Hey hey hey! If it’s Friday you know what that means! I’m Lee Sanders and I’m back with your AEW RAMPAGE recap and review! A solid card this week as we go deeper into AEW week as don’t forget this Saturday on TNT is AEW’s BATTLE OF THE BELTS special. Tonight’s RAMPAGE sees Adam Cole vs. Jake Atlas. Meanwhile, Hook vs. Aaron Solo. Also, AEW Women’s Champion Dr. Britt Baker & Jamie Hayter vs. Riho & Ruby Soho. And in the main event, a No Disqualification match as Eddie Kingston, Santana & Ortiz vs. Daniel Garcia & 2point0.
Nothing to plug this week except Rest in Power to an actor who paved the way for Denzel Washington, Will Smith, Mahershala Ali, Samuel L. Jackson and many other African-American lead actors, and that’s Sidney Poitier who passed away this week at the age of 94.
Commentators: Excalibur, Taz, Ricky Starks, and Chris Jericho
Nice wrist lock exchange between both men to start things off. Atlas has control briefly with a nice side lock-headlock takedown until Cole applies a leg scissors takedown. Atlas breaks out as both men trade shots again back and fourth. Excellent agility by Atlas as he applies a dropkick to Cole and follows up with chops and elbow strikes to Cole in the corner. Atlas tries Irish whipping Cole into the corner but is countered by Cole who sends Atlas into the ring post. Cole charges at Atlas but Atlas gets up a big boot in time. Atlas tries to capitalize on the opening by climbing up to the top rope. Big mistake as Adam pushes him off and sends Atlas crashing to the outside. Cole now on the offense as he has his way with Atlas for a bit before tossing him back in the ring. Atlas tries coming off the middle rope and pays for it as Adam Cole connects with a backstabber! Back from commercial now as Atlas connects with a beautiful shotgun dropkick on Adam Cole. Cole connects with a pump kick, now looking for a superkick but Atlas counters and hits Cole with a short clothesline followed by a brief series of counters. Cole comes right back with a brain buster and a pin attempt! It’s only a near fall as the match continues on. Cole looks on frustrated and tries charging at Atlas but Atlas plants him with a running boot followed by high rise back suplex for a near fall. Atlas looking for a springboard attack but gets planted with a thrust kick by Cole. Adam Cole now looks for the Panama Sunrise but Atlas just falls to his knees as Cole applies a knee bar submission hold to make Atlas tap out!
Winner:Adam Cole (11:00)Rating:***Thoughts: Sadly I did not see enough of Jake Atlas in NXT to get a good gauge on him. I do remember the one tag match he had I believe with Mercedes Martinez but that’s really all. I like his size and overall look. Pretty solid performance against Adam Cole as it would appear we’re not done seeing Atlas just yet. Atlas for all intents and purposes is now woven into this program with the former Undisputed Era faction and Best Friends
Post-match Cole, and RedDragun are about to beat up Atlas when Orange Cassidy, Chuck Taylor and Wheeler Yuta come out for the save.
BREAKING NEWS as Cody Rhodes will not be able to defend his TNT championship. Instead a interim champion will be crowned as Sammy Guverra will face Dustin Rhodes for the honor of becoming the champion. Interesting!
Recap of Jungle Boy and Luchasaurus becoming tag champions and Jade Cargill winning the the TBS championship is shown from this weeks DYNAMITE.
Andrade now is with Tony Schiavone as he wants for Mr. Sting to name his price to I guess buy the little boy known as Darby Allin. Yes…You read that right. Okay, moving along…
Knuckle lockup to begin as HOOK sends Solo over the top past his shoulders. Outside standing trip with a half nelson grip now applied by HOOK. Solo manages to get his foot to the bottom rope to break the hold. QT Marshall grabs on the foot of HOOK to distract him as Solo sees an opening and pounces on HOOK for a bit. Russian leg sweep applied to Solo as HOOK transitions to a ground octopus hold. HOOK plants Solo with a chop to the forehead, followed by the El Camino. HOOK applies the shoulder capture suplex followed by strikes to the back head of Solo, followed by REDRUM to make Solo tap out.
Winner:HOOK(3:00)Rating:**Thoughts: HOOK continues to impress in these nice bite size samples of matches under five minutes. I will say that I love that in this match we didn’t see scenarios where HOOK no-sold moves, big devastating moves applied to him as opposed to his match on RAMPAGE from last week.
Post-match QT Marshall gets in the face of HOOK. HOOK plants QT with quick snap overhead suplex to walk out a happy man. Ricky Starks reveals that his FTW championship will be defended at BATTLE FOR THE BELTS as he’ll face Matt Sydal to send a message to Dante Martin.
Britt and Jaime are stomping a mudhole on Ruby Soho! Britt Baker with a rake to the eyes of Ruby. Rebel grabs on the leg of Ruby Soho while the ref is distracted to help Britt get the upper hand as we go into commercial break. During Picture in Picture Riho was tagged in as we see her trying to climb to the top rope and is pushed off by Britt as Britt pounces on Riho with an elbow strike, Jaime comes in with a backbreaker as Baker delivers a superkick! Great combo as the pin attempt is denied by Ruby. Jaime ends up accidentally hitting Britt in the race after looking for an inverted suplex as Riho quickly rolls up Hayter for the victory.
Winner:Riho and Ruby Soho (8:00)Rating:**Thoughts: Solid tag match and I gotta say one of the most fluid matches I’ve seen Jaime Hayter and Riho involved in. Whether you want to call it luck or that skilled, Riho has continued stringing together the victories when it counts. I’m loving the narrative of Riho continuing to have Britt Baker’s number as we head into BATTLE OF THE BATTLES.
Mark Henry is with 2Point0 as they talked about sucking somebody’s behind when they are jumped by Santana, Ortiz, and Kingston! And with that…IT’S TIME FOR THE MAIN EVENT!
Pandemonium, pure pandemonium and chaos all over the place! Santana and Ortiz take out Parker! Kingston comes in with an exploder as Santana does a frog splash on Parker. Powder in the face applied to Ortiz as Garcia holds in the air the timekeeper bell. Garcia cracks Kingston in the head with the bell! Garcia with the cover and somehow Kingston kicks out! Parker has tape in his hands as it looks like duck tape. Kingston is sent crashing into a table on the outside by 2Point0 via triple suplex style. Low blow applied to the yams of Ortiz. Santana is possessed as he’s taking a steel chair to the bodies of everyone! Back inside the ring, Garcia and Ortiz trade strikes. Parker tries to get in on the action but meets a series of kicks and a lariat combo by Santana and Ortiz for his efforts after they successfully double teamed on Garcia.
Winner:Kingston, Santana and Ortiz (12:00)Rating:***Thoughts: Nice way to close out RAMPAGE with some solid tag team action! I’m really starting to enjoy the work and team of 2Point0. They’ve got great natural heat too and that goes a long way let me tell you. It just dawned on me that INNER CIRCLE for this little bit have all branched off and been doing their own thing so it was nice to have a semi-reunion here even though it wasn’t the full stable. Will Kingston finally accept Jericho meaning no harm and embrace him as an ally towards his cause of sticking it to Garcia and 2Point0? Maybe we’ll get some answers this Saturday or next week.
Post-match Garcia attacks Santana and Ortiz from behind as they tape Kingston to the ropes. Chris Jericho has seen enough as he runs down for the rescue as they all make their exit quickly to end this solid episode.
End of Show
7.5The final score:reviewGoodThe 411Nice well-rounded card all around with great emphasis on the BATTLE OF THE BELTS special for this weekend. HOOK continues to look solid, Riho continues having Britt’s number, Jericho really wants to be friends with Eddie Kingston, and Adam Cole’s got 99 Problems with Orange Cassidy as his NO. 1. Loving the drama and the way these feuds flow organically as opposed to stepping on someone’s new NIKE shoes to creat an instant ACME feud.legend
