The 2005 Bound for Glory was a professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by the Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) promotion that took place on October 23, 2005 at the TNA Impact! Zone in Orlando, Florida. It was the first event under the Bound for Glory name and tenth event in the 2005 TNA PPV schedule. The show was promoted as TNA's premiere PPV event and their equivalent to the rival World Wrestling Entertainment's (WWE) WrestleMania. Ten professional wrestling matches and one pre-show match were featured on the card, three of which involved championships.
The main event was for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship, in which champion Jeff Jarrett fought the challenger Rhino with Tito Ortiz as Special Guest Referee. The match was originally Jarrett versus Kevin Nash with Ortiz as referee, however Nash was not cleared to wrestle due to a medical emergency. A Ten-Man Gauntlet match was held to determine Nash's replacement, which Rhino won. Rhino then went on to defeat Jarrett to win the NWA World Heavyweight Championship at the show. The TNA X Division Championship was defended in a Thirty-Minute Iron Man match by champion A.J. Styles against the challenger Christopher Daniels at the event. Styles defeated Daniels one fall to zero falls to retain the championship. Monster's Ball II was held at Bound for Glory, in which Rhino defeated Abyss, Jeff Hardy, and Sabu. The NWA World Tag Team Championship was successfully defended by America's Most Wanted (Chris Harris and James Storm) against The Naturals (Andy Douglas and Chase Stevens) at the show. Chris Sabin, Matt Bentley, and Petey Williams competed in a Three Way Ultimate X match to determine the number-one contender to the TNA X Division Championship also on the card. Williams won the encounter to earn a future title match.
Bound for Glory is remembered for Nash being removed from the main event and for Rhino's impromptu championship victory. Rhino becoming champion was ranked by TNA as the 21st greatest moment in the company's history. The event was dedicated to Reggie Lisowski, who died the night prior. Bob Kapur of the professional wrestling section of the Canadian Online Explorer rated the show a 9 out of 10, higher than the 2006 edition. It also received a higher rating by the Canadian Online Explorer than WWE's WrestleMania 21 PPV event held on April 3, 2005, which had been given a 5 out of 10 by Dale Plummer and Nick Tylwalk.
Production
Background In March 2005, it was reported that TNA's then-September PPV event titled Bound for Glory was to be the promotion's equivalent to the rival World Wrestling Entertainment's WrestleMania. On June 19, 2005, at TNA's Slammiversary PPV event, TNA commentators Mike Tenay and Don West announced that the first Bound for Glory event would take place on October 23, 2005. A fanfest, similar to the one held at TNA's Victory Road PPV event, was also planned. The fanfest, promoted as Total Nonstop InterAction, was set for October 22 at the DoubleTree Hotel in Orlando, Florida. Several TNA wrestlers were scheduled to appear at the event, such as Raven, A.J. Styles, Jushin Liger, Christopher Daniels, Jeff Hardy, Jeff Jarrett, Chris Sabin, Monty Brown, Jimmy Hart, Lance Hoyt, Rhino, Abyss, Kip James, Shark Boy, Chris Harris, James Storm, B.G. James, Elix Skipper, Sonjay Dutt, Sonny Siaki, James Mitchell, Apolo, Bobby Roode, Eric Young, A-1, and Petey Williams of Team Canada, among others. On August 19, tickets went on sale for Bound for Glory. A promotional poster for the event was released prior by TNA on In Demand featuring the tagline "A Time for Greatness" as well as Raven, Brown, Hardy, Jarrett, Rhino, Styles, and Abyss. A thirty-minute pre-show was advertised to take place prior to the telecast. TNA promoted the debut of Japanese wrestler Liger for the event. Samoa Joe was later advertised as Liger's opponent. Hurricane Wilma's course was set toward Florida during the festivities weekend, but TNA did not expect it to interfere with the events. Bound for Glory was dedicated to Reggie Lisowski, also known as "The Crusher", who died the night before.
Storylines Bound for Glory was scheduled to feature nine professional wrestling matches and one pre-show match, however, due to a medical emergency TNA was forced to change the main event of the show, resulting in ten overall matches. Each of these matches involved wrestlers from pre-existing scripted feuds and storylines portraying villains, heroes, or less distinguishable characters; these scripted events built tension and culminated in a wrestling match or series of matches.
The main storyline heading into Bound for Glory revolved around the NWA World Heavyweight Championship. At TNA's previous PPV event Unbreakable on September 11, then-champion Raven retained the title in a Raven's Rules match against Rhino. On September 15, Jeff Jarrett defeated Raven with help from America's Most Wanted (Chris Harris and James Storm; AMW) and Scott D'Amore at a Border City Wrestling event to win the championship. On the October 1 episode of TNA's television program TNA Impact!, Jarrett announced a partnership with AMW and D'Amore before the 3Live Kru (Konnan, Ron Killings, and B.G. James) interrupted them. Team 3D (Brother Devon and Brother Ray) then made their TNA debut, followed by the TNA return of Kevin Nash, who challenged Jarrett to a title defense at Bound for Glory. Jarrett and Nash previously fought at TNA's Against All Odds PPV event on February 13, which Jarrett won to retain the NWA World Heavyweight Championship. On the October 8 episode of Impact!, NWA Championship Committee member Larry Zbyszko announced that the match between Nash and Jarrett was official and set for Bound for Glory with an added stipulation. Mixed martial arts fighter Tito Ortiz was then revealed as the Special Guest Referee for the bout. This was Ortiz's second time refereeing an NWA World Heavyweight Championship match in TNA, with his first being the NWA World Heavyweight Championship bout at TNA's Hard Justice PPV event on May 15.
At Unbreakable, the TNA X Division Championship was defended in a Three Way match by then-champion Christopher Daniels against A.J. Styles and Samoa Joe. Styles won the match and the title at the event. This led to TNA promoting a Thirty-Minute Iron Man match between Styles and Daniels for the title at Bound for Glory. This was a rematch between the two that took place at Against All Odds. Other events that lead to this match included the 2005 TNA Super X Cup Tournament, which caused the Three Way match at Unbreakable, and Daniels defeating Styles in an Ultimate X Challenge match at TNA's Destination X PPV event on March 13 to become champion. On the October 8 episode of Impact!, Daniels issued a challenge to Styles to pick three wrestlers on the roster and he would defeat all of them in fifteen minutes or less. Styles accepted the challenge and chose Shark Boy, Sonjay Dutt, and himself. Daniels defeated both Shark Boy and Dutt before the time-limit expired, but did not defeat Styles in time on the October 15 episode of Impact!.
There were several other matches promoted for the show. The most significant of these were a Four Way Monster's Ball match, a Three Way Ultimate X match, and an NWA World Tag Team Championship bout. The Monster's Ball match, promoted as Monster's Ball II, was announced in late-September. The participants advertised for the bout were Abyss, Rhino, Jeff Hardy, and Sabu. The only recent storylines connected to this bout included Abyss and Sabu being involved in a rivalry for an undisclosed reason, leading to a match at Unbreakable. Sabu had also been involved in a minor feud with Rhino, by teaming with Raven to face the team of Rhino and Jarrett in a match at TNA's Sacrifice PPV event on August 14. The Ultimate X match was announced at Unbreakable after a bout pitting Chris Sabin against Petey Williams. There, Matt Bentley returned to TNA and issued an Ultimate X open challenge to the pair to take place at Bound for Glory. TNA later scheduled the match, with the winner becoming number-one contender to the TNA X Division Championship. After this, the three promoted the encounter by interfering in each other's Impact! matches. On the April 29 episode of Impact!, The Naturals (Andy Douglas and Chase Stevens) defeated then-NWA World Tag Team Champions AMW to become the new champions. This led to a rematch at Hard Justice, where The Naturals retained the title. On the October 15 episode of Impact!, Zbyszko declared that The Naturals would defend the NWA World Tag Team Championship against AMW the following week. AMW reclaimed the championship from The Naturals on the October 22 episode of Impact!. Afterwards, TNA added a rematch between the two teams for the title to the Bound for Glory card.
Event Pre-show Prior to Bound for Glory, TNA held a thirty-minute pre-show. During the broadcast, Mike Tenay announced that Kevin Nash had been hospitalized over the weekend and was not cleared to wrestle in the main event. Tenay stated that a replacement would be determined later in the night.
A X Division Four Way match between Sonjay Dutt, Alex Shelley, Austin Aries, and Roderick Strong was held during the pre-show. Dutt won the match at 12 minutes and 7 seconds after performing his signature Bombay-Rana aerial maneuver on Strong into a pin attempt.
A segment with Raven took place where he demanded to be placed in the main event for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship. Larry Zbyszko disagreed, resulting in Raven attacking him before security pulled Raven off. Rhino then came out and stated that he deserved the title shot more than Raven.
Miscellaneous Bound for Glory featured employees other than the wrestlers involved in the matches. Mike Tenay and Don West were the commentators for the telecast. Jeremy Borash (for the main event only) and David Penzer were ring announcers for the event. Andrew Thomas, Rudy Charles, and Mark "Slick" Johnson participated as referees for the encounters. Shane Douglas handled the interview duties during the show. Besides employees who appeared in a wrestling role, Cassidy Riley, New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) president Simon Inoki, TNA president Dixie Carter, two Polynesian dancers, Scott D'Amore, Traci, James Mitchell, Gail Kim, and Team 3D (Brother Devon and Brother Ray) all appeared on camera, either in backstage or in ringside segments.
Preliminary matches
The first bout was between Samoa Joe and Jushin Liger. It lasted 7 minutes and 27 seconds. Joe was accompanied by two Polynesian dancers during his entrance, who performed for the crowd. Liger gained a near-fall on Joe at 6 minutes. Afterwards, Joe slammed Liger in the mat back-first with his signature Muscle Buster maneuver. He then followed by applying his Coquina Clutch submission hold. As the referee waited for Liger to submit, he became limp, causing the referee to lift and drop Liger's arm three times, resulting in the knock-out victory for Joe.
The Diamonds in the Rough (Simon Diamond, David Young, and Elix Skipper) versus Apolo, Sonny Siaki, and Shark Boy in a Six Man Tag Team match followed. The duration of this contest was 7 minutes and 3 seconds. Young pinned Siaki to win the encounter for his team after forcing Siaki against the mat with a spinebuster.
Monty Brown was pitted against Lance Hoyt in the next encounter. Hoyt gained a two-count early on by landing on Brown with a moonsault aerial maneuver from the top rope. This followed with Brown slamming Hoyt against the mat with his signature Alpha Bomb maneuver for a near-fall. Brown won the contest at 6 minutes and 29 seconds after tackling Hoyt with his signature Pounce maneuver.