Bound For Glory 2012: The Preview

TNA is putting on their biggest Pay Per View of the year, Bound For Glory on Sunday, so lets all take a break from being productive and have ourselves a little preview and prediction party.

• Joey Ryan vs Al Snow
• Miss Tessmacher (c) vs Tara
• Samoa Joe (c) vs Magnus
• Zema Ion (c) vs Rob Van Dam
• Chris Daniels & Kaz (c) vs AJ Styles & Kurt Angle vs Chavo Guererro& Hernandez
• Bobby Roode vs James Storm
• Sting and Bully Ray vs Aces & Eights
• Austin Aries (c) vs Jeff Hardy

Whatever your opinions of TNA might be, you would be wrong to think this is not a solid card. Starting basically the Tapings after Bound For Glory last year, TNA has been rolling in the right direction, and this card is a test to that.

Don't believe me? Look closer: This card has the culmination of a successful gimmick ( the Bound For Glory series is their invention. And after last years trial run, this years was awesome). It has pay off's for long running programs: The Aces & 8's invasion, though not unique, has been running through out the summer. We have seen the faction take over before (shit, even as recently as two years ago with "They/Immortal"), but TNA has managed to stick with the story and thanks to a lack of reveal they have made it a regular 'whodunit'.  But even longer then that, we can finally have a resolution with the Bobby Roode and James Storm conflict.

We have 4 cases of potential vetrans putting over youngsters in Ryan/Snow, Tessmacher/Tara, Joe/Magnus, and Ion/Van Dam.

And not to be out done, there is a potential pants wetting match with the triple threat tag match.

It's safe to say that I'm very impressed with the direction and obvious planning this pay per view took. 7 of the 8 matches are a minimum of three months of planning by the TNA booking. Only RVD/Ion was a last minute throw in, but that was done in such a fashion that I'm ok with it. Cudo's TNA.

There is nothing else for me to say other than: Lets break down the card and guess where they are going next.

Zema Ion(c) vs Rob Van Dam: Ion has had a strong run since taking the XDivision title at Destination X. He's been a strong chicken shit heel, who has pulled it out against all comers. On the other side, RVD is a legend with nothing really to do. I had thought they would've put him in the match with Joe and Magnus since he was ECW's longest TV Title Champion and he had beef already with Magnus. But they went this route. I'm ok with that.

All that being said, RVD winning means nothing to that title. At least right now. Ion goes over with the help of his spray. If the idea is to give RVD an XDivision run, then let him chase Ion a little bit. We all want Ion to get his ass beat but delaying even further is the play here. Ion wins.

Going forward: Either way, this should get another PPV match out of these two. RVD wins, Ion is going to come back for a rematch. Ion isn't winning clean, so RVD is going to come back for revenge. Which is nice, because RVD needs a story, and being in a program with a legend will only make Ion more credible for his show downs with Kenny King or Jesse Sorenson.

Samoa Joe(c) vs Magnus- Samoa Joe won the title just a couple weeks ago thanks to Devon's contract running out. I can't believe that the original plan was for Joe to hold this title going into the pay per view. Full disclouser: I'm a huge fan of long title runs. 9/10 I would prefer title runs to go half a year or longer. This is not the case for this match though.

TNA likes Magnus. It's obvious. They give him a shit load more air time then his former British Invasion teammates, Doug Williams and Robbie T.  Let Magnus take the title here. The TV title is super unimportant right now, so have Magnus cheat to win (maybe have Doug Williams return and help him pull it out). Magnus wins.

Going Forward: Put title on a heel and let Samoa Joe, or a returning Pope, or whoever chase it down. Make this title mean something.

Dirty, dirty man.

Joey Ryan vs Al Snow- I actually missed the gutcheck where Ryan made his debut. But I dig the story. Ryan is a pretty awesome dirt bag.  He looks like he could be Ron Jeremy's child, and frankly, I'm not prepared to say he isn't. TNA has built this story since the start of the Gutcheck series, so obviously Ryan is going beat Al Snow. I just hope there is a Head appearence.

Going Forward: After Ryan is under contract, I'm not sure what to do with him. If Ion is to retain the X title, he can't really contend for that since he is another chicken shit heel. And I hope TNA wouldn't give us a return match with Al Snow.

Miss Tessmacher(c) vs Tara It started as a mentor vs student rivalry. Tara heeled out on her pupil and now here we are. I actually think Tara should take her down and set up Miss Tessmacher taking the title back from her down the road.  Tara wins.

Going Forward: Legend has it is Velvet Sky is coming back. That was quick. I would have Tara injure Tessmacher. Then on Impact you bring out Mickie or Velvet or whoever and set up a two month program with Tara. Tessmacher gets healthy, returns for Genesis, and we have a nice Knockout rivaly paying off to start the new year.

Daniels & Kaz (c) v Styles & Angle v Guererro & Hernandez- aka. the wet dream match.  AJ Styles has been feuding with Daniels for basically 10 years ( more realistically, the last 16 months). Angle came into the fold before Slammiversary, teaming with AJ (another long time rivalry) to win the tag titles. Daniels and Kaz would win the titles back on an episode of Impact and defend them again to AJ/Kurt at No Surrender. Adding Chavo and Hernandez in this mix is going to only add to this spectecal. Hernandez is going to do the Super Mex spot, plus he has 3 light dudes to boarder toss. Kurt Angle and Hernandez have torn it down before, so that will be fun. And Chavo is holding his own in tag matches since he defected from WWE.

What makes this match even more fun, is you can make a cae for all 3 teams winning. AJ/Kurt are the two best wrestlers in the company.  Daniels and Kaz are the longest running tag team. And Chavo and Hernandez could use the belts the most.

I could see Daniels and Kaz winning dirty by pinning Chavo setting up a match between the two teams at Turning Point. I could see AJ and Kurt winning the belts and set up either a final blow off between Daniels/Kaz v AJ/Kurt at Turning Point, or even adding whatever tag team is formed with the reveal of Aces& 8's (this seems very possible with  Angles interactions with Wes Brisco a rumored member of the group).

But as I stated before, Chavo and Hernandez could use the belts the most. Chavo is still fresh in the company, a win here further seperates him from his loser persona in WWE and helps him add to the credibillity his last name brings. That being said, I'm going to say Daniel and Kaz win, thanks to help by Aces & 8's.

Going Forward: The outcome of this match would put Angle and AJ into the Aces & 8's story line, which I imagine is bound to happen. It also allows a Daniels/Kaz vs Chavo and Hernandez title match, where Chavo/Hernandez can get their revenge and finally capture the tag titles.

I really hope after they put the tag belts on Chavo and Hernandez that it leads to Homecide coming back in a "You forget about me? Your REAL tag partner" story. I need Homecide back in TNA.

Bobby Roode vs James Storm w/ King Mo as Special Ref- Anyone else smell Austin/Michaels/Tyson set up here? I kinda do.  Look, this match is going to rule. They didn't need to add King Mo in there. They should've put Mo in the Tag match since Daniels and Kaz are famous for their trickery. Roode v Storm doesn't need any help getting my money. Up untill Destination X I was convinced this would be for the title in the mainevent. They sure set it up to be that.

Nevertheless, we are getting the payoff of a feud literally started a year ago. Roode was the orignal winner of the Bound For Glory series, but was unable to beat Kurt Angle. The next episode of Impact, Kurt caught a quick Last Call super kick to the chin and lost. James Storm shocked the world, and his former tag partner, by winning the World Title. The first match he gave after his title win was to his buddy, Bobby Roode.

Roode returned the favor by breaking a beer bottle over Storms dome, and rolling him up for the win. Begining his heel turn and the longest title run in the history of TNA Impact Wrestling.

Storm jobbed to Roode at Lockdown this year, so I expect James Storm to win. After the victory, I expect Roode to pop off to King Mo, and get dropped a la Tyson/Michaels.

Going Forward: I think Storm wins to draw this feud out a little longer. Possibly pushing both of them back into the title picture by the end of the year.

Sting & Bully Ray vs Aces & 8's- history has a funny way of repeating itself. At Bound For Glory 2010, the big pay off was going to be the reveal of "They". It was rumored that it could be a Hogan heel turn, especially being that the setting was Daytona Beach (the location of his NWO turn). I was convinced it was Paul Heyman,  because Hogan would have been too obvious. Sure enough, in the mainevent Hogan came martching out the same way he did in 1996, aligned with Jeff Hardy, and helped him win the World Title.

In hindsight, it was so obvious that it actually became shocking again. Now the question is, is the obvious answer going to be the right one here?

The obvious reveal of the Aces faction is Jeff Jarrett, Luke Gallows (or whatever he calls himself), Wes Briscoe and whoever.

This is what I would have happen if I was in charge: I would have like six dudes come out for Aces. Sting and Bully Ray have been bamboozled! It was supposed to be an even 2 on 2 (which obviously it won't be because at one point Aces rolled out like a 20 man riot squad). The two TNA stars are getting beat down.

Out comes TNA's faces. Angle, AJ, EY, maybe even a returning Devon, they're helping even it out the numbers. Pure pandemonium. Maybe the faces drive back some of the excess members of Aces. Out comes Jeff Jarrett from the crowd, he drills Bully Ray in the dome with a guitar. It's now 3 against one; Sting is cornered.



I smell a rat.

Out comes Ken Anderson. He was seen "laid out" at the end of last weeks episode of Impact after he had been originally choosen as Sting's partner. He gets in behind Sting, and all of a sudden Sting looks to be more confident. The Aces members start to back up a little bit. Sting is about to lead the attack, when Anderson slips the mic check on from  behind and drops the Icon.

The rest of the group take their masks off to join Jarrett and Anderson. Wes Briscoe and Gallows. Your welcome.

In case you need help making sense on why Anderson: Anderson hasn't had a real story in almost a year. He is a horse with no name right now. TNA tried to kept flipping between heel/face last year with him  and it really killed his character. Anderson is a good heel. Turn him heel, solidify his character and let him be the maineventer for this faction. Jarrett can serve as the Flair to Anderson's HHH.

Anderson will explain his reason for betraying TNA as retrebution over being lied to and revenge for when Hogan formed Immortal. He will explain the Jarrett wanted revenge on TNA for firing him, and giving Sting the first Hall of Fame induction (he started the company, you know). And everyone else who shows up in the group can be young upstarts who saw aligning with Jarrett and Anderson as a way to kick open the door and make a name for themselves.

Going Forward: It was rumored that TNA wanted to host a war games like pay per view like they did in WCW with the Horsemen and NWO factions. Here is your chance. This match is called a No Contest due to never really getting started, and set ups a war games style ppv at Turning Point or Final Resolution.

Austin Aries(c) vs Jeff Hardy-  It started as  Face v Face, which is weird for the biggest PPV of the year. But it looks like Aries is taking a play from the Punk playbook and playing the bad guy looking for respect here ( yeah that Brainbuster at the end of Impact last night helps solidfy that point).

Look, I have high hopes for some a couple of jaw dropping moments. $20 dollars says we see Hardy do a swanton to the outside of the ring, and possibly Aries do a brainbuster outside as well. These two are capable of anything.

As for the finish, I could go both ways on this one. Jeff Hardy winning completes the year long retribution project. We all know where he fell to in April of 2011. I wrote about his comeback last year's Bound For Glory preview. Hardy winning here solidify's his face of TNA position and puts an exclamation point on what has been a great year for the Charasmatic Enigma.

On the other hand, why give it to him now? Wrestling is so much better with anticipation. Is the crowd really clammoring for a Hardy win NOW?!? I get the setting makes sense. Bound For Glory is their Wrestlemania, so it's the biggest back drop. Buuuut... if you can hold off, there is potential for a bigger payoff.

Lets say we are 25 minutes into this match, and Aries drills Hardy in the nuts and hits him with a 3rd Brainbuster. Austin Aries wins solidfies his return to heel status ( the mid title run heel turn is becoming popular with both TNA and WWE lately. See: Styles, AJ. Anderson, Ken. Punk, CM) and his title run (That would be two wins over Roode and one over Jeff Hardy. Thats solid).

Going Forward: Aries explains himself Thursday as he did what he did to save the fan's from themselves. They wanted to see Hardy win, when he is a terrible person. He cuts a promo about Hardy being a multiple time relapsing junkie. Hardy comes out, owns up to it, but says people change. He gets a rematch and then a Turning Point he beats Aries and wins the title.

I think they need another month to build the title change. Let Aries become a mainevent heel and give TNA another heel for the world title picture. Right now there is two. Roode and Bully Ray (and Anderson if he flips). But Aries heel character is coming from a truthful place. He believes he deserves the respect that the fans are giving to Jeff. You could easily turn him back face at a moments notice.

TNA, give yourselves another month to really build on Hardy's story. Make it emotional. Then after he hits the final swonton and captures the belt back, don't drop the confetti. Just let him sit in the middle of the ring and have himself a moment. I would even cut the announcers from speaking. Just the crowd cheering and a picture of a worn out Hardy embracing the title.

Hardy's win could be emotional...if it's at Turning Point.

If done right, it could be a lasting moment in TNA history.


One final note: Matt Morgan showed up at a couple house shows last month. They talked about it on Impact. I imagine they did it to throw another wrench in the Aces speculation. Though Morgan could benifit from a mouth piece like Jeff Jarrett, I don't think he will be associated with the group.

If The BluePrint is to come back on Sunday, expect him to show up in a random match. Pure speculation: Matt Morgan has tweeted about his beef with TNA management. So maybe he comes out and puts the boot to Al Snows face and helps Joey Ryan (and all his dirtiness) win a contract.

Alright, well this is now over 3,000 words. Lets see how close I get. Enjoy.