Darby Allin, Jimmy Havoc & Joey Janela vs. MJF, Sammy Guevara & Shawn Spears
Very fun opener with good energy & action. Darby was awesome as usual, Guevara was good as well with his cocky athleticism, all the Spears-MJF bits were pretty funny & I thought that Havoc kicked serious ass throughout. He definitely was the MVP of the thing in my eyes. ***
Allie vs. Brandi Rhodes
This was perfectly fine, and better than it looked on paper. Allie was a very good babyface & Brandi was solid in her heel role as well. Easy to watch & pretty enjoyable. **3/4
A Boy & His Dinosaur vs. Angelico & Jack Evans vs. The Dark Order
The Dark Order are unsurprisingly awesome. Their times on the offense are all real good. Also really enjoyed Luchasaurus just throwing all these smaller fools around like it's nothing + Jungle Boy served as a very solid FIP. Love Angelico & especially Jack Evans, but it definitely felt like they didn't belong here, as they pretty much did nothing of note in the entire thing. Actually the most memorable thing about them here was Marko Stunt's interference bit with Evans looking like a real idiot standing on the top waiting REAL LONG for him to do his move. That took me out of the match for a second, but overall it was very good fun. ***1/4
Adam Page vs. Kip Sabian
Ended up really loving this. It had somewhat of a slower, sluggish pace to it; Hangman was a real stud throughout with his great offense, and they told a nice lil story of Kip Sabian being eaten alive at first, but then slowly coming back, only to be destroyed again, and then coming back again. Lots of great singular moments like the moonsault from Page, the swinging neckbreaker from the top, the absolutely hellacious powerbomb to the outside, Sabian's dragon screw on the ropes to Page's hurt knee. ***1/2
SoCal Uncensored vs. The Lucha Brothers
Lots of shtick to start this off, but once they actually start going at it, it's very good & never lets up. Fast pace, high energy, quality action. Really liked Daniels' involvement & Pentagon Jr. sure proved to be one helluva hot tag here. ***1/2
CIMA vs. Kenny Omega
The one negative in this is that CIMA's knee selling was incredibly spotty at best, but I truly enjoyed everything except that, so this was still very good, BUT goddamn if he had sold more, it more than likely would've been GREAT. Oh well. But like I mentioned, there was still plenty to love here, as they definitely brought the goods; everything was explosive & vicious, especially everything Kenny did, and his times on the offense were definitely the best parts of the thing. That snap dragon suplex, leg lariat to the back of the head, his suplexes, V-Trigger etc -- all an absolute joy to watch. That spot where he caught & threw CIMA into the corner when he tried to top-rope meteora him was so awesome too. And the actual kneework was pretty great as well. If only there was more selling! Definitely a quality performance by Omega all around. ***1/2
The Brotherhood vs. The Young Bucks
This was the clear MOTN in my eyes. Dustin is a legendary FIP, and while he sure was what I enjoyed the most about it, The Bucks sure can work a compelling heat segment too. Them being total douchebags to the Rhodes Bros, mocking their big DoN moment + constantly taunting them & even spitting at Cody was a lot of fun. Cody himself is a very good hot tag, and the Brotherhood gaining control & working the crap out of Matt's shoulder was really great, I thought. Nice stomps, kicks & holds to it, and I especially loved the hard irish whip by Dustin as he threw Matt into the corner shoulder-first. Matt sells pretty excellently throughout as well. Now after Nick's hot tag (which was good btw), the match kicks into its more 50/50 finishing gear, and that is where the length of it is starts to feel, as it does drag. It's still good action, but it's pretty much what makes this match very good, borderline great, rather than just straight up great. ***3/4
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