In a year that saw AJ Styles wrestle his final professional wrestling in front of a live television crowd – at least, as of this writing – it is only fitting that we finally get around to muse about the 2013 edition of TNA’s Bound For Glory PPV event, which featured the final PPV main event of a man that had truly been the marquee TNA star… even if he was never truly presented as such.
It’s kind of funny when you think about it because we talk about AJ Styles and his great run at TNA, with all those memorable moments and matches that he had during his tenure there… but when I look back at some of these PPVs, I never really got the feeling that he was treated as a main star or attraction. More often than not, he was playing second or even third fiddle to the WWE legends and castoffs that TNA had under their employ at the time. Like I make this joke all the time, but there is a bit of truth to it; AJ Styles had the tools to be a big-time player in TNA if anyone had a clue to take advantage of it, but they didn’t. They kept using him as a guy who just had the great matches and so he fucked off to New Japan and became a big star there. And then he showed up in WWE and somehow became one of their signature main event attractions. It’s like TNA spends most of its existence being a feeder system to create potential main event stars so that they can be that in other promotions.
So I will say, right off the bat, that this is the first TNA PPV that I’ve seen where they actually make a conceded effort in having AJ Styles feel like a genuine, honest-to-goodness big fornicating deal. They’re replaying memorable AJ Styles moments throughout the night. They’re paying tribute to the man on commentary. He’s essentially a central focus of the show… and they’re doing all this when his contract is about to expire and he has no interest in re-signing because they’re not willing to pay him accordingly… because TNA was on such a downward spiral and was trying to cut corners. And really, considering all the stupid shit that TNA has tried to pull over the course of its existence, it’s really hard to feel bad for them at the time.
But, look, we’ve got a PPV here. It’s AJ Styles challenging Bully Ray for the World title on his last contracted date and… other stuff happened, I guess. Let’s get into it.
Chris Sabin defeated X-Division champ Manik, Samoa Joe, Jeff Hardy, and Austin Aries in an Ultimate X match that saw Sabin forgo the usual method of climbing the jungle gym ropes to claim the title by using a ladder to get the belt instead, thereby killing the whole point of Ultimate X and no doubt without consequence because TNA is run by morons… which wasn’t further from the truth to be honest, but still… But yeah, this was the usual Ultimate X fare, but a bit of a weird selection of talent. An all-star line-up? Sure, if you say so, but two of those stars main evented last year show for the World title and now they’re in the opener. Go figure.
The BroMans (Jessie Godderz and Robbie E) defeated TNA Tag Champions Gunner and James Storm to win the titles. For you NXT viewers out there, Robbie E is best known today as occasional authority figure and manager Robert Stone… which is a significant step above poor man’s Jersey Shore knockoff gimmick, let me tell you… nobody is going to get that. Perfectly acceptable tag match. Gunner and Storm is a weird combo. Was Chris Harris not available for an AMW reunion or something?
Gail Kim defeated Brooke Adams Tessmaching Macher Person and Knockouts champion ODB with an assist from some other woman to win the title… you know what? I changed my mind. I much rather have Lisa Marie get another title reign. Hell, I’ll even take Madison Rayne. Just don’t give me another… oh wait, this was a decade ago and none of this matters any more. I’m making light of this whole deal because the match itself was just a nothing burger. It was just there and I really didn’t care. They were bordering on Divas match bathroom break territory here and that’s not a good thing for TNA, who usually had a solid women’s division under their belt. Yes, there’s Sharmell vs. Jenna from a few years back… but there’s also Shelley vs. Rebel in a few years time as well. Be afraid.
Bobby Roode defeated Kurt Angle in Angle’s first match back from rehab, where he got himself cleaned up and was on the verge of a final run that would eventually see himself doing a few indy dates before returning to WWE and doing nothing of note… he got a Hall of Fame induction out of it, so that’s something, I guess. Anyway, this match was excellent. Angle was in top form here, looking like he never really missed a beat and Bobby Roode looked like someone with a bone to pick… which makes sense considering how the last match these two had ended up turning out. Finish was great, with Angle hitting Roode with an Angle Slam off the top, but ultimately wiped both guys out, with Roode able to recover enough to get a pinfall win. Superb piece of business that more than made up for that misfire of a main event.
Ethan Carter III defeated some job guy in a short match. This would be the former Derrick Bateman of NXT fame, repackaged as a relative of TNA president Dixie Carter. Not much of a showing for the future EC3, but that narrative has to start somewhere and at least it was short, which is nice.
Magnus defeated Sting via submission in a rather meh match. Not exactly bad or anything, but I wouldn’t necessarily call it a memorable match. A nice notch on the career of Nick Aldis, who would move on to bigger and better things.
And then we get to the main event… in which, like I said, they spent the whole show hyping up AJ Styles as this legendary TNA figure… but in storyline, he’s the guy who won a title match against Bully Ray, who’s the placeholder champion and avatar to Dixie Carter, who wants nothing to do with AJ… much like real life, it would seem. Honestly, I feel like the champion could have been anybody but Bully because Bully was the guy behind Aces & 8s, which died earlier that year, I think. And now he’s team Dixie for some reason? Honestly, I wouldn’t have minded if you gave that role to Magnus instead and he could drop the title to AJ before winning back in 2014 or something. I’m not knocking Bully here because the guy reinvented himself and proved to be a capable main eventer, but for this specific story that they were telling in the battle between AJ and Dixie, Bully felt a bit out of place.
Regardless, we have the main event title match. As you would expect, it is a fun time to be had by all because AJ Styles lives up to his Phenomenal moniker and Bully Ray can deliver the goods when it’s called for. And so the BFG 2013 show saw the phenomenal AJ Styles defeat TNA World Champion Bully Ray to win the title despite the interference of heel owner Dixie Carter… and then the next night, make his final appearance on TNA as a “contracted” TNA wrestler before making a brief return in 2014 to drop his title to BRUTUS MAGNUS (a.k.a. future NWA World’s Champion and Smackdown GM Nick Aldis), who won his own TNA world title in the interim.
Yeah, this was a step down from the previous year’s show. Some less than stellar or even interesting match ups, but there were a couple standout ones as well. And the crowd was largely into the show, so it wasn’t all bad even if it wasn’t one of the better Bound For Glory outings and certainly a far cry from the promotion’s prime years in the late-2000s, but certainly it can’t get worse than this, can it? I mean, it’s not like next year’s show was going to be a rebrand of another promotion’s house show with some TNA talent tossed in for good measure.
Is it?
