ROH World Television Champion Marty Scurll def. Jonathan Gresham (Non-Title)I've heard plenty about Scurll in the past, though I hadn't seen much (if any) of his work until his successful defense of the ROH World Television Championship at Final Battle. That said, the guy has a great aura about him and he's already one of my favorites in Ring of Honor. This was a basic showcase match for Scurll, though Gresham was able to score some offense and this lasted longer than I would have expected. Scurll's ROH TV debut was a cool, newsworthy way to kick off the hour. Christopher Daniels def. Chris Sabin in a Decade of Excellence Tournament Semifinal MatchBoth Daniels and Sabin are glorified tag team wrestlers at the moment, and while there is nothing wrong with that, I don't think there was a vested interest from fans regarding who won here, hence why they were relatively quiet through this bout. Either way, they worked well together and contested a nice match. I liked how Sabin didn't trust Frankie Kazarian considering their history as heels, but they have seemingly turned a new leaf as of late. Meanwhile, Kazarian was a welcome addition to the commentary team for this matchup. They've been telling a solid story with Daniels thus far as he enters the twilight of his career, so I was happy he advanced here and I would like to see him go all the way and come out on top in the tourney.
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TJ Perkins def. Tony NeseBoth of these guys are very talented wrestlers, so it's a shame they have been marred by bad booking and poor character development during their time on Raw, especially Nese. That said, this was a pretty good match by them that allowed Perkins and Nese to showcase their skills and allow the crowd to get engaged in the action for once. I liked how Perkins was able to score the win yet Nese attacked him afterward to generate heat. That should trigger a feud between the two going forward that will give them something worthwhile to do. The Brian Kendrick def. Tripp BradshawThis would have been a relatively inconsequential squash match had it not been for Kendrick's pre-match promo. As excellent of an athlete as he is, Kendrick is an equally entertaining character, and it was reassuring he brought up Tajiri as well, so hopefully he isn't out injured for too long. The match didn't last more than two minutes but it didn't need to; it served its purpose in establishing Kendrick as a jerk. Meanwhile, the rib on JBL with the jobber's name being Tripp Bradshaw (a nod to when JBL tripped at the commentary table on SmackDown Live last week) was hilarious.
Randy Orton def. Luke HarperEven after all these years, I still feel Harper is fairly underrated as an athlete and this match proved that. Harper and Orton have teased tension for months, essentially since Orton aligned with The Wyatt Family, so this was a very good match between them and I love how the show opened with the match that had been hyped up a week in advance. I won't jump to conclusions just yet in saying that Bray Wyatt laying out Harper afterward means he's been exiled from the Family, but it could very well lead to that in the near future. SmackDown Women's Champion Alexa Bliss and Mickie James Attacked Becky LynchI can understand the argument from fans that bringing James back to the main roster as a heel from the get-go was a mistake because she's a natural babyface, but she put those doubts to rest by cutting an excellent promo here. And I absolutely love her motivation for attacking Lynch: she felt she was pushed aside by the "women's revolution." Lynch thrives when she's up against the odds, so the Bliss and Lynch partnership makes sense. I also like the addition of the six-woman tag team match to the Royal Rumble card as it pushes back the two rivalries involved until the Elimination Chamber pay-per-view.
The Brian Kendrick def. Lince DoradoI was fully expecting a squash match from Kendrick here, so I was pleasantly surprised we ended up receiving an awesome little match instead. Dorado has largely been utilized in an enhancement role since coming to the Cruiserweight division, but he was allowed to showcase his skills here to the fullest extent. It also helped that the crowd was engaged in the action and bought into each of Dorado's nearfalls down the stretch. This was one of the better wrestled matchups I've seen on Main Event in some time. Alicia Fox def. Dana BrookeSimilar to last week, I personally didn't have too much of an interest in this match because both women are heels. At the very least, they had a match last week, so they had that history to play off of, not to mention this was a bit of a better bout in my opinion. Fox made her entrance pandering to the crowd despite accompanying Noam Dar to the ring on Raw, so I don't think she even knows she is supposed to be anymore.
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