Adam Cole vs. Jay Lethal

[9.0] "This was a fantastic match. Jay Lethal was a great ROH Champion, having great matches with a variety of different opponents. Adam Cole was in a unique position of feuding with both Jay Lethal and Kyle O'Reilly at the same time. Cole had cut Lethal's hair off previous to this, and the story was the Lethal was out for revenge. Throughout the match, several times went for moves out of revenge that cost him, like the elbow off the top turnbuckle through the table on the floor or going for one too many dives. Adam Cole's arrogance would also cost him at times, but he used his heel tactics to get under the skin of Jay Lethal and took advantage of that to win the match. The last few minutes of the match were just awesome, with some great storytelling and facial expressions from both men. Post match would have Kyle O"Reilly make appearance felt by attacking Cole, setting up their future ROH title match at Final Battle. ****1/2"

[7.0] "A little long, though the ending sequence was good. Could have done with more selling and less laying about but that's my complaint with near every match these days. Worth watching if you hvae the time."

[3.0] "This was billed at the time as the most heated ROH title match; a vengeful, personal fight after Cole shaved the world champion bald. What ended up happening was a match so dull and uninspired, you could've believed it happened between two completely different wrestlers unrelated to one another."

[10.0] "one of my favourite matches off all time i absolutely love it every time i see it i always end up watching this matches once or twice a year at the minimum absolutely fantastic match between two of the best wrestlers in the world"

[3.0] "Felt very dull and drawn out and the kick outs and finisher spamming at the end really began to grate."

[10.0] "The best ROH match in 2016 and still the best since this. I mean WOW, what an emotional match. The story was told perfectly with Cole trying to piss Lethal off for shaving his head and Lethal letting his rage get this best of him which would eventually be his downfall. The final three count was one of the most authentic pops in ROH history as everyone there wanted Cole to be on top again. *****"

[9.0] "I'll go out on a limb and say this match is pretty underrated as it was a very heated and awesome match to put Cole back on top. Great story told with Lethal being too blinded by his hatred for Cole, that the latter continuously found ways to take advantage and sucker the former into spots he could take advantage of. Of course there was "big match" stuff like great sequences and finisher kick outs, but it all was earned with each guys performance. Everyone was on their feet by the end, and this was definitely one of the best ROH title matches of that year, ****1/2."

[2.0] "I may be in the minority, but I have to agree with the naysayers, this was not too good in my eyes. For the life of me, I can't figure out what Adam Cole brings to the table that interest people. Aside from playing to the crowd at random moments, he seemed to barely participate in this match. Lethal took a few impressive bumps and showed some passion, but there's really only so much you can do. Also they really went overkill on the bomb-fest, even chaining Destroyers and finishers together left and right couldn't put somebody away. Not a fan of this one."

[10.0] "This had a great big fight feel that has made Adam Cole BAY BAY a bigger star then he alreay lose and mad Lethal look like he really wanted revenge and was devastated with the loss. ****1/2 stars."

[7.0] "This match would have benefited from a shorter time overall. It went longer than it should have. I liked the aggression shown by Jay Lethal in that he was the champion and was goaded into giving a title shot to Cole, despite the claim of Nigel for Cole to never get another title shot. His aggression carried this match as Cole trolled Lethal. Both would end up costing Lethal at different points of the match. The crowd really picked up for it towards the end and there was thankfully no unnecessary interference. I do not really feel that Lethal having this long run just to put over Cole was a good decision. Hopefully Kyle ends up taking it from Cole."

[8.0] "I didn't like the way this match started, because the brawl had no intensity. To be fair, everything they did until the table spot was kinda disappointing. But from that point the match was excellent. This was a very well worked match, with both guys kicking out of each other's finishers. Not quite the MOTY level, but easily one of the best ROH matches this year. Post-match was good too. ****."

[1.0] "Honestly couldn't get into this match at all. Lethal just seemed not as enthused as usual when going into a title defense but the revenge factor made the story quite unappealing for me honestly. Adam Cole does absolutely nothing for me in the ring nowadays and Lethal has really drained me out of his performances after BITW. The whole angle with Cole here didn't help matters as Cole winning was so predictable and just ruined this for me. Crowd investment was there but my personal investment was not. (*)"

[0.0] "Hated this. Legit my least favorite match of the year; these 2 put on a very robotic performances, just 2 total drones doing movez for what felt like at least 40 minutes.. The brawling that started off the match was laughable, no intensity or sense of hatred at all. Cole's in ring work is just so dull in general; his work on top here was very lame, just didn't captivate me at all. Lethal can put on good performances, but against a very boring in ring performer like Adam Cole, he put on a boring performance as well, maybe the most cringiest moment of the match was when he just kept on trying to do his finish - The Lethal Injection, and then he always had to say "the lethal injection", that didn't fit the match at all, and just made me cringe. A legit DUD of a match, the worst ROH World Championship that I've ever seen & my least favorite match in all of 2016. Ugh."

[7.0] "A good championship match, but one without any true drama until the very end, and even then everybody knew going in Cole would win the title. The early goings were pretty slow, and the table spot just felt off and unnecessary. When things finally got going, it still didn't break into a gear that would've made it into a classic, or even convince me that Cole could lose. Still, that's not to say this wasn't a very good match, as these are both very good wrestlers. ***1/2"

[10.0] "Man was that fantastic. An incredible match filled with emotion. Cole played his heel role so well and Lethal was a great facet bent on revenge. Had some cool sequences and great psychology. Loved the part when Lethal just kept going for suicide dives. Both guys sold well and only kicked out of each other's finishers once so there was no excess. Very good and fun match ****1/2. Second best match of the weekend"