TNA is holding a “Hardy Party” with Matt and Jeff Hardy in Tampa on Saturday, October 10, the night before Bound for Glory.
TNA announced the event on Instagram. It takes place at 6 p.m. at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino, 5223 Orient Road, Tampa, and includes a hosted Q&A with The Hardys in a private setting, followed by photo ops and autographs. Tickets are sold through TNAMerch.com.
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TNA has run Hardy Party events in other markets this year. The brothers remain one of the biggest meet-and-greet draws in wrestling; Jim Ross has said on Grilling JR that The Hardys drew the longest line of any talent at a convention he worked in Minnesota.
The Hardys lost the TNA World Tag Team Championship to Nic and Ryan Nemeth at Lockdown last month. At Bound for Glory they face Syx, the team of Joseph Sawyer and Samuel Shaw, in a Falls Count Anywhere match after Sawyer and Shaw revealed themselves as the men behind the recent backstage attacks.
Bound for Glory card
Bound for Glory takes place Sunday, October 11, at the Yuengling Center in Tampa. The announced card:
- Nic Nemeth (c) vs. Leon Slater for the TNA World Championship
- Xia Brookside (c) vs. Indi Hartwell for the TNA Knockouts World Championship
- Mustafa Ali (c) vs. Jason Hotch vs. John Skyler vs. Special Agent Zero for the TNA International Championship
- KC Navarro vs. Fabian Aichner vs. Cedric Alexander vs. Rich Swann vs. Ryan Nemeth vs. BDE, six-way scramble for the vacant TNA X-Division Championship
- The Hardys vs. Syx (Joseph Sawyer and Samuel Shaw), Falls Count Anywhere
- Eddie Edwards vs. Ricky Sosa
- Call Your Shot Gauntlet, with Avery Styles, Frankie Kazarian and Bear Bronson announced so far
TNA Hall of Famer Mickie James will appear. She was inducted last year and last wrestled for the company at Rebellion in April. ODB, Amazing Red and Konnan will be inducted into the TNA Hall of Fame on the pre-show.
PWInsider’s Mike Johnson reported Saturday that TNA expects a former tag team champion to debut at the show. The report did not identify the wrestler.
Tickets
As of Thursday, WrestleTix had 2,203 tickets distributed, up 1,447 in four days, with 537 available in a 2,740-seat setup. The cheapest standard ticket was $59.35. A week earlier the count was 756. WrestleTix does not break out paid tickets from comps, and Moose pushed back on fans who claimed the jump came from giveaways.
Doors open at 3 p.m. ET, the Countdown to Bound for Glory pre-show starts at 4 p.m., and the pay-per-view begins at 5 p.m. ET on TNA+ and traditional pay-per-view for $39.99.
Analysis
The Hardy Party exists because The Hardys sell. They draw the longest lines at WrestleCon and at conventions around the country, and a private event the night before the pay-per-view is TNA getting paid twice for the same weekend. That’s smart.
It should also tell TNA something about Jeff Hardy. He is still a major star, as Ross has said, and TNA has not used that fully. One final chase of the TNA World Championship, told seriously and told slowly, is the kind of story that moves ratings for a company this size. Build it from Bound for Glory to Slammiversary, or all the way to next year’s Bound for Glory, and pay it off at the big show. Done right, that is months of reasons to watch.
