It is the year 2011 and Hulk Hogan is headlining a goddamned PPV main event… or rather the co-main event, as we also have TNA World Champion Kurt Angle defending his title against Robert Roode or something, but let’s be real. Which match would TNA rather focus on? The usual World Title offering that will be all kinds of awesome or another HULK HOGAN match long past the man’s prime years?
This is another show that I’ve not watched before, but I had to remind myself about a couple controversies that took place on this show. We’ll dive in as the show progresses, but I found myself with more to say on this show and the surroundings than I would have thought, which might make for a more interesting read
First off, congratulations, this is not the Impact Zone, but a small arena in Philly. Though I guess considering that Bound For Glory has traditionally been held outside the Impact Zone in Orlando, FL, that shouldn’t be a huge accomplishment, but it’s not in Florida this year, so… yay?
X-Division Champion Austin Aries defeated Brian Kendrick to retain the title. Aries had defeated Kendrick for the title at the previous month’s PPV and this was the rematch. Honestly not much to say here; both guys pulled out the works to produce a solid opening match, as you expect from a TNA show that opens with an X-Division title bout or regular match, even.
Rob Van Dam defeated Jerry Lynn in an ECW nostalgia match and to call this anything other than that would be a blatant lie. That call this “Full Metal Mayhem” which is technically TNA’s version of TLC, but you can win by pinfall here, which is why I refer to this as an ECW nostalgia match. If I recall correctly, this was going to be the original main event for that Hardcore Justice thing TNA did the year prior until Lynn had to pull out, so it’s nice that they’re getting around to doing that match here. And what do you want me to say? If you’ve seen one RVD vs. Jerry Lynn match, you’ve probably already know what to expect here and that’s not necessarily a knock because both guys were still pretty solid workers and we’ve got some nice trademark spots out of the deal. 2 for 2 as far as I’m concerned.
Crimson defeated Samoa Joe and Matt Morgan in a triple threat match that was just coasting on spots before Crimson landed the spear on Joe for the win to continue his undefeated streak. The only thing I remember about Crimson is that he compared himself to Goldberg one time and Goldberg was like “Who?” Though I’d imagine Bret Hart would rather work with Crimson than Bill Goldberg, so… yeah, so Crimson is on an undefeated streak that continues until next year at Slammiversary 2012, where he eventually loses to (checks notes) Cowboy James Storm… and then he’d be gone from TNA afterwards. Brilliant. 2 for 3.
Mr. Anderson defeated Bully Ray in a pretty fun hardcore brawl. This would have been shortly after Devon’s retirement (why are you laughing?) when Bubba Ray turned heel and decided to go it alone, which worked out just fine for him, I think. Hey, a hardcore match that didn’t rely on tables is a win for me. Fuck tables. 3 for 4.
Velvet Sky defeated Madison Rayne, Mickie James, and Knockouts Champion Winter to win the title, but you almost wouldn’t know it because the focus was almost entirely on special referee Karen Jarrett, who did more to detract from the (admittedly nothing happening) match that add anything to it. And there is a universe out there where Karen Jarrett is an entertaining heel figure and I would very much like to live in that universe if at all possible because all I’ve seen is someone who can rival Stephanie McMahon in terms of pure ear violation centrality. For those who haven’t frequented these PPV musings long, that is not a term of endearment.
Also worth noting – remember Katie Lea Burchill from WWE, who hung out with “brother” Paul and they kinda/sorta did an incest thing before it was dropped because “PG, brother?” Well, that’s Winter. She’d be in TNA for another year before bouncing around the indies for a bit and eventually retiring. Hope she’s doing well these days.
AJ Styles defeated Christopher Daniels in an I Quit match that ended with AJ Styles threatening to stab Daniels with a screwdriver, which causes Daniels to quit in fear… and then Daniels hits Styles with his finish and the feud continues. If I recall correctly, AJ, Daniels, and Kazarian were in a middle of some sort of feud that would eventually involve some other woman who claimed to have AJ’s baby and that’d be a thing until the woman quit because someone saw her cosplaying as Olive Oyl one day and it wasn’t worth the agony. The actress who played said woman, Julia Reilly, passed away last year, but hopefully, she found peace and happiness in the end. As for the match… yeah, this was fine. Again, if you’ve seen one AJ vs. Daniels match, you pretty much know what you’re getting. And the I Quit stuff only served to give the match a lame ending… I mean, come on. A screwdriver? Not exactly a creative finish, but whatever.
Sting defeated Hulk Hogan via tap out to Scorpion Deathlock in a match that… well, let’s be fair. Hogan had seen better days and neither he nor Sting were exactly spring chickens. The interference from Ric Flair as well as the crooked referee (who is, in fact, Eric Bischoff’s real-life son Garret) looking away during the shenanigans did what they could to keep the match from being hard to watch. This was for control of the company (because Hogan and friends somehow stole TNA from Dixie Carter or something – the less I try to think about these things, the better. Trust me) and some would argue that someone other than Sting should have been the one to beat Hogan here for the added rub. The added rub of what, exactly? Of beating a really old man who was, at one time, one of the premiere names in all of wrestling but is barely able to move around much less take a bump? How much stuff was Hogan going to go “doesn’t work for me, brother” and we end up with a limp dick of a match that completely shits the bed?
This would turn out to be Hogan’s last match and on that count and for what it tried to do, it’s more than serviceable. While I’m sure Hogan would have liked to have his last match in WWE before hanging it up, the fact that it never happened is probably a good thing. For a last hurrah, this was more than fine. Seeing Hogan defeated, only for Flair and friends to ambush Sting, who is pleading with Hogan to save him, which spurs the Hulkster to turn on the stable that bares his Immortal moniker, turning him back to the side of light… hey, you know what? That’s not a bad way to end an in-ring career.
In any event, Hogan would stick around for a couple more years in TNA. And if you want a better picture of how Hogan’s TNA tenure ended…
Yip…
TNA World Champion Kurt Angle defeated Bobby Roode to retain the title in a match that caused a bit of ruckus at the time, because the assumption was that Roode was ready to be elevated to the main event picture and Bound For Glory seemed to be the best time to push up to that level by having him beat arguably one of the most decorated WWE legends and TNA Champions (who had neck problems and needed time off) in the main event of what is arguably their biggest PPV event. Obviously, that didn’t happen, but what did happen was on the post-BFG edition of Impact, Kurt Angle would drop the title to James Storm (in a match that lasted less than two minutes) and he’d hold on to the belt for a bit before dropping it to Roode, who, by that point, had turned on his partner and became a bit of a heel.
I hadn’t seen the PPV at the time and if I’m going to be honest, the thought of having to sit through another episode of Impact around that time was never going to be the most pleasant thought. I questioned why they opted against giving Roode the title on the PPV, but then having Kurt drop it to his partner and then have Roode take it from him a couple weeks later on free TV. Maybe the delay helped Roode in the long run, as he would strive for a bit as a heel champion and probably wouldn’t have gotten much of a chance. However, on a show that was highlighted by a bunch of old guys (and gals) getting big wins or big marquee matches, this had the stench of latter-day, post-fingerpoke WCW.
Having watched the show… yeah, this felt like an old-school late-90s WCW PPV; decent undercard, shit upper card. And while I wouldn’t call Angle/Roode a bad main event, even in hindsight, the wrong guy won on this night. Still, I would have to rank this as a better show than the previous year’s offering, though not quite as good as some of the better BFGs I’ve seen up to this point. We’ll see what next year’s show brings to the table.
