Battle Royal Match 2023

[4.0] "Blergh, just about passable thanks to a bit of action towards the end. John Silver is unbearable to watch despite having some decent athleticism, I just can't get behind a guy who's that small and that corny, sorry. The first half was abysmal with the action amounting to any trashy American indie. **"

[5.0] "This felt like a pretty rushed battle royal and it was really hard to see what was going on while watching live. Still, it was fun seeing this random collection of tag teams together (even the Outrunners got a spot! ). Dark Order winning was a bit of a surprise. **1/2"

[5.0] "This is actively bad for at least the first half of its duration There's basically no actual spots or stories in the opening, besides the stupid 'delete vs hug' moment between The Hardyz and Best Friends, and so many of the teams getting eliminated in unison feels like a waste of the match's rules. I can't say I care about The Righteous very much but Dutch eliminating The Butcher did at least feel like a relatively big, significant moment for his AEW career. Thankfully, as battle royals tends to, this picked up once we neared the conclusion, and I really liked the finish and choice of winners. Silver is too innately likable and charismatic to garner actual heel heat, but it's a clever ending and a well-deserved chance to shine for a great tag team that's been underutilised for a while now."

[5.0] "This was decent as far as battle royals go, but the ceiling on them isn't very high. It was hurt by the fact that most of the teams in it have no business being in a title match on pay-per-view. Unfortunately, I count Dark Order among those teams. This is really setting up the match at All Out to just be another showcase for Better Than You Bay Bay's comedy spots."

[5.0] "This was fine. Just a pretty standard battle royal, nothing special about it. Some cool spots here and there, but there were also some moments of awkwardness. The final stretch was good, but I don't know how I feel about The Dark Order winning. (**3/4)"

[6.0] "Much better than your standard Aew battle royal that we usually get. There were several nice eliminations and good moments. I really liked the ending with Reynolds pretending to be injured just to save Silver from the elimination. The closing stretch in general was good. I'm happy to see Dark Order get some tv time and get some wins. 6/10 - 3.25*/5*"

[5.0] "This was a decent enough battle royal, but there was nothing in the match that really caught on for me. The few interesting interactions were fleeting, but there were still a few spots that popped the crowd, both from comedy and wrestling. The final sequence was fun, but it didn't seem like the crowd even knew how to react when Dark order won."