Bound For Glory 2005 (2014 Redo): Gore Gore Gore

Over the last few years I’ve redone my ratings for the Big Four WWE PPVs so why not do it for the big TNA show? We’re approaching the tenth show in the series and there’s always a chance it’s going to be the last. Every day until the 2014 Bound For Glory, I’ll be posting a brand new review of a Bound For Glory. Let’s get to it.

Bound For Glory 2005
Date: October 23, 2005
Location: Impact Zone, Orlando, Florida
Attendance: 900
Commentators: Mike Tenay, Don West

This is still pretty early in the company’s run but things are starting to roll. Jeff Jarrett is the top guy in the company, which makes perfect sense given that he’s the owner. His opponent tonight is supposed to be Kevin Nash but there are some shenanigans afoot. Other than that we have Daniels vs. Styles in a thirty minute Iron Man Match for the X-Division Title. Let’s get to it.

The opening video starts by showing the awesome voiceover guy, which I don’t remember ever seeing before. He talks about the year of three hour pay per views that have led us to this. They’re already treating Bound For Glory like the biggest show of the year and that’s an important thing to have to look forward to.

Samoa Joe vs. Jushin Thunder Liger

No story here as this is a dream match. Joe has the full Polynesian entrance here which really does look cool. He’s still unbeaten here and is the hottest act in the company. We have to get rid of the streamers due to the pesky Japanese tradition. Liger tries some shoulders and just bounces off the big man. He asks Joe to try one of his own and takes Joe down with a drop toehold.

The fans are split on who to cheer for here as Joe is sent to the floor. A big baseball slide and dive take Joe down again. Back in and Joe hits a quick Samoan drop before a big knee gets two. We hit the chinlock for a bit before Joe hits his snap powerslam for two. Liger fights up and hits a quick Liger Kick in the corner before stepping on Joe’s foot to suplex him over.

A top rope splash gets two on Joe but he comes back with an enziguri. Liger escapes what looked to be a superplex attempt and nails the Liger Bomb for two. The signature open palm thrust gets another near fall on Joe but he’s able to crotch Jushin on the top. The MuscleBuster and Koquina Clutch are enough to keep Joe undefeated.

Rating: C. The match felt like they were trying to have a passing of the torch/dream match and it only kind of worked. Given that the match wasn’t even seven and a half minutes long, this must have been a short nap kind of dream instead of a long slumber. It was good enough but I don’t think people were expecting Liger to be the first to beat Joe.

We see some fans at the arena earlier in the day at TNA’s version of Axxess.

Simon Diamond tells his fellow Diamonds in the Rough to start getting it together.

Diamonds in the Rough vs. Apolo/Sonni Siaki/Shark Boy

The Diamonds are Diamond, Elix Skipper and David Young (who lost like 99 matches in a row), Apolo is a Puerto Rican star and Siaki is a Samoa guy with a good look. Shark Boy chops at Simon to start and hits a kind of one knee Codebreaker. Diamond nails a quick clothesline and blocks a Dead Sea Drop (Diamond Dust), only to have Sharky bite his trunks. Off to Apolo vs. Skipper with Apolo nailing a quick RKO for two. A kind of half nelson slam puts Skipper down again but Simon distracts the referee, allowing Young to get in a cheap shot.

Back to Skipper who knocks Apolo out of the air for two but Apolo pops up and throws Skipper into the air for an RKO. The hot tag brings in Siaki to clean house but the Diamonds all come in for a triple team. Apolo nails Young with a TKO but Skipper uses both guys as a springboard to botch a hurricanrana on Siaki. Everything breaks down with almost everyone hitting a big dive. Shark Boy hammers on Simon outside as David hits his spinebuster for the pin on Siaki.

Rating: C-. Just a quick match here with both teams looking decent, though most of the guys weren’t much to see. Apolo was a guy I always liked but he only got to do so much here. The Diamonds were almost the 3MB of their day minus the comedy. They had the talent but the constant losing didn’t help them.

We take a quick look at the four way from the preshow.

Also on the preshow, Raven and Larry Zbyszko continued their stupid feud over Raven wanting the title and Larry wanting him to quit. Security broke it up and Rhino came out to yell at Raven, asking where his edge went. He thinks a girl got into Raven’s head and wound up goring him in half. They both want the title shot later in the night.

NWA World Champion Jeff Jarrett accuses Nash of hiding from the beating that is coming to him. Larry Zbyszko can throw anyone he wants at Jarrett. Throw all the names in the hat if you want to. Screw Jeff Hardy, screw Rhino, screw Abyss, screw Sabu and screw Raven. Monty Brown comes in and tells Jarrett to say screw Monty to his face. Brown says he can smell the fear in Jarrett. Jeff tells him to go take care of a ticked off Texan and Brown promised to Pounce said Texan.

Lance Hoyt vs. Monty Brown

Tenay dedicates this show to the recently passed away Crusher. Hoyt is a big guy who wound wind up in WWE and Japan a few years later. Brown hammers him down but Hoyt comes back with a shoulder block and clothesline. A kind of flapjack puts Brown on the floor and Hoyt follows him out with a huge dive over the top. Back in and Monty fires off some loud chops but Hoyt hits him just as hard. Lance goes up top for his moonsault but Bonty shoves him down to the floor.

Back in and Brown slams him down before shouting a lot. Hoyt nails (kind of) a big boot to the face and hits the moonsault for two. Lance goes to the middle rope but dives into an Alpha Bomb (picture starting with a slam but Monty flips them into the air for a powerbomb) for two. Hoyt grabs a chokeslam for two, only to have Monty pop up with the Pounce for the pin.

Rating: C+. I was really liking this one with Hoyt throwing everything he could at Brown but Monty surviving everything and hitting one of the biggest moves in TNA for the pin. Hoyt had something but when his gimmick in WWE was “I’M INTENSE!”, he didn’t have a ton of hope. Good match.

Video on some TNA guys in Japan.

The 3 Live Kru says they’re united and aren’t worried about Team Canada tonight. Kip James (Billy Gunn) comes in to offer his support. Ron Killings (R-Truth) and BG James (Road Dogg) like the idea but Konnan hates Kip being involved and walks out.

Team Canada vs. 3 Live Kru

This would be Bobby Roode/Eric Young/A-1 vs. BG James/Konnan/Ron Killings. These teams have feuded with each other for months and traded the Tag Team Titles a few times back in 2004. James does the 3 Live Kru version of the New Age Outlaws intro. Young and Konnan get things going with Konnan rolling around a lot and sending Eric into the corner. He takes out all three Canadians on his own and throws his shoe at Young (regular spot for him) to knock Eric outside. Killings does a kind of What’s Up on Roode and the Kru stands tall.

Bobby settles down but gets taken down by a headscissors from Killings. Kip James is sitting on the entrance ramp as James and Killings stomp on Roode. Bobby finally comes back with a full nelson slam for two and we look at Kip. Tenay: “That’s Kip James!” This is a much odder comment after Tenay just got done discussing what was on Kip’s shirt.

The fans chant New Age Outlaws as A-1 powerslams Killings down for two. Killings finally comes back with the spinning forearm and BG comes in off the hot tag. The shaky knee drop gets two on Eric as everything breaks down. Roode sneaks in the hockey stick to knock BG out and give Eric the pin.

Rating: D+. This didn’t have the time to go anywhere but this feud was long since dead by this point. We had seen them fight so long and the fans just wanted the New Age Outlaws to reunite anyway. They just needed something fresh and having them fight again isn’t the right idea.

Post match BG gets beaten down until Kip makes the save. Team Canada holds Konnan for Kip to hit with a chair but he cleans house instead.

Shane Douglas asks Zbyszko who is getting the title shot tonight but Larry is waiting on a phone call. Someone is getting a shot tonight though.

Video on Ultimate X, basically explaining the concept for new fans. For those of you unfamiliar, there are four tresses at corners of the ring with two ropes about ten feet above the ring connecting the tresses. You climb the tresses and get across the polls to pull down the red X at their intersection to win. This transitions into recapping tonight’s match for a future X-Division Title match, which doesn’t have much of a story other than they all want the title shot.

Petey Williams vs. Chris Sabin vs. Matt Bentley

Bentley is Shawn Michaels’ cousin and has a good looking woman named Traci with him. Williams tries to climb first but get double teamed for his efforts. Petey gets back in and hammers on both guys, including a few suplexes to Sabin. Bentley catches Petey in a wheelbarrow suplex but has to pull Sabin off the ropes with a kind of atomic drop. Both good guys are down so Petey tries to climb but Traci offers a distraction by slamming his face into her chest.

It almost works as Bentley is most of the way to the X until both other guys make the save. Sabin sends Bentley into the corner and hits a running release buckle bomb to send Williams onto Matt. Petey comes back with a wicked tornado DDT on Bentley but Sabin goes up for the X. That goes nowhere and it’s Williams dropping a leg to Sabin on the apron.

Williams nails a hurricanrana off the apron to take Bentley down, leaving him as the only man halfway standing. His knee is banged up though and both other guys come in with Bentley taking both opponents down. Sabin and Matt go for the X but it’s Sabin with a HUGE powerbomb off the cables to put all three down again. This time it’s Petey and Sabin going up with Petey kicking him into a Tree of Woe and standing on his crotch to sing O Canada.

Bentley gets back up and shoves Petey to the floor. Williams’ coach Scot D’Amore: “THAT’S NOT FAIR!” Sabin shoves Bentley to the floor, leaving him all alone. Instead of going for the X though, he busts out a moonsault press to take out Williams and Bentley. Sabin goes up again but Bentley spears him off the cables…..and the X falls down.

The match completely stops so the crew can hang it up again. Bentley is the only one thinking as he throws Williams to the floor and hits a dive to try to distract the crowd. Sabin joins them on the floor as the crew gets it hung up again. Sabin and Bentley both go for it but crash down, dropping the X again. Williams catches it and the referee says that’s good enough to prevent further embarrassment.

Rating: C. The ending just kills this match but you can’t blame that on the wrestlers. They were having a good match until the structure messed up and threw them off. It looks really bad for TNA as the announcers had to point out that you’re not supposed to win that way, but really what else could they do? These matches are always tricky and make you think they should just be having a ladder match.

Bentley is livid.

We look at AMW joining forces with Jeff Jarrett and helping him get the World Title back. They then destroyed the recently arrived Team 3D, setting up a HILARIOUS funeral for Ray and D-Von. They also destroyed the Naturals to win the Tag Team Titles, setting up tonight’s rematch.

Tag Team Titles; Naturals vs. AMW

The Naturals are Chase Stevens and Andy Douglas and the champs have Gail Kim in their corner. It’s a big brawl to start with the Naturals in full control on the floor. Things settle down with Stevens vs. Storm in the ring but the Naturals double team him into a running powerbomb against the barricade. Harris gets double teamed in the ring as Storm stumbles up the ramp.

The Naturals go after him to keep up the beating and both champs are sent into the barricade. Douglas chokes Harris with tape until Gail Kim offers a distraction, allowing Harris to send him into the metal tress. Andy is busted open and AMW goes after the cut as we get down to a regular tag match. Eye of the Storm gets two on Andy but he’s able to get over to the corner for the hot tag.

Stevens cleans house and Storm hits Harris by mistake. Storm misses a pair of superkicks and gets nailed by Stevens for two. Gail throws in some powder but Stevens knocks it into Harris’ face, causing him to hit the Cataonic on James. The Naturals hit AMW’s Death Sentence for two on Harris. They load up the Natural Disaster (elevated Stunner) but Gail comes in to break it up. Douglas goes after her but Harris gets up and handcuffs him to the barricade. More distractions let Storm bust a beer bottle over Stevens’ head, setting up the Death Sentence to retain the titles.

Rating: B. This was a really solid brawl with the Naturals getting as close as they could to winning the titles. AMW had only won the belts back a few days before this so they weren’t about to drop them this fast. They’re the best team TNA ever had and there’s no reason to have them lose this fast. It also helps that they so rarely beat the Naturals, who were billed as the team AMW couldn’t figure out for awhile.

Video on Monster’s Ball. The idea was the guys are held without food, water or human contact for twenty four hours before the match though I believe this is the last time that idea was used. There isn’t much of a story here other than all four guys are hardcore and want to be the best.

James Mitchell says Abyss will be ready.

Jeff Hardy vs. Sabu vs. Rhino vs. Abyss

Anything goes and weapons are encouraged. Rhino and Abyss attack Hardy to start but Sabu pelts a chair at them to break it up. Sabu and Rhino head out to the floor, allowing Hardy to hit Poetry in Motion on Abyss, followed by a big dive over the top to nail him on the floor as well. All four guys head into the crowd and Sabu is already bleeding from the eye. Hardy dives off a wall onto Abyss and all four are back at ringside. Jeff pours out a trashcan full of weapons as Sabu hits a big springboard plancha to take out Rhino.

The Whisper in the Wind drops Abyss but he counters the Twist of Fate into Shock Treatment. Rhino starts cleaning house with a chair and Hardy uses Sabu to set up another Poetry in Motion on Abyss. Now Rhino destroys everyone with a kendo stick but the Gore is countered by Abyss’ chokeslam. Hardy and Abyss fight to the floor while Rhino whips Sabu with a weightlifting belt. Abyss pounds Hardy up against the stage and sets up a table next to it.

Sabu bridges a table between the ring and the barricade as Hardy nails Abyss with a chair and puts him on the table by the stage. Sabu drives Rhino through the table at ringside while Hardy climbs the set and dives OVER THE STAGE for a Swanton through Abyss through the tables. That was INSANE. Rhino wedges a chair in the corner but Sabu avoids the Gore and hits a quick Triple Jump Moonsault for two. Abyss is back in and throws Sabu through a table, only to get Gored through another table. Jeff is somehow not dead and hammers away on Rhino, only to get piledriven off the middle rope to give Rhino the pin.

Rating: B. That Hardy spot was incredible and the rest of the brawl was really good as well. They just let four guys beat the tar out of each other and about thirteen minutes and the results worked really well. Rhino’s piledriver to end it looked awesome as well, making the whole thing violent fun.

Zbyszko announces a ten man gauntlet match for tonight’s shot at the title. The participants have all competed already tonight. Shane thinks that’s unfair to Jarrett.

We recap Daniels vs. Styles for the X-Division Title in an Iron Man match. This is actually a rematch after Styles won the first Iron Man match. Daniels said he could beat any three X-Division wrestlers in fifteen minutes. Styles of course was the third guy and the brawl set up the rematch here.

X-Division Title: AJ Styles vs. Christopher Daniels

Thirty minute Iron Man match and AJ is defending. Daniels jumps him before the bell and hammers away in the corner with forearms and chops. A gorilla press drops AJ but he comes back right hand hands and a backbreaker. AJ hits a nice running back elbow to knock Dnaiels to the floor. Back in and Daniels counters the drop down into a dropkick spot with a right hand but AJ comes back with a dropkick of his own to put Daniels down.

They head to the floor with AJ getting a big running start to dive over the barricade and take Daniels down. Back in and Styles works on a headlock as we hit 25:00 to go. Daniels tries to roll him up to escape and finally reverses into an armbar. AJ spins out of a wristlock into one of his own before taking Daniels down for another headlock. In a clever bit, Daniels tries AJ’s dropdown dropkick spot but AJ holds the ropes and nails him in the head for two.

Back up and AJ sends him into all six buckles for a near fall. Off to a Last Chancery on Daniels as we hit 20:00 to go. Daniels escapes and hits a quick high collar suplex to put both guys down. Christopher starts in on the neck but switches to a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker for two. He hooks a neck crank but has to kick out of a few rollups from the champion. Daniels puts on a Koji Clutch to keep Styles in trouble but AJ makes the ropes.

A slingshot moonsault gets two on AJ so Daniels just hammers him with forearms to the head. We’re halfway through the match and AJ comes back with the springboard moonsault into the reverse DDT to get a breather. Some clotheslines and a spinwheel kick drop Daniels again and a suplex gets two. There’s a pumphandle gutbuster for the same but Styles’ springboard is caught in a Death Valley Driver for a very close two.

Daniels flips him off the top into a sitout slam for two more and frustration is setting in. Styles suplexes Daniels into a neckbreaker for two but charges into a Blue Thunder Bomb. BME connects for two and Christopher is stunned. We hit 10:00 left as AJ lifts him up into a Torture Rack before spinning Daniels down with a powerbomb for two. Daniels avoids a charge in the corner and knees AJ to the floor where he bounces off the steps. As soon as AJ gets up he turns around into a suicide dive to put both guys down on the floor.

They try to get back in but AJ nails the Pele to put Daniels back on the floor. AJ follows him out with a HUGE flip dive and both guys are down again. They slowly get to the apron but Daniels belly to back suplexes Styles onto the floor again, leaving both guys in an even bigger heap that before. Daniels gets back in with five minutes to go and kicks AJ back to the floor. Back in again and they slug it out with AJ getting the better of it at four minutes left.

They trade rollups for two each before Styles misses a Pele. More rollups get two each and AJ tries a Tajiri handspring, only to get caught in a release German suplex with three minutes to go. AJ scores with a discus lariat to put both guys down until two minutes left. Styles avoids a charge and hits a high cross body but Daniels rolls through for two.

Another forearm exchange sends Daniels to the ropes at a minute left on the clock. An enziguri gets two on Daniels but he comes back with one of his own, only to have AJ counter Angel’s Wings with a suplex. Styles tries a rollup but shifts over to the Styles Clash for the pin with two seconds left to retain the title.

Rating: A-. This took its time but that’s kind of the point of the match. They were countering everything each other had and learning as the match went which is one of my favorite things to see. It’s really hard to screw up a match between these two and this is one of their better ones because the match was still fresh at this point. One other great thing: AJ didn’t just survive. He beat Daniels with his finishing move.

Promo for Genesis.

Gauntlet For The Gold

This is a ten man Royal Rumble with the winner getting a World Title shot immediately after. The first two wrestlers fight for two minutes and there’s a new entrant every minute with over the top and to the floor eliminations. Samoa Joe comes in at #1 and Ron Killings at #2 with Killings mocking Joe’s dancing for the first fifty seconds or so. Joe sends him into the corner for the Facewash but Killings pulls himself to the top rope for a Blockbuster. A Downward Spiral drops Joe again and Killings goes for the elimination until Sabu (with a chair) is in at #3.

Both guys in the ring get pelted with the chair and a Triple Jump Moonsault crushes Killings. Joe nails Sabu with the chair and Lance Hoyt is in at #4. Lance kicks everyone in the face and Joe plants Sabu with a DDT. Abyss is in at #5 and immediately stares down Joe. They chop it out and grab each other by the throat but Killings breaks it up. Jeff Hardy is in at #6 and the ring is really getting full.

Sabu’s cut has opened up again as Hardy hammers on everyone in sight. The guys are getting tired now as Monty Brown is in at #7. He Pounces Sabu and throws Jeff to the apron. It’s a botched spot though as they were both supposed to go out, so Monty has to jump over and eliminate himself. Don West is trying to say Brown didn’t understand the rules to cover for that horrible looking spot.

Rhino, who can barely walk, is in at #8. He gets in a brawl with Hoyt and puts the big man out before getting hammered down by Abyss. Kip James (who didn’t wrestle tonight) is in at #9 and takes everyone down with clotheslines and punches. A Fameasser drops Abyss and AJ Styles is in at #10 to screw over Raven one more time. Styles can barely move either so Abyss hammers on him in the corner. Sabu was put out off camera so we have a final grouping of Joe, Killings, James, Abyss, Styles and Rhino.

Everything slows down until AJ carries Truth to the apron. Kip tries to eliminate him and falls out to get us down to five. He saved Killings in the process though so Ron kicks AJ down. AJ gets all ticked off and muscles Killings over the top. Kip tries to make a save but referees shove him away, sending Killings down to the floor. Joe puts AJ in the choke but Abyss puts them both out. Rhino nails a Gore out of nowhere and tosses Abyss out for the title shot.

Rating: C-. There was only so much they could do here as half of the guys had to sell injuries. I’ll give them this though: there were a bunch of guys in there that could conceiveably win so this wasn’t the most obvious ending in the world. It’s nothing great but at least they kept it quick and only had a few dead spots.

NWA World Title: Jeff Jarrett vs. Rhino

MMA fighter Tito Ortiz is guest referee for no apparent reason. Jeff has Gail Kim with him and brings out a casket, again for no apparent reason. Jarrett stomps away at Rhino to start and nails him with a nice dropkick. He slides under the ropes for an uppercut and sends Rhino into the barricade over and over. Rhino is busted open and being slammed into the announcers’ table doesn’t help things. Now it’s a shot into the casket as Rhino has had no offense.

Back in and a pair of top rope clotheslines drop Rhino and Jeff is getting cocky. He goes up again but Rhino catches him by the throat and kicks the champ low. The Gore misses though and Gail Kim goes up top, only to get caught in midair by Tito. He takes her to the floor, allowing Jarrett to stop a Gore with the guitar shot. Tito comes back in for a two count and Jeff is stunned. Now AMW comes out with another guitar, earning them both right hands from Ortiz. Rhino avoids the guitar shot and Gores Jarrett down for the pin and the title.

Rating: D+. You have to give this a break as it was much more about telling a story than the match itself. The idea was Rhino being beaten down so much all night and hitting one big move to win the title. It actually works as the Gore is the kind of move you can hit out of nowhere for a pin and it really worked here. The match didn’t last long enough but to be fair, Rhino had wrestled half an hour already with half of that coming in a very violent match.

AMW beats Rhino down post match until 3 Live Kru makes the save. Team Canada comes out to take out the Kru and the casket is brought into the ring. There’s a guitar shot to knock Rhino into the casket. Jarrett poses on the casket with the belt until Team 3D returns to beat down Jarrett’s army. Rhino gets out of the casket as Eric Young takes a 3D and is thrown into the casket to end the show. I REALLY hate that ending as it makes this all about Team 3D instead of the new champion. That just wasn’t needed.

Overall Rating: B+. This was an awesome show with some very good matches in the middle and nothing really bad. It felt like the biggest show of the year and was probably the best TNA show of their first year on pay per view. Rhino winning was a nice moment to go out on, even though he only held the title a month. The key thing though is they gave us this moment. You don’t need a big reign as long as you have the big win. That’s a lesson more wrestling companies need to learn. Really solid show here and one of TNA’s best ever.

As I do with the WWE shows, I’ll be comparing my original rating to the new ones and offering a quick final thought on the new version.

Ratings Comparison

Samoa Joe vs. Jushin Thunder Liger

Original: D+

Redo: C

Apolo/Shark Boy/Sonny Siaki vs. Diamonds in the Rough

Original: D+

Redo: C-

Monty Brown vs. Lance Hoyt

Original: C

Redo: C+

Team Canada vs. 3 Live Kru

Original: D

Redo: D+

Chris Sabin vs. Petey Williams vs. Matt Bentley

Original: D+

Redo: C

America’s Most Wanted vs. The Naturals

Original: B

Redo: B

Jeff Hardy vs. Sabu vs. Rhino vs. Abyss

Original: B

Redo: B

AJ Styles vs. Christopher Daniels

Original: A

Redo: A-

Gauntlet Match

Original: C-

Redo: C-

Rhino vs. Jeff Jarrett

Original: C

Redo: D+

Overall Rating

Original: B+

Redo: B+

Still one of TNA’s best, which says a lot given how fast they had to change the main event around. Remember that: the less Nash in the main event, the better your show is.

Here’s the original review if you’re interested:

https://kbwrestlingreviews.com/2012/05/26/bound-for-glory-2005-if-all-tna-shows-were-like-this-id-rarely-complain/