Bound For Glory 2018 Preview
IMG Credit: Impact Wrestling
I had almost forgotten what these things look like. Impact Wrestling doesn’t put on a lot of pay per view events, but in a way that’s a good thing. They’ve turned the events that they have into something special and nothing they do is bigger than Bound For Glory. It really has turned into their WrestleMania and if they do it right, we could be in for a heck of a show. Let’s get to it.
Allie vs. Su Yung
We’ll start things off with an interesting one here as Allie has made a deal with the devil (James Mitchell, close enough) to go into the world of the dead and rescue Kiera Hogan from Yung’s casket. I have no idea what that is going to mean but it could be anywhere between stupid and a lot of fun. Allie has been a very entertaining character over the last few months while Yung….did I mention Allie was cool?
I’ll take Allie here, as there’s little reason to put much into Yung at the moment. She’s not clicking and they’ve had her lose so many times now that it doesn’t mean anything anymore. Just let Allie win and save her friend so she can go on after the Knockouts Title, which she shouldn’t have dropped to Yung in the first place.
Eddie Edwards vs. Moose
This has been an underrated feud as Edwards has toned down the insanity stuff and turned into someone more aggressive, which is what made the character interesting in the first place. Moose is someone who always seems ready to break through to the next level but I’m not sure they’re willing to pull the trigger. Edwards has had the trigger pulled before and is in good standing, but where do they go this time?
I think they go with Edwards winning, perhaps with Alisha helping him as the Johnny Gargano road to redemption story continues. There’s a reason to go with Moose as well and it wouldn’t shock me if they did, but there comes a point where the company needs a big name on top. I don’t know if Edwards is that person (he’s not the most attention grabbing guy in the world) but he’s someone with the experience and credibility to move up so I’ll say him here.
Matt Sydal/Ethan Page vs. Willie Mack/Rich Swann
Egads I don’t care about Sydal. This isn’t a match that has interested me in the slightest but thank goodness they went with the tag match here as I’d much rather watch the other three than Sydal. Mack and Page are making their debuts (Page is for all intent and purpose) so this is as good as you’re going to get for this match. That’s not exactly high praise but I’ll take what I can get.
I’ll go with Mack and Swann for the win here as you can cancel out the two wrestlers who are debuting here, leaving you with Swann and Sydal. For some reason Impact is loving Sydal, no matter how lame the third eye thing really is. Swann is someone with more than enough charisma to carry himself a long way and a win on a show like this is a good idea.
Eli Drake vs. ???
This is the latest Drake Open Challenge and that might not be Drake’s best idea as the previous versions haven’t gone as well as some others. It’s an idea that you can go with for a little while but you need someone special to pay it off on a big stage like this. So what do you do in a situation like Bound For Glory? Well the catch this time around is that the challenger has to be from New York. And who is from New York you may ask?
Well that would be Chris Jericho and I’ll take the chance and say that he answers the challenge. If that’s the case, it would be a heck of a moment, even if it’s just a one off. The idea of Jericho showing up in Impact Wrestling could be fascinating as it would lend them some credibility, even if Jericho is popping up in so many places anymore. With the Jericho Cruise featuring Impact talents though, it’s hard to imagine that there won’t be some kind of appearance just to promote the thing.
LAX vs. OGz
You could make a real case that this is the main event of the show as it’s been one of the better feuds for a long time now. That being said, the idea of a Concrete Jungle match suggests that it might be one of those overly gimmicky matches that could mess with the flow they have going. Putting Konnan and King in there adds a change of pace though and that’s where things should get better.
I’ll take the OGz here as LAX has won coming up to this point and King’s promos have been more than good enough to warrant the big win here. If the OGz are willing to stick around for a little while, they should get the titles pretty soon (like here, which would have made more sense) and there’s not much of a reason to have LAX win every match in the whole feud. I’ll probably be wrong with this, but the OGz deserve this more, assuming they’re sticking around of course.
Knockouts Title: Tessa Blanchard(c) vs. Taya Valkyrie
This is a situation of Blanchard having no one left to beat other than Allie and some others who aren’t ready to challenge at that level yet. Valkyrie has been a big name in the division for a good while now and she has the abilities to make something out of the whole story. It also makes sense to have her be the next person to face Blanchard after the matches in Mexico.
That being said, there’s no reason to take the title off of Blanchard, who is getting better and better every single day. She’s young, she’s good, and she knows she is, which is a heck of a combination. Hopefully the match is entertaining, because there’s little reason for drama in what we’ll be seeing here. They can hit each other rather hard, but Blanchard should retain and go on to fight a challenger who is around more often.
OVE vs. Lucha Bros/Brian Cage
I’m not sure this match needs to happen in this format as we already have a violent six man tag on the card. That being said, I’d rather Cage be involved in something interesting than a nothing X-Division Title match with five other people and one spot after another. The OVE vs. Lucha Bros feud really needs to end though as it’s been going on for months and has already seem matches that could and should have been the blowoffs.
I’ll take the Lucha Bros and Cage to win, as Callihan can cancel one of them out but the Crist Brothers haven’t been viewed as threats in a long time, especially against people on the level of Cage and Pentagon. The match should be really entertaining as the Crists have figured out the balance between the boring characters and the fast paced matches, making them far more fun to watch than they were before. But yeah, too much star power on the other side.
Impact World Title: Austin Aries(c) vs. Johnny Impact
And then there’s this, which is another match that doesn’t feel like the biggest match of the year. That’s been an issue for the company for a very long time now and while the new regime has fixed a lot, it hasn’t fixed this. Impact just coming out and saying the match was on didn’t help things and while Aries’ awesome promo from last week helped, there’s very little fire to this match.
I’ll take Impact to win the title as there’s no reason to keep it on Aries at the moment. Impact has been the guy who gets close for way too long now and I think they’ll go with the big crowning moment to end the show. With Aries’ goons not being around, there’s the chance that a new goon debuts or some other form of cheating occurs, but the title change is the right move.
Overall Thoughts
This show has had some time to build but it still feels like they’re throwing some of it together at the last minute. Hopefully we get a good night out of them as the potential is certainly there. If everyone is on their game, we could be in for a heck of a show, though there’s always the chance that it could underwhelm. The path is there, as long as they can actually walk it.
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