[7.0] "[3.25*] Best match of the night in my opinion in another very good showing for Trent. However, I would really like if this title was treated like a World Title, with actual main eventers challenging for it. They already have the International and TNT titles for midcarders."
[7.0] "Very exciting match, as expected from these two... a lot of hard-hitting moves and a tough battle fought. For my taste this was the best match of the night, extremely enjoyable, with some real emotion at the end - {***1/4}"
[8.0] "Great TV match, Trent always looks very good in singles matches, but the result was obvious from the start, and that sucked some of the fun of the match, still, they did a great job, especially with the kick outs. Eddie looked very strong as well, great start to his title run."
[7.0] "This was sneaky great because I definitely wasnt expecting much from this. Trent is capable of having huge performances out of the blue every now and then (and there was a period from 2016-2017 where he was probably a top 5 guy on the indies) but he often gets put in multi-person tags or matches that he doesnt get to showcase much of himself. Hes a great big-time singles wrestler though because even though hes tall, hes a great underdog fighting from underneath and getting fiery comebacks. So take that formula and then add two huge visual aids in Trent getting his face busted up early into the match with a pretty significant amount of blood and his mom Sue in the crowd seemingly genuinely concerned and also pulling for her boy. Eddie has the ability to walk the tweener line because even though hes a face and the crowd loves him, he talks a ton of smack and can play a great bully and hes able to slide right into it with no problem. This is just a simple, well done match in that formula but then it gets a really big boost by a hot finishing stretch that some could critique as being too much but it really put over Trent as a viable singles title threat with him surviving a bunch of stuff including the Northern Lights Bomb which Eddie has been using as his finish lately. Im no universe was Trent winning this match but him going into deep, deep waters was a really pleasant surprise. Im sure the last thing AEW needs is another title but I feel like a lower midcard title giving guys something to fight for with a lot higher of a possibility of them winning would do guy like Trent wonders. For now though, him randomly getting a showcase like this every once in a while is a nice treat. You cant ask for much more out of a heatless thrown-together title match like this to kick off a show. Id give a 7.5 rounded down to a 7 for the Cagematch system."
[7.0] "A good match by Trent who's always a good performer, but this is a major booking mistake, this Championship shouldn't be defended it should only be a prop for the winner as a physical memento of his tournament win, AEW is drowning in titles, what does this one bring to the table? Or is Trent competing for the NJPW Strong Championship, or the ROH?"
[6.0] "A fine match but a pretty weak follow up to the Continental Classic. I don't think anyone bought Trent having a chance here and it did affect the crowd."
[6.0] "This match felt a bit standard which made it feel a bit long for 15 minutes. Trent clearly blocking the shot to his face made the nose angle hard to buy. When you watch wrestling enough, you know when someone is rolling out of the ring or hiding away from the viewers to blade. AEW's director is still having trouble with that, though this wasn't the worst case. The number of times Jericho's clear fumbling for a blade has been televised is unbelievable, though I do appreciate these guys blading outside of the usual forehead spot. The blood added something but the problem is that Trent is not a credible challenger right now, and then you put the underdog busted nose angle on top of that. That doesn't make him more compelling as a challenger because it makes an upset look all the more unlikely. If Kingston had been flailing around with a busted nose while Trent fires up and takes advantage, you'd have a better story - though it contradicts Eddie's underdog role. Maybe that was the problem here. It's an underdog who is clearly going to win against and underdog who is clearly going to lose."
[8.0] "A really good match and first title defense for Kingston. Beretta looked great here and I was genuinely shocked when he kicked out of the Spinning Backfist & Northern Lights Bomb combination. Either way, I really enjoyed this and I think both men were presented well. I'm looking forward to seeing how Kingston's reign goes."
[8.0] "Abso-fucking-lutely brilliant TV match. Beretta had a brilliant showing in this match, and I really liked his suplex -> suplex -> release German. I don't think anyone thought Beretta would win this one, but him kicking out of the half-&-half -> chop -> Northern Lights made me believe. He got in a lot of good offense, and this match made me believe in Beretta as a singles wrestler. Kingston was, of course, incredible."
[8.0] "A great match for the Continental Championship's first defense. Trent bleeding from a chop to the head in front of his own mother will be the first thing I think of when I think of this title. 8/10"
[7.0] "What I think could be improved: - Eddie's first title defense should have been against a heel. Hopefully they will right the ship on this with the 2nd defense. The crowd has been on a journey with Eddie and are ready to push him all the way to the top of the card. - Eddie should have played the babyface part in the first defense. The structure of this match had Eddie Kingston breaking Trent's nose with a chop to the face, that Kevin Kelly highlighted as being barely legal and nearly crossing a line. This had Trent persevering showing resilience, fighting from underneath, and rallying in front of his mother in the audience. The structure clearly positioned Trent as the babyface here, but the crowd didn't come with it, because they have been on this journey with the King of the Bums/Underdogs, Eddie Kingston. This resulted in the crowd not fully supporting either wrestler, creating an awkward atmosphere. What I liked: - The matchup had the style of a New Japan / Continental Classic match. If this is the plan going forward, I think it is very smart, and it legitimizes the existence of yet another regularly defended title in AEW, which is oversaturated with titles at the moment. - The execution of the moves was strong, the selling was strong, the near-fall at the end caused the crowd to get louder than they were at pretty much any other point in the match, showing they were paying attention, and invested. - This was one of Trent's best singles showings, and if he had this performance against a heel with a crowd that would cooperate, it would've raised the rating froma 7 to an 8 for me."
[7.0] "good match! Trent is underrated and once again, he performed very well in a brutal contest against Eddie who also showed a nice performance. the violent accident that happened to Trent's nose made it more brutal, and turned it into a bloody match which we rarely see in a weekly show, so Eddie's first defense was acceptable to me. (***3/4)"
[8.0] "This was a wild match. I questioned the decision to have Trent as the first challenger, but they matched up really well. Trent's broken nose added a lot to the match as well."
[9.0] "Match of the night. It's a little frustrating to see AEW turn this into a bloodbath in order to get Trent over as a credible challenger in a match where no one thought he could logically win. It reminded me of some of the less inspired ICW touring/Fringe residency shows where BT Gunn would need to get mutilated to salvage a drab night or where Mike Awesome would throw Spike Dudley into the sun in order to pop the audience despite an underdeveloped challenger list. Very good match though. Line them up for Eddie but I think he needs some top guys early if they're to keep us guessing during his early reign."
[8.0] "This match not only looked physical/bloody, it *sounded* like a war. Kingston and Trent are both very good at selling fatigue and war wounds throughout a match, and this was a good showcase of that. This is also one of those cases where Trent's blood enhanced the match, and gave it a special feel (especially for Eddie's first title defense). I also enjoyed this finishing sequence for Kingston a little more than his usual finishing sequences (which sometimes feel too abrupt and/or lack full credibility). This finish with Trent felt more like an actual overcoming of Trent's physical and mental resilience."
[8.0] "Great match, very physical, and it didn't lose the pace even when Trent (probably) broke his nose. And the fact that Trent still didn't held a single championship in AEW bothers me, he's got everything: in-ring ability, gigantic charisma, and can do good promos. (****)."
[8.0] "Trent is genuinely a very good wrestler. He doesn't have the charisma and presence to fully back it up, unfortunately. However, Eddie has enough of that for two men and so this match came together really well in the end. Fantastic intensity, great back and forth and a real sense of danger due to Trent's busted nose."
[8.0] "[4.25*] Eddie was BRUTAL with Trent here, his chops and strikes were brutal and we saw the talent of Trent Barreta who did incredible selling and made Eddie look unbeatable in this match. The match was really good, Trent bleeding while Kingston stopped attacking him was really cool. Storytelling was very interesting, Trent surrendered to Kingston's style and began to adopt a more violent style. The ending was incredible and Trent Barreta comes out of this match strong."
[7.0] "Really good match: great showing for Beretta and nice first defense for Kingston. The crowd absolutely loved Eddie as usual, both men delivered good perfomance and the action was hard-hitting and fun. Eddie gained the upper hand in the early goings and Trent got busted open but kept fighting and had a good comeback. Both men's offense looked great and their exchanges were really good. Trent survives the spinning back fist/nothern lights bomb combo but Eddie wins following a second nothern lights bomb. Good match altough extremely predictable. 7/10 - 3.75*/5*"
[7.0] "Didn't have much expectations from this as the Trent was the least interesting of the participants in that #1 contendership match in Dynamite but ong these two delivered. Amazing offense from Kingston. This also had blood. Wasn't interested in the beginning but the match gripped me by the end. 3.75/5"
[8.0] "Gutsy performance by Trent Beretta, who came up bleeding after Eddie Kingston chopped him in his face. I thought they were going to have his mum throw in the towel for him the amount of times they showed her, but instead Kingston beat him straight up. A strong first defence of seemingly only the new title for Kingston."
[8.0] "Really strong first title defense for Eddie. Beretta might not be the biggest name these days, but he is rock solid in the ring and a great babyface, seemingly especially when his nose gets broken hardway and he is bleeding all over the place. This turned into a classic underdog versus champion match story that was really well executed and commentated upon. Had an oldschool vibe to it in that regard and I really enjoyed it. The winner was never really in doubt, but this was still really good."
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