Christopher Daniels vs. CIMA

[6.0] "The match between CIMA and Christopher Daniels came across to me as a solid but fairly conservative opener. From the start, you could see the experience of both veterans, as their work was clean, technical, and well executed, even if the pace was not particularly high. What it lacked, in my opinion, was a stronger sense of stakes or a compelling storyline, which made it feel more like an exhibition than a truly important contest. The crowd reaction was somewhat lukewarm, only picking up during the closing stretch with a few convincing near falls. I appreciated CIMA's back selling and several smooth counters that highlighted their chemistry. The finishing Meteora looked impactful and gave the bout a stronger final note. In the end, it was an enjoyable yet forgettable opener that did its job without delivering anything spectacular."

[6.0] "Not as good as their 3 v 3 they had to kick off the show last card, but a decent little opener for the PPV. 6/10"

[6.0] "Good match. Not exactly a premiere matchup to kick off the show. Most people wouldn't know CIMA. And, Daniels is fine, but not marquee enough to carry the opener. But that's on the booking, not the fault of the performers."

[6.0] "Solid opener, nothing special but it was a good way to give CIMA some exposure before his singles match with Omega at the next show. 3 stars"

[6.0] "Solid opener between two vets. Clean, no messy spots, crowd was meh for two guys who are indy legends in their respective countries."

[5.0] "A decent match, in the continuity of Double or nothing's 3v3. However, we see it more as a pleasant exhibition than as a truly important match for the future. In-ring quality: 1.25/4. Stakes: 0.5/2. Justification: 0.75/1. Place on the card: 0.75/1. Suspense: 1/1. Bonus/malus: none. Total: 5.25/10. Match seen on AEW Plus."

[4.0] "Why is this the opener and why is it even on the card? Neither of these guys is a bad wrestler but this match is not it. I found myself bored multiple times throughout."

[6.0] "This match was fine it was decent enough of a opener, with how the commentators built it up i was expecting more chemistry"

[4.0] "I'm so lost at why this "rivalry", which is like a weird match even for a TV midcard, is the first match out the gate on AEW's second straight PPV, there's no reason you need to have a combined age of 91 open your PPV in a singles match. THere's not much heat for it, there's some greatest hits of each guy's offense, but its just not much and some of the selling just comes off as old guys being old. The wrestling isn't bad at all, but it just makes no sense and the match just feels like something that would be exciting on an Indie show because of celeb factor. There's not really a great story being told or anything, Cima's top rope meteora to win was really great, so he deserves credit from that, but I'm struggling to find a bright spot in this match."

[6.0] "It was a decent match, the weakest on the card and not much to say about it, but it wasn't exactly bad, just kinda felt lacking heavily. Overall it was a solid match but just kinda plain and vanilla with nothing that great."

[6.0] "This was a good match, but there was just something lacking. I don't think it was the lack of an angle because AEW has lots of matches just for the match, but something was missing here."

[7.0] "6.8/10: both men put up a great fight using a great moveset. The crowd was fresh and hot, the match itself was good, as a match only. Nothing really outside of the performance really caught me off-guard, since this is my initials of watching aew and these wrestlers."

[5.0] "Its a nothing match, was it bad? No, but it was just an opener, and it works as that, an opener, but as a match itself is just whatecer, forgettable obviously"

[6.0] "This was pretty average match in my opinion. The crowd wasnt really hot and the in ring work was decent."

[5.0] "This was a competent match but I've seen far better from both performers and this just wasn't really memorable. The trios match that opened Double or Nothing was a lot more entertaining."

[7.0] "Baffled by the low average rating here, I thought this was great! No major storyline beyond two veterans having a friendly bout to see whos the better athlete, and maybe the fact there wasnt any heat between the two is what puts people off, but I liked that vibe, its something different. Both made their spots and counters look very clean, some nice grappling at the start and both were booked to be quite strong against eachother. Thought the finishing move looked great too, brutal work from Cima. Hoping his match against Omega is as good as this."

[5.0] "This wasn't a bad match but it lacked of any real heat and stakes on the line. Daniels and CIMA are two capable workers with solid chemistry but there wasn't much reason to care about this match. Outside of a couple nice moments nothing really stood out and the crowd was also kinda cold. I liked the selling of the back from CIMA but, honestly, this was below average. Not bad but not good enough. **3/4"

[6.0] "This was a decent enough opener between two veterans (and apparently longtime friends). The crowd was kind of lukewarm but CIMA did his best to get them involved. Also a nice job selling the back on his part. ***"

[6.0] "This was a decent opener, but no real heat to speak of. Interesting to hear JR back when he was more invested on commentary. Match had a couple nearfalls but the crowd wasn't much into it until the end."

[6.0] "A good opener, but nothing great. My least favourite match of the night mainly because of the lack of heat. This did get Cima some momentum going into a match with Kenny Omega at FFTF so that was good. Both guys delivered here and this was a solid bout."

[8.0] "I really enjoyed this one. Nothing memorable, just two excellent workers who delivered a solid match. Damn, I never realized that Christopher Daniels was the Curry Man I saw back in the nineties at the Michinoku Pro."

[6.0] "Enjoyable opener: both men looked good and the action was fine throughout the entire match, near the end there were also a couple of good kickouts. Also some smooth counters by these two veterans and nice show of respect after the match. 6/10 - 3.25*/5*"

[7.0] "This was a really fun opener. Both men looked great and the offense felt pretty hard-hitting. Don't understand why it has a 5.61 because it was pretty good."

[7.0] "Really good and fun opener to the PPV. Solid and clean work from two veterans of the business. Loved all the smooth counters in the match. Very underrated bout here. [***1/2]"

[8.0] "I remember thinking this was an excellent match actually, Daniels was slowing down just a bit but still showing a lot of ability, and CIMA is rightfully a legend."

[7.0] "Good match with not much heat. These two veterans worked hard as this match was all action from the get go. Everything looked good and snug, a very nice opener."

[5.0] "A perfectly adequate opener, but you couldn't blame anyone for expecting more from CIMA. Old man Daniels still holds his own."

[5.0] "Nice bottle opener where all the fun started at the end. Considering the age of both performers, they were like young people."

[5.0] "Both these guys have been really good and have faced each other before. Daniels is winding down in his career but CIMA can still go really good, however this match isn't that great and very forgettable which sucks"

[6.0] "Adequate opener, fairly fun affair if not super memorable. Generally like my openers a bit faster paced but that's just a personal preference. Full disclosure, I logged this rating in my spreadsheet when I watched it in 2019 and haven't watched it since, just converting my ratings onto Cagematch. 3 stars."

[5.0] "This has a nice charm of two true vets going at it. It wasn't very memorable though, but it was perfectly fine. Some solid back & forth, with a nice lil' story of Daniels working a bit over CIMA's back."

[4.0] "An adequate outing by both guys, after the SCU vs. OWE decently fun six-man. It is slow but kind of grows steadily towards some nice nearfalls, you can see CIMA and Daniels are now maybe past their prime. **"