On a loaded weekend of content featuring Wild Card baseball, pre-season basketball and hockey, NFL games, college football, a WWE premium live event and even another AEW show I still managed to make time to watch and write about tonight’s Rampage. And while it didn’t feel like it pushed as much along as I wish it had and we did get screwed out of the advertised Andrade v. 10 match, the matches themselves delivered. So let’s rank them!
Honorable Menrion: Eddie Kingston. He apologizes for losing control at Grand Slam and makes it clesr while yelling off camera that it’s only because the producer makes him. He says he only gets 30 seconds but MJF gets 15 minutes. He sees how it is. This largely feels like nothing but could end up being something if we’re getting Kingston facing MJF for the A.E.W. World Championship down the road. I could see that as soon as Full Gear if A.E.W. wants to speed things up a bit but more likely in 6-12 months. I’m not crazy about Eddie taking so mant losses and would like to see him start a story where he has to learn to keep his temper in check to win the big one but time will tell.
5. Swerve Strickland. He stopped short of saying “Swerve’s House” and said he’s not interested in having a banger or steal the show with Billy Gunn or even catchphrases. He wants to hurt him. He’s not “Daddy Ass” he’s “Daddy Time” and time eventually comes for us all and right now the clock is ticking on Billy. Next week Billy is done. I’m interested in seeing where this goes. I think Swerve taking Billy out for a little while could get great heat on him and make for a big moment whenever Billy returns. But that feels best done if they’re doing a trilogy match with The Acclaimed which feels possible but with the way Lee ended their last match, unlikely. I could also see Swerve taking it too far and that being where Lee draws the line to further the story of he and Swerve going their separate ways.
4. The Acclaimed. Tony Nese and Josh Woods with “Smart” Mark Sterling took on the Varsity Blondes tonight. Nese baseball slid outside to take out the legs of Garrison while Woods crushed him with a big knee strike. Nese sent Pillman Jr into the post outside before they delivered an Olympic Slam/neckbreaker combination for a quick win to bring them to 8-1 in their last 9. Arn Anderson was shown in the back shaking his head. After the match Sterling said he never thought the Blondes had the makings of varsity athletes so he trademarked the term “varsity” for use in professional wrestling and Nese and Woods are now “The Varsity Athletes”. His groin has been on fire since the attack on National Scissoring Day. The Acclaimed came out and Caster threw some digs about how boring Sterling’s group is and how they had to come out to save the ratings. Caster’s best line was “Next time you interrupt our team I’ll rock you in the face like I’m Draymond Green” The crowd went nuts for The Acclaimed and exploded for the 3 way scissors beteen them and Billy Gunn. Sterling stealing a name was a funny move that fits his character and “The Varsity Athletes” v. The Acclaimed should be a nice stop-gap feud until The Acclaimed’s PPV opponents are more clearly set. There is no hotter act in wrestling than The Acclaimed right now. Everyone really does love them and now they’re the riding tide lifting all boats.
3. Tay Jay A.S. Anna Jay and Tay Melo, now collectively known as Tay Jay A.S., faced Skye Blue and Madison Rayne. Tay Melo on the floor pump kicks Blue drapped over the apron. Blue hits a diving crossbody on Jay for 2 and a sliding kick that Tay breaks up. Tay hit Blue with a Gotch style piledriver but then Rayne nailed her with a crucifix bomb. Jay then hit Rayne with a Gory bomb. Blue tried a cazadora but Jay fell backward and Melo hit an awkwardly timed pump knee before Jay locked in the Queenslayer for the win. The awkward execution of the cazadora attempt took something away from what could have been a cool spot but this was a fine match for what it was and further established Jay and Melo as threats in the women’s division.
2. Blackpool Combat Club. Jon Moxley, Claudio Castagnoli & Wheeler Yuta squared off with Rush and Private Party in the night’s opener. The Firm is at ringside. Marq Quen mocks Claudio and does his machine gun uppercut but Claudio barely moves, cracks his neck and flattens Quen with a proper uppercut. Rush tags in, walks past Yuta and spits at Moxley who tags in. They brawl. Private Party comes in and knocks Claudio and Yuta off the apron. They hit a Poetry In Motion on Mox in the corner and then a variation of it from inside the ring to Claudio on the floor followed by Quen hitting a 450 to Yuta on the ramp while Rush poses in the ring. Outside Rush whips Mox with a production cable and chokes him with it. Kassidy and Rush have a disagreement on the apron and push each other and Kassidy send’s Jose The Assistant’s water bottle flying as he kicks it from his hand. Rush tries to hold Mox so Quen can pump kick him but Moxley ducked and Rush ate the boot instead. Mox hit a release suplex on Quen. Claudio tried to swing Kassidy but he grabbed Quen’s hands on the outside. Claudio pulled them both in and held Quen on his shoulders and nearly took a bad fall but recovered and spun Kassidy with Quen on his shoulders to thunderous applause from the crowd. He set up for the Ricola Bomb on Kassidy but Rush cut it off with a headbutt followed by Moxley hitting Rush with a cutter, a double kick from Private Party to Moxley and Yuta flying off the top with a crossbody to Quen that Kassidy avoided. Claudio hit a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker on Kassidy followed by a splash from Yuta but Rush broke up the pin. Moxley hit a tope suicida on Rush while Kassidy gouged the eyes of Yuta. Yuta was nearly set to eat a Silly String when Castagnoli pushed him out of the way and caught Kassidy on the rebound and threw him up into a big uppercut. Yuta then locks in a bicep slicer on Marq Quen who taps to give BCC the win. This was a fun opener and helped further the story of Private Party possibly leaving LFI. It was nice to see BCC as a trio since that’s been a rarity, especially in matches, since the group’s expansion.
1. Death Triangle. The Trios Championship were on the line as Death Triangle defended againts The Dark Order. After the opener we got a package for the main event where 10 talked about the importance of Brodie Lee in helping him get established in AEW and how he missed Dark Order’s trios tournament match with an injury. I appreciated that being brought up because I had totally forgotten that. This match on the 2 year anniversary of Brodie’s last match means a lot to the whole group. During the pre-show segment with Mark Henry Silver and Reynolds talked about how much Brodie Lee meant to them in putting the group together and how a win would honor him. Pac said Death Triangle respects Brodie but they’re going to show everyone why they are the trios champions. Commentary told us Pac was doing back to back matches with him defending his All Atlantic Championship immediately following this match on Battle of the Belts IV. Chaos ensued at the bell as the 2 groups immediately went at each other. Fenix was isolated in the ring and Dark Order went for a trio of topes but while Reynolds and Silver landed outside on Pac & Penta 10 got kicked by Fenix in the ring followed by a hurricanrana for 2. 10 catches a second attempt into a powerbomb carry but Fenix gets out, ducks Silver and Reynolds and gets caught coming off the ropes with a double cradle slam from them followed by a stalling 10 second suplex from…10. Silver and Reynolds double drop toe hold Penta and land stereo sliding kicks on a prone Penta but only get a 2. Fenix put Silver crotch first on Reynolds shoulders then kicked Reynolds causing him to powerbomb his partner. Fenix tags Penta who hits their opponents with a triple crossbody. He kicks 10 and Reynolds, then hits a Death Valley Driver on Silver into 10 in the corner and a backstabber on Reynolds for a near-fall. Death Triangle take turns kicking and then triple kick Reynolds. The Lucha Bros hit an assisted diving crotch directed missle dropkick on Reynolds for 2. Pac suplexes Reynolds on the floor but back inside after the commercial break Reynolds double stomps Pac’s back. Fenix and 10 tag in and 10 runs through both Lucha Bros. He locks Fenix in a full Nelson but it’s broken up. Death Triangle hits an assisted cazadora/standing moonsault combo on 10 as J.R. questions why the ref is allowing a triple team but it still isn’t enough to put 10 away as ths fans chant 10. 10 reverses a suplex and tags in Silver. Pac and Silver exchange pump kicks and Pac German suplexes Silver who immediately pops up only to be backslid by Pac but Silver rolls through and hits his combination strikes and deadlift brainbuster for 2. The crowd starts to chant “Brodie!” Fenix tags in and Dark Order knocks the rest of Death Triangle off. They go for the Pendulum Bomb on Fenix but he fights out and tries for a double cutter but is blocked, they hit the Pendulum Bomb on the follow up attempt but still can’t put Fenix away as Jericho asks what the move is called right after Excalibur said it. After more chaos inside Reynolds and Silver hit the stunner/German suplex combo followed by a discus lariat from 10 that I bit on for a second actually being the end of the match but Death Triangle broke up. Jose “The Assistant” comes out with an envelope seemingly for 10 as Rush passes Pac the ring hammer he used to knock out Orange Cassidy. He clocks Reynolds with it as Fenix tightrope walks and dives on to 10 and then brawls with Silver on the ramp. Pac locks in The Brutalizer and Reynolds passes out. I love Death Triangle and if Omega and The Bucks are returning soon it makes sense to have the belts on the line between these 2 groups but it would have been a really cool, feel good moment having The Dark Order win here. I get with the story of 10 also why it makes more sense for them to lose but AEW has felt like they’ve lost a bit of steam lately and Rampage has really felt like a nothing show so the swap here would have been nice. Still a great match overall and a strong way to end the show.
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