Battle Royal Match 2022

[5.0] "A fairly enjoyable Battle Royal here and I'm glad they went with Starks to win, as I'm a big fan of him. The promo between him and MJF was very entertaining as well, and it did a great job of hyping up their upcoming title match for those who weren't already interested."

[6.0] "A battle royal isn't really my cup of tea, but this one was cool. The creatives used it for launching storylines, good thing. This BR had some great star power as well, especially towards the finish. The final minutes had some suspense, at least. A enjoyable opener, yeah."

[6.0] "Matt Hardy is still in bondage and it is clear that a little more and he will go crazy and take revenge on Ethan Page. In general, it is already a standard match in a similar style for AEW, rarely when the company surprises with the quality of such content. Ricky Starks can now get not only a world title, but also a diamond ring. The norm."

[5.0] "These things are pretty much all the same. Nothing too bad or all that memorable. Spots which might have felt new like the "Falling back onto people outside the ring" spot did some time ago now feel obligatory. The only really interesting thing was the result, which I think we could have safely expected, but it could play into an angle with Starks' title match. When MJF used the chip to get his title shot but seemed to get the match without cashing the chip in, I wondered if he might lose and then cash the chip in immediately. Starks is in position to do that now. The reign of terror stuff would be a good way to set up a shockingly short reign for MJF if Starks were to win."

[6.0] "A competent battle royal was presented in the opening slot where some of the stars apart from the momentous Starks had cool moments. Jack Perry & Ethan Page were the highlighters of the bout whereas Dustin Rhodes & Matt Hardy created nice moments that entertained the fans. The winner's choice was never in doubt which elevates Starks' value as MJF's first challenger even higher. 3 out of 5 stars!"

[3.0] "Abysmal battle royal that only serviced to continue the build for an already booked match, repeating the dynamic between Page and Starks that had already been done, and putting so much spotlight on a busted, broken Matt Hardy who simply can't do anything anymore. Thankfully, the promo segment afterwards was fantastic, otherwise this would get a lower score."

[6.0] "A decent battle royal that was 90% guys who had no chance of winning. Still told a good story with the Page/Hardy alliance and Starks being the plucky underdog. The real highlight was the back and forth banter between MJF and Starks afterward, however. Felt like Starks' breakout moment. ***"

[7.0] "One of the best battle royals I've ever seen. Highly entertaining with nonstop action and loads of fun spots. The match achieved its goal of giving Ricky Starks shine before his title match."

[6.0] "Decent match. It did what it was meant to do in giving air time to guys who have not been getting it and furthering storylines. Maybe even beginning a new storyline or two."

[6.0] "Fun match, with the usual chaos that comes with Battle Royals. It helped move some storylines forward. Although, it was pretty predictable, when you consider that Starks was the only one who had a promo specifically about the Dynamite Diamond Ring, on top of being one of the few entrances shown on TV."

[6.0] "Battle Royals tend to struggle to deliver anything compelling from start to finish. Keeping this one with a much smaller talent pool and the crowd's unanimous pick to win actuality winning meant this was watchable. Finished on a high note."

[6.0] "A solid battle royale as those go, progressed a couple minor stories and really set Ricky up to take everything from Max. I can see him getting a win for the ring despite not getting the title and running with that which is good. I liked seeing Castle, Jungle Jack, OC, and Matt Hardy do their thing. ***"

[7.0] "Very enjoyable battle royal, felt like it spawned a few new feuds, worked on existing ones, and benefitted from the very hot crowd."

[4.0] "I don't think this was very good. The mess of people at ringside made things look and feel very cluttered and there were some pretty sloppy moments like Cage throwing himself over the ropes on to the apron when Jungle Boy's dropkick didn't do the trick. After the great pop his entrance received I was disappointed by how little Dustin did as well. The post match promo was really good and worth checking out, but the match itself did nothing for me."

[4.0] "It was a battle royal. It was perfectly fine as a battle royal. It had a few nice spots here and there. Shame Dustin did not win as they could actually tell a compelling story of him chasing the belt in the final year of his career."

[7.0] "A pretty nice Battle Royal to watch and with a pretty good outcome. I'm happy for Ricky, who despite winning that tournament he did I think deserves everything he wins. He is a great talent."

[8.0] "I? ll give this a slight bonus as this is the most engaging battle royal they have had I believe, *** 1/2 but bonus for the fun, and wow them promos after"

[7.0] "A very enjoyable battle royal to open the show. Had some fun spots and I like what they're doing with Matt Hardy and Ethan Page."

[7.0] "Enjoyable battle royal, though not the best they've done. Not a very strong final four but definitely the right winner."

[7.0] "As fun as they sometimes are I feel like battle royales tend to fall flat for me personally. This one was great, and there were a lot of fun little moments; everyone got a chance to shine. And Ricky looked absolutely fantastic"