TNA Bound for Glory 2025 Review

TNA Bound for Glory 2025 – October 12, 2025 – Tsongas Center – Lowell, MA

Pre-Show: Hall of Famer Traci Brooks read some opening remarks about The Beautiful People (Angelina Love & Velvet Sky) and Tommy Dreamer officially inducted them. Lisa Marie Varon inducted Micke James into the Hall of Fame.

The IInspiration (Jessie McKay & Cassie Lee) defeated The Elegance Brand (Heather & M) to retain the TNA Knockouts Tag Team Championship. Elegance blindsided IInspiration at the bell. IInspiration capatalized on an Elegance slip up and hit the IIdolizer on M for the pin.

The pre-show should have featured only the Hall of Fame ceremony. I wish the cameras hadn’t shown the crowd as much since the arena was still mostly empty while fans were filing in. Seeing large patches of empty seats made this milestone moment feel less significant. However, it was great to see Love, Sky, and James given ample time for their speeches.

– Steve Maclin defeated Frankie Kazarian to regain the TNA International Championship.

Kazarian has been an effective heel for TNA over the last couple of years, while Maclin is showing signs of life as a newly (slightly) minted babyface. There was nothing wrong with the action in the ring, but the highlight of the match was Maclin’s mother giving Kazarian the double bird. The match was shorter than expected, but it served its purpose, producing a good start to the show.

– Tessa Blanchard w/ Victoria Crawford pinned Gia Miller w/ Jody Threat

Blanchard underestimated the inexperienced Miller. Threat got the biggest pop of the night, so far, taking out everyone with a dive off the top to the floor. Miller produced some sustained offense late in the match. Blanchard hit Miller with a roll of quarters to escape a powerbomb and score the win. Nothing in the match suggested that Blanchard needed the roll quarters to eek out a victory. The story could have been told better, which would have helped Miller’s character.

– Call Your Shout Gauntlet: 20 Wrestlers, winner gets a title shot at the TNA Championship:

Daft booking is rooted in the DNA of TNA. Things went well from the opening bell, but soured severely at the final bell when Nemeth and Kazarian pinned each other after a superplex. The crowd booed heavily, but they cheered once Santonio Marella came out to make a ruling. Santino named Nemeth and Kazarian CO-WINNERS of the Gauntlet and can both have a cash-in opportunity at the world title. 

The crowd booed Santino’s decision even more than the finish. It made no sense to bring the fans down, up, and down again. Wrestling can be an emotional rollercoaster, but this was a bumpy ride. While Nemeth and Kazarian are both heels, at least Nemeth earned his spot in the final. At the same time, Kazarian bamboozled his way into the match and cheated his way to the finals by faining injury outside the ring until Nemeth was left standing. 

Lei Ying Lee and Mara Sade drew numbers one and two. At the same time, the remaining field came in at an advertised two-minute intervals but was actually one minute. Nic Nemeth came in at number four, while Kazarian took Jody Threat’s spot at number seventeen after injuring her in a blindside attack. Dani Luna was the powerhouse of the gauntlet and racked up some impressive moments. She reminds me of Jordynne Grace and has the makings of a future star in the Knockouts Division. 

Order of Entry & Elimination

1. Lei Ying Lee	Mara Sade (by AJ Francis)
2. Mara Sade	Lei Ying Lee (by AJ Francis)
3. Ryan Nemeth	Rich Swann (by AJ Francis)
4. Nic Nemeth	AJ Francis (by BDE & The Rasczals)
5. Cederic Alexander	Travis Williams (by Eric Young)
6. Rich Swann	BDE (by Eric Young)
7. AJ Francis	Trey Miguel – (by Cederic Alexander)
8. Travis Williams	Cederic Alexander (by Eric Young)
9. BDE	Jake Something (by Home Town Man)
10. The Rasczals	Rosemary (by Dani Luna)
11. Dani Luna	Dani Luna (by Home Town Man)
12. Eric Young	Santino Marella (by Nic Nemeth)
13. Jake Something	Zack Clayton (by Matt Cardona)
14. Rosemary	The Rasczals – (by Eric Young)
15. Home Town Man	Home Town Man (by Eric Young)
16. Zack Clayton	Eric Young (by Matt Cardona)
17. Frakie Kazarian (Jody Threat)	Mance Warner (by Matt Cardona)
18. Santino Marella	Ryan Nemeth (by Nic Nemeth)
19. Matt Cardona	Matt Cardona (by Mance Warner)
20. Mance Warner	Nic Nemeth & Frankie Kazarian co-winners

Eric Young had the most eliminations in the gauntlet match with six. There was a lot of hype on Mace Warner entering at #20, and he even got a special entrance, only to be eliminated rather quickly. He returned afterwards to eliminate Matt Cardona and set up their feud, but it felt rushed and lacked conviction.

Judging by the result of the main event, the idea of having two heels as co-winners in Nemeth and Kazarian would immediately give the new champion two new opponents. Unfortunately, the finish came off poorly and was too comedic, with both wrestlers having to share one trophy. 

– Kelani Jordan defeated Indi Hartwell with One of a Kind to retain the TNA Knockouts Championship

TNA did a good job of building up the idea that this was Hartwell’s time to win the title, but it didn’t happen. They flew Hartwell’s family from Australia just to see her lose? The crowd was relatively quiet for this match, or perhaps they were worn out from the Gauntlet Match. Jordan and Hartwell worked hard, but the crowd wasn’t biting. The match could have benefited from being shorter, but the goal was to convince everyone that Hartwell would win in a long, hard-fought battle. Only to fall short. 

-The System (Eddie Edwards, Johnny Dango Curtis, Moose, Brian Myers & Alisha Edwards) defeated Order 4 (Mustafa Ali, Jason Hotch, John Skyler, Special Agent Zero & Tasha Steelz) in Hardcore War

Hardcore War is basically a War Games match minus a ring and a steel cage. Each wrestler is allowed to bring a weapon of their choice into the match, and Order 4 had the one-person advantage during each interval. Jason Hotch with a trash can and Eddie Edwards with a kendo stick kicked off the match. Curtis came out with a Patriots helmet, while Special Agent Zero didn’t come out with a weapon, which must have been TNA’s way of conveying that Zero is the weapon since he was the most dominant wrestler in the match.

The holy bleep moment of the match saw the towering Zero chokeslam tiny Alisha Edwards onto numerous thumbtacks. Perhaps, luckily, TNA’s pop culture footprint pales in comparison to WWE or even AEW. It would be the biggest controversy in wrestling if that spot occurred in either promotion. The finish saw Mustafa Ali miss a 450 splash onto the thumbtacks, giving Eddie Edwards the opening to wrap his knee in barbed wire and hit Ali with the Boston Knee Party to get the win for The System. 

It was carnage-filled chaos that delighted the Lowell, MA crowd and was the high point of the show.

-X-Division Championship: Leon Slater (c) vs. Je’Von Evans was thrown out due to outside interference.

Slater/Evans was the most anticipated match on the show from a bell-to-bell perspective. Their styles are tailor-made for each other, and the match was well on its way, being a different kind of special. However, the bell rang as the time expired, which usually isn’t a thing in X-Division Title matches? The fans booed and chanted, “5 More Minutes.”

Santino Marella came out and said they usually only have so much time on pay-per-view events, but restarted the match for five more minutes. We got 1:32 of an intense offensive exchange between Slater and Evans until the lights went down in the arena and Dark State attacked both men, causing the referee to throw out the match. The audience HATED this finish. 

I understand storytelling is paramount in wrestling, and booking Dark State to ruin the match would get them heat. However, bringing the fans down with an odd time limit draw, bringing them back up with the restart, and sending them back down again with the Dark State run-in is the kind of finish that puts heat on the TNA’s creative, and not the heel act scripted to spoil the party.

I bet politics came into play. WWE didn’t want Evans to lose, and TNA didn’t want Slater to lose. A loss in what was shaping up to be a sensational match wouldn’t hurt either wrestler because the first thing on fans’ minds would have been when are we getting the rematch. I assumed Evans would win since Slater pinned him during the TNA vs. NXT elimination match at Showdown. WWE spoiled the punch, while it was also another case of TNA being TNA.

– Hardy Boys (Matt Hrady & Jeff Hardy) defeated Team 3D (Bubba Ray & Devon) to retain the TNA Tag Team Championship and the TNA Tag Team Championship

We all know their best days are well behind them. Matt Hardy can barely move, and even more so for Devon, but it’s not about wins, losses, or five-star rankings. This was two popular bands coming together one more time to play their greatest hits – Tables, ladders, and chairs, with a Swanton Bomb here and a Dudley Death Drop there. While they were advertised as Team 3D, Bubba and Devon wore their Dudley Boyz fit.

Jeff Hardy’s swanton off the ladder to Devon in the aisleway stirred echoes of WrestleMania when Hardy did the same thing to Bubba twenty-five years earlier. I appreciated the finish where Bubba knew he had nothing left, and the Hardys showed him mercy as Bubba allowed them to put him through a table.

It was a good idea, but such an emotional conclusion didn’t jive with the tone of the match. Following the match, Bubba and Devon gave their boots to the Hardys, symbolizing their retirement as a team. The critic in me says overall, it was good; however, the fans in the arena absolutely loved it, and many of them left afterwards.

– Mike Santana defeated Trick Williams to become the #AndNew TNA World Heavyweight Champion

A decent chunk of the record-setting attendance went home before the main event. It was due to a combination of fans needing to catch the last commuter rail line or subway train home, and the main event energy that ‘one final table’ produced. This match is a perfect example of why the storytelling element of a wrestling show is important. Tick Williams and Mike Santata hit all the right notes, but everyone was too tired to hear the music, and sadly, even care. 

That didn’t stop Trick and Santana from working hard to put on a worthwhile main event. Trick wanted to keep the title as bad as Santana wanted to win it. Satnana dusted off a 450 splash. Trick kicked out of Santana’s Spin the Block finisher, and Santana returned the favor by kicking out of the Trick Shot. Santana delivered one more Spin the Block to win the title and had a heartfelt celebration with his daughter in the ring.

Final Thoughts: TNA setting their North American attendance record of 7,794 at the Tsongas Center is indicative of the interest surrounding Bound for Glory. While the promotion’s working relationship with WWE has put more eyes on their product than ever before, TNA made the most of the arrangement going into Bound for Glory. However, once the first bell of the evening rang, unfortunately, TNA’s convoluted booking reared its ugly head on a night where things should have been simple.

Even if you take away the political aspect of the Slater/Evans match, there were still a lot of misses with a few hits. All of the wrestlers work hard on this show, and their efforts should be commended. It pains me to say this, but Bound for Glory was barely a thumbs-in-the-middle show. At least TNA setting their attendance record in Lowell, MA adds another historic moment to the city’s wrestling resume.