Tonight was the 50th episode of Rampage which means this is my 49th time ranking an episode and while it didn’t have any of the big AEW Title matches or blood feud blow-offs you might expect from a big show like that it was a fun show regardless. So let’s get to ranking!
Honorable Mention: Miro and Christopher Daniels. Miro’s AEW run has been so strange full of starts and stops but he had a great promo tonight. He said ever since he was hit with the mist he feels claws in his back pulling him down. Something is closing in around him and time is running out but the darker things get the clearer he sees “you”. He questioned if he should let the pagans take him or rip off their heads and tear up their spines? He asked again, did God send The House of Black to destroy The Redeemer or to recruit him? Daniels, who I thought was retired from AEW after the Kaz story a while back, said if Lethal, Dutt and Singh keep putting Joe’s name in their mouths he’d slap it out. Daniels v. Lethal would be a fun little throwback to their ROH and TNA days.
5. The Acclaimed. Yo. Listen. Gunn Club came out to explain their actions but Acclaimed cut them off, they’re my favorite faction. Caster went acapella, said Billy was hung like a tadpole. Then challenged them to fight but Austin Gunn said; now? Hell no.
4. Kris Statlander & Athena. They made quick work of Charlette & Robyn Renegade tonight with immediate double drop kicks and corner whips before the bell even rang. They whipped the Renegades into each other and Statlander swept out a leg that caused one Renegade to flatline the other (they’re identical twins so I’m not sure who was who) and then back senton’d both. Statlander lifted one into an electric chair and dropped her into double knees from Athena coming off the middle rope and finally the bell rang. Athena hit a back suplex and the O Face for 3. After the match intetim baddie Leila Grey got on the apron and Statlander got her in the electric chair position but as Athena climbed to the top Kiera Hogan and Jade Cargill ran down. Hogan kicked out Stat’s bad knee and Cargill hit Athena with an inverted pumphandle slam type move that looked really cool. As the heels walked off Jade still seemed unsold on the idea of Grey as a baddie.
3. Jonathan Gresham. The ROH World Champion came out with the full assembly of Tully Blanchard Enterprises and his challenger Lee Moriarty was accompanied by Matt Sydal. Caprice Coleman joined commentary and Bobby Cruise was the ring announcer which are the little touches on ROH matches in AEW that I really appreciate. Despite showing no honor when he turned on Lee last week Gresham still followed the code of honor and shook Moriarty’s hand to start the match. But he quickly showed his honor is gone when he took off his wrist tape and as the ref was removing it from the ring seized the opportunity to chop Moriarty low. After some back and forth Gresham locked in The Octopus and Moriarty had no choice but to tap. I was disappointed that this didn’t even go 10 minutes. It felt like a missed opportunity to really put Moriarty on the map but later in the night he was approached by Stokley Hathaway who asked what Sydal has done for him and told Lee to call him; so that could be interesting. I want Stokely to grow his stable of clients and add some men to his list. Sydal ripped up the card and said he wanted Lee to fight somebody with honor so he’ll be facing Dante Martin next week which should be bananas! After the match Gresham was interviewed by Tony Schiavone and said he was the best hold for hold wrestler in the world and he’s going to beat all of our favorites one by one. This brought out Claudio Castagnoli and as I predicted the match between Claudio and Gresham became official for Death Before Dishonor. Claudio spent 6 years in ROH and never held the title so I’d be all for him winning. But do they think it’s too soon to end Gresham’s reign because despite him having 17 defenses after tonight very few of them have been seen by a wide audience. I think if you let BCC show up, and we know at least Yuta will be there already, you can even the odds against TBE and have Claudio win without Gresham taking much of a hit.
2. The Kings of the Black Throne. The Kings dethroned the #4 team in the rankings when they took out The Dark Order’s Alex Reynolds and John Silver. Silver showed he may not be the “big strong boy” Tyler Bate is but he’s definitely strong when after a few failed attempts he finally knocked Brody King down with a shoulder block. Sadly for him King popped right back up and flattened Silver with one of his own. King caught Alex Reynolds’ tope suicida attempt and choke slammed him onto the apron before following up with a back senton for 2. Dark Order tried to fight back, hitting King with a flurry of shots preceding a neckbreaker/German Suplex attempt that they couldn’t hit. So they tried the shots again and finally got the combo to land. Reynolds jackknige covered King but in a clever spot Malakai Black flew across the ring from the top rope and dropkicked King’s behind to roll him out of the pin. Black and King then hit a Dante’s Inferno for the win. As The Kings of the Black Throne were leaving Darby Allin flew off the entrance tunnel onto King and they brawled around the stage area. Black came back out but so did Sting and they stared each other down daring each other to get involved. Both feigned leaving only to return but they let King and Darby have a fair fight.
1. The Lucha Bros. During the pre-match interview with Mark Henry the former Andrade Family Office members Private Party congratulated Andrade on the wedding but said they couldn’t trust him because he didn’t answer Kassidy’s calls, texts, WhatsApp messages, his MySpace messages or even calls to “(his) pops” The MySpace one really got me. But not as much as Marq Quen now having short, all black hair. It’s going to take time to adjust to him not having the Odell look. But Private Party said they can trust their talent and tonight they were going to “Spread Love. It’s the Brooklyn way.” Abrahantes translated The Lucha Bros. message which was that Andrade understands how sacred the masks are to luchadores and that taking them doesn’t make him better than them but it does make him a piece of trash. In the ring this had all the crazy, frenetic action you’d expect from these 4 men. Private Party hit stero dives to the outside on Lucha Bros. on the same side of the ring with Kassidy going through the ropes and Quen over the top. Inside Fenix avoided a 450 from Quen and hit a rolling cutter. Private Party hit a Silly String on Penta and Kassidy followed up with a bottom rope springboard cutter to Fenix over the top rope. Andrade rammed Penta into the barricade outside and Kassidy did the same and hit a “Cero Miedo” taunt next to him. Fenix hit a wild looking double knees to the corner that he managed to land on his feet from. He followed that up with a simultaneous Gory Bomb to Quen and leg drop to Kassidy. Kassidy hit a Doomsday crossbody but only got a 2 count…twice as he tried for a 2nd cover. There was a nice little spot where Quen went for a pin following a Manhattan drop/kick combo but the ref refused to count because his feet were on the ropes but as he was arguing with the ref he kneeled across the throat of his opponent. Penta then had an undortunately slip up as he fell off the top rope during what looked like it was supposed to be a crossbody attempt. But he recovered and knocked Kassidy into the corner and then hit a Death Valley Driver on Quen into Kassidy. Penta followed that up with a Made In Japan on Quen for just 2. Jose got on the apron but Alex Abrahantes pulled him off and with the ref distracted Andrade tried to get involved but Penta kicked him off the apron. Rush ran down and forearmed Penta in the back of the head. But as he tried to throw Penta out he instead threw him into Marq Quen, allowing Penta to nail a Canadian Destroyer and tag Fenix who hit a Black Fire Driver for 3. After the match Private Party did not look too pleased with Rush and Andrade. I’d LOVE to see Private Party get a proper face run and them v. Andrade and Rush could be a blast!
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