“The Demon” Finn Bálor vs. AJ Styles
WWE.com
Winner: “The Demon” Finn Bálor!
Highlights: The crowd immediately erupted into “THIS IS AWESOME!” chants at the sight of the two former Bullet Club leaders locking up. Finn and AJ exchanged holds and takedowns during the starting portion of their dream match. Finn used some quick strikes to force AJ to his knees, but AJ responded with his Phenomenal Dropkick. Finn ended up on the ring apron looking for a break until AJ chose to grab him. Finn then took the chance to land a sidekick on AJ and lock him into a Surfboard submission hold in the ring. Finn took AJ out again with a nice sliding dropkick, but AJ soon got back to his feet and knocking “The Demon” down with an elbow strike. AJ finally seemed to be in control as he continued weakening Finn. Finn looked on the verge of defeat after eating a modified forearm strike, but he continued to survive. AJ stayed on top of Finn with more strikes and slams soon after.
Later on, both men laid into each other with repeated strikes. Finn ended up on the winning end of this war and then cracked AJ on the top rope with a slick kick. While AJ tried to recover on the outside, Finn crashed onto him with a Somersault Senton. Finn then kicked into a higher gear to begin his comeback, but AJ stopped him with a Fireman’s Carry into a Neckbreaker. Aj then signaled for the Styles Clash, but Finn flipped out of it. AJ would have none of it as he quickly picked up Finn and slammed his face hard into the mat with a Sitdown Facebuster. Finn eventually got back into the fight by using a double foot stomp on AJ that was followed up by continued stomps and a corner dropkick. AJ looked like he was nearly knocked out, but he shook off all the damage done to him and locked in his Calf Crusher on Finn. Finn almost tapped out until he broke the hold by slamming AJ’s head into the mat repeatedly.
AJ then signaled for the Phenomenal Elbow, but Finn made AJ slip up when he hopped onto the top rope. While on the outside, Finn landed a slick kick while atop the ring apron and then used a running dropkick to shove AJ into the security barrier. AJ almost got counted out, but Finn stopped the ref’s count. When Finn looked to pick AJ back up, AJ catapulted him right over the announce table. Both men then slowly got back to their feet and slid back into the ring. Once the action got back underway, both men knocked each other down simultaneously with cross body splashes and strikes. Finn managed to get the upper hand with a Pele and soon after land his 1916. Finn then drove AJ into the corner with another running dropkick and made sure to ascend the top rope. But Finn soon found himself laid out with a quick Pele and Super Frankensteiner from AJ off the top rope. AJ tried landing his Springboard 450 Splash, but Finn moved out of the way. Finn then nabbed the win after landing another corner dropkick followed by a Coup de Grâce. After the match, Finn and AJ shared a “2 Sweet” hand exchange with each other and made the crowd go wild.
The Brian Kendrick and Jack Gallagher vs. Cedric Alexander and Rich Swann
WWE.com
Winners: Cedric Alexander and Rich Swann!
Highlights: Swann and Kendrick looked to get the action started. Kendrick used a knee to the gut to get the upper hand at first, but Swann used chops to force Kendrick into his partner’s corner. Jack ended up getting tagged in, but he fell victim to Swann’s slick offense and a bit of Cedric’s as well. After some outside mayhem erupted, it all came to a close when Cedric came over the top rope to land clean on Kendrick and Jack. When the match finally returned to the ring, Kendrick ended up on the receiving end of some double-team offense. Swann almost landed a big splash off the top rope onto Kendrick, but Jack’s distraction and Kendrick’s counter forced Swann back to the mat. Afterwards, Kendrick and Jack did their best to keep Swann grounded. Constant tags between both men worked for a while until Swann flipped Kendrick over the top rope. After that, Swann slipped underneath Jack’s legs to tag in a fresh Cedric.
Cedric employed the use of his signature comeback offense to tear into Jack. On the outside, Kendrick ended up using a Release Northern Lights Suplex to take out Rich. Back in the ring, Kendrick tagged himself in and managed to lock Cedric into the Captain’s Hook. Rich then used a Phoenix Splash to break the hold and then cracked Jack with a sick side kick. Jack quickly responded with a headbutt strike that laid him and Swann out. Then the match met its conclusion when Cedric landed his Lumbar Check on Kendrick.
Elias Samson vs. Jason Jordan
Winner: Jason Jordan!
Highlights: Both men quickly got into an intense lockup exchange. Samson was none too pleased with Jordan’s constant interruptions of his performances, which made him go a bit harder than usual. Jordan was even more intense than “The Drifter” though as he used his amateur wrestling expertise to embarrass Samson. Samson took a breather outside the ring, then ran back in to finally beat down Jordan. Samson’s offensive run didn’t last too long however as Jordan used a nasty side slam and a dropkick to ground him. Jordan had a good run going afterwards until Samson took Jordan down once more. Samson chose to lock Jordan in an Abdominal Stretch that seemed to work until Jordan spun out of it.
After Jordan escaped, he employed all of his suplexes to do even more damage to Samson. Both men then began brawling on the top rope for a bit until Samson forced him down. Jordan then ran right into a knee from Samson in the corner that got followed up by a scoop slam into the ring corner. The match then ended in a controversial manner when the ref counted in favor of Jordan during a Small Package exchange with Samson. Samson got his arms up in time to break up the pin, but the ref didn’t see it and counted him out.