Will a new TNA take shape at Bound For Glory?

I don't watch much TNA anymore. When it was on Spike, replays would appear on the site and be easily viewable by yours truly. Destination America does not do the same, nor do they offer the show on content partner Hulu, so I am left to follow most of TNA's storylines through recaps. Sometimes that leaves folks with a more negative view of a program if a reviewer personally doesn't like a segment (or vice versa.) But I have to say that while it doesn't have the depth of name talent previous TNA pay-per-views had, the upcoming Bound For Glory sounds incredibly solid.

The BFG poster is not helped by the large
image of the currently suspended Bram.

The show is headlined by a triple threat match for the TNA World Heavyweight title as champion Ethan Carter III defends against Matt Hardy and Drew Galloway with Jeff Hardy as special guest referee. I personally think this sounds like one of the weakest matches on the card not because the talent involved isn't great, but because the booking clearly implies typical TNA shenanigan booking to end the show. The big pay-per-view should have a decisive finish and it just seems doubtful that with his enemy EC3 and his brother Matt in the ring that Jeff will call it down the middle.
I am far from a fan of Bobby Lashley, but I think he works fairly well against Bobby Roode in the King of the Mountain title match. I do think that with Roode holding that belt it is already in danger of becoming more important to many fans than the World title though. Still I think it would be foolhardy to take the belt off TNA's workhorse and most loyal star, nor do I think even TNA's sometimes insane booking will do so.

Gail Kim and Awesome Kong always have great straight up matches between the two of the. I suspect their Knockouts title match at Bound For Glory will be no different. Much like the current NXT product, I wouldn't be surprised to see the two women really steal the show if they're given 10 to 15 minutes to make their match work.

I think Tigre Uno is a great spot monkey and he's got some great challengers in the form of Andrew Everett, Manik and DJ Z. Everett's involvement remains odd because the GFW invasion angle is done and he doesn't have the logical reason for being present that the tag challengers do. I also find the booking of yet another Ultimate X match on another pay-per-view a bit lazy, but TNA long ago gave up on letting the X Division title be more than a spot fest. I suspect this will be just that, although I personally think a strong push for DJ Z as a credible champion could do wonders for this division.

The aforementioned tag titles are on the line as former champions Brian Myers and Trevor Lee challenge the Wolves in a match that feels like it would fit better on a PWS show than a TNA pay-per-view. I suspect this will be the final swan song for the GFW invaders with The Wolves cementing themselves as the dominant (and pretty much only) team in TNA.

Kurt Angle returns to TNA television to take on Eric Young in the culmination of their battles from earlier this year. Heel Eric Young didn't make much sense when he first turned, but the character has become more and more solid in the last few months even in silly feuds with Chris Melendez. Angle deserves one last great run from TNA and I suspect he will get a solid end run between now and his contract expiry in January.

Finally there is the "everyone gets a paycheck" battle royal to crown a new contender for the World Heavyweight title. Melendez is joined in the match by Mr. Anderson, Abyss, Mahabali Shera, Tyrus, Robbie E, Jesse Godderz, Aiden O’Shea and Eli Drake. I think TNA would be wise to try and make a new star with this match and with the India tour coming up, I expect it will be Shera that gets the win. Personally my pick would be Aiden O'Shea as the former Jay Bradley deserves a great shot as a television star, but he seems to be a perennial jobber yet again in his second TNA run.

Overall, Bound For Glory has the potential to be a great show, but only if TNA does not use its often unwise booking to over-complicate things. Keeping things simple and straight forward might help TNA score back some of the viewers it lost over the previous months. And if word gets out that they put on a great pay-per-view, it might even get a few viewers skipping the event to tune in for a replay. And right now, TNA desperately needs those eyes on their product.