Claudio Castagnoli & PAC vs. Drilla Moloney & Shingo Takagi

[6.0] "This was a really long match, and while it was good in a lot of ways with some great technical work and some really stiff hard hitting strikes, I don't think it was quite good enough to justify going almost 20 minutes - especially when the Death Riders felt like inevitable winners"

[4.0] "All four men in this match are capable of producing classics, making it hugely disappointing that they produced the bare minimum by their high standards. This provided very few highlights and very little reason for intrigue, thus resulting in an underwhelming contest. The finish was terrible because of both interference and the roll-up and really didn't make matters any better."

[10.0] "4 strong members from 2 different factions in separate professional wrestling companies and the forbidden door will always remain open even after a ppv specifically was on the entire topic of that, this was a good way to start and get into the opening of the show. Good stuff."

[6.0] "Kinda shocked with how enjoyable this tag match was. I only expected this to be just alright, but man, this was very enjoyable. All 4 worked surprisingly well together. I did hate the unneeded interference from Garcia, but I get it was to get payback, even with that, it still wasn't needed at all. Plus, the way the match ended sucked as well, an uppercut of all things ends the match? Get outta here."

[5.0] "I had no problem with the work throughout, I was just waiting for them to turn it up a notch and pick up the pace, never really happened. Crowd not caring at all doesn't help either."

[3.0] "The standard Death Riders tag match--competent in the ring, but ultimately lacking in significance. In-ring quality: 2.25/5. Stakes: 0.25/2. Justification: 0.25/1. Placement on the card: 0.25/1. Suspense: 0.5/1. Bonus/penalty: none. Total: 3.5/10. Match watched on MyAEW."

[7.0] "Very solid opener for this special collision. Perhaps this was AEW's way of apologizing for the lack of forbidden talent on their last PPV, either way this was a good match. Would love to see Shingo vs Claudio one day"

[7.0] "Oh yes please man this was such a nice opener to the show. 4 guys who hit hard as fuck going at it for almost 20 minutes was a great idea and it produced a great match. It had intensity, big bombs and some good near falls. The match just built and built throughout and really peaked towards the end when Shingo was fighting back 2 on 1 with everything he had left in him and hit some sick pumping bombers. Drilla had another great showing he is really starting to become a good wrestlers and should it in the ring with 3 vets. Pac and Claudio were sick as always best 2 in ring guys in the death riders. As a heel team they are just so good hitting big power moves Pac giving Drila the rebound German was proper good. The finishing stretch was almost great Shingo, Pac and Claudio were firing bombs at each other. Drilla caused a great near fall breaking up the pin off the swing at 2.99. Shingo kicking out of Pac's lariat was also sick. Then we get to the elephant in the room fucking Garcia he is such a bum man why anyone thought this match needed interference is beyond me. Claudio hits a distracted Shingo with the uppercut and wins with a tight roll up. Honestly this was a really enjoyable match and it was fun to see Shingo as the main focus and he had a much better performance than he did at FD. Match would of been better without the interference. (***3/4)"

[6.0] "This was a little bit too long, with some fairly dull stretches and a crowd that was super dead for most of it, for me to recommend it wholeheartedly, but it was a good tag team match. Moloney and Takagi both don't get to show off a ton here, being on the receiving end of the heel control segment (which doesn't work that well because the crowd naturally favours the Death Riders and not the unknown outsiders) but what they do get makes them look good. In particular I think a Takagi vs Claudio match would be quite lovely."