wrestling / TV Reports
Sanders’ AEW Rampage Review 12.2.22
Image Credit: AEW
Loading...Hello kind people! Lee Sanders back with you all for new AEW RAMPAGE coverage! Hope you all had a fantastic thanksgiving break and a solid week so far. Nothing to plug this week as the new Metallica single titled Lux Aterna is hot garbage. I have been playing a new mobile game called MARVEL SNAP. If you’re into Magic: The Gathering, and comic books, you should check it out. Highly entertaining! Let’s talk RAMPAGE baby!
Commentators: Tony Schiavone, Jim Ross, and Excalibur
MATCH 1: Cole Karter vs Darby Allin
Bell hasn’t even rung as Darby takes a bat to the body of Karter! Karter manages to escape and yells at Darby to ditch the bat and face him man versus man. Darby tosses the bat and charges at Karter from in-between the ropes to crash into Karter. Action spills back into the ring where the bell sounds as soon the action goes back to the outside. Karter gets Allin in a back-buckle powerbomb on the side apron! Karter tosses Allin back inside the ring where he delivers another turnbuckle powerbomb, followed by a dropkick. Allin tries to collect himself outside as Karter rams him into the side steel steps. Karter tosses Allin back inside as we head to our first set of ad breaks. This has been a one sided match so far folks. We’re back as Karter connects with a spinning elbow that stops Allin in his tracks. Darby manages to escape potentially another suplex attempt as Darby connects with the code red for a near fall. Darby tries climbing up to the top turnbuckle but Karter catches him to deliver a falcon arrow for a near fall. Karter misses a 450 splash attempt as Darby catches him in a crossface submission attempt. Darby follows up with a scorpion death-drop, followed by the coffin drop for the victory.
Winner:Darby Allin (9:00)
Rating: ***
Nice opener and a friendly reminder of how good Darby is as a singles wrestler. Cole Karter is coming along too since last I saw of him on the YouTube shows. Decent opener.
Rene Paquette is backstage trying to interview Keith Lee. She wants to know where things stand with Lee and Swerve when from out of nowhere Shane Taylor appears. Shane wants to know why Lee has a nasty habit of leaving former partners hanging, including him who Lee abandoned almost twenty years ago. Taylor wants a match with at ROH FINAL BATTLE to settle the score. Man this is so damn random…
Dark Order is shown as they are fuming at the betrayal of 10, who’s now joined RUSH and Jose the Assistant. 10 looks pretty damn good without the mask to the point he should’ve ditched it a lot sooner.
Rene is in the ring now to welcome the Acclaimed and Billy Gunn. Acclaimed take issue of Lethal and Jarrett interrupting their celebration last week. Far as they are concerned, Jarrett and Lethal have to wait in line as there’s another tag team under the radar that they want to fight. The music of Colt and Austin Gunn play as they come out instead of FTR. The Gunns claim themselves the best tag team in the world when Lethal and Jarrett soon appear. Seems everyone wants a piece of the Acclaimed. Billy Gunn chimes in as he tells them all that they want the best as FTR comes out! Dax and Cash offer up handshakes to Acclaimed. All four men shake hands as the challenge has officially been accepted.
Recap of Shida rehabbing from her injury and coming back to action is shown as her feud with the Bunny has intensified. Side note, Shida’s English has gotten loads better. How is that possible and yet Asuka still sounds you know…like Asuka?
MATCH 2: Jeff Jarrett & Jay Lethal vs Private Party
Jarrett takes a hip toss from Isiah Kassidy as Mark Quen gets a tag. Nice double team action from Private Party as Kassidy is tagged back in now. Lethal tosses Kassidy into a set of steel steps while the referee was distracted trying to maintain order with Matt Hardy outside talking trash to Sunjay Dutt, and Satnam as we go into another set of ad breaks. Kassidy makes the tag to Quen as he delivers a big crossbody onto Lethal, followed by a dropkick, and a great move from the top rope to crash into Jarrett. Private Party connects with the silly string on Lethal! 450 splash attempt misses the mark as Jarrett sets up Quen for the lethal injection to end this match.
Winner:Jeff Jarrett and Jay Lethal (4:00)
Rating: **
Bad luck continues to loom over the heads of Matt and Private Party. Might Jeff Hardy be their salvation? Meantime Lethal and Jarrett continue finding stride as a tag team. Them winning this made all the sense in the world as they look to get in the tag team title picture. This match honestly should’ve gone longer as all four men in this match were starting to find their groove.
Rene is interviewing Saraya to get thoughts on Saraya’s first match in five years at FULL GEAR. For Saraya it was a special moment as her match and two other womens matches went down. Saraya is very complimentary of Jaime Hayter as the new Womens Champion. Saraya throws her name in the basket of wanting the AEW Womens Championship as she puts the entire locker room on notice.
MATCH 3: Athena vs Dani Mo
Annnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnd a squash! Barely fifty seconds here!
Winner:Athena (50 seconds)
Rating: NR
This is all about the new and improved mean streak from Athena. I’m loving it too as my girl is finally clicking with some sauce!
Juice Robinson, a man we’ve seen inconsistently on AEW TV, challenges Samoa Joe for a shot at the ROH TV Championship coming up at a FINAL BATTLE. Talk about random! What about Wardlow??? What about Hobbs??? Anyway…
Darby Allin apparently wants a shot at Samoa Joe’s TNT Championship as he plans on not leaving this Wednesdays’ DYNAMITE without it by any means necessary. More information on Juice Robinson given to us by Excalibur as apparently Juice has now signed with AEW as his first official piece of business? Going after Samoa Joe!
MATCH 4: AEW ALL-ATLANTIC Championship-Orange Cassidy(c) vs QT Marshall
This match is being contested under Lumberjack rules as we see Cassidy get tossed outside. Cassidy delivers his trademark light kicks on a Lumberjack before QT tosses him back in the ring. QT tries throwing Cassidy out again as Matt Hardy is there to pick him up and guide him back in the ring. Ethan Page is pissed about this as he ejects Hardy from ringside while Private Party stays behind. We sadly are heading into our last commercial break on that note. Our main event continues as Cassidy tosses his elbow pad off as The Factory enter. Best Friends take them out as Cassidy gets in a stun dog millionaire, followed by a beach break attempt that gets countered by an elbow to Cassidy’s face. Cassidy has been taking a lot of punishment as he finally gets in another stun dog millionaire! Cassidy looking for the orange punch as lumberjacks for QT, pull QT out of the ring. Danhausen gets on the side apron to curse QT as all the lumberjacks are fighting one another. Cassidy gets in a beach break on QT as Penelope Ford jumps up on the apron. Kip Sabin shows up too and pushes Cassidy off the top rope as QT gets in a midair cutter for a near fall. Cassidy comes back with beach break and the orange punch for the victory. Post-match Kip and Cassidy brawl all the way up the ramp area. The lumberjacks are brawling as well when the lights fade to black. When the lights come back on we see House of Black as they are cleaning house, destroying everything and everyone in sight to end this episode.
Winner: Orange Cassidy (6:00)
Rating: **
Honestly for me there was too much shenanigans at ringside, lumberjacks, then Kip, then Penelope Ford, the Ethan Page and Matt Hardy arc. Way too many things I felt were distracting and taking away from this main event match. It was too overbooked for my taste and not needed. QT and Cassidy would’ve been fine without all of it. Oh we didn’t have room for House of Black last show. Let’s just squeeze them anywhere, fans will dig it! The annoying commercial break only two minutes into this main event did not help either. We gotta do better there with Cassidy, TK!
End of Show
For more great talk of all things wrestling and beyond, be sure to follow me on Twitter @THERCWRSHOW and check me out on YouTube.com/thercwrshow Enjoy the weekend y’all!
