Another week of wrestling events, another week closer to the payoff for this round in the show. Stephanie sighs softly as she stares down at the list of competitors and their standing towards winning the big prize at the end of it all. She hums and looks up at the monitor, nodding. "It's time to begin."
The first match is another gauntlet match, something Stephanie had decided on to start the night off on a high note since they're doing a few different match types later on since they finally find themselves in an arena that can accomodate something she'd been eager to try since beginning this experiment.
ROH's Kyle O'Reilly starts off against Kofi Kingston, the two men struggling for the upperhand, to beat each other down to an early pin... but it doesn't work, Kofi's Trouble in Paradise getting reversed into a guillotine choke that Kofi can't free himself from and eventually passes out in. Kyle's smooth submissions hold him strong as Matt Hardy comes out, cocky and smug after winning the TNA title, his youth assisting him, Matt unable to hold on when Kyle transitions easily from an ankle lock to a cross armbreaker, Hardy reluctantly tapping out and rolling away, yelling senselessly at Kyle before escaping.
Roderick Strong is Kyle's next opponent and the two men stare at each other before shaking hands and moving into the dance that they're both pretty used to by now. They know each other well enough, their moves, their reversals, their agendas. It's hard to get the upperhand in a situation like that but, after a pendulum lariat that obviously rattles Roddy, Kyle takes over and dropkicks him before pulling him up from the mat and planting him into the mat with the brainbuster, cementing the victory for himself.
He's tired, sweating and all around ready to sit down and celebrate this victory when another theme music hits, his face scrunching up in disbelief as one of the entrants into ROH's Top Prospects- Punisher Martinez- comes out. He has no chance, having lost before his opponent even hits the ring. Kyle's fighting from behind so severely that he's not even sure what the finish is, what move spells his doom physically as much as mentally, just remembers coming to after the three count, staring up at the ceiling and absorbing the sign of respect from the audience, feeling wholly undeserving of it as he makes his way backstage.
Xavier Woods takes on, and defeats, Trevor Lee next, the crowd still buzzing after the gauntlet match. Michael Bennett's miracle fails him as he loses to Kalisto, unable to keep the upperhand against the man's highflying speed.
Johnny Mundo faces off against Jimmy Uso next. The two men move very fluidly, exchanging kicks and punches, mixing in highflying moves and more groundbased attacks until Johnny goes for The End of the World and misses, Jimmy rolling away and letting Johnny's form slam into the mat before he goes for a splash from the top rope, forcing more of the breath out of Johnny's lungs. He can do nothing to stop it as Jimmy floats over and pins him, his eyes darkening with disgust as he sits up a loser and takes in the crowd's jeering. Waving them off viciously, he storms backstage, eager to leave this building.
The next match is what Stephanie's been eager to watch, see how the non-WWE wrestlers take to it. An Elimination Chamber. She smirks as it is set up, reinforced, examined by those aware of how to piece it together. It takes time but it's worth it, she hopes, as the competitors make it to the ring and into their pods, two of the men staying out to start the match. Every few minutes, a pod would open to allow someone new into the fray.
Titus O'Neil and Stardust eye each other, dislike evident on both of their faces until the bell rings. They lock up, exchanging stiff punches and arm drags, scattered other moves, Stardust snarling and fighting whenever Titus gets a bit of an advantage against him. He's just dropkicked Titus away from him when the pods light up, revealing the newest entrant into the match. Big E races in and starts battling them down until Stardust gets ahold of him and Titus surprises both of them by rattling them down to the mat, Stardust gasping and struggling to get to his feet. Big E beats him and, by the time he's on his feet, the two men are struggling to get the upperhand on each other.
Stardust goes to the top of the nearest turnbuckle and dropkicks both of them down, trying to pin Titus. He kicks out and Stardust goes after Big E, suffering the same result from him. He's struggling to piece something together when the next chamber opens and Lashley joins in, quickly taking all three men down and suplexing the first up- Big E. The crowd buzzes and boos when he tries to pin Big E but fails. Turning attention to Stardust, Lashley lifts him up and has just moved to drop him as well when he gets dropkicked by Titus, Stardust landing awkwardly on his side. Time passes as the group of them try to get any sort of traction going against the other, and then Crazzy Steve joins the match. He bites, he's crazy and feral, and none of them know what to do with him. The few minutes they get before Bobby Fish enters goes by quickly and before they expect it, ROH's former tag team champion joins them and tries to defeat Crazzy Steve just to get caught by Lashley's suplex and pinned quickly.
Crazzy Steve, however, doesn't last much longer as he bites and claws at Titus and nearly gets clotheslined out of his boots for his troubles. Titus' pin is clear, more simple than Steve had deserved. Titus and Big E then turn their attention to the non-WWE guy, Lashley, and sends him flying over the ropes onto the hard steel grating outside, Stardust staggering after them. Between the three of them, they leave barely able to sit up or move, and so it's just expected when they work together to pin him. Alliances never last long, however, and before long Titus forearm shivers Big E, leaves him sputtering like a fish out of water before Titus pins him. Titus is doing his weird barking thing at Big E as Stardust sneaks up behind him, rolls him up and pins him to win the entire thing. He celebrates by hissing at the crowd and then leaves while ignoring the response to this with a sneer.
Next up is Okada vs Pentagon Jr. vs Eric Young, the three men eyeing each other suspiciously as they wait for the bell to ring, Okada's dollar bills still raining from the ceiling. The crowd is clearly uncomfortable for NJPW's champion due to his being stuck in a match with the deranged Young and the plain evil Pentagon Jr. But Okada is smart so he evades what he can and lets EY and Pentagon fight, the two men exchanging blows and knees until Eric attempts a backbreaker just for Pentagon to reverse it into a Fujiwara armbar. Eric struggles to get free, but before he can, Okada re-introduces himself to the match and knees Pentagon in the head, causing the man to release the hold.
As Pentagon Jr. approaches him, Okada's ego falters and he swallows, eyes flickering before trying a dropkick, barely able to get enough space to achieve the move- not that it matters anyway, Pentagon grabbing him out of mid-air and powerbombing him onto his knee. Okada hisses, cursing in Japanese, before rolling away to try to recover, return to this match properly. Pentagon Jr. is intercepted by Young, who catches him and hits a belly to bell suplex, trying to pin him... just for his arm to get caught and twisted back into the armbar again. Eric struggles and yells, but there's nothing for it- he taps when Pentagon Jr. refuses to allow him to make it over to the ropes with sheer force of will.
The crowd falls silent when Pentagon Jr. doesn't let the move go after the bell rings, snapping Eric's arm back and effectively breaking it. He yells and writhes, Okada watching from the corner, eyes wide in horror at how close he'd come to that being him. Scurring out of the ring, the IWJP champion is met at the ramp by his manager, Gedo, who also looks freaked out. Pentagon Jr stands over EY and merely laughs, a cold, dark cackle that sends shivers through anyone who hears it.
The audience is still, clearly, broken after that match, barely reacting as Ryback defeats Bram and Naomi wins a battle royal against Brie, Charlotte and Tamina. They come back to life, some, when Roman Reigns comes out, more whispers and confused chatter following when Matt Taven makes his way to the ring, walking awkwardly due to his knee injury. He eyes the man, hopping into the ring, and Roman shakes his head in disbelief, talking with the ref. "Hey, pretty boy," Taven yells at him. "Don't talk to the referee, focus on me." He throws his crutch out of the ring and stands tall, despite being careful with how much weight he puts on his knee and stares Roman down.
Roman shakes his head. "Who authorized this crap?" he demands of the referee, but Taven had wrestled with his knee hurt before and he's not about to lose this opportunity, no matter what, so it's not much of a surprise when he lunges forward and punches Roman, pissing the Samoan off and ridding him of most of the reluctance he might've had going against Taven. Still, he hesitates, allowing Taven to get a few more good shots in before swatting him away like he's a fly with a Superman Punch that downs Taven.
Rolling out of the ring, Matt breathes in and out a few times before grabbing his crutch and wandering ringside slowly, ignoring the jeers of the fans and the referee's rebukes. Roman grows impatient and goes out after him, the referee's admonishes growing in volume until Bennett runs out in aid of his former tag partner, still gritting his teeth over his loss to Kalisto and refusing to allow Taven to suffer the same kind of humiliation. He successfully distracts the referee and allows Matt to get in a few stiff shots with his crutch that winds Roman, Taven then diving back into the ring and arguing with the referee, allowing Bennett to run around and hitting a piledriver on the floor to the dazed man.
Taven then pushes the referee towards the ropes, yelling at him to count, count, dammit!, just giving Bennett enough time to get away. The referee grouses, but counts anyway, Roman starting to stir at the count of seven... but, no matter how much people cheer, trying to encourage him on, he can't get his feet under him and Taven wins via countout, Roman just missing beating the count inside. A groan fills the arena, but Taven looks like he's just won a world title on his birthday, laughing ecstatically as Bennett holds his crutch so he can get out of the ring without mishap. As they leave, they hold their fingers in the sign for The Kingdom, absolutely smug over taking it to the former WWE champion so easily.
The next match results in Mark Henry defeating Abyss, and Dolph Ziggler somehow holds his own in a two-on-one match against Jack Swagger and Darren Young, getting his first win of the show. Jey Uso follows this by succeeding in a four man match against AJ Styles, Big Show, and The Mack to the fans' pleasant surprise.
It's finally time for the main event as Prince Puma enters the ring, followed by Dean Ambrose, who has the crowd getting out of their seats in response for the match that's to come. The two men eye each other before they approach, Dean laughing at him. Puma takes advantage of this and slaps him hard across the face, Dean gasping before lunging forward and punching Puma in response, the former heavyweight champion's head whipping to the side before he turns to face Dean once more, his eyes just visible through his mask as he glowers at his opponent. Another exchange of punches and kicks, and Puma loses his patience, elbowing him hard in the throat, then kneeing him just as roughly in the ribs and sending him to his knees, gasping for air.
Dean is struggling to stand once more, finally grabbing Puma by the legs and sending him down as well, punching him hard before diving onto him and slamming him with forearms and fists, winding Puma sufficiently enough that they're both barely able to sit up, much less continue the match. If not for the referee counting above them, both men would probably still be struggling to regain their senses on the mat. Dean gets to his feet first and, once Puma's up, meets him with a rough lariat that sends him back to one knee. Dean's eyes gleam and he tries to hit the Dirty Deeds from this awkward position, gasping like a fish out of water as Puma reverses it and kicks him in the back of the head, repeating the action until Dean releases him.
Puma then goes up to the top rope in an attempt to hit his 630 Senton, but Dean recovers enough to hit him with a missile dropkick, then hitting him with a rough elbow to his chest, following it up with even more punches. Dean grows bored of this after a few moments, moving away and kicking Puma between the shoulders, watching as he arches away painfully. Dean's laughing when he feels his balance fail, his face impacting with the mat thanks to Puma's droptoe hold. Simple move, but effective. Especially after everything else in this match. He rolls onto his back just to find Puma mid-spin before he lands heavily across Dean's midsection, ridding him of whatever oxgen he has left. Admittedly, Puma is a little worse for wear after this match too but he finds it in himself to roll over and pin Dean's shoulders to the mat, grabbing his nearest leg and holding it up.
Dean cannot find it in himself to move, his vision spinning as his throat and sternum throbs. He registers when the three count is achieved, but still can't move. It's not until Puma's weight is off of him and he can focus on the crowd's chatter that he remembers. Blinks his eyes open and looks around, finding Puma standing in front of him, arm outstretched. Dean grunts and struggles to get up on his own, failing... and finally giving up, taking his opponent's peace offering and pulling himself up. Puma nods and releases his hand just to hold his own gloved hand out. Dean frowns for a moment before realizing it's to shake hands. Why not... Gripping Puma's fingers tightly, he gives the man's hand a rough, brisk shake before releasing it and walking off, his shoulders held high despite the loss.