ROH HITS & MISSES (1/8): Aaron Solo vs. Ace Austin, Frat House vs. Dalton Castle & The Outrunners, MxM Collection vs. The Von Erichs, The Swirl vs. Billington & Priest

Aaron Solo vs. Ace Austin – Hit

This was a great opener to the show and allowed plenty of opportunities to showcase Ace Austin and Aaron Solo. Ace had plenty of time to highlight his high speed/high impact offense that really makes him stand out. As for Solo, he showed some impressive counter-wrestling that I took the bait on at least one occasion. Ace got the win in about ten minutes after hitting Solo with The Fold. While nothing about this match is something I’d call “spectacular,” this did what it needed to do and helped to set the tone for the rest of the show.

Cru vs. Will Allday & Jay Alexander – Hit

A good old fashioned squash match. Lacey Lane accompanied Cru to the ring and she seems to be aligned with the team. I actually think she’s a great addition. Action and Lio really do work well as a team and I’ve flipped over to actually looking forward to their matches. As for Allday and Alexander, they had a few moments. Jay had more than a few chances to show his power. Cru won in four minutes, which was just the right amount of time for this.

Zayda Steel & Darius Martin vs. Trish Adora & Lee Moriarty – Miss

This could have been so much better and I’m not quite sure where the disconnect was. If I had to make a guess, I’d say a lot of it fell on Zayda Steel. There were a few times where her ambition overshot her ability. There was one moment where she hit Lee with a destroyer but overrotated, which could have been quite bad. I will say that Trish Adora was my highlight of the match. She just has that combination of brute force with a swagger that makes her genuinely entertaining. Trish and Lee won in six minutes.

Billie Starkz & Diamante vs. Shay Karmichael & Reiza Clarke – Miss

This one seemed clunky from the start. It felt like nobody really clicked in this match. Billie Starkz needs something. She’s been doing the Minion in Training thing for so long there’s been zero character development with it. I do like her teaming with Diamante but I hope Diamante doesn’t get bogged down in the long run. Starkz and Diamante won in four minutes.

Rachael Ellering & Demo Diamond & Delynn Cavens vs. Stori Denali & Ariya Davari & Tony Nese – Hit

They were able to jam a lot into a quick five minute match. This is such a great spot for the Premier Athletes and they play their roles perfectly. The addition of Stori Denali has been perfect and she seems to improve in every match. She had a great stand off with Demo Diamond where she showed how scarily tall she is. She had great chemistry with Ellering and I want to see more from them. The Premier Athletes won after Nese hit Delynn with a pumphandle driver.

The Frat House vs. Dalton Castle & The Outrunners – Hit

Every show needs a match that’s just dumb fun and this one fulfilled that role. Everything about the Frat House screams “punchable jerks” and you want to see them get dropped. The Frat House kept the pressure on Truth Magnum pretty much the whole match after taking out Dalton and Turbo. Once Truth made the hot tag to Dalton, things really picked up, with the Outrunners hitting the big double elbow and Castle dropping Cole Carter with the bangarang. The Outrunners and Castle got the win in six minutes.

MxM Collection vs. The Von Erichs – Miss

This was another example of your typical Von Erichs match. Sooner or later, it’s going to devolve into a walk and brawl that goes too long. Is a straight up match too much to ask for? Their matches have been pretty paint by numbers since they were in MLW and I still haven’t seen any change or improvement. MxM kept to their usual schtick which can be entertaining at times. They did a great job of trying to disable the claw all match until Ross Von Erich caught Monsoor and hit a claw slam for the win in seven minutes.

Kiran Grey vs. Sammy Guevara – Hit

Kiran. Grey. That’s all I really have to say. I knew nothing about him going into this match but I’m absolutely hooked. Grey has a cool look with a smooth and fast-paced style that was fun to watch. He was in control for probably about ninety percent until Sammy capitalized after hitting Grey with a midair dropkick and landing the GTH for the win in four minutes.

The Swirl vs. Tommy Billington & Adam Priest – Hit

This was a solid main event. Billington and Priest have quickly become one of my favorite tag teams in the ROH/AEW ecosystem. While I wish they were getting more time on the bigger shows, I’ll take what I can get. The Swirl as a team has grown on me and the addition of Jay Lethal as the heel mentor really works. No surprise considering the combatants, but there was a ton of high speed and high impact moves from both teams. Priest was the stand out though, mixing speed, power, and technical wrestling into something impressive. The Swirl picked up the win after some interference from Lethal allowed Blake Christian to catch Billington into the choke zero.