By Nicholas Jason Lopez

When you have a dud like Slammiversary, there’s nowhere to go but up, right?

While we had moments that brought back memories of that terrible night (ongoing audio technical difficulties, inexcusable announcing blunders, questionable booking decisions), the good news was that an excitable opener and final 90 minutes were enough to salvage the night for any wrestling fan.

However, TNA’s still TNA and it’ll take a while for them to move ahead of this show with any momentum, main event finish aside.

(Aired 10/4/15)

The Breakdown

– The opening video set the tone for the company’s biggest night, talking about the contenders and champions being “bound for greatness, redemption, courage, retribution, infamy, immortality” and you know… Glory. All in all though, a solid video package kept in relevance to recent storylines.

– The Ultimate X match for the X-Division Championship between DJ Z, Tigre Uno, Manik and Andrew Everett was a decent ensemble minus the random rookie Everett, as everyone else were former Champs. Also liked that Manik went without the mask, referred to as his way of “breaking free from James Storm.” The action early on was a bit cringe-worthy, with some mistimed botches, but that was long forgotten once the guys found their rhythm. DJ Z started a nice cycle of outside dives that culminated in an impressive Springboard Shooting Star Press by Everett, who also did a crazy 450 Splash at one point too. Going from no reaction to having the crowd chanting your name to win the Belt in your debut match has to feel good. If TNA has any brains, they’d take advantage of Everett’s momentum gained in this match and use it to push him in the division, which screams for new blood. Like we predicted, the way TNA was pushing Tigre as Champ, a win was inevitable, though the finish – which included a nasty-looking bump as Everett fell back-first onto the canvas from the structure cables, was cool. As for the stuff with Gregory Helms after the match, it left us intrigued yet confused. First, that green jacket was loud and we wonder if he wore it since it bore the trademark “Hurricane” colors. Second, was he giving us an endorsement of Tigre or was he challenging him for the Belt? The way he confronted him and overshadowed him by height was telling, making us think perhaps a heel attack was in order. However that never materialized and most of us were left thinking, “Oh, that was cool, but also kind of lame.”

– While we won’t complain about the idea of TNA World Heavyweight Champion Ethan Carter III’s on-stage promo, it seemed to come out of left field. This went the way of most of his promos, where he ran on and on about himself and his accomplishments, while also voicing a “conspiracy against him” with the way the main event was set up. He also announced in the promo that the Bound For Gold Gauntlet match to decide who’d get a future World Title shot was next and that seemed to be all we gathered.

– All in all, the Bound For Gold Gauntlet featured Mr. Anderson, Jessie Godderz, Eli Drake, Al Snow, Aiden O’Shea, Mahabali Shera, Tyrus, Chris Melendez, Tommy Dreamer, Abyss and even The Pope. That’s a lot of guys to digest in a short time. We predicted Anderson would win it all, since with EC3 as Champion (presumably) by the end of the night, it made sense for a top babyface to come out on top. The booking seemed to follow that, as we looked like we were getting a melodramatic “first guy in, last guy out” story with Anderson until the end. As for the surprises – Snow was the first one, which was fun at first, until we remembered he was a company agent and could’ve been involved in any match at any time. He ran through his basic spots and got eliminated unceremoniously later. Another (and probably the biggest) was Dreamer, who got a big pop with the Dusty Rhodes tribute via attire/moveset and actually could’ve been a believable winner, until he was eliminated of course. Pope randomly inserted himself into the match to a big pop but disappointingly went the way of comedy as he backed out when he was stared down by Abyss/Tyrus. We’re happy that Shera didn’t make it far, though he’s essentially the TNA Great Khali. Did everyone in the match need to do the “Shera Shake” at one point? Sure, it was funny, but that’s from the sight of Snow doing such a ridiculous thing. Melendez had a good pop and the crowd was with him, but he didn’t last long unfortunately. O’Shea had a cool look about him but the “fighting heel  Irishman” gimmick made him come off as a Sheamus 2015 rip-off. Drake should’ve had more spotlight in this match than he did. Anyways, the fact that Tyrus was in the match seemed to make little sense, and even worse, it wasn’t acknowledged in EC3’s promo, since he could’ve explained that he was in there to get rid of any threats to his Title. We also found it extremely lazy booking to announce on the fly, “Oh yeah, the winner can choose any Belt, not just the World Title.” Having it come down to Tyrus-Anderson for final two was fair, but we didn’t see Tyrus winning at all. The post-match interaction between EC3 and Tyrus was okay for what it was, as it seemed to signal a pseudo-face turn for Tyrus and he ignored EC3’s hints at going for Belts that weren’t his own, while Tyrus claimed he did all the hard work this time and was going for the top gold. The moment really would’ve gone over better had Tyrus not mispronounced his big line as going for the “Heavyweight World Championship Of The World.” Uh, what?

– The Tag Team Championship match between Trevor Lee/Brian Myers and The Wolves gave us some nice back-and-forth classic athletic tag team wrestling. The four had good chemistry despite a few hiccups – one particularly where it looked like Davey Richards landed awkwardly on his shoulder. Props to the broadcast team for talking about Trevor Lee like they did, actually giving the bearded 22 year-old a personality and explaining the reasons behind his appearance. Wolves winning here was no shock. Are Myers/Lee going to disappear from TNA now that they lost their rematch?

– Drew Galloway’s backstage promo was strongly delivered and got over his passion for the business and why he came to TNA – to compete with the best and make us forget about his past. He put over the Hardys, while also comparing their troubles to his own “curveballs thrown at him,” but the theme here was that he’d give it his all no matter what. The way he was talking about doing whatever he needed to do in a No Disqualification environment came off a little heelish, but that was overshadowed by the “I’ll even kill myself” line, which came off a bit extreme, albeit selling his determination.

– The King Of The Mountain Championship match between Bobby Roode and Bobby Lashley was the big impact move match we all were hoping for. The story of constant competition was brilliantly told and the crowd was hot for it. Roode winning made the most sense here, since we’d assume TNA is trying to establish that toy belt of theirs. The post-match sportsmanship teased being something more, but was ultimately just sportsmanship.

– Matt Hardy’s backstage promo gave us a good “hometown perspective,” as he sold his family being there, including his wife and new child, also talking about how he and his brother first set out for success together before moving on to individual success and he made it sound like this was his night to make history. We had doubts, but this set it up pretty well.

– It was cool to see Earl Hebner get a TNA Hall Of Fame Induction, but since we already seen a video package, did we need the whole thing in the ring with Smashing Pumpkins lead singer/TNA Creative member Billy Corgan? The video package did enough to sell the moment of appreciating arguably the most recognized referee in pro wrestling. On that note, Smashing Pumpkins’ “Zero” would make a kick-ass wrestling theme for someone.

– The Knockouts Championship match between Gail Kim and Awesome Kong was good, though not as shiny as past battles, but still newsworthy. Kim took a tough Implant Buster spot on chairs on the outside and we got a taste of things getting a little extreme. The finishing minutes were also good, though we wish it had a little more time. As for Kim’s husband, Celebrity Chef Robert Irvine getting nearly involved, it made sense within the emotional context, but was ultimately uneventful.

– Jeff Hardy’s backstage promo saw him talk about being a “straight down the middle” referee since he was honoring Dixie Carter’s intentions of bringing him back. Like anybody doubted that…

– Who knew that Eric Young and Kurt Angle would put on the match of the night, since it was another chapter of a seemingly endless feud? The promo exchange between the two to start it off was good, as the crowd was hotter for Angle than anyone else the whole night and seemed pumped for the No Disqualification stipulation. The injury angle seemed like a bad idea at first since it killed the crowd’s buzz, but it paid off since it allowed them to tell the story of Angle making the ultimate comeback. Young also looked ruthless with the way he attacked the medical staff when they said Angle couldn’t continue. The match became really good headed towards the end, as Young hit more big moves and teased a top rope Piledriver before getting caught in the Angle Lock. The stipulation ended up biting him in that reaching the rope couldn’t break the hold. Easy storytelling to follow and brilliantly done. The only possible compliant here was that the company wasn’t thinking long-term with this match, since EY lost and we assume Angle won’t be in the company much longer. Quite a shame too.

– That had to suck that the audio feed went out on the hype video for the damn main event. It was like Slammiversary all over again. Anyways, it was straight to the introductions as the TNA World Heavyweight Championship match between EC3, Matt Hardy and Galloway with Jeff as Special Guest Referee lived up to the hype with some fun, fast-paced action filled with chairs, tables and unorthodox spots. It was probably wishful thinking that EC3 would retain, since Matt got the big Title win thanks to his brother being a factor. It all started about the time EC3 was trying to get DQ’d in a match with no DQ’s. EC3’s backstage ruckus made sense, though viewers probably didn’t know who he was pushing over a table. Headed into Impact, it’ll be interesting to see how EC3 and Tyrus get along, since he just shrugged his shoulders upon being ejected from ringside in the main event and formally challenged EC3. As cool as it was to see Matt finally get a “career highlight” and we got the feeling the company did this for some instant buzz, we fear about any long-term booking damage, since EC3’s reign just barely passed three months, which is pathetic in retrospect. The smarter idea might’ve been to keep it on EC3 until Jeff was healthy enough to take it from him. Alas, we can’t write storylines and can only comment on them, but we just hope TNA doesn’t pay for this moment down the road.

Original Predictions Correct: 5/7

Results

• X-Division Championship – Ultimate X Match – Tigre Uno (Champion) def. DJ Z, Manik and Andrew Everett to retain
• Winner Receives Future TNA World Heavyweight Championship Match Or Any Other Championship – Bound For Gold Gauntlet Match – Tyrus def. Mr. Anderson, Mahabali Shera, Abyss, Tommy Dreamer, Al Snow, Aiden O’Shea, Eli Drake, Chris Melendez, Robbie E, Jessie Godderz and The Pope 
• TNA World Tag Team Championships – The Wolves (Champions) def. Trevor Lee/Brian Myers via pinfall to retain
• TNA King Of The Mountain Championship – Bobby Roode (Champion) def. Bobby Lashley via pinfall to retain
• TNA Knockouts Championship – Gail Kim (Champion) def. Awesome Kong via pinfall
• No Disqualification Match – Kurt Angle def. Eric Young via pinfall
• Jeff Hardy As Special Guest Referee – TNA World Heavyweight Championship – Matt Hardy def. Ethan Carter III (Champion) (w/Tyrus) and Drew Galloway via pinfall to become new Champion