A2Z Analysiz: TNA Bound for Glory 2010 (Kurt Angle, Jeff Hardy, Mr. Anderson)

PPVs, Reviews, Wrestling DVDs

Ocean Center – Daytona Beach, Florida – October 10, 2010

Introduction

The opening video highlights a lot of the major feuds going into tonight’s show, and features guys like Nash slow turning in the rain. I don’t see Ink, Inc. or Orlando Jordan & Eric Young anywhere. Tenay and Taz welcome us to the show and hype up the card. Of utmost importance is the revelation of who “They” are.

MATCH #1: TNA World Tag Team Championship Match – The Motor City Machineguns vs. Generation Me

The Machineguns have been the champions since 7.11.10 and this is their third defense. Alex Shelley and Max Buck start the match. Max kicks Shelley down in the corner but doesn’t do anything else so Shelley fires back on him with chops. Shelley takes control and hits an enziguiri for two. Sabin tags in and the Guns double-team Max while keeping Jeremy Buck at bay. After a few moments Jeremy interferes from the floor to give the challengers the brief advantage. Jeremy tries to take a powder and Sabin kicks his head off for his troubles. The Guns are right back in control, double-teaming Max and sending him to the floor, then hitting stereo suicide dives to wipe out the brothers Buck. Back in the ring Shelley hits a high cross body off the top rope on Jeremy for two. Jeremy distracts the referee, allowing Max to drop Shelley nuts first on the top turnbuckle. Gen Me follows up with the double-team DDT that injured Shelley back at No Surrender. This time it doesn’t even end the match, or get a near-fall or anything. I mean I know they did it on the floor but you have to milk those kind of spots for all they’re worth. Even so the challengers work Shelley over in their half of the ring, focusing on his previously injured neck. After a few minutes Shelley fights off a superplex and crushes Jeremy with a double stomp. Tags are made and Sabin is a house afire. Shelley recovers as well and the Guns are flying all over the place, much to the delight of the crowd. Sabin hits a springboard flying clothesline for two. The referee decides to stop enforcing the one man in the ring rule, letting these two teams run wild. Shelley misses a slingshot plancha to the floor, and Jeremy follows him out. Meanwhile in the ring Max goes to work on Sabin. The action is getting tough to follow here. Max holds Sabin across the ropes for Jeremy to hit a 450 Splash but Shelley breaks up the cover. Gen Me is able to stay in control, throwing Sabin to the floor and double-teaming Shelley but they can’t put him away. They try More Bang For Your Buck but Shelley blocks it and then Sabin busts it up. The Guns follow up with the Skull & Bones to get the win at 12:53. That was super fun and a good choice for an opener but nothing they did meant anything.
Rating: ***¼

Christy Hemme is backstage to get a word with Madison Rayne and Tara, who are friends but are both going for the TNA Knockouts Championship tonight.

MATCH #2: Four-Way TNA Knockouts Championship Match – Angelina Love vs. Velvet Sky vs. Tara vs. Madison Rayne *Special Guest Referee Mickie James*

Love has been the champion since 8.12.10 and this is her second defense. Rayne and Love start the match, but before any contact is made Rayne tags Sky. The Beautiful People agree to wrestle each other and here we go. The number of lesbian innuendo comments Taz and Tenay make (especially Taz) is just obnoxious. They do just about nothing and Rayne tags herself back in to go after the champion. Rayne goes to work on Love, choking her down in the corner. Love comes back with a kick to the gut, a hair slam, and then a hard front slam for two when Tara breaks it up. The champ hits a flapjack and Rayne makes the tag to her bodyguard. Tara comes in and lifts Love up by her hair and slams her down. Sky tags in and unloads with some chops and a flying headscissors for two. She locks on an Octopus, and then rolls it into a sunset flip. Tara kicks out and hits a low dropkick for two. She tries a vertical suplex but Sky reverses to one of her own. Sky hits a flurry of offense, culminating in a bulldog for two. She stupidly runs off the ropes right by Rayne and gets kneed in her back for it. Love comes to the rescue and the match turns into a real fracas. Everyone is hitting big move, including Love hitting the Botox Injection on Tara. Rayne then hits Love with the Zack Attack, and Sky drills her with a DDT. Sky goes to check on Love but Tara comes up from behind and tries the Widow’s Peak. Sky rolls through and goes for an O’Connor Roll and they struggle for Tara to get the reversal and the pin at 5:54 to win the title for the fourth time. Rayne yells at Tara so Mickie knocks her out and then bails. That was messy and never seemed to get going.
Rating: *

Christy is backstage with Eric Young. He drew some tattoos on himself because he and his tag team partner Orlando Jordan are facing Ink, Inc. tonight. He makes some lame jokes and then Jordan comes in and acts all weird.

MATCH #3: Ink, Inc. vs. Orlando Jordan & Eric Young

Jordan and Jesse Neal start the match, and Young tries to referee it. Did I ever mention that I hate Eric Young? Now Taz has switched over to making gay jokes. I swear he is the worst commentator I have ever heard in my life. They go back and forth a bit and then Young and Shannon Moore tag in for some chain wrestling. Young slingshots Jordan into the ring and Ink, Inc. takes control. Both Jordan and Young get sent to the floor. Nothing happens there so they take it back to the ring and Jordan takes control. Jordan hits a sort of spinebuster and gets two. He of course uses the gayest pin possible, because that’s TNA’s idea of progress. I’m having trouble paying attention to this nonsense. Young continues to act like a goof as Moore hits Jordan with an enziguiri. Moore confronts Young and takes an awkward bump to the floor. Young then comes in the ring and unleashes babyface fire on his own tag team partner. He celebrates, allowing Ink, Inc. to hit their finisher (give it a name please) for the win at 6:37. That was complete garbage.
Rating: DUD

Christy catches a word with Jeff Hardy backstage. He says tonight is a new beginning, and he promises to win the TNA World Title. I love Jeff Hardy promos.

MATCH #4: TNA X-Division Championship Match – Jay Lethal vs. Douglas Williams

Lethal has been the champion since 9.25.10 and this is his first defense. He won the title from Williams on the September 16 episode of iMPACT!, but traded it back and forth with Amazing Red on house shows before Williams got his official rematch.

They start off with some chain wrestling, which is advantage challenger if you ask me. And obviously you did ask me if you’re reading my review. I’m already bored and I don’t blame Williams. I mean I like Lethal just fine but he’s been the X-Division Champion five times since 2007. Why did Taz and Tenay start calling Williams’ finishing move the “Rolling Chaos” instead of its actual name the Chaos Theory? Guys, Chaos Theory is a Thing, Rolling Chaos isn’t so much. Almost four minutes in the challenger has been controlling the action thus far. Lethal fights back by quickening the pace and unleashing a flurry of offense. He hits a nice quebrada for two. He tries the handspring elbow but Williams awesomely catches him in a release German Suplex for two. The challenger goes right back to work and hits the Chaos Theory for real but Lethal kicks out at two! Williams sets Lethal up top for a rana but Lethal rolls through to a sunset flip to get the quick pin and retain at 8:16. I was hard on the match early on, but truthfully it’s a solid midcard match for a meaningless title.
Rating: **½

Lethal celebrates in the crowd, which proves to be a mistake, as Robbie E and Cookie of The Shore attack the X-Division Champion and lay him out. I bet Cookie doesn’t even like going to the zoo.

MATCH #5: Monster’s Ball Match – Abyss vs. Rob Van Dam

RVD attacks right away and here we go with the eleventh Monster’s Ball match (I don’t count the house show ones). They make it into the ring and RVD brings a chair, dropkicking it into Abyss’s face in the corner. Abyss tries to rest on the floor but RVD wipes him out with a dive. RVD gloats to the crowd a little too much and Abyss cuts him off with a back elbow. Abyss brings out a barbed wire board, but he ends up the first one to taste it, as RVD bulldogs him. RVD tries to follow up with Rolling Thunder but Abyss moves. That gives Abyss control again, and he works RVD over both in and out of the ring. A table gets set up between the apron and the guardrail, and RVD knocks Abyss onto it and then takes him out with the Rolling Thunder! That’s a cool spot. Elsewhere, the barbed wire board is also set up between the apron and the guardrail. They make it back to the ring and Abyss tries to hit RVD with a chair but he gets it kicked back into his face. RVD goes up for the Van Daminator but Abyss recovers and throws the chair at RVD’s face, knocking him off the top rope and through the barbed wire board. That looked like a nasty bump. Back in the ring Abyss sets up the other barbed wire board in the corner and tires to slam RVD into it. RVD slips out and throws Abyss into the board, and then hits the coast to coast somersault dropkick this time. He goes for the Five-Star Frog Splash but Abyss moves out of the way. Abyss then grabs Janice and tires to hit RVD with it but misses. RVD waffles him with a chair and then hits Abyss with his own weapon. He hits a superkick and then lands the Five-Star Frog Splash for the win at 12:59. I’ve long been over both of these guys and this style match, but for some reason I have to admit I enjoyed this one. Maybe I’m just in a really good mood but this was fun.
Rating: ***

MATCH #6: Three-on-Two Handicap Match – D’Angelo Dinero, Sting & Kevin Nash vs. Jeff Jarrett & Samoa Joe

This feud was convoluted and never really had a payoff as far as Sting and Nash go, which pretty much left Dinero hanging out to dry. Jarrett would go on to dominate Joe in a feud after this. So really, what was the point of all of this?

Pope Dinero and Joe start the match. They go back and forth a bit and Joe takes first advantage with a suplex. Taz mentions that Pope “did align” with Sting and Nash, but at first I thought he was saying “did a line” with Sting and Nash, which has a whole different meaning. Sting tags in – he’s so out of shape that he’s wrestling with a t-shirt on. He attacks Jarrett on the apron, allowing Joe to attack from behind. Sting hits a Stinger Splash, but hesitates before going for another one and Joe catches him in the STJoe. The battle spills to the floor as Joe and Sting brawl. Sting regains control out there and brings it back in the ring. Nash tags in and goes to work for about 30 seconds before tagging Pope back in. Pope and Sting try to double-team him but Joe fights back. Nash slowly tries to cut Joe off but Joe fights back with an enziguiri. Joe goes for the hot tag but Jarrett Rick Martel’s him and makes his way to the back. Even against three-on-one odds, Joe tries to fight but quickly gets beaten down. Nash drops the straps and hits the Jackknife to finish Joe at 7:42. Despite the name value of the five guys involved in this match, the pace made it seem like something more suited to iMPACT!
Rating: *½

Backstage Christy gets a word with Mr. Anderson. He promises to retire Kurt Angle because Angle punched him in the nuts.

Team 3D Makes a Major Announcement

Brother Ray goes though the Team 3D history, as if we’ve never heard it before. He blows TNA for having the best tag team division in the world and all the usual stuff he talks about. Then he says that Team 3D is officially retired, but they have one last request. They want to face the TNA World Tag Team Champions, the Motor City Machineguns, in their final match. Taz and Tenay then argue about whether the Machineguns have anything to gain or lose by accepting the match.

MATCH #7: Lethal Lockdown Match – Fortune (AJ Styles, Kazarian, Matt Morgan & Beer Money) w/ Ric Flair vs. EV2.0 (Tommy Dreamer, Sabu, Stevie Richards, Raven & Rhino) w/ Mick Foley

Before the match Christy gets a word backstage with the Fortune five-some and their leader Ric Flair. Christy is all giggly as Flair and the gang all get a chance to speak. Flair and Foley start brawling during the entrance and when they get separated the camera is nice enough to catch Flair cutting up his forehead. Richards and Kazarian start it off, and they will battle for five minutes. They go back and forth a bit until Richards takes first advantage with a series of hangman’s neckbreakers. Richards slams the back of Kazarian’s head into the cage repeatedly. He misses a dropkick and Kazarian goes to work now. Richards comes back and takes time to mock Flair. He hits a vertical suplex and then locks on a Koji Clutch. Five minutes pass and Styles comes rushing into the ring. Styles immediately blasts Richards with the Phenomenal Dropkick. Now the intervals will be two minutes. Kazarian and Styles double-team Richards, even using Flair’s Figure-Four Leglock. Dreamer comes in to even the odds for EV2.0. He’s able to take the advantage for his team, even though it looks like Richards may have injured his ankle. They work in an early Tower of Doom spot, and then Robert Roode is the fifth man in the ring. Roode goes after Dreamer right away and gives Fortune the advantage. Flair even interferes through the camera hole. Dreamer is totally busted open.

Sabu is the sixth man in the match and he’s a house afire. Then the match slows down and the crowd doesn’t seem to care much. James Storm is the fourth man in the cage for Fortune, and they take the advantage again. Raven comes in to even up the odds. Roode is the next one busted open, and apparently Sabu is as well. Morgan comes in to five Fortune their final numbers advantage. He immediately hurls Sabu into the cage. The crowd barely pops for anything except when guys first enter the cage. Raven is busted open. Rhino comes in now and all ten men are in. He hits Storm with a Gore. Flair and Foley battle on the floor as the ceiling gets lowered and the weapons come into play. That gives EV2.0 the advantage, because of their hardcore nature.

Kazarian gets tossed through the cage door to the floor, and Rhino stupidly goes after him rather than stay in the cage to keep an advantage. Others go out as well, but it’s Kazarian and Richards that climb to the top of the cage. Everyone except Dreamer and Styles are out of the cage now. Richards sets up a table and looks for a powerbomb but Kazarian counters and sets Richards don the table. Kazarian climbs the ladder that’s up there for some reason, and then Brian Kendrick appears from out of nowhere and awkwardly knocks Kazarian off the ladder. Kendrick sends Kazarian through the table. Meanwhile back in the ring Styles is on the top rope but Dreamer catches him with a chair shot. Dreamer then hits the Super Dreamer Driver onto a chair to get the win at 24:43. I guess knowing the result of the main even tI can understand why EV2.0 went over here. The match was a fine hardcore messy brawl, but after seeing RVD versus Abyss just two matches prior I think it lost some of its steam.
Rating: **½

Christy catches up with Kurt Angle backstage, who has promised to retire if he does not win the TNA World Title tonight. He dedicates the match to Hulk Hogan.

MATCH #8: TNA World Heavyweight Championship Tournament Final – Mr. Anderson vs. Kurt Angle vs. Jeff Hardy

The title has been vacant since 8.19.10. Anderson beat Jay Lethal and D’Angelo Dinero to get here. Hardy beat Rob Terry, while Angle beat Douglas Williams, and then Hardy and Angle wrestled to a no-contest to turn this match into a three-way. All three of these guys made their name working for WWE. Just sayin’.

Everyone looks cautious in the opening seconds, and then Angle and Hardy unload on Kennedy. This match is no countout, no disqualification, and no time limit, by the way. Angle gets knocked to the floor and Hardy is in the driver’s seat. Anderson comes back with a neckbreaker for two. Angle is back in and he’s using suplexes and going after Anderson’s leg. He even executes a double German Suplex on both opponents and gets a near-fall on Anderson. He throws Anderson to the floor and covers Hardy for two. Hardy comes back and backdrops Angle to the floor. Anderson gets back in the ring and the pace in this one has just been non-stop. Angle pulls Anderson to the floor and they trade punches. Hardy then wipes them both out with a hilo. Back in the ring none of the men can gain a sustained advantage. Hardy goes up for the Swanton while Angle is in the corner. Anderson moves out of the way and Angle tries to catch Hardy or something, but they can’t complete the spot so Angle just covers for two. Moments later Angle starts handing out rolling German Suplexes, which the crowd appreciates. Angle locks Hardy in the Ankle Lock. Anderson tries to break it up so Angle puts the Ankle Lock on him. Angle then grabs Hardy’s ankle too, so it’s a double Ankle Lock! That’s cool. They roll through to break the hold and Angle goes up top. Anderson cuts him off and hits the Green Bay Plunge. He covers but Hardy comes off the top rope with the Swanton to break it up. Hardy covers and only gets two. Anderson gets knocked to the floor and Angle hits Hardy with the Angle Slam for two. Now Anderson goes up top and Angle cuts him off with a Super Angle Slam for two. Hardy catches Angle with the Whisper in the Wind, and then nails Anderson with the Twist of Fate. He goes up top and lands the Swanton but Angle breaks it up with the Ankle Lock! Hardy rolls Angle right into a Mic Check by Anderson but Angle kicks out at two. Angle comes back and hits Hardy with a moonsault for two. Hardy rolls to the floor to catch a breather. Anderson and Angle trade holds and counters and no one can land anything. Referee Brian Hebner gets in the way and Angle lights him up with a clothesline. Anderson hits Angle with another Mic Check but there’s no referee.

Eric Bischoff makes his way down with a steel chair. Before he can hit anyone Hulk Hogan’s music hits and the Immortal one is here! He’s on crutches from his most recent surgery. I love that NOW Angle and Anderson are selling like they’re dead. Hardy finally gets back in the ring while Hogan and Bischoff are squaring off with Hogan’s crutches. Hogan gives Hardy his crutch, and instead of hitting Bischoff, he blasts Kurt Angle across the back! He then hits Anderson with the other crutch, then delivers the Twist of Fate. Bischoff drags Hebner back to the ring to make the three-count at 18:39. Jeff Jarrett comes out along with Abyss and the new super group celebrates. Rob Van Dam comes down and comically tries to ask Jeff what he’s doing, and he gets clobbered for his troubles. The match was really fun until Hogan and Bischoff got there and it grinded to a halt.
Rating: ***½

~BONUS DVD~

Before the Glory

This is the half-hour hype show to build up to the biggest show of the year. The focus of course is on the three-way World Title match, and they do a good job focusing on all three competitors. Then they shift focus to Rob Van Dam versus Abyss. The handicap match is up next, and they finish up with the Lethal Lockdown match.

Bound for Glory Fan Interaction

This is less than three minutes long in total, all set to that annoying Smashing Pumpkins song.

Bound for Glory Pre/Post Match Interviews

This is a series of interviews, just over four minutes worth. Tara in particular goes on FOREVER and repeats herself a bunch.

Bound for Glory Music Video/Photos

The music video and photo gallery lasts just shy of seven minutes.

The Pulse: The opener, the main event, and Monster’s Ball all make this show worth watching, but TNA still manages to come up short in their biggest show of the year. The big reveal of “They” is the dominant storyline of the show, and just having it be another rehashing of Hogan and Bischoff in positions of power just feels stale. This isn’t a bad show; it’s just rarely as epic as TNA wants it to be. You can purchase it right here.

I grew up and now I write for Inside Pulse. Oh, and one time I saw a blimp!