Sanders’ AEW Rampage Review 12.10.21

If it’s Friday then you know what that means! I’m Lee Sanders and it’s time! It’s time! It’s time for AEW RAMPAGE! Hope everyone has had a great week as we get closer and closer to Christmas. Before we hit that holiday though we got a little something called WINTER is COMING as this week’s RAMPAGE no doubt will be setting us up for the Wednesday event. Card for this weeks’ RAMPAGE include Hook vs Fuego Del Sol. Ruby Soho, Tay Conti, and Anna Jay vs Nyla Rose vs The Bunny, and Penelope Ford. Adam Cole vs Wheeler Yuta. Tony Schiavone Interviews Sting and Darby Allin. And in the main event, Lucha Bros vs FTR for the AEW World Tag Team Championship.

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Commentators: Excalibur and Taz

MATCH 1: AEW TAG TEAM CHAMPIONSHIP-Lucha Bros(c) vs FTR

Fenix and Dax kick things off with a series of counters as the two men are at a deadlock. Pentagon is the legal man now as he kicks Dax in the midsection. Fenix jumps on his brother’s shoulders and does a nice splash onto Dax Hardwood. Pin attempt made by Pentagon and it’s a two count as Dax quickly rolls out the ring to regroup. Dax tags in Cash Wheeler now as Penta takes off his glove. Cash tries attacking him but is rolled up for a near fall. Penta throws his glove at Wheelee and suckers him in with a sidekick to the chin. Penta now coming in with overhead chops and strikes as Dax gets tagged back in as all four men are brawling now. Dax has Rey’s neck on the ropes as the ref is distracted. Tully Blanchard manages to choke out Fenix for a bit. Dax levels Fenix and levels Penta. Back from break as Cash Wheeler kicks out of a nasty Made in Japan for a near fall. Pretty sweet move! Tully gets up on the apron as Fenix intercepts him. Fenix punches Tully in the face as Fenix goes in white hot with a roll through on Dax and Wheeler. Dax connects with a spring Liger Bomb on Fenix for a two count. Fenix and Hardwood now jockeying for position as Fenix gets the upper hand. Fenix intercepts Wheeler who’s trying to use the championship. Fenix strips it away and knocks out Hardwood inadvertently with it. Fenix runs on the side of the rope and plants a kick on Wheeler followed up with a frog splash on Hardwood. Hardwood manages to get the championship to the face of Fenix and gets a near fall. Fenix gets caught in the Big Rig for another near fall as Penta breaks up the pin from out of nowhere. All four men now size each other up and are punching it out. Fenix rolls through with a cutter on one of the FTR guys. Penta tries looking for a sunset flip but it gets refereed as Penta reverses it. Fenix comes in to help Penta connect with Fear Factor to retain their championships.

Winner: Lucha Bros (16:00)
Rating: ****
Thoughts: Fantastic opener and a fantastic tag team match. Every time these teams lock it up, they always bring out the best in each other. Great storytelling here at its finest and one of the finest tag matches I’ve seen to close out 2021.

Match 2: Ruby Soho, Tay Conti, and Anna Jay vs Nyla Rose vs The Bunny, and Penelope Ford

Tay and Jay and Ruby are doing a great job off the break putting a hurting on Bunny. Vicki Guerrero tries swiping on the leg of Tay that sets her up for a right hand by Bunny and an attack by Penelope Ford. Ford now the legal man as Tay tries looking for a pump kick. Ford counters it and connects with a pump kick of her own. Nyla Rose now tagged in briefly as Bunny wants to get back in. Bunny is coming in with forearm strikes on Tay Coni. Tay manages to get in the hot tag to Ruby rocks Ford with a step-up enzgiuri followed by a leg sweep STO takedown. Break from break as Ana Jay is legal and she’s bringing the fire to Nyla Rose. Diamond crossbody attempt by Ana Jay that leads to a pin attempt by her. Nyla kicks out as she connects with a hanging neckbreaker on Conti. Ruby connects on No Future on Rose, while Ford connects on aRuby with a back heel kick. Ana Jay takes out Ford with a snap suplex as all six women are laid out. Vicki sneaks in a pair of brass knuckles to the Bunny. Bunny decks Ana with it as Tay and Bunny brawl outside the ring. Nyla connects on the Beast Bomb on Ana Jay to pick up the victory.

Winner: Nyla Rose, Bunny, Penelope Ford (09:00)
Rating: **
Thoughts: A little sluggish and spotty at times. It was off to a rough stop as things looked too choreographed for my taste. However, as the match progressed the women found themselves finding a good groove with nice pacing. This one ended just when it was getting really good.

Tony Schiavone is with Sting and Darby Allin backstage for an interview when they are attacked by FTR. Tully Blanchard kicks Sting in the jewels as he tells him one more time. Guess Tully wants Sting Mano y Mano? To be continued…

MATCH 3: Hook vs Fuego Del Sol

Hook has his back turned to Fuego. I’m loving the lack of respect for his opponent. Crowd is fired up for Hook. Nice grappling game by Hook as he’s connecting early with a choke. Hook rolls through and captures Fuego’s ankle in a freestyle bow & arrow hold. Hook follows up with strikes and a big headbutt. Fuego tries connecting with a hip toss but Hook lands on his feet and goes behind Fuego to take him down with a crotch-lift suplex. Fuego is exploding with spears followed up with a spinning DDT but Hook uses Fuego’s momentum to plant him with a lariat. Fuego taken over the top with a high collar suplex. Hook comes in with a rear naked chokehold on the canvas and wins.

Winner: FTR (5:00)
Rating: ***
Thoughts: Where do I begin? I’ve seen some in-ring debuts in my time. Hook’s debut has been one ice eagerly anticipated for a while and the young man did not disappoint. Great mat game that’s so strong and reminds me so much of his father if not even better than his dad. An excellent debut match against a great technical wrestler in Fuego. This could’ve honestly closed out RAMPAGE as it was that damn good. Hook’s debut is worth going out of your way to watch online.

MATCH 4: Wheeler Yuta vs Adam Cole

Both men are trading strikes left and right as Cole gets the advantage. Yuta comes in with a nice dropkick that has serious halftime on Cole. Yuta tries charging at Cole but is met with a superkick by Cole. Cole strong whips Yuta into the corner followed up with a dive and miss by Yuta from the rope turnbuckle. Yuta manages to get two near fall covers on Cole as Cole comes right back with a pump kick. Knee into the shoulders now or Yuta followed by elbow strikes to the face. Neckbreaker from a fireman’s carry on Yuta now as Cole is loving his work on the young man. Cole sends Yuta crashing outside the ring towards Cassidy, Chuck Taylor and Trent. Yuta gets kicked in the knee as Cole tries to setup the Panama Sunrise. Yuta sits down on Cole for a cover and it’s a near fall. Cross body by Yuta onto Cole but he can’t capitalize as his knee is giving out. Yuta manages to go to the top and connects with a diving clothesline. Cole connects with a enziguri as followed by a German Suplex for a near fall. Wheeler to the top once again as Cole plants him with a punch. Yuta drops Cole with a series of elbow strikes to send Cole crashing to the canvas. Cole ends up kicking Yuta on the side of the head followed up with THE BOOM for the victory. Post-match Best Friends and Romero get beat up by The Elite. The guys single out Orange Cassidy big time as Adam Cole kicks him in the Crown Jewels. Triple BTE trigger is down on Trent as Elite stands tall to end the show.

Winner: Adam Cole (7:00)
Rating: **
Thoughts: I’m only giving this match the rating I am because the outcome was rather predictable. For me I was really looking forward to seeing how well Yuta could hang with Adam Cole. The kid did pretty good and I love the fact that there really wasn’t any interference from both sides outside the ring. Yuta continues coming along as I’m quickly becoming a fan of his work.

7.5

The final score: review Good

The 411

Fantastic in-ring debut for Hook. Very curious to see if Taz is going to have him take care of his Dante Martin problem stemming from what went down on DYNAMITE this week. Those two in a match would be pretty badass. It honestly should even be a short program if it can last two months or so, we’ll see. I’m most curious to see what the young man can do with a Punk, Danielson, or even Lee Moriarity as I feel confident Hook can hang with them. The tag team division has some really good men in it right now and what a treat we had tonight with FTR vs Lucha Bros. It feels for all intents and purposes that FTR is done chasing AEW tag good as their eyes are locked on Allin and Sting. Very curious to see where this goes and if it leads to Tully and Sting having a 1 on 1. The women'stag match was okay but it would’ve been nice to see Thunder Rosa and / or Jade Cargill make appearances considering we’re close to the end of the TBS tournament. A pretty decent episode of RAMPAGE this week as it was a first without Punk and Danielson in many weeks. Til next time stay safe and be kind to one another!