KB’s Review: That’s What They Do

So “Bound For Glory 2014” was last Sunday and…..oh you didn’t know that? You don’t remember you say? Well I can’t say I blame you as it was the least important pay per view from a major company that I can remember in a long time. The show was a Wrestle-1 event with some TNA workers brought in to flesh out the card and draw in some extra interest.

That being said, I really don’t know why this surprises anyone. “Bound For Glory 2014” was the 10th edition of the show and the fact that the main event was held between two guys contracted to Wrestle-1, a guy basically on loan to TNA and a lone TNA guy really shouldn’t surprise you. Over the years, TNA has somehow had the wrong people either in or going over in the main event of Bound For Glory almost every time. Today we’re going to look back at every Bound For Glory and see how screwing this show up really isn’t anything new.

We’ll start at the beginning with “Bound For Glory 2005.” The main event was changed at the last minute with Rhino going over Jeff Jarrett to win the World Title after earning the spot in a Gauntlet for the Gold earlier in the night. Rhino was a replacement after Kevin Nash had a medical issue.

That being said, the main event wasn’t the best option even if the original match had gone through. Of all the people on that roster, the best they can offer is Nash? Jeff Hardy, AJ Styles, Christopher Daniels and Raven were all on the show, but instead they were going with Nash. However, they wound up going with Rhino as the challenger and the man that won the title. Rhino did win, and was then put in a coffin by Jarrett and America’s Most Wanted until Team 3D returned to make the save. Rhino lost the title less than two weeks later, making this whole thing a waste of time.

“Bound For Glory 2006” saw Sting vs. Jarrett in a match that had taken place on pay per view two months earlier at “Hard Justice 2006”. Sting was screwed over by Christian Cage at the show, meaning a rematch made sense. There was one problem though: in the month between Hard Justice and Bound For Glory, Samoa Joe defeated Jarrett in a non-title match at “No Surrender 2006.” Joe’s match at Bound For Glory: a meaningless Monster’s Ball match.

There are two ways of looking at how this show was set up. If you go with the story that had been told for months leading up, Sting getting the title shot makes perfect sense as he got ripped off in his first chance. However, when you have the Joe factor, it’s hard to validate him not getting the shot. In other words, TNA can’t have Joe beat Jarrett one month then have Sting get the shot the next month. Either go with Joe all the way and at least put him in the match as a third guy or don’t include him in the first place.

2007 was a return to the first Bound For Glory formula as Sting defeated Kurt Angle for the World Title, only to lose it back to Angle less than two weeks later. Once again, Bound For Glory comes off as a show that doesn’t matter and we were back to another six months of Angle as champion to go along with the four prior months.

The next year was another chance to give praise to Sting because Heaven forbid we don’t do that at every possible chance. Joe had won the World Title earlier in the year at “Lockdown 2008”, finally defeating Angle to blow off their long feud. After a summer with the belt, Joe loses the title to Sting, making the veteran the focus of the company yet again. It would be fine if this was a one time thing, but it was the third straight year Sting had won the title. You would think the fans had gotten the idea the first two times, but TNA seemed to think otherwise.

Things would change a bit at “Bound For Glory 2009”. Of course Sting was in the main event, but this time he actually lost to reigning champion Styles. The last shot of the show was Sting standing in the ring as there were rumors that it was his retirement match. Yet again, why bother having the show focus on building up someone new when you can focus on someone who has been a top star for twenty years?

We actually got something new at “Bound For Glory 2010” with the big reveal of the THEY storyline. The show was headlined by a triple threat match between Hardy, Mr. Anderson and Angle for the World Title. Hardy turned heel at the end of the show, joining forces with Eric Bischoff, Hulk Hogan, Abyss and Jarrett. Notice some of those names? It’s because most of them are people who have been big deals in wrestling for a long time. The group would wind up being about Hogan and Bischoff more than anyone else, with Hardy being relegated to a second string character, making this another moment not about the champ.

The story would continue the next year with “Bound For Glory 2011.” This show had a double main event, meaning two chances for TNA to screw up. First up we had Sting facing Hulk Hogan, now in control of the company, in an effort to get the company back into the hands of Dixie Carter. Sting won the match in a decent brawl but was attacked by the entire Immortal group.

He begged Hogan to help him, knowing that the good was still inside him. Hogan turned face in front of the rabid Philadelphia crowd, who ate it up like ice cream on a hot summer day. Hogan and Sting beat up the Immortal members (because two men in their fifties who just had a violent match could easily beat up a group of fresh wrestlers) and the fans cheered them on.

We weren’t done yet at this show though. The alleged main event (it went on last but Sting vs. Hogan was treated as the bigger match) saw Angle defending against Bobby Roode. Roode had won the first Bound For Glory Series, surviving a field of twelve twelve entrants in a three month competition to earn the title shot. Angle got the pin to retain the title, making that entire concept totally pointless.

Speaking of pointless, Angle would lose the title to James Storm a few days later on Impact due to an injury. Roode would get his title by turning heel on his former partner to win the belt. Rather than just doing the logical thing by having Roode win the title and then turn on Storm in his first defense, which would give TNA the same result, they decided to have Roode blow his big chance because one of the biggest names in wrestling history needed to win at the biggest show of the year for whatever reason.

First up we had Sting and Bully Ray teaming up to face two masked members of the Aces and 8’s team. At this point, no members of the group had been revealed yet and it was fair to think something big would be revealed at the show. The bikers won the match but Hogan came out to help in the fight. A third masked man was singled out and had his mask ripped off revealing……D-Von.

Yes D-Von of Team 3D. After six months of buildup and planning, the first reveal was D-Von. This was TNA’s version of WCW’s “Sin” pay per view where Road Warrior Animal was revealed as the masked man. D-Von was part of a great tag team, but his singles success consists of a few TNA TV Title reigns, including one where he spent months feuding with Robbie E. and Robbie T. It was a complete letdown and the fans chanted “this is awkward!” as a result. D-Von may be a famous name, but unless he was with his partner, the interest just wasn’t there.

The show wasn’t done yet though as we had another Bound For Glory Series winner had to challenge for the gold. This time it was Hardy, who defeated Austin Aries to win the title again. For once, TNA came close to getting it right as Hardy was trying to redeem himself after his drug issues screwed up “Victory Road 2011” the year prior. This came off as a long running story that actually worked, making it one of the first shows where the right man won and actually kept the title longer than a few weeks.

Finally we have “Bound For Glory 2013”, headlined by TNA World Champion Bully Ray defending against the loner Styles. The Aces and 8’s were finally starting to fall apart and would be gone soon after. Unfortunately, so would Styles himself. After winning the title, Styles would leave the promotion and be gone for about two months of TV shows, meaning the title was vacated less than two weeks after he won the title.

After all that we have this past Sunday’s main event of Great Muta and Tajiri teaming up to face Great Sanada and Storm. This story was set up a few months ago when Sanada turned on his mentor, Muta, and joined Storm. It might not sound that familiar to you because there was barely any mention of it for about two and a half months. Muta wound up winning the match for his team at “Bound For Glory 2014” but was attacked post match. Team 3D made the save and posed to end the show, giving us a final shot of Wrestle-1’s owner, a Wrestle-1 performer, and a team that isn’t likely to be sticking around TNA much longer.

Whether it’s having the title change hands again two weeks later or keeping the title and focus on people who have had a focus for decades or repeating the same finish three years in a row, TNA has gone away from the expected and arguably logical ending to Bound For Glory nearly every single year. It has almost always been about pushing the older talent instead of the younger and that’s what happened again this year in Japan. It’s annoying and frustrating, but it’s life in TNA.

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