four matches including two 2013 Bound for Glory Series matches and a steel cage match between Chris Sabin and Bully Ray for the World Heavyweight Championship, which Ray won. 
  The August 22 episode was headlined by a five-on-five loser leaves TNA match between The Main Event Mafia (Sting, Samoa Joe, Magnus, Rampage Jackson) and A.J. Styles and Aces & Eights (Wes Brisco, Garrett Bischoff, Devon, Mr. Anderson and Knux), which Mafia won when Styles pinned Devon, forcing Devon to quit TNA.
  Storylines
  At Destination X, Chris Sabin defeated Bully Ray to win the World Heavyweight Championship by invoking Option C clause which stated that Sabin had to vacate his X Division Championship in trade for a World Heavyweight Championship match. The following week, on Impact Wrestling, Ray threatened to sue Sabin and TNA for using the hammer on him to win the title and demanded that Sabin returned the title which Sabin refused and then the TNA General Manager Hulk Hogan tore down Ray's lawsuit and announced that Sabin would defend the title against Ray in a steel cage match at the Hardcore Justice special episode of Impact Wrestling on August 15, in which neither Aces & Eights nor The Main Event Mafia would be allowed to interfere.
  At Slammiversary XI, Bully Ray successfully defended the World Heavyweight Championship against Sting in a No Holds Barred match, with the assistance of his faction Aces & Eights. The match stipulated that Sting would not receive a title shot at the title again. On the June 13 episode of Impact Wrestling, Sting announced that he was bringing back Main Event Mafia to battle Aces & Eights, with Kurt Angle, Samoa Joe, Magnus and Rampage Jackson being announced as the members in the upcoming weeks. At Destination X, Main Event Mafia countered Aces & Eights' interference in the World Heavyweight Championship match between Bully Ray and Chris Sabin, which led to Sabin winning the title. On the August 1 episode of Impact Wrestling, Angle proposed a match to Aces & Eights, which would be a five-on-five loser leaves TNA match between the Mafia and Aces & Eights at Hardcore Justice, where the losing member would be forced to leave TNA, which Aces & Eights accepted. Angle was later removed from the match due to legitimately being admitted to rehab for drug and alcohol use.
  On the August 8 episode of Impact Wrestling, it was announced that A.J. Styles, Austin Aries, Jeff Hardy and Kazarian would compete in a ladder match to gain 20 points in the Bound for Glory Series. A similar tables match was announced later on for the August 15 edition of Hardcore Justice in which Bobby Roode, Magnus, Mr. Anderson and Samoa Joe would compete with the winner earning 20 points in the BFG Series. A similar street fight was announced for the August 22 edition of Hardcore Justice in which Christopher Daniels, Hernandez, Jay Bradley and Joseph Park would compete to gain 20 points in the BFG series.
  On the June 27 episode of Impact Wrestling, Mickie James successfully defended the Knockouts Championship against Velvet Sky. On the July 25 episode of Impact Wrestling, James defeated Gail Kim to retain the title after Kim got in the face of the special guest referee ODB, which led to her defeat. Sky returned to TNA and sat ringside for the match. This led to a match between Kim and ODB the following week on Impact Wrestling, which ended in a double count-out after both women began brawling outside the ring. On the August 8 episode of Impact Wrestling, the team of James Storm, Gunner and ODB defeated James, Robbie E and Jessie Godderz in a six-person tag 
caption: Promotional poster featuring Bully Ray and the TNA World Heavyweight Champion Chris Sabin
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