Yours truly took the shuttle bus from the Emerald parking lot to the UBS Arena for my third live Dynamite and Rampage. Hence why you should be reading this in an unusually timely manner and with a less move heavy recap than I’d normally give. This wasn’t on par with Rampage Grand Slam and I had no delusion that it would be but it was better than the Newark offering and a really fun show considering we knew literally no matches for it prior to this evening.
So it’s time for the main event (of weekly wrestling recaps and Power Rankings)!
5: Nyla Rose, The Bunny and Penelope Ford: To be completely honest, at this point in the show it was starting to feel long so I admittedly didn’t pay as much attention to this as I should have. It didn’t have the excitement of the debut the Hook match had. It didn’t have the stakes the tag title match had. And we couldn’t do “BAY! BAY!” and “BOOM!” the way we could with the main event. So this match was in a hard spot. But it seemed fine for what it was and in the end Nyla Rose got the win with the Beast Bomb on one half of Tay-Jay. This really just felt like a way to further the Ruby v. Nyla story and it did it’s job.
4: FTR: For a period of time in NXT when they were facing off with teams like American Alpha and #DIY I was convinced FTR was the best tag team on God’s green earth and lately they’ve been reminding me of why I felt that way. Their recent string of matches has been (insert fire emoji here)
3: Adam Cole: You know it’s all about The Boom and Cole proved it when he put Wheeler Yuta away with a a big titular knee to the back of his head for the 3. This was relatively short by Cole standards but enjoyable while it lasted. I’d have liked to see Yuta get a bit more offense but this ultimately felt like it existed to further the Cassidy v. Cole feud. Cassidy showed that fire he so rarely shows after the match and ate a Panama Sunrise for his trouble. A BTE trigger to Trent left the Super Kliq standing tall to close the show. Cole & The Young Bucks v. The Best Friends is feeling very, very close to a Blood & Guts level feud and I am crossing all my fingers and toes that we get that clash on January 5th in the same building we were supposed to get the initial Blood & Guts. With Winter is Coming next week, Battle of the Belts in January and Revolution soon after I know it’s a long shot but let me dream!
2: Hook: You don’t have to say. What Hook did. I already know. I found out from him. Now there’s just no chance. That he and Dante. Will ever be. Don’t it make you sad about it? If Jungle Boy is Timberlake in N*Sync Hook is the darker, grittier, Justin as he transitioned to the harder solo JT. He still has the boyish look but with the badass feel. In his debut Hook was mega over with the Long Island crowd and showed some promise. His striking could use some work but he threw enough suplexes to make his lineage very apparent and toppled Fuego Del Sol via Tazmission. Hook’s build is a great example of “less is more” in wrestling and the imevitable clash of he and Dante Martin should be an absolute blast!
1: Lucha Bros: Rey Fenix never ceases to amaze me and doubly so in person. His balance and coordination is second to none and it was on display here. But one of the more meorable spots of this match wasn’t Rey soaring around but decking Tully Blanchard on the apron. I’m not ready to say FTR and Lucha Bros. have the chemistry Lucha Bros. and The Young Bucks have but it is damn close. There were plenty of false finishes that got me to bite including a scary but awesome Big Rig from FTR that I thought could have ended things. A big crossbody off the top sent one half of FTR crashing to break up the pin in a creative, fun twist on the normal break-up from the Lucha Bros. In the end though, The Lucha Bros. solidified once and for all that blood is thicker than water when they retained their A.E.W. Tag Team Championship via Fear Factor and pin.Â
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