By Jason Powell, ProWrestling.net Editor (@prowrestlingnet)
TNA Impact Hits
Mike Santana video packages: More top notch mic work from Santana. I wonder if he would be in the main event of Bound For Glory had Joe Hendry not caught fire. Either way, I will be disappointed if Santana doesn’t end up having a TNA Title reign at some point (depending on his contractual status, of course). He set the table nicely for his match with Moose, and hopefully the idea is to have Santana beat the former TNA World Champion to set him up as a top contender for the title coming out of Bound For Glory.
Double contract signing for Bound For Glory: Nic Nemeth, Joe Hendry, Jordynne Grace, and Masha Slamovich all provided solid final pushes for their title matches. Frankie Kazarian was actually the star of the segment with his entertaining heel mic work. Kazarian’s explanation that Anthem executives named him special referee for the Nemeth vs. Hendry match was nothing special, but at least they took the time to address it. I came away from this show concerned about what they have in mind for the championship match. Kazarian’s line about how “the right man” will win the TNA Title in the main event was clearly a hint that he will factor heavily into the match. My guess is that he wins the Call Your Shot gauntlet and then cashes in at some point during this match. Although he could win the title, I suspect he will be used to put over the actual winner so that the company can avoid having Nemeth or Hendry be pinned. That type of finish would be fine if this played out on most other TNA shows, but fans expect and should be given a clean finish to the main event of the biggest show of the year. Or course, I could be reading this wrong and they may have something much better in mind, so we’ll have to see how it plays out on Saturday.
Matt Hardy, Jeff Hardy, Chris Bey, and Ace Austin vs. Moose, JDC, Brian Myers, and Eddie Edwards: Good action with the babyfaces going over. Pro wrestling history suggests that Bey and Austin winning this match for their team means they won’t win the Full Metal Mayhem match at Bound For Glory. The post match angle lost me when Mike Santana turned away from Moose to focus on Alisha Edwards, which led to Moose getting the better of him. I get the idea of putting heat on the heels heading into the pay-per-view, but the way they did it made Santana look bad.
Sami Callihan vs. Jake Something vs. AJ Francis vs. Jason Hotch vs. Laredo Kid vs. Frankie Kazarian to become the final entrant in the TNA Call Your Shot Battle Royal: A solid six-way match that had purpose thanks to the stipulation that the winner enters the Call Your Shot match last while the loser became the first entrant. Kazarian losing the match and becoming the first entrant in the match oddly left me feeling more confident about his chances of winning the gauntlet.
Josh Alexander vs. Jonathan Gresham: A soft Hit due to the cheap finish. Alexander handed his headgear to the referee late in the match. The referee idiotically turned his back to the wrestlers while handing off the headgear. So the referee’s inability to simply back up caused him to miss Alexander hitting Gresham with an object. This was a terrible end to an otherwise quality match. The post match angle with the heels ganging up on Steve Maclin was fine in terms of putting more heat on Alexander heading into their match at BFG.
TNA Impact Misses
Launch Party of Elegance: Campy sports entertainment nonsense. I have enjoyed the reinvention of Dana Brooke, but her matches and segments have taken a turn for the worse. And what was the point of dedicating this much time on the go-home show for the company’s biggest event of the year when it merely set up a throwaway pre-show tag team match?
Wendy Choo vs. Jody Threat: TNA followed up the bad finish of Alexander vs. Gresham by having the next referee pick up Choo’s body pillow and also turn away from the action while clearing it from the ring. This allowed Rosemary to take a cheap shot at Threat to helped give Choo the win. This match already felt like it was overstaying its welcome before the company gave viewers the second bad finish in back-to-back matches.
Join John Moore for his live review of TNA Bound For Glory on Saturday.
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