On Friday, ROH announced four matches for the Zero Hour pre-show. To make things easy, we will recap all of those matches on this page.
Tracy Williams was up first to take on Jeff Cobb. With Cobb fresh off a loss to Kenny Omega on Dynamite, he was looking to regain some momentum. They had a solid match, but it was relatively simple. Cobb won with his Tour of the Islands finisher.
Winner: Jeff Cobb
Willie Mack and Konosuke Takeshita faced off in the second pre-show bout. Mack got a nice response, but Takeshita got a big pop.
Both of these men are powerful, but Mack had a slight size and strength advantage while Takeshita had the upper hand with height and speed. They had a good, competitive match that got the crowd hyped more than once. Takeshita scored the win to end a fun performance.
Winner: Konosuke Takeshita
Willow Nightingale took on Miranda Alize in the third match. Willow is one of the most beloved women in ROH, so she obviously got a great reaction when she made her entrance.
The luchador used some cheap tactics to take control after a couple of minutes, but Nightingale ultimately regained her composure and won the match with a powerbomb.
This was a decent bout, but it didn't come close to some of Willow's other matches in recent months. A lack of experience as opponents may have been a contributing factor, but they still did a good job.
Winner: Willow Nightingale
The final match on the Zero Hour show was Slim J vs. the recently re-signed Stu Grayson. The Dark Order founding member got a nice welcome from the crowd for his ROH return.
Grayson exploded out of the corner as soon as the bell rang. He beat on Slim until the ref made him back off, but he got right back on his opponent. Ari Daivari and Mark Sterling did everything they could to give Slim a hand, but Evil Uno was there to make sure the odds weren't too stacked against his ally.
This match was high energy from the moment it started until the ref counted to three. After surviving a couple of near-falls, Grayson picked up the win with a backbreaker.
Winner: Stu Grayson
Notable Moments and Observations
- Cobb moves around better than you would expect based on his body type. He's more flexible than he looks, too.
- Cobb should be billed as Rhyno's son.
- Nigel McGuinness joined the commentary team after the first match.
- It will never get old seeing a guy like Mack hit a dive out of the ring.
- Mack's pounce was awesome. Takeshita sold it perfectly.
- Willow's fisherman's suplex looked great.
- The Trustbusters' entrance music is kind of catchy.
- Grayson's apron senton is a cool move.
