Pantoja’s AEW Rampage Review 10.15.21

AEW Rampage

October 15th, 2021 | James L. Knight Center in Miami, Florida

We’re starting with the big Buy-In special!

Santana Garrett (0-1) vs. #2 Tay Conti (34-5 in 2021)

Santana is someone who won a ton on the indies but has struggled in TV appearances for NXT and her one AEW match. Here, she looked a bit better and managed to hit Tay Conti back as hard as she was getting at one point. She also did some of her signature stuff like the handspring elbow but some other stuff started coming off sloppily again. Tay fought her off and won with the DDTay in 4:42. Tay keeps impressing and Garrett was there. [*½]

Bobby Fish (0-1) vs. Lee Moriarty

I missed Lee’s record when he came out. You could tell this was here to get Fish a win before his match with Danielson but how they got there was the important part. Moriarty is a dude with loads of potential and giving him a showcase against a veteran like Fish is a smart move. Moriarty had the early upper hand with his quickness but Fish combated that with his veteran knowhow and a combination of strikes and kicks. Lee focused on the elbow to stop him in his tracks. He put up a hell of a fight before Fish started going off with an Exploder into the ropes and then a kick to the head to win in 7:54. That was good, quality pro wrestling between an up-and-comer and a veteran. Also, commentary did a great job of putting over Lee. [***]

Bryan Danielson (1-1-1) vs. Minoru Suzuki (0-1)

AEW are wild for booking this on YOUTUBE. Just seeing them go face to face to “holy shit” chants was incredible. They opened this with some tremendous grappling that showcased how great both are. That transitioned into a strike exchange, which Danielson is mad for trying to get involved in. That’s Suzuki’s wheelhouse. Unfortunately, the sound wasn’t too great here and they didn’t sound as vicious as they should have. Suzuki eventually hit a forearm that just FLOORED Danielson. From there, Suzuki took his time kicking Danielson’s ass all around ringside. When Danielson fought back, Suzuki dared him to kick him harder. Eventually, he hit one that put Suzuki down but then he came back with some kicks that Danielson tried to fire up from. Hell yeah. Suzuki kept finding ways to get free or avoid Danielson’s best submissions. They went into another strike exchange with each guy showing how tough they are and just trading blows until two slaps put them down simultaneously. The finishing stretch was a thing of beauty with both men countering each other’s signature moves like the sleeper, Gotch Piledriver, and Yes Lock until Danielson hit the Busaiku Knee at the 19:16 mark. Incredible and it lived up to the lofty expectations. [****½]

Onto the main show!

CM Punk (3-0) vs. Matt Sydal (21-9)

That’s a tough act to follow. This feels like something straight out of 2005 Ring of Honor. They kicked this off with some typical exchanges and mat work, with the crowd still chanting things in Spanish. There were no commercial breaks here so we got every bit of this encounter. Sydal managed to block some of Punk’s biggest shots and worked the knee on his side of the offense. Punk also countered Sydal’s best moves, specifically the Lightning Spiral. They moved into some more mat work as we transitioned from a modified cloverleaf to a cobra stretch to the Anaconda Vice. Sydal got to the ropes and hit Lightning Spiral for two before his crucifix got countered into the GTS. That ended things after 14:48. A good match where Punk again had a hard fought route to his victory. The two shook hands after the match. [***¼]

The Dark Order had a quick word backstage where they challenged Adam Cole and The Young Bucks.

The Bunny (22-13) vs. Ruby Soho (3-1)

I have to say, it’s so nice to see how happy Ruby Soho looks every week. The Bunny fills a nice midcard heel role for the women’s division and she has been around long enough to work as a quality veteran too. This match went through a commercial break and was a nice little back and forth affair. Bunny had what might’ve been the nicest move of the match with a German suplex. What I liked most about this was how it ended as this wasn’t simple Ruby easily beating Bunny. She countered her finisher into a backslide, winning in 10:43, kind of coming off as the girl who somewhat got lucky. [**¾]

Penelope Ford jumped Ruby Soho after the match and they knocked her out with brass knuckles. Where was Riho to help since their names end the same way?

Chris Jericho, Jake Hager and Sammy Guevara vs. Junior Dos Santos and Men of the Year

I must admit, I am not very interested in this entire thing. The Inner Circle guys don’t do it for me and the Dan Lambert stuff is up there with stuff I don’t care about. However, they managed to entertain me with a fast-moving multi-man match where everyone got a chance to shine. Some of the MMA folks were watching in the crowd, including Paige VanZant. Jericho took the heat for his team before setting up the hot tag to Sammy Guevara. I appreciated that he got it since he is the TNT Champion. The crowd ate it up too. Junior also looked pretty good in there. He started a bit rough but seemed more comfortable as time went on. When things broke down late, Jericho had it won but PVZ distracted the referee. That allowed Jorge Masvidal to sneak in and take out Jericho with a knee, so Sky pinned Jericho again in 11:27. A good main event to cap an enjoyable two hours of wrestling. [***]

8.5

The final score: review Very Good

The 411

I can’t ask for much more than that from two hours of wrestling. Tay Conti got a win, there were solid matches (Fish/Moriarty, Bunny/Ruby, six man tag, Punk/Sydal), and an incredible Danielson/Suzuki match that is the definition of must see.