Opening Segment
Bully ray opened the show with his squeeze Brooke, and blamed Hulk Hogan for the uneasiness in the Aces & Eights. Hulk Hogan comes out and tells Bully that he shouldn't be worrying about him, but about Mr. Anderson. Bully then repeats what he said earlier about Hogan and asks Mr. Anderson to come out. He does, and Hulk offers his hand to shake, but Mr. Anderson just stares at him and walks to the ring. Bully Ray tells Mr. Anderson to apologize to him, and he replies "You know what? I got out of line, and I can't wait to get out of line again!" then punches Bully Ray, sending the Heavyweight Champion to retreat. Hulk Hogan then announces that the title match is now a Last Man Standing match.
This was a good opener because of the hatred that Bully Ray and Hulk Hogan present on screen. It also set up for the World Heavyweight title match decently.
AJ Styles vs Austin Aries: BFG Series Semi Finals
Austin Aries started the match going for a lot of high risk moves, and continued the match the same way, a lot of the moves not favoring him in the end. During the match AJ Styles hit a remarkable variation of the neckbreaker. He also stopped Aries from going high risk, and performing a suicide dive by hitting a springboard clothesline. Austin reversed a Styles Clash with a huricanrana, which looked good. They then followed that up by trading dropkicks. AJ tried to reverse Aries' brainbuster, but Aries was able to get into the right position again and hit his deadly looking finisher. At one point AJ resisted a superplex by karate chopping Aries' neck. AJ Styles got the pin after hitting the Styles Clash off of the second rope.
Easily the match of the night. These guys continued to show why they are not only deserving of the title as the top guys of the company, but of the industry as well.
Bobby Roode vs Magnus: BFG Semi Finals
The show came back from commercial break with Bobby Roode impatiently demanding the referee to get Magnus out to the ring already. He finally comes out, and Roode begins attacking strongly and quickly in an attempt to finish Magnus off quick, and save his energy for the Finals. Unfortunately, the plan didn't work and Magnus won with a rollup.
This match wasn't anything special. I was rooting for Bobby Roode to win.
Backstage Segments
After a commercial break there were a few backstage segments. One including ODB promoting her title match against Mickie James, and another including Bobby Roode telling Bad Influence members Kazarian and Christopher Daniels that if he isn't going to Bound For Glory then nobody is. Another segment was Manik talking to Hulk Hogan, and requesting a match against Jeff Hardy.
The Bobby Roode segment was the best of these because it hinted that something interesting may happen later. I don't thing Manik should have his mask off that often. Sometimes isn't bad.
Bully Ray vs Mr. Anderson: LMS World Heavyweight Championship
Bully Ray came out and was quickly attacked by his opponent who didn't even wait for Bully to get in the ring. Mr. Anderson tossed Bully Ray into the ring, and begins strong beating Bully all over the arena. Bully Ray made some separation by using Christy Hemme as a shield. After gaining some momentum Mr. Anderson went out of the ring and sparked himself a new catchphrase yelling "Anderson, get the table!" and continued to grab a table. As the match continued Bully Ray got into an argument with the referee, Earl Hebner, and pushed him into the turnbuckle, knocking him out. Mr. Anderson was able to react and hit Bully Ray with a mic check onto a chair. The Aces 7 Eights then came out to get Anderson's attention as they decided among themselves whether or not to attack one of their own. Meanwhile Brooke hit Mr. Anderson with a low blow. Aces & Eights members Knux, Garrett Bischoff, and Wes Brisco hit Mr. Anderson with a triple powerbomb. Mr. Anderson was able to get up before the ten count, but was speared through a table by Bully Ray. This time he didn't get up, and Bully Ray retained his World Heavyweight Championship. After the match Mr. Anderson was being taken away on a stretcher. Bully wasn't finished and he knocked Mr. Anderson off of the stretcher. Bully took off Mr. Anderson's club jacket from his weakened body, and hit him with a piledriver.
This was a good title match. It was very excited and had told a story well. I like Mr. Anderson, but I didn't think he'd win. I'm happy to see that he's not in the Aces & Eights and now he can hopefully do his own thing.
AJ Styles vs Magnus: BFG Series Finals
Both fighters entered the match fatigued from their previous matches from the night. The match was slow, but it made sense and told a good story. Bad Influence and Bobby Roode interfered in the match, attacking both opponents until multiple referees had to kick them out. The match continued because the importance of the match was to big to be stopped. Magnus stopped a springboard move by uppercutting AJ on his way down. Magnus hit his finisher on AJ, but he was able to kick out of it. AJ later reversed a cloverleaf submission into a triangle hold. Magnus went to powerbomb out of the hold when AJ reversed it mid-air into a rollup. Magnus kicked out, but AJ went into a killer calf submission. Magnus reached the rope, forcing AJ to let go. Magnus went for a spinebuster, but it looked sketchy. AJ ended up getting the victory after hitting a Spiral Tap from the top rope.
This was a great match. I still think AJ Styles' match with Aries stole the show, but this match comes in at second.
Final Thoughts
The first half of this PPV was good. It wasn't as good as I'd wish it to be. I think Aries and AJ could have brought the house down as the main event. I give the show a 3/5.
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