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LOOKING AT A 'LIVED UP TO THE HYPE' TNA BOUND FOR GLORY PPV

TNA put on a really good show last night with Bound for Glory. I thought it was easily their best effort in several months and it's easily worth ordering the replay in my opinion.

The best matches of the show were easily the Six Sides of Steel and the X-Division championship matches. The 8 Mile Street Fight was very good. Sting vs. Jarrett was what you would expect. The Joe-Angle confrontation was great.

Underneath, nothing was horrible with it ranging from silly (Young vs. Zbyszko) to OK (Battle Royal) to good (four way tag). I think a lot of today's audience is spoiled by the top to bottom "everything has to be amazing" mentality that pervades a lot of indy companies today, but I had no problem with how the show was laid out and thought everything accomplished what it needed to do.

Sting vs. Jeff Jarrett was good for what it was, but the problem with it was that by the time it got to the ring, everyone knew what the end result would be. At no point did anyone buy that Sting's career was in jeopardy. Jarrett was a coward for the last year but then began to out-wrestle Sting, which seemed to confuse the audience. The addition of Kurt Angle as the enforcer was the best thing to happen to the match because it would have come off really flat otherwise, in my opinion.

From an in-ring standpoint, they told a good story and the crowd absolutely loved Sting no-selling the guitar, which was the perfect exclamation point on the end of Jarrett's reign. I thought TNA did a good job trying to start Jarrett's babyface turn by focusing on him after the match. I don't see Sting as a long-term choice as champion, but it was a nice moment and if it leads to Sting finally working programs with Abyss, Joe, etc. like first discussed when he came to TNA a year ago, this will be a great thing.

The LAX-Daniels/Styles cage match was the perfect meshing of old school brutality, right down to forks and a wire hanger, and the athleticism of today's big high spots, with even Hernandez coming off the cage. LAX is easily the best gimmick of 2006, so I hope TNA recognizes that and pushes it to the moon. They have ready made feuds with AMW and also rematches with Daniels/Styles, plus down the line there's Team 3D. I thought this had everything it needed - blood, great exchanges, good character stuff in Konnan choking out Daniels with the wire hanger from outside the ring where the babyfaces had no hope of stopping him, and awesome high spots. I'd love to see TNA break off from the feud and then come back to it later down the line, because this has been something really special.

Senshi vs. Sabin was the match that TNA desperately needed, both to put an exclamation point back on the X-Division after months of mishandling. This match also finally gave each performer a tremendous match to help them get to the next level. Both goals were succeeded and I hope TNA keeps it up. It was really something to watch the crowd, obviously deflated and tired from the Samoa Joe-Kurt Angle deal, get back into the match as it continued, until they were popping for every near fall.

I also really enjoyed the 8 Mile Street Fight with Rhino vs. Christian. TNA was trying hard to be creative with the decorations and also having them start the match "out on the streets." Rhino came off like a really strong babyface fighting until he had nothing left. The only complaint one could make about the match, which I didn't even think of until watching it a second time today, was the lack of selling, including Cage getting up a minute after a piledriver through a table to the floor, like it was no big thing. Still, the effort was good and I thought both went above and beyond the call of duty here.

The Samoa Joe vs. Kurt Angle confrontation was awesome, although when you think about it, TNA has yet to explain why Angle even confronted and attacked Joe on Impact yet. If they are smart, they'll have a great back story planned. Still, the Impact angle and last night's pull apart brawl were some of the best things the company has done in awhile. If there is going to truly be a turning point that sends TNA up to the next level, it will be traced down to this angle.

Speaking of Joe, he was the monster of the Monster's Ball last night. While I do think the thumbtacks are overdone by TNA and should be put aside for awhile, I cannot do anything but praise the insanity and the hard work of everyone in the Monster's Ball match. Joe doing the back senton splash to crush Abyss' head into the tacks was nuts. Brother Runt's bumps were insane too. He has absolutely no care for his well being, which frightens me and impresses me all at the same time. Abyss had his usual great showing. A year ago, he and Joe had a brief confrontation on Bound for Glory in the gauntlet for the NWA title shot that was great. This year, it was even better. When they finally do that match, if it is built correctly, it's going to rule. Raven has been someone who has seen the spotlight pass by him of late, but you can see he's been trying to come up with ways to freshen up his look and work. I didn't care for the Jake Roberts bit, but I suppose if you are going to use Roberts, he has to get the DDT in. Still, I thought Joe needed a clean win, not one tainted by the special referee.

The four way tag match was as good as you were going to get in such a short time period. Great stuff by everyone there, even The James Gang. I loved the big sequence where everyone hit big moves one right after the other. You can't go wrong with the Tower of Doom superplex either. It should be interesting to see where they go with Team 3D as the other tag title feuds play out.

The X-Division Battle Royal was fine for what it was, but I could have done without Slick Johnson. I don't get the point of his character at all. I thought Austin Starr looked good. His bit where he teased throwing the midget into the crowd was hysterical. Kevin Nash was funny on commentary, although I can see why some wouldn't like his work. If they were building to a Starr-Alex Shelley deal where Shelley is angry over Nash giving Starr his attention, this was a good first tease. There was some stuff I personally didn't get (A-1 in an X-Division match?) or would have wanted to see but it was TNA's way of getting everyone on the show. It was great to see Petey Williams get a monster pop as well.

Additional Thoughts: The size of the crowd and the level of interest in all the characters made it a really fun PPV. If that wasn't proof TNA needs to take the PPVs on the road several times a year, I don't know what is. They deserve tons of kudos for filling the place up...There were a lot more production problems this time around then in previous PPVs. Thankfully, TNA had replays ready to go to catch the missed spots a few seconds later, but they need to work on tightening up that end of things. If anything, it shows how much great work they do on post-producing Impact...Is it Bobby Roode or Robert Roode, and why doesn't one side know what the other is doing?...Eric Young is awesome at his character. Larry Zbyszko's been fired. See you on Impact in three weeks, Larry!...Lance Hoyt loses his match and is dancing a minute later?...Ron Killings deserved a better slot on the show then a quick rap. That said, he was over bigtime in Detroit....I wanted to see more Christy Hemme...Jeremy Borash's reaction to Jake Roberts was awesome. Borash is really underrated as the backstage announcer....What does it say for Monty Brown's standing with TNA when they run his hometown as their biggest show of the year and he's not mentioned or seen?

Mike Johnson can be reached at Mike@PWInsider.com.

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