Another year, another Bound For Glory PPV… and this one feels a bit familiar, a bit dejavu… honestly, it’s the same feeling I’ve got with a certain stretch of Wrestlemanias, but this is to a different degree. It’s not so much dejavu in terms of the same people involved, but rather… I don’t know. For a show that’s supposed to be the big tentpole, the crown jewel (no pun intended) of the TNA Impact Wrestling empire, you would think more pomp and circumstance would be added to the mix.
Granted, I understand there are budget reasons. Less inclined to spend on frivolous things, but even the best Bound For Glory shows felt like a genuine can’t miss event and I never got that feeling with these last couple entries. Granted, they’re good shows, but they feel more like good TNA B-shows, not good Bound For Glory shows.
That said, my notes are fairly bare for this show.
There were a couple pre-show matches that I skipped.
Frankie Kazarian defeated X-Division Champion “Speedball” Mike Bailey via chickenwing submission to win the title… and somewhere in the world, MVP is smiling because fuck you, Speedball. I think Kazarian had just left AEW at this point and decided to give TNA another shot… given how his career would turn out, that ended up being a smart move. Good opening match; I enjoyed this one.
Knockouts Champion Mickie James defeated Mia Yim in a Last Rodeo match to retain the title. Last Rodeo basically meant that if Mickie lost, she would have to take a temporary sabbatical. My guess is that they’re doing the thing with Mickie that WWE did with Ric Flair, where the old guard is one loss away from retirement. Although I don’t know if that would have stuck because even now, I think Mickie could probably squeeze another match or two out. Mia even did the “I’m sorry” bit that only got two and then Mickie won… and then Mia would be gone. Oops. This was fine.
The Death Dollz (Jessicka and Taya Valkyrie) (with Rosemary) defeated Knockouts Tag Champions VXT (Chelsea Green and Deonna Purrazzo) to win the titles… really enjoyed this match. These ladies worked their bums off and delivered the goods that the crowd were into. That was nowhere near as lewd as what you thought it was, you sick freak.
TNA Tag Champs The Kingdom (Matt Taven/Mike Bennett with Maria) defeated the Motor City Machine Guns (Alex Shelly/Chris Sabin) via roll-up (the deadliest maneuver in professional wrestling) to retain the titles. Great tag match. No notes.
Bully Ray won the Call Your Shot gauntlet match to earn a future title shot… because sure, why not give Bubba another main event run for whatever that’s worth? I wish I could see the hype in Bully’s TNA runs because people consider those to be his best works, but I don’t know. Maybe some of his antics outside the ring might have rubbed me the wrong way, but I was mostly “eh, whatever” over the end result. Bully wouldn’t win the title, though. Small favors, I suppose.
Knockouts champion Jordynne Grace defeated Masha Slamovich to retain the title. Good, solid, hard-hitting match between two brutes… or whatever the female equivalent of a brute happens to be. Thoroughly entertained. No complaints.
World Champion Josh Alexander defeated Eddie Edwards to retain the title, only to get attacked at the end by a bunch of guys before Bully Ray comes in to save the day as well as tease a future match… well, that’s five minutes I’m never getting back… but on the other hand, the match was fine. I’m happy that Josh got to walk out with his title and not get Money In The Banked afterwards. It’s the happy ending we needed last year, but didn’t get. So… yeah, sure. This was fine.
All in all, a perfectly fine three-ish hours of perfectly acceptable wrestling. There was some fun stuff on here and nothing that I would consider egregiously awful. In terms of being a big major show, it didn’t quite feel that, but I’d still call it a solid effort that holds up with some of TNA’s better PPVs. Either way, that’s a win in my book.
