TNA Impact Preview (Sept. 29, 2016): Road to Glory

TNA Impact returns tonight with what word has could be their last episode. With word that they may not have enough money to run the Bound for Glory pay-per-view (PPV) and Dixie Carter is actually considering selling to WWE, who would close the doors, TNA may be short lived. For what it’s worth, Billy Corgan has said he’ll be in Orlando, but there’s still nothing concrete.

But nothing has officially happened yet and the show goes on until we get word. So as per usual, here are our five questions about Impact tonight.

1) What will be the title match stipulation at Bound for Glory?

It was announced last week that Ethan Carter III and Bobby Lashley, the two that will fight for the TNA championship at Bound for Glory, will captain Lethal Lockdown teams tonight. The winning captain will get to choose a stipulation for the PPV match.

We may as well get to guessing the stipulation. I doubt it’ll be any cage match since the Lethal Lockdown is a cage match and that would be doubling down on the cage gimmick too close together. There’s the no DQ/Falls Count Anywhere/Last Man Standing type match. As a personal preference, I’m not a huge fan of the latter two because I feel they don’t add to a match. The other choice would be a ladder match, which I’m always a fan of.

Personally, I’d prefer no stipulation and them just settle the feud in a one on one match. To me, main event of big shows are best as a standard gimmick-free match. But there will be a stipulation. Let us know what stip you’d prefer in the comments.

2) What will be the Lethal Lockdown teams?

This match will be used to represent as many feuds as they can with good guys on team EC3 and bad guys on team Lashley.

I’m assuming Moose (who has already teamed with EC3) and Aron Rex will be on team Carter with Mike Bennett and Drew Galloway on team Lashley. The Broken Hardys and Decay likely won’t be part of this match since their broken world seems very separate from the other goings. Perhaps they’ll put Eli Drake on the heel team or a tag team like the Helms Dynasty. Carter can choose someone like Braxton Sutter out of the X Division. I don’t think Shera and Grado would be a good choice, but it’s possible.

The Moose/Bennett feud won’t only be represented in Lethal Lockdown because they will have a sit down together reviewing their history. That should give the guys a chance to work their characters and put the finishing touches on the story, something that just being in Lethal Lockdown wouldn’t give them a chance to do.

3) What will be the X Division match at Bound for Glory?

The one division not yet represented on the PPV is the X Division. Part of that is because Eddie Edwards and DJ Z have a match tonight for the X Division title. Whoever walks out of that will likely have to turn around and prepare quickly because he’ll probably have to defend that title at Bound for Glory.

In typical TNA fashion, the chances are he’ll have to defend it in an Ultimate X match against the other competitor in this match, the Helms Dynasty, & Mandrews.

4) Will the women have a second match at BFG?

Right now, the only match with the Knockouts at the PPV is the Knockouts title match between Gail Kim and Maria Kanellis. Allie and Sienna will likely be involved in the match, at least ringside, in some way.

But that would still leave Jade off the card, as well as Marti Bell, Madison Rayne, and the newly debuted Laurel Van Ness (formerly Chelsea Green of Tough Enough fame). While Rayne hasn’t had a real story in awhile and Van Ness has just debuted, Bell and Jade should have been on and off feuding since last PPV so they should be on the card in some way.

Speaking of the KOs, veteran Madison Rayne and rookie Van Ness will be fighting tonight.

5) Is James Storm gone for good?

I completely forgot until recently that James Storm had that bit where he was suspended indefinitely by Billy Corgan after throwing a fit a week after losing to Bobby Lashley. There was word at the time that despite signing a sizeable contract with TNA just earlier this year, Storm was looking to leave. We didn’t know how much truth there was to it.

However, we’re a month removed from when Storm blew up and Corgan suspended him and it was never addressed again so it’s looking more and more like that was Storm’s exit from the company and not the beginning of a story.

If TNA can get their stuff together and continue on, we may find out.

TNA Impact airs tonight on Pop TV on 8 EST. Who’s watching?