Bound for Glory 2009: TNA's Biggest Stage Delivers Depth, Variety and a Strong Closing Pair

This 5:51 pre-show tag puts Alex Shelley and Chris Sabin opposite Consequences Creed and Jay Lethal. The Motor City Machine Guns take the pinfall decision, but Shelley and Sabin also return in the six-man Ultimate X opener on the main card. That double assignment gives the warm-up a distinct job: introduce two wrestlers who will soon chase the X Division title. Lethal Consequences provide recognizable opposition without enough time to develop a separate match-long story. C+ fits a brisk opening result that connects to the card's larger X Division presentation rather than standing as essential viewing.

Amazing Red defends the X Division Championship against Alex Shelley, Chris Sabin, Christopher Daniels, Homicide and Suicide. The 15:17 Ultimate X bout opens the main card with a suspended-title objective unlike the later pinfall and submission contests. Shelley and Sabin's second appearance also connects this attraction to the pre-show tag. Red retains against all five challengers, keeping his reign intact while giving the X Division a prominent place on the promotion's annual showcase. The A- rewards a distinctive title defense with both time and stakes, rather than assuming every multi-person match delivers the same kind of spectacle.

Sarita and Taylor Wilde retain the Knockouts Tag Team Championship against Madison Rayne and Velvet Sky in just 2:58. The result protects the champions, but the compressed runtime gives either team little room to turn a title defense into a sustained contest. Compared with the 15:17 Ultimate X opener and the sprawling Full Metal Mayhem tag-title match still ahead, the Knockouts teams receive a noticeably smaller opportunity. A D+ at 5.4 addresses that short allocation without inventing a botched finish or claiming the wrong team won. On a selective rewatch, this is the most disposable championship match on the show.

Eric Young takes the Legends Championship from Kevin Nash in an 8:50 three-way that also includes Hernandez. Nash enters as champion; Young leaves with the belt, so the title change carries more weight than the length of the match. Hernandez gives the contest another contender, but the action has to share time with several elaborate attractions elsewhere on the card. Its place between bigger championship showcases makes this an efficient midcard development rather than a long-form rivalry payoff. The C+ recognizes a meaningful result and a workable three-person format without inflating the match into one of the night's highlights.

Full Metal Mayhem brings the British Invasion, Team 3D, the Main Event Mafia and Beer Money into a 17:13 contest involving both the TNA and IWGP tag championships. Brutus Magnus and Doug Williams join Brother Devon and Brother Ray on the winning side against Booker T, Scott Steiner, James Storm and Robert Roode. With eight wrestlers and two sets of belts involved, the attraction is the collision of TNA's crowded tag division rather than any one singles rivalry. The extended runtime distinguishes it from the brief Knockouts tag defense earlier on the card. An A- at 8.9 recognizes the scale of the championship confrontation without crediting an unsourced individual fall or invented spot.

ODB retains the Knockouts Championship against Awesome Kong and Tara in a 7:29 three-way, with Raisha Saeed accompanying Kong. Unlike the two-team title defense that ends in under three minutes earlier on the card, this contest has enough time to establish three separate challengers' paths to the finish, although it is still short by annual-show standards. The champion's pinfall result gives the division another successful defense rather than a second title change. A C+ at 6.8 places the match above the truncated Knockouts tag bout, but below the longer specialty attractions carrying the evening.

Bobby Lashley and Samoa Joe meet in an 8:07 submission match without a championship at stake. Lashley wins by technical submission, a distinction worth preserving: the recorded finish does not require an invented pinfall or a claim that Joe verbally conceded. Against a card featuring Ultimate X, Full Metal Mayhem and Monster's Ball, this pairing stands apart through its grappling stipulation. The compact runtime keeps the result decisive but leaves less space for a prolonged submission struggle. B- at 7.4 credits the identifiable finish and contrast with the surrounding attractions without exaggerating what the record establishes.

Abyss defeats Mick Foley by pinfall in an 11:03 Monster's Ball match, with Dr. Stevie serving as special guest referee rather than a third competitor. The stipulation gives the two hardcore-oriented wrestlers a very different assignment from the technical submission contest that precedes it. The extra official adds a story element to a bout built around violent spectacle, but it does not change the recorded participant identities or the pinfall winner. B+ at 8.4 reflects one of the evening's clearer specialty attractions: long enough to occupy its own space, short enough to leave room for the closing singles matches.

Kurt Angle's 14:45 pinfall victory over Matt Morgan follows the card's sequence of elaborate stipulations with a conventional singles match. The bout is not for a championship, but its placement immediately before A.J. Styles versus Sting gives Morgan a valuable upper-card test against an established opponent. A win for Angle keeps the outcome grounded in the veteran's standing while the length allows Morgan to be presented as more than a brief obstacle. The A- at 8.7 is earned through the pairing, the extended time and the shift back to singles wrestling ahead of the world-title main event.

A.J. Styles closes Bound for Glory 2009 by defending the World Heavyweight Championship against Sting in a 13:52 singles match. He retains by pinfall, leaving the event with its recently crowned champion still at the top after a night that features title defenses and specialty contests across several divisions. Following Angle-Morgan, the main event relies on the champion-challenger stakes rather than another elaborate stipulation. Styles' successful defense supplies a clear closing result, while Sting's place in the championship match gives the younger champion a notable opponent. B+ at 8.4 reflects the decisive finish and main-event role without inventing title changes or outside interference.