Well… it’s something, I suppose.
Yeah, so whenever I prep these slots, I’ll leave a quick blurb in the intro before starting the musings proper. Once that’s done, I could try and cook up a proper intro for the post. As it turns out, this show gave me a whole bunch of nothing and thus, “It’s something, I suppose” is just about the best thing I could say about this show.
Anyway, let’s get it over with.
X-Division Champion DJZ defeated Trevor Lee to retain the title in a perfectly acceptable wrestling match, which is fine for a typical wrestling match. But this is supposed to be X-Division “No Weight Limits, No Limits” high flying, spotfest thing. You had some of that here, but it’s just a match between two guys. One of these guys I know ended up in NXT for a few years and got a decent run out of it. The other… retained the title in this match… but hopefully, he’s doing well these days.
Eli Drake wins the Bound For Glory Gauntlet match to win a future World title shot. For those who don’t know, Eli Drake is the future LA Knight and I know that TNA treated that dude better than he’s being booked presently in WWE. It’s a battle royal thing, so… eh, whatever, right?
Moose defeated Mike Bennett in a clothesline match… as in, if you enjoy Moose delivering lariats for most of the match, then this ten minute block is solely for you wonderful folks. I will say anything to avoid stating the usual “this was a thing that happened” because I feel that should be reserved for matches and segments that I have nothing to say.
Aron Rex (Stevens fka Damien Sandow) defeated Eddie Edwards via split decision to win the inaugural Grand championship… which is a thing that existed for a time. Basically, the title is contested under some semblance of British Rules where you have three rounds and three judges to award points to each side and whoever wins the most points wins the match… or something. It’s like the old AWF rounds system that proved such a hit (oh wait) or the Brawl For All that also proved such a hit (oh wait) or something. Apparently, this was a Billy Corgan concept, because he was associated with TNA for a time for some reason until he fucked off and bought the National Wrestling Alliance… wonder how that worked out for him?
Yeah, so this was a thing that happened. I’m not a fan of this rounds concept. I get what they were trying to do, but whenever they try to emulate real combat sports, it comes across as kinda hokey and stupid. Maybe one time when the allure of a former UFC shoot fighter was still a rare commodity in wrestling, this might have been something, but with MMA a regular fixture in sports, this feels needless and redundant. No blame on the guys involved because they did the best they could under the circumstances they were placed in; it’s just the concept that I’m not a fan of.
The Broken Hardyz defeated Tag Team Champions Decay to win the titles… yeah, so this is deep into the Broken Hardy universe that everyone was a big fan of and they had a cinematic match much in the same vein as their Deletion things, where everyone fights in the Compound and lots of spooky shit happens. I will say that this is an acquired taste and not everyone is going to appreciate this as much as the hardcores would, but credit where it’s due; the Hardys can cook up a fine production within their limits whenever they put one of these things out.
And then the back end has them in the ring because sure, why not? The in-ring portion is fine, I guess.
Gail Kim (who was inducted into the TNA Hall Of Fame that year) defeated Knockouts Champion Maria Kanellis-Bennett to win the title. Maria tried to get out of the match claiming a broken hand, but Allie (the future Bunny) came out and said she was cleared. So we has a match and it’s a thing that happened and Gail Kim is an eleventy-billion time champion now… because sure, why not? Anyone who wants to rag on me for bitching about Gail Kim getting too many title wins on these Bound For Glory shows, I’m waiting for WWE to remember that they still need to give Baby Flair a few more titles to break her daddy’s record (which is officially about 38,993,928,829 title reigns… and maybe more that might be wrestling lost media or something.)
Oh and Cody and Brandi Rhodes debut afterwards… because sure, why not? We have to start somewhere, I suppose.
TNA World Champion Bobby Lashley defeated EC3 to retain the title in a perfectly acceptable wrestling match… and yes, that is all I have to say about that. EC3 won the title back from Hardy earlier in the year and then at some point, Bobby Lashley won it. They have a match, Lashley retained, and we move on from here. The End.
I am not going to mince any words. Bound For Glory 2016 is a pretty bad show. I don’t want to say that anything was inherently terrible, but there was nothing particularly good or great, either. This felt like a show that existed to fulfill some PPV obligation or something. A waste of time.
