Preview by Joseph Currier
Amid turmoil over a potential sale of the company, TNA presents its biggest event of the year on Sunday night with Bound for Glory live on pay-per-view from the Impact Zone in Orlando, FL.
We’re looking for your thoughts on he show, so you can leave a thumbs up, thumbs down or thumbs in the middle along with a best and worst match to [email protected] We’re also looking for your thoughts on the ROH All-Star Extravaganza show.
While much of the focus has been on whether or not TNA would be sold before the show, the PPV will be headlined by a TNA World Championship match pitting Bobby Lashley against Ethan Carter III with no holds barred.
The PPV will also feature the finals of the Grand Championship tournament. Drew Galloway was originally scheduled to face Aron Rex for the newly created title, but Galloway was replaced by Eddie Edwards after having to pull out of the match due to an injury.
The next chapter in the Broken Matt and Jeff Hardy saga will also take place as the Hardys battle Decay in the “Great War.” And Cody Rhodes will make his first appearance in a TNA ring.
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X DIVISION CHAMPION DJ Z VS. TREVOR LEE
Very good opener where they did the modern X style with dives and reverse huracanrana spots. They traded three dives early. DJ Z kicked out of a powerslam. The finish saw DJ Z hit the Canadian Destroyer and the ZDT with a jumping DDT for the pin.
– McKenzie Mitchell is backstage with Drew Galloway. She’s very unconvincing. He said he doesn’t feel very good, and the doctor told him “a little to the left or a little to the right” and he would have been out for a year. He said he chose to fight but the company said no. He said he asked to hold back the tournament final and they said no. In reality, he knew he couldn’t wrestle tonight. He then said Billy Corgan is buying the company.
10 MAN GAUNTLET MATCH FOR A TNA TITLE SHOT
Eli Drake won the match by throwing Jessie Godderz and Tyrus over the top to win. So, he has a title shot whenever he wants…but has to give the promotion one week.
The match wasn’t good at all as nothing much happened. Rockstar Spud, Grado (who lasted about two seconds), Mahabali Shera, Robbie E, Baron Dax, Basille Baraka and Braxton Sutter were also in the match. There were no highlights.
– Jeremy Borash called out Robert “Batista” Irvine. He said he and his kids are here for Gail Kim’s induction into the Hall of Fame and tonight, he’s Mr. Gail Kim, not Robert Irvine. Maria Kanellis showed up with Mike Bennett. Irvine told them that tonight will be a bad night for both of them. Maria said she was the greatest Knockouts champion of all-time, while Mike said that Maria was the greatest female wrestler of all-time and he was the best pro wrestler in the world.
MIKE BENNETT VS. MOOSE
Moose won with a tree slam off the rope and the discus clothesline. They traded moves back and forth. The crowd was into the “Moose” chant but not the match. Even when Bennett used a piledriver and Moose kicked out, there wasn’t any pop. It was an okay match.
– We got an Aron Rex interview and said the Grand Championship title is going to revolutionize the way the sport is viewed. He talked about how he and Eddie Edwards were trained by the same guy. After the interview, Josh Mathews did mention Killer Kowalski even though Rex didn’t.
ARON REX VS. EDDIE EDWARDS IN THE FINALS FOR THE GRAND CHAMPIONSHIP
This will be a five minute round match instead of a three minute round match. Rex won the match winning the first and third rounds. Borash is doing a UFC style interview. (I just hope Rex doesn’t thank Jesus Christ or say he’ll face whoever Joe Silva and Dana White puts him against.)
Match was average at best, but this format didn’t work. It’s good to tell jokes while watching it, but it didn’t help for the crowd. Edwards wasn’t bad but they never built any crowd momentum. After the third round, when Jeremy Borash went to read the scorecards, the graphics listed 30-27 for Rex even before Borash announced it as a split decision for Rex.
GAIL KIM HALL OF FAME INDUCTION
Christy Hemme returned for the ceremony. They piped in fake crowd noise as she did an interview. Hemme introduced Taryn Tarrell, expecting her second child. Terrell said Gail Kim was a career maker, that she was a beginner and Kim gave her matches she could be proud of. She said she was the greatest woman wrestler of all-time. This got barely even polite applause.
Awesome Kong showed up, looking totally different like she’s lost a lot of weight. Kong said Kim was awesome and elevated every opponent to their best level possible and said how proud she was. Dixie Carter was out next. She said Gail was the perfect combination of beauty, brains, athletic ability, and unselfish. Chef Irvine, no relation to Chris Jericho, was shooting photos from ringside.
Dixie said she defined a generation of woman wrestlers and made the Knockouts the greatest women’s division of all-time. (Yes, TNA Knockouts and early 90s All Japan women is a close call.) The talking heads in the video were Hemme, Josh, Jeremy Borash, Pat Kenney, Dixie, Jade, Madison Rayne, Al Snow and Billy Corgan,
Corgan said Kim vs. Kong changed the way people think about women wrestlers around the world. This was easily the best thing on the show so far.
Gail Kim came out. Fans are chanting “You deserve it.” (Why are they piping in fake crowd noise? You’d want the crowd quiet and respectful.) She said wrestling has brought her creativity, self confidence, strength, fearlessness, and true passsion. She started thanking people, Ron Hutchinson, Rob Etcheverria, Fit Finlay (people popped for that name), Scott D’Amore, Pat Kenney/Simon Diamond, the crew, the production people, seamstresses, make-up people, “You make my job not a job. I love my life.”
She thanked Dixie Carter, Dutch Mantell, Jeff Jarrett, her stepdaughters, her goddaughter and her husband which got a big pop. “I’ve never met someone so inspiring and motivating as you.” She thanked Trish Stratus, Molly Holly, Victoria, Jazz and all the women she learned from. “They’re my sisters and I appreciate that I could share a locker room with these wonderful women.” Then she gave a special shoutout to Molly: “She’s the reason I’m in this business and why I got this opportunity. She taught me to be a good person in the ring or outside of the ring. She said if you’re a good person, success will follow.”
This was as well done as it could have been.
MATT & JEFF HARDY VS. TNA TAG TEAM CHAMPIONS ABYSS & CRAZZY STEVE IN THE GREAT WAR
This was something.
The Hardys won the titles when Jeff came off the top of a 15 foot ladder with a swanton onto Steve through two tables for the pin. A lot of this match was pre-taped stuff out of the building which included Matt brawling with Abyss in the park in the back of a pickup truck, and Vanguard 1 blowing mist in Rosemary’s eyes. Matt made a barbed wire board sandwich with Abyss, and came off the top rope with an elbow on him.
Jeff had some magic water poured on him that allowed him to disappear and throw pumpkins at Steve. (Get it, smashing pumpkins?) Jeff showed up as a bunch of different characters. They came back in the ring, and Rosemary did a coast to coast dropkick into a garbage can like she was RVD. At another point, Rosemary gave Abyss “Janice”, but Matt set Janice on fire and threw the board out of the pickup truck. That may have been the idea that Janice and the Carters are dead. Who knows? Hopefully they won’t get mad at Matt’s ideas and threaten to sue.
– Bobby Lashley interview.
KNOCKOUTS CHAMPION MARIA KANELLIS VS. GAIL KIM
Maria said her hand was broken and the doctor wouldn’t clear her. Allie then said she must have misread it and she was cleared. Maria got mad about that. Anyway, the match started.
This match was pretty bad. Maria is just so limited. Mike Bennett threw a hand brace into the ring, and Maria used it but Kim kicked out. Allie got the brace and Maria wanted it again. She threw it over Maria’s head to Kim. Kim teased handing it to Maria, but instead threw it out of the ring. Kim used Eat Defeat, which Maria sold badly or it missed, for the pin.
– Bennett said he was shutting the show down and nobody could stop him. Cody & Brandi Rhodes showed up. Cody was really over to the crowd. Maria yelled at Cody and told him to go back to WWE. Brandi got in her face, and Maria attacked her. Brandi threw a knee. Cody & Bennett brawled. Cody used the disaster kick on Bennett and they left the ring.
TNA CHAMPION BOBBY LASHLEY VS. ECIII
They laid this out as a big show main event where each guy kicks out of big moves. Lashley won clean with a spear off the middle rope and nearly landed on his head when delivering the move. ECIII had kicked out of two spears earlier. He hit the One Percenter, did a spear, and also used a splash off the top rope.
The problem is these two didn’t work together well at all. They weren’t in the right position a lot, and the selling in a lot of cases looked mechanical. The crowd wasn’t much into it either. Even with all the kicking out of big moves, this wasn’t a good match and didn’t feel like a big show main event.
There was no Alberto del Rio at the finish even though he evidently no-showed the AAA show tonight.
We’ll have a full recap of the show on tonight’s Wrestling Observer Radio.
