TNA aired its biggest pay-per-view (PPV) of the year, Bound for Glory, last night (Oct. 4, 2015) from Charlotte, North Carolina. Unfortunately, it was put in a poor position from the get go.
I'm going to sound like a broken record since I'm about to reiterate what I've said in my reviews and previews for weeks. TNA really did nothing to build this PPV and that was going to hurt them. Much of the success of any big show is going to be built in the weeks prior, before the show even comes on the air. When fans come in invested, the matches don't have to be perfect or over the top spot fests to hold the interested of the crowd in the arena or the fans at home. The stories have been told and fans have chosen sides and they're just waiting to see the ending and hope their person or people win. Our leader Geno Mrosko said it perfectly on a Cageside Podcast. There are three things that go into a match: characters, story, and the match itself. And the match itself is the least important of the three.
Tonight, many had just the match itself. And if that's all you have, you're pretty much watching a house show. House shows have fun matches involving characters you like. Not even all the matches tonight on Bound for Glory had characters we liked or cared about. There was an X Division match with four guys that the viewing audience at home had no reason to care about. You had a battle royal for a #1 Contender with a bunch of guys that fans had no investment in.
In the matches where you have people you care about, such as the Knockout's match or the Tag Title match, there was no story. So they were a step above because you can say "Hey, I love the Wolves. I hope they win," or "I'm a big Gail Kim fan so I'm pulling for her." But that was it. Title matches usually have a story besides announcers telling us "These two people are going to fight for the title. They had a cool rivalry before." A match over a title can be just about the title, but some time explaining what that match and title means to both people is important. A story is important.
Because only the main event had that story, one that was rushed and poorly managed, this PPV never had a shot of being great without putting on a string of four star plus matches. And they did not do that. Many of the matches were above average to really good, but not enough to overcome the lack of prior build Not enough to make fans in attendance care. And they surely didn't by the lack of reaction they had all night. It was a dead crowd.
The performers are in a tough spot here because it's on them to overcome what wasn't done prior by creative to help put their matches over. And they went out and sure tried hard to overcome. But they were fighting from too far behind to carry this show into something more than a house show that you paid PPV money for.
Now, let's go match by match with the results and reactions.
______________________________________
Matt Hardy defeats Ethan Carter III and Drew Galloway (with Jeff Hardy as special guest referee) to win TNA Heavyweight Championship.
After EC3 tried to get himself DQ'd, he slapped Jeff Hardy. Jeff hit Carter with a Twist of Fate and Matt got the win with help from his brother. After the match, the Hardys celebrate with their family.
You know, I would have accepted a Matt Hardy win if they did it right. But the only way to do that was to make him earn it. But nope, TNA went ahead and TNA'd it into some overbooked junk instead.
First, EC3 tried to get himself DQ'd from a triple threat match after they already used tables and chairs. OK, it's possible that he was trying to take advantage of a green referee in Jeff Hardy (who was wearing awesome referee face paint by the way). Though he had to have thought Jeff was exceptionally stupid because they already used tables in the match and didn't get disqualified.
Failing to get DQ'D, Carter gets a chair and tries to hit Matt with it but Jeff takes it. Then there's maybe 30 seconds of Jeff holding the chair as EC3 yells at him to his Matt for some reason. Jeff doesn't work for him any more so why would Ethan even try this? And why did Jeff think about it for a bit? Of course, Hardy hits EC3 with the chair, hits him with a Twist of Fate, Drew Galloway hits him with his Sick Kick, Matt hits the Twist of Fate on Drew for the win.
The only way that this would have felt satisfying is if Jeff kept it clean the entire time and Matt over came odds himself to win it on his own. Instead, Jeff took out 1/3 of the competition to allow his brother to pick up the scraps. It is better that Matt pinned drew, who Jeff didn't touch, instead of Carter and it helps that Carter was being an insufferable jerk, but it still didn't feel rewarding at all.
Also, there's the whole thing about taking the title off your white hot young talent and put it on 41 year old who's best days career wise are behind him. But that's TNA doing TNA things. At this point, it should have been expected that the young guys would not get the win here.
______________________________________
Tigre Uno defeats. DJ Z,. Andrew Everett, Manik to retain the X Division title in the Ultimate X match.
Greg Helms comes down to the ring and raises Tigre Uno's hand after the match.
TNA opted to open the show with the X Division match, which makes sense. It's often a good high spot match to get the crowd into it. Unfortunately, given the fact that none of these guys have had any characterization, the crowd didn't have someone to really cheer for. The person with most cheers is Andrew Everett because he is a local guy, though most at home had never heard of him. So in reality, the only thing fans had to cheer for is high spots. And this match had some enjoyable high spots. But when there's next to no attachment to any of the characters, the match is going to have a low ceiling.
Greg Helms has been behind the scenes for TNA for a bit now I believe. This is probably nothing more than just the longest running cruiserweight champion giving props to the current X Division. We'll see if the 41 has an X Division feud in him. Not that a 41 year old isn't TNA Champion right now.
______________________________________
Tyrus defeats Mr. Anderson, Jessie Godderz, Eli Drake, Al Snow, Aiden O'Shea, Robbie E, Mahabali Shera, Tyrus, Chris Melendez, Tommy Dreamer, Abyss, & The Pope in a modified battle royal to become #1 Contender to any title of his choice.
After the match, Ethan Carter comes down to congratulate Tyrus and says they'll challenge for the tag team championships. Tyrus thanked Carter for all he did for him but said he wants the world heavyweight championship of the world instead.
This was a 40 minute match about, which is too long for filler in the opening hour of a PPV. It was a modified Royal Rumble style battle royal where you could also win by pinfall or submission. That was only in play at the end when Tyrus pinned Mr. Anderson for the win. There were the classic "legends entrants" such as Al Snow and Tommy Dreamer. It says something that they got the biggest pop, but that's what happens with the midcard gets little to no time in TNA. Hell, these guys were used so scarcely that half the times, the entrance music wasn't even familiar. Popping for someone's music is best part of this type of battle royal.
There were no feuds to be advanced nor feuds created so this was time filler until the end. It was nice to see Tommy Dreamer come out in Dust Rhodes polka dotted pants. Al Snow looks to be in really good shape. I would have liked to see the Pope wrestle, but he just didn't the same bit Michael Cole did at the Rumble years back and eliminated himself after Tyrus and Abyss stared him down.
And what the hell was Eli Drake doing leaving his HeMan vest at home? This is the big PPV! You rock your special HeMan vest for the night!
The Tyrus didn't telegraph the finish of the show because they teased a Carter/Tyrus program. I hope you're all pumped for the Tyrus vs. Matt Hardy World Title program coming your way!
______________________________________
The Wolves defeat Brian Myers and Trevor Lee to retain their tag team titles
There's never a bad Wolves match and tonight was not the exception to the rule. You're guaranteed a fun time watching the Wolves. I think they have had better chemistry with other partners (which could be because Lee and Myers aren't a tag team normally) but this was still a fun match.
It's a shame they didn't do a damned thing to hype it since it was announced. In fact, I don't know why they didn't just keep the titles on Lee/Myers and make this match the Wolves last chance to bring the titles back to TNA. They could have done something to give this match some added intrigue. The competitors deserved more than nothing.
______________________________________
Bobby Roode defeats. Bobby Lashley to retain the King of the Mountain title. After the match both men shake hands.
This was a really good match, which shouldn't be surprising given how good both men are as competitors. Bobby Lashley worked heel most of the match given he's the bigger guy and Bobby Roode is more of a fan favorite. They kicked out of each other's finishers, they used each other's finishers, and traded submissions. Roode played up a shoulder injury throughout the match and Lashley put the Kimura lock on a couple times. The second time Lashley had the Kimura on, Roode was able to lift him into the Roode Bomb quickly to avoid having to tap. All in all, good match which had good psychology.
Unfortunately, the crowd was dead for this match and a dead crowd can massively hinder any match. It doesn't help that the crowd wasn't given any story prior to this and the title is pretty meaningless so far. However, many wrestling crowds would have gotten into this match regardless. It was very possiby match of the night.
______________________________________
Gail Kim defeats Awesome Kong to retain the Knockout's title
This was a pretty good match with enough dumb shenanigans to be great. In the middle of the match, Kong started collecting chairs on the outside, despite the fact a DQ would cost her the title. When she went to retrieve a chair near Gail's husband Robert Irvine, he grabbed the chair. She then argued him about that. Earl Hebner ran over and berated Irvine to sit down while 10 feet away Awesome Kong hits the Implant Busters on Gail. Your TNA Hall of Fame referee, everyone.
Asides from that the match was a good one. Like most of the rest of the card, it didn't have any recent build for the crowd to have a story to invest in.
______________________________________
Kurt Angle defeats Eric Young in a No Disqualification match via Submission
Early on in the match, Young hit a pile driver on Angle and they played it up that he was hurt again. Doctors came down to take him to the back but Young knocked all those guys out. EY then worked over Kurt's neck the entire time. He even threatened a pile driver from the top rope which Angle was able to reverse and apply the Angle Lock, to which Young was forced to tap out.
Yes, it definitely feels dirty to play on the fans worry about Kurt by turning this into the angle. They know we fear for Kurt every time he's in the ring. However, that aside, this all worked within the psychology. Eric Young has really done wonders embracing the vicious heel role and this match played into that perfectly. It made you fear for the babyface and despise the heel. It just used real life factors to do so. But this is wrestling and working the crowd is what it's all about.
While every Angle match worries me to some degree, the story they told was enjoyable.
______________________________________
Pros of the Show:
- Bobby Roode vs. Lashley was match of the night
- The tag team match was fun (the Wolves always are)
- Young and Angle worked well
Cons of the Show:
- The ending of the main event was poorly booked
- That whole Hebner/Robert Irvine thing
- Completely dead crowd
- No build prior to give us reason to care about the vast majority of the matches
- 40 minute battle royal time filler.
No build and poor booking makes Bound for Glory a dull show. Just another couple of weeks of giving these matches stories would have done wonders.
Grade: D+