TNA: Bound for Glory
October 14, 2012
Phoenix, AZ
Grand Canyon University Arena

The current TNA champs are as follows:
TNA World Heavyweight Champion: Austin Aries (7/8/2012)
TNA Television Champion: Samoa Joe (9/27/2012)
TNA X-Division Champion: Zema Ion (7/8/2012)
TNA World Tag Team Champions: Christopher Daniels & Kazarian (6/28/2012)
TNA Knockouts Champion: Miss Tessmacher (8/16/2012)
TNA Knockouts Tag Team Champions: Eric Young & ODB (2/28/2012)

Your hosts are Mike Tenay and Tazz.

• TNA X-Division Champion Zema Ion vs. Rob Van Dam
  

I really thought it was going to be Jesse Sorensen against Zema Ion. RVD kicks around Zema to start. Zema fires back with a twisting crossbody block out of the corner. Like an idiot, Zema poses up in the corner while RVD is standing right behind him. Van Dam drops him on the ropes and kicks him to the floor. Zema shoots back in with a twisting DDT for 1-2-NO! RVD heads up top, but gets shoved down to the guardrail. Ion meets him on the floor with a somersault plancha. Back inside, RVD tries a monkey flip in the corner, but Zema blocks and drops RVD’s face on the top buckle. Owen Hart missile dropkick by Ion lands for two. RVD mounts a comeback by hoisting up Zema and giving him a dropkick in mid-air. Rolling Thunder leads to the FIVE-STAR FROG SPLASH for the win and the title. (8:05) Yeah, because men in their 40s should definitely be the star of your most exciting division. After all, they are the future. **

In the back, Jeremy Borash meets with Magnus. He’s totally going to be the new TV champion, ya’ll.

• TNA Television Champion Samoa Joe vs. Magnus
  

Vintage feeling-out process to start. It turns ugly with an avalanche and an enziguri by Joe. While Joe is pounding Magnus in the corner, he catches a sucker punch. Joe chops back, but then Magnus catches Joe with the Marufuji clothesline. Magnus puts the hurting on Joe, and delivers the MAG DADDY DRIVER for 1-2-NO! As Magnus comes off the middle rope, he comes down into an atomic drop. That gets Joe going as he lands the running kick followed by the senton back splash for two. Snap powerslam scores another nearfall. Powerbomb by Joe leads into the STF. As Magnus crawls for the ropes, Joe switches gears to the Rings of Saturn. Unfortunately for Joe, Magnus reaches the bottom rope with his foot. Over in the corner, Magnus stops the MUSCLE BUSTER and knocks Joe silly with a jumping knee strike. MAGNUS ELBOW gets 1-2-NO! Some forearm shots wake up Joe as he locks in the COQUINA CLUTCH, but Magnus kicks off the corner to land on top of Joe while still in the hold for 1-2-NO! Think Bret Hart at WrestleMania 8 or Survivor Series 96. Magnus avoids getting caught in the Coquina Clutch again and chopblocks Joe for a figure-four, but then Joe reaches up and pulls down Magnus into the COQUINA CLUTCH for real this time to get the tap out. (9:15) That was a pretty fun little title defense. **½

Backstage, Jeremy Borash gets some last words from Bobby Roode.

• Bobby Roode vs. James Storm – Street Fight (Special Enforcer: King Mo)
  

Almost entirely no response for King Mo. Since UFC has gone to Fox and Bellator is part of Viacom (which owns Spike TV), there was no chance of getting anybody interesting. He’s here to assist the referee in case things get out of control… in a street fight. Lots of clubbing to start. Roode and Storm both take turns staring down King Mo on the floor. Storm wants the EYE OF THE STORM on Tenay and Tazz’s Plexiglas announce table, but that takes too much effort. Roode slips out and catapults Storm into the ringpost to bust him open. It’s about to get Eddie Guerrero bloody up in here. Out comes the standard wrestling weapons from underneath the ring like trash cans and steel chairs. Roode whacks away at Storm and then wedges a chair in the corner. Storm finds a kendo stick and makes good use by hitting the trash can into Roode’s balls. We go to the WCW 1990-style elevated entry way as Storm delivers the Orton DDT through the ropes. King Mo makes cringing looks on his face watching on from the floor. Now Roode begins to bleed. Dueling trash can lid battle ensues, which Storm wins. James Storm is now wearing the proverbial crimson mask in the strongest sense of the phrase. They brawl over to Tenay and Tazz’s announce table where Storm threatens to suplex Roode onto the cheap wooden Spanish announce table, but then Roode gets a sudden burst of energy and SPEARS Storm to send him crashing through the SAT. Back in, Roode covers for two. Roode shoves Hebner around, which cues King Mo to earn his paycheck. Roode shoves Mo, but Mo shoves Roode back into Closing Time. LAST CALL gets 1-2-NO! Storm wants to deliver another superkick, but Roode blocks and sends Storm into the chair that was wedged in the corner. Roll up with a handful of tights gets 1-2-NO! Now Roode whacks Storm with another chair while he’s perched up top and lays out some thumb tacks in the ring. He wants a superplex on the tacks, but Storm does not and headbutts Roode onto the tacks! Flying elbow drop onto the tacks by Storm for 1-2-NO! Roode low blows Storm to make him stop long enough to grab a six pack of beers. As Roode goes to break the bottle over his head, Storm low blows Roode and breaks a beer bottle over Roode’s head instead. With Roode out on his feet, Storm holds him up and gives him the LAST CALL ONTO THE TACKS for the 1-2-3. (17:33) Mostly cheap ringside brawling up until the last few minutes, but no doubt a great story told from bell to bell with a cathartic ending. This is the something different that TNA can offer that WWE won’t as long as they are running a PG-rated show. I still didn’t see the need to have King Mo there at all though. If it’s street fight rules where anything goes, then there’s no need for an outside enforcer – especially when he didn’t really add to the story. ***½

In the back, Joey Ryan speaks his mind to the audience and Jeremy Borash.

• Al Snow vs. Joey Ryan
  

You have to love Joey Ryan’s Twitter tights. Kind of a boring match. Snow controls much of the action. Snow gives Joey the trapping headbutts and the SNOW PLOW, but only gets two. He brings out Head. When he goes to whack Joey, the ref grabs the mannequin head, which leads to a ref bump. Before Joey tries for a baseball slide, he smooches Head. As he tries the slide, Snow lifts up the ring apron and catches Ryan for a beating. Once Snow retrieves Head, MATT MORGAN jumps the rail and gives Snow the CARBON FOOTPRINT. He rolls Snow back inside as Joey covers for the slow 1-2-3. (8:28) So Joey gets a TNA contract. Will Matt Morgan be Diesel to Joey Ryan’s HBK? Watch and find out. Either way, Matt Morgan is BACK and looks pissed off. ¾*

• TNA World Tag Team Champions Christopher Daniels & Kazarian vs. Hernandez & Chavo Guerrero Jr. vs. AJ Styles & Kurt Angle
  

Check out the Spanish announce team holding the monitors in their laps to call the action. Oh wait, you can’t because this is a written recap. Sorry! AJ and Chavo do some headlock stuff to start. Angle comes in and throws Chavo around, but then Daniels blinds tag him. Seeing as how Angle isn’t ready to leave, he throws Daniels into his corner so Styles can tag back into the match. AJ gets dominated for a while by the Mexicans as now Kazarian blind tags Hernandez. Styles comes back with the fancy dropkick. More blind tagging on Angle by Chavo. Tag to Hernandez, he drops Kaz with the nasty Canadian Backbreaker. In comes Daniels to replace Kaz, AJ gets a tag. After an STO, Styles kips up into the headscissors. Styles misses a corner splash, and eats a clothesline from the apron by Kaz. After the tag champs control AJ some more, he lands on his feet after a monkey flip, and nails Kazarian with the Pele Kick. Hot tag to Angle! He cleans house and tries a hat trick of Germans on Kazarian. Daniels interferes, but gets caught in an ANKLELOCK. When Kaz runs over to save his partner, Angle dishes out the third German suplex. DOWN COME THE STRAPS! He misses a corner charge on Kaz. While Daniels grabs Angle, Kaz heads up top. However, Angle breaks loose and hits the Pop-Up Superplex on Kaz into Daniels! Cover on Daniels, 1-2-NO! Chavo stops the pin, but Kaz stops Angle with a Slingshot DDT. We go to the floor where Daniels wipes out Angle with the split-legged moonsault. Here comes Hernandez to take out Daniels with the Big Man Dive. After Hernandez heads back on the apron, Kaz goes for a flying headscissors to the floor that doesn’t end too well. Meanwhile in the ring, AJ shoulder butts Chavo from the apron, and then double-jump springboard somersault planchas onto Hernandez and Daniels. Back in, Angle stops the Three Amigos by Chavo with the ANGLE SLAM. In comes Hernandez to grab Angle for the Border Toss, but AJ saves the day. They take out Hernandez with a double-team suplex. After Hernandez, Chavo, and Angle go to the floor, the tag champs swarm AJ. TKO by Kazarian sets up the BME from Daniels onto AJ for 1-2-NO! Meanwhile, Chavo takes Kaz to the floor and splashes on him off the top. In the ring, Styles avoids the Angel’s Wings and hits the Quebrada DDT. He wants the Styles Clash, but Daniels pushes him out to the floor. Here comes Hernandez with a Slingshot Shoulder Tackle on Daniels. He gives Daniels the BORDER TOSS to set up a flying splash (not even a frog splash) for the win and the tag titles. (15:35) The crowd is VERY mixed on this decision. Chavo makes up for it a little bit to the crowd by mentioning uncle Eddie during his post-match interview on the walkway. This got a little messy at times, but still a very fun match. ***¼

• TNA Knockouts Champion Miss Tessmacher vs. Tara
  

As you might have seen coming (so long as you have been a wrestling fan for more than ten minutes), Tara turned on Tessmacher. Tonight, Tara is also looking forward to revealing who her big Hollywood boyfriend is. Tessmacher gets Tara on the run to start. Once they get in between the lady ref, Tara cheapshots her and baseball slides Brooke to the floor. Tara tries to break her face for a good long while here. Loads of FACE VIOLENCE. Tessmacher returns the favor with a comeback DDT. Final Cut on Tara leads to a kip up! Brooke comes off the top with a flying headscissors. She wants the TESS-SHOCKER, but Tara hooks the ropes to block. Tessmacher shoves off a superplex, but misses a Flying Elbow Drop. Tara capitalizes with the WIDOW’S PEAK to capture her fifth Knockouts championship. (6:21) So who is her big sexy Hollywood boyfriend? It’s not Brad, not George, not even Leonardo DiCaprio. He’s even bigger. It’s Jesse from the Big Brother reality show. Does anybody even watch that anymore? Oh, brother. He comes down and takes his shirt off before making out with Tara. ½*

We get some footage of the TNA Hall of Fame induction ceremony for Sting. Lex Luger, Hulk Hogan, and Dixie Carter all make comments before the man of the hour gets to speak and thanks everybody for the honor of being the first into the TNA Hall of Fame. As the first wrestler I ever liked as a kid, this was pretty cool.

• Aces & Eights vs. Sting & Bully Ray – No DQ Match
  

If Aces & Eights win, they get full access to the Impact Zone. Bully Ray adorns the old school Sting face paint to show his loyalty. The two Aces & Eights members who will be facing Sting and Bully Ray bring a kidnapped Joseph Park down to ringside. He’s sat down and handcuffed to the guardrail during the match. I believe its Mike Knox and Luke Gallows under the masks. Sting and Bully Ray BUM RUSH THE SHOW on these two for a brawl around ringside. Bully Ray uses a piece of the broken SAT over the head of Gallows. That’s kind of cool. Next thing you know, Bully Ray gets whipped into the steps while Sting misses the Stinger Splash up against the guardrail on the other Aces & 8’s member. It turns into a regular tag match beating on Sting for a while despite being no-disqualification. Out of nowhere, Sting locks in the SCORPION DEATHLOCK on Gallows, but Knox makes the save. Right afterwards, he flips out of a suplex and delivers the SCORPION DEATHDROP. Hot tag to Bully Ray, big splash to Knox gets two. Gallows gives Bully a good kick to the face, and then heads outside to grab a chair. Bully boots him away before the damage is done. As Bully picks up the chair, another Aces & 8’s member appears. He low blows Bully and grabs the chair waiting for Bully to get up. Oh wait a minute, Joseph Park BREAKS THE HANDCUFFS! I love this character. He slides into the ring, jumps on this Aces & 8’s guy, and beats him up the walkway. Meanwhile, Sting and Bully Ray come back with a Doomsday Device on Gallows. Knox takes an avalanche from Bully, and a Stinger Splash from Sting! Now Sting tells Bully Ray to get the tables. Bully sets the table up in the ring, but another Aces & 8’s member slides in and slam dunks Bully through the table. With Sting pulled out to the floor, it’s an easy pin for Mike Knox. (10:50) Now we’ve got five total Aces & 8’s guys beating up Sting and Bully Ray. Here comes Hulk Hogan to save the day. He wants to unmask the last Aces & 8’s member standing. Hogan pulls off the ski mask to reveal DEVON. Hogan, Sting, and Bully Ray are too shocked to even know how to respond. Fun little match with a cliffhanger of an ending. **

Backstage, Austin Aries meets Jeremy Borash for some final words before his title match. He vows that tonight will not be the redemption story for Jeff Hardy, but just another chapter in the rise of the greatest man that ever lived.

• TNA World Heavyweight Champion Austin Aries vs. Jeff Hardy
  

Hardy gets the John Cena reaction, while Aries is overwhelmed with love by all the fat and much louder dudes in attendance. Lots of headlockage and playing around with the headscissors slip out into a dropkick stuff. Aries finally catches Jeff with the dropkick after rolling through a sunset flip. After Aries delivers a slingshot ax handle on the apron, he takes a victory lap around the ring. Just freaking amazing. Now he’s sitting up in the corner ala HBK. Jeff lunges at him, but then kicks the ropes when Aries returns inside. We go to the floor now for some guardrail action. Aries takes a ride into the steps, and then receives Poetry in Motion as Hardy leaps off the steps. Back in, that gets two. Hardy misses the Whisper in the Wind, and takes a flying elbow drop for two. Now Hardy tries a splash off the second rope, but Aries brings up the knees. Awesome backbreaker gets two. Dueling chants from the crowd while Aries kicks the crap out of Jeff. Taking his time, Aries snapmares Hardy and gives him a dropkick to the neck from the middle rope for two. Looks like he wants the BRAINBUSTER, but Jeff counters with the sitout gourdbuster. Aries catches Hardy with a knee, and follows up with a slingshot corkscrew splash for two. Last Chancery is blocked, and Jeff fights back with the Alley Oop Facebuster to knock Aries silly. Hardy continues with the double legdrop to the groin, and then rolls back up to his feet to dropkick Aries in the face for two. Whisper in the Wind gets 1-2-NO! Twist of Fate gets countered, but Hardy takes Aries to the floor with a headscissors out of the corner. He tries for a pescado, but Aries rolls back inside the ring to completely avoid it. Heat Seeking Missile! He goes for the countout, but then Jeff gets close to the ring, giving Aries the opportunity to nail him with one more Heat Seeking Missile. Back in, cover gets 1-2-NO! Somehow, Aries busts his eyebrow open. LAST CHANCERY, but Jeff reaches the ropes. We go to the runway as Aries wants a Brainbuster, but Hardy flips out. Twist of Fate gets shoved off into the ropes, and Aries tries to clothesline Jeff back into the ring. Unfortunately, it doesn’t turn out that way. As Jeff rolls back in, Aries pulls Hardy through the ropes and delivers a neckbreaker so that Jeff’s head bounces off the edge of the runway! Back in, the missile dropkick connects, but the IED does not. They trade blows for the BOO-YAY reactions, but Jeff wins that exchange with the TWIST OF FATE. Cover, 1-2-NO! Aries stops Hardy up top and brings him down with the Super Hurracanrana! IED connects, followed by the BRAINBUSTER for 1-2-NO! Aries sets up Hardy in the tree of woe and tries for the Low Ki double stomp, but Hardy leans in towards the corner to avoid the impact. Somehow as Aries grabs hold of Jeff, he gets nailed with a stunner. TWIST OF FATE, off comes the shirt, and the SWANTON BOMB gets the three-count to give Hardy his third TNA world title. (23:04) This is a case where leaving Orlando is a good thing. While the redemption story of Jeff Hardy’s career looks wonderful on paper, it doesn’t always mean people want to see it. They certainly didn’t in Phoenix. Aries could have had the belt for a much longer period of time than what we got. Hopefully he gets it back some day, because I think he makes a great champion, and no one has been better in TNA for years now. This had quite the atmosphere, but didn’t quite the epic level of his matches with Bobby Roode. ***¾

Final Thoughts: When TNA gives us a look back on the Bound for Glory PPVs of the past, the memories they always seem to recall to our minds the most are the ones that involve ex-WWE or ex-WCW stars. Say it’s 2020, and TNA is going out of business. Not that I’m wishing it ill-will or making any kind of prediction. It’s simply a hypothetical. If all we have to look back on when you reflect back on their yearly ‘granddaddy of them all PPV’ are the old timers winning main events and titles, then what good was TNA to the business? Before this PPV started, we had a championship lineup full of their own talent. While some of them may have stuck their toes in WWE (more so Tessmacher and less so Kazarian), they certainly had their most success in TNA, and would be branded TNA wrestlers. There is NO reason on earth that RVD or Jeff Hardy should be champions. Chavo Guerrero should not be anywhere near the tag titles when you have much better wrestlers who can give you many more years of content. Giving Jeff the title shot was fine, but giving him the title is a different story. It’s not even an age thing, because Jeff is only 35. It’s that TNA will never be anything if they just keep letting these same guys represent their company who have seen SO much airtime over the last fifteen years. All I’m saying is, what is so horrible about giving the newer faces (that casual fans maybe haven’t seen a million times) a BIG win on your biggest PPV? You were doing so well, TNA. Anyways, this gets a strong thumbs in the middle for me. Nothing MOTYC-wise, but nothing outrageously bad either.