I’ve been lukewarm on Rampage lately and this week didn’t have any classic matches but did push some stories along and give us some interesting happenings so let’s jump into the rankings!
Honorable Menrion: Keith Lee, Best Friends, Ari Daivari, Toni Storm, Hikaru Shida and The Dark Order. Lee told Swerve he didn’t have to cheat to win and was “swerving” into the wrong lane and I’m hoping we get that implosion at Full Gear in what should easily be a “match of the year” contender. Best Friends challenged Death Triangle to a trios title match so all the boys can get gold Tuesday and Cassidy was surprised Dynamite was Tuesday. In a segment reminiscent of the fun low card Attitide Era stuff Daivari said $50,000 were in the envelope Hook tore up because he wanted to buy the FTW title but instead now he’ll beat him for it. Shida said she carried the women’s division during the pandemic like Mox did for the men and Storm said she respects Shida but will hurt her. Jose The Assistant tried to recruit 10 again but 10 said after losing their trios title match it’s now effecting the team so he wants Rush next week and if he wins they have to leave him alone. 10 with Rush without Andrade feels random so I’m expecting him to win. Though an eventual fun pivot could have been Spears and an unmaked Preston Vance as The Perfect 10s but with a reunited Pinnacle that seems unlikely. The segment ended with a surprise hand held in a claw gesture on the Dark Order huddle break and the pull back to reveal Stu Grayson who said he couldn’t miss being in Canada. I hope he’s back for good and he and Uno get some TV matches again.
5. Dalton Castle. The Jericho Appreciation Society came out sans Hager, Sammy and Tay. “Daddy Magic” talked about how his nipples are made hard by the knowledge that the J.A.S. will be together forever. Anna Jay hyped up Daniel Garcia. Garcia said that Bryan taught him about heart and spirit but when Jericho hit him in the head with the title he taught him how to win. And that was when he realized sports entertainers beat pro wrestlers every time. His name is Daniel Garcia and he is a sports entertainer. Jericho bragged about teaching Garcia a lesson and claimed that he’s going to continue to beat every former ROH champ and establish the Ring of Jericho. This brought out Dalton Castle who called Jericho a silly goose and got it chanted. He’s a power peacock pumping peacock power into this building and the energy in this room is pumping from his veins. And if he gets a title shot next week on Dynamite he’ll be the new Ring of Honor world champion. Jericho accepts and says he’s going to pull out his feathers one by one and all will honor the ocho. Castle was shockingly over here. I was a big fun of his at his peak but it feels like he’s been out of the spotlight for so long now that I thought people would have forgotten about him more than they seem to have. Also The Boys and 2.0 would be the perfect clash of jobber/low tier tag teams if they wanted to throw that on Rampage or even Dark one week. I did not like the way this went with Garcia. I was hoping we’d have gotten Daniel pulling a “nobody beats Chris but me” card leading to a 3 way at the PPV and while I still think we’re getting to either Garcia v. Jericho or a triple threat there AEW once again teasing a turn and going back on it feels tiring and unnecessary.
4. Nyla Rose. “The Native Beast” was out with Vickie Guererro and Marina Shafir and announced as the self-proclaimed TBS Champion. Her opponent tonight was Anna Jay.A.S. Rose went for a cannonball in the corner but Jay avoided it. Anna tried for the Queenslayer but Nyla fought out of it and hit a Beast Bomb for the win. Vickie held up a giant 1-0 sign as they celebrated. This brought out Jade Cargill and The Baddies. The Baddies tried to go down first to get past security but they blocked them and Jade decked the security guards as Nyla and company snuck away still holding the Championship belt. If you follow Nyla on social media you know she’s one of the funniest people on this roster so I’m glad she’s getting to incorporate that a little more. Her and Jade should be a lot of fun and if the PPV wasn’t so far away I’d almost wish they could stretch this until then. Though with AEW there’s always the chance they just drop the story off TV entirely and pick it up closer to the PPV.
3. Ethan Page. “All Ego” faced off with Isiah Kassidy tonight. Page threw his gear at Kassidy and hit him with a pump kick immediately before the bell even rang. Page taunted Matt Hardy on the floor with tue Jeff Hardy dance. Kassidy tried for a moonsault but was caught and turned it into a tornado DDT that he followed up with a torneo to the floor. Stokely Hathaway got in Kassidy’s way on his way back to the ring which bought Page the time to avoid a swanton attempt and hit a Twist of Fate and then an Ego’s Edge to gain posession of the contracts of both Matt Hardy and Private Party for The Firm. I don’t like AEW having multiple contract stories going on at once, I wish they had more quality control there. And The Firm being involved feels so random. But whatever gets Private Party more TV time is fine by me. And as much as I want them as faces them with Stokely talking for them could help if they run with this longer than a week or 2.
2. Jon Moxley & Claudio Castagnoli. The BCC duo took on The Butcher and The Blade in the opening match of the night. All 4 men were already in the ring when the show started and they got right to brawling at the bell. The Bunny blocked Claudio’s attempt to get to The Blade in the corner and while the ref dealt with her it gave the dastardly duo the chance to double team Claudio. Castagnoli eventually gets a chance at the hot tag but on the heels of The Butcher knocking Moxley off the apron so the attempt came up empty. He eventually got back to it though and Moxley hit a cutter on The Blade and a tope suicida on The Butcher followed by a middle rope suplex and piledriver to The Blade but it only got a 2. Butcher came in with a crossbody on Moxley as he was stomping Blade. They tried to double team Moxley but Claudio came under the outstretched body of Moxley and carried him off the heels leading to a stare down and a huge ovation from the crowd. After a brief exchange Moxley hit a Death Rider on Blade as Claudio hit a Ricola Bomb on The Butcher for the win. After the match Moxley and Claudio both grabbed mics and Mox said the BCC doesn’t care who they’re in the ring with. He asked Claudio what’s going to happen to Adam Page if he doesn’t step up Tuesday on Dynamite and Claudio said he’ll get stepped on. This was a relatively quick match considering Mox and Castagnoli were in but but got the crowd going in a way a lot of Rampage matches haven’t lately.
1. The Pinnacle. Prince Nana started singing Ebony and Ivory in the back during the pre-match interview before Cage stopped him and talked about The Embassy being the best body guys in the business. Spears called Cage a 900 lb charisma vaccum and that Spears has some things he has to atone for. FTR said The Embassy might look good on a poster but The Pinnacle is always at the top. Spears entered in full Tye Dillinger 10 mode. The Pinnacle all had pink and black Hart themed attire with the show in Toronto, Canada. Toa Liona and Brian Cage caught Spears trying to come over the top with a crossbody and Wheeler dropkicked Spears to send The Embassy falling over but The Embassy was able to get the upper hand on Spears with all 3 guys taking turns working him over again during the commercial. Kaun and Nana mocked Spears with the 10 chants. Liona hit a back senton to Spears on the apron and Cage took him from the arpron to the canvas with a 2nd rope suplex but it only got a 2 count. Cage got Spears on his shoulders but Spears turned it into a tornado DDT. Kaun was able to cut off a tag attempt from Spears but he managed to tag Dax Harwood in on a second attempt. He hit Kaun with a spinebuster but Cage attacked Harwood from behind and Kaun hit a White Noise followed by an elbow drop from Cage but Spears broke up the pin. Cage hit Spears with an F5 but Cash Wheeler was able to stop a double team attempt and he and Dax locked Sharpshooters on Cage and Kaun as Spears locked one in on Nana. But with the numbers game on their side Toa Liona came in to break it up. He spiked Dax with a uranage and tried to crush him against the stairs outside but Wheeler pulled Dax out of the way. Cage tried to powerbomb Dax outside but Spears caught Cage with a superkick as he held Dax in the set-up. Cage tried a discus lariat but Spears kicked his knee out and DDT’d him on the floor. Dax tried to sunset flip Bishop Kaun but Kaun sat down and held the ropes for leverage and Wheeler knocked his hands off at the count of 2 to help break the pin. FTR hit a Hart Attack on Kaun followed by a C4 from Spears for a win for The Pinnacle. Before they could even celebrate The Kingdom come out for the first time on AEW TV and Maria Kanellis-Bennett said those ROH Tag Titles were theirs first and this company was built on their shoulders and they never get credit for it. She introduces Matt Taven and Mike Bennett as The Kingdom and The Embassy jumps The Pinnacle as commentary questions if the 2 groups have aligned. That brings out WarJoe and The Embassy and The Kingdom duck out of the ring. The ending was AEW’s signature overdone crammed for time cluster ending so many matches seem to get, especially big Rampage matches. The Kingdom does nothing for me unless Mike and Maria are leaving Taven in the dust and getting the rights to the forgotten gem that was Mike’s WWE song. And I feel similarly about Spears but FTR did a good job of lifting him up here even if this whole thing feels like it’s dragging Joe and Wardlow down a bit. A face Pinnacle sans MJF is interesting and if handled right should play into the tease of an MJF face turn we’ve been getting. This 5 on 5 should be a fun one off through but I wish they’d save it to closer to Thanksgiving. They may want to avoid the WWE comparisons but 5 on 5 just feels like Thanksgiving to me. I almost wonder if with enough work the next 2 months we could pivot and get a heel BCC v. face Pinnacle feud. Time will tell.
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