Jeremy’s AEW Rampage Review 5.31.24

Hello AEW fans! It’s Friday night and — for the first time in a while — we know what that means! AEW Rampage is airing early again tonight because of those pesky NHL playoffs again, so I’m here once again to provide your live coverage. Tonight’s show will see Toni Storm in action as she faces Viva Van in an AEW Women’s World Championship Eliminator match, while Konosuke Takeshita will face Penta El Zero Miedo in a qualifier for the AEW TNT Championship match at Forbidden Door. In addition we’ll see Rey Fenix take on Isiah Kassidy as well as Kyle O’Reilly and Satnam Singh in action. I’m looking forward to…some of those! Anyway, let’s jump right into it.

As a reminder, the GoFundMe for Larry’s daughters is still active and if you can make a donation, that would be awesome. Thank you so much to everyone who’s done so thus far.

THIS IS RAMPAGE, BABY! (aka Opening Theme)

* We’re kicking off with our first competitors in the ring already.

AEW TNT Championship Eliminator Match
Penta El Zero M vs. Konosuke Takeshita

Takeshita and Penta stare down in the center of the ring, Penta shoves Takeshita and talks trash, then pie-faces him. Penta ducks a shot and kicks Penta, goes into the ropes but gets kicked down. They trade some acrobatics on the ropes, Penta with a couple of arm drags, a trip and a cover for less than one. Both men back up.

Penta offers a hand and Takeshita man handles him, then comes off the ropes with a forearm. Penta up in the corner, Takeshita charges in for a running kick. He whips Penta across the ring and charges, Penta up and over for a backstabber. Takeshita on the apron but lays in punches, Penta fires back and hits an enzuigiri. Takeshita to the floor, Penta goes for a dive and Takeshita dodges, blocks a kick off the apron and backdrops Penta on said apron.

Takeshita back in and rolls Penta over for two, then lays in mounted punches. Takeshita argues with the referee. Takeshita with a snapmare and kick to the back, then pulls him up for a chop and up the turnbuckle for punches. Penta gets Takeshita off him and they start to trade punches in the ring — Penta with a superkick but gets knocked down for a two count.

Takeshita right into overhand punches and a chinlock. Penta to his feet and tries to fight out but gets picked up for a brainbuster. Lazy cover gets two, and Takeshita with a shin choke for two. Penta up now and gets decked as we go to PIP break.

Back from break and Takeshita sends Penta across the ring and charges in, but Penta gets him on the top and clips up. Takeshita with some punches, fireman’s carry but Penta strikes out of it and hits a rana from the outside. A couple of Sling Blades from Penta, Takeshita to the outside and Penta LEAPS onto him with a dive!

Penta is up first on the outside and rolls Takeshita in, then climbs the turnbuckle. He leaps off but Takeshita moves, He backs Penta off and rolls him into a wheelbarrow suplex! Takeshita swings but Penta catches him for Made in Japan for a nearfall. Both men slow to get up, but Penta gets up and stomps at Takeshita’s shoulder before pulling the right arm — Takeshita pulls him over and nails a kick for two.

Penta sent into the corner, Takeshita charges but Penta moves. Takeshita on the apron and Penta leaps to the apron for a Canadian Destroyer on the apron. Penta rolls Takeshita in and covers for a nearfall.

Both men slow to get up, they get to their knees and Takeshita shoves Penta. Penta up for a thrust kick to the chest and off the ropes — Takeshita with the Blue Thunder Bomb and gets a two-plus count. Takeshita backs up and takes aim — Penta dodges the knee for a Fear Factor, countered by Takeshita, Penta goes in but gets a knockout shot and Power Drive Knee for three.

Winner: Konosuke Takeshita (13:09)
Rating: *** 1/4
Thoughts: Could have used more selling but asking that of these guys is kind of like asking a horse not named Mr. Ed to talk. This was exactly what you’d expect from them, and it was good.

* Renee is with the Learning Tree and asks Jericho why he’s not on commentary. Jericho says the reason he’s not on commentary is because he was attacked unprovoked by HOOK who had no respect and the Learning Tree is too valuable to be exposed at the desk. So he’s stepping down from his role on Rampage and it’s time for him to spend more time on Dynamite and Collision where he hopes for four to five segments a week.

* Mike Bennett needs to say something and says Double or Nothing sucked. He lost money at Vegas, Roddy Strong lost the AEW International Title. Taven continues to rant and says that on Wednesday — Strong interrupts and says he was supposed to be the 10th man in the Casino Gauntlet to earn a title shot. So on Saturday he’s going to take all his frustrations on Lio Rush and then he’s coming after Swerve and Ospreay.

Satnam Singh vs. Pater Avalon

Singh says he’ll give Avalon a free pin and lays down. Avalon isn’t sure but covers and Singh shoves him off, then grabs Avalon to slam him repeatedly into the mat. Singh grabs Avalon and goozles him into a bear hug, that’s it.

Winner: Satnam Singh (1:05)
Rating: N/A
Thoughts: RIP Pretty Peter.

* The Cage of Agony are backstage. Toa says sometimes you have to burn everything to the ground, and Cage says that’s what they’re doing on Collision when they issue an open challenge. He says they travelled the world and were impressed with Hechicero. He steps in and says the group will be passion and magic. Kaun says they are pain and we’ll see Saturday.

AEW Women’s World Championship Eliminator Match
Toni Storm vs. Viva Van

Test of strength to start, Van breaks it and flips Storm over for a submission, but Storm gets to the ropes right away. Storm with a waistlock, reversed an d reversed again, Van with a hiptoss and goes for the armbar again but Storm gets her foot on the ropes.

Lockup, Storm backs Van into the ropes and hits a double overhand chop, then sends Van into the ropes. Van dodges a clothesline with a Matrix dodge and Storm nails Van with several hip smashes to the head. Storm with a hip smash to Van on the apron, sending her to the floor, and Storm says it’s time for a break as we go to PIP.

We’re back as Storm and Van trade overhand chops, with Van taking over and hitting a shot to the jaw. Storm fires back with jabs, the wind-up and the big elbow. She goes for the legs but Van pulls herself to the apron and hits a jawbreaker. Knee to Storm, off the ropes for a spinning heel kick and gets two.

Van charges at Storm in the corner but the champ dodges and hits a backstabber. Fisherman’s suplex gets two. Irish whip into the corner, Toni charges into a back elbow. Van on the top, she leaps over for a kick from her back to Storm. Knees to the head, off the ropes with an axe kick for a nearfall.

Storm is up in the corner, Van gets her on her shoulders but Storm slides down the back and hits a German suplex. Charging hip attack, Storm Zero, that’s it.

Winner: Toni Storm (8:57)
Rating: ***
Thoughts: Quite good here, even if it was an Eliminator Match so we knew it wasn’t ever in doubt. Nice to see Van get a good showing though.

* Saraya and Harley Cameron are backstage and fake applaud. They say it’s not for Mariah and mock her. Harley says that May wants to be Storm so bad, but Saraya beat Storm and will beat Mariah on Dynamite. Harley says next week it’s not going to be May, and Saraya says that’s accurate because it will be June.

Kyle O’Reilly vs. Jordan Cruz

Kyla charges in at the bell and kicks Cruz in the chest, then lays in knees to the gut and puts Cruz on the mat. Kick to the thigh and then chest of Cruz knocks him down. KOR with a wristlock and he snaps the arm over his shoulder, then wrenches it in for a hammerlock behind the back.

Cruz escapes with a back elbow, KOR charges in but eats an elbow. KOR knocks Cruz down, beats on him and locks in the armbar for the submission.

Winner: Kyle O’Reilly (1:17)
Rating: N/A
Thoughts: RIP Jordan Cruz.

* Johnny and Taya are backstage and say they are looking for the best wrestlers to challenge themselves. Johnny says there’s one guy he hasn’t wrestled and that’s Claudio Castagnoli. So he’s issuing a challenge to Claudio for Collision.

Rey Fenix vs. Isiah Kassidy

Circle and show of respect, then Rey plays to the crowd a bit before they lock up. Wristlock reversed by Kassidy, Fenix tries to escape to no avail until he hits a big dropkick. Kassidy off the ropes and gets caught by Fenix but turns it into aan armdrag, Fenix with some kicks to send Kassidy to the apron. Kassidy with an enzuigiri and a rana but Rey lands on his feet!

They trade shots in the center of the ring, Kassidy takes over and sends Fenix into the ropes, he spins through and goes into a kick combo but Kassidy with a PoisonRana — and Fenix right into a German from that as we go to PIP break.

Back from break as Kassidy gets a two-count on Fenix. Kassidy goes after Fenix who nails him, they trade strikes and Fenix gets backed into the corner for some kicks. Kassidy charges in for a splash, Rey moves and then gets a springboard rana on Kassidy for two. Fenix pulls Zay up but Kassidy reverses a waistlock, Fenix reverses the reverse and hits a gutbuster for two.

Fenix plays to the crowd and grabs Kassidy, but Kassidy with an enzuigiri. Fenix fires back with a kick to the gut but gets sent into the corner and onto the apron. Kassidy with a cutter against the top rope, Rey to the outside, Kassidy with a somersault dive over the top onto Rey. He rolls Fenix in and follows, leaping onto Rey for a Tornado DDT and a nearfall.

Kassidy with mounted punches on the mat to Fenix, but Rey blocks one and turns it around for his own shots.he pulls Kassidy up, Kassidy counters into a Canadian Destroyer. Up top for the senton, Fenix moves. Fenix up top , onto the ropes and a running kick to the head. Back up top, FROG SPLASH. He covers, gets almost three! Fenix grabs Zay, double underhook into a bomb, that finishes it.

Winner: Rey Fenix (11:18)
Rating: *** 1/4
Thoughts: Good stuff, they gave a nice back and forth match here that worked quite well for an AEW Rampage main event.

And with that, we’re done for the night!

8.0

The final score: review Very Good

The 411

This was a really good episode of Rampage. Look, with this show we're not looking for major storyline developments or the like; that's for Collision and Dynamite. This was a show that was intended to give us good matches and we had three of those plus two acceptable squash matches. Judged from a Rampage standard, that's a great show and I have no complaints.