When AEW first launched we knew they had the pieces for a successful start. They had indy dsrlings and former WWE names. But any successful promotion can’t exist forever on that alone. Proven stars are expensive and typically come with plenty of holes already punched on their “bump cards” So you need to be able to grow and develop young, new, home-grown stars to pair with the established names. WCW did it with guys like Goldberg, DDP and The Giant. WWE did it with the likes of The Rock, Kurt Angle, John Cena, Batista and Randy Orton. TNA even did it to a lesser extent with the likes of Team Canada and AMW. But could AEW do the same? I can’t say if Hook and Jade Cargill will be legends in this business like some of the names I listed but they are on track to be bonafide stars now and that’s a big credit to AEW. Tony Khan and company are keeping it cool, keeping it simple and not overthinking things with these 2 and it’s working perfectly! So that being said, let’s rank a great, LIVE episode of Rampage!
Honorable Mention: Bryan Danielson. He didn’t wrestle. He didn’t cut a promo. All he did was stand in the crowd and clap for Mox after his match and stare him down as he returned to the back. This was all I needed to see though. I was so excited at the prospect of heel Mox v. face Bryan at Full Gear and it looks we’ll be getting it after all, but with the roles reversed. This could be great and I hope Bryan is the same self-righteous s.o.b. towards Moxley he was when he had the HEMP championship. I’m not saying I want them to copy C.M. Punk v. Jeff Hardy but if they wanted to meld that and the “Planet’s Champion” I’d be very, very happy.
5. Jon Moxley. Honestly, I enjoyed Rampage so much this week that you could almost put these 5 in any order. But Mox gets to main event a sold out Hammerstein Ballroom against Homicide for GCW this Sunday night so that’s enough of an honor that he can settle for 5th place on my rankings. Page was the perfect quality vet to put Mox in there with for his big return and he didn’t miss a beat. Aside from a table that gave in quicker than me being bribed with free ice cream this match was nearly flawless. Page worked over Mox leg and nearly won with an Avalanche Powerslam but when he went to cover Mox caught him in a crucifix and delivered elbows to the face, then knees to the face and finally turning it into a bulldog choke to send Ethan Page off to sleep. Maybe Page can tell that demon from Moxley’s dream that he’s coming for him! When Page woke up Mox hit a paradigm shift for good measure.
4. Nick Jackson. “Hey, so I know this was supposed to be a tag match but Rocky can’t go so you wanna just go out and tear the house down with the 2 of us?” – Nick
3. Trent Beretta. “Yeah man, sounds good!” – Trent. Or at least that’s how I imagine that conversation went. Commentary mentioned these 2 have shared a ring over 50 times but never met in a single match until now. This was everything you’d expect in a fast paced, high flying Young Bucks match but with just 1 Buck. Nick spent most of the match working over Trent’s medically repaired neck. He hit a great looking Canadian Destroyer he launched into from the apron into the ring. We also got a senton from Nick to Trent on the ramp, a 450 to Trent inside for 2 and a super kick. Despite surviving an earlier onslaught from Trent that included a half and half suplex and piledriver Nick ultimately succumbed to a Strong 0 when Trent caught a super kick attempt and nailed his finisher. This match got a “This is awesome!” chant and absolutely deserved it. In any other week they’d probably have gotten my #1 and #2 spots on these rankings.
2. Hook. Sick and tired of hearing all these people talk about “What’s the deal with this Hook life and when is it gonna fade out?” The thing you got to realize, what Hook’s doing is not a trend. He’s got the gift of suplexes. He’s gonna bring it ’til the end. Hook made short work of Serpentico tonight. Taking it to him mid-streamer throw. A bunch of throws and a standing Redrum later and Hook was victorious. QT Marshall tried to confront Hook as Hook casually walked past him on the ramp but that was a mistake as Hook then tossed him like a sack of potatoes and walked over him like the A.I. to Marshall’s Tyronn Lue.
1. Jade Cargill. The first match Cagematch has listed for Anna Jay was in November of 2019. Cargill’s was March of 2021. For the “veteran” in this match to be somebody who first wrestled a few months before the pandemic shutdowns this could have easily been a disaster. But it wound up being a lot of fun. They followed the tried and try “K.I.S.S.” (keep it simple stupid) method here and it paid off. Unlike every piece I write for this site they didn’t overstay their welcome with a main event that went a shade under 9 minutes and they were aided by the outside antics of Johnny Hungiee and “Smart” Mark Sterling. We got a hilarious Silver and Cargill pose down that ended in Silver ducking, allowing Jay to smash Cargill. Jay tried to lock in what she dubbed for the night as the “B*tch slayer” to Cargill as she was in the ring and Jay was on the apron but got guillotined for her troubles. Outside Silver grabbed Sterling by the tie and hit a brainbuster. Then we got a really fun finishing sequence where Jay went for a backslide for 2, Jade nailed a pump kick, Jade then picked her up for Jaded but Anna rolled through, kicked out the back of her knees and locked in a Queenslayer. Jade powered through and lifted Jay up and put her in the corner. Jay tried to lock in the Queemslayer again perched in the corner but Jade escaped and caught a kick from the charging Anna Jay into a 1 arm powerbomb followed by Jaded for 3. The night closed with Jade standing tall after her 1st defense of the TBS title and a Goldberg-like 25-0 graphic on the tron.
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