TNA Bound for Glory - October 16, 2011
1. Austin Aries vs. Brian Kendrick for the TNA X Division Championship - Fun, energetic match to start the ppv off with. Nothing really took place that we havent seen out of them in the past, but it was just a good match to start the show off with. The crowd was solidly behind Aries so its definitely time for TNA to move him onto feud with someone else as theyre just not buying into Brian Kendrick as the top baby face of the X Division. At least, not while hes in this ridiculous character hes got. The match had a good pace with both guys getting in a good amount of offense. There were a few good near falls here and there, such as when Kendrick countered the Brainbuster attempt with the knees and the roll up attempt. After initially avoiding it, Aries eventually takes Sliced Bread from Kendrick but managed to break the count by grabbing the ropes for another nice near fall. Aries does eventually get the clean win, however, after landing a corner dropkick and then hitting the Brainbuster. Aries retains the title about the 10.5 minute mark. The right guy one the match, it was an entertaining match and now its time to move Aries on. ***
2. Rob Van Dam vs. Jerry Lynn in a Full Metal Mayhem Match - This match turned out to be almost exactly as I figured it would. It was a fun match in some ways but I just wasnt invested in it. It was definitely a match catered to ECW nostalgia, they are in Philadelphia after all, and were counting on sheer nostalgia to sell the match. There were a lot of dangerous spots in the match that seemed unnecessary involving the head & neck areas. These are the kinds of hardcore matches that have caused such concern over the health of wrestlers. The match was action packed, no doubt, but it just felt like watching one of those old ECW hardcore matches with spots that were done just for the sake of shock value. It wasnt a terrible match or anything, I was just kinda turned off by all the reckless spots. Also, as I said, they used pure ECW nostalgia to build this match and didnt really build the match up so I wasnt really invested and I knew RVD was going to win and he did about the 13 minute mark. Also, what was up with Lynn shaking RVDs hand afterward? Wasnt the point supposed to be Lynn being resentful of RVD for overshadowing him? Yet, he just lost another match to him. Its time to move on with Jerry Lynn. Give him something else to do or future endeavor the guy. **
3. Crimson vs. Matt Morgan vs. Samoa Joe in a Triple Threat Match - Decent match but nothing spectacular. Crimson & Morgan initially worked as a team before eventually turning on each other with Joe outsmarting them. They had the usual 3 man offense at times, tension was built between Morgan & Crimson and all 3 guys got in some good offense. Morgan splashing Crimson from the top rope looked impressive and I was starting to think that maybe, just maybe, Joe might pull this out. However, Joe eventually eats a spear from Crimson and Crimson gets the win a little past the 7 minute mark. Decent match while it lasted that told a good story. The live Philly crowd is definitely pro heel tonight as Aries & Joe have gotten the reaction the faces are supposed to get. However, to be fair, its not as if the faces of Kendrick & Crimson have given them a reason to get behind them. *1/2
4. Mr. Anderson vs. Bully Ray in a Philadelphia Falls Count Anywhere Match - Good solid brawl between these two, though I thought they did a little too much catering to the Philly crowd. The match didnt have the athleticism that we saw in RVD vs. Lynn but there was much more of a story to this and there were a lot less big head & neck spots. The piledriver Ray performed on Anderson backstage on the concrete I couldve done without. Its just a super dangerous move, but it got a rise out of the crowd. Anderson was bleeding and had a couple of rough spots, such as completely screwing up the Senton Bomb by overshooting the table. Anderson pulled himself together and hit the Mic Check on Ray for the win at the 14.5 minute mark. Anderson winning was predictable as he needed to get one solid win over Ray to end their feud. Rays gotten the best of Anderson generally so Anderson needed something to come out of this looking good. **1/2
5. Mickie James vs. Velvet Sky vs. Winter vs. Madison Rayne in a Four Corners Match for the TNA Knockouts Championship - This match was a friggin train wreck, thats really all you can say about it. There was some decent action but it was just this overbooked mess. Karen Jarrett was the special referee in the match and it was just
eh it was just the old story of the crooked ref showing preference to the heels. So, of course, a face was going to win. Nothing wrong with that so long as the antics dont overshadow the match, but thats exactly what happened. About the 7.5 minute mark, Winter goes to drink that blood acid or whatever it is but accidentally hits Karen with it. Velvet Sky ultimately gets the win by pinning Madison Rayne at the 8.5 minute mark to win her first Knockouts Title. Awful match but its nice to see Velvet get the title. 1/2*
6. AJ Styles vs. Christopher Daniels in an I Quit Match - I was looking forward to this match as weve seen some really good stuff from them in the past, but I was really quite disappointed here. For one thing, looking back at this match, its a match stipulation featuring two guys that are definitely in a match that caters to what they bring,. Neither of these guys are known for being tough guys nor are they known for being vicious or for really doing anything to make a guy submit. It seemed as though Daniels spent most of this match cutting a promo on Styles rather than really trying to make him say I Quit. The business with the screwdriver was just outright laughable. It coupled with Daniels rantings just made everything that happened in this match extremely difficult to believe. Suspension of disbelief is a big part to enjoying wrestling, but you know that you aint gonna see someone stabbed with a friggin screwdriver in a wrestling match. There was some good action but it was definitely below the usual Styles vs. Daniels level. The ending killed this match with Styles having the screwdriver after pulling it out of the turnbuckle. Daniels said that he quit to end the match around the 14 minute mark. The post match featured Styles playing to the crowd only for Daniels to jump him from behind. Daniels said He never beat me followed by Who is the winner now? Just a disappointment really and Im kinda wanting this feud to be over. No matter what happens, Daniels is ALWAYS going to be in Styles shadow. *1/2
Jeff Jarrett & Jeff Hardy - Basically, this was exactly what I figured itd be once I realized it was gonna be a promo segment and not a match. Jarrett taunts Hardy, Jarrett says no one wants Hardy around, says the fans dont want him, etc. So, of course, Hardys music hits and here he comes out to a good reaction. Hardy said he had only one thing to say to him, then kicked Jarrett in the gut and they started fighting. Of course, here comes Al Snow & DLo Brown with security to pull them apart. Standard TNA pull apart brawl. Just pointless filler really. Thumbs Down
7. Sting vs. Hulk Hogan in a No DQ Match for control of TNA - Hogan comes out wearing a pair of jeans, red knee pads and a white shirt. Yeah, Hogans getting cut open here. They show a shot of Dixie Carter clapping frantically for Sting as they make the introductions. Generally speaking, yeah the match pretty much sucked. It was the general punch + kick repeat formula that we were expecting. Flair was out there with Hogan and provided a little interference, including giving Hogan a foreign object to hit Sting with. Sting gets cut open. Hogan actually takes a couple of slight back bumps in the match. He also takes a Stinger Splash in the corner before getting locked in the Scorpion Deathlock. Hogan taps out at the 9.5 minute mark to give Sting the win. Out comes Immortal and they begin beating on Sting. For some inexplicable reason, Hogan turns face and starts beating on his old crew to help Sting. Of course, the nostalgia freaks are going nuts over this as were seeing the old Hulk Hogan back, turning on his own flunkies and beating up guys half his age. Surprisingly, this thing wasnt the convoluted cluster I expected it to be, which actually made the match better than I was expecting. It still wasnt a good match by any stretch and the surprise face turn of Hulk Hogan made absolutely no sense whatsoever and pretty much renders most of what Hulk Hogan has done throughout the entire year so far irrelevant. *1/4
8. Kurt Angle vs. Bobby Roode for the TNA World Heavyweight Championship - This was a fun, competitive match but it wasnt as good as it could have been. With Angle legitimately injured with a groin pull, you could tell that he wasnt in top form. Still, he and Roode put on a competitive, good back and forth match with both guys looking strong. It was a good match, but it wasnt a great match and plenty of people are going to be disappointed in the ending. Angle is able to hit the Angle Slam on Roode and gets the win at the 14 minute mark by holding onto the second rope. It was a solid main event match, but it wasnt what we were hoping itd be. Im not surprised to see Roode lose here as TNA has spent weeks building him up with half the locker room saying he was gonna win the title. Im glad they didnt have a lot of interference out there and gave a good, clean match for the most part. **¾
Overall Show - Bound for Glory is TNAs biggest ppv of the year. Overall, I thought the show was under whelming. It certainly wasnt the kind of show that one would expect from the biggest show of the year. None of the matches particularly stood out and what this show will ultimately be remembered for was Hulk Hogan turning face again, even though it made no sense whatsoever. Many of the matches were underhyped but the wrestlers did what they could. The opening match between Aries & Kendrick was a fun X Division match that started the show off well. RVD vs. Jerry Lynn was kind of a turn off and so much like an old school ECW match that it just didnt click for me. It just seemed like a match in which they were doing things just for the sake of doing big spots than anything else. Crimson vs. Matt Morgan vs. Samoa Joe was ok but ultimately meaningless and came across as nothing more but filler. Mr. Anderson & Bully Ray put on a good solid street fight that put more emphasis on telling a story and having fans connect with the wrestlers rather than a bunch of spots. The Knockouts match was a train wreck. Just a very piss poor match. Velvet Sky got the win but it was really overshadowed by a horrible match. Styles vs. Daniels was also a big disappointment for me. The I Quit stipulation really takes both these two out of their element and puts them somewhere where they just dont fit in. Daniels talking throughout so much of the match took away from it and the use of the screwdriver was just extremely bad. Hogan vs. Sting wasnt as bad as I thought itd be, but it still wasnt a good match. At least it wasnt the overbooked cluster I expected. The aftermath with Hogan suddenly turning face made no sense whatsoever and just ultimately seemed more like Hogan stealing the show, which he ultimately did because thats easily going to be the most talked about thing on the show. Angle vs. Roode was a very solid, competitive main event match but Angle retaining is certainly not what most people wanted to see. I expected Roode to lose given all the build up for him over the past several weeks. It didnt take away from the match all that much in my view, but you could tell that Angle wasnt up to snuff.
Grade: C-
