On Sunday, October 12, TNA held their annual Bound For Glory event in Tokyo, Japan. Once thought to be a great place to hold their self-promoted biggest pay per view of the year, the event ended up developing into a letdown. Not only was the TNA World Heavyweight championship not defended, the champion wasn’t even there. The event felt more like a special attraction event between The Great Muta’s WRESTLE-1 promotion and TNA than the culmination of everything TNA had been working with in 2014. Bobby Lashley, Bobby Roode, Austin Aries, Magnus and Gail Kim were all missing despite being some of the most important performers throughout the year. In a business so reliant on “heat”, there was only heat in two matches: Team 3D’s HOF induction match against Tommy Dreamer and Abyss and the tag match featuring Muta and Tajiri (both special attraction performers) against Sanada and James Storm (Storm has been out of the main event picture for a long time now).
For a company going through a series of letdowns, disappointments, departures and rumours of the company being unable to secure a proper television deal with their cancellation with SpikeTV looming in the air, Bound For Glory 2014 was not the event it should have been.
For anyone following TNA as of late, they know that the recent TV tapings have been set for weeks now, even prior to the taping of Bound For Glory. It’s interesting tonight looks more like the real Bound For Glory 2014 card than what we received at Bound For Glory. Or at the very least, the first half of what could have been the Bound For Glory 2014 card.
First up is the tag team tourney. Samoa Joe and Low-Ki have teamed up for the tournament, which is a good mix of styles and history. If neither man is going to be running a division, better they come together. Ki has experience when he was with XXX while Joe has shown he can coexist with anybody for a great tag team. They take on MVP and Kenny King, two men on opposite spectrums of their career but both skilled, charismatic and dangerous. I still feel there’s a future world champion in Kenny King so all of this is just building preparation for it.
Next you have Ethan Carter III, one of the very best heels in pro wrestling today teaming with new TNA signing Tyrus (formerly Brodus Clay). They face off against the Hardy’s for the tag tourney.
Another tag match tonight involves The Beautiful People against former TBPer Madison Rayne and Taryn Terell. It’s impressive how much Terell has developed in TNA. A lot of times when people say, “Oh, the Bellas have improved! They have really developed!” they just mean the match isn’t a complete travesty. Terell is one of the best female wrestlers in North America today. She can bump, she can emote and she can rise to the performance of her opponent, even if that’s Gail Kim.
Continuing with tag teams, James Storm continues to try and shove a stake between The Wolves, trying to create doubt between Davey Richards and Eddie Edwards and have Davey join The Awakening. Storm has been phenomenal with Sanada and his recent promos. For some it’s a rip of Bray Wyatt, but Storm isn’t a cult leader for the unknown. He’s a veteran with a proven track record. It’s a different flavour to the leader with the golden tongue.
Finally, the TNA World Heavyweight title re-match between Roode and Lashley. Roode and Lashley had a great first match with Lashley proving himself dominant and going over clean. The build up to the story is whether or not Roode’s knee can hold up. Despite being a taping, TNA is also playing up Lashley’s MMA defence from the weekend into the match storyline as well. Added to the match is TNA Commissioner Kurt Angle as special guest referee. Angle recently re-signed with TNA after tons of speculation he’d be making his victory lap with WWE soon. Angle works well as TNA Commissioner. It would have been great to see him in the WWE again, but that will have to wait. WWE still hasn’t gotten half out of Sting since signing him.
I cannot stress enough how good Lashley and Roode has the potential to be. Lashley has been a dominant world champion and Roode is proving that he could always play a great babyface. Roode is in particular the real deal in the wrestling business. Watching Roode is like watching a future hall of famer still performing at the top of his game. There’s nobody better to call their ace right now. Nobody better to quell some doubt in the company’s future. Bobby Roode brings the most important element into this match for TNA fans: Hope.
Next week will be the finals of the tag team tournament, TNA Knockout champion Havok facing Gail Kim and a hardcore match featuring Bram and Magnus. As I said, you can take these two shows and put together what could have been the real card for Bound For Glory 2014.
More importantly, tonight’s TNA Impact will feature something you didn’t see at BFG or WWE Hell in a Cell: a main event match for a world championship.
Remember those?
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