So after a year of storyline swerves, superstars leaving, MMA guys arriving and a perplexing heel turn, Total Nonstop Action has reached their “Wrestlemania” for 2013. Bound for Glory takes place this Sunday at the Viejas Arena on the campus of San Diego State University. No it’s not MetLife Stadium or the Citrus Bowl, but hey you do what you can do. So this Sunday we could see a new TNA Champion, the end of Aces & Eights, a young stud turn the corner of his career, and hopefully no storyline shenanigans. Let’s break down the matches as they are right now. Of course TNA, not like WWE, just added matches last week for their biggest show of the year. They had one match for about 6 weeks. Again, TNA’s roster usually bails them out with a pretty good show and some awesome matches. I am worried that at a show where all results should be cut and dry, TNA will over think things and go outside the box for “shock value”. Here is our up to date BFG card along with my analysis and predictions:
TAG TEAM GAUNTLET #1 CONTENDERS MATCH (BFG PRE-SHOW)
Chavo & Hernandez vs. Bad Influence vs. Eric Young & Joseph Park vs. The BroMans
ANALYSIS: Smart move to get people to put on the Spike TV pre-show at 7pm with a #1 contenders match. James Storm & Gunner have been champs since Slammiversary in June but have defended the title minimally since. Hell they’ve barely been on the Impact shows. Storm is a TNA lifer and they’ve treated him like crap this year. It’s good to have a tag title shot on the big show. I eliminate the BroMans and Young & Park because they are both joke teams, there to simply fill the gauntlet. Chavo and Hernandez have had some history with the tag champs this summer with a couple of promo interactions, but keeping Daniels and Kaz off the show would be a tragedy. They could second Bobby Roode for his match but that would be a waste of two great workers. I’m so done with Chavo it’s not even funny. His work is average and his promos are the shits. It’s time for “SuperMex” to break out and be a solo star. I’m gonna take the high road here and take the best choice instead of what I think their choice would be. SCOTT’S PICK: Bad Influence
KNOCKOUTS CHAMPIONSHIP
ODB © vs. Gail Kim vs. Brooke Tessmacher
ANALYSIS: One aspect of Impact that I like 100 times better than anything WWE does is what they do with their women’s division. Their matches are legit and they don’t have issues hitting each other in the face or really putting their moves over. ODB is a big time worker who hits and bumps like a guy, which makes her matches very watchable. Gail Kim is a Knockouts mainstay and is always good for a good promo and a good match. Brooke is here simply to represent Aces & Eights. Gail could win the title here, but I think ODB is the future of the division right now. Lai’d Tapa (Barbarian’s niece) could run in to cost ODB the title here, but I think she may be added to this match or attack ODB after the match to set up their powerhouse feud. My money is on ODB to retain, and then set up the Lei’d Tapa feud after. SCOTT’S PICK: ODB
Kurt Angle vs. Bobby Roode
ANALYSIS: Angle is being honored as the second inductee into the TNA Hall of Fame, so that almost makes it a no-brainer that Angle picks up the win here. Unless it’s his choice to put Roode over here, I don’t see him losing. Bobby Roode (along with Storm) are my two favorite guys in this promotion simply because they are TNA “lifers” who have stuck with the ship no matter what. I’m sure they’ve gotten bites with WWE or ROH but regardless what they’re getting paid they have stayed the course and have stuck around. Roode is a former TNA Champion and I’m sure the winner of this match will get the first crack at the TNA Title. The match will be really good and Roode is a good guy to get Angle back in the swing of things after his rehab stint. Angle’s here for another two years but I don’t know how many more matches he has left in him. Roode should go over here but since Angle is being inducted into the company’s HOF, he will win. SCOTT’S PICK: Kurt Angle
ULTIMATE X MATCH FOR X-DIVISION CHAMPIONSHIP
Manik © vs. Chris Sabin vs. Jeff Hardy vs. Austin Aries vs. Samoa Joe
ANALYSIS: The first thought I had in my head when Joe added himself to the match last week was “How the hell is he going to hang from those bungie cables to get the title?” Clearly all the smaller more athletic talent needed to be put into a crazy match like this. Obviously Jeff Hardy has the same reactions from the TNA crowd that he did with the WWE crowd, and since it’s his first X-Division match it’s causing a lot of intrigue. Honestly I’ve never been a huge Chris Sabin fan. His work in the ring isn’t bad but his promos are rough, but he is getting over as a dickhead heel with his girlfriend Velvet Sky. She’s hanging with him but similar to the Savage/Elizabeth relationship from 1985-87 she’s very uncomfortable about it. Velvet is my favorite knockout and she’s somewhat being wasted in this role but it works for now. Aries is a main eventer for sure but this is a good spot for him to be in. He’s one to watch in 2014 to get back to the top of the card. He was the Chris Sabin experiment of 2012 and it worked, whereas Sabin’s push this year didn’t. Joe is the wild card here because he’s so much bigger than every other guy in the ring he can really make moves come off as stunning. Manik is a solid worker, but there’s way too much talent here for him to come away with the title. We need a couple of heels win Sunday, and I think they want to cultivate Sabin’s heel turn so he wins here. SCOTT’S PICK: Chris Sabin
Sting vs. Magnus
ANALYSIS: Another “coming of age” match, similar to Roode vs. Angle but with a different twist. Magnus is one of those guys the company wants to hang their hat on. He’s big, a decent worker and the higher-ups seem to like him. Sting is there simply to bring cache to the company and put over the younger guys. He gave up title shots when he lost to Bully Ray at Slammiversary, but at this point who cares about Sting as champion? I’m not expecting five stars or anything, but I would like to see some good psychology here. Magnus started the BFG Series off hot taking the lead, but then slumped badly after losing the BFG Series finale to AJ Styles. He then kept getting beat down by Bad Influence, so Sting pretty much told him if Magnus wants a career moment, it will be against him. I think the match will be surprisingly good. Now if there was an outside chance Magnus turns heel, Sting could win leading to Magnus snapping. That won’t happen. We have enough heels on the roster. Magnus wins this match clean and there will be a handshake at the end. SCOTT’S PICK: Magnus
TAG TEAM CHAMPIONSHIP
James Storm & Gunner © vs. Bad Influence
ANALYSIS: Now I’m looking at this match as if my choice for the gauntlet match is true. This will be a underdog candidate for match of the night. Storm & Gunner won the titles at Slammiversary but as I said earlier, they’ve been horribly underused. That’s one of TNA’s biggest problems. They stick to one or two storylines for any given episode of Impact and milk it for all two hours, pretty much shutting out a good portion of the roster for weeks at a time. James Storm was one of those summer casualties. He was part of the AJ Styles stuff early on when AJ was that brooding “Sting 97” kind of thing, but since then he’s vanished almost completely. Two years ago at Bound for Glory this guy won the TNA World Title, and last year was in a high profile match with Bobby Roode. Now he’s still a champion, but sort of forgotten. At least he made the cut at all this year. Bad Influence is one of the most entertaining things about this company. Place to Be alumni Christopher Daniels and Frankie Kazarian are damn hilarious (I love when Daniels calls Kaz “Francois”) and as we’ve seen in the past, they’re pretty damn good wrestlers too. Bad Influence has earned the right to win this match, but I don’t think It’s going to happen. Storm & Gunner retain the straps in what will be a better match than it probably should be. SCOTT’S PICK: Storm & Gunner
TNA CHAMPIONSHIP
Bully Ray © vs. AJ Styles
ANALYSIS: The Bound for Glory Series started back in late June with AJ Styles mired in the bottom of the standings and Magnus dominating. Fast forward, due to an “extra match” by ex-GM Hulk Hogan, and TNA’s prodigal son attempts to reclaim his throne against the iron grip of Aces & Eights’ boss. Bully Ray has been a great heel since officially turning in March, complete with the annoying “DO YOU KNOW WHO I AM?” For those that are tired of hearing him say it (including me), I need to keep reminding myself that its part of the act. I think that’s when Aces & Eights became a pretty viable heel stable. I started watching in January and I heard that for most of 2012 they were a joke. Their peak was from March till about August. Bully lost the title at Destination X to Chris Sabin, which was kind of stupid. Bully won it back at Hardcore Justice but I think he should have had a long reign to really amp up the drama leading into this Sunday. AJ was the perfect guy to put in this spot. He still has credibility with the TNA diehards, and he will give Bully Ray an exceptional match. Now, on to this insipid Dixie Carter heel turn. I have no idea why they decided to pull the trigger on this now, only a few weeks before the biggest show of the year. I know why, because she blatantly stole the idea from the Triple H/Stephanie power trip currently going on in WWE. The problem is Dixie is a silver spoon kid who gets money handed to her by her daddy and has zero idea how to run a wrestling company. Perhaps the charm of the heel turn is that she is a complete dolt. Anyway, she’s going to bust AJ Styles’ chops about being in the company NOW? So she’s going to side with Aces & Eights? Wear a leather mini skirt or something? Who the hell knows. This needs to be a simple, straightforward ending that has AJ Styles reclaiming his spot atop the TNA pecking order. I do think Dixie will TRY to screw AJ out of the title, but the returning Hulk Hogan will stop her and AJ will be new TNA Champion. Bully Ray will go after Hogan for their long-awaited match at Genesis. SCOTT’S PICK: AJ Styles
There’s your up to date BFG predictions. Please check out the PTB LIVE BLOG for Bound for Glory as Steve Wille and myself will be covering the show starting this Sunday at 7pm with the BFG Pre-show on Spike TV. Right here at Place to Be Nation!
Place to Be Nation has you covered for TNA’s Bound for Glory 2013 PPV. We have Ben Morse’s TNA themed Five Count, the live blog for the show on Sunday night and next week’s Place to Be Podcast Headlines episode will feature an in depth breakdown of the show, with guest hosts Greg Phillips and Nate Milton!
To read more about TNA, all check out these great pieces:
Callum Leslie rebooks the Bound for Glory series
Ben Morse examines TNA’s role to in the wrestling world
Andrew Riche looks at TNA’s legacy
Scott Criscuolo reviews each and every Impact episode
Justin Rozzero issues a plea to Kurt Angle
Scott & Justin chat with Christopher Daniels
