wrestling / Columns
411’s TNA Bound for Glory 2026 Preview
Image Credit: TNA
Well, hello, fellow TNA fans, and welcome back to my expected and (somewhat) anticipated preview for Bound for Glory! Emanating from the Yuengling Center in Tampa Bay, Florida, the 22nd edition of the company’s biggest show on the year will bring about excitement and some change as well. And this year, not only will there be title defenses interpolated with the Call Your Shot Gauntlet and a Falls Count Anywhere tag match, but we are inducting THREE members into the TNA Hall-of-Fame class of 2026!
For more on this and so much more tonight, let’s roll the Headlines!
Option-C Shows Off! With the previously mentioned X-Division title being put up by Slater, it means that we need a new Champion, and after qualifying matches were established, six men will scramble for the title.
X-Scramble! With the previously mentioned X-Division title being put up by Slater, which meant that we needed a new Champion, and after qualifying matches were established, six men will scramble for the title.
No More Order! The dissolution of Order-4 has reached its final step, and now Mustafa Ali finds himself defending against three challengers, all of them he considers ungrateful and not worthy of being in the ring with him.
In(di) it to Win it! It’s been a long and arduous road, but Indi Hartwell has finally gotten what she wants, which is a shot at the Knockouts World Title and a one-on-one encounter with Xia Brookside.
Snap, Tap, or Scream! On this week’s edition of Impact, a backstage kerfuffle led to Allie and Kiera Hogan calling out Zoey Serrano for a shot at their titles, and Zoey is bringing in the Queen of Snap or Tap, Shayna Baszler.
Calling it Right Now! A Bound for Glory tradition returns when the Call Your Shot gauntlet takes place, with the winner of the match earning a future World Title shot and a trophy.
Matt, Jeff, Samuel, and Joseph! Weeks of attacks by unknown assailants on both heels and faces in TNA came to a head when the Hardys got the duo to unmask to reveal Joseph Sawyer and Samuel Shaw, and now they will battle in a Falls Count Anywhere match.
BANG BANG, EDDIE EDDIE! The System have been gatekeepers in TNA, but they won’t be able to keep Ricky Sosa at the gate if he overcomes the leader of the group in Eddie Edwards.
Moose Call! On this week’s edition of Impact, Moose issued an open challenge for anyone to come and face him at Bound for Glory, but the question is who will be crazy enough to step up.
Get Those Speeches Ready! The TNA Hall-of-Fame Class of 2026 will feature the induction of THREE members into the fold when ODB, Amazing Red, and Konnan take the stage to accept their honors.
All of this and, of course, so much more in store for us this afternoon! So, walk with me and talk with me as we explore the entire card for Bound for Glory!
Open Challenge Match: Moose vs. Max Caster
A couple of weeks ago on Impact, Moose put up his TNA career for a rematch with Frankie Kazarian. Seeing the way their match at Lockdown ended when Moose speared Frankie through the cage thus making Kazarian the winner, Moose felt he was wronged. And in the rematch, Moose not only extracted revenge on the King of TNA, but he also kept his long and distinguished TNA career alive.
With his battles against Kazarian in the rearview mirror, Moose made an appearance on this week’s episode of Impact to issue an open challenge. Come one, come all, Moose doesn’t care, he is just looking for a fight on the biggest stage that TNA has to offer at Bound for Glory. The only question that remains is whether the challenger will come in from the outside (like Uhaa Nation did at Slammiversary), or if they will be on the active roster.
The fact is that there are no shortage of wrestlers if TNA chooses to the outside route. For instance, while we have seen the debut of the former Joe Gacy and Dexter Lumis in TNA as syX, there are other members of that group who have yet to return to TV. There are also a couple of free agents from AEW that have shaken loose In the former Acclaimed tag team Max Caster and Anthony Bowens. For the benefit of further thought and exploration, I will say that no matter who steps up, I don’t see them winning against Moose.
Author’s Edit: It was announced after I did this entry that Caster had accepted the open challenge that Moose put out, but I am leaving my original post here without edit.
WINNER: Everyone’s favorite Canadian Mammal
Eddie Edwards vs. Ricky Sosa
Gatekeepers can be defined as a person or people who want to decide who enters and who is left outside, who succeeds and who fails. In that vein, Eddie Edwards and his ragtag misfit group known as the System fit that definition to a tee. Lauding themselves as such, the System have managed to deal with people they see as threats and keep the gates closed on those that they deem to be inferior.
Enter Ricky Sosa, who clearly did not get this memo. But it isn’t his fault if anyone is to blame it would be Eddie. Afterall, Edwards made overtures to Sosa (among others) to join the System, and he was turned down by Sosa, who formed allies to take on the System at Lockdown. Granted, team TNA may have lost the match, but Sosa never lost his desire or will to keep going after the System if they wouldn’t open the gates to success.
Sosa made his PPV debut back at Slammiversary when he defeated Eric Young on Before the Bell, so Sosa knows a thing or two about defeating men who consider themselves gatekeepers. Unlike Young, Edwards has backup on his side, but even if the guys will be involved in matches, he still has his ride-or-die Alisha with him. Sosa SHOULD win, since Eddie really gains nothing from winning this match, but Sosa would be wise to have someone on his side should Alisha get out of control at ringside.
WINNER: BANG BANG, SOSA SOSA!
Falls Count Anywhere Match: The Hardys vs. syX (Joseph Sawyer and Samuel Shaw)
For weeks and months on end, we saw wrestlers laid out in the back without any context or even a hint as to who could be behind this. And the assailants didn’t discriminate in who they attacked, going after babyfaces like the Hardys, Leon Slater, and Moose while also attacking heels like Cedric Alexander and Ryan Nemeth. And all we would ever see was the victims laid out with no one around them.
Fast forward to another attack that was perpetrated on the Hardys, and this time we saw the feet of two assailants responsible for this. After Matt and Jeff told the duo to come out here and reveal who they were, it become known that the men behind the attack were Joseph Sawyer aka the former Joe Gacy and Samuel Shaw, who is familiar to TNA fans. Once Sawyer and Shaw unmasked, Matt and Jeff challenged them to a Falls Count Anywhere match.
While we know that the Hardys, even at this point in their careers, can get extreme, we also know what Sawyer and Shaw can do from their run as members of the Wyatt 6. Making this match Falls Count Anywhere plays just as much to their favor as it does to Matt and Jeff’s, so it becomes a case of, “Be care what you wish for.” In my mind, there is no chance that Matt and Jeff win here because they don’t need the win and it would be stupid to debut Sawyer and Shaw only for them to lose their first match. The Hardys can and, will get their win back, but for that to happen, Samuel and Joseph must win here.
WINNERS: The number syX looks like you!
Call Your Shot Gauntlet Match
Avery Styles vs. Frankie Kazarian vs. Bear Bronson vs. Trey Miguel vs. Elijah vs. A.J. Francis vs. Brian Myers vs. Joe Alonzo vs. The Hometown Man vs. Harley Hudson vs. ten more TBA
One of the marquee matches on the biggest show of the year is the Call Your Shot gauntlet match. In short hand terms, the CYS gauntlet determines a future World Title contender, but with the emphasis on Call Your Shot, which means that the winner can go for the title whenever he or she wants to cash in. Oh, and did I mention that you get a trophy as well?
Given the field that has been revealed so far, there are some serious threats afoot. Kazarian is not just a CYS winner in the past, but he turned it into winning the World Title and could do it a second time. AJ Francis and Bear Bronson both pose imminent threats and will be hard to eliminate from the match. And one of the true wildcards in this match is Trey Miguel, who was in for big things when he re-signed with TNA before he broke his kneecap.
I’m sure some people would consider it to be a little bit crazy, but what if Avery were to win here? The CYS winner has one calendar year to cash in their shot, and while Styles is clearly not ready yet, it would buy him time to be more prepared in the weeks and months that follow. If TNA really wanted to do something unique and be creative, that would be the answer. However, with only half of the field being known now, I will play it a little bit more conservatively and throw my support behind Miguel to win this thing.
So, as a late addition to this entry, we learned that, because of the 8-man tag advantage match on Impact this week that Alonzo will enter the match at number twenty while Miguel will enter at number one. Still, this doesn’t change my mind when it comes to my prediction and in fact could play into a feel-good underdog story on Sunday.
WINNER: Trey Miguel AKA the one true Rascal
TNA Knockouts Tag Team Titles Match: Allie and Kiera Hogan © vs. Zoey Serrano and Shayna Baszler
Some matches don’t need a lot of build or, for that matter, any rhyme or reason to come to fruition. Case in point, this Knockouts Tag Team Titles match, which came because of Allie running into Serrano in the back on this week’s episode of Impact and a pull apart fight taking place. After the Champions won in a non-title match, Allie and Kiera Hogan challenged Serrano for Bound for Glory and told her to bring a partner.
As it turns out, being a former WWE superstar has its advantages, as Serrano has a deep rolodex of names she can call up. In this case, she made a call to her friend and tag team partner Shayna Baszler, who agreed to show up on the condition that they split the breaking of appendages and limps fifty-fifty. Suffice to say that their chemistry from being a team previously in another company could bode well for them in this title match.
My prediction for this match depends upon two things. The first one is easier to comprehend, which is the status of Baszler in TNA after Sunday. If she is coming in for a one-time shot (somewhere, Rob Van Dam is pleased, and extremely high), then it wouldn’t make any sense to have a title change here. However, if she has signed a contract with some term to it, I could see a title change happening here.
The second reason lends to something that will eventually unfold and the story will be told, which is whatever the heck is going on with Rosemary. The Demon Assassin’s dual personality has been coming out as of late, and the Rosemary side doesn’t seem to recognize Allie anymore. For the sake of killing two birds with one stone, I can see a scenario where the titles change hands because Rosemary returns, causes problems for Allie and Kiera, and then they go down whatever road that leads to.
WINNERS: Team Snap or Tap (AND NEW!)
TNA Knockouts Title Match: Xia Brookside (C) vs. Indi Hartwell
It was one year ago at Bound for Glory in Boston when Indi Hartwell found herself in the same position that she is in now. At least year’s show, she had the opportunity to wrestle the title away from NXT competitor Kelani Jordan, but she failed to not only win the title but bring it back to the company that it belonged to. This proved even more frustrating when, as Hartwell mentioned on Impact this week, her family traveled twenty hours from Australia to come and watch her lose.
Fast forward over the course of the next twelve months, and through trials and tribulations, Hartwell has FINALLY made it back to the Knockouts World Title scene. Sure, it took Indi and Santino Marella to set up Daria Rae and provide evidence that she slapped Hartwell, but hey, she got here! Now, a different challenge awaits in the form of the current Champion Xia Brookside, who has held the title since Slammiversary.
Brookside has held the title since June when she completed her betrayal of Li Ying Lee and took the Knockouts Title from her. Since then, Brookside has defended the title against anyone who has stood to oppose her, including against Elayna Black at Lockdown in Black’s hometown of Chicago. The heel side has suited Xia much better than the happy-go-lucky face side, and she has had no problem showing off more of the Darkside of Brookside to win her matches.
If you believe in redemption arcs, then you believe that Hartwell takes the title here. The fact is that she comes in with more momentum than Brookside does, since Indi had to win more matches and overcome more adversity. Also, Hartwell had to create a scheme with Marella to remove the roadblock known as Rae to get this shot. It should be a good match, but any result other than Indi winning the Knockouts Title is going to be a major disappointment.
WINNER: Indi Wrestling (AND NEW!)
TNA International Title Match: Mustafa Ali (C) vs. Special Agent 0 vs. Jason Hotch vs. John Skyler
The implosion of Order-4 started out as a ticking time bomb. As time went on, there was dissention within the group, and the first fissures came when Jason Hotch was voted by his peers to get an International Title shot against the Champion and his Boss, Mustafa Ali. Adding more fuel to the fire, Hotch won the title from Ali and then was promptly removed from the group for his insolence. Within a month, in his hometown of Chicago at Lockdown, Ali had won his title back.
The next level of dissent involved Ali butting heads with and mistreating both Tasha Steelz and Mila Moore to the point Moore would quit the group along with John Skyler. Meanwhile, Steelz withstood the abuse a little bit longer to form a deeper bond with Special Agent 0 to the point where he stopped listening to Ali and instead took instructions from Tasha. This was evidenced last week during a tag team match, where the big man would lay out Hotch, Skyler, and Ali at the behest of Steelz.
Things finally blew up at this point, and this week on Impact, everyone got a chance to tell Ali just what they thought of him. In turn, Ali said they were ungrateful swine and that, while they don’t believe in Ali anymore, Mustafa will always believe in Ali. I know that TNA booking has taken a beating lately from both fans and critics (see also haters) alike, but this storyline is, for my money, the easily best thing going in TNA.
As for who wins this match and walks out International Champion, that proves to be difficult, and I dare say that it is the toughest call on the card. In my mind, it comes down to either Ali retaining the title because he has newfound backup, or Special Agent 0 winning it now that Tasha is using him to seek revenge on everyone in the former group. Hotch held the title for less than a month, and Skyler is the real winner for getting Moore to go out with him, while Ali won the title back at Lockdown, but he spent a month in hospital with a punctured lung. Something tells me that Ali retains the title either by taking advantage of the situation (which he is particularly good at) or by having new drones to back him up.
WINNER: IN ALI WE TRUST! (And still!)
Six-Way Scramble for the vacant TNA X-Division Title: Fabian Aichner vs. Cedric Alexander vs. KC Navarro vs. Ryan Nemeth vs. Rich Swann vs. BDE
They say that one is the loneliest number, but when it comes to physical property being the loneliest object (inanimate or otherwise), the X-Division Title must feel lonely. Sure, there have been long and fortuitous runs with the title, such as Leon Slater’s near-history making run, but the X-Division Title also gets dropped more than Abeyance makes appearances.
In the most recent episode of this happening, Slater regained the X-Division Title at Lockdown in August, but after the main event that night, Slater informed Nic Nemeth that he was cashing in the X-Title via Option-C for a World Title shot on Sunday. And after two months of the title being held up, it will be decided in a Six-Way Scramble between guys who have held the title before, and guys who are looking for their first run with the title.
There stands to be a 66% chance that the winner of this match is the first time Champion. The only men in this match who have held the X-Division Title previously are Cedric Alexander and Rich Swann. Some guys in this match have sniffed around the gold, such as KC Navarro and Fabian Aichner, but they have come up short. And then you have BDE and Ryan Nemeth, and while BDE isn’t ready for the title yet, if Nemeth wins then I will cease to cover all TNA adjacent shows and content.
In an unironic twist, the winner of this match is easier to predict than the International Title match was. For starters, you must weed out the participants who aren’t serious contenders for the title, which include BDE and Nemeth. In addition, I don’t see Alexander winning the title back two months after he lost it, and Swann doesn’t need the title to be over. That leaves Aichner and Navarro and given the hype that they built around Fabian when he first entered the company, it would seem like the perfect time to cashout on that now. My head says KC, but my heart is saying Aichner.
WINNER: Hasta La Vista, Gladiator! (AND NEW!)
TNA World Heavyweight Title Match: Nic Nemeth (C) vs. Leon Slater
Leon Slater is coming into this World Title match with a lot of momentum and some underlying currents of revenge in some ways. While it was Alexander who ended Slater’s X-Division Title Reign in Sacramento back in May and kept him from making history, Slater can set more TNA history if he wins here. Leon became the youngest man to win the X-Division Title, and this Sunday in Tampa Bay at Bound for Glory, he could make history as the youngest World Champion in company history, YA GET ME?
Obviously, the current Champion Nic Nemeth will have something to say about this and will speak physically about it. After weeks of having a no-contact rule put in place by Santino Marella, the guys will finally get to throw down on Sunday for the World Heavyweight Title. And while Nic has been a valiant and reliable World Champion, he also holds the Tag Team Titles with his younger brother Ryan.
Leon’s ascent in the company has been a marvelous thing to watch since he arrived in TNA. The Boy from Bradford has quickly risen within the ranks of TNA to the point that he became the youngest X-Division Champion ever and is now on the doorstep of becoming the youngest World Champion ever. Cashing in on Option-C doesn’t mean that a victory is guaranteed, but like Austin Aries and Chris Sabin before him, Slater could go from X-Division to World Title.
Nemeth has held the World Title since Slammiversary back in June when he won the title from an outbound Mike Santana, and he is a safe option to hold the title. He has name recognition and he also has a track record of great in-ring work. However, the only way that I see Nemeth retaining the title here is if Slater is bound for WWE sooner than we think. It would be dumb to put the title on Slater until the end of the year if he is going to leave for the E, but something tells me that Leon’s work in TNA isn’t quite done, YA GET ME?
WINNER: The Boy from Bradford (AND NEW!)
And that’ll do it for my preview of Bound for Glory. I will wrap this up by saying what I always do, and that is if you clicked on my article, read it, and posted a comment, I thank you for the support! It means a lot to me as do the responses, whether good, bad, or indifferent!
Bound for Glory will be available on both TNA+ and on PPV, with the Hall-of-Fame inductions taking place at 4:00PM EST, followed by the main card getting underway at 4:30PM!
