Tonight, TNA presents its final PPV before Bound For Glory. The World Championship is on the line as Kurt Angle faces Sting and Mr. Anderson, and the Bound For Glory Series comes to an end as Bully Ray, James Storm, Bobby Roode, and Gunner all compete for the #1 Contendership. Other title matches and grudge matches fill out the card. Read on for how I'd book the event!
Oh boy. I don't think this one will be easy. TNA continues to be a mix of names from years gone by and people who aren't quite ready to be big deals in a lot of places. And of course, there are characters with unclear alignments, brief title reigns, and unexpected booking. In other words, this event could be quite the bumpy ride...
Mickie James retains the Knockouts Championship from Winter after avoiding the "mist" and hitting her with the Mickie-T or whatever she calls her jumping DDT now. If Mickie hadn't won the title back recently, this would be going the other way. The Network rules that this is Winter's last rematch to avoid "scorching the earth" with these two facing off so many times. In other words, as long as Mickie as champion, Winter can't be #1 Contender. Instead, Angelina Love will try to get the title off of her.
Jesse Sorensen brings his A-game, but Kid Kash holds on to the ropes as he pins him to win the next X-Division Title shot. BUT, the Network declares the win void, so the feud continues, with Sorensen wanting to earn the title match and Kash doing everything he can to see to it that he doesn't get it. Maybe they have a best-of-5 series ending at BFG or something. Point being it won't be just one more match between them. Unless Kash tries to injure Sorensen and win the title shot that way, which would lead to the match at BFG. That would probably work better I think. Don't want the audience to get burned out with the match-up.
In the meantime, Austin Aries wins the X-Division Title. Kendrick comes to the ring doing whatever his gimmick is, and Aries jumps him because titles are serious business. He pulls his gi over his head and attacks him, etc., eventually winning via Brainbuster or whatever his finisher is. The story is that he clearly outperforms the less serious competitor. After the match, he clocks Kendrick with a Buddha statue or something that Kendrick brings to the ring with him. Kendrick takes time off, and eventually comes back with a more serious character. Unless they want to fire him or something. Either way, if he competes again it won't be as the wacky guy he is at present. Aries moves on to face Kendrick's friend Alex Shelley, who's understandably less than pleased with Aries' actions here.
Mexican America retains the tag team titles after a miscommunication between Devon and Pope. At first, the match goes swimmingly for the challengers, but Pope holds Anarquia for the punch and... you know the rest. After the match, Dinero tries to let bygones be bygones and shake Devon's hand, but Devon hits him again, continuing the attack from there. On Impact Wrestling, he explains that hitting him the first time felt right to him after all the mind games, etc.. His family doesn't want him to fight with "Uncle Pope", which only makes Devon angrier. The Pope tries to calm him down, but Devon lays him out again despite the pleas from his family. Pope eventually decides that in order to protect Devon's family, he has to fight Devon at Bound For Glory in what will basically be a slugfest. Mexican America goes on to feud with Ink, Inc. if Neal's ready to return (things will have "smoothed over" between him and Moore). If not, the British Invasion get more facelike in the weeks to come, talking about how while they didn't use to care for America, it's really grown on them and they're glad to call it home now. They draw parallels to a number of British celebrities to show how the two countries can get along and so on. They defend its honor against MA. Maybe they even get some tights with both the British and American flags on them.
Matt Morgan wins a hard-fought match with Samoa Joe. Afterward, as he's shaking his head looking down at the man who's gone so far from where he used to be morally, Joe gets out of the corner and uppercuts Morgan, then starts pounding on him until the referees pull him off. The two of them get involved in each others' matches in the following weeks, and any attempts to separate them don't do much good (including ejecting them from the building; they just fight outside and security has to be called). They face off at Bound For Glory in a No Holds Barred, Falls Count Anywhere match.
My understanding is that the BFG Series ends in a tournament, but I'm not 100% sure on that one. If it doesn't, it does now. Roode gets the win over Gunner, and the frustrated Gunner attacks Storm in his match to retaliate (while Bully Ray distracts the referee of course). Gunner "injures" Storm while Bully Ray keeps Roode and anyone else at bay with his chain. Ray plays upon Roode's frustration over the injury during their match, and uses his anger against him to win the #1 Contendership. Roode then feuds with Gunner at BFG.
The main event is a tough one to book and indicative of TNA's current problems. Sting's 52 and we don't know how much longer he has left in his career. He's set to face Hogan in Philly, and that doesn't need to be a World Title match, so he's out. Angle's 42 and has had a number of incidents in the recent past unbefitting of a World Champion. Not to mention that his career as a full-timer's also winding down. This leaves Mr. Anderson, an upper midcarder at best with some less than solid performances in the ring and on the mic. On top of all of this is that the winner of this has to face the winner of the BFG Series, which has another upper midcarder, 2 tag team guys, and someone (else) who's still a ways to go to being a threat to the Championship. I picked the upper midcarder, pretty much by default given his opposition.
Anyway, Sting's facing Hogan, and Angle should be facing Crimson next month. Crimson's not ready for the title despite his undefeated streak, and Angle should lose the gold after his recent incidents, so, reluctantly, that means Anderson wins here. Immortal distracts Sting (he fights them at ringside), and while the referees are keeping tabs on that, Anderson uses a low blow, then a Mic Check to get the TNA Title. Bully Ray vs. Anderson for the gold at BFG. I can't believe I typed that.
So, that's how I'd duct tape together tonight's card. I'll be back later to cover how it actually goes down. Thanks for reading!
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