TNA Bound for Glory match card: Bully Ray vs. AJ Styles preview

TNA Heavyweight Championship

Bully Ray vs. AJ Styles

The heavyweight champion has destroyed everyone in his path -- brief hiccup with Chris Sabin aside, though he corrected that -- and has vowed to do the same to the Bound for Glory Series winner, who is really up against it. Not only is Styles facing Ray, he's battling the machine too.

The Road to Bound for Glory

It all started last year when Styles lost a triple threat match that dictated he wouldn't be able to challenge for the heavyweight title again until no sooner than Bound for Glory this year.

Fast forward and, of course, Styles was earmarked to win the BFG Series. However, TNA was in financial disarray throughout much of the year and when his contract came up for renewal, there was at least a small possibility that a new contract couldn't be worked out.

The two sides found common ground but only in the form of an extension for an additional three months.

That was enough to give Styles the BFG Series win and thrust him into a shoot style storyline in the main event program with promotion President Dixie Carter turning heel and threatening to get rid of him. Now, we're at the biggest event of the year and the future of all involved is uncertain.

What's at stake?

Well, the heavyweight championship title for one. But more than that, Styles future with a company in flux right now. A win would seem to indicate the two sides have agreed, at least in principle, to a new deal that will keep him in town for another couple of years.

A loss would indicate the opposite.

That doesn't necessarily make that a hard rule, however, as TNA has shown in the past that it would put the belt on a wrestler with an expiring deal in an effort to keep him around, like in the case of Jeff Hardy. He ended up signing a long term deal the very next year.

It's an intriguing subplot to follow for tonight's big event, Cagesiders!

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