It's the go home show before ROH returns to PPV for All Star Extravaganza and we kick things off with The House of Truth and REDRAGON!! Huge pop for them, from the crowd and from myself at home.
1) Donovan Dijak & J Diesel (w/ Jay Lethal) vs. ReDragon (Kyle O'Reilly & Bobby Fish)
Oh my, the pop! Oh my, the feels! That's all I can say about what happened when ReDragon's music hit with Jay Lethal on commentary. The double main event for the upcoming PPV really feels big considering how over both O'Reilly & Fish are. It's almost like a completely new main event scene with Cole, Elgin, Steen, & Briscoe dominating for the past few years now we've got Lethal as double champ and the top tag team, ReDragon, heading into top of the card singles action on live PPV. None the less, this gets going and there's a pretty sweet exchange between O'Reilly & Diesel to begin that I never expected. Cool dynamic with Diesel having a boxing background and Kyle clearly being MMA influenced. This crowd is hot! And as if that's not enough, you've got Lethal killing it on commentary. I'm enjoying this too much as Fish tags out and in Lethal word's "takes the scenic route" as he walks behind him to get back to his corner. Moments later, Dijak slings O'Reilly out of the ring like a small child. Damn! Dijak controls things for his team for awhile then it breaks down. ReDragon starts cleaning house and Diesel ends up with a bloody nose. They do this AWESOME finishing spot with Fish locking Diesel in an ankle lock while O'Reilly stops Dijak from breaking it up by sinching in a chokehold. DOUBLE SUBMISSIONS! Diesel is bleeding from the nose as he taps out. This was a great builder towards the All Star Extravaganza main events. It made O'Reilly & Fish look like a vicious threat.
Match rating - ***1/4
Silas Young cut a promo during the commercial break and it was fantastic. Dalton Castle is really the perfect dynamic for the Last Real Man. Silas says when he beats Castle at All Star Extravaganza and gets the boys, he's gonna teach them how to chop wood. That's all you need to know.
2) Cedric Alexander (w/ Veda Scott) vs. Dalton Castle
The go-home show build continues as Silas Young joins the commentary team for this one. I really was unsure what to expect here because although Cedric is one of the most fun guys to watch in the ring and Castle has been making a buzz, I haven't been all too invested or blown away by anything they've done recently. Well, that started to change here because this was a fiery contest. The final few minutes in particular were awesome. From the time that Castle hit his signature head scissors hurricanrana thing where he slides under the bottom rope, this went into overdrive. Cedric goes for a springboard and DALTON CATCHES HIM! WEIRD LOOKING THROW! Crowd pops hard as Castle covers for a nearfall. Castle starts fighting for a german suplex, but can't get it. Then a minute or so later, HE NAILS IT! BRIDGING GERMAN, DANGERRR!!! 1..2..CEDRIC KICKS OUT! On commentary, Silas says he's seen enough, causes a distraction and Cedric pulls a fast one on Dalton Castle. Lots of fun while this lasted.
Match rating - ***
Stokley Hathaway comes down the ramp afterwards while Cedric is celebrating. MOOSE COMES FROM BEHIND AND SPEARS CEDRIC! The crowd explodes yet again. Moose and Cedric Alexander face off in a No DQ Match at the PPV on Friday.
3) The Kingdom (Matt Taven & Michael Bennett) (w/ Maria Kanellis) vs. War Machine (Ray Rowe & Hanson)
So, this was the advertised main event and I was like cool, whatever. The past few tags on ROH TV have either been nothing special or too screwy for me to praise it so I really had no expectations for this. That led to a pretty decent surprise as this was a solid main event. They didn't go the generic, over done route. In fact, they delivered a number of unique spots and exchanges. This was going good then Maria tries to interfere and who shows up? THE YOUNG BUCKS BAY BAY! The audience is going wild, Steve Corino is going wild, and I am going wild because this feels like a Monday Night Raw segment and it's the best. Matt looks right at the hard cam and all with this cocky look as the crowd chants for he & Nick. It's so good. War Machine ends up picking up the victory over The Kingdom which is shocking considering they aren't on the All Star Extravaganza card and The Kingdom is. Who knows, maybe this could result in a last minute addition to that three-way match. It certainly couldn't hurt since aside from The Bucks being The Bucks, there's no real hype or suspense to it. Anyway, The Addiction runs down after the match and they attack the Bucks. Daniels, Kazarian, & Sabin stand tall.
Match rating - ***
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