We have just one more week to go, until Bound for Glory. TNA once again this week continued to successfully build up to the event, and also building up some situations, which it can be assumed will come to a head after the event. The show generally seemed to receive good reactions from fans, also drawing a decent viewership. I’ve seen a good deal of interest in Bound for Glory, much of which comes from fans who claim not to be regular Impact viewers. So there seems to be plenty for the folks at TNA to be happy about.
One of the biggest talking points of Impact this week was news many of us were expecting. If Cody’s wife Brandi joining the Impact roster wasn’t indication enough, the teaser videos during the week certainly seemed to suggest Cody Rhodes was coming to Impact. Those expectations were proven correct, as Cody appeared in a vignette stating that “all roads (Rhodes) lead to Bound for Glory”. Obviously it will be very surprising if Cody does not win a world title match at BFG, via winning the Bound for Gold battle royal.
This move for Cody is very interesting for many reasons. First of all, he has been one of my favourites for years; I’ve always loved to watch Cody wrestle. Cody’s versatility and his ability to fit a number of roles has always helped him stick out. This is also interesting as of course both Cody’s father, Dusty Rhodes and his brother, have both previously spent time in TNA. It will likely not be difficult for Cody to surpass their achievements in the company; the sky is truly the limit within TNA for the former Legacy member. Of course Rhodes was referred to simply as “Cody” this week, as it’s still unclear if Cody will be allowed to use the Rhodes name on television. I am for sure hoping that he does gain the ability to use the name his father made famous. After all, the Rhodes name is a legacy the WWE did not build.
The build up to what I hope will a match between Allie and Maria, has been fantastic. The whole storyline of Maria being a bully, who is using Allie for her own gain, with Allie gradually getting more and more frustrated, has been gold. People have seemingly really started to get behind Allie, who has shown fantastic character. The knockouts division has always been full of talent. Not only is the current division got fantastic ability in the ring, but there are proper characters there. It isn’t just Allie and Maria. Sienna, Jade, Marti bell have all really developed proper characters over the past year. Jade and Marti got out of the Dollhouse and began developing their own characters, rather than just being members of the Dollhouse. We’ve also seen Laurel Van Ness debut last week, who seems to be very character driven. Of course there are no women more character driven on Impact than Rosemary. Who I really hope begins to be used more in the knockouts division, wrestling matches, after Bound for Glory.
We are currently looking ahead to Maria being challenged for her Knockouts championship, by Gail Kim, at Bound for Glory. While Gail winning at the title, on the same night as being inducted into the TNA hall of fame is a fantastic story. I’d like to see Maria somehow manage to retain her title, therefore being able to be challenged by Allie at a later date. Gail is of course a fantastic wrestler, I love watching her in the ring. However, Gail has held the title many times and right now I feel the more interesting story is with Allie. Possibly TNA will think of a way to merge both stories together, having Gail win the title, with Allie eventually taking it herself. Time will tell, however, I’m sure there are many ways to have Maria somehow find a win against Gail.
Next week is the go home show to Bound for Glory. TNA are doing this a little differently as you’d typically expect from a go home show. With that show being the last thing filmed in a long row of tapings, some talking segments and throw away matches simply wouldn’t cut it. So the last thing that will happen before Bound for Glory is a lethal lockdown match. Team EC3 will face team Lashley. The winning team captain will choose the stipulation for their match for the world title. As I said, this is very different from a normal go home show. As I’ve also said before though, there is no point in TNA sticking to the general mould of what a wrestling company “should do”. Doing things differently will hopefully help TNA stick out.
I am assuming that the whole idea behind this would be, hey here is some crazy action, if you want more, watch the pay per view. I’d certainly be interested in seeing what stipulation the winning captain chooses. This Lashley Vs EC3 feud has been aggressive, brutal and deserves a match that matches those attributes. Some type of street fight could really put this match on a pedestal. The only problem with that is of course that TNA has used so many stipulation matches recently, that they don’t feel quite as special anymore.
That is the column for this week; next weeks will be a big one, predicting the results of the matches at Bound for Glory. Some interesting matches and some tough picks to make.
