Daveportivo's Cultural Evaluation Facility

The opening of this match was very weak with each set of men nicely moving out of each others way and randomly hitting moves before the spots began proper. Once the spotfest began it was pretty good for what it was, The Machine Guns double team fake dive was a great spot, as was the ranna of Daniels off top onto all four men. It takes the crowd approximately two minutes to start a "this is awesome", I remember when that used to mean something....*sighs*. We have the usual collection of hideous contrived moments, the Gringo Cutter off the X wires was particularly cringe inducing, but they keep the action coming thick and fast, so the stupidity of the match never really took a toll. This match really was a case of two good one bad. I have to give them credit they came up with a really unique take on the tower of doom spot, I thought it'd seen that spot done to death but I've got to give them points for creativity. The "sick bump" Daniels took was stupid, dangerous, unessecary and worst of all it was glossed over in a second as they rushed to the finish. It really hurt the match, because it was so pathetic, so stupid and worst of all it killed five minutes of what could have been great action rather than boring crawling around to set up one silly spot. All in all, a good opener, but nothing particularly special, people won't be talking about this come december, Daniels is just lucky he landed ontop of Suicide otherwise he'd probably be dead. (***1/4)

Well the camera work and production was shaky in the opener but Keith Mitchell made is first of many glaring errors in this one as he totally missed Taylor Wilde & Sarita's entrance. He would go on to miss obvious spots all show long. The pre-match promos were really good from both teams especially Wilde & Sarita. The pre match shenanigans completely overshaddowed the match itself which was short and somewhat sweet. (*)

Keith Mitchell has no business being a director, what kind of man cuts to a shot of Hernandez coughing while Nash makes his entrance? But then this is the guy who used to show reaction shots of managers and would miss flip dives off the top of cages. The match itself was neither here nor there, it was what it was, exactly what you'd expect from these three. I'd like to have seen Hernandez come out of this looking stronger but hopefully they're transitioning him out of this feud to leave Nash & Young to have their separate programme. The finish was pretty stupid and only serves to make Young look like an idiot for turning Nash against him. (*3/4)

This match was a complete and utter mess of plodding and forgettable spots. It was a total garbage match and had no pretentious of being anything else. The convoluted nature of the match meant that the both title wins were totally forgettable, it was full of contrived moments as well as the inglorious end of Booker T's pathetic TNA career. I give Steiner credit he did all he could to con Dixie Carter into keeping him around by having the everyone bump around for all his signature spots. And I have to say I like Scott and I think there's a role for him so I wouldn't mind him staying around in a body guard role. This match was very plodding and full of dead air. This match struggled to keep my attention and the crowd wavered throughout, if repetitive indy level garbage matches are you thing then you probably love it, for the rest of us and the 140, 000 people who don't buy TNA PPVs this was a forgettable mess anti-climatic mess. (**)

Wow this was arguably Mitchell's worst botch of the night as he completely missed the shot of Randy Courture's wife attacking Tara at ringside, instead we got shots of the phony bemusement of OBD and Kong. This one horrible awkward spot killed the match dead, but it wasn't very good up until that point. I have to give them credit I really liked the finish with Saeed accidentally costing Kong the match, that should lead to the reveal that she's Alicia Flash. This wasn't particularly good and got completely lost in the shuffle. (*)

This was the start of a decent match but it ended abruptly and in anti-climatic fashion as Lashley choked out Joe. The crowd were very pro Joe and turn on Lashley from the word go, there were some nice exchanges, but the finish really hurt the match, Hebner really could have sold it alot better. Why they are investing anytime in Lashley is beyond me, I know I say this every month but poor Joe how far he has fallen, and to think people thought Punk took the wrong option going to WWE. (**)

This was just an disgrace to professional wrestling and a sure fire candidate for the worst match of the year honours (not that anything is topping Morasca-Sharmell). This match was plodding pathetic and dated. It was full of hideously contrived spots, unrealistic action, and basically everything that was old, stale and lame in '98. They even pulled out the hideous gimmicked Taser spot. I can't describe how awful this match was, it's just wrestling for nerds who like to chant "this is awesome" when someone falls through a piece of plywood. This is wrestling to shock not wrestling to entertain, only problem is, it's not even shocking. It wasn't helped by horrible announcing from Tenay and Taz would didn't sell any of the big spots, and of course it was ruined by Keith Mitchell. Mitchell managed to miss the big spot with Daffney going throug a barb wire table at the end and instead of showing replays of Abyss crashing through the stage which Tenay and Taz could talk up he instead left Mick Foley's fat arse on screen as he gingerly climbed down the stage (oh and it filmed it all in one continuous long shot). Oh and I haven't even mentioned they blew the entire finish of the match...but argh...I could rant for an eternity about this train wreck. This kind of pathetic bollocks should be left in the past where it belongs, but until TNA choose a direction and stops trying to satisfy every little nerd their doomed to go no where. (1/4*)

This was the match of the night, it wasn't a classic but it was very good. While Morgan has come on leaps and bounds in promos in the ring he's still no great shakes, he did his best to keep up with Angle but he just went from spot to spot without selling and without getting across the story of the match at all. Morgan is the ultimate video game wrestler, he knows how to do moves but he still hasn't learnt the art of wrestling, hopefully he'll learn in time. Luckily he was in there with an absolute pro in Kurt Angle who was determined to put on a show and he damn sure did. With some great bumps and some quality near falls, he turned this into a clear stand out. They went with the right finish. Angle is probably due a baby face turn with the old heels being cleared out he proved why he's valuable and still is TNA's MVP. Infact a double turn would be a really good idea, Morgan would work much better as a heel, it suits his character and size to a tee. It would also help him develope as he wouldn't have to fight to keep the crowd on his side. It's not his fault the crowd chant "Morgan Sucks" half the people in the arena don't watch TNA their always likely to cheer the legend Angle. I also have to say the video package leading into this match was superb, very UFC like, it was well paced and it was the one match on the show that was allowed to feel special. Unfortunately the rest of the pacing of the show was horribly screwed up so the post match handshake and the match itself was never allowed to sink in. Good stuff, but not great. (***1/2)

It's a real shame they had to cut this match short as this was pretty good stuff while it lasted, with AJ working his arse off and Sting doing just about enough on his end, without exerting overly himself (no planchas or dives). At least AJ got the clean win and as no one orders these PPVs if they sell it hard on Impact it will seem like a huge win for AJ. I don't really have too much to say about this one, aside from a rushed finish it was a satisfying main event and about the best you could hope for. After the match Sting gave what seemed like an honest announcement that he wasn't sure whether he was going to retire, again it was rushed because the show was running so far over, they didn't even have time to air the pre match videos. Have to give credit to Taz though, in this match he was really good putting over both men and making the match feel important. Good effort. (***)

Overall Thoughts: This was a very frustrating show, as it was undermined by so many avoidable hindrances, the production was utterly horrible, Keith Mitchell really has to go as I've describe at length. The pacing was equally detrimental. Everything on this show ran together, it felt interchangeable. Nothing was allowed to stand out as they had to rush onto the next match or the next stupid spot right away. The commentators never had a chance to sell the show, nothing stood out as memorable or epic. This was supposed to be TNA's Wrestlemania but it felt like just another show. It was undermined by having too many matches, too many pointless gimmicks & stipulations, and too many wrestlers on this show as a whole. You don't need to put every person in the company on a PPV, especially not your biggest show of the year, you should have to earn the right to be on this show. As for the action it was pretty solid, there were three good solid PPV standard match ups, and alot of interchangeable forgettable filler which unfortunately had a negative effect on the better matches. Compared to a regular TNA PPV this was pretty good, but seeing as Bound for Glory is supposed to be their Wrestlemania this was a poor show, as it was as forgettable as every other TNA PPV. I marked down Wrestlemania for not feeling as epic as it should and that had perfect production, one of the greatest matches of all time, and three other matches over three stars, so fair is fair and I have to mark Bound For Glory down equally. That said this show was definitely a step in the right direction and it would make such a tangible difference if they slowed things down, had six really important matches, and fired Keith Mitchell and put some real effort into production. However with all that being said for the first time since Lockdown 2008 TNA has taken a step forward, and for that I commend them. (5.0)