Jay Lethal vs. Lee Moriarty

[7.0] "I really enjoyed this, a very solid matchup which told an engaging story, Moriarty sold the leg really well (even if it did not really go anywhere) and that made Lethal seem more compelling than usual. Moriarty also pulled out some really cool technical work as you might expect, with some really fun roll-up spots near the end. Jay Lethal gave in to his desperation in the end, low blowing Moriarty before delivering a Lethal Injection for the win. A fun watch which was a bit shy of greatness but is still worth a go on the card."

[7.0] "[7, 50/10, 0] It's a pretty good match, quite technical with a good pace and some good moments. It's an exhibition, so you can understand why it doesn't go to the next level, but it's not bad at all. The ending was good; that low blow from Jay Lethal was surprising and prevented Lee Moriarty from looking bad."

[8.0] "Solid match all round. The near falls at the end are huge and right after Lethal who does a Low Blow while being desperate was awesome. (4*)"

[8.0] "Really good technical match here. Moriarty really proved himself with this match. Both men did a great job showcasing their abilities in the ring while also telling a story throughout. I liked how Lethal played the ending as well. As pointed out by Ian Riccaboni and Caprice Coleman on commentary, Lethal looked remorseful, regretful, and conflicted after hitting Moriarty with the low-blow. Loved him kicking the crutch away from Matt Sydal as well when he fully leaned into the heel persona."

[8.0] "A superb dual of generations where the young technical wizard encountered an all-packaged veteran. They both went all out with great respect towards each other. That was smooth (despite some cooldown moments), intense and emotionnal to watch. The finish was superb in terms of storytelling even if that wasn't the smoothiest to put on."

[8.0] "***3/4. This was very good and probably the most straight up techinical match worked all weekend. Lethals slow then rapid descent into full blown ROH heel again has been fun to watch. If I were TK I would have Lee Morirarty spend the next few years primarily carrying ROH as their Pure and world champion and then be considered as a next four pillar"

[8.0] "Great display of technical stuff between Moriarty and Lethal. Moriarty especially has what it takes to become something even bigger as we've seen for some time."

[8.0] "A bit of a dull opening portion leads eventually to an awesome series of near-falls that believably sold the idea that Moriarty could win at any moment, making Lethal's desperate crotch shot a perfectly logical move for him. Very satisfying character development for anyone who'd been following Lethal in AEW, and yet another worthy showing from Moriarty. ****"

[6.0] "This match is above average. The finishing sequence is pretty fun if not a bit clunky at times. I will say, the middle drags a bit, but it's not a bad match"

[7.0] "Jay Lethal could have a decent match with pool que. A very solid outing for both. I think LM could be a big name in a few years."

[6.0] "They did a great job keeping the pace manageable so that when it was time to work toward the finish, they could amp things up to a new level. After Moriarty escaped several near falls, Lethal finally put him away with his finisher."

[6.0] "Good match in the middle of the card. I liked the story with Lee having studied hours of Lethal tapes and playing it up in match having him reverse many of the key Lethal moves. Match moved along nicely, paced well, Lethal really leading the way until the big elbow. It was downhill at this point. The elbow drop reversal was just ugly and followed up with several miffs on the run of pins by Lee including 2 where the ref just stops counting despite Lethals shoulders being down just so they had time to go to the next combination. **3/4"

[8.0] "Lethal lost against Moxley and against Adam Cole these past few weeks. And that was enough, he wasn't gonna let young Moriarty beat him in in the first PPV of the new RoH era, even if that meant going for the dirtiest tactic on his arsenal. Loved the selling, the structure of the match and the story these guys told. Hopefully this leads to a longer feud, I'd love to see a 30 min match between these two. ****."

[7.0] "What for? Why Lethal why...A large number of failures pushed him to meanness and villainy, he promised that he would change, who could have imagined that he would become a scoundrel, but what a sin to conceal, evil Jay Lethal is the image that his popularity and success gave him. The fight turned out to be competitive and intriguing. The exchange of holds on the mats was original and dangerous for the fighters, I was ready to start screaming - it was 3 when Jay couldn't stand the pressure and decided to use mean tactics and destroyed Lee Moriarty."

[8.0] "This took a few minutes to get going but it was really great in the back half. Moriarty's just got that style to make these fast-paced reversals clean as fuck and get great nearfalls out of pinning combinations rather than big moves. Lethal kept up with him the whole time until it was clear he was being outpaced, and the low-blow he pulled was just awesome. The look on his face where he was disgusted in himself only to decide that there's no going back from that was fantastic. ***3/4"

[8.0] "Pretty good match, I'm usually ambivalent about Lethal these days but he did a fine job, and Moriarty showed once again that he is potentially a big star on the rise."

[8.0] "Great selling, great storytelling, a fantastic finishing stretch, and a heel turn that made sense. In the finishing stretch, Moriarty counters every move Lethal throws at him and Lethal just can't get the upperhand. This frustrates Lethal and he starts to doubt whether or not he can put Moriarty away, so his only option at that point is to cheat to get the victory."

[7.0] "So interested to see where Lethal will go from here. I didn't expect the heel turn and it was built up in this match fantasticly. Little by little, Lethal got more frustrated and scared that the match might end up not in his favour, to the point where he had to Low-Blow Lee. Great storytelling."

[7.0] "Not bad, but I felt this match kinda slow and boring, I didn't connect. I think I will have to re watch it, but for the moment: ***1/2"

[7.0] "Lee Moriarty is so great already and Lethal plays the vet well here, then turning heel at the end, which is the right move to get Moriarty over as hopefully a big babyface in the mix in AEW."

[5.0] "I think I'm just destined to not enjoy a Jay Lethal match in 2022. He is so far declined from what made him good and he just feels like filler no matter how he is booked. I continue to not fully get the hype around Moriarty, still struggle to engage in his matches but the technical potential is there. Still yet to feel any excitement because of a Lee Moriarty match being advertised on the card. The structure of the match was serviceable but didn't do enough to really hook me in and the finish was whatever."

[9.0] "Terrific storytelling, along with great fast-paced technical wrestling, made this an excellent match. It's very difficult to add to a match by winning via cheating (it's definitely done way too often in wrestling), but Lethal's turn at the end worked perfectly. ****1/4"

[8.0] "This was a great match on the card that proves more and more that TK knows what he's doing. Lethal turning heel at this show because he just can't keep up with the new kid on the block that people call a younger version of himself is great storytelling and left a smile on my face. Lethal being the pro that he is sold the self disappointment really well. ****"

[4.0] "Alright match with a very stupid finish and heel turn from Jay Lethal. The legwork from Lethal was pretty nice and Lee Moriarty's selling was on fucking point the whole bout. The final sprint was really cool, with a lot of Roll Ups and counters, but Lethal turning heel just because why not is just very dumb. A bit disappointing. Also, Lethal winning doesn't make sense, if this is supposed to be a NEW ROH, then we need some NEW guys winning, don't you think? ***1/4"

[8.0] "As expected, very cool match. Lethat being one of my favorite wrestlers of all time, having that mirror clash with Moriarty. In so many parts of the match I thought Lee would be who will be declared winner of the match, but this Heel Lethal, desesperate to get the victory, it's what we need to see, I really love this idea. Really hope to see what Tony Khan does with him. [****]"

[8.0] "Heels have more fun. Jay Lethal as a heel is much more effective. Moriarty continues to improve with every match. This was a solid match with a great angle to close it out."

[8.0] "A great show by these two fighters, something well done was expected and the fans were satisfied, great fight."

[8.0] "A really good match. The pinning sequences at the end while not perfect were extremely ambitious and difficult to pull off, liked them a lot. The finish with the low blow was also really well done. ***3/4"

[8.0] "The match is super cool and the ending with the turning heel of Jay Lethal is super okay. Very very cool match."

[9.0] "Teacher vs. Student ; a technical battle was expected and it fulfilled the purpose and went beyond it as well. Moriarty is a huge boost to Pure Rules roster and I could definitely see him holding the title by the year end. Lethal's character turn was much needed as he was getting a bit off since ROH went to hiatus and him signing with AEW. Now he will definitely regain the composure he lost in the past months. 4.5 out of 5 stars!"

[7.0] "Good storytelling and good in-ring work here. Lethal came in as the returning ROH legend, and he was clearly expecting to be able to dominate his far younger and less accomplished opponent. Moriarty had a lot of skills and tonnes of heart though, and he was able to keep up with Lethal, counter basically everything he was attempting, and even manage to dominate him. Lethal's pride was shown as slowly turning into pure rage, as he realised that his inability to get the better of Moriarty in their slick and fast-paced technical exchanges meant that he would have to purposefully slow the match down and try physically limit Moriarty's nimbleness by going after his leg. Lethal's leg-targeting work was really good, and Moriarty sold it very well in real time as well as in the long term (Zayne from earlier in the show could learn something from Moriarty's performance here). I enjoyed seeing the ways that Moriarty was fighting back with his signature offence while still having to account for his damaged leg. The various desperate flash pins Moriarty consecutively attempted on Lethal were all very creative and mostly flawlessly executed, leading to some genuinely convincing near falls. Seeing that sort of resilience and ingenuity from Moriarty was too much for Lethal, who then decided he would have to go back to his old underhanded ways and cheat if he wanted to win, leading to him low-blowing Moriarty when the ref was distracted with Sydal. Seeing Lethal in the post-match go from disappointed in himself to desperately committing to his heel turn and attempting to justify his actions to an accosting Sonjay Dutt (as well as likely attempting to justify them to himself) was very enjoyable, showing the interesting insecurity and coping mechanisms of Lethal's character. ***1/4"

[9.0] "That's what I wanted from these men. Technical fest. Moriarty is such a cool Babyface (that smile.. that damn smile). Lethal's heel turn makes sense, a desperate veteran, that's awesome."

[7.0] "The start of Jay Lethal's heel turn which he hinted on AEW TV. Lee Moriarty was more than a match for him, and Lethal had to resort to a low blow to defeat him. Says a lot about Moriarty that a big name like Lethal needed to cheat to beat him."

[8.0] "It's very cool that I was made a hill. Because the face of it is absolutely ordinary. It doesn't stand out in any way, but as a hill it is much better. I hope it will develop! ***3/4"