Silas Young def. Jonathan Gresham in a ROH World Television Championship Qualifying MatchI was not expecting this match to be entirely comedy, but the live crowd seemed to enjoy their antics, so who am I to complain? I just thought it was a weird way to use Young coming off his huge victory versus Jay Lethal at Death Before Dishonor, but that has quickly been forgotten, sadly. Despite them taking a different approach to this outing than I originally assumed, I was entertained by this match, and obviously Young advancing to Final Battle for the TV title was the right call. War Machine and The Addiction BrawledThis was a logical follow-up to War Machine costing The Addiction their No. 1 Contender's match a few weeks back, so I would assume they'll be clashing in a match at Final Battle coming up. This was brief yet brutal, and I liked how they tried to go outside the box with a "fan" in the crowd accidentally getting hit thanks to The Addiction ducking out of the way. It made them look like slimy cowards, so it was an effective segment.
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Rich Swann def. Noam DarOf course, these two have had their fair share of matches against each other in the past (remember when they had that rivalry earlier this year that would just never end?), so this was a good enough match between them. The outcome was never in doubt, but it was a nice way to plant the seeds for a potential Swann vs. Enzo Amore feud and to give Swann an additional momentum boost coming off his big Raw win. Kalisto def. Gentleman Jack Gallagher by DisqualificationThese two had a halfway decent match a few weeks ago on 205 Live, but when the crowd in England that night couldn't have cared less about it (and Gallagher is English, obviously), what made you think the fans in attendance for this show would be any better? They sat on their hands for it despite being the bout being well-wrestled, and it looks like they're headed for a full-fledged program based off how the heels ambushed Kalisto afterward. Could Sin Cara return to the Cruiserweight division and reunite with Kalisto? I might not actually mind seeing that, to be honest.
SmackDown Commissioner Shane McMahon Called Out SmackDown General Manager Daniel BryanWhat I enjoyed about SmackDown Live compared to Raw for the first year of the second Brand Split was that they never teased tension with the authority figures, but now it looks like Bryan and Shane are taking center stage on SmackDown. Sure, the storyline is compelling to an extent, but I don't think either one of them need to turn heel. There was quite a bit of bickering between them here, and most of it was stuff we have heard before. If nothing else, it did establish the Randy Orton vs. Kevin Owens main event as a No Disqualification match. The New Day def. Chad Gable and Shelton BenjaminWhat a weird match this was. They apparently had beef on social media before the bout that I was completely unaware of, and I'm somewhat surprised New Day is already back in SmackDown Tag Team Championship contention. The in-ring action was entertaining and I understood that New Day needed a win coming off their recent losses, but Gable and Benjamin haven't lost many matchups (if any at all) since partnering up, so this seemed to be a step in the wrong direction for them. Perhaps a multi-team title match is in the works for Clash of Champions?
Apollo Crews def. Curt HawkinsNeedless to say, we've seen this match countless times in the past, so this was nothing new. Both men are good athletes, but you can watch them fight only so many times before you become bored. It doesn't help that Hawkins hasn't won in a match in close to a year, so him losing here was guaranteed. If nothing else, Hawkins mocking Titus O'Neil signature bark at ringside was pretty funny. Gran Metalik and Kalisto def. Gentleman Jack Gallagher and The Brian KendrickI suggested in my 205 Live review on Tuesday that Sin Cara should return to the Cruiserweight division to reunite with Kalisto and even the odds against Gallagher and Kendrick, but it appears Kalisto already has an ally in Metalik, and I like this idea even better. Granted, Metalik was nowhere to be seen on 205 Live this week and this might have been just a test run to see how well they would gel as partners, but I hope this duo eventually makes it to TV because they'd make for a great tandem. This was a very fun tag team affair for as long as it lasted and the babyfaces picking up the victory was a nice change of pace.
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