Bound for Glory 2009 kicks off with Zakk Wylde of Ozzy and other metal bands fame playing the national anthem. I enjoy legit guitar shredding as much as anyone, but I still wish this had been Man Mountain Rock doing it instead.
Alex Shelley and Chris Sabin, the Motor City Machine Guns, make their way down the aisle for tonight's Ultimate X Match. They're joined by Suicide (I believe Frankie Kazarian?), Homicide, Christopher Daniels, and the X Division Champion, Amazing Red. As expected, this match was all about the crazy spots and sequences and we got plenty of them - a cannonball to the outside by Homicide, the Guns delivering an airplane spin/dropkick combo, an awesome springboard dropkick from Suicide onto Red as he hung on the cables - and one that absolutely looked like a career-ender with Christopher Daniels taking a ridiculous bump off the cables and nearly landing directly on his head. Unfortunately, there were too many telegraphed/logic-defying set-ups for me, an unfortunate element that often finds its way into matches like this and was impossible not to notice. As "busy" as this was, there were also lagging moments and times when participants essentially "disappeared" to give the spotlight to other wrestlers despite not necessarily taking the kind of bump that would keep them on the mat for minutes on end. All in all, a solid opener that the crowd was very into but I wouldn't consider "must see" despite the admirable efforts of the combatants. (3/5)
The Beautiful People (Velvet Sky and Madison Rayne along with Lacey Von Erich) are backstage, hyping their match tonight. We then hear from their opponents, Taylor Wilde and Sarita, the reigning Knockout Tag Team Champions. There's some pre-match shenanigans involving the referees and Von Erich that are a bit icky. This match seems like it could've and should've went a tad longer, but I'm guessing the amount of time it took to take down the Ultimate X structure took some minutes away from this. Sarita was the best worker in the match based on what we got here, but this just didn't go long enough to let anyone really shine or to tell an interesting back-and-forth story. (1.5/5)
One of the major storylines coming into this show revolved around the rivalry between The World Elite and the Main Event Mafia, but in the next match, Kevin Nash (the TNA Legends Champions) and World Elite leader Eric Young had come to an agreement to combine their forces to take our Hernandez. As expected, Nash and Young play nice early on, cutting off Hernandez any time it seems like he might be getting some momentum. Young and Nash make a pretty good team, get some heat, and Hernandez's comebacks get great reactions, this match exceeding my expectations. This match may not feature any particularly amazing spots or sequences, but it tells an interesting story and everyone involved works hard and executes what they need to, including Nash, who may have been years removed from his peak but was still capable of delivering what he needed to. I liked the finish too, which saw Eric Young ram Hernandez head-first into Nash's groin as he prepared to deliver the Jackknife powerbomb. (2.5/5)
Backstage, Beer Money, TNA Tag Team Champions Booker T and Scott Steiner, and the IWGP Tag Team Champions, The British Invasion (Brutus Magnus and Doug Williams) are all arguing before coming to somewhat of an agreement about how they'll need to team up to take out Team 3-D in the Full Metal Mayhem match that follows. Team 3-D get taken out early and left on the outside as the Brits and Beer Money duke it out in the ring. Steiner delivers a series of big suplexes and we get some cool double-team maneuvers from Beer Money early in the match. Booker T ends up getting taken out of the match on a stretcher, though I missed what exactly caused his kayfabe injury. Team 3-D come back in, chairs and tables in hand, and take out everyone else before putting Williams through a table. With all of their opponents beaten down, Team 3-D unwisely chooses to set up 3 tables in the ring rather than climb to get the championships. They chokeslam both members of Beer Money through two of the tables but get nailed with chairs by Steiner soon after. Steiner climbs up a ladder but gets powerbombed through a table and the Dudleys are back in control...only for Rhyno to show up and take both of them out too. The British Invasion come in and beat down D-Von but are stopped from grabbing the titles by Beer Money. Storm and Roode deliver on a double suplex on Magnus off the top of the ladder but it did not look pretty at all. Beer Money spend too much time gloating, allowing Magnus to get back up and take Roode out with a chair. Magnus climbs to the top of a ladder, but Storm climbs on the opposite side, sprays beer in his face, and hits an insane sunset flip powerbomb. Wow, that did look good. Its now Williams' and Roode's turn to fight atop the ladder. Roode looks like he might have it won but Big Rob Terry shows up and press slams Roode from the ladder through a table on the outside. Great bump there. Terry helps Doug Williams grabs the titles, the British Invasion going home with both the TNA Tag Team Championships and the IWGP Tag Team Championships too. This had some good spots and I liked Steiner's performance, but there have been much better versions of this sort of bout that didn't need to over-rely on shenanigans like Booker T getting taken out or Rhyno and Rob Terry showing up. A fun match, but not essential viewing. (3/5)
ODB defends her TNA Knockouts Championship against Tara and Awesome Kong next. Tara's entrance music is among the worst themes ever. All three of these women can go and were considered among the best female workers in the US at the time. There's a terrific spot early on when Tara applies the tarantula to ODB only for Awesome Kong to hit ODB with a splash. This is followed by a moonsault from Tara onto both of her opponents in the ring (why does that move always have to happen to the floor?). When Tara spills to the outside, she gets into some tussle with what appears to be a fan as both Kong and ODB essentially stop working the match and Tara goes backstage. The bizarre incident hushes the crow and Kong and ODB are left to wrestle each other and attempt to regain the fan's attention. ODB brings them back into the match with an impressive samoan drop on Kong but can't maintain control. Tara makes her way back to the ring, but almost immediately gets shut down by Kong. Tara now has the fans cheering her name as Kong hits a huge splash on ODB in the ring for 2. Kong delivers a nasty chokeslam on Tara and then kicks her back out of the ring. I like the logic here of Kong constantly beating Tara to the outside so that she can essentially turn the match into a 1-on-1 situation against ODB. Kong hits her finish but ODB kicks out at 2.99! Kong's second, Raisha Saeed, shows up and slides an (unwanted) chair into the ring and it ends up costing Kong the match as ODB counters a powerbomb into a facebuster. I'm guessing this was the finish the entire time, but am still curious what sequences were sacrificed for the Tara "fan attack" angle (which was supposed to lead to some sort of Tara feud with Kim Couture, whether in TNA or in a legit MMA fight, but never led anywhere). (3/5)
Backstage, Matt Morgan cuts a promo about his opponent tonight - Kurt Angle. Morgan cuts a promo about being college-educated and not some moronic giant, but this promo doesn't really make a great case for him.
Samoa Joe vs. Bobby Lashley in a Submission match is next. I wish this would've happened when Joe was still as credible as he'd been a few years earlier and Lashley was as seasoned as he'd be a few years later as this is something of a "dream match" just not at the time it actually happened. The TNA crowd is firmly behind Joe, but Lashley shows off some great athleticism early on and matches Joe's technical skill too, clearly surprising the anti-WWE portion of the fans. Earl Hebner "accidentally" gets struck with a kick which allows Joe to take a shortcut and gain control, popping the crowd with a suicide dive on the outside. Back in the ring, Joe maintains control, eventually landing his snap bodyslam before applying an armbar. Lashley wrestles out, though, the crowd booing every bit of offense that Lashley does. Joe delivers some of his trademark jabs, but Lashley counters with a chokeslam and then a T-Bone suplex. Lashley goes for a clothesline in the corner but Joe drops him with a sideslam of his own and then another high-angle uranage! That doesn't end the match, though, as Lashley manages to deliver a painful-looking sweep and then apply a choke in the middle of the ring to win by referee's decision (as Joe looks like he's lost conciousness). Wow. That was a sudden end to a match that was pretty good but needed some more time and a less out-of-nowhere ending to be considered really good. At the time, Lashley getting the clean W was a really questionable booking decision as it was a wildly unpopular...but, in hindsight, Lashley needed wins like this to not just justify his contract (which I'm guessing was fairly sizable compared to other TNA wrestlers), but also because Lashley did prove to be worthy of such a push and would eventually become one of TNA's best main eventers years down the road. (3/5)
Mick Foley cuts a promo to hype his match against Abyss next. Foley essentially turned heel for this program, calling out Abyss as a cheap imitation. This is a Monster's Ball match (Abyss's signature), which is essentially just a hardcore match that all but guarantees lots of blood and gore. "Dr." Stevie Richards is the guest referee, hand selected by Foley. As Abyss comes down the aisle, Foley strikes with a barbwire bat and Foley gets a warm response from a loud portion of the audience. Foley hits a swinging neckbreaker on the stage and follows it up by climbing up a lighting rig. Abyss follows him up and the two do some brawling with Abyss eventually taking a back bump through the stage (garnering a "Holy Shit" chant from the audience). Foley doesn't stop the beating there, though, delivering a barbwire bat-assisted elbow drop onto Abyss on the floor. Richards pleads to him to just accept the victory as Foley gets cheered, but Abyss climbs through the ramp and delivers a devastating clothesline to Mick. Abyss grabs a trash can full of weapons and then tosses Foley into it too. Abyss sets up a barbwire board on the outside of the ring and climbs in, rocking Foley with some garbage can shots to the head. Abyss brings a barbwire board into the ring and attempts to chokeslam Foley onto it, but instead ends up eating a DDT into the board himself. Foley then uses the bat to grate Abyss' face (and give him time to do some likely blading). Abyss is a bloody mess now and takes some boots to the head on the mat before Foley sets to whip him into the barbwire. Abyss reverses it and Foley goes into the board, but then Abyss splashes into it too. We get a cool barbwire board "sandwich" spot, but this only gets a 2. For 2009, this was very hardcore compared to what the WWE was doing. Foley dumps out a bunch of thumbtacks - which were supposed to be "banned" - and Abyss is stopped from chokeslamming Foley into them by Richards. Abyss then hits a huge Shock Treatment Backbreaker to take Richards out of the equation. Daffney came out and snuck Foley a tazer, leading to a ridiculous spot involving some silly pyrotechnics, but only got 2 from it. Foley pulled out Mr. Socko and wrapped his fist in wire but Abyss dropped him into the wire board with a drop toe hold. Daffney took a chokeslam off the post through a barbwire board on the outside which got a huge reaction and then Richards came in swinging, attacking Abyss only to eat a Black Hole Slam into the tacks! Abyss then hit Foley with a chokeslam onto the board to get the W. This was good, violent fun, but obviously not as gory and horrific as it may have been in a different time and setting. In fact, the hardest bump might've been the one Daffney took from the ring through a board on the outside. (3/5)
Kurt Angle takes on Matt Morgan in a match billed as "Wrestling's Best vs. Wrestling's Future." At the time, Morgan really did seem like he was going to be a bigger star and was rumored to have returned to the WWE (where he started his career) in 2012/2013. This match is a good encapsulation of why that didn't necessarily happen,though, as despite putting in a tremendous effort and working probably the best match I've ever seen him work, Angle left with the W. To be fair, Angle did everything he could to make Morgan shine, but Morgan needed to win this match to take that next step. Still, its hard to argue that Angle shouldn't have won this match. For starters, he was the much bigger star and, though I do think he's overrated (his long-term selling is atrocious and this match has multiple instances of him going from selling damage to effortlessly throwing suplexes within 1-2 seconds). Second, as we'd see in the main event, this show already had a "Passing of the Torch" at the top of the show. Anyway, this was a good-not-great match on a show that was loaded with good-not-great matches. (3/5)
Main event time - Sting vs. AJ Styles. Slap a better finishing sequence on this match and I might've gone 4.5 stars on this. This is just a really smartly-worked, excellently-executed "Past vs. Present" match and, at least from what I've seen, might even be a Top 10 Sting match as AJ is just that good and Sting plays his role perfectly, at times in awe of AJ but also generally keeping up with the "youngster" (AJ was in his early 30s at the time). There are some really good spots in this match, enough that I even popped audibly in my living room. Great missed splashes into the guardrail, a really nifty sequence built around Sting's Scorpion Death Drop, an awesome Stinger Splash in the corner, AJ Styles bringing the goods with a stiff Pele Kick and then a springboard splash to get the clean win. The post-match moment is pretty heartwarming too even knowing that this would be very far from Sting's last match (at the time of this writing, he's still working tag matches in AEW). The best match on the show, even without any real bells or whistles. (4/5)
With a Kwang Score of 2.89-out-of-5, Bound for Glory 2009 was a fairly strong show featuring more than a few good, fun matches and a great main event. What the score doesn't necessarily speak to is the respectable amount of variety too. There's high-flying galore in the X-Division match, lots of crazy spots in the Tag Team Championship and Monster's Ball matches, expert storytelling in Styles/Sting,and nice, physical big man wrestling in Joe/Lashley.
FINAL RATING - Watch It...With Remote in Hand
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