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Hey, AEW fans. It’s Friday evening and while the NHL playoffs have given us a reprieve, returning Rampage to its usual time, you’re still stuck with me! Lee Sanders is busy at AwesomeCon this weekend so he’s out, leaving me to fill in once more for you. We’re just five days past AEW Double or Nothing which was an eventful PPV to say the least.
Tonight we have Athena making her AEW in-ring debut, as well as Dante Martin challenging Scorpio Sky for the TNT Championship. Oh, and as announced by CM Punk just over an hour ago, he’s going to have an “important announcement” about the AEW World Championship and his career. That doesn’t sound concerning at all. Anyway, it promises to be a hell of a night so let’s get right to 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 Theme Song)
Young Bucks vs. Lucha Bros.
We’re starting off by punishing my fingers, awesome. Matt and Penta face off in the ring and let the crowd work itself up as they talk some trash and Penta shoves Matt. Matt Too Sweets Penta in the face, and Penta does the same back. Penta takes off the glove and throws it at Matt, who goes for a superkick caught. Penta with the Fear Factor, countered and Matt tries a Fear Factor, countered into a sunset flip. Penta with a drop toe hold, he goes for an armbar but Matt armdrags out, lateral press cover for one and they’re in each other’s faces.
Nick tags in, as does Fenix and they go flippy. Nick with a chop to the chest and a springboard armdrag to Fenix. He charges and gets sent onto the apron, Fenix goes over for a sunset powerbomb that is countered, missed roundhouses on the outside and back in to nail each other — and they’re right back up! Nick offers a handshake, Fenix takes it and Matt attacks from behind.
Matt takes in, double kick to Fenix in the corner and then another kick. Matt with a diving dropkick through the ropes and Nick dives through onto Fenix — and Penta leaps over with a dive! And now it’s Fenix’s turn off the turnbuckle! Back inside the ring, Matt with a Scorpion Deathlock and Penta grabs Nick for a submission in the ropes, ref calls for a break. Nick with a kick to the face and a rana to Penta, but he charges into Fenix’s rana! Matt goes out and gets hit with a cutter on the outside. Fenix rolls Matt in, dives off the top but Matt gets the knees off and we’re on PIP break.
We’re back with Nick and Fenix down. Matt tags in and charges right into a book by Fenix, who climbs and leaps but gets caught by Matt for a trio of Northern Lights Suplexes. Penta comes in and gets caught — double Northern Lights! Matt tags in Nick Jackson and sets Fenix in the ropes, holding him. Nick leaps off with a senton, cover for two.
My TNT feed got wonky for a moment but Penta now has Matt in the ropes, Fenix up top for a footstomp DDT. Fenix covers for two. Fenix with a dive to Nick, Penta slams Matt down and Fenix climbs up top, he leaps off with the frog splash, cover for two.
Fenix sets Matt on the top rope, but gets shoved down — and leaps into an enzuigiri! Penta in, Fenix on his shoulders, they go for a Doomsday superplex but Matt fights off and Nick springboards in to take them out. Matt with a cover for two. Matt tags in Nick, elbows and Fenix sent into the rope, he 619s through and Penta with a kick to Nick’s head. Penta on top, Fenix gets on his shoulders — PENTA STANDS! Splash of Penta’s shoulders! Penta takes out Matt, cover — NO!
Fenix with a springboard spin kick to Nick in the corner, he goes for a Muscle Buster but Nick counters. Poison Rana! Penta in, double superkick to him. Double superkick to Fenix. BTE Trigger — Fenix moves. Springboard off the ropes, caught by Fenix — Meltzer Driver. Cover, but Penta breaks it up! Penta gets in Matt’s face — the mask is pulled off! Double superkick! BTE Trigger to Fenix finishes it.
Winner: Young Bucks (14:52)
Rating: ****
Thoughts: Just a flat-out balls to the wall actionfest. It’s exactly what we expect from these two teams, and there was no way the Bucks weren’t gonna go crazy in their hometown. No, not everything was perfectly crisp, but it was all pretty much great.
Powerhouse Hobbs & Ricky Starks vs. Two Guys
Hobbs and Starks attack before the bell and lay into their opponents. Starks tags in Hobbs after the bell rights and sends the scrub into the ropes, who gets run over. Hobbs picks up the other guy and chokeslams him as Starks takes out his partner for the pin.
Winner: Powerhouse Hobbs & Ricky Starks (0:45)
Rating: N/A
Thoughts: RIP guys whose name I didn’t even catch.
* Punk addresses the AEW World Championship tonight.
* Before the next match we get a promo for Stokely Hathaway where he said Athena was calling for a title match right after arriving. Instead, Kiera Hogan is going to beat her ass.
Athena vs. Kiera Hogan
Lockup to start, Kiera gets dragged down but gets a kick right off that. They go into the ropes and Kiera smacks Hogan hard in the face. She comes off the ropes for a crossbody, caught by Athena who goes to slam her down but Kiera turns it into an armdrag. Sprinboard crossbody by Athena, Hogan quickly bails to the outside.
Hogan talks with Hathaway and Athena fakes out a dive, then takes Hogan out and rolls her in. She talks trash to Cargill and goes onto the apron. Knee to Hogan and she goes to springboard in, but Velvet grabs Athena’s legs and slams her into the apron. Velvet rolls Athena in, legdrop facebuster by Hogan and we’re on PIP break.
We’re back with both Athena and Hogan down, Hogan is getting to her feet. She lies in wait, Hogan charges but Athena ducks and comes off the ropes with a dropkick. Superkick, kick, enzuigiri by Athena, followed by a handspring clothesline in the corner. Athena goes up top, Velvet tries to interfere and gets kicked. Hogan knocks Athena down and then goes up for a diving rana. Running bootslide, cover for two.
Hogan goes for a fisherman’s suplex but Athena counters out and kicks Hogan in the head. Athena goes up top but Hogan runs into the ropes and trips her. Hogan lays in some elbows and climbs up but gets knocked down. Athena takes aim, ECLIPSE. Cover for three.
Winner: Athena (8:23)
Rating: ** 3/4
Thoughts: A very good match that was undercut by getting the part-PIP, part-full ad break. Athena looked good and worked well against Hogan, but this match could have been placed in a better spot.
* The House of Black give us a vignette where Malakai tells members of the House of Black to Rise. We see everyone (Julia Hart included) appear and Black says the House always wins. He says it was a carefully-worked plan. Julia says to celebrate — isn’t this what we wanted? This is the fruits of our labor.
* IT’S TIME FOR CM PUNK! He’s out without crutches, so that’s a good thing. The announcers are playing up the injury idea and note Punk is walking slowly. Punk gets the mic and looks sad as the crowd chants for him.
Punk says when he got here earlier, he pulled up and he said every bone was screaming at him to go home and hug his wife and Larry. But his brain told him to stay and everyone live deserved an explanation. He said since he stepped foot here that he was going to give his all until the wheels fell off. Punk has good news and bad news, which do we want first? He says the last thing he wanted to feel is that he was letting us down or disappointing us, and hopes he hasn’t made us feel that way so far. He says he’s loved every second in the ring, and every time he’s been in the ring has been a gift he never thought he’d be able to experience ever again.
The bad news is, Punk is injured and needs surgery. A couple of things are broken, the biggest being his heart. The good news is, he can still do all the things he wanted. The wheels are still there and haven’t fallen off. One of them just happens to be broken. He says he’s come back from worse, he’s felt better but he’s also been worse. He says it hurts like hell and he wants to wrestle.
Punk says regarding the title, he told Tony he doesn’t want to hold this place up and there are people like Danielson and Moxley who can fill his spot. Tony said he believes in Punk, and Punk says he needed to hear that because sometimes he gets a little down on himself and the doubt creeps in. But he won’t let it creep in and the getback will be bigger than the setback. He says he’s champion for a reason and he will come back bigger, faster, stronger, and hungrier than ever and he will prove exactly why he’s the best in the world.
* Mark Henry does the side-by-side satellite interview with Dante Martin and Scorpio Sky.
TNT Championship Match
Scorpio Sky vs. Dante Martin
Lockup, Sky backs Martin in the corner and they break. They tease some strikes and lockup, Sky with a headlock, shot into the ropes and runs Martin over. Off the ropes and he shoulder tackles Martin down again and showboats a bit. He offers Martin a hand and then goes for a kick, Martin catches it and hits a rana from the floor, armdrag and then another with a shoulderlock as we go to PIP break.
Back from PIP break and Sky and Martin are trading shots. Martin goes into the ropes, stops himself and ducks Sky, then dropkicks him to the outside. Off the ropes, springboard dive onto Sky! Sky rolled back in, he springboards to the top rope for a shotgun dropkick! Dan Lambert is about to climb the ropes but Dan Lambert distracts him and Ethan Page tries to get involved, but Martin shakes him off and hits the big cutter for a nearfall.
Martin to the apron and hits an enzuigiri on Sky, crossbody off the rope for two. Leaping double stomp, cover for two. Martin is getting frustrated, he grabs Sky but gets pushed back and Sky hits the TKO. Cover for three.
Winner: Scorpio Sky (8:11)
Rating: *** 1/4
Thoughts: Very good match; these guys could do something amazing given more time.
And with that, we’re done for the night!
