Match #1: Austin Aries vs Brian Kendrick for the X Division Title
I should note the Mexican America/Ink Inc match for the Tag Titles happened during the pre-show. Before people start bitching about this and are already lining up complaints towards TNA, keep in mind that WWE did the same thing for this year's WM when Daniel Bryan vs Sheamus didn't make it on the show. Again, if you're going to be critical against TNA, at least try to be fair. Let's be honest here, TNA did you a favor by putting this in the pre-show. The match was Overbooking 101, down to the teeth. I didn't watch much of the match, but there was a moment where the ladies from each stable were fighting in the ring and had about 2-3 minutes to showcase their stuff while the referee isn't bothering to call for the bell. Normally this sort of thing would piss me off, but the fact it was during the pre-show means I can't really complain about it since it technically didn't make it on PPV. Anyway, Mex won with a crappy rollup to steal the match. This rivalry will sadly continue, but at least it didn't grace BFG. ANYWAY, time to talk about BFG. Kendrick opens up the PPV by doing a poor man's Carlton dance while Aries thinks he's Batman with a black cape. Damn, all we are missing is an Italian plumber and we're in business. Aries was the heavy fan favorite in front of the Philly audience. Ring of Honor fans shouldn't be surprised by this. The match started off in a very technical fashion. If you like technical wrestling, there was quite a bit of it tonight, but not so much to make you lose interest. The match really got exciting once Aries did the suicide dive. This was a pretty good match to open up the PPV. I expect that from these two, but I just still have a hard time getting interested in Kendrick because of his ridiculous character. The finish comes when Aries hits the Brain Buster on Kendrick for the clean win. Two clean wins for Aries over Kendrick should end this rivalry, but I have to wonder who will challenge Aries next? I would like to see a more thought out rivalry between Aries and Alex Shelley since I think they went through that too fast. I also say it should be Shelley because nobody else in the X Division is ready to challenge Aries. Jesse Sorensen is more green than Yoshi and Kid Kash is a heel, which makes no sense.
Winner via pinfall and still X Division Champ: Austin Aries
Backstage where Traci is hanging out with Karen Jarrett's kids until she arrives so she can go into bitch mode. Once the kids are gone, she tells them to never talk to her children again and how the KO division has nothing but prostitutes. Karen's comebacks get worse and worse each week. All she does is reuse the same one liners. Sound familiar...
It turns out Karen will be the referee for the KO match this evening and tells Traci to not get involved unless something happens. Well, you can already picture what will happen later tonight. I guess TNA decided to spoil it for you know so you can feel content with your bathroom break.
Match #2: RVD vs Jerry Lynn in a Full Metal Mayhem Match
I good amount of ECW chants for this match. These guys were doing a lot of flashy moves in the early going, but that would change once they started to take advantage of the rules to this match. This match featured chairs and ladders. Do you know what I have never understood? When RVD does the Rolling Thunder when he has a weapon on top of the opponent. Wouldn't that do more damage to RVD since he is basically damages his back while the opponent might take a lesser blow from this attacking? Possibly one of the longest running moments of wrestling logic I can remember. The match was pretty brutal, especially the rollthrough powerbomb Lynn gave to RVD. He went through the ladder and hit his head on the barricade. The match was not too bad. It was what I expected, but I have to give these guys credit since they did put on a hell of an effort. The finish comes when RVD hits the Van Terminator on Lynn (Coast to coast with a steel chair and ladder) and picks up the victory. The match didn't have either guys moving on to something bigger or better, so if you ignore that, this was okay. Still, this match didn't do much in terms of storytelling, which is why I can see people not being interested in this match. Still, I felt it wasn't too bad.
Winner via pinfall: RVD
Match #3: Samoa Joe vs Crimson vs Matt Morgan
Crimson and Morgan were working together in the early going of this contest. Of course, that would go out the window during the match. Did I just see Morgan hit a crossbody? F***, give him some credit. One thing I have to say about Joe is he looked good out there tonight. This performance shows me Joe has the ability to bust his ass, but he needs to do this on a daily basis since I still feel he half asses it at times. The finish comes when Morgan hits a running knee on Joe, but is injured and down in the corner. Crimson comes in and hits a Spear on Joe and picks up the pinfall victory. The finish doesn't shock me at all since Crimson is still undefeated. Crimson wasn't very over with the Philly audience and I kinda expected that. I think they were on the right track with Crimson when they had him step up against Kurt Angle all of those months ago. I still feel the guy can be big for this company, but TNA hasn't handled his push in the best way possible. It just seems like they are putting him in rivalries nobody cares about. Plus, he doesn't talk enough on this show. You would think for how long his undefeated steak has lasted that he would be over. I blame some of this on Crimson himself, but I blame the majority of this on the TNA creative staff. Joe is the only chubby guy that I know can fly. Well....him and Santa Clause that is.
Winner via pinfall: Crimson
Match #4: Bully Ray vs Mr. Anderson in a Falls Count Anywhere Match
If you think the RVD/Lynn match was brutal, let me just say that this made RVD/Lynn a walk in the park with Barney the Dinosaur. Even though I am not the biggest fan of hardcore matches, I actually liked this one. In fact, this was my personal favorite match of the night. Not sure I can call it the Match of the Night, but I think you can't do no wrong if you picked this match. These guys have been at it for the past few months, and I felt that is why I like this match. In order for people to care about a wrestling match, you need a good story to go along with your rivalry. I can actually buy the fact these two just straight up hate each other. How in the world is Bully pulling off this character/matches of this caliber? Who knew he had this underneath that tube of fat? This match featured tables, road signs, guard rails, and chairs. These two also brawled in the ring, the entrance ramp, and even backstage. Still, they weren't backstage too long so u don't miss the action in the ring. I believe both guys got busted open during the match. Not a heavy amount of blood, but enough to take notice. Either they were legit scares from the fight, or they didn't go overboard with the blood spot. Anderson has looked pretty weak going up against Bully, but tonight he looked like he could hang with him (Have to admit. I thought I would never say that). If you are a fan of hardcore, but want some decent wrestling moves, this is the match for you. Bully hit the Bully Bomb on Anderson through the table, but only a two count. Anderson hit the Mic Check, but still a two count. The finish comes when Anderson puts Bully on another table. He goes for a Swanton Bomb, but misses...
If there was one flaw in the match, it was this obvious mess up by Anderson. He gets back up and hits Mic Check on Bully through the table and picks up the victory. This is a match I can definitely recommend checking out. It's kinda a shame this match went so early on the card.
Winner via pinfall: Mr. Anderson
There was a backstage scene where Eric Bischoff and referee Jackson James are talking about the Hogan/Sting match. It is revealed that Jackson has been secretly working with Immortal this entire time. No, really? Next you're gonna tell me that Clark Kent is Superman. Anyway, it was also revealed that Jackson is the son of Bischoff....
I think it was pretty obvious that the Hogan/Sting match wasn't going to be clean. Then again, we all know Hogan can't work a wrestling match, so this was the best way out of that.
Match #5: Winter vs Velvet Sky vs Mickie James vs Madison Rayne for the KO Title
Oh my God, this was a disaster. I knew this wasn't going to be good, but.....what the f*** was this? The first thing wrong about this match was the way it was designed. It operated like a tag team match, but then people who just get involved without being tagged in. What's the point of tagging in and out when it means nothing? Second, Karen is about as generic of a heel as you're going to get. She does all the tricks in being unfair as possible. She drops down to tie her shoe and makes sure she helps out Winter and Madison while acting like a jerk towards Velvet and Mickie. It is about as cliche as you're going to get since the whole "biased official" bit has been done to death. Another issue I had was the length of this match. They could've ended this match in like two minutes, but it dragged for at least 6 minutes. Getting a knife and cutting your throat would've been more entertaining than watching this. The finish comes when Winter does the blood spit, but accidentally hits Karen. Traci arrives to referee the rest of the match. One X Factor by Velvet later and we have a new KOs champ. First of all, I have been saying for the past couple of months that Velvet was going to win the title. Some of you might've thought I was insane, but look at the results. This is what I have to say towards anyone who thought I was being delusional...
Okay, now that I am done gloating, time to give my thoughts on the move. I admit I am not the biggest fan of Velvet. She tends to mess up quite a bit with her wrestling ability and doesn't make the biggest impression with the KO division. She might be the most over KO on the roster, but I think Madison is the more complete KO based on her character. Then again, Velvet isn't the worst female performer in this modern era (erm....Kelly Kelly) and she at least has some charisma to get you somewhat invested in what she does (Outside of her looks and body that is).
Winner via pinfall and NEW KO Champ: Velvet Sky
Match #6: AJ Styles vs Christopher Daniels in a I Quit match
At first, I thought this might have been an interesting match. I figured it would be a breath of fresh air to watch an I Quit match without the name John Cena being around. With that said, you could imagine my disappoint when I saw this match. I found this match to be boring for some reason. The wrestling aspect was okay, but it was everything else I got bored with. Still, I will be fair and say it wasn't terrible. During the match, Daniels tried to use a screw driver on AJ, but it didn't work. This damn match reminded me of an action movie. You know that classic cliche you see in movies. It's the part where the villain has the good guy/hero right where he wants him. All he has to do is pull the trigger or hit a switch to set off some sort of trap. Instead of doing the logical thing, he starts monologuing about pointless bulls*** in how they are better than you. During the match, Daniels went into a speech in how he's better than AJ and how he didn't want to do this, but is left with no choice. He says he is going to kill AJ tonight and warns AJ's wife to make the kids not watch this. I'm not joking, this really happened. There was even a spot where Daniels said "You're gonna die, AJ". Dude, this is wrestling, not a slasher film. And if you wanted to kill AJ, wouldn't you get something like a gun or the Master Sword? I guess they ran out of those at Home Depot. After this speech, AJ gets fired up and fights back, thus Daniels lost his chance to win. I think this explains it best...
Same goes for those stupid movie villains. Remember that screw driver from before? Well, this match would end when AJ gets the screw driver and is about to use it on Daniels, but he instantly screams "I quit" and runs away like a pussy. This ending doesn't end things and it seems this rivalry will continue. Let me ask a question. Why? Why should this rivalry continue? What will be gained by watching these two work rivalry #2056th? What will we gain as wrestling fans by watching this? I just don't see the point in ending the match like this. I understand they ended it like this so Daniels adds more to his heel character and to make it continue, but that doesn't make it right. Daniels is a really generic heel. He does basic things character wise and makes it really boring because he has no personality. I've seen more personality out of garbage cans than I see out of Daniels.
Winner: AJ Styles
Back in the ring where Jeff Jarrett talks about how Jeff Hardy doesn't belong in TNA and nobody wants to see him. Hardy comes out and the two start to fight. Security, referees, and road agents arrive to separate the two. I guess this means a Jarrett/Hardy rivalry is on the way. Who will win the battle of Jeff? By the way, did anyone catch Mike Tenay saying prior to Jarrett showing up that the world title match would be next? Well, guess what match is next? That's right, Hogan vs Sting. Oops.
Match #7: Hulk Hogan vs Sting
Oh man, here we go. Dixie Carter was watching this match in the audience. We haven't seen Dixie in months, but she still can express an emotion to save her life. Nice to see she's been practicing. During the match, Ric Flair came out. Damn, and you thought we already had enough senior citizens in this match? In fact, I'm disappointed with TNA. Couldn't they get Ultimate Warrior involved so they could deliver the oldest tag team match in history? So, the Springfield Retirement Home is at hand to watch this match. This match was exactly what I expected. There was lots of kicks, punches, head locks, chops, and very little bumps. That was probably the best way to do this match. I have to admit, this wasn't the worst match I've ever seen. In fact, considering their age, this was at least tolerable. If you remember Vince McMahon vs Bret Hart at WM 26, I would say Hogan vs Sting was slightly less embarrassing than this....at least in terms of the match. During the match, Hogan used a weapon of some kind to attack Sting. At some point, Sting uses this weapon on Hogan. Both guys had the crimson mask this evening. Remember what I said about overdoing the blood spot? Well, there you go. Hogan actually took the Stinger Splash during this match. The sad part is if you look at this spot, Hogan was immediately grabbing his back in pain. Who thought that was a good idea again? A guy with back troubles taking a back bump? What the hell, TNA? The finish comes when Sting has the Scorpion Leg Lock on Hogan and starts tapping out. Jackson James looks on and is confused as to what he should do next, but calls for the bell and Sting is the winner. This is the worst crooked referee ever. It makes establishing the whole Bischoff is Jackson's son pointless in a way.
Winner via submission: Sting
After the match, Immortal arrives and starts a group attack on Sting. For some stupid reason, they show a brief camera shot of Abyss standing in the back not taking part in this attack. I figured he would show up to help Sting, but it never happened. Obvious pointless scene is obvious. Bischoff is about to use a chair on Sting, but his son takes it away and thinks this is wrong (Again, worst crooked referee ever. And those other attacks for the last year were okay? Wrestling logic much?). Bischoff orders an attack on his own son and Immortal takes him down. After that, they continue to punish Sting. Sting turns into Jerry Maguire for a moment by telling Hogan "Help me, help you". Hogan starts to look at all of this and he starts to rip off the shirt in Hulkamania fashion. Hogan starts to clear house and takes out all of Immortal with the help of Sting. Hogan gives a super punch to Bischoff. Philly is going nuts while Dixie is smiling (I think? You can never tell with her). Okay, now time to talk about this part. This Hogan face turn was so forced. It was so forced that it kinda made no sense. This reminded me so much when Hogan turned face after his match with the Rock at WM 18, but it's just thrown in your face out of nowhere. Think about it? Hogan has shown no signs of turning into a good guy and has expressed how much he hates Sting. All of the sudden, Sting is getting the s*** kicked out of him and decides to help? Some people might have marked out when this happened, but this has happened more than once in the career of Hogan. It has happened so much that it has lost all meaning. So, Hogan is a good guy. What does that mean for TNA? Will Hogan and Dixie call the shots? Will they rage war on Immortal? Is the entire Immortal stable "fired"? Does Hogan disappear behind the scenes or get more screen time? I understand Hogan is the most well known name in professional wrestling, but this face turn isn't going to help TNA in the long run. Hell, Hogan was face when he showed up, and what did that do? Believe me, I was a big Hogan fan back in the day, but I just didn't mark out like a lot of the nostalgia fans during this scene. Either way, Hogan is a good guy once again, which I don't think helps TNA in the long run.
Match #8: Kurt Angle vs Robert Roode for the TNA World Title
This was a very technical based wrestling match. It was good, but I expected something better. Still, this isn't a bad match to check out. Both guys went back and forth for a while with pinfall and submission attempts. The finish comes when Angle the Angle Slam, but Roode's hand was under the rope. Angle was also holding the ropes for leverage and the referee doesn't see either of these. Angle ends up stealing the match. The show ends with a disappointed Roode. So, let me get this straight. You invested the last 3-4 months to get Roode over. You had him win the BFG Series and you pushed him hard leading up into his title match. He does everything possible to make himself look strong. You put so much stock in how Roode has sacrificed this and how winning the world title means everything to the guy, but then you have him lose? What were they thinking? You invested so much time in the BFG series only to have the winner lose? Not only that, but you invested all this stock in Roode only for him to fail? I think I understand why they did this....but that is really pushing it. They had it end in this fashion to either set up a rematch or to set up the possibility of James Storm interfering in Roode's business, or Storm beating Angle for the world title. I know I am sitting here and trying to justify what TNA did and how we should wait and see where they are going with all of this, but no matter how you break it down, it doesn't make any sense to build up a guy for 1/3 of the year only for it to lead to nothing. To people who think TNA didn't have faith in Roode to win the title, here's my question. If you don't think he will make a good world champion, why did you put him in the match in the first place? If they plan to go with Storm after this, why didn't he win the BFG Series? This almost shows that maybe Roode wasn't going to be the original winner of the BFG series and maybe it was going to go to Matt Morgan. Still, why so much time and energy to build up Roode in winning this title if it leads to loosing? It's stuff like this that makes TNA the company they are. They have so much potential, but they have too many creative staff members with a stick up their ass and don't know when to stick down the path as opposed to taking 5 million detours along the way. Also, isn't it ironic? Isn't it ironic that Roode loses the same night Hogan turns face? I'm not saying Hogan is going to be competing again, but what I am saying is now the attention of this company goes back to being Hogan. Again, how is Hogan being the main guy going to help this company move forward? Say whatever you will about how John Cena continues to be the top guy in WWE, but at least he's age appropriate for the part.
Winner via pinfall and still TNA World Champ: Kurt Angle
Overall Impression:
This is interesting. The thing is I enjoyed a good portion of this PPV and I wouldn't call this a bad PPV. I really enjoyed the first half of this PPV. Pretty good matches between Aries/Kendrick and RVD/Lynn. Hell, even the Triple Threat Match wasn't too bad. Oh, and let's not forget the Anderson/Bully match, which was pretty good and told a good story. I felt when the KOs showed up is when the show turned south. The KOs went down overbooked lane while AJ/Daniels had a pretty disappointing match. Hogan/Sting match was acceptable, but Hogan's face turn was kinda pointless. Then you had the Angle/Roode match. Which wasn't too bad of a wrestling match, but the booking here was pretty idiotic. Maybe they wanted to milk two more matches out of these two, which is why they had it end the way they did? Still, it just doesn't add up when you have been pushing Roode hard for the last few months. Some people will be pleased with this PPV, but I can definitely see some people being disappointed. Time for the score of BFG. On a scale of 1-10 and 5 being average, the best score I can give BFG is a 6 out of 10, meaning it was slightly above average. There was some pretty good wrestling matches and there was enough stuff to keep you entertained, but there is a lot of moments that might have you ripping hair out of your skull. This was an evening that was going well for TNA, but it really took a bad turn in the second half. Then again, TNA has put up a couple of s***ty PPVs in the last couple of months, so it's nice to see something that was a lot better. BFG is a PPV I cannot recommend re-ordering. This might be worth a rental or at least a look through. Still, while part of me was satisfied with the overall presentation of the product, this PPV was also a disappointment for me in terms of how things played out. If TNA had ironed out some of their mistakes, this could've been a great PPV. Instead, it was an okay PPV and not the worst way to spend the evening, but you might be in for a letdown here and there. If the purpose of tonight was to drive the final nail in the coffin of the BFG Series, I would say mission accomplished. Come on, there was so many flaws with it, and you don't even have the winner take the title after all that hard work? Truth be told, I would like to see the BFG Series used again, but they need to polish up some of the kinks so we don't have the same issues we had this year. In so many ways, this PPV reminds me a lot of WM 27. Both showings had good wrestling matches, yet stupid/idiotic moments that leave you somewhat disappointed. In a way, both shows didn't live up to expectations. I know that might be a little unfair, but you expect a classic moment with a WM, and if TNA is going to treat BFG like their version of WM, they need to do the same as well. Hey, I just thought of something. TNA was building up Roode like the movie Rocky. Well, both guys had the same result since both guys lost their match. Coincidence? Probably not. That's going to do it for the review and I hope you enjoyed it. You know what the sad part is? I liked parts of BFG, and yet I wouldn't be surprised to see more TNA marks bitch and moan at me for my reporting. TNA fans can be really defensive about their product. As always, tell me what you thought of my review and tonight's show. I will see you guys and girls on the next WrestlingNerd show, see you next time.
WrestlingNerd's Official Score for TNA Bound for Glory: 6 out of 10
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