Eddie Kingston vs. Jay Lethal

[5.0] "[2.5*] This was not a bad match to start the show but was not any great either. I honestly expected a little bit more and Eddies reign is under delivering in-ring wise, while his talking segments have been absolutely great. The Ortis face turn was great but I need more explanation."

[5.0] "Average match for Zero Hour. Some funny moments and nice spots. But Lethal is old and not fast. 5/10."

[5.0] "An average match opened Zero Hour. Eddie Kingston's win was predictable, but the match was fun to watch."

[6.0] "A very warm, fun-filled starter to the show which had a good build to this stage and followed the classic standards of delivering a solid title bout. Ortiz's antics during the end was hilarious and Lethal showed a strong outing despite his thin chances of winning the gold from a white-hot Kingston. 3 out of 5 stars!"

[6.0] "A pretty solid opening match for the Zero-Hour. Lethal taking the loss was a bit of a forgone conclusion, but this was still fun overall. Im glad to see Kingston and Ortiz back together and I really enjoyed the latter hitting Jeff Jarrett in the head with the guitar."

[6.0] "Nice match to start the Zero Hour, it had to put the people in the arena in the mood for the PPV, and it did it good. The match itself had nice spots, the exchange between Kingston and Lethal was cool, and Ortiz hitting the guitar on Sonjay's head was awesome. (***)."

[6.0] "A solid match between two reliable workers, nothing stood out but it was a nice showcase for both men. The crowd really loved Kingston, it was cool to see the crowd already so involved despite this being just a match on the pre-show. The ending was, perhaps, the best part where Ortiz came out to even the odds in favour of Kingston and smashed the guitar on Sonjay Dutt's head for a huge pop. Kingson won with the spinning back fist and cut a short but funny post-match promo. 6/10 - 3.25*/5*"

[6.0] "Went for a basic opening match feel, with a few rest holds and basic strikes. Fortunately didn't involved too much outside interference. Eddie will always be able to draw a crowd in and pop them with his suplexes. For such an ROH-lore-heavy match-up, Lethal didn't quite get the opportunity you might expect."

[6.0] "Kingston's Half Arm Drag Suplex is very good, a classic match, nothing surprising in itself, both have an already established and redefined talent, it seems like a good starter for this zero hour."

[3.0] "Eddie Kingston and Jay Lethal are both way past their prime, and this match was a complete slog as a result. Jeff Jarret could be entertaining by himself at ringside, but with his whole "global force" circus in tow, his presence is unwelcome to me. They also undermine any credibility that Jay Lethal could have as a challenger, making it obvious that he had no chance of taking Eddie's title."

[5.0] "Everything you need to know about the status of the current ROH. In fact, the situation is very reminiscent of the purchase of ECW, when WWE also did not know what to do with this product and simply let their status be below par. It's absolutely the same here. Defending the world title at the pre-show is downright sad. And there wasnt even any, but there was an eyeliner, which, even if it consisted purely of behind-the-scenes segments, was there. As for the match itself, it was quite watchable. Nothing extraordinary, but everyone worked to the best of their abilities. Littal slowly dominated, and Kingston periodically exploded with his counterattacks. A very common structure that you would see on any AEW weekly. The ending was in the style of fights with Jarrett's gang, where we see an endless number of interventions, only this time they were prevented by Ortiz and this is also logical, because in the backstage segments Ortiz had problems with this whole gang"

[5.0] "A fine match that I somewhat expected to be the Final Battle main event until they decided to announce the match for zero hour on Collision. Did not get enough time to be anything great even if these two could likely have a great match together if given the proper platform. Whether or not they go back to it is to be determined. Typical Jarrett group interference but at least Ortiz was there to put a rest to it in some capacity. If Lethal were treated like more of a big deal especially as it pertains to the history of ROH, that would have helped versus seemingly hotshotting the match here. 5.5"

[5.0] "Average match with some power moves by Kingston and literally nothing by Jay Lethal. The ending was and perhaps the best part of this encounter, that Guitar shoot looked really good. Not much to say, cheap defense by the champion and nothing more. **1/2"

[6.0] "This was a fine match. I never expect much of anything good out of Jay Lethal, and the team TNA stuff can stick clear off my screen. I definitely would have rathered something with a bit more heat and I am of the opinion eddie should have been more assertive in the match structure. This was fine, but nothing that I have had more than a second thought about since the second bell rang. The timing of this requires I make a 500 character review about this. However I just didn't care. Match was worked well enough but Jay Lethal should have been a match on ROH TV. give me a Japanese grandpa or a luchador for an occasion like this"

[6.0] "This match was a little wasted here, Lethal deserves better than this. The wrestling was a little slow and uneventuful especially considering the short time frame they had to perform, but it wasn't a bad match obviously. The whole Jarrett crew is too much for me, too many interferences to help a former ROH star that dominated the company for years! Eddie is not my favourite wrestler by any stretch of the imagination but he did pretty good here, basic suplexes and strikes that looked better than his usual. **1/2 for me."

[7.0] "Very good match between two great wrestlers with two different styles but who had chemistry together and put on one heck of an opening act for what was a great nigh of Wrestling. Eddie like always showed his passionate side and Lethal is always going to be solid performer. Nice seen Ortiz and Eddie getting back together. This victory makes Eddie's reigns a stronger one by beating a true ROH legend in Jay."

[6.0] "Totally solid match where Eddie Kingston had to defend against a ROH veteran in Jay Lethal. You can feel Kingston trying to battle the wrestler out of Lethal, whose cheating sports entertaining has been consuming his run in AEW, and Lethal's resistance against the urge to truly work Kingston straight up provides an interesting dynamic. A little slow and basic in parts, both are clearly protecting themselves and not giving the full intensity required for a world title match, but as the opener for Zero Hour, it was solidly worked and put another notch on Kingston's reign."

[7.0] "A great matchup with a solid build put in the curtain jerk spot of the pre-show. The early goings of this match were pretty slow as a result but it got better and better with time and had a really good comeback segment from Eddie. Not what the ROH Title really needs but a good Kingston vs Lethal singles match by the end nonetheless. The crowd was into this too, both loving Eddie and hating Karen Jarrett of all people, and Ortiz coming in to even the odds and absolutely brain Dutt with the guitar was a great moment too. ***1/4"