Hall’s AEW Rampage Review 12.17.21

Rampage
Date: December 17, 2021
Location: Curtis Culwell Center, Garland, Texas
Commentators: Excalibur, Ricky Starks, Taz

It’s a very stacked show, as we have three matches with a total of twenty people involved. This week features an eight man tag, a ten man tag and a submission match, which is quite the use of an hour. This show can go in more than a few ways and hopefully they go in a good one this week. Let’s get to it.

Opening sequence.

Best Friends/Rocky Romero vs. Superkliq/Bobby Fish

Chuck hits a quick standing Sliced Bread for two on Matt to start before it’s quickly off to Fish vs. Romero. Fish gets taken into the corner and Cassidy gets to come in for his slow clotheslines. Cole comes in for the Cassidy showdown but hands it off to Nick without getting physical. Cassidy walks the ropes but stops to put his hand in his pocket and jumps down without doing anything.

Nick gets armdragged and hiptossed despite Cassidy’s hands being in his pockets, meaning it’s time for the frustrated Cole to come in and beat on him. The triple superkicks drop Cassidy and we take an early break. Back with Nick hitting a splash on Cassidy, setting up the Superkliq triple kiss…which is broken up by Taylor and Romero. Instead, Cassidy kisses Cole and then rolls him up for two. Cassidy gets over for the tag to Trent and house is cleaned in a hurry.

An apron splash hits Cole and double jumping knees from Trent and Romero hit stereo jumping knees to Nick. Trent’s sliding knee gets two but everything breaks down. Cole hits the brainbuster onto the knee to Trent, setting up Fish’s top rope headbutt for two. The super Falcon Arrow connects for the same, with Cassidy having to make the save this time. Everything breaks down again and it’s a series of strikes to a bunch of people’s heads. Trent finally catches Fish with Strong Zero for the pin at 17:23.

Rating: B. There was a lot going on here but they did a nice job of making it feel action packed. I was surprised that the Best Friends and company won so well done on giving Trent a bit of his heat back. Fish is good at being the guy who can take a fall for the team, though Cole’s Christmas present for the Bucks could turn that around a bit.

Here is the returning Dan Lambert and the Men of the Year. Lambert rips on Tony Khan for wearing all kinds of hats, including those outside of AEW, which resulted in him pushing various people on the fans. He pushed the skateboard guy and the guy with hands in his pockets before bringing in CM Punk and Bryan Danielson. Khan is dangling a carrot with one hand but stabbing the fans in the back with the other, because this place is turning into late 90s WCW.

That brings him to Cody Rhodes, who has turned his backstage power into a main event career and a reality show that no one watches. Cue Cody, who gets in a microphone stealing match with Lambert. With nothing said, the fight is on but Dustin Rhodes runs in for the save. The Rhodes Brothers are beaten down but Sammy Guevara makes the real save, including the staredown with Cody.

Video on the final four in the TBS Title tournament.

Tay Conti vs. Penelope Ford

Submission match with Anna Jay and the Bunny at ringside too. Conti charges into the ring to start in a hurry but Ford slips out of a kneebar. They head outside where Ford chops the post by mistake to put her in even more trouble. Back in and Ford is fine enough to grab a bow and arrow stretch, which is flipped over in a hurry. Conti wrenches the arm back but Bunny’s distraction is good for a save.

Ford gets back up and manages to flip over into a backpack dragon sleeper (that’s a new one). With that not working, Ford grabs some kind of standing crossface, only to have Conti knee her way to freedom. A handspring cutter sets up another choke but Ford can’t hit a Rey Mysterio sitout bulldog. Instead Conti pulls her down into something like a choke with her leg behind Ford’s neck for the tap at 5:22.

Rating: C. This was a weird choice when they announced it and it was a weird match in execution. You don’t often see a five minute submission match, especially when one is such a bigger star than the other. It certainly wasn’t bad, but it felt like a stipulation that was tacked on for the sake of giving the feud a reason to continue.

Post match, Bunny lays Conti out with the knuckles to continue the feud.

The Owen Hart Tournaments (men’s and women’s) are coming next May, with the finals taking place at Double Or Nothing.

Daniel Garcia/2.0/Acclaimed yell at Eddie Kingston/Lucha Bros/Santana/Ortiz, but Eddie doesn’t have time for this and tells Mark Henry to do his catchphrase.

Daniel Garcia/2.0/Acclaimed vs. Eddie Kingston/Santana/Ortiz/Lucha Bros

The brawl starts in the aisle, because this company doesn’t like to waste time. It’s a big fight outside until Penta and Caster get inside to officially start. They chop it out with Penta getting the better of things (the chest protector might have helped) and bringing in Fenix. Stereo kicks to the head rock Caster and the wheelbarrow splash gives Fenix two. Santana comes in for some chops of his own and we take a break.

Back with Santana rolling over for the hot tag to Penta for the house cleaning. Fenix gets to walk the top rope for the kick to Caster’s face and a springboard spinning kick to the face rocks Garcia. Everything breaks down and the Bros hit the running flip dives to the floor. Back in and Santana piledrives Bowens but gets dropped by Caster. Kingston loads up the spinning backfist but Garcia ducks into a rollup and grabs Kingston’s pants for the pin at 8:42.

Rating: B-. The ending was quite the surprise and unfortunately it means that Garcia will have to be destroyed in the near future. This was more of a brawl than the other big tag match, but running two of them in the span of an hour didn’t do this one any favors. The ending surprised me a lot, though as long as Kingston gets to massacre Garcia once and for all, it will work out fine.

Post match the beatdown is on, with Bowens wrapping a chain around his boom box. Cue Christian Cage and Jurassic Express for the save, but we get the showdown with the Lucha Bros over the titles.

Results
Best Friends/Rocky Romero b. Superkliq/Bobby Fish – Strong Zero to Fish
Tay Conti b. Penelope Ford – Choke
Daniel Garcia/2.0/Acclaimed b. Eddie Kingston/Santana/Ortiz/Lucha Bros – Rollup with tights to Kingston

 

 

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7.0

The final score: review Good

The 411

It was an action packed night, though again they have a problem with putting too many people on the show. It’s a bit much to have nearly thirty people on a weekly TV show in the span of an hour and nothing really stood out as a result. AEW has a very big and talented roster, but they need to get that they don’t have to use so many people every week. The idea of less is more would be a good one for them to learn, as this show needed something to let it slow down and breathe a bit. What we got was good, but spread it out a bit more.