Well here is my Bound for Glory 2007 review.
- TNA did something very interesting for BFG07. They announced the full card the night after No Surrender. Normally with most PPVs, you can tell what the card might be as the month leading into the PPV progresses, but very rarely do you have the full card right infront of you a month before hand. That really made it feel like I really had to wait a long time for this show.
And what a card on paper?!?!
Sting vs. Angle for the World Title: That's a big dream match.
Joe vs. Christian: Two excellent PPV matches already, bound to have a 3rd
T3D vs. Steiners - Tables Match: As a big Steiners fan, I was really excited when they signed this one
Lethal vs. Daniels for the X Title - Looking at the X Division at the time, this was the best match to have.
LAX vs. XXX in Ultimate X - WTF?!?!AWESOME!!!
Women's Gauntlet to Crown 1st Women's Champ - They've talked about it forever and they are finally doing it.
Monster's Ball - Done every year. Always good.
So yeah those matches sold me on the show right there. They also signed Fight for the Right (with the dreaded Reverse Battle Royal gimmick) and AJ Styles & Tomko vs. Team Pacman (including Adam Pacman Jones who was forbidden to wrestle) Those two matches didn't look too appealing, but the rest of the card was amazing and it had the potnetial to be TNA's best PPV of 2007 by far.
And in my opinion, it delivered. For my money, this is the single greatest PPV in TNA history. Let's go over the show.
First of all, if I had one knock on the show, it would be the backstage segments involving Kurt, Karen, Nash, & Sting. They weren't necessarily bad, but they were sprinkled out throughout the show and were kind of pointless. But to be honest, there was nothing else on this show that was piss break worthy match wise, so I guess these segments had to fill that role.
- The show opens up perfectly with LAX vs. XXX in Ultimate X, with the winner getting a tag title shot. What an opener?! I put this up there as one of TNA's best openers & one of their better Ultimate X bouts too. It was a crazy spotfest with lots of excitement. Hernandez, a big man that the Ultimate X was NOT designed for, was the definate star. He was flying all over the place and was pulling out all sorts of crazy power moves. The guy was amazing, but the other three guys definately worked very hard too. Excellent way to kick the show off.
- Next up was the match everyone was dreading, the Fight for the Right Battle Royal to determine the Brackets in the upcoming tournament. Now having a match determine Tourney brackets seems kind of pointless. The winner of the match should get something like a 1st round bye, but whatever. Anyways, the participants were Junior Fatu, Kaz, Robert Roode, James Storm, Chris Harris, Eric Young, Rock & Rave Infection (before the gimmick), Motor City Machine Guns, Voodoo Kin Mafia, Petey Williams, Sonjay Dutt, Havok (Johnny Devine), & Shark Boy. Man that makes you realize how good TNA's roster was back then (and is now) The Reverse portion, they managed to make me forget for a moment that its a stupid concept with some cool spots.
Once it became a regular battle royal, it became very entertaining with all kinds of guys working some cool stuff in there, and it ended up being a surprisingly entertaining match. My hats off to the guys for this one. This could have been a bomb, and they actually made it bearable.
- Team Pacman vs. AJ & Tomko for the Tag Titles up next. Another potential bomb. Well fortunately, with NFL stepping in and not allowing Pacman to wrestle, TNA decided to bring in a sub, and fans were treated with the TNA debut of Consequences Creed. Creed & Killings defended against AJ Styles & Tomko. AJ Styles, once again proving that he is Phenomenal, worked hard to make this match great, and it turned out much better than expected. Tomko looked great as the big man in the match, and Creed was very impressive for a new guy. Some great action tied in a hilarious "Making it Rain" spot, and you got yourself a really good match.
So the two expected bombs surpassed my expectations. Things are looking good.
- X Title on the line next as Jay Lethal defended against Christopher Daniels. WOW! This match was great! Seriously its one of the best X Title matches of 2007, but probably Lethal's best match in TNA (either that or his match with Angle) Very good action & counters, and a really cool finish. This was just an awesome title match. It sures to please any fan.
- Big nostalgia factor with this match up as Team 3D took on the legendary Steiner Brothers in a Tables Match. I think this is the most underrated match on the show. It was a fun brawl from bell to bell with some very cool table spots. The fans were really into it too, and being a big Steiner Brothers fan, I was practacally glued to the TV because I really wanted the Steiners to win. It was an exciting match, and like I said, one of the most under appreciate parts of this great show.
- The 1st Women's Champion was crowned in a Gauntlet for the Gold. Participants were Traci Brooks, Jacqueline, Shelly Martinez (Salinas), Awesome Kong, ODB, Angel Williams (Angelina Love), Christy Hemme, Gail Kim, Talia Madison (Velvet Sky), & Roxxi Lavaeux. Obviously alot of the girls hadn't quite found their niche yet as Angel & Talia were clearly not The Beautiful People yet, and Roxxi was still doing the Voodoo Gimmick. However, for the 1st Women's title match, it was the best way to do it. Some of the girls caught on immediately like ODB and especially Kong who was the star of the match. Gail Kim of course shined as she usually did. This Gauntlet was alot of fun, and its been even more fun to watch the Knockouts grow and develop from this point.
- Awesome match up next. Samoa Joe vs. Christian Cage III, this time with Matt Morgan as Guest Enforcer. This was yet another excellent match to add to their series. This match had a little bit of everything: Wrestling, brawling, high flying. It was just amazing to watch. I was really looking forward to this one because I knew they could have the MOTN (again), and I wasn't disappointed. I got an amazing match up out of two of my favorites in TNA.
- Its an annual tradition for Bound for Glory, its the hardcore Monster's Ball. This one was hurt by the injury suffered by Judas Messias. The match was supposed to be Abyss, Messias, Black Reign, & Rhino, built on the Abyss/Messias feud, but Raven had to come in as a sub. I would have also liked it if Harris & Storm had been added to the match. Not only did they have a history with each other, but Harris was feuding with Black Reign & Storm had been feuding with Rhino, so you would have had 3 blood feuds going into it. Oh well.
I'll say that this is the weakest Monster's Ball out of all of them, but it certainly isn't bad. Raven actually had one of his better showings during the late days of his TNA run, and all the others managed to do cool things to make it interesting, even Black Reign. It was pretty much just a hardcore filler match, but it was far from boring, and was a good addition to an already strong show.
- Main event time: Sting vs. Kurt Angle in Atlanta where both men's careers began (Sting in WCW, & Angle winning the Gold Medal) That was a great setting to have the match, and this dream bout certainly delivered one exciting contest. These two veterans delivered one hell of a match with some crazy spots from guys that probably shouldn't be doing some of the stuff they did (Angle attempting a 450 Splash?!?! What the hell!) I know some people hate outside interferance, but I thought Nash's involvement actually added to the match and made it more exciting. I loved this match and it was a grand finale to a terrific PPV.
Like I said, this PPV is TNA's best of all time. It had high energy throughout and EVERY match delivered. There was not one match I didn't like. Everything in the ring was good. And the big matches I was really looking forward to were all great. Sting/Angle, Joe/Christian, Lethal/Daniels, XXX/LAX, & Steiners/3D all delivered big time and lived up to my expectations. I love this show, and if you've never seen it, its one of the few PPVs that I would say is an absolute must see, especially if you are a TNA fan.
Match Rankings:
1) Joe/Christian
2) Sting/Angle
3) LAX/XXX
4) Lethal/Daniels
5) Steiners/3D
6) AJ & Tomko/T.Pacman
7) Monster's Ball
8) Women's Gauntlet
9( Fight for the Right