PPV Review: TNA Bound for Glory 2015

Let's skip past the paid attendance, let's skip past the impending TV cancellation, this review is going to look solely at the three hours that Bound For Glory 2015 was on air, shall we? Matt Hardy and Drew Galloway challenging for Ethan Carter III's TNA World Heavyweight Championship in the main event, with a Bound for Gold Gauntlet, Bobby Roode defending the King of the Mountain title against Bobby Lashley and four other matches...could Bound For Glory pull it out the bag and prove there's life in the old dog yet?

Before the show began the live crowd were treated to dark match, with current NWA Southern Television Champion Shawn Shultz going over PWX Heavyweight Champion, John Skyler.

Things kicked off with an opening package that was focused around the entire show, with a voice over saying random words and then a different wrestler saying something...it was a bit shit and I would have preferred a focus on one or two matches.

Match 1

X Division Championship Ultimate X

Tiger Uno (C) vs. Andrew Everrett vs. Manik vs. DJ Z

A lamented the state of TNA's X Division in the preview for this show, but these four guys went out there and put on a hell of an opening match. Exactly what it needed to be and what we came to expect from an X Division contest over the years. Full of flips, tricks and high spots the Four Way was a lot of fun to watch, especially in the second half of the bout. Whilst the quartet struggled to keep things as slick as they could have been in the opening exchanges, there was a lot of clever ideas in there, and the later sections picked things up as all four guys took to the skies. Andrew Everrett was the most impressive of the four for me, taking his TNA debut by the horns, hitting a spectacular Springboard 630 Senton, as well as stunning shooting star press to the outside. It was Everrett who played a major part in the finish as well, taking huge bump of the top of the structure that allowed Tigre Uno to retrieve the title and continue his now 103 day reign at the X Division. Big shoutout to colour commentator D'Angelo Dinero for his call "shades of Elijah Burke" which had me in pieces.

Winner

Tigre Uno in 8 minutes, 59 seconds *STILL CHAMPION*

Gregory Shane Helms (as play-by-play commentator Josh Matthews called him, he's best know as The Hurricane in WWE) turned up for a stare down with Tigre Uno after the match, before raising his hand...I imagine just because TNA was in the Carolina's, rather than a set-up for a future feud. 


TNA World Heavyweight Champion, Ethan Carter III coming out to cut a promo on The Hardy Boyz and Drew Galloway was absolutely fine...but I'm not sure it was particularly called for...it wouldn't be the last of EC3 we'd see before the main event either.

Match 2

Bound For Gold Gauntlet

"The Pope" D'Angelo Dinero vs. "The Monster" Abyss vs. Tommy Dreamer vs. Chris Melendez vs. Tyrus vs. Mahabali Shera vs. Robbie E vs. Aiden O'Shea vs. Al Snow vs. Eli Drake vs. "The Man" Jessie Godderz vs. Mr. Anderson

This was way way too long for a match that was choc-full of guys that no one cared about and that TNA couldn't be bothered to give a storyline heading into the biggest PPV of the year. The first third of the bout especially dragged like hell as we waited for anyone of significance to make their way into the match. I suppose, Mr. Anderson was supposed to be able to carry this part of the match, but even the commentary team pointed out that he's sort of been floating around TNA for the last few months (try years). Without any early eliminations or interesting spots, the first ten minutes were enough to send even the strongest insomniac too sleep after downing a Red Bull. TNA's desperation to get the "Shera Shuffle" over is almost painful to watch...it is not "catching fire" no matter how hard you try...just fucking stop it.

Having the final two come down to Mr. Anderson and Tyrus was a bit of anti-climax, especially once Tyrus picked up the win with the ICU spike. There was a real opportunity to make a new star using this match, had it been crafted correctly, however what we are left with now is Brodus Clay as the Number Contender to the World Heavyweight Championship at 42 years old. The crowd hadn't really warmed to Anderson (having him eliminate the popular Tommy Dreamer was a head-scratching piece of booking)  for most of the match, but they were certainly behind him in the closing stretch, whilst they gave Tyrus' victory the silent treatment. Just about says it all really.

Order of Elimination

1 - Eli Drake (by Al Snow)

2 - Aiden O'Shea (by Mr. Anderson)

3 - Al Snow (by Tyrus)

4 - Chris Melendez (by Tyrus)

5 - Mahabli Shera (by Tyrus)

6 - D'Angelo Dinero (by himself)

7 - Abyss (by Tyrus)

8 - Robbie E (by Jessie Godderz) 

9 - Tommy Dreamer (by Mr. Anderson)

10 - Jessie Godderz (by Mr. Anderson)

11 - Mr. Anderson (by Tyrus)

Winner

Tyrus via pinfall (ICU) in 24 minutes, 30 seconds

Ethan Carter III risked over-exposure coming out to chat with Tyrus about winning the match, with the former Funkasaurus cutting a terrible promo, in which he claimed he would be fighting for the "Heavyweight World Championship of the World". State of you Tyrus, state of you. 

Match 3 

World Tag Team Championship

Eddie Edwards & Davey Richards, The Wolves (C) vs. Trevor Lee & Brian Meyers

Whilst the action was quite as clean as it should have been at points, this was still an enjoyable tag outing. Whilst the earlier part of the bout struggled to find it's feet, with The Wolves clearly a lot more over than their opposite numbers, as soon as Eddie Edwards made it across the ring for a hot tag (following a well-done double hurracanrana to Lee and Meyers) business picked up, along with the fans, and we were treated to some great action. With Trevor Lee looking to more promising of his team, there were a number of quality near falls as the pace continued to be raised heading towards the bouts conclusion, including a nice Double Stomp from Richards, a victory roll and a sweet German suplex from Lee. The conclusion of the bout with Edwards taking out Meyers with a hurracanrana off the top rope and Richards hitting a superplex, followed by The Wolves version of Chasing the Dragon got the victory on Lee, was a fine end to proceedings, with the champs looking superb in victory. 

Winners

The Wolves via pinfall (Richards on Lee (Chasing the Dragon)) in 14 minutes, 3 seconds *STILL CHAMPIONS*

Backstage, Drew Galloway's interview with Jeremy Borash was going so well, until Galloway said "I'm willing to kill myself" in reference to his want to win the World Heavyweight Championship...just no.

Match 4

King of the Mountain Champion

"The It Factor" Bobby Roode (C) vs. "The Destroyer" Bobby Lashley

I'm not sure whether this was a good match or a parody of a good match. Pretty much taking the same shape of their previous bout, both men kicked out of each other finishers, then hit the other man's finisher, which was kicked out of, then both locked on submission holds, before Roode hit his second Roode Bomb of the match, to pick up the win. The crowd was into it and there was some nice transitions by the two, especially Roode getting into finish, but it all felt a little bit paint by numbers and very very predictable. Completely fine to watch, and probably on the level with duo's series earlier in the year, but no real tension or drama here. I don't think it was helped by having the King of the Mountain title on it, either.

Winner

Bobby Roode via pinfall (Roode Bomb) in 14 minutes, 17 seconds *STILL CHAMPION*

Matt Hardy was up next with Borash backstage, and with the best promo of the night no less, focused on his family connections and full of emotion...it was pretty clear that Hardy would be walking out with the title...unless a family member stood in his way.

Earl Hebner's Hall of Fame package, featuring numerous TNA talent saying what a great referee he was, played, before Billy Corgan came out to welcome Hebner to the ring. It was all very weird and the package even included grainy footage of Hebner holding up Shawn Michaels hand during the Montreal Screwjob...what's up with that?

Match 5

Knockout's Championship

Gail Kim (C) vs. Awesome Kong

Awesome Kong looked absolutely knackered about five minutes into this one. Like ovaltine and slippers, ready to curl up and have nice long nap knackered. The bout centred around a couple of big moments, that were done quite well, like Gail's husband celebrity (and by celebrity I mean, I have no fucking clue who this guy is) chef Robert Irvine taking a chair away from Kong, and while arguing with Earl Hebner, Irvine simultaneously allowed Kong to hit the Implant Buster onto his wife on the outside onto a pile of chairs. I thought the finish was pretty confusing as Gail awkwardly worked her way into hitting Eat Defeat on Kong in the corner, but it also looked like the latter was hitting a chokeslam at the same time. This was a decent match, but with women's wrestling taking strides elsewhere, this wasn't as good as it should have been.

Winner

Gail Kim via pinfall (Eat Defeat) in 10 minutes, 5 seconds

Jeff Hardy was the final interviewee of the night for Jeremy Borash, and I have literally no idea what Hardy said...there was some words and he shut his eyes at various points.

Match 6

No Disqualification

Eric Young vs. Kurt Angle

This was a shower shit. Firstly, if a doctor tells a referee that a performer can't continue then surely the match is over? Clearly it was all part of the show, but how am I supposed to suspend my disbelief if a doctor says to a referee points blank (and audibly) that a wrestler's neck is so badly hurt (after surgery month's earlier) that he can't continue the match and then the same performer wins the match after the other wrestler has fought off the doctors and continued the fight? No one of this made any sense. I didn't feel any kind of reaction with Kurt Angle other than pity, because it was a stupid piece of creative that harmed everything Angle could do in the ring and hurt the entire match. How does Angle going over help anyone in the long run? Eric Young tapped out to a man who was deemed medically unable to compete just minutes before. If this was Angle's last match and TNA want him to win, why fill it with all this over-booked shit, instead of letting Angle and Young wrestle a decent back and forth 10 minute encounter? This is why people have stopped watching TNA, bullshit.

Winner

Kurt Angle via submission (Ankle Lock) in 13 minutes, 10 seconds

Match 7

World Heavyweight Championship Three Way

Ethan Carter III with Tyrus vs. Matt Hardy vs. Drew Galloway 

(Special Referee: Jeff Hardy)

With the exception of a weak finish, this was a solid three way encounter to close the show. Focusing on a number of high spots that made a good use of the three participants, like a suplex of the apron through a table and a sweet tower of doom spot, the match raced through it's over twenty minutes of action, keeping a solid pace throughout. There were perhaps elements of the dynamic between the three characters that could have been explored more, but with the fragile build-up that the match received on Impact Wrestling, the performers weren't left with a whole lot to play with inside the ring. Matt Hardy and Drew Galloway's relationship was the thing that stood out as particularly underdeveloped. 

The problem with special referee's is that, you know that until the referee has had some sort of involvement in the match that the match isn't going to finish. Whilst Jeff Hardy saw action early when he ejected EC3's manager Tyrus for the banter and he took a ref bump off his brother, he really didn't do a lot until the finish. EC3 attempting to get himself disqualified (despite it being made clear in promos earlier in the evening that the match would have no disqualifications) was a weird creative choice and having Jeff basically give his brother the World Championship victory felt very flat indeed. Matt Hardy is simply no World title material. If you want to argue that he is a draw, just remember that in the main event of the companies biggest PPV of the year, Matt Hardy drew 280 fans in his hometown.


Addition: Matt Hardy vacated the TNA World Heavyweight Championship in a Youtube video two days later. This was explained as Ethan Carter III having an injunction against him. I don't know anymore. If you knew Matt Hardy wouldn't be able to continue as Champion, because you'd taped so much television with him not as Champion, why the fuck would you put the title on him in the first place? Why would he even be in the title match? Who is charge of the booking here? Awful, just fucking awful.

Finally...

ATPW Scale Rating - 5.33/10

When you only produce two live PPV's a year, they better be bloody good and this...well...it wasn't THAT good. It was alright, The X Division, Tag Team and King of the Mountain Championship matches were all quality bouts and even the main event was decent, even if I marked it down for having a piss poor finish. But what really let this show down, even past Matt Hardy winning the World Heavyweight Championship, was a 25 minute Gauntlet bout full of guys that one gave a shit about (expect Tommy Dreamer) and a Kurt Angle vs. Eric Young bout that had booked that made it hard to suspend your disbelief throughout. 


This was another case of TNA's numerous young and talented performers (The Wolves, Tigre Uno, Mandrews, Ethan Carter III, Drew Galloway, Manik etc.) being let down by a creative which seemingly doesn't know it's arse from it's elbow, let alone what it's audience (or lack of it) wants to see in 2015. 

Feud for Thought: Spud vs. EC3

This article is part of #ATPW24, in aid of MIND Charity. You can help support the cause by going to www.justgiving.co.uk/acrossthepondwrestling

Back on New Years Day 2013, some fella from Birmingham going by the name of Rockstar Spud hit our TV screens on TNA's British Bootcamp. At the same time, Derrick Bateman had gone almost 2 months without a match with his then employer, WWE. The debut edition of Feud for Thought will look at how the two became a beacon of light on TNA television over the next two years, initially as allies and more recently as rivals.

Ethan Carter III made his debut on TNA television at Bound for Glory 2013, just six weeks later on Impact Wrestling, the Chief of Staff character was born as Rockstar Spud returned to TNA TV. A partnership was born that would last for a whole year, with the pair involved in a number of backstage skits together, developing the relationship between the two. Spud would involve himself in EC3's matches, all under the watchful eye of Madamme Dixie Carter. 

It was through his characterisation of the Chief of Staff character that would really excel throughout this time. Every little detail seemed to be thought out and even when handed questionable content to perform Spud seemed to find something that would keep the audience glued to his performances, whilst wanted to see him get his head kicked in at the same time. At this same time Carter was running through the TNA roster, maintaining his Undefeated streak. Whilst the matches were never particularly notable, I believe it was this steady build of cheap victories, DQ and Countout wins, that helped develop the EC3 character and that would become even more important when the two would eventually feud.

The pairing was always based around Carter being in charge, whilst Spud seemed infatuated with both EC3 and his aunt Dixie, seemingly doing anything to make sure they were happy. However, the show build to implosion began when Dixie ended up going through a table at the hands of Bully Ray, with EC3 blaming both Spud and hired gun Rhino for the incident. It was October 8th that saw the feud ignite, with Spud snaping and slapping EC3, only to end up fired as Chief of Staff. 

Their feud would last over five months before the two would have a one on one singles match. With Carter bringing in Tyrus as his bodyguard and Jeremy Borash, Mandrews and Mr. Anderson all turning up to help Spud at some point or another, the two were allowed to collide indirectly at different times. It was refreshing to see a feud go so long, whilst also not having the two facing each other in twenty seven singles matches along the way. 

With Carter seemingly obsessed with removing Spud's hair in an attempt to humilate him, this became the focal point of their when TNA returned to our screens on Destination America in 2015. Many a mans head was shaved bald in the crossfire, many a follicle fell in courageous battle for their cause. All the while you feel the swell building towards the two finally colliding, especially across the shows taped on the UK tour. The large crowds seemed to push both man's performances, everything seemed that little bit more important to them, in a time when TNA was really upping it's game.

So when they finally did collide on the 13th March episode of Impact, this match between someone rotting in WWE two years ago and 5' 4'' lad from Birmingham was main eventing the show. And bloody hell did they deliver! A brutal encounter, full of passion and hatred, drama and excitement. The crowd loved it, buying into every movement the pair put together and that allowed Carter and Spud to shine even more. By the finish, with Carter pulling out the win, it impossible not to feel for Spud and even though you'd hate to say it, be impressed by EC3. He'd put a hell of a shift in to get something he wanted.

Luckily, a post-match segment changed that and we were reminded exactly why we were supposed to hate Carter as he teased a reconciliation before destroying Spud and taking his hair. A fitting end to a long running feud, Carter will be able to move forward and up the card towards a full time main event berth that he seems to have his name written all over. Spud on the other hand seems to be moving into the X-Division, and won't be harmed at all by his competitive loss to Carter, in fact, the crowd might be behind him even more.

TNA Impact Wrestling TV Taping 30th January 2014 Review

For those who keep up on our Youtube and Twitter then you'll know that I was in attendance for the recent TNA Impact Wrestling tapings at the Hydro Arena in Glasgow. It's been a while since then, but I decided to hold off writing my review until after the shows had aired on television, so that I could compare what was shown on television to what I witnessed inside the arena.

Before I start, I need to say that there was a LOT of long gaps in between the action happening in the arena. Apparently this was down to a problem with the screen not functioning properly, and did give the show a slight dragging effect throughout at points within the night, as well as some confusion as to what was actually going on.

The show kicked off with the commentary team of Jeremy Borash and Mike Tenay making their way down to ring side. Christy Hemme was out on ring announcing duties, which I have no complaints about!

I was surprised that there was no Xplosion taping or dark match before the first episode of Impact, as general logic would suggest a pacy X-Division bout would go on first to get the crowd even more riled up.

One of the only video packages that worked was the opening one, which was essentially a recap video of the previous weeks Impact Wrestling, with Magnus defeating Sting and tearing up his TNA contract. Obviously, they needed to show this package on TV, but it did feel a bit of a kick in the teeth for the fans who had brought their tickets with the hopes of seeing Sting (although they should read the promotional material before buying tickets!)

A lengthy opening in ring segment followed this up, with TNA World Heavyweight Champion Magnus, Ethan Carter III and Rockstar Spud coming out to a tremendous amount of heat from the Scottish audience. As with any professional wrestling show, the crowd has the opportunity to make or break a show, and their constant enthusiasm throughout really helped this show. Magnus seems to have settled into his role as World Champion fairly comfortable and looks in control of the crowd as he easily worked them, getting some extra cheap heat by trashing Scotland, whilst Spud continues to play his role down to a tee! Not sure how I feel about the dissention between Magnus and EC3, it's in-bickering like this that is currently harming WWE's Authority stable, I'd much rather see a cohesive heel faction, at least for a good few months yet. Kurt Angle and Samoa Joe interrupt and after some back and forth, a tag match is booked with Angle teaming with Joe to take on Magnus and EC3, with a stipulation being added that if Joe or Angle pinned or submitted Magnus they would become Number One Contender. Dixie Carter was out trying to stop the stipulation, with the idea being that she doesn't believe in her champion to get the job done, where have we seen that before?

1. Tag Team Match: 

Gail Kim & Lei'D Tapa 

Versus 

Knockout's Champion Madison Rayne & Velvet Sky

Remember that pacy opening contest I spoke about earlier? Well, this wasn't it. This was over in a matter of seconds, with Sky picking up the victory for her team with In Your Face. These women could have done a lot better if given even just a few more minutes, so it was a shame to see this end quickly

Winners: Knockout's Champion Madison Rayne & Velvet Sky

Straight after the bout, Sky's boyfriend Chris Sabin was out with a few questions to ask. Sabin's character is really coming together lately and he looks a lot more comfortable in this role than the one he was portray during his short World title run last year and asking Sky if it was "her time of the month" generated a good mixture laughs and heat. Sky ended the segment by yelling "We're through!" for a nice pop. An enjoyable segment, that would have been even better if Velvet had just had a lengthy tag bout!

Up next, James Storm was out to call out former tag team partner Gunner. The two had some back and forth on the mic, and whilst it's both are obviously competent on the stick (Gunner especially has improved a lot recently) the content of the promos weren't especially friendly to their location, with a lot of references to the US Armed Forces. Scotland is apparently the bizarro land, as a small USA chant broke out. They were interrupted by Bad Influence (Christopher Daniels and Kazarian, read our Daniels interview here), who through some fantastic insults at Gunner & Storm ("Monkey Fart" anyone?). A tag match was made between the two sides with Gunner's Feast or Fired briefcase on the line.

World Heavyweight Championship Feast or Fired Tag Team Match: 

Gunner (B) & James Storm 

Versus 

Bad Influence

A decent, if not a little basic tag team encounter, it at least got a decent length for a TV contest at just under ten minutes. Bad Influence spent most of the match working over Gunner, until an ill-fated Angel's Wings attempt from Daniels (when was the last time he used that?), lead to the hot tag to Storm, with Storm working the crowd up quite nicely. The finish saw a few botches and timing mistakes, although it was a nice idea in principle, Kazarian couldn't reach Daniels to make the tag with Storm setting Daniels up for the Eye of the Storm. Once it all came together, Storm hit the Last Call Superkick to Daniels on the apron and Gunner hit a Diving Headbutt onto Kazarian (I imagine as an homage to the Dynamite Kid as I've never seen Gunner use this before) to allow Gunner and Storm to pick up the victory and Gunner to retain his World Title Feast or Fired Briefcase. After teasing tension between the winners at the end, they instead decided to celebrate.

Winners: Gunner & James Storm

Rockstar Spud was out for the second time in the evening, as he turns up to call out The Wolves, Eddie Edwards and Davey Richards, in an attempt to find out who the mystery investor is. My love for Spud in this role is becoming almost an obsession, all his expressions are spot on. It doesn't take long before things get psychical and The Wolves take out  Spud  with their Alarm Clock move. Watching this episode back it's noticeable that Richards is more comfortable in his role than Edwards, who seemed desperate to laugh throughout the whole segment on TV. It wasn't much more of The Wolves on the show, it would've been great to see them in tag action, especially after seeing Richards last year at PCW.

3. TNA World Tag Team Championship Match: 

The Bro-Mans with DJ Zema 

vs. 

Eric Young & Abyss

Again some more basic tag team action, with Robbie E and Jessie Godderz of the Bro-Mans working over Eric Young for two or three minutes, before the hot tag to Abyss saw the match break down, with Abyss attacking referee Steve Lynsky, leading to the DQ finish. This was less a match and more of a set-up for what was about to come.

Winners via Disqualification: The Bro-Mans 

After the bout, Eric Young went on to challenge Abyss to a Monster's Ball match "next week", which of course meant we'd be seeing the match tonight. The crowd seemed very excited at this fact.

On-screen they showed a continuation of the Samuel Shaw/Christy Hemme saga, which lead into the reveal of somekind of shrine to Hemme. It was unclear when this had happened, as Hemme was at ringside and this footage was clearly supposed to be from Shaw's home in the US.

The segments continued as Bully Ray headed down to ringside pushing a coffin in front of him. This was the strongest segment of the night in my opinion, simply because Bully Ray is such a fantastic heel. There's a reason he was vote ATPW Heel of 2013! Bully Ray challenged Anderson to a Casket Match at some undefined point in the future. Anderson was quickly out, as Bully threw some fantastic barbs "I'm gonna piledrive your wife and kids", which got the desired reaction from the crowd before the brawled around ringside.

There was more bickering between Magnus and EC3 as the big screen began to flicker into life.

4. Tag Team Match: 

TNA World Heavyweight Champion Magnus & Ethan Carter III 

vs. 

Samoa Joe & Kurt Angle: 

Another tag team match! Alongside some more basic tag team storytelling, there were a few added things that made this one stand out from the rest of the action so far. Despite his injuries, Kurt Angle looked crisp in the ring, including a nice couple of suplexes on EC3. As the match settled into a regular rhythm, it was Angle who took the brunt of the offence from EC3 and Magnus, with some stellar heel work by Magnus as he taunted Joe, which really got the crowd going. The finish was well worked as well, with Angle pulling EC3 out of the ring for a Belly to Belly suplex on the outside, allowing Joe to eventually lock in the Rear Naked Choke to pick up the submission victory and become Number one Contender to Magnus' World Heavyweight Championship. It didn't light the world a light, but at least the finish was clean and the action decent.

Winners: Kurt Angle & Samoa Joe

Dixie Carter was out again soon after, with some words for Magnus, though she was quickly interupted by Samoe Joe who cut a short promo reminding Magnus that "he tapped out" and to "shine up the belt because Joe is gonna kill you" both of which garnered large chants for the live crowd. Kurt Angle also got in on the action thanking the live audience. Carter was quick to call out the rumoured new investor, with the lights cutting out, and when they came back on The Wolves stood a top the entrance ramp with former WWE wrestler MVP walking out chain in hand to complete the first episodes taping.

5. Singles Match: 

ODB 

vs. 

Alpha Female

I'd have to say I pretty disappointed with this match, the crowd was notably tired by the time this one got going and the action did very little help the fact. A lot of sloppy slams and other such moves, with ODB and Alpha Female never seeming to connect in the ring. The finish came when both ODB and Female put their hands on referee Steve Lynsky (poor Steve!) leading to a double DQ finish. I'm not sure if TNA will follow up on this, but both women will need to up their game.

Winner: Double DQ

Kicking off the second taping, X-Division Champion Austin Aries was out for an in-ring promo, as he talked up his past achievements and how he'd challenge for the World title again soon. Aries was distracted by The Bro-Mans, allowing DJ Zema Ion to jump Aries from behind with his Feast or Fired briefcase and would immediately cash-in for an X-Division title shot.

6. X-Division Championship Match: 

Austin Aries (C) 

vs. 

DJ Zema Ion

Another disappointing contest, as Aries batted off Ion in just over two minutes, finishing him off with Brainbuster. We know that these two are capable of much, much more when given a longer amount of time, and therefore it's a shame we didn't get to see them do so, especially when the X-Division looks so thin on the ground.

Winner and still X-Division Champion: Austin Aries

Curry Man came to the ring next and seemed to be Bully Ray's sacrificial lamb. It's a shame the lead up video with Bully backstage wasn't played, as this segment made very little sense to the live audience. Ray quickly dispatched of Curry Man with a Piledriver, and then placed him in the coffin. A nice little bit of build up to Bully's upcoming bout with Mr. Anderson.

7. Monster's Ball Match: 

Abyss 

vs. 

Eric Young

An enjoyable hardcore bout, with everything that you'd expect in a Monster's Ball encounter. Plenty of plunder throughout, plenty of nasty looking spots and the welcome return of Janice, who even got her own chant that evening. Crowd was very much behind Eric Young, who was very over with the Glasgow faithful. This bout was all about the spots, Young blocking a big splash attempt by Abyss by giving him a chair in the nether regions, Abyss sending EY head first into a chair in the corner, a sunset flip from EY that sent Abyss onto a pile of thumb tacks. The finish was heavily rooted in the Abyss/Joseph Park storyline, with EY managing to remove Abyss' mask revealing Park before Park hit a Blackhole Slam to pick up the victory.

Winner: Abyss

MVP was out next to cut a promo about his return earlier in the night. Personally, I thought the promo was too long, although there were a lot of enjoyable moments and I was glad to see MVP back. He talked about his time away, as well as how he was tired of maniacal bosses running the show. This seemed a bit like a shot at WWE, although whilst TNA is running almost the exact same storyline it felt very odd. Rockstar Spud was out again, asking MVP to a meeting with Dixie Carter. Before he left however, MVP booked Magnus in a match with Kurt Angle tonight. No complaints here.

8. Singles Match: 

TNA World Heavyweight Champion Magnus

vs. 

Kurt Angle

Well, I said no complaints. But this was another disapointment, although it had been clear all night that Angle had been working with some kind of injury. After a few minutes of decent back and forth between Angle and Magnus, EC3 was out to break up Angle's Ankle Lock to cause the DQ finish.

Winner: Kurt Angle

Afterwards, EC3 worked over Angle's knee, first with a steel chair and then locking in some kind of leg lock submission hold. Again, it would have been nice to see Angle and Magnus tear it up, but if Angle is hurt than this is probably the best we could have hoped for and it sets up a future match with EC3 when Angle is fit and ready.

9. TNA World Heavyweight Championship Number One Contender's Match: Samoa Joe 

vs. 

Bobby Roode

With no real explanation to the live crowd, another Number One Contender's match was made (this would all become clear when shown on TV) and lead to a bit of confusion amongst the audience, who were already very tired. This probably didn't live up to it's billing, with some decent back and forth action at the beginning and both men looking crisp with their offence, unfortunately it seemed to fall apart at the end. I'm not sure if either man lost their footing in the match, but there was a clear moment where no one seemed to know what was going on. Any way they quickly scrambled something together and Joe won following an Muscle Buster and another Rear Naked Choke for the victory.

Winner: Samoa Joe

Dixie Carter was out again next, alongside Rockstar Spud, as she called out MVP for another confrontation. Carter talked up that the two could work together, with a good deal of heat for the TNA President, before MVP cut her down blaming Carter for the state of TNA, as well as proclaiming her reign of terror to be over and finishing off with a staredown between the two, in a typical Impact closing segment.

After the camera's stopped rolling, and Carter had left, Spud headed back to the ring and confront MVP, ending up taking a number of MVP's signature moves, finishing off with the "Ballin'" Elbow drop, to send the crowd home "happy". I had expected a dark match seeing as the show had ended with a segment, however with The Hydro staff quick to shuffle us out of the arena that did not seem the case.

Whilst a number of the matches could have been longer, and the segments could have been shorter, I did find myself having a pretty good time at this Impact tapings. Abyss and Eric Young's Monster's Ball Match was a lot of fun, as was the first main-event tag match, anything involving Rockstar Spud or Bully Ray was also a pleasure to watch. It was a shame that The Wolves weren't involved in a match, as well as only short appearances from Austin Aries and Bad Influence. I got what I expected from my TNA experience, plenty of skits and promos, some short matches, but at least there were some clean finishes along the way. I'm interested to see what else got recorded on these shores in the next couple of weeks on Impact Wrestling.

Quick Results

1. Tag Team Match: Madison Rayne & Velvet Sky def. Gail Kim & Lei'd Tapa via Pinfall
2. World Heavyweight Championship Feast or Fired Tag Team Match: Gunner (b) & James Storm def. Bad Influence via Pinfall
3. World Tag Team Championship Match: The Bro-Mans def. Eric Young & Abyss via DQ
4. Tag Team Match: Kurt Angle & Samoa Joe def. Magnus & Ethan Carter III via Submission
5. Singles Match: ODB vs. Alpha Female ended in Double DQ
6. X-Division Championship Match: Austin Aries (C) def. DJ Zema Ion via Pinfall
7. Monster's Ball Match: Abyss def. Eric Young via Pinfall
8. Singles Match: Kurt Angle def. Magnus via DQ
9. World Heavyweight Championship Number One Contender's Match: Samoa Joe def. Bobby Roode via Submission

TNA Fan Interaction 2014 Report from Glasgow, Scotland - Craig Hermit

Craig Hermit sent in this report of TNA's Fan Interaction in Glasgow, Scotland from January 30th, if you attend a live event, wherever that may be, we'd love to hear from you also! Let us know what you think, we've seen quite a few articles from Craig recently, should he join the team?

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For the TNA critics out there who have been commenting on TNA's lack of fan support recently, they might have had a point within the USA, but the news of lack of interest never reached Glasgow.

Last night, I attended the TNA Fan Interaction session, which was completely sold. There was certainly enough passionate fans there and made there opinions as vocal and as loud for all to hear.

The set up for the Fan Interaction could have been organised a lot better with queuing outside the building and the layout of the interaction could have been better also. But I wouldn't blame TNA for this, probably the Glasgow Hydro organiser's themselves. Clearly unaware of the sheer volume of fans ready to meet the wrestlers, next time they should be more prepared when WWE arrives later this year.

The stars who attended the fan interaction session were Bad Influence (Christopher Daniels & Frankie Kazarian), Velvet Sky, James Storm, Gunner, TNA Knockout's Champion Madison Rayne, Mr Anderson and Chris Sabin.

The highlights for this writer were Bad Influence, the duo were fantastic, they brought their own brand of brilliance and humour to every fan. Madison Rayne was thanking the fans for coming along,  Velvet Sky and Gunner separately were brilliant and accommodating too, James Storm wanted beer and Mr Anderson, Mr Anderson was brilliant, all the fans that spoke to him left with either a smile or were buckled in laughter, this writer included. Only Chris Sabin didn't seem to be as enthusiastic as the others, and other fans mentioned this too.

Then onwards to the merchandise, every item of clothing was there from TNAStore and an exclusive range of Knockout pictures as well. If you were after TNA merchandise you would'nt have been disappointed. Even Jeff Hardy t-shirts and Sting masks were for sale as well.

However for TNA, that would be my only criticism, as Hardy nor Sting was on the tour and the latter no longer with the company, this didn't quite seem right to me.

But this was minor and everyone I spoke to during the fan access and after it were in high spirits. They did say it was worth the money.

The only main disappointment were the absences of  Kurt Angle, Magnus, Bully Ray, Austin Aries, Samoa Joe and Bobby Roode,  except it looked like there were reasons for this as many if the stars mentioned missing preformed twice in the night, and if they preformed once in the event were leaving to be in the news TNA Fan Session the next day. Perhaps TNA should think of that for next year as it comes back to Glasgow as we will want more.

Overall, the stars who attended were fantastic, gave the fans what they wanted and were entertaining. It was a great start to a fantastic event.

TNA One Night Only: Joker's Wild DVD Review

TNA One Night Only: Joker's Wild is out now on DVD and available from www.clearvision.co.uk, priced at £10.99. This is the first of TNA's One Night Only shows that I've managed to catch, I decided to wait until the shows hit DVD, seeing as they don't follow any recent storylines, I haven't gone out of my way to check them out. This show, filmed at the Impact Zone in Orlando, Florida in the United States on 12th January 2013 and first broadcast on 3rd May 2013, is focused around the Joker's Wild theme with teams picked at random to face each other, with the winning pair heading into a Gauntlet (or Royal Rumble). The Twelve Man Gauntlet was the main event of the show, which also features Christopher Daniels teaming up with Samoa Joe to take on Chavo Guerrero, Jr. & Rob Van Dam, and the big man duo of Matt Morgan & Robbie T taking on rivals Al Snow & Joey Ryan.

Content Listing

Joker's Wild Qualifying Tag Team Match

James Storm & Christian York vs. Gunner & Crimson (9:07)

Joker's Wild Qualifying Tag Team Match

Jessie Godderz & Mr. Anderson vs. Doug Williams & Kid Kash (10:14)

Joker's Wild Qualifying Tag Team Match

Christopher Daniels & Rob Van Dam vs. Chavo Guerrero, Jr. & Rob Van Dam (14:50)

Joker's Wild Qualifying Tag Team Match

Robbie E & Zema Ion vs. Bobby Roode & Joseph Park (10:20)

Joker's Wild Qualifying Tag Team Match

Hernandez & Alex Silva vs. Aces & Eights (Devon & D.O.C.) (9:13)

Joker's Wild Qualifying Tag Team Match

Robbie T & Matt Morgan vs. Al Snow & Joey Ryan (12:26)

$100, 000 Dollar Joker's Wild Gauntlet Battle Royal 

Bobby Roode vs. James Storm vs. Devon vs. D.O.C. vs. Jessie Godderz vs. Christian York vs. Joseph Park vs. Mr. Anderson vs. Christopher Daniels vs. Samoa Joe vs. Robbie T vs. Matt Morgan (24:02)

Review

I'm going to come straight and say that didn't like this show, I'll get into why as I run down the individual matches. Starting at the ending, the main event featuring the winners of the randomly picked tag team matches earlier in the night, in a Gauntlet match (or Royal Rumble) which has it's moments but for the first fifteen minutes is incredibly hard to get into. Without any build up on television, these pay-per-views needed to have a hook that people would interested in seeing, a first time match, some returning names or a match which we've seen before but know will be awesome, so the hook for this one is the Gauntlet, but why am I supposed to care? I don't care if one of these guys "wins" $100,000, so there is no emotional investment, for what is a fairly lengthy main event contest. There's also a couple of disappointing early elimination for guys that could have made the bout interesting, which didn't help. There's a cliche interaction between Matt Morgan and Robbie T, that you will most likely have seen a version of before, but at least it throws and element of story into this mess. The finish between two long time TNA rivals is probably the strongest element of this bout for me.  

Going into the show, I marked Christopher Daniels & Samoa Joe taking on Chavo Guerrero, Jr. & Rob Van Dam, as a potential match of the night and it probably was, but it's nothing spectacular. It's good solid tag team action, with Samoa Joe and Christopher Daniels making a solid team, although that's what you'd expect with their past history. Guerrero works nicely with both men throughout, whilst Van Dam is in his typical TNA style of phoning in the bout, not really looking interested at any point. Christopher Daniels continues to be the highlight of TNA programming with his performance in this bout really raising the bar with his in ring antics. The finish well worked and built up to nicely, with all four men contributing well. Out of all the random bouts, this one felt that most thought through in who was paired together, it only get's weirder for this one. 

Robbie T & Matt Morgan vs. Al Snow & Joey Ryan is more entertaining than it deserved to be. There's a little build up to this one, with Morgan and Ryan (who were a brief team in TNA) convinced they are going to be picked together, it's obvious what's going to happen from the start, but the look on Joey Ryan's face when Al Snow walks down is great stuff. There's a fairly unique dynamic with neither Morgan or Ryan wanting to fight each other making for some funny moments, at times. The finish is also clever and will had me asking why I hadn't thought of it already. Overall, the story carries this bout, as there isn't a lot of wrestling to get into, but it's at least enjoyable throughout. 

Zema Ion & Robbie E vs. Joseph Park & Bobby Roode is well worked by four talented guys, but there isn't really anything that makes you take notice of what's happening, even if they try to integrate a story with Bobby Roode & Joseph Park, which doesn't quite pay off. Jessie Godderz & Mr. Anderson taking on Kid Kash & Doug Williams, could've been a good match, but devolves quickly into body slash from Kash and Williams as they work over Godderz, not at all entertaining. Aces & Eights manages to get Devon & D.O.C. randomly drawn together to take on Hernandez and Alex Silva in another match that I found it difficult to get into, it's just too clear who's picking up the W. The opening contest with James Storm teaming with Christian York to take on Gunner & Crimson has some nice teamwork but follow a very basic pattern that probably didn't need as much time to play out. 

There is some backstage footage included interviews building up the match, but the guys involved can't really say much other than "I'm going to win" as there isn't any story for them to work and the majority come off a little wooden. Christopher Daniels does a good job in his backstage segments, talking up his tag team with Samoa Joe is gold, Daniels really seems to enjoy being able to have a bit more free reign and it works wonders here. The commentary team of Mike Tenay and Taz couldn't care less throughout talking about anything and everything other than the matches, but at times Taz's random wit does save what is pretty tiresome viewing.

Overall, I'd say this event wasn't for me. There just wasn't enough to get my teeth into and the majority of the matches weren't strong enough to get me involved without some kind of storyline, and having guys that rarely appear on Impact Wrestling like Alex Silva and a large proportion of this shows roster having since been released it's hard to connect with the wrestlers in the ring. I think if this had been a regular tag team tournament, I'd have been a lot more interested in the concept, as I'd have wanted to see which random pair came out on top, however the Gauntlet ending feels rushed and the idea of money being used a prize in wrestling in 2013, is highly outdated. 

Top Three Matches on One Night Only: Joker's Wild

1. Christopher Daniels & Rob Van Dam vs. Chavo Guerrero, Jr. & Rob Van Dam 

2. Robbie T & Matt Morgan vs. Al Snow & Joey Ryan

3. Robbie E & Zema Ion vs. Bobby Roode & Joseph Park 

TNA Impact Wrestling 5th September 2013 Review

TNA Impact Wrestling focused largely on the Bound For Glory Series, with the first part of the tournament coming to close with a Twelve Man Gauntlet match (or Royal Rumble). Whilst TNA chose to have Sting and Bully Ray's No Disqualification bout go in the usual main event slot, to me the Bound For Glory Series, which will be the focus once again in the next two week's No Surrender themed special episodes, was where my interest lied, for almost all of the show.

Bound For Glory Series Twelve Man Gauntlet Match

To build up to this one, TNA started the show with a short vignette featuring clips of interviews with each of the twelve Bound For Glory Series competitors. In case you've missed TNA over the last couple of months, that's AJ Styles, Magnus, Mr. Anderson, Samoa Joe, Kazarian, Bobby Roode, Austin Aries, Jeff Hardy, Joseph Park, Christopher Daniels, Hernandez and Jay Bradley. I though this was a really good idea, with each man explaining their motives for winning the Gauntlet and why they will win, really setting up the importance of the Gauntlet match. Obviously, a lot of the participants wanted to win, so they could reach the final four and go onto No Surrender next week, but people like Jay Bradley and Hernandez who had no chance of winning at least mixed it up a bit. To continue on that theme, both Bradley and Hernandez were interviewed by Jeremy Borash, both actually gave decent interviews, but there was one problem here...I simply didn't care. Bradley spoke about how a certain organisation had possibly enlisted him to eliminate a certain individual and you could see it coming a mile off. It was clear who Bradley was talking about in both cases, and it was clear Bradley wouldn't be eliminating them, he's been booked as a loser throughout the whole Bound For Glory Series, why would things be changing now? 

The thing with Gauntlets/Royal Rumbles is they have to be full of spots and storyline to make them any good, you can't just sort of have twelve men come out and have them all swap between who is punching who in the corner of the ring, because it becomes pretty boring pretty quickly and this one bordered on the latter most of the time. There was the stuff with Jay Bradley, but it simply didn't work. It was revealed he was meant to be eliminating AJ Styles, but Styles had already been in the match for quite some time, and Bradley had a perfect opportunity when Styles entered the ring and clotheslined Joseph Park over the top rope, but it just wasn't picked upon. Despite earlier saying the order of entry was decided by who was higher up the standing, Mike Tenay and Taz still questioned who was in next which didn't help the proceedings. Bad Influence both did a good job in developing a story, helping keep each other in the match and work over other wrestlers, although a double hip toss wasn't exactly an exciting way to eliminate Hernandez. 

For me, the match really picked up with the entry of Austin Aries, charging down the ramp and hitting a leaping double clothesline on Bad Influence. This is where The Extraordinary Gentleman's Organisation remembered they were all a group and took the fight to Aries, finally a bit of storyline development. There was a nice series that saw Samoa Joe attempt to save Magnus from Bad Influence only to get eliminated himself, before Bobby Roode saved Kazarian by eliminating Jeff Hardy, as EGO's dominance continued it looked more likely they would produce the winner, with only Styles, Aries and Magnus opposing them. A nifty looking monkey flip from Styles would eliminate Kaz, although it was harmed by the jarring visual of seeing Kaz land on the elevated entrance ramp rather than the floor. Another nice piece of teamwork from EGO, saw Daniels save Roode from a bodyslam from Magnus and go on to eliminate the Brit, to bring the field down to four. Speedy eliminations of Aries and Roode by Styles, both of whom had already qualified for the final four, left Styles and Daniels to battle it out. Unfortunately, they didn't stick with tradition and then have a one on one match, like how they would usually do in TNA, with Styles eliminating Daniels following a Clothesline. I thought this was a real shame, as I quite excited to see the two go at it one more time, and thought the closing stages of the bout up were really good up until this point.

With the Final Four settled as AJ Styles, Magnus, Bobby Roode and Austin Aries (I got two out of four, by the way!), the only thing left to do was choose who would face who. So later in the AJ Styles came down to the ring and after some deliberation, picked Austin Aries as his opponent. Styles' reasoning was solid, with Aries having a victory over him in the Series and Styles wanting to prove himself once again, with Aries declaring that their would be a clear winner next week, I could help but be excited to see these two lock up for the second time on television. So that meant that the other semi final would see Bobby Roode vs. Magnus, with Magnus holding the victory over Roode in the Series proper already. With two decent promos from both guys outlining why they should win, it all set up very nicely for next week. It's obvious TNA had expected to have more time here, with a lot of the booking that seemed clear early on (Joseph Park being revealed as Abyss for a late push, Chavo Guerrero turning on Hernandez) having to be dropped, which is strange really because they should really know their own schedule, but they have actually done a pretty good job of coming up with a final four that I'm interested in. AJ Styles would be my pick to win, although you could make strong cases for both Austin Aries or Magnus to go head to head with Bully Ray at Bound For Glory as well. 

No Disqualification Match: 

Sting

 vs. 

World Heavyweight Champion 

Bully Ray 

with Aces & Eights 

(Anderson/Tessmacher)

There was no amount of build up TNA could do that would get me excited for this match. I saw it at Slammiversary and I'm pretty sure no one was crying out to see a Sting-Bully Ray II. Even with Bully Ray continuing his trend of top notch promos at the start of the show, addressing his Aces and Eights stablemates, Mr. Anderson, Tito Ortiz, Knux, Wes Brisco & Garrett Bischoff, with “main squeeze” Brooke Tessmacher by his side. Ray did a good job trying to keep his group in check, it's clear that Ray has relished his role here, it's a shame he hasn't really had a decent face to go opposite against. Ray also set up a number of matches for his group, including Knux taking on Chris Sabin and Brisco & Bischoff taking on World Tag Team Champions James Storm and Gunner. This is certainly the best use we've seen of the Aces & Eights group, with my previous main gripe with the group being that they were never in matches, however I think it might be too little too late. 

The build continued throughout the show, with both Aces & Eights and Main Event Mafia having backstage segments. Firstly, we saw Bully Ray's reaction to Mr. Anderson failing to win the Bound For Glory Series Gauntlet match earlier in the night. I thought this was  really well shot and performed little scene, with Bully Ray once again putting in a stellar performance. With Anderson showing a burst of aggression, before Bully Ray put him back in line, it looked like that would be the last we'd hear of Anderson's uprising, at least for now. For the Main Event Mafia, we saw Sting chatting with Rampage Jackson. Now I expected to hate this segment, but it was actually quite sweet. It came across to me as the veteran Sting departing some knowledge to the green Jackson, with Jackson happy to sit and listen whilst Sting cut a pretty decent promo, however I still wasn't anymore exciting to see the main event. 

Before the match, General Manager Hulk Hogan, banned Tito Ortiz from ringside and made the match No Disqualification. These two ideas seemed juxtaposed, what would happen if Ortiz interfered? Why were Mr. Anderson and Brooke Tessmacher allowed to stay at ringside? I've heard of WWE logic, but TNA logic is getting pretty ropey. The match was essentially a slim line version of the one they had at Slammiversary. Firsty, Sting took it to Ray with a steel chair, before Ray took the upperhand and they repeated the spot from Slammiversary where Ray removed the padding on the ring to expose the boards. I wasn't fan of it the first time and I don't like it anymore now. Sting reversed Ray's Piledriver and managed to lock in a Scorpion Death Lock, with Aces & Eight's Knux, Brisco & Bischoff making the save for their President. Main Event's Mafia Samoa Joe, Magnus & Rampage Jackson came down and fought Aces and Eights to the back. It was a nice twist on what we had seen at Slammiversary, showing that Sting now had some guys watching his back, so I can't really complain about that.


The finish saw Sting manage to lock Ray in the Scorpion Death Lock again, with Anderson on the outside wielding a hammer. With Anderson refusing to make the save for his President, Ray tapped out and Sting picked up the submission victory. In isolation, this was a pretty good finish and did set up nicely for next week's No Surrender, but TNA just had their World Heavyweight Champion lose clean to someone who can't even challenge for the title. I'd love to know the logic that we into that one. So Anderson got in the ring and said he'd be facing Bully Ray next week at No Surrender for the World Heavyweight Championship, and I have to say I quite liked the return of face Anderson, complete with announcing his own name. I thought it was a really strong end to Impact Wrestling, but they did about two-three months worth of build for this match, in about a two weeks. This moment could have felt even stronger, if they'd have just let it breath for a bit and really build to Anderson's turn. The other issue I had with this was that Anderson has just lost the Bound For Glory Series, and is getting a title shot next week...whilst the final four will battle it out to get a shot on the same show. It's the timing more than anything that annoyed me about this, if it was shuffled around and maybe two months down the line, this would have been a red hot ending to the show.

Best of the Rest (In The World)

Elsewhere on Impact Wrestling, we saw the return of former World Heavyweight Champion Chris Sabin, in his first television bout since losing the World Heavyweight title, taking on Aces & Eight's Knux. I was interested to see Knux back in the ring, because he's hardly been in the ring since turning up in TNA. He's been in a handful of multi man tag team bouts, but this was actually only his second singles match on television, and his last match was back in January! Knux has been handled pretty poorly since joining TNA, as have most of Aces and Eights as individuals, which has in turn harmed the Aces & Eights group in general. Get the guys in the ring, show us what they can do! I thought Knux had a lot more to give the company, after enjoying the majority of his run in WWE as Mike Knox.

The match was decent, it didn't exactly set the world a light, but it was okay. Sabin worked Knux's knee for some reason, during the opening of the match, I guess the logic was that Sabin was trying to get Knux on the ground, but it didn't quite work. Knux looked pretty good when he took control of Sabin, with power moves and nice diving leg drop, that I wasn't expecting from such a big man. The finish saw Bully Ray hand Knux a hammer, with Sabin hitting a basement dropkick to Knux's knee. With the hammer now loose, Sabin jumped on it and whacked Knux in the head, giving Knux a disqualification victory. I'm waiting to see where they go with Sabin before burying this finish, obviously they have something planned for him and it didn't exactly harm Knux either. After the match, we saw Sabin and real-life girlfriend Velvet Sky, with Sabin saying something has got to change, so it would seem they are working on something for Sabin and it has to be better than his World Heavyweight title reign! 

There was also tag team action with World Tag Team Champions James Storm & Gunner taking on Aces & Eight's Wes Brisco & Garrett Bischoff. The bout kicked off with the cliché spot of Brisco & Bischoff attacking Storm & Gunner on the entrance ramp, but Storm & Gunner quickly gained the upperhand before the match officially got going. I didn't want to say it, but I was actually quite impressed with Brisco and Bischoff who did a pretty good job of working over Storm, Brisco looked especially good. The bout built up well with a hot tag to Gunner, and number of nice near falls for both teams. The finish used another wrestling cliché with Brisco distracting the referee by bringing the tag belt into the ring, allowing Bischoff to hit Gunner with a chain to pick up the victory. You'd expect a rematch to happen further down the line, possibly with the belts on the line, but currently I'm positive about Brisco and Bischoff moving into the tag team division after this bout. 

Knockout's Champion Mickie James was also on the show, in a truly awful segment with ODB. Both women actually gave a good performance, but the material they were given was tripe. It focussed on Miley Cyrus and that whole twerking thing as an attempt to get heat on James. Eventually, James tried to hit ODB with the belt, only for ODB to fight back and then the two had a stare down. I have no idea why they didn't put on or the other on top during this segment, as it just didn't look right having James leap up. I'm actually quite excited to see the James vs. ODB match, but if segments like this continue then I might start losing interest. 

Finally...

My final thoughts on this week's Impact Wrestling.

1. TNA had to rush their plans for the Bound For Glory Series, but the final four actually looks pretty interesting.

2. Bully Ray vs. Anderson needed another two or three months worth of build and it could've been red hot.

3. This week's booking of Aces & Eights, showcasing the member of the group in actual matches, should have been happening about nine months ago.