Match 1 – (Survival of the Fittest Qualifying Match) Davey Richards def. Mike Bennett (with Brutal Bob and Maria) in 10 minutes – This was a pretty decent match. It’s good to see Davey back. The crowd gave him a great reaction when he came out.
CROWD: Welcome back! Welcome back! Welcome back!
Bennett slaps Davey’s hand dismissively and we’re underway. Davey’s crescent kicks get a quick two count. Davey with a jumping forearm in the corner followed by 16 shoot kicks to Bennett’s chest. Davey is pumped up!
Bennett quickly escapes an ankle lock and rolls outside. Davey tries a running kick from the apron, but Bennett pulls Maria in front of him. Davey chases Bennett around the ring, but Brutal Bob is there with a cheap shot. Bennett thrusts Davey’s head onto the apron.
Davey recovers with a running straight kick. In the ring, Davey sets up what looks like a Trailer Hitch, but then spins around so that he’s facing away from Bennett. He does a Rick Rude-style gyration towards Maria then leans back into a bridge, dropping to his back several times for added impact. The crowd appreciates this.
Bennett reverses an Irish whip and headbuts Davey on the ouside. Bennett is really selling the legs now. Davey charges, but Bennett hits a spinebuster on the corner of the ring apron. Bennett is fired up. He’s grabbing streamers from the floor, screaming and ripping them up. Both men are back in the ring.
With Davey seated, Bennett pulls Davey’s arms back and drives his knee into Davey’s back several times. Davey with a small package. Two count. Bennett with a strong lariat. Two count. Bennett applies a rear chin lock, but Davey counters into a chinbreaker. Both men are staggered.
Bennett punches Davey in the head. Davey starts his head nodding, finger wagging gimmick, begging for more. Then trade blows with Davey getting the better of it. Davey runs off the ropes, but Bennett with a superkick. Two count.
CROWD: Let’s go Davey! Let’s go Davey!
With Bennett still selling the beating, Davey clotheslines him over the top rope and hits a Topé.
CROWD: Davey! Davey! Davey!
Davey with a missile dropkick. He charges Bennett in the corner, but gets a big boot. Davey’s spin kick hits, but Bennett reverses an Irish whip. Davey slides under, kicks, but Bennett catches it. Davey quickly lands lefts and right to Bennett’s head. Two count.
On the apron, Davey wants a lifting side slam, but Bennett blocks. Davey kicks Bennett’s chest twice instead, but the third hits the ring post. Bennett spears Davey onto the apron. Two count.
Bennett tries an ankle lock of his own, but Davey rolls through. Two count. Bennett tries a Death Valley Driver, but Davey elbows out and hits a Saito suplex. Davey with another missile dropkick. Bennett kicks out at two and Davey transitions immediately into the ankle lock. Bennett rolls through and Davey to the outside where Maria hits him in the head. Bennett nails the Box Office Smash!
Mike Mondo runs to ringside and starts messing around with Maria. He distracts Bennett by putting up his dukes. Davey is recovering.
CROWD: Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes!
Davey hits the Alarm Clock, does the throat slit and hits a running sliding kick to the side of Bennett’s head for the pinfall.
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Tommaso Ciampa and R.D. Evans come to the ring. Ciampa throws down his crutches and points to his head with his fingers to indicate he’s crazy.
EVANS: Ladies and gentlemen, my name is Barrister R.D. Evans. But I’m sure you already know that. And I need to tell you something else you already know. It is no secret that this man, Tommaso Ciampa, [cheers from crowd] suffered a torn ACL and meniscus at ROH Boiling Point in Providence, RI. And yet, despite that injury, which would cripple any other man, I told ROH officials – hold his spot in tonight’s Survival of the Fittest tournament. I gave my word, my client will compete.
EVANS: Because you see, Tommaso Ciampa, despite this injury, took Jay Lethal to the limit in a 2 out of 3 falls match. He muscled through what would have put any other man down. He proved on that night that he was a warrior! A champion! A gladiator! A thoroughbred! And you know what you do when a thoroughbred breaks his leg. [dramatic pause] You shoot him. [Ciampa looks menacingly at Evans.] I gave my word that my client would compete tonight, so ladies and gentlemen allow me to introduce my newest client, God’s Gift, QT Marshall.
Ciampa tries to give Evans a powerbomb, but Evans escapes, grabs the crutch and hits Ciampa’s injured knee from behind. Marshall races in and kicks Ciampa in the head. He jams the upside-down crutch into Ciampa’s injured knee. [bell is ringing] Evans shakes Marshall’s hand and applauds.
Marshall is not over yet, so this attack got no reaction at first, but in the end the crowd was booing. Someone threw a roll of toilet paper at Evans, who caught it, threw it right back into the crowd and pounded his chest.
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Match 2: (Survival of the Fittest Qualifying Match) Jay Lethal def. “God’s Gift” QT Marshall (with R.D. Evans) in 7 minutes –
CROWD: Lethal! Lethal! Lethal!
Lethal starts with a shot to Marshall followed by a dropkick and a Topé to the outside. Lethal soaks in the adulation of the crowd. Back in the ring, Lethal chops Marshall’s chest and hits a BIG back body drop.
CROWD: Let’s go Lethal! Let’s go Lethal!
Lethals hits the hip toss/cartwheel/dropkick combination, but Marshall recovers with a quick tilt-a-whirl suplex. One count. R.D. chokes Lethal in the corner. Marshall follows up with a slam, two elbow drops and a step onto Lethal’s throat.
Lethal reverses an Irish whip and throws a shoulder block into Marshall’s midsection. He misses the second and hits his head on the middle turnbuckle. The ref cuts off Marshall’s pin attempt when he see his feet on the middle rope. Lethal fights back and hits the handspring back elbow. Lethal signals for the Lethal Injection, but Marshall grabs him from behind and hits a faceplant. Marshall’s clothesline turns Lethal inside out. Two count.
CROWD: Let’s go Lethal! Let’s go Lethal!
Marshall mocks Lethal but gets kicked in the face. Lethal hits the Lethal Combination and goes for Hail to the King. R.D. jumps onto the apron, distracting Lethal. As Marshall stalks up, Prince Nana races to ringside and attacks R.D., throwing him upside down and into the ringside barricade. Marshall is distracted as three referees try to escort Nana away from ringside. In the middle of the ring, Lethal does a backflip onto his hands then pops up and hits the Lethal Injection for the pin.
After the match, R.D. is hunched over like an old lady as he limps his way backstage.
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Match 3: (ROH Championship Match) Kevin Steen (with Jimmy Jacobs) def. Rhett Titus (with BJ Whitmer) in 7 minutes. Steve Corino is on commentary. This was fine, nothing that will blow your socks off.
CROWD: Kill Steen kill! Kill Steen kill!
Rhett attacks Steen before the bell. On the outside, Steen tries to avoid Rhett’s dive over the top rope, but Whitmer chases him back into position. Rhett takes out both Steen and Jacobs as Whitmer cheers him on.
Rhett hits a leg drop bulldog. Two count. They tussle, but Steen locks Rhett in the tree of woe and hits the running cannonball in the corner. Rhett fights back with a boot to the face, clothesline and running dropkick in the corner. Two count. Steen rolls to the apron.
CROWD: Mr Wrestling! Mr. Wrestling! Mr. Wrestling!
Rhett stomps on Steen despite referee Todd Sinclair’s admonishments. Steen pulls Rhett’s legs out from underneath him and attempts a powerbomb on the outside. Rhett punches out, but Jacobs becomes a distraction. When Rhett turns back around to face Steen, he gets caught in a powerbomb to the corner of the apron. Steen gets a two count.
Steen misses a top rope moonsault. As Rhett climbs to the top rope, Jimmy gets in the opposite corner and looks to attack with the spike. Whitmer stops him, but the spike is in the ring now. Rhett picks it up, but when Sinclair takes it away from him, it creates the opening for Steen to superkick him and hit the F-Cinq for the pin.
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