TNA "Bound for Glory IV"
October 12th, 2008
From the Sears Center in Chicago, Illinois
Commentators: Mike Teney and Don West

Gangsta intro promo c/w Smashing Pumpkins music.

Wow, lots of people. (Attendance, according to Wikipedia: five thousand to fifty-five hundred)

Tonight: Jeff Jarrett returns to the ring after two years away to face Kurt Angle, and Sting challenges Samoa Joe for the TNA World Heavyweight Championship.

Steel Asylum Match to determine the number one contender for the TNA X-Division Championship
Featuring: Alex Shelley, Chris Sabin, Curry Man, Jay Lethal, Jimmy Rave w/Christy Hemme, Johnny Devine, Petey Williams, Shark Boy, Sonjay Dutt w/So Cal Val and Super Eric
So this is a cage match but only difference from the norm is there's just a small opening on the top. The cage is shaped like the Elimination Chamber. This match was good but was a bit much out of the gate. The pacing was too lightning fast and they did thirty minutes worth of stuff in ten. A lot of action was missed by the camera and some was even missed by my eyes.
Winner: Jay Lethal (new number one contender for the TNA X-Division Championship)

Don West and Mike Teney run down the rest of the nights card: a “Knockouts Bimbo Brawl” with the Beautiful People and Cute Lip taking on Rhaka Khan, ODB and Rhino, Sheik Abdul Bashir defends the TNA X-Division Championship against Consequences Creed, Taylor Wilde defends the TNA Knockouts Championship against Awesome Kong and Roxxi, Beer Money Inc. defends the TNA Tag Team Championships against Matt Morgan and Abyss, Team 3D and LAX in a Monsters Ball match, a three way match between AJ Styles, Booker T and Christian Cage and the two matches mentioned earlier. Mike Foley is the special enforcer for the Jarrett verses Angle match.

Jeremy Borash is with Jim Cornette in his office. Mick Foley comes in and they talk. Cornette leaves and the Beautiful People come in and demand that they only get blue M&M's in their rider. Then they make fun of Micks clothes.

Beautiful People promo.

Traci Brooks comes out to referee the following match.

Knockouts Bimbo Brawl
The Beautiful People & Cute Kip vs. Rhaka Khan, ODB & Rhino
I'm not sure what a "Knockouts Bimbo Brawl" entails. I gathered that the guys could face the girls. That seemed to be it. This match moved quickly but never went anywhere really and before it set in it was over.
Winners: Rhaka Khan, ODB & Rhino

Lauren is backstage with Consequences Creed and he says tonight he's going to win for America.

For the TNA X-Division Championship
Sheik Abdul Bashir (champion) vs. Consequences Creed
Did you ever think in 2008 that Consequences Creed would become one of the WWEs biggest merch movers less than ten years later and have people buying his cereal? This was far from a great, classic match abut after the opening two over-booked messes it was nice to have something to sink my teeth into. Still too quick though.
Winner: Sheik Abdul Bashir

Jeremy Borash and Mick Foley are still in Jim Cornettes office when Awesome Kong and Raisha Saeed come in and let them know that Kong is not responsible for what happens in her match tonight. After they leave Foley calls Yerple the Clown to come cheer those two up.

Promo setting up tonight's Knockout Championship match, which I'm led to believe is s hardcore match from this promo.

For the TNA Knockouts Championship
Awesome Kong w/Raisha Saeed vs. Roxxi vs. Taylor Wilde (champion)
Roxxi always had this weird look on her face where she looked like she knew what should be going on but had no idea what was going on. I don't even know if this lasted five minutes. What the fucking fuck? It wasn’t a hardcore match either.
Winner: Taylor Wilde

Backstage with Mick Foley, Jeremy Borash and AJ Styles still in Jim Cornettes office. Team 3D come in and get in AJs face. AJ leaves then Mick asks why Brother Ray why he stole his wardrobe. They tell Mick to stay out of their way. They leave and Jim Cornette comes back.

Promo for Monsters Ball and tonight's match. Steve "Mongo" McMichael is the special referee/enforcer.

Monsters Ball Match for the TNA World Tag Team Championships
Beer Money Inc. (champions) w/Jacqueline vs. Abyss & Matt Morgan vs. Team 3D vs. L.A.X.
Special Guest Referee/Enforcer
I won't mince my words: this show has been an overbooked mess and I'm typing faster than I'm watching. But at least Monsters Ball matches are supposed to be messes. And a mess it was. Shit ending too and Mongo was terrible.
Winners: Beer Money Inc.

Recap of the feud between Booker T, Christian Cage and AJ Styles. I don't know why Booker T was sounding so stupid when he spoke in his clips.

Booker T w/Sharmell vs. Christian Cage vs. AJ Styles
Okay, again; after those last two messes I needed (and this show needed) an actual match to give it time to reorganize itself. This was actually a really good match and being on this show it was a fucking Godsend of a clinic. AJ was great, someone needed to turn Sharmells mic off.
Winner: Booker T

Recap of the history between Jeff Jarrett and Kurt Angle. Kurt Angle is backstage with Lauren and he says that Mick Foley is there tonight to protect Jeff Jarrett. But he's going to make an example of Jarrett. Jarrett is with Jeremy Borash and Borash tells him that people are concerned. He says tonight is for his daughters.

Kurt Angle vs. Jeff Jarrett
Special Guest Enforcer: Mick Foley
This match wasn't bad at all. There were two BROOTAL chair shots on Foley and Jarrett that were...brOOtal. And before that Angle missed a moonsault and it reminded me of why he’s held together with duct tape today.
Winner: Jeff Jarrett

Promo hyping Sting verses Samoa Joe for the TNA World Heavyweight Championship.

For the TNA World Heavyweight Championship
Sting vs. Samoa Joe (champion)
I'm not sure when this match became "no countouts" but when they spent ten minutes if this match in the crowd I think it did. Joe fucking OWNED this match. It was a great match to build him as a dominant champion and a force to be reckoned with. Then Kevin Nash came out and hit him with a bat and...bullshit.
Winner: Sting (new TNA World Heavyweight Champion)
_____________________________________________________________
So last night I watched Ring of Honors first live pay per view and said that I thought they'd pull a bit more out for their first live pay per view. This was TNAs biggest pay per view ever and they did the opposite: they threw EVERYTHING they had at it. It was too much at times. It just moved like lightning. The final three matches were good matches and the Monsters Ball match was entertaining but the undercard was just a mess that was hard to keep track of. You can complain about "cool-down matches" but this show proved that you need them.

Watching this show did make me a bit sad. The company was on the highest of highs it would ever reach. But it was easy to see how the bottom fell out. Still, I was watching TNA around the time of this show (I actually went to the previous months pay per view live, in Oshawa, Ontario) and hearing some of the music, seeing some of the faces and having Mike Teney and Don West calling the action took me back. I love Don West. And it was far from "the worst" pay per view I've ever seen. Some of those later WCW pay per views were brutal. And everyone on this show at least looked like they wanted to be there.

Except Mongo,


The crowd seemed bigger than the five thousand to fifty-five hundred that were reportedly there. They were pretty rabid all night and that made watching it less depressing. But the arena it was in could usually hold eleven thousand for events such as this, the stage set-up reduced that to a possibility of eight thousand and one thousand tickets were given away. Still, it was the biggest show TNA ever had, I think?

DVD bonus features:
Bound For Glory Fanfest 2008, some post match interviews, behind scenes footage of the Bound For Glory promo shoot, a video for the theme song of the show (the Smashing Pumpkins 'Tarantula', a song I actually like), a photo gallery...

...and...

...an interview with...



...I played the music video in the background as I typed this out...