Finals of round 1! Timely review written:
- Jason Lee was obviously inspired by Bruce Lee which again, like Da Mack, felt a bit too on the nose but whatever.
- 30 seconds into this, Lee is already better than Ho Ho Lun.
- Ho Ho set the bar so low that I was expecting way worse from Jason Lee, but wow. Impactful strikes, I liked his Cravat (underrated hold) and way more athletic. Very impressive.
- Rich Swann's entrance theme was AMAZING. Reminded me of Living in America by James Brown a bit with the intro.
- Having seen Rich in PWG I knew what to expect, and he delivered exactly that. Standing 450 will never not be impressive. They had a tight, solid little match. Really enjoyed it.
- Man Eddy Guerrero inspired almost everyone in this thing. Nearly everyone has cited him as an influence, just really makes you appreciate his skill and charisma even more.
RIP
- Gurv Shira using the Hollywood Blondes camera taunt was cool.
- He should've fought his brother, since I'm assuming they'd have a better match than this.
- Sloppy match thus far.
- Noam Dar played to the audience too much. He had good strikes if nothing else, which I appreciate.
- He forced some things though. The roll through into a drop kick was unnecessary and I'm glad even commentary pointed that out.
- Very nothing match. Dar seems like he just wants to get his shyt in without much rhyme or reason. Does mostly strikes all match, finishes with a knee bar. Weird psychology. Shira didn't bring much to the table. These guys could've been fed to other talent in this, like Ciampa and Gargano, respectively, so they could both atleast make it past round one but I'm not in charge of booking so
- Jack Gallagher has an interesting look, and he was fun to watch. Reminded me of ZSJ too so I can see the comparisons, but I found his style less...egregious. Wasn't expecting him to play face in this but he did well.
- Fabian Aichner looks like a guy they'd sign based off look. All the wrist lock showoff stuff he did in the beginning I found unnecessary, but I'll give him a pass. He had really good chops and power stuff. His double springboard moonsault was impressive.
- Him against Tony Nese would've been fun.
- Fun little match, they had good chemistry.
- Ciampa/Gargano could've been saved for later rounds. I know I said I wanted more competitive first round matches, but I didn't want Ciampa to lose in the first round
- It's nice to have a story driven match in this though.
- I've been a fan of Tommaso Ciampa since his Embassy days with Prince Nana and he, just like Cedric Alexander, was WAY underutilized in ROH so I'm glad he's getting a shot here. A singles shot anyway.
- Heard much about Johnny Gargano but haven't seen tons of his work before this.
- Both guys are great and had amazing chemistry, so there's not much to say. Ciampa hits really hard and was vicious, Gargano was inventive and crisp. They went a little overboard with the kickouts, like an Air Raid Crash on the apron really is a finisher. The Project Ciampa getting kicked out of too had me kinda
but it could've been worse. Very good story told overall, and easily the best match of the first round. That post match moment was a nice touch, wasn't expecting an emotional moment out of this tournament.
Those strikes were vicious 
on that standing flippy shyt finisher. 
forgettable match
haven't been too impressed with them until now. They easily had the best match of round one. Great displays emotions towards the end of the match. 
