“One of the individuals from the match (Steen) ended up severely injured the night before,” said Dastranj. “He couldn’t walk or get up off a chair properly backstage. In most events he probably would have canceled due to injury, but in this case he didn’t want to short-change the people who came out for this match. I was worried some fans would think that we advertised a singles knowing we would go with a tag match (all along). Nothing could be further from the truth.”
Gabe Sapolsky commented, saying, “I don’t think anything should be made of this unless it is an angle being worked by DGUSA and ROH, and it’s not. I believe both champions should be respected and protected. When Samoa Joe was ROH Champion when I was booking, he came to me about protecting the title to raise the prestige of it. I would say the plan worked. It should be upheld for the major independent wrestling titles today. The way I was raised in the business at least, have the courtesy of consulting with high-profile promotion of whatever major champion is involved.”