– The original booking plan for Sting’s title win was for it to happen against Christian Cage at the December PPV, with his match at Bound For Glory being the blow-off to his feud with Jeff Jarrett without the title’s involvement. When Christian did not get over as much as management had hoped, plans were altered and the title put back on Jarrett.
– TNA has no immediate plans to host any future PPVs outside of Orlando, yet they are hoping to arrange some in the near future. The most likely venues are in Chicago, Toronto and St Louis. Larger markets like New York and Los Angeles are unlikely because of the higher advertising costs. The plan is to keep TV tapings in Orlando but spread the PPVs out into different markets.
– When Sting arrived at the arena on the day of Bound For Glory he had no idea that Kurt Angle was going to be involved in his match with Jeff Jarrett. Sting was not upset about it, just surprised. There seems to have been a fairly major communications breakdown between Sting and TNA, with some placing more of the blame on Sting and considering it unprofessional of him to not keep himself informed of major developments in the company. Sting had also forgotten to bring his face paint with him, so TNA sent various people out to local stores to find some. They weren’t successful, but another TNA official spotted a fan in the stands with ICP-style make-up on and asked if he had any extra face paint with him. About one hour before the start of the show, the fan was gracious enough to get his face paint from his car and let TNA borrow it on Sting’s behalf.
– In other backstage Bound For Glory news, Larry Zbysko was said to be very upset upon hearing that his loss to Eric Young was to be the end of his involvement with the company, mainly because he had not been told this in advance.
– A couple of fairly minor booking changes were made during the show because it was running long. Firstly, the end to the Christian/Rhino match was rushed, particularly after the piledriver spot, and a planned post-match bit with Rhino ‘rising from the ashes’ of the debris he was pinned under was cut. Also, a planned post-match AMW run-in after the Six Sides of Steel Match was cancelled. This was to begin the AMW/LAX feud, and AMW were really upset that they wound up not being a part of Bound For Glory.
– Jeff Jarrett’s face turn is going to be based around a member of his family being seriously ill, which will be the explanation for his on-air heel personality. In reality, Jarrett’s wife has been battling cancer for years.
– A multi-promotion “King of Europe Cup” show is being planned for the 28th and 29th April in Liverpool, England at the Olympia, where ROH has been running shows. Wrestlers from NOAH, ROH, CZW, PWG, 1PW, CHIKARA, IWA Mid South, WXW in Germany, Premier Promotions in the UK and a Canadian promotion are said to be competing, as well as potentially representatives from two Mexico companies and two smaller Japanese outfits. These two dates would then lead to three more dates with WXW, with $500 per night bonuses given to the wrestlers involved in the best matches. These will be decided by the fans, who get given score sheets at the start of the night and are asked to rank their top three matches in order. Fans will also be invited to add to the prize fund, with second and third prizes potentially available. The hope is that this will turn into an annual event.
Credit: Wrestling Observer newsletter (click here for subscription information)
