With the "Bound For Glory Series" winding down to its final four participants, Bully Ray, James Storm, Jeff Hardy, and Samoa Joe, one of these men will have to endure double duty on Sunday night; they will have to go through two tough opponents in order to become the Number One contender to Aries' World Title.
For Joe, it's about getting back to his glory days as TNA's top man and top destroyer, regaining the gold he once held years ago.
For Bully Ray, it's about cementing his status as the "Baddest Mofo" in TNA and legitimizing his livelihood as a singles competitor.
For Jeff Hardy, it's about redemption, the opportunity to prove that if he can become champion this time around, he will do TNA and wrestling itself proud as a more mature and capable person.
For Storm, it's about finding that spark again, the spark that made him TNA Heavyweight Champion in the first place, the spark that drove him against Bobby Roode when the title was taken from him, and the spark that drove him to come back and tear up the "Bound For Glory" Series.
X Division Championship:
Zema Ion (C) v. Sonjay Dutt
This one is a good example of a great-sounding match, but little to no build-up behind it. It was only announced recently on Impact Wrestling, but given Aces and Eights and the Bound For Glory Series have been the center points for the last few weeks, I can somewhat understand how this could fall by the wayside.
Anyway, Zema had a solid defense against Kenny King at the last PPV. Now, while King is a outstanding athlete and competitor inside the ring, he hasn't been in the X Division for long. Now, the returning Sonjay Dutt has major X-Division experience and is someone who can really legitimize Zema as its champion if Ion can pull off a victory here, and I believe he will.
Winner: Zema Ion
RVD v. Magnus
Another match made with last-minute build-up when Magnus lambasted RVD, recently out of the Final Four after a loss to Bully Ray, over the notion that Van Dam can't make the jump on those competitive "hurdles" like he used to, inciting a violent reaction from the normally cool and collected Master of the Five-Star Frog Splash.
I can see this match is more or less a stepping stone for Magnus in terms of his slow-burning feud with Samoa Joe, but it's a good one for him regardless. He's starting to establish himself in the singles division as a cocky, smarmy young competitor trying to undermine his more veteran opponents, saying they can't quite reach the big time like they used to. It's a touch cliche, but it's garnered the attentions of Joe and RVD. Magnus really would have to take the win here, otherwise his words would just be that, words.
Winner: Magnus
TNA Knockout Championship:
Miss Tessmacher (C) v. Tara
A teacher-student feud that hasn't exactly shown a whole lot of promise on Impact Wrestling in recent weeks, given how sloppy their non-title match was a couple of weeks back. For all intended purposes, it's shaping up to be a friendly rivalry, but more friendship that rivalry. No animosity, no hints of heel turns or one-upsmanship...people are either not going to know who to cheer for or just not care.
Tessmacher recently won the championship back from Madison Rayne and I frankly don't see her losing it this quickly to Tara. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised to see Rayne and/or Gail Kim interfere to cause a DQ and open up the possibility for a Triple Threat or Fatal Four Way for the Knockout Title at Bound For Glory.
Winner: Tara by DQ
Non-Title Fight:
Austin Aries (C) v. "The Big Guy" (Aces & Eights)
TNA has done a good job of putting Aries at the center of the company's feud with "Aces & Eights" because, of course, he's the champion, the top man in the company, and the right choice to lead it against invading forces like this.
Now. it's somewhat unclear as to whether this will be a regular match or one with Street Fight stipulations, but either way, Aries has shown recently that he can have just as nasty and violent a streak as any member of the Aces & Eights can. You can certainly expect some outside shenanigans in this match, but I expect Aries to eke out a close win here to maintain his momentum towards his eventual title match at Bound For Glory. Given the buildup, I also wouldn't be surprised if we get a good idea of who's behind the faction of Aces & Eights either Sunday or the following Thursday on Impact.
Winner: Austin Aries
TNA Tag Team Championship:
Daniels & Kazarian (C) v. AJ Styles & Kurt Angle
Hearing about this match honestly took me by surprise. Considering AJ's online comments before the show last night, I would've been expecting a stipulation match of sorts between him and Kazarian this Sunday, then have the tag title match at Bound For Glory. Don't get me wrong, this was an awesome match two months ago, but I just figured they would save a big money rematch for their big money PPV. Ah well, it'll be fun anyway.
The way I could see this one going is more less a month of revenge for Styles. He and Kurt could win the tag titles here, AJ comes out the following Impact and says winning the titles isn't enough: He wants to end this with Daniels, once and for all, possibly in a Ultimate X or Steel Cage match with their individual careers on the line.
Over the next month, Daniels tries and avoid AJ at every turn, even ducking out of his tag title rematch, leaving Kazarian to the proverbial wolves. Either Kazarian tries to halt AJ himself and gets destroyed, or turns for real and leaves the selfish Daniels to AJ's mercies, culminating in what I'm sure will be another four or even five-star match to cap off their historic rivalry.
If all of that is to happen, AJ and Angle will have to win here in what I expect to be the show-stealer of the night, and I'm certainly hoping that is the case.
Winners and NEW TNA Tag Team Champions: AJ & Angle
Bound For Glory Series Semifinal:
Samoa Joe v. Jeff Hardy
We saw this week on Impact that Hardy, even at this advanced point in his career, can still surprise his opponents, getting what many call an upset submission victory over the Samoan Submission Machine. It makes all the more the sense to have this rematch, as Joe will know what to expect this time, or will Hardy surprise him again with another unexpected tactic?
Joe has more or less dominated near the top of the leaderboard while Hardy's had to surge in recent weeks to climb his way into the Final Four. Now while Joe's also been having issues with Magnus in recent weeks, I don't believe the cocky Brit will make himself known until later and I'll explain why in my prediction for the Finals.
Winner: Samoa Joe
Bound For Glory Series Semifinal:
"The Cowboy" James Storm v. Bully Ray
Now this match is one that has numerous possibilities and questions surrounding it, one being Ray's status with the company. If he remains with TNA, I would not be surprised to see him get pushed to facing Aries at Bound For Glory, as the two have shown to have remarkable chemistry in the ring and on the mic.
Storm's been making big waves since his return a couple of months back, breaking Crimson's undefeated streak and surging to the top of the Bound For Glory leaderboard, never really losing that spot. A match with him and Aries could also be a show-stealer, but the big question on my mind in relation to Storm: Where's Roode? We haven't seen hide nor hair of Storm's former tag partner since his loss to Aries and loss of future title shots. I believe the question will be answered with Roode costing James his match with Bully, keeping "The Cowboy" away from "his" championship and reginiting the feud between the two former friends.
Winner: Bully Ray
Bound For Glory Series Final (Predicted):
Samoa Joe v. Bully Ray
Remember how I said Magnus would factor in against Joe later in the night? Well, I see Joe narrowing in on the victory here when Magnus comes out and distracts Joe, ultimately costing Joe the victory against Bully, so that Magnus can say Joe fell just short of his dream, just like Magnus did against Joe.
In turn, this will set up a hot-blooded personal match between the two former partners for Bound For Glory, while Bully reaps the rewards and moves on to face Aries for the championship.
Winner and #1 Contender: Bully Ray
...and that's all I have to say about that!
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