Rasslin’ Roundtable – TNA Bound For Glory 2010

Last year I started watching TNA again on the road to Bound For Glory because TNA was one of its hottest streaks ever. This year I practically forced myself to watch Impact because it has been on a downward spiral all summer. Sadly, it seems like I’m not alone, as more people participated in a WWE D-level PPV roundtable than in this year’s TNA’s answer to Wrestlemania. Join Chris, MM and me for thoughts on Bound For Glory 2010.

Chris Biscuiti: I still don’t understand why the most prestigious title in the company had to be vacant for two months, especially when every other storyline in TNA seems to get super-accelerated so that months of storylines are packed into two or three weeks of shows. With that said, there has been a solid build to this match, especially between Anderson and Angle. Jeff Hardy seems to be the odd man out here, and what I would love to see is Anderson finally reveal he’s been playing a long con the whole time. that he really is a full-fledged “Asshole”, and that he played with everyone’s head to get what he truly wanted: the TNA World Heavyweight Championship. I think Anderson pins Hardy for the title, leaving Angle a loophole to get out of his extremely poorly handled self-imposed “leave-TNA-if-he-loses” stipulation, and that’s all I got to say about that.
Winner and new champion…
wait for it…
CHAMP-I-ON: Mr. Anderson

Matthew Michaels: I guess with TNA’s track record, I should predict that Kurt loses and then disregards the stipulation and comes back next week. But I’ll use logic instead.
Winner: Angle

Raffi Shamir: So TNA has to either give us the most predictable outcome ever, not that in this case predictable means wrong, or once again they go back on a major stipulation. Jeff Hardy is there as enhancement talent but I don’t think TNA is stupid enough to put the belt on someone who still in the middle of a criminal case. The winner will be either Angle or Anderson. I still don’t like Anderson. I mean, seriously don’t like him and I can’t understand what people see in him. But him winning will be a change and something refreshing. Angle on the other hand, is much better IMO, but him winning will be same old same old. Since this is TNA, the choice between refreshing and old is obvious. Plus there’s the whole “Win or quit” thing.
Winner: Kurt Angle.

Chris Biscuiti: Due to his decision to abduct Dixie Carter and force her to horrible things like take a closer look at the freeloading fans in the Impact Zone (noooooooooooooo!!!), Abyss will now supposedly be fired as of 12:01 am ET on 10.11.10. Good thing “They” are coming on 10.10, then. In the immortal words of the Rolling Stones as echoed by the shapeshifting demons in the movie Fallen and paraphrased here, “Time is on [Abyss’] side.” As far as who “They” are, I am going to stick with my prediction that I have been thinking all along, as reported by DR TNA: “They” will be Eric Bischoff and (insert someone who didn’t just have seriously debilitating back surgery here). If not, I am secretly hoping that James Mitchell, the most valuable yet underutilized mouthpiece in recent memory, comes back and is involved in some way.
Winner: Abyss, with help from “They”

Matthew Michaels: I think Abyss has to win here to keep the impact going of the beating plus RVD coming back too soon.
Winner: Abyss

Raffi Shamir: One constant problem TNA always had and still does is their overhyping of things. With the that “THEY” have been built up over the last couple of months, anything short of Stone Cold Steve Austin, The Rock and Triple H appearing together as “THEY” would be a letdown. I still hate everything about this match and the main event since in a sensibly booked company, neither match would have taken place and the main championship wouldn’t be vacant for two months. As for the match, it’s RVD’s comeback match but it’s also Abyss’s signature match, plus “THEY” need to make an impact.
Winner: Abyss

Chris Biscuiti: This match is TNA’s clusterf*ck equivalent of SNL’s Kickspit Underground Rock Festival sketch (everybody gets pitchforks!), but not even last year’s winner, Ass Dan, could save this match from being a total trainwreck. In fact, it would have been better if Flair vs. Foley was on the PPV so that they could have done an extended, less rushed version of their Last Man Standing match that was relegated to Impact instead. Oh, and I just want to say, RIP Ass Dan.
Winners: Fourtune, hopefully

Matthew Michaels: I have no clue. None.
Winners: EV2

Raffi Shamir: My, how AJ Styles has fallen in the past year. MY, how the EV2 guys managed to stick around despite TNA promises that the ECW nostalgia trip would not last long. Fourtune better be ready to carry the old guys that have no place in such an event. Styles and Beer Monet provided some of the best matches of 2010, and it’s just sad that they are relegated to this kind of match on the biggest event of the year.
Winners: Fourtune

Chris Biscuiti: If MCMG and GenMe are given enough time in this spot, this could easily be the match of the night. I absolutely love Generation Me’s new heel personas because they are tapping into a tangible, believable perception that some folks actually have towards Gen. Y 20-somethings right now. I also credit TNA for developing enough depth in their tag team division for them to be able to have GenMe step up seamlessly following the London Brawling debacle. With that said, Shelley and Sabin must go over here, as they worked too hard against Beer Money to lose the straps so quickly.
Winners and still champions: MCMG

Matthew Michaels: Match of the night? Likely. Title change? Would be silly.
Winners: MCMG

Raffi Shamir: Their match last month disappointed as it was nothing but a series of disjointed spots. I know that these two teams can do much better and now that they had more time to prepare, I’m sure this will be a great match. MCMG have been shining as TNA’s tag champs and it would be a shame to cut this reign.
Winners: MCMG

Chris Biscuiti: One thing I have to really give TNA credit for is building up Jay Lethal over the past few months as JAY LETHAL. He may have gotten noticed for his amazing exchange mimicking Ric Flair with a dead-on impersonation, but since then he’s been able to simply be himself. I also really liked the new production packages TNA unveiled this week, where they had the wrestlers go back to their hometowns and explain more about their roots and how they grew up. The piece on Jay Lethal in Elizabeth, N.J., was especially interesting, and I am looking forward to more of these vignettes in the next few weeks. As for the match, I think Jay Lethal goes over Douglas Williams in a decent match. I wonder if Amazing Red will be added to make this a triple threat at the last minute, which I actually wouldn’t mind even though there is a three way main event because Lethal and Red simply tear down the house every time.
Winner and still champion: Jay Lethal

Matthew Michaels: Jay should hold onto the belt longer I it’s ever king to get some of its past prestige back.
Winner: Lethal

Raffi Shamir: The X Division is far from its glory days but with Jay Lethal, who’s one of TNA’s favorite guys, on top it might regain the focus it lost. Douglas Williams is a good wrestler, but he’s not really the kind of wrestler that this division was created for. Hopefully Lethal will move on to feud with someone like Kazarian and bring the X Division to what it should be.
Winner: Lethal

Chris Biscuiti: Who kidnapped Samoa Joe and forced him into this match, anyway? I really hope “They” didn’t make him do it! By the way, I don’t care who is wearing the white hats, who is wearing the black hats, I don’t care if Sting’s face is painted red or white, I don’t care about leftover politics from a company that folded up shop years ago. Honestly, this all reminds me of the following exchange from one of the greatest movies of all time, The Naked Gun: “‘The missing evidence in the Kilner case! My God he was innocent!’ ‘He went to chair two years ago, Frank.’ ‘Well, what’s the use?'” My sentiments exactly.
Winners: Whoever is wearing the white hats, or are they wearing the black hats? Ugh, nevermind.

Matthew Michaels: not sure who will “win” but I’m thinking Nash, Sting and Jarrett beat down Joe and Dinero to close out the show, with Bischoff urging them on.
Winners: Nash & co.

Raffi Shamir: Remind me again what’s the point behind this match? And who’s the faces and heels? And why does anyone care about this match? And will “THEY” get involved? In last year’s BFG roundtable I complained about TNA’s misuse of Samoa Joe. A year has passed and nothing has changed.
Winners: Let’s say the two J’s

Chris Biscuiti: It’s very cool seeing Mickie James in TNA. I always loved her and I feel like the last relevant WWE Divas feud was Mickie vs. Trish all those years ago. Also, the Knockouts can really use the infusion of talent, since the division has not really recovered from losing Awesome Kong and Gail Kim. (How they manage to misuse and later dispose of Cheerleader Melissa I’ll never know.) As far as this match is concerned, with Mickie’s involvement here as the ref, I am heavily leaning towards Tara as the winner. TNA loves to delve into histories that aren’t even theirs (like when the NY Mets opened Citi Field with moe tributes to Jackie Robinson and the Brooklyn Dodgers than their own players), and I can only imagine how much fun the writers will have with the amount of WWE references they can squeeze into a Mickie-Tara feud.
Winner and new champion: Tara

Matthew Michaels: I think a heel needs to win here to feud with Mickie.
Winner: Rayne

Raffi Shamir: Welcome Mickie James. You deserve to be in a place that actually pays attention to women’s wrestling ability, and TNA is that place. I hated the way WWE treated her on the way out and now she can show them what they missed. I agree with Chris here, TNA would love to bring back history.
Winner: Tara

Chris Biscuiti: Here’s TNA’s answer to Santino and Kozlov, I guess.
Winners: Ink, Inc.

Matthew Michaels: uh.
Winners: EY’s team.

Raffi Shamir: Remind me again, why is Orlando Jordan still employed and in BFG?
Winners: Ink Inc

Sorry for the small table this week. Regardless, Bound For Glory can be good and to find out who “THEY” are, come back to Pulse Wrestling on Sundiay iunight for full, live coverage of TNA Bound For Glory 2010I