ROH and Smackdown Reax - 4/7/16

Read on for my thoughts on yesterday's ROH and Smackdown.
ROH:
I love you Donovan Dijak.

Watch out, Dijak. Lethal knows a LOT of moves people kick out of.

- reDRagon vs. Gedo/Okada:
Good technical wrestling to start things off.

This is going well, psychology-wise. Glad to see it.

Nice teamwork by both sides.

I'm really impressed by Okada here.

Nice match overall. reDRagon are really crisp.

Good, straightforward promo from the Briscoes.

- Cole vs. KUSHIDA:
This is fine enough in the early going.

Cole's a great heel, and a pretty good wrestler to boot. Uncrowned World Champion?

Back from commercial, we're right into the flippy shit.

This was going well until they just decided to hit move after move.

That was MOSTLY good. They could have done more with a little less.

Silas vs. Dalton should be quite the match. They've consistently been one of the best parts of ROH.

- Addiction vs. MCMG:
This is starting off well, but I figure it will turn into a circus act later.

MCMG can definitely fly and work well together.

I like Addiction adding old-school heeling and tag team psychology to the proceedings.

The neckbreaker/powerbomb should have ended it. They had just enough spots at that point.

Bleehhhhh... a little on the spotty side.

I'm glad this is only an hour-long show. That post-match could have added another 100 spots to the show.

Smackdown:
I like Roman's character. He's determined and has an edge to him.

Good for Styles for congratulating Reigns for a big win. I'm pleasantly surprised they didn't go right to HHH vs. Reigns again at Payback. I would have enjoyed it, but I know a lot of people want fresh blood in the main event scene.

AJ does have a really impressive resume.

I'm liking Roman as a douchebag tweener. I'd much rather have that than him being a Boy Scout who makes "tater tot" and "beanstalk" jokes.

- Lucha Dragons vs. Vaudevillains:
I'm glad the Dragons are still a thing as a team.

The Dragons are very fluid as a duo.

Genius way to stop the dive.

I like the idea of English being more of the grappler with Gotch being the brawler.

That was a fun little match to get the new team a win. Their road on the main roster will be an interesting one. Their act is on the "out there" side; I think it would have served them well to have some vignettes explaining who they are before they debuted.

- Summer vs. Natalya:
I love how these two work together.

That was fun for the time it had. Obviously they're pretty much just "laying pipe" for Natalya vs. Charlotte.

I'm fine with Maryse coming back to manage Miz. As fun as he is on his own, I'm not complaining about his character going into a new direction.

- Ryder vs. Miz:
These two trade holds pretty well. They've worked together enough for their matches to be crisp.

Enjoyable match so far.

Both men have a lot of fight in them. It's good to see.

That was going well until Miz kicked out of the Elbro Drop. I was hoping that would get a revival as a legitimate finisher.

Nice ending and pretty good match overall.

The Social Outcasts are always a lot of fun.

- Crews vs. Axel:
As fun as the Bo Train is, Axel should have at least done something first.

This is kind of a mess for a second main roster match. There are a lot of "moving parts," instead of a lot of focus being on the new guy.

Apollo's a talented guy. I just wonder what they're going to do with him. He was still climbing the ranks in NXT when he was called up.

I like Baron Corbin. He's not here to make friends or get cheers. He's here to kick ass.

Becky always puts up a fight.

I loved the promo setting up Becky vs. Emma. I wish there were more segments like that instead of matches just happening out of the blue.

Is there really that much interesting to say about Puerto Rico? This feels more like some kind of travel documentary than a promo for wrestlers we're supposed to care about.

- Ambrose vs. Breeze:
Well that was quick! See you back on Main Event and Superstars, Tyler.

I'm split on seeing Ambrose vs. Jericho. I kind of expected Y2J to get involved with the WWE Championship match.

Pretty funny Golden Truth segment. I do wonder what the end game is for this team and the division as a whole.

- Y2J/Owens vs. Styles/Cesaro:
Jericho and Styles work well together.

Owens is always hysterical in the ring.

This is pretty good so far. I don't know what it is about Cesaro; I just don't really see him as higher than IC/U.S. Title level.

AJ is an incredible wrestler from an in-ring perspective. Japan did him well.

Fine ending to keep Zayn/Owens going.

Owens vs. Zayn at Payback and Extreme Rules should be amazing.

More wrestling coming up.