This is yet another Road Rage edition featuring matches from the title tournament.
Tommaso Ciampa vs Michael Bennett
I liked this match quite a bit more than I expected to. They told a simple story of Bennett attacking Ciampa’s surgically repaired knee, but I thought it was very effective. They also teased Bennett’s piledriver throughout the duration of the contest, which was a nice touch as it played off the move that injured BJ Whitmer. It was a solid match, that will come across well when it airs on television, as all tournament matches will be televised. Ciampa will wrestle Adam Cole in one of the two semi-final matches, which should be awesome.
Winner: Tommaso Ciampa
Kevin Steen vs Roderick Strong
This match started out fast with both wrestlers hitting the majority of their signature moves in the opening minutes. It was a cool way of starting the contest, but it did lead to the bout dragging in the middle. They had to reuse some of the same moves toward the end of the match to keep the action going, which hurt it. It was a solid match, but it was surprisingly one of the weakest matches on the card. It was a decent match, but it wasn’t anything memorable. Steen advanced to wrestle the winner of the next match in the semi-finals.
Winner: Kevin Steen
Karl Anderson vs Michael Elgin
It’s impossible to talk about this match without mentioning the crowd. The crowd was horrendous in this match. It perfectly exemplified the stereotypical idiotic New York crowd who are more concerned with getting themselves over than cheering for the in-ring action. The action in the match was great, as they played off a lot of what happened in their previous encounter at “Supercard of Honor VII,” but it was hard to get into due to the crowd. This was the second-best match of the night, but it will unfortunately be remembered more for the moronic crowd than the wrestling. Elgin got his win back over Anderson to advance to face Steen in the semi-finals of the tournament.
Winner: Michael Elgin