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IMPACT Wrestling Bound For Glory 2021 had a lineup full of intriguing matches coming in. The company has had one of its best years yet with more exposure on AEW as well as partnerships with NJPW. This pay-per-view gave the promotion another opportunity to garner interest from the wrestling world.
The Bound For Glory 2021 card featured a little bit of everything. There were five titles on the line including the IMPACT World Championship in the main event with AEW's Christian Cage defending the gold against former X-Division Champion Josh Alexander. The lineup also saw a tag team grudge match and the return of the Call Your Shot Gauntlet.
With the pay-per-view in the books and so much going down, it is an ideal time to look at the quality of every match. In this article, let's give a star rating for every match at Bound For Glory 2021.
John Skyler vs. Chelsea Green vs. Crazzy Steve vs. Jordynne Grace vs. Fallah Bahh vs. Madison Rayne in a 6 Way Match for the IMPACT Digital Media Championship (IMPACT Wrestling Bound For Glory 2021 Pre-Show)
IMPACT Wrestling determined their first Digital Media Champion on the Bound For Glory 2021 pre-show. It was the company's first official intergender title with six competitors battling for the gold. Three women and three men faced one another in a short, quick bout. Tenille Dashwood was originally supposed to be in this contest, but she was replaced by her Influence tag team partner Madison Rayne.
All six participants paired off with one another to start things off before it came to Jordynne Grace and Fallah Bahh. Grace hit a series of big moves. Chelsea Green pulled off a dropkick on John Skyler and Madison Rayne took down Crazzy Steve with a DDT.
It boiled down to Grace and Skyler in the end. Jordynne dropped John Skyler with the Grace Driver to become the inaugural Digital Media Champion. The match flew by and made use of the short duration, but not everything came off smooth here to kick things off on the Bound For Glory 2021 pre-show. Despite that, Jordynne Grace is a good choice to be the first champion.
Star rating: **
Decay vs. The Iinspiration for the IMPACT Knockouts Tag Team Championships (IMPACT Wrestling Bound For Glory 2021)
The Bound For Glory 2021 main show started with a wonderful musical performance entrance for the debuting Cassie Lee and Jessie McKay of the Iinspiration. The former Iiconics cut a promo beforehand, which has always been their strong suit. Despite being their typical heel selves, they were over big time with the Las Vegas crowd.
Decay had the control early, but the Iinspiration used their smarts to gain the advantage throughout. Cassie and Jessie eventually neutralized Havok and double teamed Rosemary in the ring. The Iinspiration hit a neckbreaker-powerbomb combo to pin Rosemary and win the Knockouts Tag Team Titles. It was a bit disjointed at times, but a fine opener with the crowd invested.
Star rating: **
Trey Miguel vs. Steve Maclin vs. El Phantasmo in a 3 Way Match for the IMPACT X-Division Championship (IMPACT Wrestling Bound For Glory 2021)
Things picked up significantly with the next bout on the IMPACT Wrestling Bound For Glory 2021 card. After Josh Alexander relinquished the X-Division Championship by invoking "Option C" for a shot at the IMPACT Wrestling World Championship, there was a tournament of three-way matches to crown a new champion with Trey Miguel, Steve Maclin, and El Phantasmo qualifying.
All three men were highlighted very well here. Steve Maclin put on the best performance of his career, showcasing his power and surprising speed. His spear on ELP while he was upside down was an amazing highlight of the contest. El Phantasmo showed off his agility and selling, while Trey Miguel displayed how crisp he is in the ring.
Miguel hit ELP with a series of kicks, a deadlift brainbuster, and a top-rope Meteora to win the X-Division Championship. This brought all the high octane action that the X-Division is known for. It was a fantastic three-way match that brought a lot of energy to Bound For Glory 2021.
Star rating: ****1/4
Violent By Design vs. Heath & Rhino (IMPACT Wrestling Bound For Glory 2021)
Last year at Bound For Glory, Eric Young dropped the IMPACT World Championship to Rich Swann in the main event. This year he led his Violent By Design stable, represented by Joe Doering and Deaner, against Heath and a mystery partner. Last year, Rhino won the Call Your Shot Gauntlet to help Heath get signed, but there were questions coming in here about their relationship.
When Heath went down with an injury, Rhino turned heel and joined VBD. However, he lost the IMPACT Tag Team Titles for the group and was excommunicated. Rhino finally realized the errors of his ways and joined Heath. The Man Beast took over the match and hit a Gore to get the win for him and Heath.
Star rating: *3/4
20 Person Intergender Call Your Shot Gauntlet Match
The Call Your Shot Gauntlet made its return to Bound For Glory here with 20 participants in this intergender bout. There were a couple of very cool surprises with NJPW's Rocky Romero as the second entrant, former WWE Women's Champion Melina, and even former WCW star The Kiss Demon.
The match brought some fun moments to Bound For Glory 2021. Sam Beale stood up to his former mentor Brian Myers. Rich Swann and Ace Austin showed off their skills. Eddie Edwards returned.
In the end, it came down to Moose and Matt Cardona as the final two. The former NFL player hit the spear on Cardona to win the trophy and the gauntlet.
Star rating: ***
The Good Brothers vs. FinJuice vs. The Bullet Club in a 3 Way Match for the IMPACT Wrestling Tag Team Championships (IMPACT Wrestling Bound For Glory 2021)
Karl Anderson and Doc Gallows of the Good Brothers defended the IMPACT Tag Team Championships in a three-way match against FinJuice and the Bullet Club.
The three tag teams worked extremely well with one another. Chris Bey in particular stood out and had many entertaining sequences with both Juice and Finlay. There was also a cool showdown between Doc Gallows and Hikuleo at one point. The match ended with FinJuice hitting the PowerPlex on Bey, but Machine Gun tagged in and threw Finlay out before pinning Bey to win.
Star rating: ***1/2
Deonna Purrazzo vs. Mickie James for the IMPACT Wrestling Knockouts Championship (IMPACT Wrestling Bound For Glory 2021)
In the most anticipated bout of the IMPACT Wrestling Bound For Glory 2021 card, Deonna Purrazzo defended the IMPACT Knockouts Championship against Mickie James. The two women have been embroiled in a bitter rivalry since Mickie's return to the promotion back at Slammiversary 2021. It escalated with a brawl at James's home and the two continuously having altercations.
This was the most personal of all the contests at Bound For Glory 2021. The action went all over ringside before the opening bell. Once the bell rang, it was intense and had plenty of drama. The fans seemed more into this one than any other match. The nearfalls were tremendous with Deonna kicking out of the Mickie-DT and James kicking out of the Queen's Gambit.
Deonna Purrazzo got cocky in the late stages and taunted James by going for the Mickie-DT, but Mickie reversed and hit a huge tornado DDT to win the IMPACT Knockouts Championship. This felt like a special moment with James having been through so much in this feud and getting released from WWE. It was the most emotional of all the contests here at Bound For Glory 2021.
Star rating: ****1/4
Christian Cage vs. Josh Alexander for the IMPACT World Championship (IMPACT Wrestling Bound For Glory 2021)
The IMPACT Wrestling Bound For Glory 2021 main event saw AEW's Christian Cage defend the IMPACT World Championship against former X-Division Champion Josh Alexander. This has been a well told story ahead of the pay-per-view, with the friendly competition spiraling into a more aggressive tone as the weeks went by.
Christian Cage defeated Kenny Omega to win the IMPACT World Championship on the debut of AEW Rampage and has successfully defended the gold against Brian Myers and Ace Austin since. Josh Alexander had been firing on all cylinders as the X-Division Champion, defeating the likes of TJP, Jake Something, and Chris Sabin on the road to Bound For Glory 2021.
Following his win over Sabin at Victory Road, it was the Motor City Machine Gun member who put an idea in the ear of the Walking Weapon. After Christian defeated Ace Austin, Alexander came down to the ring and invoked "Option C" to relinquish the X-Division Title for a shot at the IMPACT World Championship at Bound For Glory 2021.
The Bound For Glory 2021 main event started out with a feeling out process and Christian showing a subtle heel tone to his strategy. Josh Alexander looked for an ankle lock on the floor, but Cage reversed and sent Josh head-first into the guardrail. Alexander hit a killer German suplex on Christian that sent him to the corner.
The Walking Weapon kept going for the ankle lock and also attacked Christian's taped up shoulder. This paid off in the finish when Alexander sent Cage into the ring post shoulder-first. He then applied the ankle lock. Christian couldn't push himself off the mat on the bad shoulder, so Josh stepped on his good hand and Cage was forced to tap out, making Alexander the new IMPACT World Champion.
Josh Alexander had a special post-match moment with his wife and young son crying in the ring. Just when the show looked like it would end on this babyface happy ending, Moose came down and cashed in his Call Your Shot trophy for an automatic IMPACT World Title Match. He hit the spear and defeated Alexander to win the title in front of his family.
The main event was great with technical action and a simple story being told. Christian Cage and Josh Alexander worked very well with one another and had a brilliant contest that escalated in intensity as the bout went on. The ending with Moose was shocking and will make Bound For Glory 2021 that much more memorable.
Star rating: ****
