It’s the biggest weekend of the wrestling year. The Collective has become the yearly indie highlight, showcasing some of the best unsigned talent in the world and helping talent establish themselves with a wider set of eyes. WrestleMania has long been the mainstream wrestling Super Bowl helping talent become household names. Then there’s Rampage, a show so inconsequential it’s own booker and owner decided to counterprogram it with ROH’s Supercard of Honor PPV. But alas, I agreed to rank this show every week and if nothing else I’m a man of my word so here’s the rankings for the least exciting and likely near least watched show this weekend.
Honorable Mention: Keith Lee, Swerve Strickland, Anna Jay and Ethan Page. We got a video package focusing on Keith Lee v. Swerve Strickland. Swerve respects the danger of Keith Lee. Lee said just because he looks benevolent that doesn’t mean he doesn’t know who Swerve is or what he has to do. Swerve fancies yourself a mogul but if he put Swerve 6 feet deep will that make him an underground rapper? *insert BARS! reaction gif here* Swerve has an army assembled to take him out for good. Swerve promised his words have weight to them. I’m still curious if Swerve does introduce new underlings to try to stop Lee and who they could be. I love the idea of Lee being ready to unleash a more violent side than we’ve seen from him even if I’m annoyed this feud has been so start and stop. Anna Jay cut a solid promo about Julia Hart that ended with her saying she was going to test if she really liked pain and calling her a “Spooky bitch!” which was funny. Ethan Page and Matt Hardy talked about how Matt got the contract all set for Page’s match with Hook on Dynamite because Stokely is out and Page had an amusing line to the effect of “You have my back? Well give me yours!” as he spun Matt around and signed the contract on his back. I like Page a lot so I really hope he gets to look good against Hook ans he a pretty long (by Hook standards) match before inevitably losing
5. The QTV Crew. QT asked for suggestions for Hobbs’ next opponent. Harley Cameron suggested Alex Abrahantes and Bow Wow as possible opponents for Hobbs but got laughed off. QT debuted the Dirt Sheet Driver in a celp phone clip and said he stole from Kobashi and Solo said “The sausage?” which made me chuckle. QT said because it’s from Japan “the marks already love it” which was another great line. Cameron asked what if he hit it 4 times in a row and Solo says to call it The Dirt Sheet Symphony. They all laugh and start chanting QT while swinging their arms like conductors. As down as I was on The Factory these segments are genuinely funny to me and as somebody who adores visual changes in wrestling the office setting and TMZ mockery are things I enjoy more than most.
4. Taya Valkyrie. Valkyrie was back in action against her most notable AEW opponent so far, Marina Shafir who was on a 6 match winning streak. She took off her shoes and socks and threw her socks at the crowd which was more personality than I’d ever seen her show before. Jade Cargill, Mark Sterling (complete with a band-aid on his nose) and Leila Grey came out with a process server waiting to see if Taya used the Road to Valhalla or not. Taya did it anyway for the quick win. I know Moxley praised Shafir in his interview with Renee this week but even after watching her against Killer Kelly at Bloodsport she’s just not clicking for me. Jade grabbed the mic and told “Tootie” (the process server) to “handle this” and she brought the order to the ring. Taya took the papers and disregarded them hitting Tootie with The Road to Valhalla. Jade tried to run down but Grey and Sterling held her back. They’ve done a solid job building this match and I enjoy people feuding over a move. It’s something AEW hasn’t done much, if at all.
3. Juice Robinson. No triple box tonight again for the main event of Juice v. Action Andretti which always saddens me. This took place despite Juice saying last week he wouldn’t wrestle in the state of Missiouri. I was slightly perturbed that nobody brought that up on commentary even if it was just as a quick line about “Well whether you want to or not you gotta lace up the boots when the boss tells you too.” Andretti hit a bottom rope torneo splash that looked great and later a springboard seated moonsault outside followed by a flying lariat off the top inside that looked a bit awkward because of what seemed to be bad positioning. Action also hit a tornado DDT abd tried for a running shooting star press but was greeted with a big side kick followed by a Juice Is Loose to give Robinson the win. After the bell Juice mocked Ricky Starks with his pose and teased hitting a Roshambo but Starks ran down and chased Juice up the ramp. Juice doesn’t move the needle for me much but I do find his promos amusing and I’m glad to see Starks involved with somebody who isn’t Jericho or Hobbs. I’m sure the match will be solid Wednesday.
2. Kings of the Black Throne. Brody King and Malakai Black took on The Best Friends. A personal highlight of the match was finding out Paul Wight, Jim Ross, Tony Schiavone, Justin Roberts and Excalibur’s Dad all, like me, have sleep apnea after somebody mentioned that possibly being a reason Chuck Taylor always looks so disheveled. After a few minutes of the match Brody powerbombed Chuck through a table and Trent hit King with a chair. Black kicked the chair into Trent’s face finally causing a DQ. Because AEW does DQs so sparingly (this is only the 3rd I can recall) it’s always a surprise when they actually call them but I didn’t mind it here. I wish there was a little more to the story before the match leading to the DQ but sometimes you just start or launch a story during the match so I can’t complain too much. After the bell they set up Chuck for the Dante’s Inferno but Orange Cassidy’s music played. Buddy Matthews cut him off on the ramp and blocked an Orange Punch with a trios title belt. They went on to hit the Dante’s Inferno on Chuck before the trios champs and Julia Hart taunted Cassidy on the ramp. Later in the show they made a Trios Championship match between these 6 men official for Dynamite in Long Island. With Julia Hart in the corner of House of Black and the rumors she’s close to returning I can see this being a set-up for Kris Statlander to come back to TV and in Long Island she should get a big pop. But whether she does or doesn’t that match should be a blast!
1. Sammy Guevara. Sammy faced off with fellow rising prospect Konosuke Takeshita in the night’s opening contest. Takeshita got to show off his ability hitting a tope con hilo, a release German suplex off his knees and catching Sammy diving backwards into a Blue Thunder Bomb that looked fantastic. After a solid back and forth match Sammy won with a GTH that he hit after Tay distracted Takeshita. Jungle Boy and Darby were shown watching in the back during the course of this match as commentary questioned which of the 3 pillars would get a shot at the 4th first. A 4 way for the AEW title at Double or Nothing could tear the house down and if we also get BCC v. The Elite in Anarchy in the Arena or some other gimmick match that’d be as strong a 1-2 punch for what I like as they’ve offered on PPV. Throw in The Outcasts v. the AEW Originals in Blood and Guts or a gimmick match of their own (because realistucally we probably get 1 of the faction wars at Blood and Guts on TV and the other at Anarchy in the Arena 2) and you’re really cooking with gas! Though with the way Tony can get off path in his stories I wouldn’t be shocked to see Darby v. Sammy v. Jungle Boy on Dynamite sometime soon to crown a #1 contender and then having the 2 losers face off at the PPV. Time will tell.
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