Bound for Glory review

So Bound for Glory is over and done with for another year.  This obviously contains spoilers, so don’t click on it if you don’t want to know.  Likewise, if you don’t like wrestling I wouldn’t waste your time as this is rather long and will be incredibly boring for you.

I didn’t get to see the pre-show match but The BroMans won, which has to be one of the worst booking decisions of the year.

Ultimate X match – Chris Sabin wins the X Division title.

Sabin picking up the win makes sense as apart from Manik, he was the one who was going to benefit most from coming out of this match with the belt.  While he hasn’t quite clicked with his new character on the microphone yet, he does seem to have got his new ring persona down to a tee and his heel act was good throughout.

The match itself has some issues.  For one thing, and someone correct me if I’m wrong, have ladders not traditionally not been allowed in Ultimate X matches?  Surely it takes away the point.  There was also nothing in this match that will stand out past Monday.   With the talent on show this could have been spectacular but instead, it was just meh.

Abyss’s Return

This got Bad Influence on the show, admittedly in the wrong way.  It was however a solid promo from the two of them and I liked them pointing out TNA’s strange booking decisions.  Abyss’s return feels stale.  While the Joseph Park character was hardly fantastic, they have done everything they can with Abyss at this point and teaming him with Eric Young won’t change that.

Tag Title match – The BroMans win the Tag Titles

Storm and Gunner dropping the titles may make sense, who they have dropped the titles too doesn’t.  This is one of the strangest booking decisions in a long time and  where this team, that has generally been treated as a joke, are going to go with the titles is anyone’s guess.

The match itself was a pretty standard tag team match but was quite a bit better than expected.  The double team that saw Storm and Gunner deposit Jesse crotch first into Robbie was particularly cool and The BroMans proved that when being serious they are solid in ring performers.  On the other hand the boy standing at ringside was pointless and the finish was flat because the crowd didn’t seem to think it was actually going to end.

Angles HOF promo

If they are going to use Kurt Angle’s personal issues for a storyline then it could very easily become offensive.  Also doesn’t having Angle reject the place (even if its for supposedly noble reasons) cheapen whole Hall of Fame?  Did people pay to go to the HOF dinner the night before?  If they did do they not feel a bit stupid now it didn’t happen?  Is this the first case of a company overbooking a HOF induction?  The live crowd’s confused response really did sum up the entire thing.

Knockouts Championship Match – Gail Kim Wins the title

The teaming up of Kim and Tapa suggests that they don’t have enough faith in the younger women’s in ring work at this point in time.  As everyone has pointed out it does bear a lot of similarities to AJ Lee and Tamina but TNA deserve the benefit of the doubt until we see where it goes

The match itself was ok.  Any match that includes a stink face followed by a ‘bosom bump’ is never going to set the world alight.  It was a shame that Kim was left to sell at ringside for most of the match but with the finish it did make sense.

Bobby Roode vs Kurt Angle – Bobby Roode wins by pinfall

These guys seemed to be going out to put the best wrestling match of the night on and the number of people who could do it better can be counted on one hand.  This also saw some of the best commentary we’ve seen from Tenay and Taz for quite a long time, if not ever.  It was serious and told the story of the match, which was refreshing.   If they’re going with the Angle story it makes perfect sense for Roode to go over but you have to question why Angle lost by doing his own finisher.   The moment with Roode’s hand being placed on the ropes was a shame as well, as it brought the crowd out of the match momentarily and seemed to be an accident caused by a moment of miscommunication between Roode and the ref.  Neither of those issues managed to erase the fantastic match that came beforehand however.

EC3 vs Norv Fernum – EC3 wins by pinfall

Squash matches don’t belong on PPV.   That aside, EC3 had no reaction at all despite all the hype and Norv Fernum actually stole the match, by being the exact type of person aunty Dixie would pick for her boy to face up against.  It was obviously a buffer but would have fit in better on the pre-show and they could have then opened with the gauntlet match and put the tag match here.

Magnus vs Sting – Magnus wins by submission

Sting Flair went 45 minutes and ended in a draw.  This match went 11 minutes and ended in Sting tapping out.  Despite this, the Flair match made Sting while Magnus would have been better off having a great wrestling match with a Samoa Joe or an Austin Aries.  Saying that, Magnus going over is the right decision.  The heel turn still appears to be building but we can’t critique that until it happens.  The match itself showed why Sting has no place wrestling on these shows any more and if any WWE scouts were watching it, it probably put the final nail in the dream Sting Undertaker match.  Also who decided to follow it up with the clip of AJ beating him?  That was an awful decision.

AJ Styles vs Bully Ray

Why can’t TNA do main events without interference?  They’re not even any good at using interference.  You’d think they’d be experts by now.  The actual brawl between Bully and AJ was well put together.  It made perfect sense to have AJ be overpowered at the start of the match, as it makes him look fantastically sympathetic, although his little Tommy Dreamer moment deserved a bigger pop from the crowd.   It was great storytelling though as AJ took everything Bully threw at him and then came back to win it.

The interference was a shambles though.  Garret Bischoff must be one of the most easily chased off human beings in history.  Why wouldn’t he come back again?  He was hardly beaten to a pulp.  The same goes for Knux, although at least his interference actually had some impact.  Despite that he still took one clothesline and then obviously went back to lick his wounds.  Brooke was pointless at ringside and seemed to have no ill effects from Tapa’s power bomb earlier in the night.   Meanwhile Dixie’s initial interference made sense, but the fact she just stood around on the ramp for the rest of the match was an unneeded distraction.   The biggest question is where was The Main Event Mafia throughout all of this?  Were they not the group set up to stop Aces ‘N’ Eights?  Did this not seem a good time to follow up on that promise?

At the end of the day though AJ won and his celebration felt like the most special moment on this show.   Sadly though this match basically summed up everything that has been generally wrong with TNA throughout the years.

Final thoughts

Wrestlemania always feels like the biggest show of the year.  This did not feel even close.  There was no special pyro or video packages or even a minor celebrity appearance.  TNA are struggling financially but it made this feel like any other PPV.  Even little things like the entrances felt anti-climatic.  TNA’s entrance music has long seemed second rate compared to WWE’s but the lack of a pause, for example in the Sting Magnus match, between the music stops any build up of excitement.

There was a few alright in ring displays but at the end of the day this just didn’t add up.  The pre-show lack of buzz continued all the way through the event and the only moment that felt slightly special was AJ Styles title celebrations.  Lets hope that TNA do a better job coming out of this PPV but they really feel like they are in a slump at the moment.