We are just hours away from TNA's largest show of the year, Bound for Glory. With the final card in place and the go-home episode of Impact Wrestling in the books, all we have left to do now is kill time arguing about how Hulk Hogan will manage to mess up tonight's event. There are a few things we should get out of the way before talking about the matches and getting down to predictions.
The Curious Case of Jeff Hardy
First of all, Jeff Hardy is scheduled to make an appearance at Bound for Glory. After rescuing Beer Money and clearing the ring of Immortal, Jeff Hardy confronted a very angry “King of the Mountain” and declared that he will be live and on-hand for this huge event. While he's not booked in any sort of match, it's almost guaranteed that he'll interfere in something. Personally, I've loved the way TNA has handled Jeff Hardy's return. There are a lot of fans that are just flat-out done with the Hardys. For them, he's wasted too much of their time, money, and energy. Others might be sick of Jeff getting pushed into main event spots despite still struggling with the same demons that have plagued him for years. As a fan of good entertainment and even better professional wrestling, I don't much care about Hardy's personal issues. If he's able to compete in a healthy manor, I'd prefer him get back to work, both for his sake and that of the fans that want him around. Bringing him back slowly, getting him involved over time, and most importantly apologizing about the issue directly carried a lot of weight in my decision to give the Charismatic Enigma a 3rd (or 4th...) chance. But sooner or later Hardy had to get back into the fray, and tonight he may just insert himself into one of the matches. While both the Hogan/Sting and Angle/Roode matches have been advertised to ban Immortal and Fortune from ringside, TNA is notorious for going back on that promise. It's safe to say Jeff will be making the save at some point during Bound for Glory, but I wouldn't put a heel swerve past them either. It's a bad move in my opinion, as Hardy's reputation is balancing that fragile line between in-ring character and real-life integrity, but it's been done before...
Didn't Quite Make the Cut...
According to ImpactWrestling.com, this match was pushed to the internet-only preshow, meaning the paying customers won't witness it unless they log on to TNA's Facebook page and check it out. I'm not too upset about this, because while I like Ink Inc and their newest female member Christina Von Eerie, I'm not a fan of Mexican America. I feel it's a huge waste of Hernandez' talent, and an annoying Mexican stereotype put on two guys from Texas and L.A. The fact that the match is for Tag Team gold means very little to me, as TNA has lost a lot of momentum in that division since taking the belts off of Beer Money and the Guns to focus on the Bound for Glory tournament. It sounds bad, but I'm hoping that Jessie Neal and Shannon Moore can pull out the victory just so we can see less of Mexican America...
X-Division Championship
Austin Aries vs. Brian Kendrick
As much as I appreciate that Kendrick has been trying to do his own thing on Impact and separate himself from the rest of the X-Division, I don't think it's working. The guy has had a dozen different gimmicks throughout his career, and if he wasn't such a skilled in-ring worker he couldn't find a job wrestling that broom Triple H put on the map last week. Lack of promo ability aside, Kendrick looked strong (finally) with his win over the champion on Impact this week, and at the very least we're going to get some classic X-Division action. Austin Aries is a wrestling god according to the internet and his legion of fans that have followed him all around the independents, so I expect nothing short of a 5 star match between these two veterans of the ring.
Prediction: Austin Aries retains the X-Division Championship. The former champion has put up a good fight, but I don't see him going much further in TNA. Aries on the other hand has a lot more opportunity, fan support (TNA fans rarely care about heel/face orientation), and is fresh since returning to the company.
TNA Women's Knockout Championship
Winter vs. Madison Rayne vs. Mickie James vs. Velvet Sky
Unfortunately, being a WWE fan for most of my life, I am very jaded when it comes to women's wrestling. I understand that the Knockout's used to draw some of the best numbers on TNA programming, and that there have been close to five star match-ups between women wrestlers. But in 2011, I'm not convinced that the KO division is that much better than the WWE's Diva divison. Mickie James was slowed down by the WWE machine and hasn't performed at the level we expected her to since coming to TNA. Madison Rayne is good, but who isn't sick of her on top of the KO's? Winter is again, good, but she's still relatively new and most people just lost interest after they turned her into some sort of witch... And the general consensus online is that if Velvet Sky wins the title, everyone is just going to hang themselves. So my pick to win is of course...
Prediction: Velvet Sky. It's actually quite simple. The event is Bound for Glory and she's the only women in the match never to have held the prize. You do the math...
Samoa Joe vs. Crimson vs. Matt Morgan
This match is really simple. Three large, main event level guys did not win the Bound for Glory tournament, and have decided to destroy each other because there's nothing better to do in TNA's upper-midcard. Joe is technically the heel here, while Crimson and Morgan share a sort of alliance, so we'll likely see a bit of double teaming until the inevitable Morgon/Crimson face-off. Like I said, this is a really simple feud, and I'm glad to see them keeping it that way. They didn't try to over-extend the story into anything ridiculous, they just kept it short, made it personal, and allowed the heat between Joe and Crimson to carry it all the way to tonight.
Prediction: Crimson has to win. The time for his streak to be legitimately broken has not yet come. That's a match you want to book well in advance, and advertise the heck out of it. Joe hasn't done much in quite some time, Morgan seems to have reached a plateau in his work, but Crimson has yet to hit any sort of barriers. The future is still very bright for the undefeated kid...
Full Metal Mayhem
Rob Van Dam vs. Jerry Lynn
Amidst a card of great technical matches, there always has to be a chaotic blood-bath. Who better to offer us extreme wrestling than the kings of ECW Rob Van Dam and Jerry Lynn. Once again we're looking at a very simple feud, but unlike most of the other matches on the card, this one probably has the least build. Oddly enough, that's fine for two reasons. One, because RVD and Lynn have enough history that they can pick up their feud at any time and have it make perfect sense. They're both hardcore and they hate each other. How hard is that to work with? The second reason is that RVD really only shines in a hardcore setting. He's an average wrestler, but he can't speak coherently to save his life and he's not putting on any clinics with the likes of Kurt Angle or AJ Styles. The kept this simple and saved time for other feuds that really needed the television time. The hardcore TNA fans aren't going to care about anything these two have to say. We just want to see them tear each other to pieces in one of the industry's most brutal matches.
Prediction: Rob Van Dam
Falls Count Anywhere
Bully Ray vs. Mr. Anderson
If you had advertised this match to me about six months ago I would have said it could main event the show. But now that Anderson has literally changed face/hell orientation a half dozen times since then, it's really hard to invest in anything his character does. One minute he's Jeff Hardy's mortal enemy, the next he's his best friend and tag partner. One minute he's fighting the evils of Immortal, the next he's selling out to them, and a quick second after that he's facing their best heel at Bound for Glory... All creative failures aside, these guys are still two of TNA's best workers at the moment and I'm looking forward to this match. Ray used to be one of my least favorite wrestlers in the business, but he has really shocked everyone with how well his singles push into the main event has gone over. If Kurt Angle wasn't going to take Bobby Roode to the top of the mountain, I'd say that Ray should have already been World champion by this point. And Anderson is...well he's Anderson. He's not the “Stone Cold” that many heralded him as back when he first came to TNA, but he's solid enough in the ring to make me excited to see these two go at it. Add to that the likely home-town atmosphere for the former Tag Team god (even though he basically told them to go to hell...) and I think we have quite a hot match on our hands.
Prediction: Bully Ray should win this match. They're going to want to send the fans home happy with the Sting/Hogan and main event segments, so I wouldn't doubt if this right here is the big heel victory. Not only that but Ray is the consistently solid character in this match that deserves the big Bound for Glory victory. I honestly can't believe I wrote that...
I Quit Match
AJ Styles vs. Christopher Daniels
These two are probably the most athletic men to ever go into an “I Quit” stipulation. Normally you see this brutal match given to your bigger guys to disguise the fact that they can't actual wrestle. In fact, the last time I was this excited for the stipulation it was the Rey Mysterio vs. Chavo feud after the death of Eddie Guerrero. That being said, who doesn't love a good Styles/Daniels match? It doesn't really matter who plays the heel or who is the face, because they're the two TNA originals that have a legitimate claim to the title of “best in the world”. And they have so much history that they really can just pop this match into whatever big event they choose; cue Bound for Glory. I love the slow, arrogant turn of Daniels. The jokes about beating Styles started as a fun poke at the Phenomenal One, but after weeks of torment it was great to see the two finally snap. Even without a great feud leading up to it, this match has the potential to take pro wrestling match of the year with only Cena/Punk in Chicago as legitimate competition. And that is very high praise indeed...
Prediction: AJ Styles will force Daniels to say “I Quit”. This match has to go on in the mid-card, because you don't want to kill the crowd right before the main event. People will be exhausted after this, and they're going to need something like Anderson/Bully Ray to wash it down with before the big World title match finish. You also don't want this to go before Hogan and Sting, because no matter what kind of swerve they pull, this match will overshadow it. That means there's virtually no harm to the face winning, and since Daniels has had all sorts of bragging rights it only seems natural to bring it all full-circle.
TNA World Heavyweight Championship
Kurt Angle vs. Bobby Roode
The last time a title match was built this well going into a huge event, Chris Benoit won the World Heavyweight title at Wrestlemania 20. Kurt Angle, despite his recent bad publicity, is still the greatest pure wrestler the sport has ever seen. He is one of the only guys that can still hold a title and bring it instant prestige and value. Given his heavy involvement with Immortal, Kurt is a huge heel that can't even get the support of the marks in the Impact Zone. This entire angle was perfectly crafted for the young, incredibly talented Bobby Roode to step in and claim his place atop the world of professional wrestling. Or, as close as you can get being a champion in TNA... Putting him up against his Fortune brothers was brilliant. Not only did it put AJ, Kazarian, and James Storm in a much-needed spotlight, it gave us three fantastic Impact matches leading up to this title bout. The message is clear: Bobby Roode has beaten the best Impact Wrestling has to offer, and the only thing he has left to do is climb the final step and dethrone the reigning World Champion Kurt Angle. The only way they could possibly screw this up is to have Angle somehow retain the title. For once, I'm actually not against a run-in or swerve here, as long as it's done with creativity, tact, and adds to the match. Some of the best matches of all time have had climactic moments where factions hit the ring, only to be cleared out. I don't want Roode to get a cheap win, but if Fortune and Immortal have to brawl and take each other other leading to the conclusion, than let it happen. I'm not sure why, but I have faith in TNA creative to pull this match off. May god help us all...
Prediction: Bobby Roode to win the TNA World Heavyweight Championship
The Immortal vs. The Icon
This year's Bound for Glory has a stacked card of technically sound matches, intense rivalries, and a well-placed blood-bath. It has shaped up to be one of TNA's best events in a very long time. And yet...this is the one thing that could ruin it all. Despite all the careful planning and the payout from the rest of the night, here is the blemish that could leave a bad taste in every fan's mouth. One fight, not even a match, that could bring down a whole PPV card... I've been trying to remember that Hulk Hogan has defined professional wrestling, and that I need to stay positive going into this event to be able to fully enjoy myself. But after mulling it over for what seems like hours, I just can't think of a single situation that could make this segment turn out for the better. I just don't understand how TNA could responsibly let something like this happen... Hulk Hogan cannot wrestle a match, and he shouldn't be anywhere near the ring. This is a nostalgia play, pure and simple, and it's put out there more for Hogan's ego than anything else. I haven't heard from a single fan excited about this “fight”, especially after the wonderful news that Hogan will not be taking any “bumps” from Sting. I can remain hopeful that TNA pulls something random out of their ass and shocks me with a fantastic conclusion to Bound for Glory, but I have braced myself to forget this segment even happened if it goes as expected... It's just sad that something like this could potentially bring down a PPV that so many guys have worked to turn into a great event. If I were AJ Styles or Bobby Roode I would be having a serious conversation with my loved ones about whether it was worth it to stick around now that Hogan has resigned for another two years. At the very least this should have been the Ric Flair vs. Sting match that flopped on Impact several weeks ago. At this point I've come to terms with the likely quality of the angle. As more than a fan, as a human being I'm genuinely concerned with the health of a guy I spent my childhood admiring.
Prediction: Nobody wins. Sting may have his armed raised when all is said and done, but I can't predict a scenario in which anybody really wins from all of this.
So that's Bound for Glory in a nutshell. A slightly jaded, but still rather anticipated nutshell. AJ Styles and Daniels will steal the show, Roode's win will be a great moment in wrestling history, the X-Division will do their thing, the Mayhem match will be fun, and the rest of the card is solid enough to hold momentum throughout the PPV. For once I can say I am legitimately excited for a TNA event, and with Jeff Hardy scheduled to make an appearance and guys like Abyss, Jeff Jarrett, Ric Flair, and Kazarian not on the card I'm predicting some swerves and run-ins that will hopefully add to the night rather than take away from it.
Overall Bound for Glory prediction: B
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