on september 12, 2013, the tna x division champion, manik, wrestled against jeff hardy. the same night, tna triple crown winner chris sabin turned heel when he felt manik didn't show proper respect to him for his accomplishments. he additionally insulted fellow triple crown winner austin aries. on september 26, 2013, manik defeated sabin in a title match, but after the defense, sabin attacked manik until aries came to save him. on the october 3 edition of impact wrestling, jeff hardy and manik defeated kenny king and chris sabin in a tag team match. afterwards, sabin attacked hardy and manik. aries, who was on commentary, attacked sabin and eventually challenged hardy, sabin and manik to an ultimate x match for the tna x-division championship. on the october 10 episode of "impact wrestling", samoa joe announced his entry into the match, making him the fifth participant.