TNA Bound for Glory 2011 Review

X-Division Championship
Austin Aries Vs Brian Kendrick

Great choice for the opener; a rematch of an outstanding bout at No Surrender. Austin Aries is fast becoming one of my favourite wrestlers in North America. He has an intensity and a swagger that should make him a star despite his size. He's excellent at interacting with the crowd, accepting that they'll cheer for him despite being the heel and just toying with them. Kendrick is Kendrick, a good mid-card worker who can keep up physically even though he can't match Aries in character. The match doesn't get going as fast as last month but soon there are some great counters and dives to the outside. Aries never seems to phone anything in – every movement he makes has intention. Even when he grabs the rope to break up a pin attempt he wraps both arms around it, really making it clear what he's doing for the live audience while on TV it just comes across as great emotion and desperation. He retains as he should so I can't complain about the result, but the ending is a bit sudden and the match doesn't quite pop like last month. Still a good start to the night.

Rating: 3.5 Stars


Full Metal Mayhem
Rob Van Dam Vs Jerry Lynn

“You can use ladders, chairs, anything metal and that's... full. I guess.” - Tazz

Not the last match tonight to cash in on some nostalgia, this one is at least between two athletes who can still perform, even if they're not as good as they used to be. Without something up for grabs this isn't really a ladder match but rather just a hardcore one. As you'd expect the action is engaging for the most part. These two are so familiar both with each other and the hardcore environment that they can't fail to entertain. As you'd also expect however their age holds back the level of athleticism and there are a number of dangerous botches. The sunset flip, intended to land RVD on the propped up ladder but instead cracking his head into the guard rail, looked particularly nasty. The finish and the way RVD pins Lynn with the ladder is a nice touch, but as with the last match it's also anti-climactic. Worse is Lynn's instant forgiveness of Van Dam as they hug and pose together even though they hadn't really been through a war, nor had RVD done anything to earn Lynn's respect that he hadn't done years ago already.

Rating: 3.5 Stars


Crimson Vs Samoa Joe Vs Matt Morgan

Last month I was disappointed by Morgan Vs Joe as they only managed a mediocre match despite being two of the best stars in TNA. I'm surprised then that the addition of the very green Crimson has actually made the match better, injecting some urgency and uncertainty into the proceedings. Joe holds everything together as Crimson and Morgan trade sections with him, Morgan getting to shine and display his impressive speed and leaping ability. As is becoming a pattern tonight the finish comes out of nowhere when Crimson spears Joe for a three count, despite barely working on the man or his mid-section for the whole match. The crowd aren't happy and clearly don't enjoy how Crimson is being shoved down their throats. I see why they went with the result, but it was certainly a damp ending to a decent triple-threat.

Rating: 3 Stars


Falls Count Anywhere
Mr. Anderson Vs Bully Ray

Bully Ray cuts a promo on his way out and does a decent job of getting the smarky Philly audience to turn on him before he even steps past the curtain. Anderson has no time for talk, sprinting to the ring and kicking things off with a heavy brawl. Anderson hits Ray with a metal road sign from a fan and sends him running to the outside. They brawl up to the stage where Ray summons Anderson's mic down in a really nice section where he cuts a mini-promo before it's taken away and used against him. They brawl backstage, then out into the crowd before finally going back to the ring. Anderson brings in a part of the guard rail, but the section that uses it is really contrived and makes Ray look stupid. Anderson manages to look twice as stupid when he dives on it, and Ray no sells everything to get up and get back on the assault. Ray gets a convincing near-fall out of a Bubba Bomb through the table to Anderson, then Anderson gets the same from a Mic-Check into the rail. Ray then runs around to a table he set up earlier because it must be time for the finish. He flops onto it as he should and Anderson tries some Jeff Hardy tactics and hits a Swanton from the top to the outside. Sadly the table doesn't brake so Ray just flops off again for another Mic-Check that gets the job done. Tazz immediately goes off on one about “calling an audible”, which is what happened - but not in the context of kayfabe! Dumbass. This might just be the best match in Ray's singles career, it was far from perfect but still memorable and the most exciting match of the night so far.

Rating: 3.5 Stars


I Quit
AJ Styles Vs Christopher Daniels

I'm always excited to watch Styles and Daniels face off and I had been looking forward to this as the obvious match of the night. I wasn't really sure the 'I Quit' stipulation suited them, but I was willing to have faith in the two men who are arguably the soul of TNA itself. Unfortunately this one turned out as I feared. The interruptions in the action to ask each other really hurt the tempo, and the majority of the “near-falls” (so to speak) aren't even earned and are just there to fill time. A problem for both men as performers has always been their mic skills, so even though this is a feud with history the stipulation plays to the pair's weaknesses rather than their many strengths. The way Daniels acts, it's as if he literally want to murder AJ. He even says this to the camera, but based on how he says it I'm just not convinced. Then, like almost everything on this card, the match suddenly ends without build up or drama. I'm disappointed, the crowd are disappointed - even Tazz seems disappointed! Ill conceived and poorly executed, despite everything it had going for it.

Rating: 2.5 Stars


Battle for Control of the Company
Sting Vs Hulk Hogan

In what has been teased as his final match ever, Hulk Hogan enters wearing the cheapest, most generic Impact Wrestling shirt he could find. Sting by contrast is wearing a classic Hulk Hogan shirt under his custom trench coat. Needless to say – both men look awful. This is not a good start. Hogan huffs and puffs as he jogs around before the bell, then welcomes the surprise addition of Ric Flair at ringside. Sting takes most of the bumps, Flair gets involved on the outside, Hogan uses a weapon – it's everything you imagine it will be. Flair is actually welcome here in my opinion, he divides the action up allowing Hogan to rest without hurting the pace. Given all three men are well over 50 years old I suppose their work is commendable, but really this shouldn't be happening in the first place. I'm sick of saying “the finish comes out of nowhere” tonight, so just to shake it up I'll say: “I wasn't expecting the match to be over at the point at which it was over.” There, that's more variety than you'll get in TNA booking at least. Sting manages to get Hogan into the Scorpion after, oh God, like, a really tense few seconds and Hogan taps right away.

Immortal then get involved AFTER they've lost the company and attack Sting. Bischoff hits the ref, his own son as it happens, with a steel chair and Tenay sounds like he's going to cry because it's so tragic. Then, when all hope seems lost, Hogan decides to turn on his own faction, which doesn't seem to surprise any of them at all, Hulking up and cleaning house! Together with Sting, two 50-somethings who have just fought to the point of bleeding everywhere now dominate a whole mob of young athletes as well as Flair and Bischoff! Hogan says “I'm back!”, but since he was the mastermind of Immortal to begin with I'm not sure how that works. Apparently, after beating up Sting for months, it took being beat up by Sting to realise beating up Sting was wrong and when he saw Sting being beat up he decided he would help Sting not get beat up so he beat up the guys who were beating up Sting. To say this angle plays out like a child wrote it would be an understatement – it would be more accurate to say it plays out like a three year old child wrote it on a napkin with crayons in 1996. Using their feet. Wearing shoes.

Rating: 2 Stars


TNA Championship
Kurt Angle Vs Robert Roode

The lack of money spent on the presentation of this event really starts to bring it down here. This is supposed to be the most important match on the most important night of the TNA calender, but if I was just tuning in I might mistake it for an episode of Impact. No pyro, no special ring attires, no lengthy build up. Both men just march to the ring and get straight to business. Tazz says that Kurt is injured because he has been “over-training” for this contest. I guess that's the intelligence Kurt used to go on about back in the day. Robert Roode has done some decent work lately but his character is still not developed enough to merit headlining a show such as this. The crowd seems to agree as soon they're sitting on their hands as both men work to their average standard. Finally they begin a nice sequence of submissions, suplexes and counters - but the use of the Crossface as Roode's finisher makes this section feel lifted out of one of Kurt's classics with Chris Benoit, rather than it's own thing. The good wrestling does ignite the crowd however, and now they start duelling chants which really elevate the atmosphere.

This is wasted on an ending that is total nonsense though. Kurt jumps into a Crossface, gets out of it, counters into an Angle Slam and pins Roode while both Roode is under the ropes AND Kurt is holding the ropes. Worse, the ref counts two, hesitates, then counts three after a noticeable pause. That pause is enough to pop the crowd for the break they assumed was coming, meaning only confusion sets in when Angle's music hits. Then the ref throws up the 'X' for a legit injury, but Angle gets up and poses while Roode acts disappointed. Angle is assisted out of the arena so I assume he really is hurt somehow and Kurt called an audible on the pin. I'm actually surprised Tazz didn't mention this one! I'm sort of glad Kurt won but I wish it had been in a clear, dramatic fashion rather than what we got.

Rating: 3 Stars


TNA Bound for Glory 2011 Final Score: 3 Stars

One of the most average PPV's I've ever seen. The night started well enough and the main events could have swung it either way. Sadly these were actually the weakest parts of the show and all fell short of their potential. If you told me before tonight that Mr. Anderson Vs Bully Ray would be the best match of Bound for Glory - I'd have slapped you in the face and called you a liar. The presentation of this event simply wasn't there – this is supposed to be the TNA equivalent of WrestleMania but if you didn't know that you would never guess it. The card was good on paper but the execution was no better than any average TNA event. Nothing is awful, nothing is great – it's all just varying shades of meh.