TNA Bound For Glory 2008 Highlights

Let us think about what happened at Bound for Glory 2008. The first match was that Huge X Division match with the weird cage and escape through a hole at the top. Jay Lethal won it and although this match was really interesting it was not really that much special, I would have expected a whole lot more.

Then we had the one wrestling match that probably not a lot of people wanted to see in the Beautiful People and Cute Kip taking on that former Scott Steiner freak, ODB (which has a great gimmick) and Rhino. It was known from the start who would win. A simple gore and nothing really special with this match unfortunately.

After this a match for the X Division Championship. Sheik Abdul Bashir is not that great as an X division wrestler and the entire America versus Middle Eastern storyline is simply too much. The match was not bad but it was also not that entertaining. You would think that TNA would learn from the fact that they lost ratings during this type of matches. The addition of a sergeant introuducing Creed was also too much. As expected, Sheik won the match with a pin and a little cheating. Once again, nothing really special in this wrestling match. Next was the TNA Knockouts title match, a three way dance which was simply better than most women's matches but still something that the people did not really want to see. Unfortunately the women wrestling momentum is going down in TNA and the company does miss Gail Kim. Still, these women in the TNA knockout division can wrestle, as a difference from WWE's divas.

Now the Monster's Ball wrestling match for the Tag Team Titles was really impressive. I really thought that the inclusion of Steve McMichael will not be that great but it was a nice factor. We got to see a lot of "violence" and some pretty impressive moves. LAX was probably the team that was the most impressive and nobody really expected Hernandez to end up towards a table filled with tacs. Getting the pin on this wrestler is something that we would have not expected. Matt Morgan was also pretty interesting and Team 3D was, of course, entertaining. The highlight of the Monster's Ball was the fact that Abyss was put through a flaming table by Team 3D.

The wrestling match between AJ Styles, Christian Cage and Booker T looked like a filler from the start. The feud was not that well built and on the whole I do not think anyone except fans of these three thought they would see something interesting. Unfortunately my pick (AJ Styles) did not get to win and we saw an interesting end to this wrestling match. Probably the most impressive moments were when AJ Styles was flying and the end with the Christian finisher from the top rope and then Booker's axe kick from the top rope.

The Kurt Angle versus Jeff Jarrett match was very good. Jeff Jarrett looks like he is in a very good shape and he did perform some very interesting wrestling moves. Mick Foley got involved of course and we did see Mr. Socko again, although it might be that TNA is not allowed to say that so that copyright would not be infringed. Kurt Angle went for that huge moonsault he does, missed but that does not matter. This wrestling match was very good. We saw the guitar involved, Mick Foley acting as the special enforcer and on the whole a great match.

The main event was Sting vs Samoa Joe for the main title in TNA. The feud was not really that well built but we all thought that something special will happen. The match was not bad but the Monster's Ball and the Kurt Angle versus Jeff Jarrett matches were better. From the start we all thought that Sting was going to win and he won his past two Bound for Glory matches. After each wrestler hit the other's finisher we saw Kevin Nash appearing and he took the side of Sting. This was unexpected and it was a good enough ending. The one good move was Samoa Joe's move in the crowd as he jumped and landed on the stairs, it was pretty impressive and risky at the same time.

TNA Bound for Glory 2008 was a very good event but the truth is that it could have been a lot better. If it wasn't for those highlights that were incredible. We saw that Sting can still wrestle, no matter what others are saying and that Jeff Jarrett is in a great wrestling shape. Let us hope the next year will be better for TNA.

What is The Monster's Ball Match

Well, in professional wrestling, the Monster's Ball match is a special multi competitor hardcore match. It was created by TNA with a name derived by the 2001 movie, Monster's Ball. The idea of the match stands in the fact that those that enter the ring are kept alone in a locked room without food, water or light for 24 hours before the match starts. As you can imagine, this is just stipulation and it is aimed to motivate, and make the wrestling match more interesting. It also explains the use of weapons and various extreme hardcore moves in the match. Victory is achieved when one wrestler is pinned or submits, kind of like a first fall wins. Because of the nature of the Monster's Ball match, the hardcore wrestling implication, there will be many pre-planned high impact moves that are aimed to draw reaction from the plan. For instance, at the last year's Monster's Ball we saw Raven execute an elbow drop from a high place in the arena on Abyss, who was placed on a table. This was a pre-planned high spot in the match.

Up until know we saw 6 Monster's Ball Matches and one wrestler was involved in all of them. Abyss is that wrestler and the interesting fact is that he only won one of them, this year at Bound For Glory when he executed a Black Hole Slam on Raven on tacks and pieces of broken glass. The first Monster's Ball wrestling match was held on November 7, 2004 and Monty Brown winning over Raven and Abyss. The second saw Rhino defeating Sabu, Jeff Hardy and Abyss on October 23 at Bound for Glory 2005. The winner of the third wrestling match of this type was Samoa Joe, winning over Abyss and Rhino on June 10 at TNA House Show 2006. Number four had only two wrestlers compete in Rhino and Abyss at the 2006 TNA house Show on August 24. Rhino won the second Monster's Ball match of the career then. Monster's Ball number 5 saw Samoa Joe win his second wrestling match of this type after defeating Brother Runt, Abyss and Raven on October 22 at Bound For Glory. This year we saw Abyss winning his first ever Monster's Ball match after defeating Raven, Black Reign and Rhino at Bound for Glory.

The Monster's Ball match is high end profile for TNA and as you can see, it was held at Bound For Glory, the company's largest pay per view, 3 out of 6 times. Samoa Joe and Rhino both won two matches but the difference between the two wrestlers stands in the fact that Samoa Joe won each of the Monster's Balls he participated in.

Since Abyss won the last Monster's ball, I invite you to take a look at a quick promo by TNA about one DVD. Hope you like it!

The Steiner Brothers vs Team 3D - Bound for Glory 2007

Well, here is another dream match that took place at TNA's Bound for Glory 2007: a 2 out of 3 tables match between the Steiner Brothers and Team 3D. It was a pretty nice build up that puts us in an interesting position: the formerly known as Dudley Boyz, now Team 3D are heels and the Steiner Brothers are kind of like a face on TNA. On the other hand, during the long wrestling careers of all 4 wrestlers involved, we did see changes from heel or face point of views. Getting back to the wrestling match, it started off just as we expected, as a brawl. We did notice some help from the fans thanks to some beer and Scott Steiner, that was kind of interesting. The fight was also brought to the public, in the middle of the public to be more exact with trash cans and chairs. To sum this up, the beginning of the match saw a complete domination by the Steiner Brothers and not much wrestling, just a simple fight. Then, after this complete domination, we saw a quick move by Team 3D and Rick Steiner was taken out with a classic move through the table, the 3D beautifully executed. After that, table number two saw Brother Ray taken through the table thanks to a nice Frankensteiner by Scott Steiner from the top rope. The last table saw the Steiner Brothers benefit from a distraction by The Motor City Machine Guns. All enough to see a bulldog by Rick Steiner out of an Electric Chair position by Scott Steiner. Interesting match but kind of slow when compared with other TNA matches. Interesting build up though and it is a feud that will continue in TNA, I think!

Jay Lethal vs Christopher Daniels - Bound For Glory 2007

OK, so we have here the match for the TNA X Division Championship at Bound for Glory 2007 between the Black Machismo Jay Lethal and The Fallen Angel Christopher Daniels. I must say I was a big fan of the Macho Man Randy Savage in the past and it is disturbing for me to see somebody that imitates him like Jay Lethal's Machismo gimmick but hey he is pretty good and that Lethal Combination finisher is interesting. The match did start with a domination of Jay Lethal with huge, quick moves but then we saw Christopher Daniels take control. After that we kept seeing a lot of changes in momentum and some really well executed wrestling moves by both Lethal and Daniels. The end was very nice with the Lethal Combination starting from the top rope of the wrestling ring. This match was very good and the best one till that time at Bound for Glory. Fans kept screaming TNA and Jay Lethal won. I don't like the Macho Man impersonation but he is a very good wrestler and quite fit as an athlete to hold the X Division Championship.

Sting Wins TNA Title

Well, this was the main event of Bound For Glory and should have been the best match. It was not, but it was still a dream match. We had Kurt Angle, probably the best technical wrestler in the business square off against a wrestling legend, "The Icon" Sting and it was bound to be big. We saw Sting win his second world title in TNA at their biggest pay-per-view, Bound for Glory, for two years in a row. Last year he won against Jeff Jarett and now against Kurt Angle, both being the top heels of TNA at the given points in time. It is also quite interesting since Kurt Angle was built by TNA management as an unstoppable force this year, even owning 4 championship belts at the same time. Now we need to see what will come next. Kurt Angle will probably get another title shot, I just hope it will be at a pay-per-view and it was also rumored that Kevin Nash will return to wrestling after signing a new contract with TNA. Samoa Joe's win over Christian Cage might also put him in contender spot. It has been rumored that at TNA Genesis we were going to see a fatal four way between Kevin Nash, Samoa Joe, Sting and Kurt Angle. It was also rumored that this will be the last year of Sting's legendry career in professional wrestling so we might just see him lose the title or retire as the champion. There are many possibilities here, even a possible feud between Kevin Nash and Kurt Angle but that would leave Sting with no real valuable contender for the world title. I can't wait to see what happens.