This is a match that I was really looking forward to. Alexander had a very good match against Daniels late last year so I was itching to see him compete against Kazarian here. Thankfully, it lived up to expectations. There were some great exchanges & reversals here such as Alexander countering out of a slingshot ddt attempt and planting Kazarian with a michinoku driver for a near fall. Kazarian would end up hitting that DDT later on however and Cedric sold it amazingly well. The end came when Cedric went for a springboard and Kazarian caught him in mid-air with an ace crusher. That maneuver ended up leading him to victory. Good match to start the show.
Match rating - ***
2) Donovan Dijak vs. Jake Dirden - Top Prospect Tournament Match
Last week's top prospect tournament match was quite good. While this week's wasn't quite on that level and didn't go as long, I think it's safe to say that both men made an impression. Dirden's unique look is what stood out most to me, the commentators hyped him up well. As for Dijak, his athletic ability for a man of his stature and his sick finisher is what stood out to me. Fun showcase for two young up and comers. Dijak advances.
Match rating - **
Alberto El Patron debuts / Jay Lethal interrupts
During El Patron's time in WWE under the name "Alberto Del Rio", I always credited him as being one of the best in-ring workers in the company. And I still say to this day that he gave Roman Reigns his best singles thus far on Smackdown early last year. Despite that, I didn't call myself a fan simply because I couldn't get into his character as it had gone stale due to how he had been booked. Well, regardless of that, when he debuted here and got a standing ovation, it gave me chills. It was just such an awesome moment. Alberto looked truly happy to be there and I can only imagine how great it felt for him to be in front of crowd that actually appreciated his ability as they chanted his name loudly throughout the segment. I can see myself becoming a full fledged fan of him now, the hype for his debut here was real. He got on the mic and said he's not a sports entertainer, he's a wrestler and that he wants a shot at Jay Briscoe. El Patron calls him out, but gets Jay Lethal instead. Lethal is someone who has been growing on me ALOT lately so I was totally pumped for this showdown. I knew it was going to live up to the hype as soon as Lethal uttered the words "First things first, El Patron, do your homework before you come to class". Lethal is SO underrated. His promos are done in old school fashion and I love it. The two nearly come to blows before Truth Martini calms things down. I hope we get to see this match in the future. Great segment.
3) Jay Briscoe (c) vs. Matt Taven - ROH World Championship Match
Before the match, Nigel came out to announce who the #1 Contender would be however Briscoe said he wanted not one, but ALL THREE of the men from last week's match. I mentioned this in my review of last week's show and I'm wondering if a four corner survival match is the way ROH is going to go for the 13th Anniversary Show. Briscoe/Elgin/Hanson/Ciampa would be one hell of a slugfest. None the less, this match got underway without any official announcement for the 13th Anniversary show being made and Briscoe took it to Taven right off the bat. These two got around 10 minutes and it was a pretty solid match that saw The Kingdom running interference outside throughout the entire bout. Jay retains the title after hitting Taven with the Jay Driller.
Match rating - **3/4
The Kingdom attacks Jay after the match which leads to Mark Briscoe running down to make the save. He gets on the mic and challenges Taven & Bennett to a tag match next week. So that's two matches set for next week, Del Rio/El Patron vs Christopher Daniels and The Briscoes vs Matt Taven & Michael Bennett! Good way to end the show.
Overall thoughts: Another satisfying episode of ROH TV. They kept me interested the entire time and there's a lot of stuff worth checking out here. The El Patron/Lethal segment is must-see, in my opinion. And while everything else is just solid, I'd recommend checking out this week and last week's show in order because the storyline development has been very good all around.
Thanks for reading and be sure to follow me on Twitter @EthanPWT along with this blog @ThePWTruth!
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