BY WADE KELLER, PWTORCH EDITOR

With the Bound for Glory Series, TNA has launched a concept that I like, although one that even TNA brass have to admit we have a right to be nervous about them seeing through with conviction and attention to detail. They abandoned the TNA Wrestler Rankings last year after massive mocking by online fans over there being no connection between who was ranked where and how active they had been and whether they were winning. James Caldwell's chronicle of actual win/loss records put hard data behind the criticism of the arbitrary, sloppy execution of an otherwise intriguing idea.

One good thing about this concept is that it gets us talking already about TNA's signature annual supershow, Bound for Glory. It helps cement that PPV title as their version of WrestleMania.

There are 12 wrestlers in the Bound for Glory series. Just as important as how they execute the concept is whom they choose to win it all. Here is my Power Ranking listing the order of whom I want to see get the high-profile title shot at Bound for Glory this fall...

TOP TWO

BULLY RAY

PWTorch VIP members have had a chance to read my back page editorial in the latest PWTorch Weekly Newsletter (#1202) making my case for Bully Ray as a centerpiece heel champion in TNA. I won't rewrite it here, but I will say that one theme of my list here is TNA should use this credibility-building BFG Series to establish a new star. Now, Bully Ray isn't new per se. He's about five years older than John Cena, and at 39 going on 40 next month, he's perilously close to that point at which I think a lot of wrestlers should step aside for younger names. In Ray's case, though, it's different because he's new to singles wrestling, he isn't overexposed in this new role, and he's gotten himself into the best shape of his career. Even more so, he's cutting the best promos right now in TNA (and, really, all of pro wrestling) in terms of what counts. Not one-liners - although he's smart enough to deliver some zingers - but selling his match and making himself someone fans would pay to see, hoping he'll lose.

I think if TNA went with him as the new champ at BFG, it'd be the perfect high-profile setting to really sell fans on the idea that something new is happening, even if it's with a familiar veteran face. He's a better person to match against, and elevate, a string of babyface challengers. If he held the title for a full year - which I'd advocate as the penciled-in game plan, at least - by the time a chosen babyface unseated him, it would be huge news within TNA and, in and of itself, because of the discipline of not switching the belt sooner and more often, the title change would make a star out of whoever ended his reign.

The clock is ticking and the time to strike with him is now. TNA could instead define him down, for no good or valid reason, as something less than a main event act, but they should also realize they have the power with their strong clearance on Spike TV to turn him into a new top singles act. Just as WWE took a late-career JBL and turned him into a stop-gap main eventer after losing Brock Lesnar, TNA can choose someone who is every bit as good in the ring and on the mic as JBL, and maybe better in both categories at this stage.

This business needs someone who fans can believe isn't an entertainer, but is a tough badass who doesn't "turn off" his "entertainment character" when the cameras go away. Bully Ray has that, and as he showed Sunday against A.J. Styles, he can also deliver PPV main event caliber matches - something Mr. Anderson hasn't shown he can produce yet.

JAMES STORM

I say James Storm is A1 compared to Bully Ray as 1A because if TNA decides they want to go with a strong no. 1 babyface as their centerpiece champion (rather than a heel in Ray) going into their new post-BFG season, Storm is a great choice - the best of their available options. He's got a little Stone Cold in him, a little Gino Hernandez, a little Dusty Rhodes, even a little Roddy Piper. He's a Man of the People type of babyface act who would be an ideal contrast to the John Cena PG era of WWE. Without swearing or being vulgar, Storm can convey a free-wheelin', hard-hitting, care-free persona who is also tough and resourceful.

He's a wrestler whom, if TNA builds around him, would send a message to infrequent and skeptical TNA viewers that something new is happening. He wouldn't be a former WWE or WCW headliner singles wrestler. He would be a home-grown talent whose big push would send a message that finally TNA has not a champion who's a castoff or part of a past era, but instead someone new and perhaps even better than anyone in WWE (a fair argument since Storm hasn't jobbed to any top WWE acts).

He can deliver in the ring, too, a spirited underdog (undersized) babyface hero for TNA fans. He can take a beating and make a spirited comeback. He can work a crowd into a frenzy on a comeback and celebrate a win like he just won the lottery. Again, his personality is an ideal contrast to TNA's stunting image over the last nine years of too often trying to cast a former WWE/WCW wrestler in this spot, or cloning WWE's approach. Storm is that perfect contrast to the Corporate Cena image of WWE's top act.

NEXT TIER

ROBERT ROODE

As either a heel or a babyface, Roode would send a similar positive message to fans that they're pushing a home-grown star who hasn't been defined down as a mid-carder or a wash-up in WWE. It's great to see Matt Hardy left out of this Series, and see someone like Roode in it. I have been skeptical of Roode as a top act - more so than some other people in and out of wrestling whose opinion I respect. I'm warming up to the idea of him as a potential top act, in part because of some recent mic work and how he's carrying himself with more confidence. I think he has to avoid seeming like a derivative of another character (Mr. Perfect, Terrence Taylor, Mr. Anderson/Kennedy, etc.) and figure out who he is. I'm not sure he's exactly there, whereas there is no doubt Bully Ray and James Storm know who who they are as wrestlers. Still, he's a fresh choice to build around, and the BFG Series is the right setting to elevate someone new (sort of like the King of Ring used to be for WWE, and how Money in the Bank has been in more recent years).

MATT MORGAN

I like Morgan more in a gate-keeper, enforcer role than a centerpiece World Champion. I'm not sure style-wise he's a PPV main event guy month-after-month. On the mic, he's very good, but I think, if pushed to the top, people might see him as a guy who got the gig because he's tall. He's also sort of been to the top and not stuck there, and I'm leaning toward a bolder move of someone who hasn't been a singles main event act. Still, I wouldn't vote against giving Morgan a try as a true top tier act, but only with the full support of the promotion really getting behind him. You can't move Morgan to the top and go half-way. A tough call has to be made whether to cast him as the oversized babyface who's bigger than all of his opponents, which is a handicap when marketing feuds, or as a thug heel who sneaks out wins against smaller, scrappy babyface challengers. I think he's better in the babyface role, but again not as the headline champion and more in a secondary enforcer "conscious of TNA" type guy who stands up to bullies and tries to take them down.

CRIMSON / GUNNER

If TNA has their eye on either of these two, I know I need to see more before endorsing either. Gunner showed me more on this week's Impact in terms of his mic work, presence, and personality than all other weeks combined. Gunner has a great story (Iraq War Veteran) and is a great age (30, so he's both mature and young). In the ring, he's still green, but he's shown some good athletic ability. He's oddly cast right now, but maybe they're positioning him to break away from Eric Bischoff in coming weeks. I went from very skeptical last week to cautiously open-minded this week about a rapid-elevation of Gunner. I think to be taken seriously as a top tier act, he needs a new name. "Gunner" Phil Shatter (his real name) would be fine, but Gunner alone sounds bush league or lower-card.

As for Crimson, they've got him on a winning streak and he's been an unsteady mix of both way-too-green and reasonably-promising in his in-ring work so far. I haven't seen enough to rule him in or out, but he has a good look and hasn't been defined down yet as a mid-carder. He has deficiencies, but so did Goldberg when he got a huge push, and if handled carefully, he could be an intriguing new star shot to the top. The real challenge that he might not be able to overcome is his likely inability to deliver buzz-worthy PPV main event matches. It's probably too soon to put him in the top spot, but if he wins the tournament undefeated and takes on the champion in a one-off match that ends his streak, that could be an interesting story for BFG. So unless he improves quickly, he's not my franchise centerpiece, but for a BFG main event storyline, maybe.

SAMOA JOE

I've grown more cold on him as his promos haven't advanced and his character has floated in the mid-card for so long I'm afraid he's been defined already. I'm not sure TNA wants to go with him "again" as a few years ago they main evented with him. I think management wants to try something either entirely new or something (or someone) more proven outside of TNA (thus, in their eyes, more "safe"). There's something about Joe that, as a contrast to Cena in WWE, could work in TNA's favor. He also obviously can deliver PPV main event caliber matches. Personality-wise, he has to get to a new stage, but I'm not sure he or TNA Creative know what that is. If they could find it, he's a valid BFG main event candidate. But they have to choose face or heel, and then really define him clearly and consistently as that. No more yelling and frothing and threatening to kill people. He's best (and more dignified) when he's more soft-spoken, not throwing tantrums. Joe talking softly is much more intimidating than when he's yelling.

THIRD TIER

A.J. STYLES

Of the usual suspects, he's far and away the best option. He's actually cast properly now as an undersized, tough, exciting, stands-up-for-what's-right babyface. I think this BFG series should be used to elevate someone new, but Styles is still a great option for headlining PPVs. I'm just not sure it sends the message that something new is happening, and the ideal scenario remains recasting Styles back in the X Division, which would elevate the X Division, give TNA a guaranteed exciting co-main event for PPVs, and give a bunch of smaller heels with money-drawing potential (Austin Aries, for example) a true star to feud with on PPV.

ROB VAN DAM

Last year was his chance. Now he's better as a Legacy Star in a late chapter of his career working a mid-card feud and strategically putting over heels on their march toward World Title matches against the top babyface champion. He's not a four-star-plus worker at this point, his promo style doesn't draw money, and he's seen as older now and the novelty that made him valuable and fresh last year is now gone.

FOURTH TIER

BAD CHOICES

We're down to a few choices that just don't make sense... Devon: He's just not a main event level personality, promo, or worker... Scott Steiner: He's too old, too physically limited, and and not capable of buzzworthy PPV main events. That said, I love his promos and as a role-player, he can give TNA some recognizable star-power, and if he does strategic jobs, he can help elevate others... The Pope: He just hasn't stepped up in the ring when given longer PPV matches. He seems cast in a good spot now as a lower-card mid-career veteran with a distinct personality who can visit co-main-events and maybe even challenge a babyface champion in a well-built PPV main event once or twice in a two year period, but otherwise seems properly slotted in the third tier...

Web-readers, please let me know your top list below. App=readers, email me your top list at kellerwade@gmail.com. If you disagree with any of my reasoning, I welcome your comments and feedback, also.

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