TNA’s flagship pay-per-view Bound For Glory promised a lot—a new world champion, RVD’s revenge on Abyss, the culmination of the EV2 and Fortune battle in Lethal Lockdown, Mickie James’ first PPV appearance and, of course, Abyss would finally reveal who “They” were.
I must admit i was quite excited to review this double-disc set from the moment it arrived. This was certainly TNA’s best PPV offering of 2010.
The event itself opens with a bang as Generation Me take on Motor City Machineguns for the Guns in a fast paced, high-flying bout for the World Tag Team Belts.
Up next, a four-way battle between Knockouts champion Angelina Love, her Beautiful People partner Velvet Sky, Tara and Madison Rayne. TNA’s newest, Knockout Mickie James, is also featured prominently and does well in the guest referee role.
A comedy Tag-Match follows next as the Oddball team of Orlando Jordan and Eric Young took on Ink Inc. Not the best of matches to be honest, but it is what it is, both teams did their jobs well in a fun bout.
Douglas Williams then represented Fortune in his quest to recapture the X Division Title; current champion Jay Lethal had other ideas, of course. Both men used their particular talents to their own ends—Williams utilising his mat based style while Lethal tried his best to fly and use his speed.
Up next, the match many were waiting on—Rob Van Dam finally got his hands on Abyss, seeking revenge for the brutal and bloody beat down that forced him to vacate TNA World Heavyweight Title. Their monsters ball match was a weapons filled brawl that was a great watch.
Handicap rules were to the force as Samoa Joe and Jeff Jarrett faced off against the trio of Kevin Nash, Sting and The Pope, a decent match with a shock ending that saw Jarrett turn his back on Joe. The match left many fans asking, why?
Team 3D then made a special appearance to announce its retirement. The 23-time former tag team champs asked for one more match with the Motor City Machineguns before hanging up their boots. This was a fantastically well done angle that had many (myself included) truly believing this was the end of Team 3D.
Lethal Lockdown was everything it should be—a full throttle cage match where all hell breaks loose and the opposing teams finally get the chance to work through their differences with the cage and weapons as added extras. Whilst i did feel then (and still do) that Fortune should have went over convincingly, nonetheless this match was impressive.
Mick Foley and Ric Flair had a brief ringside brawl before the EV 2/Fortune team stepped inside, Fortune having the man advantage throughout the first portion of the 10-man event.
Fortune took control from the outset. Having a fired up Foley, Flair and the remaining team members at ringside helped keep the crowd pumped up as well. EV 2, however, quickly clawed back some leverage of its own with each fresh man who entered, the extreme team proving to be better at handling the brutal setting, with thanks to a little help from Brian Kendrick.
The main event promised a new TNA World Heavyweight Champion and the trio participating all seemed equally likely candidates. Added to the mix, Kurt Angle promised he would quit if he was beaten. Mr Anderson was the star on the rise, out to prove a point, and Jeff Hardy was atop a short list of men who deserve a long world title run—if they can keep their noses clean.
The finish was a shock for many reasons. After the many near falls, moonsaults, Angle Slams, swanton bomb’s, mic check’s and of course the usual ref bump, the title went to the unpredictable Hardy—but he had a bit of help.
Prior to his win, Eric Bischoff and an on-crutches Hulk Hogan appeared, and in a major swerve ala Bash at the Beach 1996 (which happened in the very same building interestingly enough!). Jeff turned heel to join them, blasting both opponents with the walking aids to gain an easy pin.
The crowd was obviously stunned, as we saw a newly heel Hardy deck best friend RVD, who had rushed to ask Jeff just what he thought he was doing. Hardy, Hogan & Bischoff were soon joined by Abyss and Jeff Jarrett, subsequently revealing them to be the mysterious “THEY” as the PPV went off the air.
A stellar PPV but there’s also more as a superb second disc adds to the value of the package greatly, with a full episode of the special “Before the Glory” TNA iMPACT! (featuring a superb Mick Foley vs Ric Flair clash), a nice documentary style feature on the event, interviews, fan interaction footage and photo galleries to peruse at your leisure.
All in all, this is one DVD you MUST purchase.Thanks for reading.
The Bound For Glory 2010 DVD is available from ShopTNA.com, AMerchandise and all good retailers.
