Leon Slater, Amazing Red, Indi Hartwell, and all the new TNA Champions were glory bound on Sunday. The 2026 edition of Bound For Glory saw new champions crowned, the debut of the former Erik Rowan, and other happenings that can be read about on the TNA Bound For Glory 2026 Live Blog.The Wrestling Inc. Staff watched the night's proceedings, and we've got a lot of thoughts for you people. There were tremendous moments, like the main event crowning of Leon Slater, or Frankie Kazarian using his "Call Your Shot" Trophy to possibly get Avery Styles his first TNA title. There were also some moments that just didn't work, like the awkward opening contest or the interminably long match between Max Caster and Moose. The comments section will be open, as always, should you want to keep the Bound For Glory conversation going.Enough introductions, let's get into it.
Tonight's Hall of Fame ceremony meant the Bound For Glory "pre-show" contained no in-ring action. The main card's opening match felt like it belonged on a pre-show, though.Given that Bound For Glory is TNA's biggest event of the year, we expected a title match to kick off the main show festivities. The four-way TNA International Championship would have been a solid option, as would have been the seven-way scramble for the TNA X-Division Championship. Instead, the show started with a storyline with not as many teeth sunk into it: Ricky Sosa vs. Eddie Edwards.The match itself was fine. Sosa showed off his high-flying moves. Eddie used his power to his advantage. Alisha Edwards even took a Blue Thunder Bang. In comparison to many other bouts, however, this one doesn't seem as memorable.There were also way fewer stakes. If Sosa were to defeat Eddie for a championship of some sort, one could make a case for it to open the main show of BFG. The only substantial thing that Sosa gained, other than victory, was a handshake from Eddie, which may signal a character change for the TNA veteran. That remains a big if, though.We simply expected a stronger opener for what is supposed to be TNA's biggest event of the year. Stacked up against most other matches, this one simply paled in comparison.Written by Ella Jay
This was my first time witnessing a Call Your Shot gauntlet match in TNA, and I have to admit, there may be more for me in TNA than I originally thought. I really, really enjoyed this match, and purposefully didn't look up the rules for a quick refresh before the match started. TNA actually made the chaotic bout easy to understand, even though commentary did cut out there at the end.I do enjoy a gauntlet match, and this one moved fast to get all 20 entrants, men and women, in the ring. For someone who doesn't watch TNA consistently, there were a lot of names I hear of consistently, but finally got to see in action outside of social media clips, which was nice. The bout made me a fan of Gabby Forza, who utilized this intergender match to really show off. I loved that the women weren't immediately eliminated, and Forza and others, like Elayna Black, got pretty big spots against the men. Forza even eliminated Bear Bronson, which I thought was incredible.There were plenty of fun, silly moments to balance out the bada**ery, too, like Matthew Rehwoldt entering from the commentary desk, getting eliminated from Heather by Elegance, then immediately going back into commentary mode, jacket back on and all.I was rooting for AJ Francis from the second he got in the match, as I think he deserves a bigger shot, and what a match for it. I thought he looked really good throughout, especially during his one-on-one battle with Elijah. There were a few stories that were furthered in the match that commentary did a great job of explaining, like the dissent between Heather and M by Elegance, furthered by M accidentally eliminating Heather along with Harley Hudson.The choices for the final four involved in the match were smart, with Avery Styles and Trey Miguel, who started off the match, still in there with Frankie Kazarian and Francis. Styles went to fly to take out Francis, but Francis shoved him while he was mid-air, sending him flying to his elimination. Miguel hit an insane Canadian Destroyer to Francis to eventually eliminate him, and the match switched to singles action, which was cool with the little context I had, for Kazarian to win.I didn't love Kazarian winning, for the third year in a row, as I learned, but I still had a good time, and there were quite a few stars who had impressive showings in the match. For a show that could have felt a lot bigger for being "TNA's biggest event of the year," the Call Your Shot gauntlet was a special highlight for me.Written by Daisy Ruth
One match that was always going to be an uphill climb was the Knockouts World title match, with Xia Brookside defending against Indi Hartwell, and Mickie James serving as special guest referee.Brookside had been champion for 106 days and hadn't really done much with the title. What she had done with the title had left much to be desired.Enter Hartwell, a woman who had made it her mission to climb the rather bare Knockouts division and claim the World title. In lieu of fellow challengers, she had to contend with Daria Rae and her quest to make TNA as unbearable as possible, until she hatched a plan with Santino Marella to get Rae suspended. Because Number One Contendership matches were so last year.Hartwell is endearing; Brookside works well as a heel because no one particularly likes her. That's it, really. Neither are great wrestlers, and arguably not worthy of a World title.That's evidenced by the fact that, like all of Brookside's previous title defenses on pay-per-view, this one was slapped with a stipulation to drum up some excitement. No indication as to why James would be serving as referee here was given in the lead-up to the event.She didn't overly factor into the decision save for a spot where she and Brookside exchanged slaps. In fact, she mostly did what referees do. She was there to give the match some well-needed va va voom. But that didn't really work.The right decision was made, and Hartwell did end up taking the title, although honestly, after months of her trying to get "Diarrhea" Rae over as an insult, one is not overly excited about what her title reign will look like.The match itself just felt like it would be considered a weak TV match, thus nowhere near belonging on a pay-per-view event, least of all the one billed as the biggest of the year. TNA really needs to invest in its Knockouts division.Written by Max Everett
I'll admit that the decision to crown Frankie Kazarian as the Call Your Shot Gauntlet winner, for a third year in a row, initially left me puzzled. Once he revealed his intentions for this year's trophy, though, I jumped on board with it.Rather than cashing in for a TNA World Championship match yet again, Kazarian is calling his shot for the TNA Tag Team Championships alongside Avery Styles. Kazarian's offer to mentor the young Styles seemed to be a ruse for a betrayal, but this announcement confirms, at least for now, it is legitimate.Styles is still considered green in the pro wrestling ring, so having a veteran like Kazarian surrounding him can only benefit him from a skill and experience aspect. A TNA World Tag Team Championship win alongside Kazarian would certainly boost his resume, too. From a storyline perspective, a potential tag team title reign gives fans further reason to invest in the second generation star, beyond his name, as well.For Kazarian, this path leads him to a scene we haven't truly seen him in since 2012, when he and Christopher Daniels captured the tag team gold on two different occasions. More importantly, it's one that takes him away from the path we've seen him frequently travel in recent years.With all of this considered, we'd say that, overall, Kazarian's "Call Your Shot" decision emerged as a nice surprise.Written by Ella Jay
I already found it quite strange that TNA would have Moose issue an open challenge for Bound for Glory, only to have Max Caster accept that challenge in a social media video the very next day. If one of TNA's longest-tenured stars was going to issue a challenge for the event, I feel like his opponent should have been kept as a surprise. Not that Caster was going to give Bound for Glory the big-show feel that it was desperately lacking, but it wouldn't have hurt.The match felt oddly placed on the card. It was contested pretty late into the event, and on a show with numerous important title bouts, it just really didn't fit. It went on before the falls count anywhere match pitting the Hardys against Syx, which was a much more interesting non-title bout for the night, with the debut of Erick Redbeard in TNA to help the Syx to victory to cap it off.It also went on much longer than I expected. When it was revealed Caster would be answering Moose's open challenge, I figured it was just meant to get Moose on the show, and it would be a squash match. But it appears that TNA is going to make Caster into a serious competitor, which isn't a bad thing at all, but it was just a bit jarring, given his position in AEW.Caster nearly had the match won at a few points, including nearly on a count-out after he dropped Moose back-first across the steps. He pushed the count out as long as he could from inside the ring, then told the referee, "nope, I've got it," and went out to continue things.I feel like Caster was tailor-made to be a surprise debut in the Call Your Shot gauntlet, and he could have had a good showing in that match before getting eliminated. Sure, "Big Trouble" Ben Bishop debuted in the bout, but he was really just in there for a quick promo to introduce himself, then a good time, not a long time. Caster still could have rapped his way down to the ring, then mixed it up with some other interesting names in the company.The match was fine overall, and neither man did a bad job, but it just felt oddly positioned on the card, after already feeling weird by Caster not being a surprise. Moose did show respect to "The Best Wrestler Alive" after the match, so it will be interesting to see what TNA has in store for him.Written by Daisy Ruth
It took them long enough, but at long last, Leon Slater is the youngest TNA World Champion in history after what was a perfectly solid Bound For Glory main event.The story going into the bout was one of Slater's inexperience when faced up against a veteran like Nic Nemeth, and that continued into the contest as well. Slater was the aggressor in the opening stages, refusing to let Nemeth breathe with all the vigor of a 22-year-old trying to win his first World title. It was as though Slater knew he was on the cusp of history, just three seconds away, and he sought to push closer to that line as soon as he could.That obviously came back to bite him as the bout went on and Nemeth got to rely on, as the old adage goes, veteran instincts to claw back the physicality deficit. He sought to asphyxiate the hope out of his younger opponent, finding a home on the mat where his challenger couldn't upstage him.Nemeth threw everything he could at Slater, whether that be a duo of Famousers, a deluge of superkicks, or looking to cap things off with Danger Zone. Slater kicked out of it all because he would not be denied.On the other side, Slater threw everything he could and then some at Nemeth. It didn't prove to be enough until Slater started to bunch them up into combinations, unrelenting in the closing stretch. Nemeth was scrambling, aware of those three seconds all of a sudden. But he couldn't find an escape. Slater launched over the ropes and ringpost to take him out on the outside. He brought him back into the ring, and Nemeth still tried to retreat to the other side of the ring.If it was anyone else, then that might have been enough to breathe, but Slater took flight anyway for a splash that cleared half of the ring before coming down on the champion. Then he delivered the Swanton 450 and it was enough.It was a coming-of-age story within a wrestling match. Slater has been, for too long now, the best uncrowned man on the roster. Tonight, he was crowned in a way that removes any argument to the contrary. I'm looking forward to how this reign unfolds, famous as those last words may be.Written by Max Everett
