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By James Caldwell, Torch assistant editor

-- From what I saw in the final-half of the Bound for Glory PPV, the event was a step-up from the average TNA PPV this year, but still had serious flaws.

Big picture on TNA when it comes to PPVs is that they are not going to deviate from the current formula with Vince Russo at the helm creatively. There will be at least three gimmick matches that cancel each other, wrestlers will take unnecessary bumps, there will be inexcusable chair shots to the head, a veteran will be in the main event trying to "get by," and Kevin Nash will laugh all the way to the bank.

Also under Russo, there will be another Abyss vs. Mick Foley-style match-up despite it being very clear the style needs to go away for a long, long time before it ever means anything again.

-- Abyss vs. Foley will challenge Jenna vs. Sharmell for worst match of the year. Not just in TNA, but in all of wrestling. Everything about that match just screamed unoriginal, counter-productive, unimaginative, and lazy from a booking and wrestling perspective. Just plain lazy. It became unintentionally comedic at some point with the four count and taser and missed camera shots, but that was a mere distraction from the bigger picture that the style of match Abyss thinks he should be wrestling every month is not helping TNA at all.

TNA shoots itself in the foot every month with that match because it stunts the company's growth. Every big highspot and every bag of trick in the toolbox means absolutely nothing. Nothing. It's serious long-term damage that will take years to fix.

TNA needs to scratch this match-up for a while and allow the audience to be re-educated that big spots have big consequences. Otherwise, no one will care next time Abyss or anyone takes a flaming table spot off the rafters through 8,000 mousetraps covered in barbed wire with glass shards surrounded by crocodiles who haven't eaten in three months.

-- Kurt Angle worked his tail off in the semi-main event. At some point, you wonder how many more of these performances he has left in his body at his age and physical condition. I thought Angle vs. Morgan was one of the better match-ups on TNA PPV this year.

Aside from monitoring Angle's health every month, the concern for TNA should be how to market Matt Morgan. They have a commodity on their roster. Yet, they have no idea how to market him.

The audience in SoCal last night wanted to cheer Angle and boo Morgan. That wasn't surprising, as the audience was a 1990s Monday Night Wars-era crowd that seemed to be into the veterans they recognized from Raw is War and Monday Nitro ten years ago.

However, Morgan has been presented as a tweener who talks kind of funny and makes weird facial expressions without ever clearly turning babyface. At the same time, TNA has slowly been turning Angle babyface after playing a heel forever on TNA TV. It was the perfect scenario for a pro-Angle, anti-Morgan crowd that continues to push TNA away from the "money-making window of opportunity" with Morgan.

He also has the size working against him. No one thinks he's a babyface because his opponents will always seem like underdogs compared to him. Kurt Angle drew sympathy. Morgan cannot draw sympathy unless he goes up against Yao Ming in an NBA exhibition.

WWE CEO Vince McMahon had this quote in the "Untold History of WWE" Magazine on Hulk Hogan before he blew up in the 1980s that I believe captures Morgan's position:

"Physically, he (Hogan) was too big. He was so intimidating that no one would feel sympathy for him and want to root him on," McMahon said. "Almost by definition, that made him a bully, and people boo him. Everyone, including my dad, thought it would be a horrible idea to position him as Champion."

TNA has to figure out where to take Morgan. He either needs to be a strong heel who outright attacks Angle to turn Angle babyface to set up a re-match where Morgan doesn't look bad for being booed as the default babyface, or he needs to show true babyface characteristics that will allow him to be cheered. Unfortunately, TNA has not positioned Morgan to be successful as a top star for this company yet despite him being in the semi-main event of their biggest yearly PPV.

-- Torch readers are voting Morgan vs. Angle as the Top Match of the PPV right now. The match is leading with 43 percent of the vote, followed by the Ultimate X deathtrap match with 24 percent of the vote.

The not-particularly-memorable send-off for Sting against A.J. Styles is third with 14 percent of the vote. Going into the PPV, that match should have achieved a higher percentage than a mere 14 percent. Styles was capable of carrying Sting, but Sting didn't seem to have that "sense of urgency" to have a career-defining match if last night was his last trip inside the ring.

Send feedback on this article to pwtorch@gmail.com and we'll regularly publish reader feedback in the "Torch Feedback" category on the Main Listing.

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