Survivor Series 1991
Date: November 27, 1991
Location: Joe Louis Arena, Detroit, Michigan
Attendance: 17,500
Commentators: Gorilla Monsoon, Bobby Heenan

Things are a bit different here but the real change will come next year. The main thing here is that we have a world title match in the first singles match in the history of this show. Undertaker has gone from squashing jobbers to the stars to squashing people out of the company to terrorizing Savage and Liz at their wedding to being #1 contender. Hogan hasn’t done anything since Wrestlemania so a change of opponents will do him a world of good. Oh and Ric Flair is here. Let’s get to it.

We open with a clip from Superstars with Savage being tied up in the ropes as Jake Roberts made the cobra bite Savage’s arm. Piper immediately ran down from the broadcast booth to try to help. Liz came out screaming as well. This is when Savage was a commentator and retired but looking for reinstatement.

The key thing is he had been scheduled to be on the PPV as a captain against Jake’s team, but because of this, both captains were pulled off the show with three days’ notice, basically baiting and switching the fans. The actual match between the two of them would be a week later on a different PPV called Tuesday in Texas, which was another $20.

Anyway back on Superstars, Savage can’t stand up because of the snake bite but he keeps trying to fight Jake. They finally get Savage on a stretcher and start wheeling him away but he falls off. Now we get to the unintentional comedy part of this. Savage falls off and remember that Vince is on commentary here, so he’s FREAKING over all this stuff. The camera cuts to a crying child in the crowd and Vince loses it, audibly cracking up on air and trying to talk about “complete chaos” while clearly laughing.

We get the announcement from Jack Tunney that Savage and Roberts won’t be allowed to wrestle at Survivor Series. This is translated as “HAHA WE GOT YOUR MONEY ALREADY!”

Gorilla and Bobby talk for a bit.

Team Ric Flair vs. Team Roddy Piper

Ric Flair, Ted DiBiase, The Mountie, The Warlord

Roddy Piper, Bret Hart, Davey Boy Smith, Virgil

Roddy was Flair’s first feud in the company as not only did you know the matches would be good, but the promos would be awesome too. Bret was feuding with Mountie over the IC Title, Smith was feuding with Warlord over who was stronger and Virgil was feuding with DiBiase because who else was he going to feud with?

Flair has the REAL World Title with him here, which is mosaiced but if you know your titles, you can see a WWF Tag Team Title, which looks really weird if you’re in the arena (if you’re not familiar with what I’m talking about, the short version is Flair was NWA Champion, left the NWA, wasn’t paid back for the deposit he put down on the belt, brought it to the WWF, got sued, and couldn’t use the title in the angle they were doing anymore so they would substitute in another belt which was censored in storyline.)

Big reaction for Bret, who has finally split from Neidhart and is IC Champion as of Summerslam. DiBiase starts for his team against Piper which is a pretty awesome match. No managers are allowed at ringside this year but Sherri is there anyway. Flair sneaks in and blasts Piper in the back to give Ted an early advantage. Piper atomic drops Ted and Sherri comes in to choke him which somehow isn’t a DQ. Piper kisses her and punches DiBiase to take over.

Sherri is sent to the back and Roddy brings in Smith. The good guys work over the arm of DiBiase with Virgil of all people getting the biggest pop. After all four go in they start going around again with all four getting in another set of shots on the arm. Bret stays in but misses a knee in the corner to put himself in trouble. They trade near falls before Bret takes him right back down by the arm.

DiBiase hiptosses him down and wisely tags in Flair. Bret starts with some of his favorite moves before tagging in Davey Boy to slingshot Flair into the corner. Piper wants in but Flair stops the tag. There’s the gorilla press to Flair and the tag to Piper, drawing a BIG pop from the crowd. Piper goes nuts with punches, knocking Flair to the floor where we get a Flair Flop.

Back inside and it’s off to Warlord who Piper wants to try a test of strength against. Piper is just playing though and brings in Smith for the big power match. Smith hits some shoulder blocks but misses a charge and it’s off to Mountie. Bret tags in and Mountie immediately hits the floor. Instead here’s DiBiase who gets elbowed off the middle rope for two. Ted and Bret hit head to head and both guys are down.

Mountie is willing to get in there now but it’s back to Davey instead. Smith gorilla presses Mountie and pumps him about three times before slamming him down for no cover. Off to Flair who chops away at the Bulldog which doesn’t work at all. DiBiase and Flair try a double team but get double clotheslined instead. There’s the powerslam to Mountie but he’s not legal. Flair comes off the top with a shot to the back of Smith’s head for the pin and the elimination. Both guys were legal too.

Piper immediately charges in but Flair tags DiBiase back instead. Flair comes in to face a downed Piper but Ric is put in the Figure Four almost immediately. Off to Mountie vs. Virgil and Mountie can’t get a tag out from anyone, because everyone is afraid of Virgil. I can’t say I blame them. He might tell them about how great he is. Flair comes in and has zero luck so it’s DiBiase vs. Virgil again. Ted powerslams him down and it’s immediately back to the Warlord.

Virgil gets sent to the floor and Flair sends him into the steps, with Virgil doing an awful job of pretending to slam into them. The full nelson goes on but everything breaks down and Bret comes off the top to take out Warlord, giving the illegal Piper the pin to tie us up at 3. Piper vs. DiBiase now before Virgil is quickly tagged in. Virgil slaps the Million Dollar Dream on DiBiase but Ted sends him into the buckle to escape.

Here’s Flair again with a belly to back supelx before it’s back to Mountie. Every remaining heel takes their shots on Virgil which is likely the best possibly option. I mean, do you want VIRGIL getting the hot tag? Flair covers him for two and puts his feet on the ropes because that’s what Flair does. DiBiase comes in and ducks his head, only to get caught by a swinging neckbreaker. There’s the hot tag to Piper who no sells everything Flair throws at him. Everything breaks down and Flair is sent to the floor. That’s important because the referee disqualifies EVERYONE in the ring, but Flair was outside and is the sole survivor.

Rating: B. Gah this was going AWESOME until the pretty lame ending. Having Flair be the sole survivor is a smart move though as it makes the fans hate him even more. This was a GREAT setup though and was on pace to be a classic before the ending. To be fair though, at the pace they were going the match would have been an hour long if they were going to do a full version. Still though, what we got was very good.

Gene is on the platform and brings out Savage to talk about Jake, because we can’t have the match on this show so let’s talk about it instead. Savage talks about being bitten by the snake and being able to see and hear Liz crying, which is the worst thing Jake could do. He promises to be all over Jake like melted butter. Oh man stuff just got REAL. Liz comes out which is a big deal apparently. As usual, she has nothing to say.

Gorilla thinks Tuesday in Texas may be on TV! Give me a break.

Team Mustafa vs. Team Slaughter

Colonel Mustafa, Berzerker, Skinner, Hercules

Sgt. Slaughter, Tito Santana, Jim Duggan, Texas Tornado

A lot of these guys are on their way out. Hercules would be in WCW by May, Tornado would job to the stars until leaving in July as would Mustafa (Iron Sheik), and the rest of the guys would do nothing of note for the rest of their time in the company. Kerry (Tornado) looks high as a kite and almost falls off the apron getting into the ring. This is pretty recently after Slaughter’s face turn as he was a heel at Summerslam. This isn’t exactly the most talent laden match ever and the only feud is Slaughter vs. Mustafa.

Tito and Skinner start with Santana taking over with a headlock. There’s the flying forearm out of nowhere and Skinner hits the floor without a cover. Off to Berzerker vs. Tornado which would work a lot better down in Dallas. Berzerker (a crazy viking who tried to stab Undertaker with a sword) misses a dropkick and it’s off to Mustafa. After some very brief offense, Kerry tumbles to his corner and brings in Duggan to face Hercules, which was in the first ever match at Survivor Series.

Duggan gets taken down by double and triple teaming and it’s off to Mustafa. He loads up his curled boots (it’s a Sheik thing) and does nothing with them. Thanks for wasting our time with that. Duggan pounds away and backdrops Mustafa down before the hot tag to Slaughter. The big showdown is an atomic drop and a clothesline to Mustafa for the elimination.

Berzerker comes in with some clotheslines and a kick to the fat gut of Slaughter. A boot to Slaughter’s face puts him down and it’s off to Hercules for some two counts. Back to the viking who gets crotched on the top rope and kicked in the legs. Off to Duggan who clotheslines Berzerker to the floor and backdrops him back there a few seconds later. Tornado comes in and pounds away on him before it’s off to Hercules again. Tito gets a blind tag and hits a forearm to the back of the head (El Paso Del Muerte) for the pin and the elimination.

Skinner, the guy that owned now former developmental program FCW, comes in as it’s 4-2. When you have Skinner and Berzerker as your only guys left, the team is in big trouble. A blind tag brings in Slaughter who rolls up Skinner for the elimination. Slaughter whips Berzerker into Duggan’s clothesline for the elimination and the win.

Rating: F. The match sucked, it was never in doubt, and the biggest deal on the heel team was Skinner, who would get an IC Title shot soon after this. What a horrible match and one of the most worthless ones in the history of the show so far, which is covering quite a bit of ground. Nothing to see here at all.

Here’s Jake to plug Tuesday in Texas some more. To be fair, Trust Me Jake was AWESOME. Jake swears he didn’t know that the snake had venom in it still but making Liz cry excited him. God has told Jake that God doesn’t like Okerlund, so let’s blame everyone but Jake. I said he was awesome, not that he made sense. No reptiles are allowed at the match between Savage and Roberts. He wants to kiss Liz and that’s about it.

We recap Hogan vs. Taker. Flair confronted Hogan in Taker’s Funeral Parlor and went off on him about hearing about Hogan for years. Now Flair is here and wants to know what Hogan is going to do about it. Hogan pulled off the shirt and Taker came out of a standing casket behind Hulk and hit him with the urn. Piper and Savage ran out of the broadcast booth with chairs but Taker literally swatted away Savage’s swing. Taker rips Hogan’s cross off ala Andre in 87 and leaves.

WWF World Title: Undertaker vs. Hulk Hogan

Taker is “undefeated” here, which means overseas tours and house shows don’t count because Tito beat him in Spain and Warrior beat him on a bunch of house shows. Feeling out process to start with no one being able to get a real advantage. Taker shoulders Hogan and Hulk regroups a bit while Taker reaches to the urn. Back in and Taker chokes away in the corner in a shot you see in a lot of Taker video packages.

Bearer chokes Hogan a bit and Taker slams him. A big elbow misses and the place pops loudly. Hulk pounds away but he can’t put Taker down. A slam doesn’t work nor does an elbow to the head. Hogan clotheslines Taker to the floor where the dead man lands on his feet and pulls Hogan outside. Back in and Taker chokes away some more as does Bearer. Taker starts smothering him as you can see the Hogan super fan, a guy who dressed up like Hulk (including yellow trunks) sitting in the front row and freaking out.

This hold goes on for a good while, which is just Taker having his hand on Hogan’s face and doing nothing else. By long I mean like two and a half minuets. When the whole match is only thirteen minutes, that’s a long stretch. Hogan comes back with some shoulder blocks that don’t do much, only to have Taker clothesline him down again. There’s the Tombstone but Hogan is up before a cover. He pounds away on Taker and knocks him down to one knee which is a new thing for Taker.

Hogan gets a good slam as Flair is on his way to the ring. I miss that black and white robe. That thing was spiffy. Hogan takes out Flair with a right hand and big boots Taker, only to have Bearer grab his leg. Taker loads up the Tombstone as Flair slides in a chair. The piledriver on the chair gives us a new world champion and a decisive face pop for the dead man. Taker holding the title like it’s a coupon for a free coffee at a Shell station is a nice touch.

Rating: D. Yeah this match completely sucked but we have a new champion and a reason to watch Flair vs. Hogan, which never happened for various reason. Hogan would beat Taker for the title at Tuesday in Texas six days later, but the title would be held up and decided in the Rumble, where Flair would win it and set up Wrestlemania. Bad match, but a BIG moment.

People come out to check on Hogan as Gorilla rips into Flair. Hogan takes awhile to leave, likely to let the fans get over some of their shock.

Roddy is in the back and goes on a big rant against Tunney and Flair and Taker.

Flair and Perfect say they told us this would happen and now they’ve been proven right. Flair is the REAL World Champion now. Tunney needs to stop distorting the belt.

Intermission, which means we see a graphic for fifteen minutes.

Gene recaps what’s happened so far in case someone ordered the PPV halfway through for some reason.

The Natural Disasters and IRS are ready for the LOD and Boss Man. That’s the main event people. They’re not even hiding the screwing over of the fans anymore.

LOD and the Boss Man are ready too. Seriously there’s nothing else to say here. They say exactly what you would expect them to say and nothing else. Hawk gets ready to do the WHAT A RUSH line but as he loads it up, Sean interrupts him to say Gene is with Jack Tunney. Hawk gives him a look that would stop a tank and says his catchphrase, then lets Sean throw it to Gene.

Tunney announces Hogan vs. Taker II at Tuesday in Texas. He’ll be at ringside as well, which makes the boredom levels shoot through the roof, if that’s even possible.

Team Nasty Boys vs. Team Rockers

Nasty Boys, Beverly Brothers

Rockers, Bushwhackers

This is right before the Rockers split and they’re already having issues. This is regular rules, which means individual eliminations and not one loss means both team members are gone. Butch and Knobbs get things going as Gorilla and Bobby talk about Hogan vs. Taker II. Butch hits a running knee lift and it’s off to Luke. The Whackers take over on the Nasties with a pair of double clotheslines.

The Beverly Brothers come in and do about as well as the Nasties with both Brothers taking a Battering Ram. The Rockers double dropkick the Nasties and the good guys have cleared the ring. It’s Shawn vs. Beau (the other is Blake) now as the announcers debate which guy on either team is the brains. A backbreaker puts Shawn down and it’s back to Knobbs. Luke comes in and avoids a splash in the corner but whacks his arms too much, allowing Knobbs to hit a middle rope clothesline for the elimination.

Off to Shawn vs. Sags with Jerry suplexing him down. Gorilla talks about how tonight will culminate at Tuesday in Texas. Again, screw you fans who bought this, as you just got part one. Some idiot fan stands up and poses for the camera so the shots keep cutting away a lot. The Rockers work on Sags’ arm before it’s off to Blake. Gorilla somehow can’t tell the Rockers apart, even though they pretty much look nothing alike.

A superkick puts Blake down but Beverly comes back with knees in the corner. Marty comes off the middle rope and shoves the referee for no apparent reason. It doesn’t go anywhere so I guess it was a mistake. Must be Colombian coke for Marty tonight. Off to Beau who doesn’t do much other than allow a tag to Butch who cleans house. The Beverlies double team him with a backdrop into a facejam for the pin and the elimination.

It’s Nasties/Beverlies vs. Rockers now with Marty coming in again. Marty monkey flips and ranas Beau down for two as Heenan and Gorilla trade statements of excitement. An enziguri puts Beau down again and it’s off to an armbar. It’s also off to Shawn who doesn’t do as well as you would expect against one of the Beverly Brothers. Off to Blake who jumps over Beau and lands on Shawn’s back in a move that the World’s Greatest Tag Team made famous.

Out of nowhere Shawn grabs a backslide on Beau for the pin to make it 3-1. Sags is in next as Gorilla thinks Marty should reach further for a tag. Even though the Rockers would split less than a month later, it wasn’t clear yet who would have gotten the super push. The Nasties head to the floor and Shawn clotheslines Sags off the apron and superkicks Knobbs down. Back in and Sags takes over again. Marty’s eyes are just gone and he looks awful.

Blake comes in again and gets kicked in the face, allowing for a falling tag to Marty. A big jumping back elbow takes Knobbs down and a snapmare gets two. Knobbs takes Jannetty down again and Heenan talks about Tuesday in Texas. Off to Sags with a powerslam and a belly to back suplex before it’s back to Knobbs. Marty gets his knees up to stop a middle rope splash and there’s the tag to Shawn. Everything breaks down and Marty swings Sags’ feet into Shawn’s face, resulting in Knobbs rolling Michaels up for the pin.

That leaves us with Marty vs. Blake and the Nasties which I don’t see going well for the coke head. Shawn freaks out on him before he leaves too to even further tease the tension. Marty starts with Knobbs and hits a middle rope bulldog but Jerry takes him down almost immediately and knocks him to the floor. A powerslam from Blake puts Marty down and the Nasties head to the floor. Jannetty dives on both of them and slams Blake’s face into the mat. Marty hooks a terrible looking small package on Sags but Knobbs rolls them over to give Jerry the final eliminating pin.

Rating: D. Man alive this was a long match. That’s the problem the rest of this show has created: there’s nothing else worth watching for the rest of the night and now they’re just filling in time to say that you’re getting a PPV that means something, when really you need to see the sequel to get the full thing. But hey, who cares about treating the fans right when you can get their money?

Gorilla and Bobby plug Tuesday in Texas again.

Legion of Doom/Big Boss Man vs. IRS/Natural Disasters

This is your main event people. Let that sink in for a minute. The LOD are the tag champions and IRS and Boss Man are having a worthless midcard feud. Boss Man and IRS start things off with the tax dude (if you need help figuring out who that is you’re beyond my help) getting thrown all over the place. Off to Animal vs. Earthquake which fires the crowd up a bit.

They collide and Animal’s cross body is caught in a backbreaker in an impressive display of strength from Quake. Back to IRS to face Hawk with the latter working on the arm. Typhoon gets the tag, only to have IRS thrown at him by Hawk. Off to Earthquake who carries Hawk to the heel corner. IRS and Boss Man come in again and it’s a briefcase shot to Boss Man’s head for the elimination.

It’s Typhoon vs. Animal now and the Disasters double team Animal in the corner. Quake suplexes him down as Monsoon talks about Bobo Brazil. IRS hits a top rope right hand for two and Typhoon puts on a bearhug. Animal escapes and hits a clothesline before tagging in Hawk. IRS misses a briefcase shot to the head and hits Typhoon by mistake, giving Hawk the easy pin.

Quake wants to fight IRS now but walks off with Typhoon instead, making it the LOD vs. IRS. Hawk powerslams IRS down but a charge goes shoulder first into the post. Hawk gets sent face first into the steps as we continue to fill time by having IRS look like he has a chance. We hit the chinlock as the announcers talk about Thanksgiving dinner. Not hot tag brings in Animal who cleans whatever is left in the house. IRS tries to walk out but runs into Boss Man in the aisle. Hawk hits a top rope clothesline for the win.

Rating: D+. We go from Hogan vs. Andre II to this in five years? That should give you a good idea as to what you’ve got going on with this show. The match was nothing and there was no reason to get excited about it, because the whole reason the match was happening had been postponed to Tuesday. In Texas.

Hogan won’t talk to the cameras about what happened.

Gene is in the bowels of the building with Bearer and Taker. Hogan will rest in peace. In Texas. They look in a casket to end the show.

Overall Rating: D-. Let’s take a look at what we had on this show: a really good opener, a horrible second match, a bad yet historic third match, a bad fourth match, and a worthless fifth match. This is all interspersed with a bunch of commercials for Tuesday in Texas, which is possibly the biggest bait and switch in company history. This show made me mad because it’s a big flip off to the fans, and that’s not acceptable. Watch the opener and that’s about it.

Ratings Comparison

Team Flair vs. Team Piper

Original: A-

Redo: B

Team Slaughter vs. Team Mustafa

Original: F

Redo: F

Undertaker vs. Hulk Hogan

Original: C-

Redo: D

Team Nasty Boys vs. Team Rockers

Original: D

Redo: D

Legion of Doom/Big Boss Man vs. IRS/Natural Disasters

Original: D

Redo: D+

Overall Rating:

Original: D+

Redo: D-

A little worse this time, but the same problems still plague this show. Screw you Vince.

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

http://kbwrestlingreviews.com/2011/11/10/history-of-survivor-series-count-up-1991-here-lies-hogan/

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up my new book of 1997 WCW Monday Nitro Reviews at Amazon for just $3.99 at:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00NPPH0WI

And check out my Amazon author page with wrestling books for under $4 at:

http://www.amazon.com/Thomas-Hall/e/B00E6282W6

Survivor Series 1990
Date: November 22, 1990
Location: Hartford Civic Center, Hartford, Connecticut
Attendance: 16,000
Commentators: Gorilla Monsoon, Roddy Piper

This is a somewhat different show that in recent years as we have a main event of sorts. It was never tried again and that’s probably the best idea. It’s called the Grand Finale Match of Survival in which the survivors of each team meet in one final Survivor Series match. The winners get absolutely nothing, which continues to prove that these shows are pretty worthless. Let’s get to it.

Sean Mooney welcomes us to the show and talks about the Grand Finale. He’s standing in front of a giant egg which apparently is going to hatch because of the heat from the crowd. Nothing good can possibly come from this.

The nifty squares open things up again.

After Gorilla and Piper chat a bit, we’re ready to go.

The Warriors vs. The Perfect Team

Ultimate Warrior, Texas Tornado, Legion of Doom

Mr. Perfect, Demolition

I guess this team isn’t as Ultimate as last year. This is the three man version of Demolition. Perfect is feuding with Tornado (Kerry Von Erich, the IC Champion) and the LOD is feuding with Demolition after the LOD cost them the titles. Warrior, the world champion, is there because he has nothing else to do. His team is in the back before the match and says they’ll win. Actually the name Warriors is appropriate as you have the Ultimate Warrior, the Modern Day Warrior (Von Erich’s nickname in WCCW) and the Road Warriors (the LOD’s NWA name).

I’ll never get why the LOD and Demolition never had a big proper match. They fought on house shows but that’s about it. Perfect immediately goes to the apron and lets part of Demolition start. It’s Animal vs. Smash first and they fight immediately with Animal taking him to the mat. Animal throws him into Hawk for a right hand and the other Warriors get in a shot as well.

Smash comes back with a powerslam for two and it’s off to Perfect. That doesn’t last long so here’s Smash again, and he walks right into a powerslam. Everything breaks down and the Warriors clear the ring. Tornado comes in to face Smash who is taking a beating in this so far. Off to Ax who has much better luck for about ten seconds. There’s the Claw from Tornado but for some reason Warrior gets the tag and hits a series of awkward looking shoulder blocks before finishing Ax with the splash.

Crush immediately comes in to jump Warrior and take over. Smash comes in to slam Warrior and Crush drops a top rope knee for two. Perfect is freaking out in his trademark over the top style. Warrior gets up a boot in the corner and clotheslines Crush down. Off to Hawk who always looks like he could murder someone in the ring. Perfect tries him out and is immediately slammed down.

Hawk counters a reversal to send Perfect into the corner but Bird Man’s shoulder goes into the post HARD to give the evil ones the advantage. Demolition pounds away on him but Hawk punches right back. A big flying shoulder puts Smash down and Hawk doesn’t tag when he has the chance. The top rope clothesline kills Smash and everything breaks down. Hawk kicks the referee and somehow this disqualifies Hawk, Animal, Smash and Crush. We’re down to Perfect vs. Warrior/Tornado.

It’s going to be Warrior starting the handicap match but Perfect wants Tornado instead. Perfect immediately jumps him and is clotheslined out almost immediately after the jumping. Warrior bangs Perfect’s head into Heenan’s and sends Bobby into the front row. Tornado charges at Perfect and slams into the post to give Perfect the advantage for a bit. A buckle gets exposed somewhere in there and after Tornado’s face goes into it, the Perfectplex makes it one on one.

Perfect tries the Plex again on Warrior which doesn’t work at all. Instead he hammers Warrior down and hits a great looking dropkick for two. Having Perfect run things out there for as long as possible is the best idea they’ve got. Warrior starts grabbing the ropes and shrugging off all the offense from Perfect. A shoulder block and the splash get the final pin.

Rating: D. This was probably the worst Survivor Series match so far in the four years they’ve been running this show. Not only was the match lopsided from the start, but half of the people in it were gone seven minutes in. Perfect never had a chance and Warrior had no reason to be in this match at all.

Ted DiBiase has a mystery partner for his match. Oh boy did he ever.

Million Dollar Team vs. Dream Team

Ted DiBiase, Rhythm and Blues, ???

Dusty Rhodes, Koko B. Ware, Hart Foundation

Rhythm and Blues are Honky Tonk Man and Greg Valentine and the Harts are the tag champions. Dusty and DiBiase are feuding for obvious character reasons. Now we get to the legendary part of the match: the mystery partner. DiBiase gets on the mic and introduces for the first time ever…..THE UNDERTAKER. Who on the planet would have imagined what this guy would become over the next twenty two years? Unreal indeed. The look on Taker’s face is eerie and he stands there like a zombie which makes it even better.

Quick sidebar: the Undertaker is probably the greatest example ever of someone being the only person that could pull off his character. Mark Calaway is PERFECT as the Undertaker with the look and the size and the dead looking eyes and the tattoos and everything like that. Before this he was just Mean Mark Callous in WCW and was a generic big villain. Sometimes it’s about finding what works and Taker has worked for a very long time. Also a bit of trivia: he debuted at a Superstars taping three days before this under the name Kane the Undertaker.

Undertaker and Bret start with Taker pounding the tar out of him. Well if you want to make someone look like a killer, call Bret Hart. Bret hits the ropes and charges at Taker, only to get caught by the throat and slammed down. It was more like a clothesline that Taker went to the mat with than the usual chokeslam here but he did have Bret by the throat.

Off to Neidhart who can’t move Taker at all and gets slammed for trying. Jim looked TERRIFIED and tags out to Koko, who is too stupid to be afraid. Koko misses a charge and clotheslines himself on the top. The Tombstone (I believed named by Gorilla on the spot here) debuts but isn’t exactly the famous version yet, as Taker has both of Koko’s legs on one side of his head and covers with the folded arms but from the sides. It looked and sounded great though.

Bret comes in and hammers on Undertaker who just stares at him. Taker tags in Valentine and gives one of the most evil glares you’ll ever see at Bret. Off to Big Dust who starts gyrating. They chop it out in the corner and it’s off to Anvil. The Harts take their turns working over Valentine’s arm but Greg gets a knee up in the corner. Off to Honky who is rapidly on his way out of the company. Bret makes a blind tag to Neidhart who sneaks in and powerslams Honky out.

DiBiase comes in to jump Neidhart but it’s quickly off to Dusty for the big showdown. It’s back to Neidhart quickly but Virgil trips Jim up and DiBiase clotheslines him down for the pin. Here’s Bret again who pounds away and it’s back to Dream for more of the same. Back to Undertaker who gets some HEIGHT on a jumping stomp to the back of Dusty’s head.

Bret comes in again and chokes Bret in the corner and somehow shows no emotion while at the same time looking angrier than any wrestler I’ve ever seen. Bret fights off DiBiase out of the corner and it’s off to Dusty. Taker comes in, goes up, walks (a little way) down the rope with no one to hold onto, and hits a double ax to eliminate Dusty. Brother Love stomps on Dusty a bit so Dusty chases him off. Undertaker stalks Dusty to the back to get counted out, which is the only thing they could have done with him here.

Back in the ring Bret rolls up Valentine very quickly and it’s DiBiase vs. Hart. Bret pounds on DiBiase and atomic drops him to the floor, followed by a pescado to take Ted out again. DiBiase’s shoulder goes into the post and his head goes into the steps and they head back inside. They slug it out but DiBiase sends him chest first into the buckle to take over.

A quick backslide gets two for Hart and now it’s time for a classic: Bret trips over DiBiase and fakes a knee injury, resulting in a small package for two. Virgil interference messes up and another rollup gets two for Bret. The backbreaker and middle rope elbow get two for Hart but DiBiase rolls through a cross body for the pin.

Rating: C+. This is a very interesting match as you could see stars being made and stars going away. DiBiase clearly didn’t mean as much as he used to and would shift into a tag team run soon after this. Dusty would be gone in January as would Honky. On the other hand you can see the rise of Bret Hart on the horizon as the crowd was LOSING IT over those near falls at the end. Oh and the Undertaker. That’s kind of a big deal.

The Vipers are ready for Martel’s team. Why they’re in the shower I’m not sure.

The Vipers vs. The Visionaries

Jake Roberts, Rockers, Jimmy Snuka

Rick Martel, Warlord, Power and Glory

Power and Glroy are Hercules and Paul Roma. This is built around Martel vs. Roberts, which is based on Martel blinding Jake with cologne and Jake not having full vision yet. This was a BIG feud which they screwed up with a horrible match at Wrestlemania. It wasn’t that the wrestling was bad, but that it was a blindfold match and they spent about 2 minutes in contact with each other.

Marty and Warlord start as Piper is singing I Am The Walrus. Warlord powers Marty around but misses a charge in the corner. For those of you unfamiliar with Warlord, imagine Chris Masters but paler, bald, and even dumber. Both Rockers try to outmaneuver him but it just results in bringing in Martel. Shawn handles him with ease and brings in Jake, causing Martel to scamper away.

It’s Roma instead and Jake picks him apart like he’s not even there. He works on Roma’s arm and brings in Snuka to keep it up, but the afro apparently weighs down Snuka’s brain to the point where he can’t maintain a wristlock. Off to Hercules who gets chopped down so it’s off to Warlord instead. Snuka tries his stuff but when that gets nowhere it’s off to Marty. Jannetty tries his speed stuff but jumps into a great looking powerslam for the pin.

Off to Shawn whose leapfrog is caught but he ranas Warlord down instead. Jake comes in and the fans wants a DDT. A bunch of clotheslines take Warlord down and it’s back to Shawn. Roma comes in with an elbow drop to the back of the head as Gorilla talks anatomy. Warlord comes in and backdrops Shawn before tagging out to Herc. Martel comes in just as fast and drops a knee for two. Roma sends Shawn into the corner and Shawn of course sells it like he’s dead. Martel’s shoulder hits the post and here’s Snuka again.

A flying headbutt to the standing Martel gets two, but Rick grabs a small package for the pin out of nowhere. Jake comes in again and Martel immediately runs and brings in Hercules. Roberts is getting frustrated because he can’t get his hands on Martel, but he still manages a knee lift and a failed DDT attempt. Jake starts pounding away on Herc and Martel clotheslines him down out of nowhere.

Roma comes in for some stomping but he misses a middle rope punch. There’s the hot tag to Shawn who suplexes Roma down and hits a middle rope elbow for two. Shawn does what he can but Hercules comes in off a blind tag and pounds away even more. Power and Glory hook up the Powerplex (superplex from Herc immediately followed by a top rope splash from Roma) eliminates Shawn and it’s 4-1. It’s Hercules in first but Jake is in trouble. Warlord comes in with a bearhug but Jake escapes and DDTs him out of nowhere. Jake says screw it and gets the snake out. He chases Martel to the back for the countout loss.

Rating: D+. There wasn’t much to see here but other than Jake vs. Martel, there was nothing here at all. To the best of my knowledge, Warlord and Snuka never interacted at all before or after this so they were just tacked on. The Rockers and Power and Glory had fought at Summerslam but that’s about it. The Visionaries are the first ever team to survive intact.

The Hulkamaniacs are ready for the Natural Disasters. This is a continuation of Hogan vs. Earthquake, with Hulk N Pals facing Earthquake and Jimmy Hart’s and Bobby Heenan’s cronies. Hogan says they can go get rid of Sadaam Hussein. This is during the Gulf War.

Natural Disasters vs. Hulkamaniacs

Earthquake, Dino Bravo, Haku, Barbarian

Hulk Hogan, Big Bossman, Tugboat, Jim Duggan

There’s some actual drama here as Hogan had never beaten Earthquake before this and the other guys balance out somewhat well. Haku vs. Duggan start us off as the announcers talk about the Grand Finale. It’s such a different time when they automatically know who is going to be on what side. Today you would be waiting on the swerve. Duggan pounds away on Haku and a clothesline gets two.

Bravo and Barbarian come in to get some shots but it’s quickly off to Boss Man vs. Haku. Haku dropkicks him down for two but the Boss Man Slam puts Haku out quick. Barbarian comes in next and Boss Man runs him over. Heenan gets taken off the apron and Boss Man punches Barbarian a bit before walking into a suplex. Barbie misses a middle rope elbow and it’s off to Duggan vs. Bravo. Scratch that as Earthquake makes a blind tag and crushes Duggan in the corner. Duggan keeps trying to knock Quake down but Jimmy low bridges him. Duggan brings the board in with him and hits Quake for the DQ.

It’s Hogan vs. Earthquake but Hulk beats up all three guys because he can. Hogan easily slams Earthquake and fires off ten punches in the corner. Quake comes back with a powerslam and tags in Bravo who stomps away before getting small packaged for the pin. There’s the tag to Boss Man who hits his rapid fire punches in the corner. Boss Man goes up for a cross body and oh my goodness Earthquake caught him. That is SCARY. Hogan shoves Boss Man on top of him for two but Barbarian kicks Boss Man in the back to put him down. An elbow from Earthquake eliminates Boss Man.

Hogan vs. Quake again and Hulk tries to drop the big guy. Hulk tries another slam but can’t get Quake up. The third attempt results in Quake falling on Hogan for two. Hulk avoids an elbow and there’s the tag to Tugboat, causing everyone to shout TOOOOT which sounds like booing. Hogan pulls Earthquake to the floor and Quake and Tugboat get counted out. That leaves Hogan vs. Barbarian and the only thing I can think to say is “really?” Barbarian goes after Hogan on the floor and doesn’t hit a piledriver well at all. It gets two and they clothesline each other. Barbarian hits the top rope clothesline, Hulk Up, legdrop, done.

Rating: C-. This was a lot more fast paced and energetic than you would expect. The continued practice of just teasing the encounter that the match is based on is getting REALLY old though as I guess they want to preserve the house show draws, because who would want to see a feud continue after a single match right? My goodness have things changed in the last twenty years.

Hogan beats up Heenan post match and poses. Piper cheering for Hogan is just wrong.

Some fans talk and get on my nerves. Well one fan signs who he likes which is cool.

Here’s Savage with something to say. He’s still the King at this point which has been going on for awhile. Savage doesn’t have a match tonight and he doesn’t like not being recognized as the future WWF Champion. He promises to take his title back from Warrior and talks about Sherri slapping The Ultimate Chicken a few times. There’s nothing of note here but it reinforced that they have issues. That’s something you never hear today: promos to just remind you that people don’t like each other.

Alliance vs. Mercenaries

Nikolai Volkoff, Bushwhackers, Tito Santana

Sgt. Slaughter, Boris Zhukov, Orient Express

This is during the Iraqi Sympathizer period for Slaughter and the idea here is military themed. Before the match, Slaughter tells Gene about having a Thanksgiving dinner with the Mercenaries and not having to be inconvenienced by being in the desert. That’s better than being in the Army and eating K-Rations right? This was a pretty edgy angle at the time. Stupid but edgy. This interview is in the arena with the Mercenaries’ music playing. That must be a pretty dull period for the crowd.

The Bushwhackers torment Boris to start and the flying forearm from Tito eliminates him in about 20 seconds. Sato comes in and is accidentally superkicked by Tanaka. The Battering Ram puts out Sato and it’s 4-2 inside of two minutes. Tanaka comes in and the forearm from Tito makes it 4-1 in less than 2:15. Volkoff pounds on Slaughter with his usual stuff but gets punched in the face for his efforts as Slaughter takes over.

After a long beating, Slaughter eliminates Volkoff with an elbow. There were about three minutes of beating in between there but there was absolutely nothing of note to talk about. The Bushwhackers double team Sarge for a bit but Slaughter beats them down and gutbusts Luke for an elimination. A clothesline takes out Butch about 30 seconds later and it’s one on one.

Tito immediately dropkicks Slaughter into the post and things speed up with by far the two most talented guys in the match in there. Tito hits a top rope forearm for two and stomps away even faster. Piper is trying not to curse and Slaughter slams Santana’s head into the mat. A neckbreaker and backbreaker combine for two on Santana.

After some more beating, Tito gets a quick forearm attempt but hits the referee by mistake. The forearm hits the second time but General Adnan (Slaughter’s manager/boss) hits Santana with the flag and Slaughter puts on the Camel Clutch. The referee saw the flag though and it’s a DQ win for Tito.

Rating: D-. Well that…..happened I guess. They went through seven eliminations inside of eleven minutes and the match was awful. Basically this could have been Slaughter vs. either Volkoff or Santana and gotten the same payoff. I have no idea what they were going for here, but my guess is that they had nothing else to fill in fifteen minutes with (the show only runs two hours and twenty minutes and we’ve got the ultimate dumb filler to go).

DiBiase and the Visionaries say Warrior and Hogan (no mention of Santana) can’t work together. Sean says it’s going to be these five against Warrior and Santana.

It’s time for the Egg Hatching. Gene talks about the fans being hot tonight and the egg starts to hatch. There’s no way around this: it’s the Gobbledygooker, a humanoid turkey who square dances to Turkey in the Straw with Gene Okerlund, does a bunch of flips and is played by the WAY too talented for this Hector Guerrero.

The fans IMMEDIATELY start booing when it hatches, as there is absolutely no point to it. This was rumored to be anything from Undertaker to Flair (about a year early for him) to some Playboy chick. When you’re in a bad mood about being unemployed, remember that someone came up with this idea and was paid to do so. Total time spent on this: over seven minutes.

Hogan, Warrior and Santana are ready.

Hulk Hogan/Tito Santana/Ultimate Warrior vs. Ted DiBiase/Visionaries

If you can’t see the ending of this coming, just go click on something else now. Oddly enough, Hogan comes out before Tito. Tito and Warlord start and a forearm ends Warlord in less than 30 seconds. To update a reference for 2012, Tito is apparently the Ronda Rousey of the WWF. Roma immediately powerslams Tito and brings in DiBiase. My goodness a 20 minute Santana vs. DiBiase match would freaking rock. Tito misses another forearm and a hot shot gets the pin for DiBiase.

Hogan comes in and beats the tar out of DiBiase for a bit before ducking his head too early. A kick to Hogan’s face slows him down and it’s off to Hercules and almost immediately Roma for a top rope forearm for two. Back to Hercules who pounds away on Hulk even more, as does DiBiase. The Powerplex hits Hogan and has basically no effect. Roma is immediately pinned by a clothesline and it’s 3-2.

Martel comes in to beat on Hogan but gets kicked in the face. Off to Warrior who fires off a bunch of kicks in the corner and backdrops Martel. Rick tries to hit him in the head and boy are you really that dumb? Hogan knocks Martel to the floor and Rick walks off for the countout. Hogan beats on DiBiase a bit and there’s the legdrop. Warrior beats Hercules with the splash about 40 seconds later to win.

Rating: D. What in the world was the point of this? I mean……am I watching a house show? These are the kind of matches you hear about at the end of shows to send the fans home happy, not to main event a PPV. It was clear that this show wasn’t needed and that something had to be done.

Posing ends the show.

Overall Rating: F. This show has some moments of ok, but can you imagine PAYING for this show? Undertaker debuts here but no one had any idea what that would mean. Nothing is changed at all, mainly because the company was afraid no one would want to see the house show matches after this. This show runs two hours and eighteen minutes and eight minutes of that are the Gobbledygooker. On top of that the main event runs about ten minutes in total counting entrances. You’re looking at about two hours for the non main event stuff and that’s ridiculous for a PPV. This is another show that doesn’t need to exist.

Ratings Comparison

Warriors vs. Perfect Team

Original: C-

Redo: D

Dream Team vs. Million Dollar Team

Original: C+

Redo: C+

Vipers vs. Visionaries

Original: D+

Redo: D+

Hulkamaniacs vs. Natural Disasters

Original: C+

Redo: C-

Alliance vs. Mercenaries

Original: F

Redo: D-

Grand Finale Match of Survival

Original: D-

Redo: D

Overall Rating

Original: F

Redo: F

It sucked four years ago and it still sucks now.

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

http://kbwrestlingreviews.com/2011/11/09/history-of-survivor-series-count-up-1990-title-removed-due-to-anger-issues/

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up my new book of 1997 WCW Monday Nitro Reviews at Amazon for just $3.99 at:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00NPPH0WI

And check out my Amazon author page with wrestling books for under $4 at:

http://www.amazon.com/Thomas-Hall/e/B00E6282W6

Survivor Series 1989
Date: November 23, 1989
Location: Rosemont Horizon, Chicago, Illinois
Attendance: 15,294
Commentators: Gorilla Monsoon, Jesse Ventura

We’re at a major changing point with this show, as we now have four man teams and five full matches, instead of the previous years with four matches. The matches are shorter now, but there are some kind of head scratching booking choices here. We do however get the greatest Survivor Series team ever on this show though, so we have that to look forward to. Let’s get to it.

Also stay tuned after the end for a special BONUS MATCH REVIEW!

We open with a video shot from a car going up to the arena, going through the doors, at the souvenir stands (12.99 for a shirt. Today that might get you a sleeve) and now it’s time for opening show promos.

Hogan is thankful for time with his family and to be the strongest force in the universe. And for his team.

DiBiase is glad he’s rich.

Jake likes his snake and the DDT.

Demolition is glad they don’t have to fight each other.

Savage is glad he’s the Macho King.

Duggan is proud to be an American.

Bravo is glad Earthquake is on his side.

Dusty is thankful for his polka dots.

Beefcake for cutting hair.

Martel for his looks.

Rude for his body.

Piper because he’s not Ricky Rude. Burn.

Genius for being the smartest man in the world.

Perfect for being his name.

The Bushwackers for sardine stuffing.

Heenan for being surrounded by the Heenan Family.

Warrior should be thankful that Ritalin is soon to be available.

We run down the cards with those nifty squares.

Dream Team vs. Enforcers

Dusty Rhodes, Brutus Beefcake, Tito Santana, Red Rooster

Big Bossman, Bad News Brown, Rick Martel, Honky Tonk Man

This is mainly over Dusty vs. Bossman which is Dusty’s first big feud in the company. Dusty stole the nightstick and the hat which has ticked Bossman off. The rest of the guys are there because it’s Survivor Series and we need six more guys. Brutus’ music was awesome, just like the names for the teams. Tito and Honky start things off and for the third straight year Honky and Brutus are in the opening match on this show. I’m not sure what that means.

Tito takes over quickly but Honky gets in one kick before RUNNING over to make a tag to Martel. Rick dropkicks Tito down as Jesse talks about the now broken up Strike Force. Tito atomic drops Martel for two and everyone but Bad News gets in the ring at once. Nothing happens but it’s cool to see. Brown not getting in is perfect for his character too. Off to the Boss Man who is immediately armdragged down by Tito.

Off to Dusty who pounds away as the fans go nuts. Chicago was a big NWA town so it’s easy to see why he’s popular. Brutus comes in to another pop but Boss Man takes him down with a few shots to the back. Honky comes in but misses a fist drop. Beefcake hammers away but Martel makes a blind tag and takes over on Brutus. Rooster comes in and the place goes quiet. When you can’t get a reaction in Chicago, things aren’t that good for you.

Martel hits some knees to the face and it’s off to Honky who dances a lot. Boss Man comes in and they slug it out with the big man taking over with ease. Martel comes back in and drops some knees but gets rolled up for two. Back to Honky as Rooster is in trouble. I’m digging these four man versions already as the match seems less crowded and the guys can stay in the ring a little longer. Rooster and Honky collide and it’s a double tag to give us another battle of Strike Force.

Tito goes loco on Martel and beats him down, but Martel breaks the figure four. Santana tries an O’Connor Roll but Martel rolls through and grabs the trunks for the first elimination. Dusty comes in next and hits a dropkick (and a decent one) followed by the big elbow…for two? We must be in the WWF. Brutus comes in to work on the arm and stomp on Martel’s face when he tries a reverse monkey flip.

Rooster comes in and can’t seem to figure out what to do with a headlock. Martel is like screw you you nitwit and backbreaks him down. Off to Boss Man who slaps on a bearhug. Gorilla keeps calling Brutus the team captain but the team is called the Dream Team and Dusty came out last. Rooster bites out of the hold and Boss Man tags Bad News who isn’t interested in coming in.

After Bad News gets pulled in he takes over because he’s fighting a freaking rooster. Just like last year though, Bad News accidentally gets hit by his partner and he walks out. It’s three on three now and we have Boss Man vs. Brutus. After the Barber gets beaten on some more it’s off to Honky for a belly to back suplex. Out of nowhere Brutus hits a high knee to Honky for the fast pin, making it 3-2 (Brutus, Dusty and Rooster vs. Boss Man and Martel).

Martel immediately comes in and puts a chinlock on Brutus which doesn’t last long. The second version of it does though as the match slows down a lot. A backbreaker puts Brutus down and he goes into the buckle a few times. Brutus grabs a sunset flip again out of nowhere to eliminate Martel and it’s 3-1. Brutus tags in Rooster to throw a bone to Boss Man and after some punches from Rooster, the Boss Man Slam gets the fast pin and it’s 2-1.

Dusty is in next but it’s quickly off to Brutus for some knees to the chest. Back to Dusty as the good guys are using some intelligence (yes, Dusty and Brutus are using intelligence) with the fast tags. Boss Man gets whipped into the ropes and Dusty takes him down with a cross body, likely rupturing at least three vital organs of Boss Man and getting the final pin. I may have been right about those organs.

Rating: C+. Nothing special here but it was fine for an opener. The fans liked most of the good guys and other than Rooster, that was a solid set of guys. The match wasn’t competitive or anything for the most part after the first five minutes but there was nothing particularly bad about it I guess.

Boss Man destroys Dusty with the nightstick and cuffs him to the ropes to keep up the beating. Brutus makes the save with the clippers.

Boss Man brags about what he just did.

The King’s Court, Savage’s team, is read.

The 4x4s say the same thing but much louder.

4x4s vs. King’s Court

Jim Duggan, Ronnie Garvin, Bret Hart, Hercules

Randy Savage, Earthquake, Dino Bravo, Greg Valentine

The 4x4s all jog to the ring with boards in their hands. This would be the second or third time that Bret was teased as a singles guy but it wouldn’t click for another year and a half. The only major feud here is Savage vs. Duggan over the crown but that’s about it. The board carriers clear the ring and stand in the ring for awhile. It looks like we start with Garvin vs. Savage but Duggan chases Savage to the floor before it’s Hercules who actually starts for the 4x4s.

Herc pounds away and slams Savage down, but right into the King’s corner and it’s off to Valentine. Greg gets atomic dropped and it’s off to Bret. Bret works on the arm for a bit and it’s off to Duggan for some right hands. Garvin comes in and I forgot about this feud. That’s likely due to me trying to block anything Garvin related from my mind. Garvin gets taken into the heel corner and it’s off to Bravo for some power.

Hercules comes back in to make it power vs. power with the dark haired guy (Hercules for you young’uns) taking over. And never mind as Earthquake comes in, kills Hercules with a shot to the head and hits the Earthquake for the elimination. Duggan comes in and collides with Quake (he’s still Canadian Earthquake here but that didn’t last long at all) but can’t do anything to him. Bret, being the smart guy that he is, sneaks up on Earthquake and school boys him so Duggan can take him down.

Off to Garvin who pounds away but Earthquake is like boy I’m gonna make you my pizza toppings. Bravo comes in to pound away on Garvin as does Valentine. The Figure Four is countered and Garvin rolls Hammer (Valentine) up for two. Savage drops a knee and it’s back to Bravo to work Garvin over a bit more. A backslide gets two for Ronnie and it’s back to Savage very quickly.

It’s back to Valentine even faster and they chop it out but Garvin makes a blind tag to Duggan who hits the three point clothesline to eliminate Valentine and tie things up. Bravo comes in again and is quickly followed by Savage and then Earthquake. Quake misses a big elbow and there’s the tag to Garvin. He beats on whomever he can and headbutts Bravo down. Here’s the still stupid Garvin Stomp (Orton does it now) and he tries the Sharpshooter (Garvin used it before Bret) but Dino breaks it up.

NOW we get somewhere with a double tag to Savage vs. Hart. These two had an awesome match on SNME a year or so before this and Bret takes over with an atomic drop. Bret loads up something on the legs but Savage dives away and tags in Bravo again. The middle rope elbow gets two for Bret and it’s back to Garvin who immediately walks into a side suplex to make it 3-2.

It’s Duggan vs. Earthquake again with Jim pounding away in the corner. Bret gets the tag and a double clothesline puts the big man down. Savage comes in and Bret is all like BRING IT ON. Well maybe not that loud but you get the idea. Savage gets tied up in the ropes and Duggan chokes away like the hero he is. Randy gets Bret down and misses a knee drop, allowing Hart to hit a backbreaker for two.

A small package gets two for Bret and Savage charges into a boot. Bret misses a middle rope elbow and it’s off to Bravo again. Dino puts on a bearhug because this match hasn’t dragged enough already. Off to Earthquake for some high powered choking followed by an elbow drop for two. The crowd popped a bit for the kickout which is more than can be said for most of this match.

Bret finally breaks free and tags Hacksaw in again so he can slam Savage. And never mind as Bret tags back in about 15 seconds later. Bravo works over the mostly beaten Bret and Hart misses a charge, going shoulder first into the post. A shoulder breaker sets up the Savage Elbow to make it 3-1.

It’s off to Quake to beat on Duggan in the corner but he misses a charge and everyone comes in. Duggan throws everyone into the corner into Earthquake and the Court all bails to the floor. Savage and Bravo get clotheslined down but Quake jumps Duggan to take him down. A big elbow gets two on Duggan and it’s back to Bravo. Duggan avoids a charging Savage but Sherri lowbridges him and it eventually draws a countout.

Rating: D+. For the life of me I don’t get why Duggan didn’t get pinned here. The ending is rather lame and it doesn’t help a match that ran WAY too long anyway. You could easily cut ten minutes out of this and no one would have missed anything at all. The match was dull outside of the moments when Bret was in there, which is something we’ll touch on more later.

Duggan chases them off with the board.

The Million Dollar Team is ready for a Thanksgiving feast in the form of the Hulkamaniacs.

Dusty Rhodes is hurt badly.

The Genius reads a poem about Thanksgiving.

Hulkamaniacs vs. Million Dollar Team

Hulk Hogan, Demolition, Jake Roberts

Ted DiBiase, Zeus, Powers of Pain

My goodness that’s an amazing face team. Ok, so now I get to explain Zeus. A month or two ago, WWE released No Holds Barred, a movie Hogan made in the late 80s, on DVD. The villain in the movie is named Zeus and you may notice he’s here. Zeus is played by an actor (not a wrestler mind you) named Tom Lister and the idea is that he’s living his character and is coming to beat Hogan up “in real life” because he lost in the movie. This would be like the guy who played Goldfinger trying to get revenge on Sean Connery. To make things even better, this was originally going to be the main event of Wrestlemania 6.

I’m sure you can see the problems mounting up already, with the main one being that Zeus doesn’t know how to wrestle. Other than that, there’s the idea that the movie barely broke even so a lot of people didn’t get the idea of the story. A positive twist to this is that a lot of people didn’t get the idea of the story, which probably kept the company from being laughed at more than they already were. Zeus wrestled like four matches ever, most of which were short or tag matches so he wasn’t in the ring long. WCW, the geniuses that they are, brought him back seven years later and put him in the main event of another PPV.

Anyway back to the match. The Million Dollar Team won’t let them get inside until Jake fires in the snake to chase them all away. Hogan and Demolition are the champions that you would expect them to be at this point. Zeus wants to fight Hogan one on one but their respective partners hold them both back. Jake starts with Zeus but the actor wants Hogan. They stare each other down and Hogan bounces off Zeus. Hogan pounds away but nothing hurts Zeus at all.

Instead Hulk finds the one weak spot on Zeus by raking the eyes. He slams Zeus down and amazingly enough, IT DOESN’T REALLY DO MUCH. Barbarian hits Hogan in the back of the head and Zeus twists Hogan’s neck around. He starts choking away and it’s a DQ for Zeus who is only pulled off by DiBiase and the promise of money. Just to clarify, we’re giving the Hulkamaniacs, an 80s dream team, a man advantage. Also why would DiBiase get Zeus off Hogan? Wouldn’t Hogan’s pain and agony make DiBiase happy?

It’s DiBiase vs. Hogan now and Hulk is in big trouble. DiBiase hammers away in the corner but Hulk gets a boot up in the corner and there’s the tag to Jake. A clothesline puts DiBiase on the floor and it’s off to Ax who demolishes DiBiase with ease. Smash comes in and they both pound Ted down. Back to Hogan who triple teams DiBiase along with Demolition. Back to Ax with a clothesline but DiBiase elbows him down out of desperation.

Off to Warlord as these two teams are still feuding even a year later. Come to think of it there wasn’t much else in between for those guys either. Dang did the division fall that fast in just a year? A shoulder breaker puts Ax down but Barbarian misses a middle rope elbow. Off to Warlord again but he gets clotheslined down. Fuji trips Ax up and a basic elbow drop is enough to tie the score.

It’s Smash vs. Warlord now but it’s quickly off to Hogan. Hulk softens him up to bring in Jake, which Jesse calls a mismatch. That’s likely based on power but I’m pretty sure Jake is taller than Warlord. Off to Smash but Warlord pokes him in the eye to take over. Back to Barbarian whose big boot is caught but Smash misses the elbow. DiBiase comes back in with those falling punches of his which get two.

It’s chinlock time with a knee in Smash’s back. DiBiase misses a middle rope back elbow of all things but Smash won’t tag for some reason. Barbarian makes a blind tag so the hot shot Smash hits on DiBiase doesn’t count and Barbarian takes his head off with a top rope clothesline for the pin. Jake comes in next but he can’t DDT Barbarian. Barbie whips Jake into the corner with authority although I’m not sure who’s authority it was.

Back to Warlord as things slow down a lot due to exhaustion. Jake dives for a tag but DiBiase slaps Hogan to draw him in instead. DiBiase piledrives Jake but Roberts gets a foot on the ropes to Jesse’s annoyance. Barbarian misses a headbutt and there’s the hot tag to Barbarian. He cleans house and gets two on Barbarian off a big boot. A suplex gets the same and my goodness how rare is it to see Hogan get a two count? Hogan fights off both Powers of Pain but they catch him in a spike piledriver which is good for a DQ for both of them, making it Hogan/Roberts vs. DiBiase.

Dibiase drops knees on Hogan before slapping on the Million Dollar Dream. That eventually gets two arm drops and Jake makes the save. That’s actually a nice touch as it makes the hold look stronger by needing a save instead of Hogan saving himself. Hogan finally breaks the hold and punches a jumping DiBiase. Hot tag brings in the Snake who cleans house. Jake drives in knees on DiBiase’s head as Hogan is dying in the corner.

Here’s Virgil to interfere and take the DDT. DiBiase drops a fist on Jake and puts his feet on the ropes to steal the pin. Ted pounds on Hogan who is still reeling from the long Million Dollar Dream. I’ll give him credit as that’s some great selling of a hold like that. Off to a chinlock and Hogan taps, which wouldn’t mean a thing for years. Hogan breaks the hold but they clothesline each other. DiBiase belly to back suplexes him and it’s Hulk Up time. You know the rest and there’s the legdrop.

Rating: C. There’s one major problem with this match: the first four minutes of this match give away the ending almost immediately. How can you give Hogan, Roberts and Demolitio a man advantage that fast? I’m not saying Hogan should have lost, but the Zeus stuff could have come later in the match and worked much better. Have Zeus stand on the apron most of the match and it would have worked fine. The fans finally reacted though.

Savage and Zeus are ready for their tag team cage match on PPV two days after Christmas. More on that later.

Hogan and Brutus do the same. They’re facing Savage and Zeus in case that wasn’t clear. Sherri shows up and throws powder in their faces so that Savage and Zeus can jump them.

Jesse and Gorilla talk about the tag match and Jesse mentions that there’s trouble in the Heenan Family, which is code for Arn Anderson about to go back to the NWA and Tully got busted for cocaine.

The Rude Brood is ready for Roddy’s Rowdies. These promos are pretty much the same all around.

This one however isn’t. Roddy is talking to Gene when the Bushwhackers and Snuka come up and are all holding turkey legs. Roddy says after the match they can have lunch. Then they all scream about breaking big bones.

Rude Brood vs. Roddy’s Rowdies

Rick Rude, Fabulous Rougeau Brothers, Mr. Perfect

Roddy Piper, Bushwhackers, Jimmy Snuka

If nothing else we get to hear All American Boys, perhaps the best theme song in wrestling history. There’s no Heenan with Rude, which is part of the issues the Family is having. Luke and Perfect get things going but after a single slam it’s off to Butch who bites on Perfect’s thigh. Luke comes in and does the same and Snuka matches suit. Butch bites as well and it’s off to Snuka.

Jacques comes in as well and they stall a lot. Jacques poses a lot so Snuka headbutts him down and follows up with a big chop. A slam puts Jacques down and it’s a Superfly Splash for a quick elimination. Rude comes in next and swivels his hips, only to get headbutted into a tag from Perfect. Rude accidentally low bridges Perfect so Snuka rams them together and the Brood is in trouble.

Off to Piper vs. Perfect and the Brood’s luck continues to go bad. Luke comes in and drops a knee before it’s off to Snuka for more shots to the head. Back to Luke for more biting and Butch beats on him a bit more. Piper comes in to face Raymond and for some reason Rougeau tries to slug it out with Piper. A superkick puts Piper down for two but he piledrives Raymond for the easy pin and it’s 4-2.

Perfect comes in with his neck snap for two and for the first time, Piper’s team is in trouble. Piper comes back with a slingshot to send Perfect into the post. Butch comes in for some basic stuff but it’s quickly back to Luke. Piper comes back in for some rapid fire punches and Perfect is in trouble. Back to Butch for more biting but he poses too long and Perfect rolls him up for the elimination.

Piper tries to steal a pin on a rollup to Perfect but it only gets two. Off to Snuka before Luke headbutts Perfect in the stomach. Rude makes a blind tag but jumps into a punch to the gut. Luke ducks his head and the Rude Awakening ties us up at two each. It’s Piper/Snuka vs. Rude/Perfect which is a heck of a midcard tag match.

Rude vs. Snuka starts the final four off and Rude swivels a bit more. Perfect comes in and taunts Piper, drawing him in so Snuka can get double teamed. Snuka finally gets in a shot to break Perfect’s momentum but Rude gets the tag before Piper can come in. Snuka grabs a quick small package for two before taking Perfect down with a flying headbutt. They hit head to head and both guys go down, followed by a double tag.

We finally get Piper vs. Rude which is what this whole match is based on. Piper easily wins a slugout and backdrops Rude down. They fight to the floor and it’s a double countout, getting us down to Snuka vs. Perfect. Perfect hits a great looking dropkick to put Snuka on the floor which eventually gets two. Snuka gets in a chop in the corner and a cross body for two. The Perfectplex out of nowhere gives Perfect the win.

Rating: C-. They did the right thing by having the tag teams get knocked out quick because they didn’t mean anything in this at all. Other than that though there was nothing of note here. Piper and Rude were both counted out to make sure they stayed strong and Snuka didn’t mean anything at this point. Nothing to see here but it wasn’t bad or anything.

The Rude Brood celebrates and Rude says don’t worry about Heenan being gone.

The Ultimate Warriors are very fired (and likely coked) up. Warrior’s topic of the night: orga donor cards.

Ultimate Warriors vs. Heenan Family

Ultimate Warrior, Jim Neidhart, Rockers

Andre the Giant, Arn Anderson, Haku, Bobby Heenan

Andre can barely move and it’s sad to see. Neidhart and the Rockers start before anything happens and Jim is in trouble early. Here’s Warrior without any music (he’s IC Champion here) and a big clothesline puts Andre on the floor, which draws a countout because when the bell rang, Andre was the only Heenan Family member in the ring. We’ve already got the same problem the Hogan match had.

Warrior and Haku get things started for all intents and purposes but it’s quickly off to Anvil vs. Arn. Andre (in blue instead of black) yells incoherently at the Warrior as he leaves. It’s Haku vs. Anvil now with Haku in control. A superkick puts Neidhart down and eliminates him like it’s a squash match. Off to Shawn to make Haku miss him and now it’s off to Jannetty.

Haku tries a double clothesline but only hits Shawn. He picks up Marty but Shawn dropkicks Marty down onto Haku for a near fall. Off to Arn who tries a double suplex with Haku on Jannetty, but Shawn catches his partner in a nice move. Double superkicks put the wrestlers on the other team down and it’s off to Marty vs. Haku. Warrior gets a tag in a few seconds later and Haku immediately goes for the eyes.

Haku backs Warrior into the corner and Heenan points to Arn for the tag in a funny bit. Arn immediately gets taken down and Marty hooks an armbar. Anderson brings Marty to the corner and brings in Heenan for a single punch before it’s back to Haku. Arn knees Marty in the back and Haku superkicks him down so Heenan can drop a knee on Jannetty for the pin. You could loudly hear them calling spots on that sequence for some reason.

Warrior comes in so here’s Anderson again. There’s a bearhug by the Champ and Haku gets one as well. Off to Shawn who gets knocked to the floor with a few shots. Shawn moonsaults out of the corner over Arn and Anderson is in trouble. Warrior and Michaels both punch Anderson at the same time and Arn backs away from Warrior. A splash from Shawn gets two and it’s off to Haku.

That doesn’t last long at all as a cross body eliminates Haku to get us down to Warrior/Shawn vs. Heenan/Anderson. Heenan tries to get in some cheap shots on Shawn which draws in Warrior. Why? Was he that afraid for Shawn’s safety? Arn dumps Shawn to the floor and Heenan goes up….and then regains his sanity and climbs back down. Arn keeps asking for help from Heenan because he’s getting tired so it’s finally back to Bobby who runs at the first sign of trouble.

Shawn rams his head into the back of Arn’s head and both guys are down. They slug it out but Shawn walks into the spinebuster (called the Anderson Drop) for the elimination. Warrior fires off some shoulders but Arn ducks and sends him to the floor. Heenan goes up again but thinks better of it again. Off to Heenan but Warrior quickly Hulks up so we see some more Anderson. Warrior fights him off as well and whips Arn into Heenan to knock Bobby to the floor. The gorilla press and splash get us down to one on one. Warrior sneaks up on Heenan and what do you think happens here? A shoulder block and splash ends this.

Rating: C-. I think it was watching the whole show before this but this was another dull match. Warrior was never in any danger and I think everyone knew it. To be fair, this would have been better with Tully out there and you can’t fault the guys for that. Heenan being in there had to turn it into a comedy match and I can’t hold that against them. Still though, another dull match in a series of them tonight.

Warrior sprints up the aisle and clotheslines Heenan as he leaves to end the show.

Overall Rating: D. There are multiple problems associated with this show. First of all, nothing here is what you would call good. The matches are all ok at best and nothing beyond that. I guess the best match would be the opener, but even that was just ok. This was a really weak time in the company as they had Hogan but he had beaten everyone already so there’s nothing for him to do really.

However there’s a bigger problem with Survivor Series overall. In short, what’s the point of any of this stuff? No stories are advanced here, other than the first match there was no clean fall between the people the feuding people, and there’s nothing to build off here. Look at Hogan. If you have Hogan lose in that match with DiBiase putting him to sleep after that much of a beating, you have a new opponent for him.

Instead, we have Hogan standing tall again which is nothing new at all. That’s the problem with the first few shows other than the first one. Survivor Series went nowhere and the appeal died very quickly. That wouldn’t change until 1991 so 1990 was somehow even more boring to sit through.

Wait I’m not done.

So as I mentioned, there was another match talked about inside a cage between Hogan/Beefcake and Zeus/Savage. This was a dark match at a TV taping in I believe Nashville. It was released as a PPV special called No Holds Barred: The Movie and The Match. Let’s get to it.

Hulk Hogan/Brutus Beefcake vs. Zeus/Randy Savage

This is one of like three matches Zeus ever had. Both guys have to escape to win. Vince and Jesse are on commentary. Beefcake gets in first but Sherri slams the door on Hogan to keep him out of the cage. Savage chokes Hogan through the cage as Zeus destroys Beefcake. Sherri locks the cage as Hulk punches Savage through the bars. The crowd is on fire for this. Hogan comes in over the top and makes the save as it’s time for the big showdown with Zeus.

Hogan slams Zeus into the cage a few times and down goes the monster. Savage gets whipped HARD into the cage by Brutus and both heels eat Hogan boots in the corner. Zeus gets double teamed but he sends both Hogan and Beefcake into the cage to take over. Savage tries to climb out but Beefcake stops him. Sherri tries to help Savage but Beefcake rams their heads together to keep Savage in the match.

Savage and Zeus ram both guys into the cage over and over which is a very basic yet very smart strategy for a match like this. Beefcake comes back and rams Zeus and Savage into the cage and all four guys are down. The referee unlocks the door to see what he should do, but Sherri rams the cage onto Hebner’s head and slides Savage the cage.

We load up the big spot of the match as Savage climbs the cage. Vince is freaking out. Jesse: “Well who’s going to stop it McMahon? You can’t do nothing about it.” Savage goes up to the top of the cage and wraps the chain around his hand. He dives at Beefcake but Brutus hits him in the ribs on the way down.

Beefcake gets the chain and pounds on Savage as Hogan can’t slam Zeus. Savage and Beefcake climb at the same time and it’s Hulk Up time. Beefcake gets over the top as Savage goes through the door and it’s one on one. Hogan slams Zeus, rams him into the cage about four times, slams him again, drops an insane THREE LEGS and Zeus is DEAD. The pin is academic.

Rating: B. That’s likely high, but this was absolutely perfect for what it was supposed to be. This was a TV taping main event and the fans got to see Hogan DESTROY his biggest rival at the time. The match was a ton of fun with Hogan in his late 80s goodness. Hogan vs. Zeus was actually going to be the Mania 6 main event for awhile until Vince woke up and put Warrior in there instead.

Ratings Comparison:

Dream Team vs. Enforcers

Original: B-

Redo: C+

King’s Court vs. 4x4s

Original: B+

Redo: D+

Hulkamaniacs vs. Million Dollar Team

Original: D-

Redo: C

Rude Brood vs. Roddy’s Rowdies

Original: D

Redo: C-

Ultimate Warriors vs. Heenan Family

Original: C+

Redo: C-

Overall Rating

Original: D+

Redo: D

Bonus Match

Original: B-

Redo: B

I think the difference here is that with the original I didn’t like it at all but with the new one I got bored by it because it just keeps going and going.

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

http://kbwrestlingreviews.com/2011/11/08/history-of-survivor-series-count-up-1989-includes-a-bonus-review/

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up my new book of 1997 WCW Monday Nitro Reviews at Amazon for just $3.99 at:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00NPPH0WI

And check out my Amazon author page with wrestling books for under $4 at:

http://www.amazon.com/Thomas-Hall/e/B00E6282W6

Hardcore Heaven 2000
Date: May 14, 2000
Location: The Rave, Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Attendance: 3,400
Commentators: Joey Styles, Cyrus

In case that isn’t enough for you, Rob Van Dam is back from his broken ankle. Now you might think that this is the perfect time for Van Dam to take his rightful place at the top of the company now that he’s no longer TV Champion and now can focus on the World Title. Instead, he has a match against Jerry Lynn to continue their series. Let’s get to it.

We actually open with the theme song for the first time in this series.

Joel and Joey are in the ring with Joey mentioning various Milwaukee sports teams. The crowd isn’t impressed so he goes with bratwurst and beer to get the people on his side. Joel does his rhyme and actually isn’t cut off by Cyrus. Joey says he doesn’t care what the censors think because tonight they’re in hardcore heaven. With no interruption and the theme song already done, they just walk up the ramp (making its return on the side of the ring) to the broadcast booth while everyone stands around with nothing to do.

Balls Mahoney vs. Masato Tanaka

These two respect each other so there’s no hatred to the match. Mahoney just stands in the ring for his whole song (Big Balls by AC/DC) in a far too long entrance. Tanaka comes out as well but Cyrus appears at the broadcast booth and tries to throw Gertner out. Joel won’t go, so Cyrus has Kintaro Kanemura choke him out before taking over Joel’s spot.

As for the match, they actually have a technical sequence to start until Mahoney starts swinging to take over. Tanaka cross bodies him down for two and puts on an armbar. Balls sends him to the floor and hits a nice dive before nailing Masato with a beer. Both guys are whipped into the barricade and Tanaka drags him onto the ramp. The running chair to the head staggers Mahoney and a tornado DDT puts him down.

They head back inside and have a chair duel before three straight HARD chair shots to the head put Tanaka down. Back up and a superkick into the chair into Masato’s face puts him down but the fans want tables. Instead they get more chairs and Tanaka hits the tornado DDT onto said chairs for two.

The Roaring Elbow misses and Nutcracker Suite gets two. Diamond Dust gets the same and Tanaka is stunned that someone kicked out of his big move. Tanaka tries to jump over him but gets caught in another Nutcracker Suite onto the chairs for an even closer two. Balls’ middle rope leg only hits chair but he kicks out of the Roaring Elbow. A top rope chair to the head doesn’t put Balls down but the Roaring Elbow is enough for the pin.

Rating: D+. The match was a mess but it was exactly what you have to expect from these two. The lack of tables made this a lot better, though it wasn’t all that good either way. I like the trading finishers but when that’s almost the entire match, it really doesn’t hold up as well as it does with a good build.

Lance Storm says Justin is all alone tonight and the run ends.

Little Guido vs. Simon Diamond vs. Mikey Whipwreck

Mikey (now insane with red hair and an obsession with fire) has his new manager the Sinisiter Minister, Guido has Big Sal, but Simon has Mitch, The Prodigy (never went anywhere), the Prodigette (had some success on the independent circuit) and the Muskateer, who is exactly what he sounds like, complete with sword. Mikey recently burned Big Sal so half of his face is bandaged up. Everyone tries their finishers to start but no one makes any significant contact until Mikey superkicks Simon down for two.

Mikey charges into Guido’s elbow in the corner and Guido headscissors Simon out of the corner. A powerbomb out of the corner gets two on Simon but Mikey’s missile dropkick gets two on Guido. Simon hits rolling suplexes into a gordbuster on Mikey for two as Guido makes a save. Simon and Mikey head to the floor and most of the lights go out. Mikey hits Guido with a camera and the entourages go after Sal.

Simon’s dive is caught in mid air by the big man but Mikey dives on all of them to put everybody down. Sal crushes the entourage as Guido hits a flying armbar for two on Mikey back inside. The lights are still mostly out. Guido fights out of the Whippersnapper but Simon can’t escape and gets pinned.

Down to Mikey vs. Guido with Mikey lifting Guido in a Pedigree but putting Guido onto his shoulders and spinning him around before putting him down in the sitout Pedigree. The fans are very impressed but it only gets two. Big Sal comes in and Guido climbs onto his shoulders, only to miss a huge elbow drop. Mikey throws a fireball at Sal to burn him again, only to walk into a Tomikaze for the pin.

Rating: C. Good enough match here, but WAY too many people wandering around at ringside. That spinning Pedigree from Mikey was something else and I understand why he busted it out even though he was losing, but it still feels wasted. The lights going out make ECW look amateurish and that’s not good when you’re already the third rate promotion.

Justin Credible, now with Francine, says he’s been taking people’s blood for seven years now. He’s traded a Tag Team Title for this belt and that’s all that matters. Storm will see a real champion tonight.

The lights are back on as the Dangerous Alliance comes to the ring. Billy Wiles now has Elvis sideburns. Cyrus is annoyed that Elektra is in a jacket. Lou E. Dangerously tells us how great he is but he has to threaten the fans with Anderson violence if they don’t shut up. This is basically the same thing that he did last time. Lou claims that Elektra is all natural, which is pretty laughable. Before the match, Jazz comes out and beats up the Alliance, including stripping Elektra down to a Mike Awesome t-shirt and what are basically strings underneath it. Anderson plants Jazz with a spinebuster but Kid Kash runs out for his match.

C.W. Anderson vs. Kid Kash

Kash quickly sends Anderson to the floor and hits a big dive to take him down before the bell. Anderson nails a big left hand right after we get going but walks into a dropkick to put him on the floor. Kash dives off the apron to take Wiles down with a hurricanrana. Back in and Kash tries a hurricarana but gets caught in a sitout powerbomb. It’s been awhile since we’ve seen one of those. C.W. hammers away in the corner and knocks Kash to the floor, only to have Wiles drop Kid across the barricade.

Back in and Kash climbs the corner for a cross body and two, only to walk into a big clothesline. A reverse suplex gets two for Anderson and a powerslam gets the same. Kash avoids a charge in the corner but has to deal with Wiles. Lou E. misses a phone shot and hits Billy, only to have C.W. nail Kash with a superkick for another two. Anderson goes up but gets caught in a bad looking hurricanrana for the pin.

Rating: C-. This was a decent enough power vs. speed match but the interference got annoying fast. Wiles and Dangerously become more and more useless every time they appear but Anderson seems to have something special to him. He could use someone to talk for him but Lou isn’t quite up to that level either.

Bill Alfonso is worried about Van Dam coming back from his injury so soon. Van Dam is calm, especially with Scotty Anton being in his corner.

Da Baldies vs. Chris Chetti/Nova vs. Danny Doring/Roadkill

It’s nice to see the two young tag teams getting to be in the same match for a change. It’s Angel/DeVito here. The brawl starts on the ramp with Doring and Roadkill getting the better of Da Baldies. Nova and Chetti hammer away on DeVito in the ring but Angel switches places with him and takes a beating as well. Now we get the big showdown with Da Baldies down on the floor.

Doring’s jawbreaker puts Nova down but Chetti kicks Roadkill in the face. Chetti and Doring, the first two graduates of the House of Hardcore, slug it out but Da Baldies clean house. Roadkill takes both of them out with his springboard clothesline and Nova hits a Swanton Bomb on DeVito but Nova takes a Hart Attack from Doring and Roadkill. Da Baldies hit a double spinebuster to put Roadkill through two chairs but Nova hits a jawbreaker/DDT combo to put them both down.

Doring hits a top rope elbow on Angel but Grimes runs in for the save. Doring beats him up too but Angel BLASTS Doring with a guitar for the elimination. We’re down to Nova/Chetti vs. Da Baldies but Roadkill puts Grimes on a table and hits a HUGE splash to put both guys out. Back in the ring and Da Baldies are in full control and Nova is put in the Tree of Woe. Angel charges at Nova but he does a situp into a Diamond Cutter to drop Nova. The Amityville Horror and Tidal Wave are enough to pin DeVito.

Rating: C. This was a huge spotfest but also proof that these kind of matches can work without weapons. Other than the guitar shot, this was almost all about the wrestlers doing their stuff and that’s what a match is supposed to be. It’s also nice to see good teams getting pushed, but ECW won’t being Tag Team Titles for awhile for whatever reason they had at this point. You would think this would be a good place to have the titles on the line, but for some reason it didn’t happen.

Post match Da Baldies keep fighting until New Jack comes out with his weapons, including a staple gun and a fork. Time for another impromptu match.

New Jack vs. Angel

DeVito is still out there and already busted open. New Jack sends him into the crowd and I can barely see a thing. They finally get to a clearing and New Jack sets up a table. Jack stands around a lot before finally laying DeVito out and climbing the balcony. The big dive connects more safely this time and Jack staggers back to the ring, where Nova and Chetti are beating up Angel. A big guitar shot knocks Angel out but New Jack grabs a chair and blasts him in the head with a top rope chair shot to finally pin Angel.

Rating: F. Is this supposed to mean that New Jack has finally beaten Angel? That’s very impressive as it only took two people beating on Angel for five minutes after Angel already had a match while New Jack was doing something else. This was much more of an angle than a match as they barely had any contact until the ending. Hopefully this ends these two interacting.

Joey explains the opening being so awkward. Apparently Tommy Dreamer staggered into the arena covered in blood thanks to a beating from Justin Credible and Joey didn’t know what to do. Cyrus and Joey bicker and Cyrus mentions that TNN will soon have WWF programming. More on this later.

Steve Corino vs. Yoshihiro Tajiri

Corino is completely different now, having abandoned the cowardly character and becoming a serious old school style wrestler who can brawl with anyone. Tajiri has been thrown out of the Network after refusing to hand the TV Title to Rhino, thus turning face in the process. Corino is fighting for the Network here but offers to let Tajiri off. This turns into a racist tirade and Tajiri is ready to fight.

Tajiri misses a big kick to the head and Corino nails him with an enziguri. A hurricanrana is countered into a sitout powerbomb to give Steve two but Tajiri comes back with the Tarantula. They head to the ramp where Tajiri nails him with a kick to the ribs and a brainbuster to send Corino to the floor. Corino is already busted so Tajiri bites at the cut as is the custom in ECW. Back in and Steve is put in the Tree of Woe for the sliding kick to the face. There is a pool of blood under Corino’s head.

Tajiri loads up another baseball slide with a chair over Steve’s face but Jack Victory makes the save. Corino comes back with a superkick for one but his long blond hair is now almost entirely red. Steve can’t follow up so Tajiri sets up a table but kicks the edge of it, driving the other end into Steve’s ribs. You can’t see the blond in Corino’s hair anymore. Tajiri clotheslines Corino and Victory down but Corino pops back up with a backdrop through the table for two.

Corino gets two off a fisherman’s suplex and a northern lights gets the same. Steve sets up a table in the corner but gets kicked down to the mat. Tajiri puts on the Octopus Hold and Victory gets the green mist. The distraction lets Steve escape and grab a powerslam for a near fall. Tajiri goes INSANE with some of the fastest kicks and punches I’ve ever seen, followed by a big kick to the head. Corino is laid out on the table and a big double stomp from the top drives him through for the pin.

Rating: B. This was a really solid match with both guys looking great and Corino looking like a warrior out there. It’s a good example of two talented guys being able to have their skills shine through instead of getting bogged down by all the weapons and nonsense. Corino would gain a lot of respect very soon, partially because of this performance.

W*ING Kanemura comes out to attack Tajiri but Dusty Rhodes makes the save with elbows to the head. Rhino comes out to beat up the American Dream but we’ve got Sandman, segueing into the next match.

TV Title: Sandman vs. Rhino

Sandman’s entrance takes WAY too much time, but at least some of the blood gets cleaned up. Sandman seems especially calm for someone whose wife was nearly broken in half. Rhino throws him around with ease but Sandman comes back with left hands to send it to the floor. We get the first table thrown into the ring but Rhino wants the timekeeper’s table. Sandman nails him with some more left hands and puts the table on the ramp.

Rhino is sent into the barricade before they both get up on the ramp. The table is set up against the ropes on the ramp but Rhino’s Gore misses Sandman and only hits the wood. They head inside with Sandman hitting two straight piledrivers. Jack Victory tries to interfere but Lori nails him in the back with a Singapore cane.

Sandman goes after them but Rhino nails him from behind. Lori is dragged to the ring and piledriven off the apron through a table at ringside. Corino and Victory set up the table in the corner and drag Lori in front of it. Rhino loads up a Gore but Sandman canes him in the head. He goes to Lori but takes the Gore through the table to retain Rhino’s title.

Rating: D-. This was horrible with Sandman dragging down the young and talented Rhino. I don’t see the need to have Lori get beaten up again but at least the fans didn’t cheer when it happened. They’re setting up Rhino vs. Van Dam for a war but Sandman is really making these things hard to sit through.

Rhino yells at Lori, telling her Happy Mother’s Day.

The announcers talk all serious while talking about the company website and showing the Pervert Productions section. I think you can fill in the gaps.

Rob Van Dam vs. Jerry Lynn

Lynn has been more aggressive lately and is angry over not being as respected as Van Dam. Rob has Bill Alfonso and Scotty Anton with him. Van Dam is just insanely over. Scotty and Rob hug before the match because they’re best friends and would NEVER turn on each other. Feeling out process to start with the fans entirely behind Van Dam. Both guys speed things up but neither can hit anything with Van Dam’s flip legdrop missing, giving us a standoff.

Rob’s spin kick misses but the second connects, setting up a cartwheel into a moonsault for two. They head outside with Lynn getting crotched on the barricade and kicked in the face to knock him into the crowd. The spinning kick to the back drives a chair into Lynn’s spine but Van Dam is slow getting up. Van Dam misses a moonsault press off the barricade and Lynn takes over back inside.

Lynn jumps to the middle rope but his tornado DDT is countered and both guys nail kicks at the same time. Alfonso puts in a chair but Lynn counters two straight Van Daminators. Instead Rob drops the chair and tries a legsweep but Jerry hits a Fameasser onto the chair for two. A stepover kick to the face and Rolling Thunder get two for Rob and he skateboards the chair into Jerry’s face in the corner for two more.

The monkey flip onto the chair is countered and Lynn hits a powerbomb out of the corner onto the chair for his first near fall in awhile. A gorgeous superplex drops Rob for yet another two. Lynn sends him into the buckle and sets up a table on the floor. Rob counters a tornado DDT through the table and heads back inside, only to get crotched on the top rope.

A bulldog from Jerry drives Van Dam through the table and both guys are down. Jerry gets back up and tries a running dive off the apron but he misses Rob and hits Anton. Back in and Lynn’s back is bleeding from the bulldog. Rob crotches him on the top rope and hits a Van Daminator with Alfonso’s help. Even Joey is getting tired of Alfonso’s interference. The chair is laid over Lynn and the Five Star connects as Cyrus leaves commentary.

Corino and Victory come in but Lynn fights them off, squashing rumors that he’s in the Network. Rhino comes in and Gores Lynn before powerbombing Rob. Van Dam fights back but Cyrus comes in and takes a Van Daminator. Jerry dropkicks a chair into Alfonso’s face but gets kicked down again. Rob goes up for the Five Star but Anton turns on him, surprising no one at all. Lynn didn’t see what Scotty did, which will be brought up on commentary later. Rob’s head slams into the ramp but the cradle piledriver only gets two. A second one onto a chair is good enough for Lynn to FINALLY pin Van Dam.

Rating: B. The Network is swallowing the entire promotion at this point. This match could have been done exactly the same way with just Alfonso and Anton but it’s ECW so you have to overbook it. It was the usual entertaining match between these two, but the win doesn’t do anything for Jerry at this point as he should have gotten the TV Title a year ago. It’s still the biggest win of his career but it doesn’t mean nearly as much as it could have. That was Van Dam’s first pinfall loss in two and a half years.

ECW World Title: Lance Storm vs. Justin Credible vs. Tommy Dreamer

Francine and Dawn Marie are at ringside as well. Before the match Justin says this is going to be one on one with him vs. Lance. If anyone comes out to face him besides Storm and Storm alone, he’ll throw the belt in the garbage. This brings out Dreamer but Heyman cuts him off, saying Justin has them by the balls right now and promising Dreamer another shot at Heat Wave. Dreamer shakes Storm’s hand, flips Heyman off, and leaves. Yet another bait and switch.

ECW World Title: Lance Storm vs. Justin Credible

Storm goes right after the champion to start and Justin bails to the floor to stall. Back in and Lance nails some right hands before dropkicking Credible back to the floor. Lance’s dive hits Singapore cane though and he’s already busted open. Both guys are sent into the barricade and Justin sets up a table on the ramp. Back in and they trade chops with Lance getting the better of it, only to charge into a boot in the corner.

The fans LOUDLY chant that they want Dreamer as Justin puts on a chinlock. Back up and a clothesline drops Lance and they trade loud chops. The fans realize Dreamer isn’t coming and quiet down a lot. A thumb to the eye puts Storm back down and we hit the chinlock again. Storm fights up again and grabs a hurricanrana to get a breather before hammering away in the corner.

In a really impressive athletic display, Storm jumps from the mat to the top rope for a back elbow to the jaw. Storm gets another two off a dropkick and they fight over a tombstone until Storm suplexes him down for another two. Credible nails a superkick for two of his own but Storm rolls through a cross body to get a breather. Justin’s abdominal stretch is countered into a hiptoss over the top rope and through the table for two back inside.

Back up and Storm hooks the half crab in the middle of the ring but Francine nails him with her high heeled shoe. Dawn comes in for a catfight, earning her That’s Incredible from the champion. Storm nails Justin with the Singapore cane and gets two off a piledriver. That’s Incredible is only good for two and a DDT gets the same. Storm comes back with a catapult into the post and a dropkick to the side of the head but gets crotched on the top rope. Another That’s Incredible retains Justin’s title.

Rating: D+. The match was watchable but Justin is a huge letdown after guys like Taz, Awesome, Tanaka and even Dreamer. The guy just isn’t a main event level guy no matter how much ECW tries to shine him up. He’s nothing more than a loudmouth in jean shorts that can’t back it up in the ring at all. This would be Storm’s last match as he went to WCW over Heyman not being able to pay him.

Dreamer comes out and destroys both Credible and Francine to end the show.

Overall Rating: C-. This show was watchable for the most part but the bad parts bring down the good stuff that the show had going for it. The problem here is where we should go now. It seems like we’re heading for Rob Van Dam vs. Scotty Anton, which is a meaningless match for Rob because no one cares about Anton and another waste of how over he is. Lynn getting the win is nice for him but where can he go? Against Rhino maybe? The real star of the night was Steve Corino who looked like a warrior going through that bloodbath, but he’s still stuck in the Network angle that is taking over everything.

Bound For Glory 2013
Date: October 20, 2013
Location: Viejas Arena, San Diego, California
Attendance: 3,000
Commentators: Mike Tenay, Taz

We’ll wrap up the redos here with a show that really doesn’t feel like the biggest deal of the year. The main event is AJ Styles, who has spent most of the year channeling 1997 Sting as the loner who barely talks, challenging Aces and 8’s President Bully Ray. This doesn’t feel like as big a deal as it should due to Ray only having won the title back about two months ago following a meaningless reign by Chris Sabin. Let’s get to it.

There was a pre-show match in 2013.

Pre-Show: Gauntlet Match

This is a four team gauntlet match with the winners getting a Tag Team Title shot on the regular pay per view. We start with Bad Influence vs. Chavo Guerrero/Hernandez. Guerrero and Kaz get things going but it’s quickly off to Hernandez who hits the over the shoulder backbreaker to both guys at the same time. SuperMex heads to the ramp and gets a running start to take out Bad Influence with a huge running double clothesline.

We take a break and come back with Hernandez hitting a kind of powerbomb on Kaz for no cover. Both guys crawl over to make tags so Chavo can speed things up with shoulders to Daniels. Everything quickly breaks down and Hernandez is back up to clean house with clotheslines. Chavo hits Three Amigos on Daniels because he’s an Eddie Guerrero tribute wrestler. Speaking of Eddie, Chavo goes up for the Frog Splash but Kaz shoves him off the top to give Daniels a rollup pin.

Joseph Park and Eric Young are the third team and drop Kaz with a double back elbow. Park’s big splash gets no cover but he does slam Kaz down again. Park tries another slam but gets dropped on his head to change control. Bad Influence changes without a tag because they’re, well, bad, allowing Daniels to send Park face first into Kaz’s boot. A slingshot elbow followed by a slingshot legdrop gets two as Young teases interfering.

Kaz’s sunset flip is countered but Park only hits mat when trying to sit down. We take another break and come back with Eric getting the hot tag and cleaning house with elbows and right hands. A belly to belly gets two on Daniels but he comes back with a release Rock Bottom. He misses the BME though and Park’s Samoan drop gives Young the pin.

Before the fourth team comes out though, Kaz lays out Young with Fade to Black and send Park into the Ultimate X structure. The BroMans are the final team (due to winning a match on Impact and come out with Mr. Olympia Phil Heath. Park is carried to the back and we’re starting with a handicap match. Robbie starts for the team but it’s quickly off to Jesse for a shot to the ribs. Young comes back with a double clothesline and some right hands to both Bros. The top rope elbow gets two as Jesse makes a save and the yet to be named BroDown (Hart Attack) gives the BroMans the title shot.

Rating: C. This match got a good deal of time, running about twenty two minutes. That’s far more than you usually get in a gauntlet match and it’s really nice for a change. I always have trouble with gauntlets as most of the falls take no time, which makes me wonder why that never happens in regular matches. This was a free match so it’s hard to complain when compared to the rest of the card.

The opening video is almost all about AJ with his voiceovers talking about how tired he is of doing the right thing all the time. Now he’s back to fight for himself instead of TNA, even though it makes him the same guy he used to be when he got ticked off. One other note: Dixie Carter is now evil and has sided with Bully Ray, who is still trying to take over her company. It was around this time that people were sick of hearing from her, so of course she became a bigger and bigger focal point of TV.

Taz is now part of Aces and 8’s so we have a heel commentator.

X-Division Title: Samoa Joe vs. Manik vs. Jeff Hardy vs. Chris Sabin vs. Austin Aries

Ultimate X with Manik defending against an all-star lineup. Joe is part of the reformed Main Event Mafia which is around to fight Aces and 8’s. Sabin quickly goes to the corner but gets glared down by everyone else in the match. Instead he bails to the floor and pulls Aries outside with him, only to be rammed into the tress. Back inside and Manik is put in the Tree of Woe so Sabin can stand on his crotch.

Tenay says this is the 32^nd time Ultimate X has been held, which is pretty frequent considering the company isn’t even twelve years old at this point. Joe snapmares Chris down for a loud chop to the back, making Sabin’s girlfriend Velvet Sky scream. Manik takes Joe down with a springboard dropkick as Hardy and Aries start going up the tress. Jeff pulls Austin down before Manik hurricanranas Hardy and Sabin down.

Aries is left alone in the ring and goes up, only to have Hardy pull him right back down before hitting the reverse powerbomb from last year. Since it’s a Jeff Hardy match, it’s ladder time until Joe hits a suicide elbow to take Jeff out. Sabin baseball slides the ladder into Joe but Manik dropkicks Joe down. Aries dives onto Joe and Manik but Manik gets back up and hurricanranas Sabin out to the floor.

Joe hammers away on Aries in the corner but the MuscleBuster is countered. Hardy comes back in but eats the running dropkick, followed by Joe getting the same. The brainbuster is countered into a swinging Koquina Clutch to send Aries outside. The champ goes up but gets pulled down into a low blow. Joe hits a running backsplash on Manik before getting dropkicked out to the floor by Sabin.

The Whisper in the Wind drops Sabin and now the ladder is brought in. Manik and Aries climb the ladder and fight over the belt but Sabin knocks it over. He goes after Hardy instead of climbing, earning himself a Twist of Fate. Sabin tells Velvet Sky to stop Hardy from climbing and throws her in the ring against her will. The distraction of Velvet in that tight of a dress lets Sabin run up the ladder to win the title.

Rating: C+. This was a good idea to freshen up the match but at the same time they’ve killed the concept. Why in the world would someone use the hard method of crawling along the ropes now instead of just climbing a ladder? It’s a nice followup to Sabin’s World Title run and heel turn, but it’s not like the title means anything outside of Destination X season.

It’s time for our theme of the night: great AJ Styles moments, starting with Styles becoming the first X-Division Champion back in 2002.

Here’s Bad Influence to fill some time since this is a seven match card. Kaz says no men have been screwed more than them since Brokeback Mountain. It’s an embarrassment that they’re not on the card tonight since Bad Influence IS TNA. They beat Chavo Guerrero and Hernandez and then had to face a lawyer and a fisherman so that shouldn’t even count. TNA loves to mess with things so let’s make it a three way for the Tag Team Titles.

This brings out Eric Young who says he’s here on scientific business. Earlier tonight, Bad Influence created a monster and everyone knows they should run. They beat him down but here’s Abyss to save his partner and clean house. Both Bad Influences take Black Hole Slams and Abyss helps Young up.

Gunner and James Storm tell the BroMans to not worry about their hair and girls because the champions are ready for them. JB’s hair looks funny for some reason.

Tag Team Titles: BroMans vs. James Storm/Gunner

Storm had a spot in a four way Tag Team Title match at Slammiversary and Gunner impressed him enough to get on the team. They won the belts and haven’t had much competition since. Mr. Olympia Phil Heath is with the challengers again. It’s a brawl to start with the champions cleaning house and Storm being backdropped over the top onto the BroMans. Back in and Storm throws Jesse across the ring before bringing in Gunner for some right hands to the head.

Gunner takes Jesse into the corner for some chops but a Robbie distraction lets Jesse pull him off the middle rope to take over. Robbie comes in legally and hammers away before giving it back to Jesse for two. E. quickly comes back in for a chinlock before Jesse breaks up a backslide attempt with a dropkick. The Bros break up a hot tag attempt and Jesse poses a lot. He gets crotched on the top though, allowing Gunner to hit a fall away slam to take Jesse down.

There’s the hot tag to Storm and house is cleaned again. James gets two off a top rope elbow and is sporting a big cut on his leg. Everything breaks down and Robbie escapes the Eye of the Storm before nailing an implant DDT for two. Gunner plants Robbie with an Irish Curse but Jesse breaks up the Gun Rack. A powerbomb/Backstabber combo gets a VERY close two on Robbie. The Last Call plants Jesse but Robbie throws in a title belt for a distraction, setting up the BroDown for the pin and the titles.

Rating: C-. I remember this being a bit better but the match wasn’t that bad. The near fall was really good and having new champions was a big surprise, but it was still missing something. I have no idea why Heath was out there as he didn’t add a thing to this match. Not bad but the new champs wouldn’t have anyone to feud with for awhile.

Video on Angle’s Hall of Fame induction.

Sting comes out to officially induct Angle into the Hall of Fame. Kurt comes out and thanks the fans but says he can’t accept this induction. This wound up being a story and Angle would eventually accept, which makes the Hall of Fame seem like a prop for angles rather than something special. It’s not a horrible thing but I still don’t like this. My guess however is it had something to do with Angle’s DUI in early August.

Clip of AJ wining the World title at No Surrender 2009.

Dixie Carter puts all of AJ’s merchandise on sale. Her nephew Ethan comes up and we get the new catchphrase: “The world needs us. We’re the Carters.” Well he’s easy to hate.

Knockouts Title: Gail Kim vs. Brooke vs. ODB

ODB is defending and Aces and 8’s member Brooke is Miss Tessmacher. Brooke is quickly run over and Gail gets sent to the floor by the champion. Back up and Brooke stomps away in the corner before giving ODB a Stinkface. That’s fine with ODB who pops up and chest bumps Brooke into the corner for a Bronco Buster. Gail gets back in and is quickly knocked right back to the floor. Brooke faceplants ODB for two as Gail is holding her arm.

ODB powers up to break a reverse chinlock but gets dropped by a running forearm. A spinning neckbreaker puts the champion down for two but Gail pulls Brooke down for a Figure Four around the post. ODB takes Gail down but Brooke gets two off a rollup. Off to a half crab on Brooke and Gail has to run in to break up a tap out. Both challengers go to the top so ODB tries to superplex them both, only to be shoved down. Gail missile dropkicks ODB and Brooke drops a top rope elbow on Kim to put all three on the mat.

ODB is up first to run everyone over but the referee gets crushed in the corner. Another shot knocks him out to the floor and we get the double fireman’s carry to show off ODB’s strength. Brooke falls off so ODB gives Gail the Bam onto Brooke’s body. Cue Lei’D Tapa to fight with ODB and knock the champion to the floor. A powerbomb plants Brooke and Tapa puts Gail on top for the pin and the title.

Rating: D+. Giving Gail a new monster bodyguard doesn’t make her any more interesting. Tapa had a different kind of look but at the end of the day, she was nothing compared to Ivelisse from Gut Check. The match was nothing we haven’t seen on Impact a bunch of times and just restarts the circle of Knockouts with the title all over again.

New broadcaster Gil Corsey (he didn’t last) is with the BroMans and Mr. Olympia. Protein shakes are poured and that’s about it.

Bobby Roode says he’ll prove he’s a better man than Kurt.

We recap Roode vs. Angle. Roode didn’t like Angle going into the Hall of Fame so he and Bad Influence (the Extraordinary Gentlemen’s Organization) inducted Bobby into the EGO Hall of Fame.

Kurt Angle vs. Bobby Roode

This is Angle’s first match back from rehab. Feeling out process to start with Roode actually taking him down to the mat. Kurt is a bit more hesitant to go after Roode this time but gets caught in a headlock anyway. A quick Crossface attempt sends Angle running but his ankle lock does the same to Roode. Back in and Roode hammers away in the corner until Kurt suplexes him out to the floor.

The fight heads out to the floor where another suplex drops Bobby. Angle tries one too many times though and gets his neck snapped across the top rope. Back in and Roode stomps away before getting two off a suplex. We hit the chinlock for a bit before Angle fights up with right hands. The Rolling Germans have Roode in trouble but he gets a shoulder up at two. The Angle Slam is countered with an armdrag and Roode gets two off a spinebuster.

Kurt escapes a Roode Bomb and puts on the ankle lock as we’re into the trading finishers section. The counter sends Angle arm first into the post and a DDT on the arm sets up the Crossface from Roode. A foot on the rope breaks the hold and Roode is getting frustrated. He walks into another suplex but avoids the moonsault. Roode slaps on the Crossface again but Kurt grabs the ankle lock to break the hold. I love that counter. Bobby pulls him down and puts on the Crossface again until Angle rolls over for two.

That gets rolled over for two more and Angle’s clothesline is countered into yet another Crossface. Kurt reverses THAT into another Angle Slam for two but he can’t follow it up. They slug it out from their knees and Kurt starts rolling more Germans. Bobby can’t take more of those though so he grabs the referee, allowing a low blow to Angle. The yet to be named Roode Bomb gets a very close two. He loads up another one but Kurt rolls down into the ankle lock.

Angle gets the grapevine for good measure and Roode starts to black out, but he’s being crafty. Channeling his inner Bret Hart, Roode is goldbricking and uses the referee checking his arm to grab the rope. Kurt is frustrated but takes Roode to the top for a Super Angle Slam. Both guys are down but Roode gets to his feet long enough to fall on Angle for a surprise pin. Angle never moved after hitting the Slam.

Rating: A-. This was the great match of the show with both guys showing off some awesome stuff. I like that they went with the Austin vs. HHH finish from No Way Out where they hit each other but HHH fell on top for a pin. It’s also the right call as Angle didn’t need the win and Roode gets the (unmentioned) win back from Bound For Glory 2011.

Angle is taken out on medics but wakes up when they try to put a neck brace on him, allowing him to walk out on his own.

AJ beat Sting at Bound For Glory 2009.

Styles is getting ready.

Bully Ray is in the back with a bunch of people we can’t see. A lot of the Aces and 8’s had left at this point so it’s implied they’re back tonight. Ray says the team is reborn tonight and says it’s all about the colors. We never saw who he was talking to.

Ethan Carter III vs. Norv Fernum

Fernum is a jobber who might weigh 150lbs and both guys are debuting tonight. Carter throws him around to start as you would expect before dropping him with a forearm. A high collar t-bone suplex makes Taz smile and Ethan rubs his face in the mat. Fernum scores with some dropkicks and a high cross body for two. Not that it matters as the yet to be named 1%er gives Ethan the easy pin.

Rating: C. Of course it’s not much of a match but this was exactly what you want from a debut for a guy like Carter. He’s become such an awesome heel and this was the kind of start they should have gone with. They played up the idea of Carter getting a handpicked opponent, which is something a rich guy would get. Smart and effective debut.

Magnus says he’s going to get his big win tonight and become the star he’s destined to be, even if it’s at Sting’s expense.

We recap Magnus vs. Sting. Magnus was in the finals of the Bound For Glory Series and lost, destroying his confidence. Sting said Magnus, his Main Event Mafia brother, was going to be a star and Sting was going to give him the chance to do just that.

Magnus vs. Sting

Both guys are good here and this is about making Magnus a star instead of a rivalry. They trade headlocks to start until Sting clotheslines Magnus down. A shoulder puts him on the floor and we’re in a slow start. Sting holds the ropes to let Magnus back in before getting knocked out to the apron with a European uppercut. The Brit holds the ropes open for Sting before leveling him with a clothesline to take over.

Off to a bodyscissors from Magnus for awhile until Sting finally grabs the ropes. Some ax handles have Sting in more trouble and Magnus stays on the ribs and back. Sting comes right back with a backdrop and the Stinger Splash followed by the Deathlock with very little torque on it. Magnus powers out of it and a double clothesline puts both guys down.

Back up and Magnus starts no selling shots to the face ala Sting vs. Flair back in 1987 before hitting a Stinger Splash of his own. A Michinoku Driver gets two but Sting shrugs off a Cloverleaf attempt. Now Sting starts no selling and hits his own Stinger Splash and another Deathlock with so little torque that the fans are barely interested. I guess Sting’s knees just won’t let him sit down anymore.

Magnus finally makes the rope and stops another Splash with a European uppercut. The Scorpion Death Drop puts Sting down and the top rope elbow gets two. A second elbow misses but Magnus fights out of some Death Drop attempts with HARD elbows to the face. Sting says Magnus to come on so Magnus takes him down and puts on the Cloverleaf for the very surprising submission.

Rating: D+. The fans are really not pleased with the ending and I can’t say I blame them. One of the biggest problems with Sting’s later TNA stuff is how fast his matches end. There’s no buildup to them and they just stop out of nowhere. This wasn’t a very good match either but that’s the case with almost all passing the torch matches. Without any hatred between them, there’s no reason for them to be fighting and it makes for a dull match.

They shake hands post match but Magnus doesn’t seem too interested.

AJ beat Magnus to get the title shot tonight.

Bully quotes Welcome to the Jungle to tell AJ that he’s going to die tonight. He doesn’t want AJ to die though. Ray wants AJ to have to live with himself and go back to Gainesville, Georgia and go into that trailer park so he can look at his kids and tell them he’s a failure. That will kill AJ and tonight, he’s in Bully’s jungle.

We recap AJ Styles vs. Bully Ray, which is almost all about AJ vs. Dixie. AJ won the title shot in the BFG Series but the main story is about Dixie Carter not wanting a hick like AJ as the world champion. She’s promised tonight is his last night in the company and has made the main event basically a street fight.

TNA World Title: AJ Styles vs. Bully Ray

Bully is defending and has the gorgeous Brooke with him. Ray powers him into the corner to start and says he can see the fear in AJ’s eyes. Styles tells him to bring it and gets taken down by the wrist. He finally rolls out but takes AJ down with a big boot to the face. Bully knocks him down again and tells AJ he’ll take care of the wife and kids. That just ticks AJ off and the drop down into a dropkick puts Ray down.

AJ’s Calf Killer goes on out of nowhere but Aces and 8’s member Garrett Bischoff comes out for a distraction. Ray picks up a hammer but AJ kicks it out of his hands and swings it himself. Bully prevents a bad case of death by chopping Styles a few times to Taz’s delight. He mocks Hogan with the hand to the ear before chopping AJ again. AJ asks him for another and Ray backs up into the corner out of fear. Styles goes off on him in the corner but gets nailed by a clothesline.

Ray’s next chop leaves a handprint on AJ’s chest but he comes back with kicks to the leg. Cue Aces and 8’s member Knux for a chokeslam on Styles, giving Bully two. Ray is ticked off at the near fall so he pokes Hebner in the chest, only to get shouted down. A big running clothesline hits Knux by mistake and AJ grabs a rollup for two. Ray kicks AJ right in the face to knock him out to the floor as this is picking up again.

They head outside and Ray picks up the hammer but gets Peled onto the announcers’ table. Styles loads up the springboard 450 but Ray moves, sending AJ crashing through the table for a huge wreck. Taz hands Ray a boxcutter so the champ can start cutting up the ring. He peels back the mat and then the padding underneath, leaving only the wooden boards.

With AJ still down, Ray calls the boys to the ring. Instead he gets Dixie because where would we be without her? She hands Ray a chair but AJ comes in with the springboard forearm to drive the chair into Bully’s face. The springboard 450 connects but Dixie tells Hebner not to count the pin. The hesitation lets Ray kick out at what should have been about 15. AJ’s Clash is countered with a backdrop onto the wood and Ray actually hits the middle rope backsplash. It’s only good for two though so Ray nails him in the back with a chair. AJ escapes the piledriver and nails a Pele, followed by Spiral Tap for the pin and the title.

Rating: B-. The match was good but it felt like a long segment at times instead of a match. The missed splash looked great and ripping up the ring was interesting, but man alive does Dixie Carter drag down segments she’s in. It’s not due to being a bad character as she’s easy to hate. It’s that I just do not want to see her involved because she’s going to get way more focus than she deserves and make things a lot more annoying than interesting.

As for AJ’s character, it’s questionable at best. We spent months on him as the loner who didn’t want anything to do with TNA and teased being a part of Aces and 8’s, but now he’s TNA’s conquering hero? That’s a stretch to say the least and the match felt more about Dixie vs. AJ by the end. They could save that for later on TV, which they would do again because TNA does some questionable things.

A bunch of recaps and a celebration end the show.

Overall Rating: C+. This show tried and had its moments but there’s not enough here to make the show great. That being said, not having to sit through the bad TV shows setting up this show made things a lot easier. It’s just the wrestling and the main event and Roode vs. Angle matches make it worth sitting through. Not a great show or anything and the booking continues to be AWFUL but the wrestling isn’t bad.

Ratings Comparison

Chavo Guerrero/Hernandez vs. BroMans vs. Eric Young/Joseph Park vs. Bad Influence

Original: C

Redo: C-

Chris Sabin vs. Austin Aries vs. Samoa Joe vs. Jeff Hardy vs. Manik

Original: C+

Redo: C+

Gunner/James Storm vs. BroMans

Original: C

Redo: C-

Brooke vs. ODB vs. Gail Kim

Original: D+

Redo: D+

Bobby Roode vs. Kurt Angle

Original: B+

Redo: A-

Ethan Carter III vs. Norv Fernum

Original: D-

Redo: C

Sting vs. Magnus

Original: C

Redo: D+

AJ Styles vs. Bully Ray

Original: C

Redo: B-

Overall Rating

Original: D+

Redo: C+

As usual, the lack of sitting through the build is a good thing. When TNA cuts out the nonsense of TV, they’re much easier to sit through.

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

http://kbwrestlingreviews.com/2013/10/20/bound-for-glory-2013-why-is-this-the-biggest-show-of-the-year/

So that’s Bound For Glory so far. Overall, the show is very endemic of TNA in general: they have good stuff, but the lack of creating top stars kills them. Four of the first five shows are more about Sting than anything else and the latter ones are mainly about Angle or Hogan. I get the idea of making them look strong so putting someone over them means something, but that only happened once at the biggest show of the year. Other than that, it’s almost all about making the old guys look good and that’s missing the point.

The show is worth checking out most of the time, but you can see TNA going downhill after about 2007. There’s almost always value to the show and none of them are horrible, but man alive they can be frustrating to sit through at times. Again, that’s true of so many things TNA does and they make it hard to be a fan for more than a little while at a time. Check out some of the better matches, but I wouldn’t recommend putting yourself through the full shows most of the time.

Bound For Glory 2012
Date: October 14, 2012
Location: Grand Canyon University Arena, Phoenix, Arizona
Attendance: 2,900
Commentators: Mike Tenay, Taz

It’s the age of the bikers now as the Aces and 8’s storyline has taken over TNA. This story started back in June and would still be going (kind of) at NEXT YEAR’S Bound For Glory because TNA doesn’t know how to just let something go. Again the real main event isn’t for the World Title, but rather Sting and Bully Ray facing off with two of the masked members of Aces and 8’s with access to the Impact Zone on the line. There’s also something about Jeff Hardy winning the Bound For Glory Series and challenging for the World Title but let’s get to the important stuff like Sting with Hogan in his corner. Let’s get to it.

Before I get started, I have to give this show praise for its tagline: The Memories Are Waiting. That actually gave me a chill when I first heard it and it still really works.

The opening video focuses on the moments at Bound For Glory. Oddly enough a lot of them focus on Sting. This really does make the show look like the biggest event of the year which is a very important thing for a wrestling company to have.

The announcers hype up the show and run down the card.

We have an old school ramp to the ring.

X-Division Title: Rob Van Dam vs. Zema Ion

Ion is defending and is obsessed with his hair. There’s no story here because there wasn’t time to get one together. Literally the Thursday before the show, Van Dam came out and said he was challenging for the title here. The fans are entirely behind Rob here as you would expect them to be. Feeling out process to start as Rob goes after Ion’s hair to take over. A few kicks to the face send Zema outside but he’s able to run away from Rob’s dive.

Back in and Rob ducks a clothesline but gets caught by a low dropkick. The ring is very loud here. Something like a Whisper in the Wind gets two for the champion but he gets crotched on the ropes and kicked back out to the floor. Rob takes a well deserved bow as this has been mostly one sided so far. The champ comes back in by diving through the ropes into a tornado DDT for a pair of near falls.

Rob gets shoved off the top and down onto the barricade, setting up a big flip dive from Ion. Zema throws him back in and blocks a monkey flip with a kind of hot shot. A missile dropkick gets two on Rob and the champion puts on an abdominal stretch to slow things down. That goes nowhere so they slug it out until Rob throws him into the air for a dropkick to the ribs. Rolling Thunder sets up the Five Star for the clean pin and the title.

Rating: C+. I liked this more than I thought I would with Ion being a perfectly adequate foil for the feel good title win. Rob broke a bit of a sweat here but there wasn’t a huge doubt as to who was winning. Ion had been champion for three months at this point and there wasn’t much else he could do with it so giving it to Rob to make him look like he still means something is a good idea.

Magnus says tonight is the biggest night of the year for everyone. Tonight, there is no more hiding behind Hogan for Samoa Joe and Magnus gets his TV Title.

TV Title: Magnus vs. Samoa Joe

Joe is defending. They used to be partners but Magnus went to the dark side after they lost the Tag Team Titles. Joe won the TV Title and Magnus wants a shot due to the tag team issues and Joe beating him in some BFG Series matches. Feeling out process to start with both guys sending the other to the corner. Magnus’ handshake offer is declined and Joe nails a hard big boot to the jaw. The Brit takes over with a clothesline and pounds away in the corner.

A knee to the face puts Joe down and a Michinoku Driver gets two. Joe gets all fired up and runs Magnus over before getting two off the running backsplash. There’s the STF followed by the Rings of Saturn but Magnus gets his foot on the ropes. Joe’s MuscleBuster and superplex attempts are broken up with a kick to the head and the top rope elbow gets two. Joe puts on the Clutch but Magnus climbs the ropes and flips over to escape. A chop block puts the champion down and he loads up the Figure Four, only to be countered into the Cluth to retain Joe’s title.

Rating: C-. Totally basic match here that could have been on any episode of Impact. Magnus just didn’t have it yet but would show some good improvement in the next year. At the same time, Joe was his normal self here as we’re in the middle of his latest push that wouldn’t go anywhere of note.

Roode says this hatred between him and Storm has been building for a year but ends tonight. I’m sure. Special referee King Mo won’t be a factor and Roode is going to send Storm home forever.

We recap Roode vs. Storm. As you might remember, Roode turned on Storm to win the World Title just after Bound For Glory 2011. This set up their huge showdown at Lockdown 2012 in Storm’s hometown after one heck of a build. Storm destroyed Roode for twenty minutes…..and then accidentally knocked him out of the cage so Roode retained the title.

Again, TNA had the chance to make a new star and just didn’t for….well I can’t say no apparent reason as Storm was banged up, but there was no reason to not give him the title there and then deal with the injury later. You give him the win and the fans get the moment. The reign itself doesn’t matter. See Mick Foley in 1999 for further proof. Anyway tonight it’s a street fight to blow off the feud, even though the cage match was the blowoff already.

Bobby Roode vs. James Storm

Street fight. MMA fighter King Mo is outside referee and comes out in a robe and crown. They stare each other down before Storm takes over with a bunch of right hands. A big backdrop puts Roode down and they head outside. Roode gets rammed face first into the apron but comes back with a shot to the face, only to stop and stare at Mo. Storm nails a Russian legsweep to send Bobby into the barricade to take over.

The Eye of the Storm through the announcers’ table doesn’t work as Roode slips down the back and sends Storm into the post to bust him open. He brings in a chair to knock Storm down even more as the blood is flowing. They head back inside with Roode bringing in a kendo stick, only to drop it to wedge a chair in the corner. Storm picks up the stick and nails Roode before putting a trashcan between Roode’s legs and driving it home with the stick.

An Elevated DDT onto the ramp knocks Roode silly but Storm is weak from the blood loss. A fan hands Storm a crutch for a shot to Roode’s ribs and Bobby is in trouble again. They slug it out with trashcan lids on the ramp and King Mo isn’t sure what to think. Roode finally goes down after a trashcan shot but he comes back with a spinebuster on the ramp.

They fight to the floor where Storm drinks a beer and takes Roode over to the announcers’ table. Bobby fights out of a suplex attempt which clearly wasn’t going to hit and spears Storm off one table and through another. That’s only good for two as Storm’s blood is all over Bobby’s back. He goes after Hebner but Mo gets in the ring and slaps Roode into Closing Time from Storm. The Last Call gets two and Storm is stunned.

Another Last Call is blocked and Roode sends him head first into the chair in the corner for two, even with a handful of trunks. Storm is sat on the top rope for a chair shot to the back….and it’s tacks time. Bobby loads up a superplex onto the tacks but gets shoved onto them instead, followed by a top rope elbow from Storm for two. A low blow puts Storm down and Roode brings in a six pack of beer. Storm returns the low blow and breaks the beer bottle over Roode’s head in the same move that started the feud. Bobby is out on his feet and the Last Call into the tacks gives Storm the pin.

Rating: B+. It’s a really good brawl but the Lockdown match really holds it back. This match comes off like Rock vs. Austin at Wrestlemania XIX: Storm wins here but it really doesn’t mean anything more than revenge. He lost the big match when everything was on the line and now looks like a choker. Still though, it’s a great bloody brawl with Storm looking like he went through a meat grinder. I have no idea why Mo needed to be here though as he didn’t do a thing.

Joey Ryan says he should have been given a contract before he was on Gut Check but Al Snow and the Gut Check judges thought they knew better than 87% of the Impact audience. He’s the opposite of Snow and they’re on his turf tonight. Politicking isn’t going to save Snow tonight because tonight, Ryan is bringing sleazy back to Bound For Glory.

That promo basically covered the recap. Ryan was on Gut Check and got 87% of the fan vote, but the judges said no. Joey showed up at some shows and tried to get on camera, even punching Snow over the barricade at one point. Tonight it’s Snow vs. Ryan for a contract.

Joey Ryan vs. Al Snow

Snow offers to start in an amateur position and easily takes Joey down for some slaps to the back of the head. They head to the corner with Snow dropping him with an elbow and hiptoss. Off to a headlock for a bit before Ryan nails a clothesline and rubs his own chest. Back up and a right hand knocks Snow’s head back for one of the most out there looks I’ve ever seen.

Some clotheslines drop Ryan and there are the headbutts to the chest. The Snow Plow gets two so Snow grabs Head from under the ring. The referee tries to take it away and gets crushed for his efforts. Joey kisses the Head for some reason but misses a baseball slide and gets caught in the ring skirt. Al grabs Head again but Matt Morgan returns through the crowd and kicks Snow’s head (not Head) off. Snow is thrown back in and Ryan gets the easy pin.

Rating: D. This doesn’t hold up very well though Snow hadn’t been active in a major promotion for years now. Joey was much better as a character or talker than an in ring guy but you had to get him on the roster somehow. The story for this wasn’t bad but the actual match didn’t hold up.

Bad Influence says they’re the team the women want to be with and the men just want to be. They’re going to run down their challengers tonight and wash it down with a delicious Appletini.

We recap the Tag Team Title three way. It’s basically good team vs. evil team vs. dream team.

Tag Team Titles: Bad Influence vs. Chavo Guerrero/Hernandez vs. Kurt Angle/AJ Styles

These teams have feuded over the titles all summer. Styles and Chavo get things going with Chavo getting two off a shoulder block. AJ takes him into the corner for the tag off to Angle and a nice reaction from the crowd. Kurt hammers away but Daniels tags himself in to take over on AJ. A fast series of tags gives us Hernandez suplexing AJ before Chavo gets two off a slingshot hilo.

Kaz tags himself in but walks into the drop down into the dropkick. Styles brings in Angle who gets driven into the corner, allowing Chavo to come in and work over Kaz in the corner. Chavo brings in Herenadnez for the over the shoulder backbreaker and it’s quickly off to Daniels vs. Styles. Daniels avoids a charge in the corner and Kaz nails a hard clothesline from the apron. Off to Kaz for a slingshot legdrop and a pelvic thrust at Guerrero and Hernandez.

Daniels hiptosses Daniels on AJ for two and we hit a full nelson on the mat. Back up and AJ escapes a monkey flip but avoids a tag from Hernandez and Chavo so he can Pele Kaz down. A double tag brings in Daniels and Angle with Kurt cleaning house. Kaz gets caught in rolling Germans but Daniels climbs his partner for a sunset flip, only to be countered into an ankle lock. Angle misses a charge into the corner but belly to bellies Kaz into Daniels for two.

Chavo and Hernandez are knocked back to the floor so Kaz can hit the slingshot DDT on Angle. Hernandez runs in and knocks Kaz across the ring, only to have AJ knock SuperMex across the ring. Daniels moonsaults out to take out Angle but turns around into a huge dive from Hernandez. AJ isn’t about to be one upped so he fakes a dive onto Guerrero and dives onto Hernandez and Bad Influence for a huge crash. Back in and Chavo tries the Three Amigos on Angle but gets caught in the Angle Slam.

Hernandez breaks up the moonsault and sets for the Border Toss, only to have AJ tag himself in and save his partner. Kurt misses a charge and falls out to the floor, allowing Kaz to slam Styles down. The BME gets two on AJ and Daniels is STUNNED. Chavo dives out to the floor to take Kaz out as AJ escapes Angel’s Wings and nails the moonsault reverse DDT on Daniels. Hernandez tags himself in and drills Daniels with a slingshot shoulder followed by the Border Toss and Frog Splash from Chavo for the pin and the titles.

Rating: B. This was a fun and fast paced three way but unfortunately it would start one of the least interesting title reigns in recorded history. Guerrero and Hernandez were really good in the ring but man alive would they drive things into the ground during their promos. The match was really awesome stuff though with some great spots and saves but it never got to that highest level.

The new champions celebrate post match.

We recap Tara vs. Tessmacher. This is the old mentor vs. mentee story with Tara teaching Tessmacher everything she knew, only to have Tessmacher win the title. Tara couldn’t beat her and got pinned, so she turned heel and set up a rematch. She also has a Hollywood boyfriend who is debuting tonight.

Knockouts Title: Tara vs. Miss Tessmacher

The cast of British Bootcamp, including Rockstar Spud, is in the front row. Taryn Terrell is referee, as she was for every Knockouts match for awhile. They stare each other down to start and Tessmacher gets a few rollups for two each on the challenger. A headscissors puts Tara down again but she comes back with a knee to the ribs and a baseball slide to send Tessmacher out to the floor.

Back in and Tara poses a lot but gets caught in a sunset flip for two. Tara charges into a boot in the corner and gets DDTed for two. Back up and Tessmacher goes nuts with clotheslines followed by a spining clothesline for two. A top rope hurricanrana puts Tara down but she avoids a top rope elbow. The Widow’s Peak gives Tara the title back.

Rating: C-. This was just a step above a standard Knockouts match, meaning it really wasn’t all that good. Like most other Knockouts, Tara can only win so many titles before they just stop meaning anything. At least Tessmacher was a fresh name in the division, but the post match stuff at least validates the new champion.

Tara introduces her Hollywood boyfriend: Jesse from Big Brother. Kissing ensues, accompanied by a big “WHO ARE YOU” chant.

We see Sting’s Hall of Fame induction from last night, making him the first member.

We recap Aces and 8’s vs. Sting/Bully Ray. The bikers have taken over the company and kidnapped Joseph Park. Hulk agreed to a tag match at Bound For Glory in exchange for Park’s release. It’s two TNA guys (Hogan can’t be one) vs. two Aces tonight. If the bikers win, they get full access to the Impact Zone but if they lose, they’re gone. At this point, we still don’t know any members of the group.

Ray volunteered to team with Sting to stand up for TNA, which would wind up being a huge plot point later on. The best part of this whole thing was when the Aces had Hogan in their clubhouse. Hogan agreed to the tag match and said he was one of the guys. The Aces boss: “Hogan, for once in your life this isn’t about you!”

Aces and 8’s vs. Sting/Bully Ray

No DQ and Ray has Sting face paint on. The Aces still have Park with them and he’s now conscious. Keep in mind that Park had figured out who the Aces’ leader was, or at least a lot about them, at this point. That’s also going to be a big plot point later on. It’s a huge brawl to start on the floor with the very big Aces quickly getting beaten down. The Bikers fights back with right hands as the fans are chanting for Hogan.

Ray and Sting double team we’ll say #1 with an elbow to the head and a piece of a table to the same spot. #1 comes back by whipping Ray into the steps and avoids a Stinger Splash against the barricade. They finally get inside with #2 working over Sting with uppercuts and a slam for two. Off to #1 with a clothesline for two as we see Park handcuffed to the barricade.

The bikers start double teaming but Sting no sells a slam and Hulks Up but the Scorpion on #1 is quickly broken up. A Death Drop out of nowhere plants #1 but Sting tags Ray instead of covering. Ray cleans house with elbows and a middle rope shoulder but #1 gets in a knee to the back from the apron. Ray comes right back with a double clothesline to drop the Aces and a splash gets two on #1.

Sting and #2 get in a fight on the floor and #1 brings in a chair. Bully kicks it out of his hands but a third member comes in with a low blow. He spits at Park so Joseph rips the handcuffs off the barricade and hammers away on the third guy. All four of the regular guys are in the ring now and we get a Doomsday Device on #1. There’s a Stinger Splash to #2 and Sting wants the tables. #1 pulls Sting to the floor for a brawl and a fourth Ace comes in for a spinebuster to put Ray through the table, giving #2 the pin.

Rating: C. There was only so much you could do with something like this the bikers were just faceless monsters so the match shouldn’t have been any kind of a wrestling clinic. That being said, Sting can only do so much in the ring so keeping it as a brawl was a good idea. On top of that, this was all about the story instead of the wrestling so they could do almost whatever they wanted out there.

The rest of the team came in for the beatdown until Hogan comes out. Like any villain group worth their salt, they sent attackers at Hogan one at a time so he can punch them all down. Eventually the guy that interfered is left alone with Sting, Ray and Hogan. The masked man is beaten down and Hulk unmasks him to reveal….D-Von, whose contract expired while he was still TV Champion and hasn’t been seen in months. Everyone is stunned that it’s D-Von, who says it was always him.

So yeah, TNA spent four months on this and the first thing we get is D-Von. The response to this was almost universally negative as it felt like a huge letdown. At the end of the day, D-Von is the quieter member of a tag team who won a mostly meaningless TV Title earlier in the year. For him to be the first reveal and in theory the leader of the team, the whole idea sounds laughable. Look at the visual you have: Bully Ray, Sting and HULK HOGAN against D-Von and a bunch of faceless fighters. Why in the world should I care about something like that? Naturally this story went on for another year because….well why not.

As for the two plot points, I think it’s safe to explain these as this show is two years old. First off there’s Park, who found out the identity of at least multiple Aces and 8’s members and maybe even the leader. He was free by the end of the match….AND HE DIDN’T GO TELL HOGAN? Hulk had wanted to talk to Park for weeks and apparently he didn’t say anything immediately?

It gets worse, because to the best of my knowledge, Park NEVER SAID ANYTHING. This brings us to the other plot point. Bully Ray signed up for this match and of course eventually became the leader of Aces and 8’s. They did a good job with the build, but people had it figured out by January or so. Again, that’s not a bad thing though and Ray had raised his game so much that he more than deserved the spot.

Austin Aries says he’s done everything he’s said he would do with confidence but tonight he’s going to do it with anger. He’s defending against Jeff Hardy tonight and had a really weak heel turn like a week before the show to give the match a story.

We recap Aries vs. Hardy, which is all about Jeff Hardy’s redemption after being high on something at Victory Road 2011. Aries said he was tired of being told what to do and now he’s going to be himself. He wanted to know why Hardy got all this special treatment and attacked Jeff on Impact, calling him a failure.

TNA World Title: Jeff Hardy vs. Austin Aries

Aries is defending and parades around with the belt to start. Jeff shoves him into the corner before they hit the mat for some amateur stuff. They’re wrestling like they have a lot of time which usually makes for a good match. Back up and Aries looks annoyed as Hardy takes him into the corner. Jeff hammers away but gets caught in a headlock, only to counter into a headscissors. Aries escapes with a headstand but misses his dropkick.

The second attempt works a bit better though and Hardy is knocked silly. Aries chokes with a boot but goes outside for a victory lap instead of covering. Back in and Aries tells Jeff to wait a minute, earning him a suplex. Austin rolls to the floor and gets nailed with an ax handle to the back to put him down again. Jeff nails Poetry in Motion off the steps to drive Aries into the barricade and we go back inside.

The champ avoids a dropkick and gets two off a middle rope elbow. He hammers away in the corner and stops a quick splash attempt by raising his knees. A backbreaker gets another near fall and Aries puts on an abdominal stretch on the mat. Hardy fights up again as the fans are split on who to cheer for. The brainbuster is countered and Hardy nails the sitout front suplex. Aries takes him back down and gets two more off a slingshot spinning splash.

Jeff blocks the Last Chancery and picks Aries up for a powerbomb, only to drop him backwards for a big crash. A basement dropkick gets two for Hardy and the Whisper in the Wind gets the same. The Twist of Fate is blocked but Jeff kicks Aries to the floor and into the barricade. He avoids a big plancha though, setting up the suicide dive to send Hardy into the barricade again. It works so well that Aries hits it again but Jeff gets up at two.

Austin is busted open after ramming his head into the steel but it only makes him cover Jeff even harder. The Last Chancery goes on now and only lasts a few seconds as usual. Aries takes him to the ramp for a brainbuster but Jeff counters into a Twist of Fate attempt. That goes nowhere either as Aries sends him back inside with a clothesline. He slams Jeff head first onto the edge of the ramp and Hardy looks out of it. A missile dropkick makes things even worse but Jeff blocks the running corner dropkick.

The Twist of Fate out of nowhere gets two and Hardy goes up top, only to get crotched back down. A great looking jumping top rope hurricanrana puts Jeff down again and now the running dropkick connects. The brainbuster is only good for two and Aries is spent. With nothing left to throw, Aries tries a double stomp out of the Tree of Woe but Jeff rolls away. Another Twist and the Swanton give us a new champion.

Rating: A-. This was the kind of wrestling match they needed to close out the show but the angle and match felt tacked on after the previous stuff. Hardy winning the title back is a good story but Aries didn’t need to turn heel. This made him feel like a villain for Hardy to vanquish rather than a champion in a huge showdown. That being said, it’s a really good match with both guys taking everything the other had and surviving. Excellent main event.

Overall Rating: B+. This show holds up a lot better than I expected it to. The wrestling is good and again, the big reveal doesn’t bother me as much without spending all the months on the build. There’s more than enough stuff here to carry it with the street fight, Tag Team Title match and main event all being good to very good matches. As usual, when TNA cuts out the nonsense and just lets its wrestlers wrestle, good things happen. This show worked and I had a good time watching it, which is rare for TNA.

Ratings Comparison

Rob Van Dam vs. Zema Ion

Original: C

Redo: C+

Magnus vs. Samoa Joe

Original: C+

Redo: C-

Bobby Roode vs. James Storm

Original: B+

Redo: B+

Joey Ryan vs. Al Snow

Original: D+

Redo: D

Bad Influence vs. Chavo Guerrero/Hernandez vs. AJ Styles/Kurt Angle

Original: B

Redo: B

Miss Tessmacher vs. Tara

Original: D

Redo: C-

Sting/Bully Ray vs. Aces and 8’s

Original: C

Redo: C

Jeff Hardy vs. Austin Aries

Original: B+

Redo: A-

Overall Rating

Original: B

Redo: B+

Like I said, we’re at the point where not a lot is going to change.

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

http://kbwrestlingreviews.com/2012/10/14/bound-for-glory-2012-if-these-are-the-memories-that-are-waiting-amnesia-doesnt-sound-that-bad/

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up my new book of 1997 WCW Monday Nitro Reviews at Amazon for just $3.99 at:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00NPPH0WI

And check out my Amazon author page with wrestling books for under $4 at:

http://www.amazon.com/Thomas-Hall/e/B00E6282W6

Bound For Glory 2011
Date: October 16, 2011
Location: Liacouras Center, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Attendance: 3,585
Commentators: Mike Tenay, Tazz

This is kind of the sequel to last year’s show as Hogan and Immortal have spent the year fighting Sting and tonight is TNA’s one chance to get Dixie Carter back in power. The other major change is the introduction of the Bound For Glory Series, a summer long competition where the winner get a World Title shot at Bound For Glory. Bobby Roode won the first Series and is challenging Kurt Angle in the alleged main event. Let’s get to it.

The opening video shows the main event guys getting ready for their matches. We also see clips of Hogan arriving and then turning on Dixie Carter to become the evil monster that he is. Sting wants to turn things around and set TNA right again, which he seems to do every few months. The World Title feud gets a token mention.

The announcers do their intros.

X-Division Title: Austin Aries vs. Brian Kendrick

Aries is defending and beat Kendrick for the title at No Surrender. The fans are entirely behind the champion as they counter each others’ wristlocks to start. Kendrick is sent to the corner and a shoulder puts him on the mat. Back up and Brian tries four headlocks which are countered into four headscissors on the mat. A dropkick puts Aries on the floor and things slow down.

Another dropkick sends Aries into the barricade and there’s a nice plancha. The fans loudly boo as this is one of the capital smark cities of the world. Back in and Aries takes his head off with a clothesline before a slingshot hilo and elbow drop get two. Off to a chinlock for a bit before Aries misses the Pendulum Elbow. Kendrick comes back with a forearm to the face and dropkick followed by an ax handle to the back of the head for two. A gutbuster and STO set up Aries’ Pendulum Elbow for two of his own but the running dropkick is stopped by Kendrick’s boot.

Brian gets two of his own off a tornado DDT and both guys are spent. Aries sends him out to the floor for a fast suicide dive, knocking Kendrick into the barricade. Back in and the running corner dropkick connects but Brian escapes the brainbuster with some knees to the head. A superkick nails Aries but he’s still able to counter Sliced Bread #2. Instead Kendrick goes up another rope and hits a super Sliced Bread #2, but Aries lands next to the ropes. Austin comes back in with the running dropkick and brainbuster to retain.

Rating: C+. Good opener here as Aries was kicking off his awesome run with the title. Beating Kendrick for the second time in a row was the best way to get him off to a good start. Kendrick was more than able to hang in there and Aries had to break a bit of a sweat to retain here.

The Angle daughters are hanging out with Traci Brooks. Karen Jarrett comes in and tells them to go find their dad (meaning Jeff Jarrett) before ripping into Traci for being near them. Karen is going to referee a match tonight and Traci has to stay in the back.

We recap RVD vs. Jerry Lynn. They’re longtime rivals and Jerry is jealous that he doesn’t get the attention that Rob gets. It could have something to do with Rob winning every high profile match between them (except one in ECW that no one remembers).

Jerry Lynn vs. Rob Van Dam

Full Metal Mayhem but you win by pinfall. Feeling out process to start with Rob going after the arm but having to kick out of a rollup attempt. Some clotheslines and a spinning kick drop Jerry but he’s back up with a dropkick to break up Rolling Thunder. More back and forth basics until they botch what looked to be a cross body from Lynn to put both guys on the floor. Instead Van Dam just falls on him before they roll to the floor. That was rather awkward.

Rob is sent into the barricade but misses a moonsault press off the barricade. It’s already ladder time as Rob is favoring his knee. He’s able to pick up a chair but Jerry dropkicks the ladder into his face to keep control. Back in and Rob cross bodies Jerry onto the chair for two before putting the ladder up in the corner. That goes nowhere so he lays the ladder on Jerry for Rolling Thunder and two. Van Dam grabs the chair but Jerry dropkicks it back into his face for two more.

Lynn misses a middle rope legdrop by only hitting the ladder but he’s still able to break up a Van Daminator by throwing the ladder at Rob’s head. A suplex puts Jerry on the ladder and a Lionsault onto Lynn on the ladder gets two. Rob’s rolling monkey flip is countered by a middle rope clothesline as they keep up the idea of knowing each other so well. Lynn rolls outside and finds another ladder but leans it up against the barricade. He escapes a suplex onto the ladder and sunset bombs Rob off the apron and (kind of) onto the ladder for a big crash.

Back in again and Rob is able to kick out at two, giving Lynn even more frustration. Now the Van Daminator connects but Lynn is up at two. With nothing else to do, Rob puts the ladder on top of Jerry in the corner and nails the Van Terminator with a chair to knock Lynn out cold. Rob writhes in pain on the mat for a bit before covering for the pin.

Rating: C. This was entertaining enough but it felt like stuff we’ve seen before. The Van Terminator was a good ending but they never got into that other gear that they were shooting for. Lynn losing makes sense here but it’s the same ending we’ve seen so many times before in this feud. There weren’t even that many near falls.

They hug post match.

Dixie Carter arrived earlier.

Video on Crimson who is undefeated coming in and only lost the BFG Series because of an injury at Samoa Joe’s hands. The same thing happened to Matt Morgan when he went after Joe, so it’s a triple threat tonight.

Crimson vs. Samoa Joe vs. Matt Morgan

Joe gets double teamed as you would expect him to be and Morgan nails the corner elbows. The Samoan comes back with some chops to Morgan and right hands to Crimson before getting caught between the two of them. Crimson gets low bridged to the floor and Joe goes after Morgan’s knee to put him down. All three get inside again but Joe sends his opponents out to the floor, followed by the suicide elbow to take Morgan down.

Crimson and Joe slug it out as Matt gets up top in a hurry to take Crimson down with a cross body. Back in and Crimson slugs it out with Joe again before a high collar suplex gets two on the Samoan. Morgan gets back in and a double shoulder puts Joe down. Now Crimson and Morgan get in a shoving match until Joe low bridges Morgan to the floor. He kicks Crimson in the head and loads up the MuscleBuster until Morgan makes the save. Morgan misses a Carbon Footprint though, allowing Crimson to spear Joe down for the pin.

Rating: D+. This didn’t do anything for me and felt like the triple threat formula to the letter. Crimson winning makes sense, but they could have made him look more dominant. That’s the problem with most of his streak: it felt more like he was surviving instead of beating guys, which takes away from its impact.

Bully Ray says he doesn’t need an introduction but introduces himself anyway. He’s been exploiting this city for fifteen years and has seven cars and five houses because of it. Anderson has no business in a falls count anywhere match with him, so screw Anderson and screw Philadelphia.

Bully Ray vs. Mr. Anderson

Hardcore. Anderson was part of Immortal and won the World Title but was thrown out about a month later. Ray had cost him his rematch and this is about revenge. The brawl starts fast and Anderson gets an early advantage with some shots to the face and a swinging neckbreaker. Ray escapes the rolling fireman’s carry and kicks Anderson in the face before slowly walking around the ring. He loudly chops away in the corner but Anderson kicks him in the side of the head for two.

We get our first weapon as a fan hand Anderson a sign wrapped around a Dead End sign. A beer to the face has Ray in even more trouble and Anderson sends him face first into the barricade. Ray sends him into the steps to come back for two and it’s already table time. They leave the table at ringside and head to the stage for a suplex from Ray. He reaches up and gets Anderson’s mic to announce that he’s from New York City. Like any good villain though he takes too much time and allows Anderson to get in a cheap shot to take over.

They fight to the back with a bloody Ray missing a shot with a pipe. A piledriver on the concrete gets two on Anderson and they fight back into the arena. Anderson gets the better of it and unhooks a piece of the barricade. That takes too long as well though and Ray runs him over with a clothesline. We get another table brought in and set up near the corner, but Ray gets backdropped onto the barricade.

Anderson misses a Swanton and hits the barricade as well, setting up the Bubba Bomb through the table for a very close two. Ray’s middle rope backsplash lands on the barricade (does that EVER hit?) and Anderson gets two more off a mic check onto the steel in a very close near fall. They head outside again where a trashcan shot puts Ray on the table. Now the Swanton connects with Ray but the table doesn’t break, so the fans boo him instead of worrying about a broken neck. The Mic Check through the table gives Anderson the pin.

Rating: B. Better match than the Full Metal Mayhem match here with better high spots which actually connected. Ray is good for a brawl and Anderson can make things look very good as well. They overused the barricade a bit here but it’s better than having ten table spots in a row. Solid brawl here.

Eric Bischoff is in the back with mostly inept referee Jackson James. The big reveal is that James is Bischoff’s son and no one has figured it out until now. Eric warns him that tonight is going to get ugly and Sting is going to be taken out on a stretcher.

The announcers are shocked.

Knockouts Title: Madison Rayne vs. Velvet Sky vs. Winter vs. Mickie James

Winter, a kind of lesbian vampire who might be sleeping with Angelina, is defending. No real story here other than a bunch of qualifying matches put together by Knockouts Boss Karen Jarrett. Karen is refereeing here too. We have tags again here so it’s Mickie vs. Winter to get things going. The champ grabs an armbar to start before James comes out of the corner with a headscissors and neckbreaker for two.

Madison comes in with what looks like a handkerchief to Mickie’s face as Karen keeps screeching. Velvet comes in with some facebusters to Madison but Karen is busy tying her shoe. Everything breaks down for a second as Madison and Winter get in an argument. Karen tells the two of them to go fight Mickie and Velvet so we have a double tag. Mickie suplexes Velvet but Karen won’t tag to reenforce what we already knew.

The girls get frustrated at the refereeing before slugging it out. Winter and Madison trip them to the floor, earning them a beating back inside. The champ cleans house until Mickie comes in to take her out. Jarrett yells even more so Winter sprays her blood in Karen’s eyes. The MickieDT plants Winter as Traci comes out to take over. Velvet hits In Yo Face on Madison for the pin and the title.

Rating: D. This was REALLY annoying as there was almost no structure or flow to it. Most of the match was spent on Karen, meaning the big moment of Velvet finally winning the title barely meant anything. The wrestling didn’t get any focus because the whole thing was about the annoying referee. I understand that was the point back in the day, but it really doesn’t hold up.

Kazarian hopes Daniels and Styles will beat on each other and then shake hands but that doesn’t seem likely.

We recap Styles vs. Daniels. Christopher beat him in a fluke when AJ tripped on the ropes and then bragged about it for months. This triggered a heel turn so tonight it’s an I Quit match. Most of the talk here is about their history rather than the match here.

AJ Styles vs. Christopher Daniels

I Quit. Styles takes him down and hammers away before Daniels does the same with an STO. AJ won’t say it so he nails Daniels in the head with the mic for the same result. Off to an Indian deathlock with a chinlock but Daniels bites the hand to escape. Back up and the drop down into the dropkick puts Daniels down on the floor and AJ follows him out with a big dive.

Christopher tries to crawl under the ring but gets dragged out with a toolbox. AJ avoids a wrench that is launched at his head but then has to avoid being stabbed with a screwdriver. The screwdriver gets stabbed into the turnbuckle before they head to the apron to trade forearms. Daniels grabs AJ for a Blue Thunder Bomb onto the apron but AJ still won’t quit. Back in and Daniels chokes away before hitting the BME onto AJ’s back. Daniels stays on the back with a half crab but AJ makes the ropes.

Back up and Daniels nails a backbreaker to stop AJ’s comeback. With Styles bleeding a bit from the forehead, Daniels opens a chair across AJ’s throat and sits down on it to talk some trash. He says he’s going to get everything that has been handed to AJ in TNA and will tell AJ’s wife that Styles’ last words were he loved her. Daniels gets up and tells AJ’s wife to take the kids out of the room while he murders Styles.

AJ gets to his feet and avoids a charge in the corner. The moosault into the reverse DDT plants Christopher and there’s the Pele followed by the springboard forearm. Back up and Daniels plants him with the release Rock Bottom, only to miss the BME. He shouts DIE AJ but charges into the Pele and Styles Clash. Now it’s time for a chair but AJ picks up the screwdriver instead, making Daniels quit to avoid pain ala JBL at Judgment Day 2005.

Rating: B-. Good brawl with a lame ending. The problem with something like a screwdriver is the same as it was with Janice last year: you can only tease it so far before you have to stop things. These two are always worth a watch but I think the fans were starting to get sick of the combination. It would get even worse in 2012.

AJ leaves after a highlight package but Daniels lays him out with Angel’s Wings on the ramp, because this feud MUST CONTINUE!

Here’s a ticked off Jeff Jarrett with something to say. He’s feuding with Jeff Hardy and has told him not to show up here tonight, but there are rumors that Hardy has been seen in the city. No one here wants anything to do with Hardy and the Jarretts took a poll of fans earlier today to prove it. He wants Hardy out here right now for the beating he deserves.

Cue Hardy who is still being forgiven for the mess at Victory Road 2011. Hardy says he has one thing to say to Jarrett and the fight is on. Security quickly comes out to break it up but they keep going after each other. Agents can’t break it up either but they finally get Jarrett out of the ring.

Long recap of the Hogan vs. Sting feud. This covers Hogan debuting, Sting accusing Hogan of screwing over the company and being right, and the last year of Hogan and Bischoff running roughshod over the company. Sting went after Hogan for months and Hogan finally agreed to put up the company against Sting’s career. Two notes here: first, this story made Dixie Carter a regular thing on TNA TV. Second, Sting spent 2010 saying the real Hogan would screw over TNA. Then he spent 2011 saying the real Hogan was a good guy.

Hulk Hogan vs. Sting

Bischoff’s son is referee. Sting is insane here and wears a Hulkamania shirt to the ring. Hulk is in street clothes. The bell rings and here comes Flair as we keep looking at Dixie Carter in the front row. Sting grabs a headlock to start but Hogan shoves him away and Hulks Up. That gets Hogan a crotch chop so Hulk punches him down and puts on a chinlock. Sting gets sent outside but is quickly back inside to have his back and eyes raked.

Hogan throws him outside for low blows and chops from Flair before Hulk starts biting at Sting’s forehead. The beating goes on for awhile until they head back inside where Flair slips Hogan a foreign object. The shots bust Sting open but Sting comes back with right hands. He stops the beating and goes after Flair, stealing the foreign object to cut Hogan open as well. A pair of Stinger Splashes set up the Scorpion Deathlock and Hogan gives up, forcing referee Jackson James to call for the bell.

Rating: D+. This one would fall under the category of “what else were you expecting?” At the end of the day, TNA basically exists to make Sting look good so this really shouldn’t be a surprise. Someone young probably should have gotten the rub from Hogan, but Sting clearly needed this spot instead right?

Immortal comes out to destroy Sting with chairs as Abyss is shown watching from behind the curtain. Jackson James takes one of them away, turning face about an hour and fifteen minutes after he turned heel. Bischoff hits him with a chair, starting the most unwanted face push in the history of ever.

Sting crawls over to Hogan and begs for help, because if there’s one thing more important than making Sting look good, it’s making Hogan look good. Hogan makes the big face turn and helps Sting clean house, because two bloody guys in their 50s beating up about seven guys armed with chairs makes perfect sense. Posing ensues and of course the old WWF crowd eats it up. It’s a cool segment for the moment, but this was basically all about Hogan and Sting instead of doing anything for TNA long term.

We recap Angle vs. Roode, which is all about Roode’s road to the title. Roode talks about sacrificing everything to become champion and Angle says Roode isn’t ready. Bobby has been facing his Fourtune teammates to make sure he’s ready and has never been more polished. It’s a good idea but the lack of making it personal hurts it.

TNA World Title: Kurt Angle vs. Bobby Roode

Alleged main event. We don’t even get big match intros for this one. Roode quickly takes him down for the Crossface but Angle bails to the floor, showing off a heavily taped thigh. Back in and Angle drives a series of knees and shoulders into the ribs for two. Angle rolls a few Germans and goes up for the moonsault, only to have Roode run the ropes and German Kurt from the top.

Roode wins a slugout and scores with a running clothesline before getting two off a Blockbuster. He goes up again but Angle runs the ropes as well and superplexes Roode down. Bobby snaps on the Crossface though and Kurt is suddenly in trouble. Angle reverses into the ankle lock but Roode rolls him into the Crossface. He stops Kurt’s second escape attempt but the third is countered into the Angle Slam for two. Back to the ankle lock but Roode kicks away and nails the spinebuster.

A fisherman’s suplex gets a VERY close two on Angle and a rollup gets the same. Angle Slam is countered but Kurt moves the referee around for a low blow. The second Angle Slam connects for two and it’s time to roll more Germans. Roode reverses another into the Crossface but Angle makes a rope.

Kurt comes back with a spear to stay on the ribs for two. He goes up but dives into the Crossface again. They counter each other’s finishers until Angle nails yet another Slam and grabs the rope for the pin. The rope really didn’t matter as Roode wasn’t even trying to kick out at the end, though his arm looked to be under the rope.

Rating: B-. If there is a dumber ending to a main event on a major show, I can’t think of it off the top of my head. This was entirely set up to be the biggest moment of Roode’s career and then they have him get pinned like that? It completely deflated the crowd and makes the whole thing feel like a waste of time.

However this show has an interesting perspective because of the time that has passed. What we didn’t know here was that Kurt was actually hurt (and made worse in this match) and had to take time off. Therefore, later in the week, Angle dropped the title to James Storm in about 90 seconds on Impact. Storm, WHO WASN’T EVEN ON THIS SHOW, would then drop the belt to Roode two weeks later when Roode turned heel, despite losing the biggest match of his career just a few weeks earlier.

This is a case of TNA trying to shock the crowd and screwing up huge in the process. More than maybe anything else, TNA has issues with making its own stars. Roode was primed and ready to become the breakout star here, but instead it’s Angle getting yet ANOTHER accolade and win that he doesn’t need before before he takes two months off. Sometimes you need to go with Austin at Wrestlemania XIV and do the obvious ending instead of doing something surprising to set up something new. TNA has yet to get this idea.

Angle is helped out to end the show.

Overall Rating: C+. Score one for the old guys! That’s what this show felt like: revenge of the veterans and screw everyone else on the roster. There’s enough good stuff here to watch but it really drives me crazy to see TNA screw stuff up for the sake of pushing guys like Sting, Angle and Hogan AGAIN. You have an incredibly talented roster but these major shows are here to give the old guys another thrill instead of building up someone new. That’s one of TNA’s biggest problems over the years: they don’t look to the future and it’s held them down forever.

There’s good stuff on the show though as nothing is really bad and most of the things are more than worth watching. The time actually helps in a way here as the show doesn’t feel deflating as I don’t have any build to make me care about the matches. As a stand alone show it’s entertaining, but the emotion is what carries a show to higher levels. Live it was a great show with a bad ending. Three years later it’s a pretty good show with an ending that makes you shake your head and say “they did it again.”

Ratings Comparison

Austin Aries vs. Brian Kendrick

Original: B-

Redo: C+

Jerry Lynn vs. Rob Van Dam

Original: B

Redo: C

Samoa Joe vs. Crimson vs. Matt Morgan

Original: C

Redo: D+

Bully Ray vs. Mr. Anderson

Original: C+

Redo: B

Mickie James vs. Madison Rayne vs. Velvet Sky vs. Winter

Original: D+

Redo: D

Christopher Daniels vs. AJ Styles

Original: C

Redo: B-

Hulk Hogan vs. Sting

Original: D+

Redo: D+

Bobby Roode vs. Kurt Angle

Original: C

Redo: B-

Overall Rating

Original: B+

Redo: C+

I’m not sure what I was thinking on the original. It’s not that good.

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

http://kbwrestlingreviews.com/2011/10/16/bound-for-glory-2011-hogan-is-a-face-and-kurt-retains-wait-what/

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up my new book of 1997 WCW Monday Nitro Reviews at Amazon for just $3.99 at:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00NPPH0WI

And check out my Amazon author page with wrestling books for under $4 at:

http://www.amazon.com/Thomas-Hall/e/B00E6282W6

Bound For Glory 2010
Date: October 10, 2010
Location: Ocean Center, Daytona Beach, Florida
Attendance: 3,500
Commentators: Mike Tenay, Taz

And then it all changed. A few weeks after Bound For Glory 2009, TNA announced the signings of Hulk Hogan and Eric Bischoff. The two debuted on January 4, 2010’s Impact and started promising big changes for TNA. This included making AJ Styles a Ric Flair tribute character and having Abyss be granted superpowers via Hall of Fame rings. Around this time, TNA basically stopped being the Little Promotion That Could and tried to take it to WWE, resulting in one of the worst thrashings in wrestling history.

As for the show, this is probably TNA’s biggest pay per view ever and it actually feels like a show you had to see. The main event is the culmination of a months long story where Abyss has been promising that THEY are coming. Along with that, Bischoff and Hogan have been in a power struggle with Dixie Carter while Sting has been saying that he knows what’s really going on. This may or may not be him acting like a crazy psychopath, but we’ll get to that later. I’m sure I’ll find way more to say about this story later. Let’s get to it.

The opening video is a series of clips of most of the people on the card, set to dramatic music. The main focus is on the three guys in the main event: Jeff Hardy, Mr. Anderson and Kurt Angle.

Tenay points out that it’s 10/10/10. They billed this up as once in a century, but isn’t that the case with every date?

The announcers run down the card. This is Abyss’ last match in the company and Angle is going to leave if he doesn’t win.

Tag Team Titles: Motor City Machine Guns vs. Generation Me

Generation Me is challenging and is currently known as the Young Bucks. The Guns FINALLY won the titles a few months ago and now they need some challengers. Shelley and Max (Buck, partner of Jeremy Buck) with Alex getting stomped down in the corner. Back up and a spinning leg trip puts Max down and the Guns take over. Sabin sticks out his boots so Shelley can send Max face first and things speed up.

Back to Shelley for some loud chops on Max’s chest, but Jeremy trips him up from the floor. Sabin kicks Jeremy in the face and Alex nails Max, setting up a double suicide dive to put the Bucks down. They get back inside with Shelley getting crotched on the top and taken down with a double DDT out of the corner. Jeremey nails a nice spinning enziguri for two on Shelley before a running flip neckbreaker into a backbreaker gets two more.

Shelley fights both Bucks off the top and hits a top rope double stomp on Jeremy before making the hot tag off to Sabin. The Guns speed things way up with double hesitation dropkicks to Jeremy in the Tree of Woe. A top rope clothesline gets two on Jeremy and a Dominator/running cutter combination gets the same on Max. Shelley misses a plancha to Jeremy, allowing him to hit a slingshot X Factor on Sabin. Everyone gets back in but the Bucks break up a Doomsday Sliced Bread #2.

Max hits a kind of neckbreaker off the top rope followed by a 450 from Jeremy. Shelly makes a last second save and catches a diving Jeremy in a Downward Spiral while DDTing Max at the same time. Max kicks Sabin in the face and sends Alex outside before a standing moonsault/springboard splash gets two on Shelley. The Bucks load up More Bang For Your Buck (a fast paced series of dives) but Sabin comes back in for a release German superplex to send Max flying. Skull and Bones (neckbreaker/top rope splash combo) is enough to pin Jeremy and retain the titles.

Rating: A-. GREAT choice for an opener here even though I can’t imagine much being able to follow it. The fans are totally hyped for the show and even I was way into this by the end. They kept playing “can you top this” and release German at the end looked great. The Bucks may be jerks but they can put on a spot fest. Really good stuff here.

Madison Rayne is glad that she unbanned Tara and is letting her fight in tonight’s four way. Mickie James can’t just walk into TNA and become the new boss. Actually she can as Mickie is refereeing tonight.

We recap the four way. The new head of the Knockouts division, Miss Tessmacher, is going to make Angelina Love prove she deserves to be champion. This is basically Beautiful People vs. non-Beautiful People.

Knockouts Title: Angelina Love vs. Madison Rayne vs. Velvet Sky vs. Tara

Angelina is defending and Madison has Tara in her back pocket for reinstating her after Tara lost her career in a match earlier in the year. Newcomer Mickie James is guest referee in the same vein that Bret Hart was at Starrcade 1997. You have to tag here so it’s Angelina vs. Madison to start. Rayne quickly tags out to Velvet as Tazz says there’s no tagging. The Beautiful People have to go at it and we get a very basic sequence until they collide to put both girls down.

Madison tags Velvet to come in and chokes Angelina in the corner but gets caught in a flapjack. Tara comes in with a hangman’s choke but Madison runs over to tag in Velvet. Sky gets two off a headscissors followed by something like AJ Lee’s Black Widow. Tazz is shouting about bacon for some reason as Velvet gets two off a faceplant. Madison knees Velvet from the apron and everything breaks down. The Botox Injection drops Tara, the Rayne Drop sends Angelina to the floor and Velvet DDTs Madison. Tara gets back up and grabs a rollup with tights on Velvet for the pin and the title.

Rating: D+. This was when the division was starting to get going, but there was no real reason to have the tags here. Tara winning the title makes sense but, could they at least do something besides the same thing from last year with Nash and Young? Mickie was a total non-factor in this.

Madison freaks out on Tara post match but gets nailed by Mickie. James’ music plays and you would never know Tara won the belt.

Eric Young says Orlando Jordan (the bisexual wrestler) looks at him as a father figure. “Who cares if he’s bi…..polar?” Jordan comes up in a mask and offers Christy a sucker.

Orlando Jordan/Eric Young vs. Ink Inc.

Ink Inc. is a tattooed team comprised of Shannon Moore and Jesse Neal. This is the result of an Xplosion match and Eric is carrying a rulebook and has drawn on tattoos for some reason. Oh this is during Young’s latest crazy period. Jordan and Jesse get things going but Young quickly puts the referee on the apron and takes his place. Things settle down and Jesse gets two off a spinning cross body and it’s off to Shannon for a kick to the face and two.

Young comes in and gets rolled up for two so he congratulates Shannon for his success. He high fives everyone, including a tag to Jordan. Ink Inc. kicks Jordan in the corner and Eric wants to join in, only to get crotched on the top rope. Jordan gets crotched right along with him as comedy abounds. Back in and Orlando grinds on Shannon before planting him with a spinebuster. The fans want Eric but get a Jordan suplex for two on Moore.

Young breaks up Jordan’s cheating to give Moore another two count and now Orlando doesn’t want to tag. Instead Jordan nails Jesse and holds Moore open for a cheap shot but Eric goes over and takes Jesse’s place on the apron. Moore tags Eric in because why not and Young cleans house on Jordan. In the confusing, Shannon loads Jordan up in a fireman’s carry so Neal can hit a top rope neckbreaker for the pin.

Rating: D. If you like Eric Young’s comedy, this was gold. If you’re like me and he makes you want to pound a rusty spike into your eye, this was the longest eight and a half minutes of your life. I will however give him this: at least this was something different than the same four things he would do for years on end.

Jeff Hardy says he’ll win the title with a Twist of Fate and Swanton Bomb.

X-Division Title: Jay Lethal vs. Douglas Williams

Jay is defending and this is a rematch from a title match on Impact. They trade wristlocks to start with Douglas taking him down into an armbar. Lethal pops up and spins him down into an armbar of his own. Back up and Williams nails a shot to the ribs to take over, only to get caught in a quick Lethal Combination to send Douglas outside. Back in and Jay misses a springboard dropkick followed by a Williams knee drop for two.

A chinlock doesn’t get Williams anywhere and Jay is quickly up with a backdrop. Some dropkicks put Williams down again and a cross body gets two. Douglas comes back with a running knee to the chest and gets two off a snap suplex. Rolling Chaos (a rolling German suplex out of the corner) is good for a very near fall on the champion. The very grounded challenger tries a top rope hurricanrana but Lethal rolls through into a sunset flip to retain.

Rating: C. This was fine but forgettable and could have been on any given Impact. Lethal never did anything for me and still doesn’t to this day. Williams was the technical guy and the perfect villain for the division so it might have been a good idea to have him get the title before this show and losing it here. Still though, nothing too bad but pretty basic stuff.

Lethal goes into the crowd and gets jumped by Shore, a new act comprised of Cookie and a guy named Robbie E. Jay gets taken to the ring and laid out with with an RKO. Robbie promises to take the title back to New Jersey. Where Lethal is from. Well to be fair Robbie isn’t supposed to be a smart guy.

We recap Rob Van Dam vs. Abyss. The monster had been going crazy and then World Champion Van Dam tried to stop him at the Whole F’N Show. It ended in a huge brawl and Abyss nearly murdering Van Dam with his 2×4 covered in nails called Janice because THEY told him to. Abyss has promised that THEY will be revealed tonight but I can’t imagine it’s before the main event.

Rob Van Dam vs. Abyss

Monster’s Ball and this is Abyss’ last match in TNA for reasons not really explained. Rob hammers away to start and brings in a chair very early. A springboard kick to the face drops Abyss and he skateboards the chair into Abyss’ face in the corner. They head outside with Rob sliding in a barbed wire board, only to get taken down by an elbow to the face. Rob elbows his way out of a chokeslam and regular slam attempt onto the board before kicking Abyss down onto the barbed wire to really fire up the crowd.

Rolling Thunder misses Abyss nad hits the board again, sending Rob out to the floor. A trashcan to the head puts Rob down again and Abyss bridges a table between the ring and the barricade. They slug it out next to the board with Abyss getting the better of it but not being able to suplex Rob through the board. Instead Abyss gets kicked down onto it, allowing Rob to hit Rolling Thunder through the table for a nice crash.

Back in and a Van Daminator staggers Abyss but he pops up before Rob can launch the Van Terminator. Abyss pelts the chair at Rob to knock him off the top and through the barbed wire board at ringside. Back in again and Abyss sets up the barbed wire board in the corner but gets shoved face first into it, allowing Rob to stomp away at the board in the corner. The Van Terminator crushes the board into Abyss but the Five Star misses. Abyss pulls out Janice but Rob pelts a chair at Abyss’ head to knock Janice out of his hands. Van Dam sees Janice and drills the monster in the ribs for the pin.

Rating: B-. This was a good brawl and a solid way to have Rob get his revenge. The problem with Janice is you can’t show what it’s supposed to do because it would kill the guy, so a shot to the ribs is about as good as it’s going to get. Rob should have been the conquering hero here in theory, but it’s not quite the same with Abyss being the prophet for THEY. Still though, good stuff.

Rob leaves and Abyss tells the camera to come to them so he can say here WE come.

We recap the Band vs. Jarrett/Joe. The idea here is Sting and Nash are claiming that Hogan and Bischoff, the good guys, are up to something. It comes off as jealousy and heel turns for both guys, but Sting has never quite gotten to say the whole thing. All we’ve heard is talk of a huge conspiracy and a grand scheme between Hogan, Bischoff and potentially others.

Jarrett is here because he started TNA and supports Dixie while Joe is there because he has nothing else to do. Pope D’Angelo Dinero, a guy who debuted earlier in the year and hasn’t done much, has joined in with Nash and Sting but doesn’t sound nearly as evil as the other two. We’re also told that Hogan will NOT be here due to back surgery. A lot of people, myself included, saw this as a red flag.

Sting/D’Angelo Dinero/Kevin Nash vs. Jeff Jarrett/Samoa Joe

Joe grabs Dinero’s arm to start and runs him over with a shoulder. Dinero comes back with a flying tackle but Joe pops back up and stares at him. Some rights and lefts in the corner don’t have much effect on Joe so it’s off to Sting for a rematch BFG 2008’s main event. Sting hammers away and tries the Stinger Splash, only to charge into the release Rock Bottom. Joe takes Sting outside and nails some left hands to the jaw. Nash comes in from behind with a shot to Joe’s back to give Sting control.

They walk around just like in 2008 but thankfully stay at ringside instead of going through the crowd. It’s off to Nash back inside for some right hands of his own, followed by knees to the ribs in the corner. Back to Dinero for some stompings in the corner, followed by a slingshot elbow drop for two. Joe fights off Dinero, decks Sting and hits an enziguri in the corner to drop Nash. He crawls over to Jarrett but Jeff drops to the floor and leaves. Joe is all alone and tries to fight them off but three guys are too much for him. The Jackknife is enough to pin the Samoan.

Rating: D+. This was storyline advancement even though it didn’t make sense at this time. To be fair though, NOTHING made sense at this point which is what made this such a must see show, as we were finally promised answers. The match was just kind of there, much like Joe who had no connection to anything here. The annoying part here though was we were building to Sting vs. Jarret for months and now they’re either neutral with each other or on the same side.

Anderson says he’s going to end Kurt Angle’s career tonight because he has to.

Here’s Team 3D for a major announcement. Ray talks about all the titles they’ve won and say they don’t have anything left to do. They’re going to retire, but they want one more match against the Motor City Machine Guns for the titles.

The announcers talk about Team 3D’s challenge.

We recap Lethal Lockdown. This is a culture clash with EV 2.0 (Extreme Violence, the ECW reunion) being tired of Fourtune saying they’re not real wrestlers. The team being brought in wound up being one of the major plot points for what’s going on tonight but we’ll cover that at the end. Flair called EV 2.0 a gimmick and says his Fourtune is real wrestling.

Flair says Fourtune is the heart of TNA and that he’s ready for Foley. Each member gets in a jab at EV 2.0.

Fourtune vs. EV 2.0

AJ Styles, Beer Money, Kazarian, Matt Morgan

Tommy Dreamer, Raven, Rhino, Sabu, Stevie Richards

This is a one ring WarGames match. A man from each team starts and after five minutes, Fourtune gets a man advantage due to winning a match on Impact. That goes on for two minutes then a guy from EV 2.0 comes in. Two more minutes of that and then Fourtune gets the advantage again. Alternate until all 10 are in and then we lower the roof, complete with weapons. No pins or submissions until everyone is in. Foley and Flair are the seconds and everyone is at ringside for the match. They get in a brawl before anyone gets in the cage. Fourtune is all in blue here for a good team visual.

Things settle down so Richards and Kaz can get things going. Stevie hammers away to start and sends Kaz into the cage as Tazz isn’t allowed to say ECW. Richards chops him down in the corner before mocking Flair with a strut. A suplex puts Kaz down and there’s a Koji Clutch of all things. The clock runs down after about three minutes and it’s TV (Legends) Champion AJ Styles in for the save.

The drop down into the dropkick plants Richards and Fourtune puts him in a Figure Four with Kaz pulling at Stevie’s arms. Dreamer finally comes in for the save and clotheslines both of them down. A pumphandle suplex drops AJ and a Demolition Decapitator does the same to Kaz. Richards has a bad leg so Dreamer slams him onto Kaz before putting him on the top rope. Stevie tries a superplex but gets caught in a Tower of Doom by AJ, who sends Kaz crashing into Dreamer to put all four down.

Roode comes in to make it 3-2 and sends Dreamer face first into the cage. All of the Fourtune guys are back up now and in full control, with Flair helping by throwing punches through the camera hole. The destruction continues until Sabu comes in to make the save and somehow revive all of his partners in the span of about 20 seconds. A springboard into a tornado DDT drops Styles and Sabu puts on the camel clutch. Dreamer is covered in blood.

Fourtune starts getting back into it before Storm comes in to clean even more house. Beer Money does their SHOUT OUR NAMES bit as Fourtune is in full control. Raven comes in to even things up again as the extreme guys start getting back into it. Some pretty unspectacular brawling carries us to Morgan getting in as the final member of Fourtune. He drives Sabu into the cage and busts him open in the process. EV continues to get destroyed until Rhino ties things up. A series of clotheslines and suplexes set up a Gore to Storm as the roof of weapons is lowered.

The fans really wake up as the previous fifteen minutes or so were just killing time until we got to this point. EV takes over with the weapons shots as we see even more toys on the roof. Raven and Morgan slug it out until Kaz is thrown through the door and out onto the concrete. Stevie goes after Kaz and they head to the top of the cage. Richards sets up a ladder and a table up there as most of the other people have fought to the floor.

Kaz tries to put Richards through the table but Brian Kendrick pops out from under a tarp on top of the cage to make a save. He slams Kaz through the table and starts meditating because he’s a strange guy. Back in the ring, Dreamer nails AJ with a chair to crotch him on the top and a top rope Death Valley Driver onto the chair is enough to pin Styles.

Rating: D+. This was a pretty lame brawl as it followed the standard WarGames formula: they trade advantages and have a basic brawl until the next guy comes in. Ten people is WAY too much for one ring and that was the problem here. The fact that TOMMY DREAMER PINNED AJ STYLES doesn’t make things any better. Kendrick made things even more bizarre and the whole thing just didn’t do it for me.

Angle says he’ll retire if he doesn’t win and that he has to win the title. This one is for Hulk.

We get a music video on the main event, basically showing how everyone advanced through the tournament to get here and showing shots of them all.

The announcers preview the match for a good while.

TNA World Title: Jeff Hardy vs. Kurt Angle vs. Mr. Anderson

Anderson beat D’Angelo Dinero and Hardy and Angle went to a time limit draw, forcing the three way. Hardy debuts new music which should tell you a lot. Anderson gets double teamed to start but Kurt is sent out to the floor. Angle comes back in and throws Jeff to the floor so he can kick at Anderson’s knee in the corner. A release overhead belly to belly gets two on Mr. with Hardy making a save. Jeff gets back into it and picks up Anderson, so Angle Germans both guys at the same time.

Anderson goes outside for the first time but Jeff backdrops Angle up and over the top for a bad landing. Thankfully he’s ok enough to pull Anderson out to the floor for a brawl, but Hardy dives over the top to put everyone down. Back in and Kurt puts Anderson in a chinlock until Jeff makes a save. He goes up top very slowly though, allowing Angle to run the corner for the belly to belly. Jeff pops back up, only to miss the Swanton on Anderson and give Kurt a near fall. Dixie Carter is watching at ringside.

Angle loads up a superplex but Andeson turns it into a Tower of Doom for two on both guys. It’s Angle up first to roll some Germans on Anderson before doing the same on Hardy. He wants to keep things together so there’s an ankle lock to both guys at the same time. Angle goes up top but Anderson’s ankle is fine enough for the rolling fireman’s carry for two. Hardy breaks it up with a Swanton for two on both guys.

Back up and Anderson goes up, only to get caught in a belly to back superplex to give Kurt a near fall. Whisper in the Wind puts Angle down and there’s a Twist of Fate to Anderson. The Swanton crushes Mr. but Angle grabs Jeff’s ankle. Anderson breaks it up with the Mic Check for two on Kurt and everyone gets two off a rollup. Kurt actually hits the moonsault for two on Hardy, who falls out of the ring. Angle escapes the Mic Check but accidentally clotheslines the referee. Everyone knows the big THEY reveal is coming.

Anderson hits the Mic Check on Angle but can’t follow up. This brings out Eric Bischoff with a chair but Hogan comes out (I’m as shocked as you are) before he can swing it. Hulk is on crutches and moving pretty slowly as we have to wait even longer. Bischoff throws the chair down but takes away a crutch. Hardy gets back in to calm things down but Hogan hands him his crutch.

Jeff squares off with Bischoff….and breaks the crutch over Angle’s back. Hogan smiles and Bischoff says that was awesome. Hogan points at Hardy and hugs Eric as they watch Hardy break the other crutch over Anderson’s back. The Twist of Fate is enough to pin Anderson and give Hardy the title.

Rating: B-. The match is good but this was ALL about the booking and big swerve at the end. Hogan and Bischoff weren’t really surprises so it was all down to who was going to side with the new mega heel faction. Hardy winning the title is fine and the best option given who was in there.

Bischoff introduces Jeff as the new World Champion and a smiling Jeff Jarrett comes out. Abyss follows them out and hugs Hogan. Fans throw trash in the ring ala the NWO debut (there were rumors this was planted) as RVD comes out to ask Jeff what he’s doing. Hardy lays him out with a belt shot and poses with THEY to end the show.

Overall Rating: B-. This is a VERY tricky show to grade as it all revolved around the huge reveal at the end. I remember waking up on the day of the show and being genuinely excited to find out who THEY were. That kind of excitement is reserved for Wrestlemania and nothing else in wrestling. TNA did an OUTSTANDING job of building up this story, even though when you look back at the last six months, there are roughly 84,038 plot holes in the story.

The problems with THEY (later called Immortal) all came later when, just like the NWO, the team expanded to about a dozen people and you couldn’t keep track of what was going on. The same was true of the buildup as it went in so many different directions that the whole thing stopped making sense about halfway through. It’s a good twist ending because Hardy was kind of the forgotten one in the whole mix, but the problem with these kind of stories is in the details. There is so much material in a wrestling show that somewhere along the lines, someone did something that doesn’t add up in the end.

That’s where this story lost me at first: I really don’t like the idea of having to keep track of dozens of plot points to figure out if a show makes sense or not. That’s why the show is still good but doesn’t have nearly the weight behind it that it did live. In 2010, all I cared about was the reveal. Now I know what’s coming (including that Sting and Nash had been right all along), so much of the drama is gone. It completely changes the show and thankfully lets you see that there’s more to it than just the main event. Good stuff here though and still TNA’s biggest show to date.

Ratings Comparison

Motor City Machine Guns vs. Generation Me

Original: B

Redo: A-

Angelina Love vs. Velvet Sky vs. Madison Rayne vs. Tara

Original: D+

Redo: D+

Ink Inc. vs. Shannon Moore/Jesse Neal

Original: D

Redo: D

Douglas Williams vs. Jay Lethal

Original: C+

Redo: C

Rob Van Dam vs. Abyss

Original: B-

Redo: B-

Sting/Kevin Nash/D’Angelo Dinero vs. Samoa Joe/Jeff Jarrett

Original: D+

Redo: D+

EV 2.0 vs. Fourtune

Original: D+

Redo: D+

Mr. Anderson vs. Kurt Angle vs. Jeff Hardy

Original: B

Redo: B-

Overall Rating

Original: B-

Redo: C+

This is the point where I was watching the shows live so the ratings are going to be closer.

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

http://kbwrestlingreviews.com/2012/10/10/bound-for-glory-2012-im-still-not-sure-if-this-makes-sense/

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up my new book of 1997 WCW Monday Nitro Reviews at Amazon for just $3.99 at:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00NPPH0WI

And check out my Amazon author page with wrestling books for under $4 at:

http://www.amazon.com/Thomas-Hall/e/B00E6282W6

Bound For Glory 2008
Date: October 12, 2008
Location: Sears Center, Hoffman Estates, Illinois
Attendance: 5,000
Commentators: Mike Tenay, Don West

There are some new faces in TNA at this point and for once we have a young guy as the World Champion. Samoa Joe won the World Title from Angle at Lockdown and is defending it here against…..oh of course it’s Sting. The idea here is Sting and his fellow veterans are tired of the young guys not respecting them and they’re not going to take it anymore. Let’s get to it.

The opening video focuses on the history of Chicago and gangsters while showing some of the big stars in old time suits. The Mafia is clearly here but hasn’t been named yet. Most of the big matches get a focus and Christian is currently a free agent in the upcoming stable wars.

Steel Asylum

Alex Shelley, Chris Sabin, Curry Man, Jimmy Rave, Jay Lethal, Johnny Devine, Petey Williams, Shark Boy, Sonjay Dutt, Super Eric

You should know who everyone is here. Super Eric is Eric Young as a superhero and is part of the Prince Justice Brotherhood along with Shark Boy and Curry Man (Christopher Daniels as an Indian curry company mascot). This is inside a big red cage with a dome on top. There’s a hole in the top of the dome and the first person to climb up and out gets an X-Division Title shot at some point in the future. Since there are ten men in the ring, it’s almost impossible to tell what’s going on.

Everyone goes after everyone to start with the Brotherhood and the Guns taking over early on. Shark Boy gets beaten up in the corner and then Devine gets the same treatment. The abused start fighting now as Sharky stomps on Johnny in the corner. We get a six man suplex with the Brotherhood all getting suplexed at the same time. Naturally they sell way too long for a suplex but that’s what you get in big spots like that.

Petey hooks his Russian legsweep on Dutt but gets pulled down when trying to escape. Curry Man goes up but Shelley makes a save. Alex’s climb goes just as well with Shark Boy leg sweeping him down. Super Eric drops Devine with a neckbreaker off the middle rope before Lethal and Dutt slug it out on the top rope. Curry Man takes Sonjay down with the Tokyo Dangerous backbreaker off the ropes. Lethal hurricanranas Rave off the top and Shelley adds a frog splash for good measure.

Eric hits a Death Valley Driver on both Devine and Dutt at the same time but the Guns stop him from leaving. The Guns take everyone down until Petey nails Shelley with a Canadian Destroyer. Shark Boy hits a double Stunner off the top to plant Shelley and Petey at the same time. The parade of finishers begins and Devine is the last man standing. Dutt gets up to stop his escape attempt though and Curry Man takes everyone down so he can do his dance. Curry almost gets to the exit but Dutt pulls him down. Lethal hammers Dutt in the ribs and climbs out for the win.

Rating: C. These matches are fun but they get really tiring after awhile. You can only see these spots for so long before you want some kind of storytelling or coherence after awhile. The match was entertaining but I’d much rather have like five guys in there at most. It would make things flow so much easier instead of being the mess that it was.

We run down the card.

Cornette is WAY too happy to be at Bound For Glory when newcomer Mick Foley comes in. Jim tries to convince Foley to show up at Impact in Vegas when the Beautiful People come in to complain about M&Ms. Foley gets in some jabs that go way over their heads but they don’t care due to him not being beautiful.

We recap the six person tag. Basically it’s beautiful vs. ugly and not much more.

ODB/Rhaka Khan/Rhino vs. Cute Kip/Beautiful People

This is the Bimbo Brawl and Rhaka Khan is big, strong and horrible. Cute Kip is Billy Gunn. Traci Brooks is guest referee to help deal with the girls. Detroit Tiger Curtis Granderson is at ringside and Kip isn’t happy with him stealing the spotlight. ODB and Love yell at each other to start until ODB slaps her in the chest. Off to Velvet who gets forearmed back into the corner before Rhino comes in to work on her arm.

Kip saves Velvet from a Gore and the guys get in a chase sequence. Velvet tries to slap Rhino again but it’s quickly off to Khan vs. James. Kip is 6’5 and Khan is looking him right in the eye. They both try chokeslams with Kip getting the better of it, only to have Khan grab him below the belt. Angelina comes in for some shouting and is quickly dragged into the corner for a slam from ODB.

Velvet distracts Traci so Kip can nail ODB with a makeup bag to give Love two. Some elbows get ODB out of a Velvet chinlock and it’s off to the guys to speed things up. Rhino takes control with right hands and a belly to belly as everything breaks down. The girls fight on the floor and Rhino blocks the Fameasser with a Gore for the pin.

Rating: D. Well at least the Beautiful People looked good. The wrestling was as bad as you would expect it to be and the guys had to save it more than once. When Billy Gunn is the one making your match look better, it’s clear that you have a problem. They were trying with the Knockouts here but the idea wasn’t quite working yet. The Beautiful People were still relatively new at this point and hadn’t found their groove yet.

Consequences Creed (with the GORGEOUS Lauren) says he debuted a year ago and doesn’t like the way X-Division Champion Sheik Abdul Bashir talks about this country. After he wins the title tonight, the glory will belong to America.

X-Division Title: Consequences Creed vs. Sheik Abdul Bashir

An Iraq War veteran with horrible leg injuries gets to introduce Creed. Sheik talks trash about him and Creed is livid to start. The champ is sent outside for a big flip dive, followed by Creed getting on the announcers table to scream at the announcers. A high cross body gets two on Bashir but he finally gets in a shot and sends Creed off the apron and into the barricade. Back in and Creed gets tripped down for two and we hit the reverse gutwrench.

Creed fights up but charges into an elbow in the corner. They chop it out until Creed misses a dropkick and crashes onto the mat. The champ hooks a bodyscissors on the mat before switching off to a kind of sleeper. Creed escapes but gets put right back in the sleeper. Back up again and the dropkick knocks Bashir down to put both guys on the mat. Consequences starts his comeback with forearms and a backdrop for two.

A gutbuster gets the same and a superkick drops Bashir. Creed nips up but takes too long getting to the top. Bashir crotches him down and nails a top rope hurricanrana for two. A TKO is counters by a rake of Creed’s eyes and a rollup with a handful of rope retains Bashir’s title.

Rating: C-. The match wasn’t bad but it’s totally forgettable. There wasn’t all that much to the division at this point but Bashir was a good enough choice for a heel champion. Creed is a guy that looks good on paper but never really has backed it up in the ring. This was ok but I doubt I’ll remember it in about five minutes.

Foley is telling JB a story about the Cell when the Kongtourage (Kong and Raisha Saeed) comes in. They have some demands but Foley recommends a visit from Yerple the Clown. He takes out his phone to call her and the girls leave.

There isn’t much to recap for the Knockouts Title match. Taylor Wilde is champion and there are two challengers.

Knockouts Title: Taylor Wilde vs. Awesome Kong vs. Roxxi

One fall to a finish. Wilde, a cute blonde, took the title from the monster Kong as an amateur out of the crowd. Roxxi is now just a girl with short hair and isn’t a voodoo queen anymore. Roxxi and Wilde double team Kong to start before “hitting” a double dropkick to send her out to the floor. Taylor goes after Roxxi and slams her down for two but Kong is back in for the save. Saeed pulls Roxxi to the floor and it’s Kong and Wilde all alone. A victory roll gets two for Taylor but Roxxi comes back in and sends the champ out to the floor.

Kong is livid and goes after Roxxi with some chops to the neck, only to miss a splash in the corner. A swinging neckbreaker drops Kong and a top rope double knee gets two. Roxxi hooks Taylor in a kind of torture rack but Kong kicks both of them down. Kong crushes Roxxi with a cross body for two and the Implant Buster gets the same. Awesome goes up top but Taylor kicks her out to the floor. Roxxi hits a big boot for two on Wilde but walks into a German suplex to keep the title on Taylor.

Rating: D+. I miss Taylor Wilde. The match was nothing special due to not having enough time and could have been on any given Impact. They should have gone with Wilde vs. Kong again here instead of the three way as Roxxi was just there to keep the title on Taylor while protecting Kong. Nothing to see here but I’ve seen worse.

AJ Styles welcomes Foley to TNA but Team 3D comes in and talk trash to Styles. Ray is in flannel so we get ECW and WWE jokes that a lot of the younger fans don’t get. Foley mocks Team 3D for bringing up how many titles they’ve won. Cornette comes in and doesn’t say anything of note. I’m not going to ask about the masks on the wall.

Tag Team Titles: Beer Money Inc. vs. Matt Morgan/Abyss vs. Team 3D vs. LAX

Beer Money (Roode and Storm, managed by Jacqueline) are defending, this is Monster’s Ball and Steve Mongo McMichael is guest referee. Storm is wearing a hat with two beers attached in a somewhat funny bit. Abyss has a story going on here as he’s been in therapy to stop using weapons. Everyone gangs up on the champions to start before it breaks off into a slow paced brawl. LAX works over Storm in the ring with Hernandez catapulting him into a Homicide clothesline.

Roode comes in to try and save his partner but Hernandez knocks him out to the floor. Homicide hits his flip dive through the ropes, setting up a big plancha from Hernandez. Ray nails Hernandez with a trashcan lid in the aisle as Homicide elbows D-Von in the jaw. It’s fork time and D-Von’s head gets carved up. The monsters finally get involved as Abyss comes in for Shock Treatment on Homicide.

Ray hits Abyss low with a cheese grater before slicing Abyss’ skin open. Ray of course licks the cheese grater because he’s a bit sick. It’s Hernandez back in now but Ray runs him over and nails a splash in the corner. A superplex drops Hernandez and Ray’s delayed cover gets one. Roode comes back in with a Blockbuster and a VERY slow two count. We get our first taste of Matt Morgan who suplexes both champions before loading up Old School on Roode. Storm charges back in so Morgan dives over Roode for a cross body.

D-Von plants Roode but gets chokeslammed by Abyss. He loads up one on Roode as well but Storm distracts him with the bag of tacks. McMichael takes the bag away for no apparent reason so Storm puts on his beer football helmet. He challenges McMichael (a former NFL player) to get in a three point stance. Roode has a football from somewhere and they actually hike it with Steve running Roode over with a clothesline. Homicide covers and MAN ALIVE does Mongo count slow.

The fans want tables but get a huge dive off the top with Morgan taking everyone out in a huge crash. Team 3D singles out Abyss with various trashcan related objects. Ray finds a staple gun to go after Abyss’ cut forehead. Abyss fights back until Team 3D lackey Johnny Devine comes out with a kendo stick to slow the monster down. D-Von and Devine load up a table in front of the stage…and we have lighter fluid. Devine lights it up and a double chokeslam puts Abyss through the table. I believe that was on TNA highlight reels for a long time.

Morgan chases Roode back to ringside but he walks right into a Last Call from Storm. Beer Money celebrates but Hernandez nails them with a kendo stick. Team 3D is nowhere in sight for some reason so Homicide dropkicks both champions down. Storm dives into a sitout powerbomb from Hernandez but Mongo’s slow count means it’s only two. Hernandez plants Roode and Homicide’s top rope splash gets the same. The Gringo Cutter plants Storm but Jacqueline breaks up the count at two because she can’t just go away.

The Carbon Footprint nails Hernandez but Homicide rolls out of the Hellevator. Team 3D crawls out from whatever hole they fell into and call for the tables, only to get blasted by Hernandez. He sets up a table in the ring and pours the tacks on top for good measure. Ray pops back up and the 3D puts Hernandez through the table, but Storm spits beer in D-Von’s face, allowing Roode to steal the pin to retain the titles.

Rating: B-. I liked the match more than I thought I would and it’s definitely a step up over some versions of this match they’ve had over the years. The champions stealing the pin was a good thing and the big men doing crazy high spots worked. McMichael has somehow managed to be useless as both a wrestler and a referee, which is pretty impressive when you think about it. Even Danny Davis had some value.

We recap Booker T. vs. Christian Cage vs. AJ Styles. This is again about respect with Booker representing the old, Styles representing the new and Cage representing the yet to pick a side. Both guys are trying to get Cage to join their side and both say the other is lying to him.

Booker T. vs. Christian Cage vs. AJ Styles

Booker has his wife Sharmell, who is carrying a briefcase. Styles and Cage drop Booker to start before Christian gets two on AJ with a sunset flip. Styles goes to the apron but his springboard is blocked with a knee to the ribs. Booker is back up to kick Christian to the floor so Styles hits a huge springboard moonsault to take the Canadian down. AJ is stunned as well so Booker takes Christian back inside for two.

Some knees to the ribs and a spinning kick get the same for Booker and we hit the chinlock. Back up and a side kick gets two on Christian as AJ really should be back in by now. Booker nails him on the apron and Christian grabs a small package on Mr. T. for two. Christian chops away at Booker and elbows his way out of a Bookend. They clothesline each other down and take their time getting up, allowing AJ to hit the springboard forearm on Booker.

The drop down into the dropkick puts Booker on the floor but Christian escapes the Styles Clash. He also blocks the moonsault into the reverse DDT but, after knocking Booker off the apron, Styles tries again and the reverse DDT gets two on the Canadian. Now Booker comes back in for a double clothesline and some chops for Styles but the ax kick misses. AJ busts out a cross armbeaker of all things and kicks Christian away when he tries a save.

A headscissors sends Christian into the corner but Booker grabs a Bookend for two on AJ. Booker loses his focus and busts out a Spinaroonie, earning him a forearm from Christian. Christian loads up his own Spinarooni but AJ uses his knee to springboard at Booker. An implant DDT lays out Styles for two and Christian loads up a superplex, only to have AJ slam him down.

The Spiral Tap misses though and Booker comes back with a double ax kick. That’s good for two on both guys so Booker goes up top. Christian crotches him down and runs over AJ for two. Both guys go up to superplex Booker but it’s Christian with a super Unprettier to Styles. Booker nails an ax kick to pin the distracted Cage.

Rating: C+. Good stuff here as it actually felt like a three way instead of the same stuff we see in triple threats over and over. The generations story was a good idea and the Main Event Mafia would be very entertaining in the coming months. That is until they beat it into the ground but we’ll get to that later. I liked the match more than I thought I would so it was a nice surprise.

We recap Angle vs. Jarrett. Angle wanted to face Jeff for respect but Jarrett said no. Kurt brought up Jeff’s daughters after Jeff’s wife passed away and that’s more than enough to get a southern man’s dander up. This is Jeff’s first match in two years after he took a long hiatus to deal with his wife’s cancer. Foley is guest enforcer, which has a story of its own as Angle took offense to Jarrett calling Foley the biggest talent acquisition ever in TNA.

Angle says this isn’t one on one tonight.

Jeff breaks down in tears talking about what’s been going on lately.

Kurt Angle vs. Jeff Jarrett

Kurt takes him down with ease and laughs at him before holding Jeff on the mat with a headlock. Back up and Jeff scores with an armdrag before putting on a headlock of his own. Angle takes him into the corner but Jeff speeds things up and scores with a dropkick before clotheslining Angle out to the floor. A nice plancha takes Angle down again but Jeff misses a second dive off the apron and hits the barricade.

Back in and Jeff sends him into the ropes for the running crotch shot and we get a strut. Jeff loads it up again but walks into a huge clothesline to put both guys down. We hit the chinlock on Jarrett for a bit before he fights up and gets two off a rollup. Angle nails him with another clothesline before snapping a suplex for a few near falls. Back to the chinlock as the fans are split.

Jeff gets up again but Angle sends him into the corner for some shoulders to the ribs. He tries one too many though and goes shoulder first into the post, allowing Jarrett to nail a quick DDT. They slug it out with Jeff getting the better of it and taking over with some clotheslines. Angle finally busts out the belly to belly for two but the Angle Slam is countered into another DDT for two.

A top rope superplex gets two on Angle and both guys are in trouble. There’s the Figure Four in the middle of the ring and Angle screams in pain. He finally rolls over to the ropes and is ok enough to roll some Germans for a few two counts. There go the straps but Jeff armdrags out of the Slam. He tries a sunset flip but gets caught in the ankle lock to make Jeff scream for a change. Angle keeps teasing him at the ropes so Jeff rolls through instead.

The Angle Slam gets two and Kurt is getting really frustrated. Jeff avoids the moonsault and Jeff is starting to feel it. The referee gets decked and the Stroke plants Angle for two with Foley coming in to count. Foley tries to help the referee and Angle hits Jeff low. Mick tells Kurt he can’t use a chair so Angle blasts him in the head with it. He does the same to Jeff but Foley pulls the referee out at two. Foley busts out Socko to take Angle down and a guitar shot is enough to finally put Kurt away.

Rating: A-. This was REALLY good because they let two professionals do their thing. People forget how good Jarrett really is and when you put him in there with someone like Angle, it’s going to be magic every time. There was not way you could put Angle over here but they did a great job of teasing it all throughout the match. Awesome match and one of the best ever in the series.

We recap Sting vs. Joe. In case you didn’t catch it the first 948 times, it’s about RESPECT.

TNA World Title: Sting vs. Samoa Joe

Joe is defending. We get a video on Sting during his entrance, which lists him as 6’2, even though the tale of the tape said 6’3. They really should have that kind of stuff in sync. Joe’s video doesn’t say much and he’s the heel here because only an idiot would try to turn Sting heel. Joe sends Sting right to the floor to start before nailing the suicide elbow. They head into the crowd with the champion in control and hammering away on Sting.

Joe dives out of a luxury box with a dropkick to Sting in the aisle for a scary visual. They head back down towards the ring with Sting getting in a few shots to take over. Well as much as you can take over in the middle of the crowd. Joe comes back with a running big boot to drop Sting and they finally make it back to ringside. The fans are against Joe as he hits a quick enziguri in the corner.

Sting fights out of the MuscleBuster and hits a tornado DDT (that’s a new one) followed by a top rope splash for two. The champion comes back with his Boston crab into an STF into the Crossface into the Rings of Saturn but Sting gets a boot on the ropes. A powerslam gets two for Joe and frustration is setting in. Sting hits a pair of Stinger Splashes and loads up the MuscleBuster but has to opt for a fisherman’s buster instead.

Joe pops back up and is like old man please before going off on him with strikes. A Scorpion Death Drop is no sold by Sting and there’s another Stinger Splash. He loads it up again but charges into a release Rock Bottom out of the corner. The fans are getting back into Joe. The champ hammers away on Sting and the veteran can barely get up.

Joe hammers away and tells Sting to come on, so here’s Joe’s mentor Kevin Nash. A DDT plants Sting (and draws some swearing) so he goes to get the bat. Nash takes it away though and the Samoan hammers away. The referee has to dive out of the way and Nash nails Joe with the bat. The Death Drop gives Sting the title. Again.

Rating: C+. Just in case you forgot what Sting winning the World Title at Bound For Glory looked like. The match was getting better at the end but Nash brought it down a bit. I get what they were going for and it worked well enough, but I’m almost always going to want a clean ending over something like this. Somehow Joe hasn’t gotten the title back in six years.

Nash walks out immediately to end the show.

Overall Rating: B-. The show is good though it had some problems. The opening stuff is a cross between messy and forgettable but the last few matches range from good to excellent which is what you want for a big show. Sting getting the title again made me roll my eyes back then and it still does so here. I like the Mafia idea, but was there NO ONE else you could put in that spot? Well not really actually but have him win the title somewhere else so Bound For Glory isn’t hogged so much.

Ratings Comparison

Steel Asylum

Original: C+

Redo: C

Bimbo Brawl

Original: F+

Redo: D

Sheik Abdul Bashir vs. Consequences Creed

Original: D

Redo: C-

Awesome Kong vs. Roxxi vs. Taylor Wilde

Original: D

Redo: D+

Beer Money Inc. vs. Abyss/Matt Morgan vs. LAX vs. Team 3D

Original: B-

Redo: B-

Booker T. vs. AJ Styles vs. Christian Cage

Original: B-

Redo: C+

Kurt Angle vs. Jeff Jarrett

Original: B

Redo: A-

Samoa Joe vs. Sting

Original: C

Redo: C+

Overall Rating

Original: B-

Redo: B-

Someone other than Sting? Please?

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

http://kbwrestlingreviews.com/2013/10/15/boun-for-glory-count-up-2008-sting-wants-respect/

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up my new book of 1997 WCW Monday Nitro Reviews at Amazon for just $3.99 at:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00NPPH0WI

And check out my Amazon author page with wrestling books for under $4 at:

http://www.amazon.com/Thomas-Hall/e/B00E6282W6

Bound For Glory 2006
Date: October 22, 2006
Location: Compuware Sports Arena, Plymouth Township, Michigan
Attendance: 3,600
Commentators: Mike Tenay, Don West

Things are starting to pick up for TNA and this is one of their hottest periods ever. The main story is the biggest acquisition in TNA’s history: Kurt Angle signed with the company and will be the guest referee for the main event of Sting vs. Jeff Jarrett, title vs. career. We’ll get to why that’s a questionable choice later. Let’s get to it.

The opening video is about following your dreams and talks about Henry Ford in Detroit. It goes on too long like most TNA PPV openings.

Kevin Nash Open Invitational X-Division Gauntlet Battle Royal

This is a hard one to explain. Basically Kevin Nash went into one of the funniest but most bizarre stretches I’ve ever seen where he decided he wanted to market the X-Division and talked about being an X-Division legend. He also referenced Bob Backlund about a million times and none of it made any sense but Nash sold the heck out of it and the whole thing was hilarious. Anyway this is a sixteen man gauntlet match with a new entrant every sixty seconds and the final two will have a one on one match.

Nash comes out with a bowling trophy for the winner and does commentary. Austin Starr (Aries) is #1 and Sonjay Dutt is #2 to get us going with Aries working on a headlock until Dutt headscissors him down. That goes nowhere so Maverick Matt (Bentley) comes in at #3. A double back elbow drops Dutt and Starr drops an elbow for good measure. Dutt clotheslines them both down and Jay Lethal is in at #4.

Jay nails the villains and helps his buddy Dutt double team Bentley. Austin finally nails him with a back elbow out of the corner and Matt belly to bellies Dutt down. A-1, not really an X-Division guy though there wasn’t a weight limit at this point, is in at #5. He runs over everyone but doesn’t eliminate anybody until one legged Zack Gowen is in at #6. Gowen does his dropkick and moonsault to Matt but Austin runs him over.

Kazarian is in at #7 as the ring is starting to fill up. Kaz puts Sonjay up and joins forces with former partner Bentley. Everyone is bunched up in one side of the ring until Sirelda (a Chyna knockoff) is in at #8. She powerslams Kaz down and goes back and forth with Starr until a low blow slows her down. A clothesline puts her out and Kaz dumps A-1 a second later. Shark Boy is in at #9 and starts biting Starr as the fans are WAY into Sharky.

Alex Shelley, Kevin Nash’s favorite to win, is in at #10. Shelley cleans house until D-Ray 3000 is in at #11. He’s a 70s character with a bad afro who never went anywhere. Shark Boy grabs him for the old Bushwhackers Battering Ram and dumps Bentley. Johnny Devine is in at #12 and immediately puts out Gowen. Now the fans are behind Shelley as every hammers on someone else.

Elix Skipper is in at #13 but Devine blocks all of his kicks. A top rope moonsault press drops Johnny and Starr puts out Kaz. Short Sleeved Sampson, a midget wrestler, is in at #14 as Shark Boy and D-Ray 3000 eliminate each other. Starr teases throwing him over every rope until Norman Smiley comes in at #15. Sampson dropkicks Starr into the ropes so Smiley can do the Big Wiggle. Shelley dumps Sampson, who runs after referee Slick Johnson for no apparent reason.

Petey Williams comes in at #16 to give us the final grouping of Starr, Lethal, Shelley, Devine, Skipper, Smiley and Williams. As Petey comes in, referee Johnson takes off his shirt and dumps Skipper, apparently entering the match. Williams eliminates him in about two seconds as you would expect. Smiley was eliminated off camera so we’re down to five. The Canadian Destroyer plants Lethal and fires up the crowd all over again.

Petey goes to dump Jay but Shelley sneaks up to eliminate Williams instead. Starr throws Devine out and backdrops Alex out as well, leaving us with the one on one match of Lethal vs. Starr. Jay gets two off a release dragon suplex but gets crotched on the top. A quick brainbuster gives Starr the pin. The one on one stuff wasn’t even two minutes.

Rating: C+. This was fine and they kept it quick which was the right idea. They also did a good job of setting up Starr as a big deal but it wouldn’t quite work out that way. Nash’s jokes would keep going and get stranger and stranger, yet funnier at the same time. This was a good way to open the show though they could have cut out a few entrants.

Starr is given his trophy but Shelley doesn’t seem cool.

We see LAX beating down AMW and Gail Kim on Impact.

AMW says they’re ready for LAX.

America’s Most Wanted vs. Team 3D vs. Naturals vs. James Gang

So that video pretty much meant nothing didn’t it? This is one fall to a finish. The Naturals’ manager Shane Douglas does their intro and then leaves as was his custom at this point. The James Gang is the New Age Outlaws. Storm runs over Stevens to start and dropkicks him into the corner for the tag off to Ray. James gets planted with a Rock Bottom and Harris gets clotheslined for trying to make a save.

BG tags himself in and we get a double Flip Flop and Fly from he and Ray on AMW. Kip and D-Von come in and jump both guys but get clotheslined out to the floor. Storm comes back in with an enziguri to Ray before going after the Naturals, only for both teams to get caught in a Tower of Doom with Douglas taking the worst of it. BG escapes the Catatonic and hits the pumphandle slam on Harris but gets clotheslined down by Stevens.

Storm pops up with the Eye of the Storm to Chase, only to get caught in D-Von’s reverse inverted DDT. A Bubba Bomb drops Douglas but Kip hits Ray with a Fameasser. Stevens decks Kip for two on Ray as BG and I think Harris fight up the ramp. Team 3D hits a Doomsday Device on Stevens and there’s a What’s Up for Douglas. It’s table time but Stevens dropkicks Team 3D down. The Natural Disaster plants D-Von for two before he pops up for 3D on Douglas for the pin.

Rating: C-. This was kind of mess without enough time to mean anything and no flow to the match. It was a tag team version of the cruiserweight mess which was only there for high spots. It doesn’t help with the James Gang was there for nostalgia and the Naturals just weren’t that interesting. The match wasn’t bad but it didn’t do anything for me.

Shane Douglas comes out and stares at Team 3D but it doesn’t go anywhere. He yells at the Naturals instead.

JB tries to get an interview with Samoa Joe but finds Jake Roberts instead. Jake is refereeing the Monster’s Ball match tonight.

We recap Monster’s Ball. Joe had stolen Jeff Jarrett’s World Title belt and TNA boss Jim Cornette wanted to get it back. Abyss agreed to get it back in exchange for the first title shot. Raven and Brother Runt (Spike Dudley) stopped Abyss before he could deliver the title to Cornette. The result was a four way Monster’s Ball, because this is what Samoa Joe should be doing instead of fighting a top star. You know, the guy that beat the World Champion in the main event of a pay per view last month.

Samoa Joe vs. Brother Runt vs. Abyss vs. Raven

Anything goes with one fall to a finish and Jake Roberts refereeing for no apparent reason. Joe has a cut on his forehead due to Abyss trying to get the belt back. Everyone gangs up on Joe in the corner and Abyss throws him out to the floor. Runt heads outside to get some weapons as Raven hammers away on Abyss. The drop toehold puts Abyss face first onto the chair and Raven hiptosses Runt onto Abyss for good measure.

Joe comes back in and cleans house and hits the Facewash on Raven in the corner. Raven and Runt break up a double chokeslam attempt and Abyss throws him over the top rope and into the crowd. That kind of spot always looks cool. Raven hits the discus lariat to put Abyss outside and follows him out with a dive. Joe dives over the top to take all of them out and lands on his feet for good measure. Abyss is up first and throws Joe through a table before chasing Runt up the set. A BIG chokeslam sends Runt down onto the stage in a big crash. Abyss dives onto Runt for an even bigger crash but the camera is on Roberts.

Raven knocks Joe through another table as Abyss takes Runt back into the ring. Abyss plants Raven for two as Roberts takes forever to count. Joe gets back in and breaks up Shock Treatment on Raven. He dumps Raven to the floor and hits a running boot to Abyss’ chest, only to miss the backsplash. Abyss loads up a chair but walks into a powerslam onto the steel for another slow two.

Raven gets back in and drop toeholds Joe out to the floor to slow things down again. We get the tacks brought in but Jake brings in his bag to stop it for no apparent reason. Raven jumps Roberts and loads up a DDT but Abyss makes the save. Now the tacks are spread out and Abyss loads up the Black Hole Slam, only to have Joe low bridge Raven to the floor. Joe sends Abyss into the tacks and puts on the Clutch but Raven breaks it up with a chair. Jake grabs the chair and DDTs Raven, setting up the MuscleBuster to give Joe the pin on Raven.

Rating: C-. This was nowhere near as good as last year’s match and it felt like a formality until Joe got the win. He didn’t need to be in this match and it was a big waste of his time. The match was a decent brawl but it felt like lining up bodies for Joe to crush in short order. Speaking of short, Runt disappeared for the last five minutes of the match. Also what in the world was the point of Roberts being there?

Raven gets the snake treatment post match.

Eric Young is panicking over possibly getting fired (as always). Larry Zbyszko comes in and says he already has Young beaten.

We recap Young vs. Zbyszko. Larry was a corrupt boss who cost Young his job but the other boss, Jim Cornette, reinstated Eric to have a Loser Gets Fired match here.

Eric Young vs. Larry Zbyszko

The fans are entirely behind Eric. Since this is a Larry Zbyszko match, we’re quickly into the stalling. Eric points at Larry to make the fans boo then points at himself to make the fans cheer. Somehow, this eats up over a minute and a half. Back in and Larry hits a quick kick to the ribs and puts on an abdominal stretch. Eric quickly fights out and the referee gets bumped, allowing Larry to pull out a foreign object. Since Larry is an old villain though, the plan backfires and Eric nails Larry (some hero) with the object for the pin.

Rating: F. We waited an hour and a half for our first singles match and this is what we got? As usual, when the best thing you can say about a match is that it was short, you have a major problem. This should have been Eric against a big name for Larry’s job instead of Zbyszko himself, but this is the company that just had Samoa Joe vs. Spike Dudley in the third match on the biggest show of the year.

Video on Senshi which doubles as a commercial for Mortal Kombat.

Here’s Jim Cornette with something to say. He has a very sore throat and can barely talk (I’m as shocked as you are) but there was nothing that would keep him from being here. Since Angle and Joe are so ready to fight each other, Joe loses his job if he comes to the ring for tonight’s main event.

This brings out Kurt Angle who is in the mood for a fight. Angle praises TNA and promises to call the main event right down the middle. He doesn’t need a buffer from Samoa Joe, and here’s the Samoan himself. The brawl is on immediately but security breaks it up pretty fast. The guys get at each other again but security splits them up one more time. Why this match isn’t happening on this show boggles my mind.

We recap Senshi vs. Chris Sabin. This is a rematch from No Surrender last month where Senshi won after hitting Sabin with an inflatable doll. Did I mention that was the Jackass show? This is the serious rematch after they had a good match ruined by “comedy”. Somehow this video takes two minutes.

X-Division Title: Senshi vs. Chris Sabin

Chris is challenging and is the home state boy. We’re told that Joe has been ejected from the building because TNA doesn’t know what to do with him yet. Senshi is better known as Low Ki if you haven’t heard of him before. Feeling out process to start with neither guy being able to gain the advantage. Senshi fires off kicks to the chest to start and takes Sabin down. A hard chop to the chest wakes Sabin up and there’s a Great Muta Power Drive elbow for two.

Off to a quick arm hold before Sabin comes back with forearms to the jaw. Sabin charges into two boots in the corner for two and gets caught in a bodyscissors to keep the champion in control. Back up again and they chop it out with Sabin getting the better of it, only to get kicked in the ribs. Another kick staggers Sabin but he pops back up with a missile dropkick to stun the champion.

Senshi gets kicked out to the floor for a big suicide dive from Sabin. Back in and Sabin nails an enziguri before tying Senshi in the Tree of Woe for a hesitation dropkick and two. Senshi comes back with a dragon sleeper but lets it go to try a cartwheel kick. Sabin is ready for it and kicks Senshi out of the air before nailing a wicked tornado DDT for two. They head up top for a superplex attempt but Senshi rolls through into a sunset flip, only to pop to his feet for a Warrior’s Way double stomp and two.

A springboard spinning kick to the face partially misses, allowing Sabin to get up at two. Back up and a running big boot in the corner nails Senshi right in the jaw. Senshi pops right back up because he doesn’t sell very often and tries the Ki Crusher but Sabin counters into the Cradle Shock for two.

He takes Senshi up again but the champion balances on the ropes and fires off kicks to the chest to escape. Senshi nails the top rope Warrior’s Way for a delayed two as Sabin gets his foot on the ropes. The fans are WAY into these near falls. Back to the dragon sleeper but Senshi lets go to drive in elbows, allowing Sabin to small package him for the pin and the title.

Rating: B. This had a few lulls but it worked really well near the end. I really liked the ending with Senshi not being able to beat Sabin using all of his tricks and finally abandoning his warrior mentality and going insane, allowing Sabin to grab a quick win. The near falls were red hot in this and the crowd carried it up a level. Good stuff.

Christian rants about no one caring about Rhino growing up on the streets of Detroit because no one cares about Rhino. The concussion Christian gave him is nothing compared to what’s coming here tonight. Christian is glad he wasn’t invited to Rhino’s house for dinner because Rhino’s aunt’s cooking sucked!

We recap Christian vs. Rhino. They used to be friends but Christian lost the World Title and snapped, eventually nailing Rhino over and over again with chairs and concussing him with a Conchairto. Tonight it’s an 8 Mile Street Fight (read as: a street fight) for revenge and violence. Christian hasn’t been pinned or submitted in a singles match since he debuted in TNA.

Christian Cage vs. Rhino

Rhino comes through the crowd as the hometown guy. He doesn’t want to wait in the ring though and goes out into the parking lot to slug it out in a ring of cars. It’s all Rhino to start until they head back inside with Christian being thrown through some boxes. Christian hides on top of a Zamboni machine for some reason, so Rhino just drives it into the arena. They head to the ramp with Rhino nailing him with a lamp post decoration.

It’s time to busts out the regular weapons with Rhino throwing in some chairs. He tries to bring in another lamp post but gets nailed in the arm with a chair. Rhino no sells the shot and hits Christian with the post but the Gore is met with a chair to the head. They head outside again with Rhino taking him into the crowd, apparently immune to chair shots to the head as well.

Rhino takes over again in the crowd and brings it back to ringside where he slides a table into the ring. A belly to belly drops Christian and Rhino sets up the table in the corner. Christian pops back up and nails Rhino in the head with an 8 Mile road sign. He throws the sign down and spits on it to really tick the fans off. Rhino is busted open and his eyes are glazed over. He’s not in bad enough shape that he can’t take Christian down when he charges with a ladder though and Christian is in trouble.

Rhino’s middle rope splash only hits ladder though and Christian hits the Unprettier for two. I would have thought that was the ending. A ladder shot to the face puts Rhino down again and Christian puts the ladder over Rhino’s chest. Now Christian brings in another chair and a straight jacket and Rhino is tied up. Christian misses a Conchairto and Rhino is able to fight back with kicks and headbutts until the referee gets him out of the jacket.

They fight on the apron over a table at ringside but Rhino punches him back into the ring. Instead he takes Christian right back outside for a piledriver off the apron and through the table for a BIG crash. Somehow that only gets two back inside as the fans think that was awesome. Back up and the Gore sends Rhino through the table by mistake but he’s up at two. Another Unprettier onto the broken table gets two more and Christian is livid. With nothing else to do he piles up everything in the ring on top of Rhino and nails him with a chair eight times in a row for the pin.

Rating: B+. This was a WAR with both guys hammering on each other until there was nothing left of one guy. Christian looked like a killer here and that’s what you have someone like Rhino around for. He can make people look good and brawl but a loss really doesn’t hurt him that badly. Good stuff again.

Konnan says the LAX is raising the violence tonight.

We recap the Tag Team Title match. LAX is a rising force in TNA and it takes someone special to slow them down. In this case it’s the dream team of Christopher Daniels/AJ Styles, who have traded the titles with LAX over the summer in some outstanding matches. Tonight is the final blowoff in a cage.

Tag Team Titles: LAX vs. AJ Styles/Christopher Daniels

AJ and Daniels are defending and you win by pin, submission or both guys escaping. The champions charges into the ring and the brawl is on before the bell again. A tilt-a-whirl backbreaker puts Homicide down and it’s Daniels kicking Hernandez down to start. Apparently this is one of those matches where they have to tag for a few minutes before it becomes a brawl. Styles comes in for a modified version of the drop down into the dropkick for two on Homicide.

Styles gets slammed head first onto the mat but nips up into a headscissors followed by a backbreaker for another two. AJ tries a charge but flies into the cage and it’s off to big Hernandez. SuperMex LAUNCHES AJ into the cage so Daniels comes in to try and save his partner. He gets in a shot on Homicide but Hernandez takes him down with a big clothesline. An electric chair from Hernandez followed by a top rope elbow drop from Homicide gets two on Daniels.

AJ is already busted open as Hernandez slams Daniels down for another two count. Konnan hands Homicide what looks like a fork to stab Daniels in the head to draw even more blood. Back to Hernandez to send Daniels into the cage and nail him with a WICKED powerbomb for another near fall with Styles making the save. Homicide spits tequila in Daniels’ face before taking him to the top, only to get hiptossed down to the mat to put both guys down.

The hot tag brings in AJ for the smoothest moonsault into the reverse DDT I’ve ever seen him hit for two on Homicide. We finally get down to the brawl that everyone has been waiting for with the champions taking over. They go high/low on Homicide and drive Hernandez into the cage twice in a row. The Pele staggers Homicide and now it’s Daniels with the fork carving up Homicide’s head.

Hernandez gets knocked into the corner but pops back up to splash Daniels into the corner. Another Pele puts Hernandez down and AJ goes all the way to the top of the cage. Homicide follows him up and grabs Styles’ head. Daniels grabs Homicide but Hernandez grabs them both for the Tower of Doom.

AJ is still up top though and hits a HUGE high cross body onto Hernandez for two. A pair of Gringo Cutters drop the champions….and Hernandez goes all the way to the top of the cage. This can’t end well. He misses the big splash on Styles and everyone is down. Daniels loads up Angel’s Wings on Hernandez but Konnan hands Homicide a coat hanger to choke Daniels down to the mat. Konnan chokes Daniels against the cage, leaving AJ alone. Styles loads up Homicide for the Clash but Hernadnez takes his head off, allowing Homicide to hit the Gringo Killa for the pin and the titles.

Rating: A. Oh yeah this was awesome. This feud was named Feud of the Year in TNA and should have been feud of the year in wrestling (except in Dave Meltzer’s mind because he gave a wrestling award to an MMA feud). It’s a great war with both teams seemingly having the match won time after time. Check out this entire series as it’s more than worth your time.

We recap Sting vs. Jarrett. They’ve been feuding for months and Sting had his ONE shot at Hard Justice but blew the chance to get rid of the “cancer” from TNA. Then Samoa Joe beat Jarrett at No Surrender, so of course the match at Bound For Glory is Sting vs. Jarrett again because the ONE TIME they should have done a triple threat, they give it to Sting again because he needs this honor as well right? Sting’s career is on the line, even though he hadn’t been seen in months before. No seriously, he didn’t even come on TV to hype this up save for maybe once near the end.

NWA World Title: Sting vs. Jeff Jarrett

Jarrett is defending and Angle is guest outside enforcer. Sting comes out in his old style attire with the red and black tights and white and red face paint. They trade hiptosses to start before Jeff takes over with right hands and a hiptoss of his own. Sting misses a right hand and gets dropped by a shot to the jaw. He bails to the floor for a breather but comes back in and tries to get the crowd into it. Jarrett spits at Sting and now the beating is on.

Sting busts out a powerbomb of all things to plant Jeff followed by a running clothesline to put him on the floor. Angle goes over to Jeff and gets in a needless shoving match (to be fair Jeff started it) until Sting sends Jeff into the barricade. We lose a cameraman as Angle sends the regular referee into the ring to make sure the guys can fight. The champ tries to bring in a chair but Angle takes it away, allowing Sting to suplex Jeff on the ramp. To be fair though, Angle takes the chair away from Jarrett.

Jeff tries to get in a cheap shot with a chair on Sting but takes out Angle by mistake. Back in and Jeff hooks a sleeper. Sting quickly elbows out though and a double cross body puts both guys down. The referee gets to a double nine count so Angle runs in and Angle Slams him to make sure this keeps going. Sting makes his comeback and hammers away, nailing the Stinger Splash and Death Drop but Jeff gets a shoulder up at two.

The Stroke gets the same on Sting but he comes back with a bad looking tombstone for two more. Jeff pops up and tries a middle rope Stroke but Sting slams him down, only to have his splash hit knees. The Figure Four goes on for a bit until Sting turns it over and makes the rope. Jeff puts on an ankle lock and Sting can’t make the ropes. Instead he rolls forward and sends Jeff out to the floor. Sting gets the bat but Angle takes it away. Now we get old school as Sting no sells a guitar shot and puts on the Scorpion for the submission and the title.

Rating: C+. It’s really hard to screw up Jarrett vs. Sting due to them just being so familiar with each other. Thankfully they kept the overbooking on a leash here and the match was much better as a result. I don’t think anyone thought Jarrett was leaving with the gold here but that’s fine for something like this. Joe should have been in it though. Jarrett would never get the title back.

Sting celebrates to end the show.

Overall Rating: B. There are some problems here but just like last year, the middle part of the show more than carries it over the finish line. That cage match and the street fight were both awesome and you have a solid X-Division Title match. The only bad thing on the card is Young vs. Zbyszko and that’s not even four minutes long. See, if this is what TNA was putting out now, it could be the actual alternative. I get why they got away from this, but why don’t they go back to it if they’re going to get the same results?

Ratings Comparison

Kevin Nash Open Invitational X-Division Gauntlet Battle Royal

Original: C

Redo: C+

Team 3D vs. America’s Most Wanted vs. James Gang vs. Naturals

Original: D

Redo: C-

Samoa Joe vs. Abyss vs. Raven vs. Brother Runt

Original: D

Redo: C-

Larry Zbyszko vs. Eric Young

Original: F

Redo: F

Senshi vs. Chris Sabin

Original: A-

Redo: B

Christian Cage vs. Rhino

Original: B+

Redo: B+

AJ Styles/Christopher Daniels vs. LAX

Original: A-

Redo: A

Jeff Jarrett vs. Sting

Original: C-

Redo: C+

Overall Rating

Original: B

Redo: B

It’s about the same but that cage match was even better the second time around.

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

http://kbwrestlingreviews.com/2012/04/05/bound-for-glory-2006-could-have-been-a-masterpiece/

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up my new book of 1997 WCW Monday Nitro Reviews at Amazon for just $3.99 at:

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