Sanders’ AEW Rampage Review 7.19.24

Happy Fantastic Friday, everyone! Lee Sanders is back with you all, as it’s AEW Rampage time! Let’s do this!

Venue: Simmons Bank Arena
Location: Little Rock, AR
Commentators: Excalibur, Tony Schiavone, Matt Menard

MATCH 1: Kyle O’Reilly, Orange Cassidy, Tomohiro Ishii vs Roderick Strong, Matt Taven, Mike Bennett

Strong and Reilly clash in this opener, exchanging holds and reversals. Cassidy and Taven are tagged as Cassidy connects with a couple of arm drags. Taven is sent into the ropes as Ishii is tagged and hits everyone with shoulder tackles. Bennett and Taven end up jumping him from behind. They try to hit a double suplex as Cassidy and Reilly come in to save him. Cassidy & Friends reverse and hit them with a back-body suplex! Ishii, with a pinfall attempt after a setup by Cassidy, only gets a near fall as we head into commercials. We are back as Strong hits a backbreaker on Ishii. Strong follows up with chops and right hands to the face. Taven is tagged as he hits a snapmare and is distracted when he turns his back on his opponent. Ishii is able to hit a German suplex to tag in Reilly. All men are in the ring as it’s pure chaos! The referee can not get control as he’s letting a lot slide. A sick kick and the proton pack only get the Kingdom a near fall. Strong continues to punish Ishii as Cassidy tags himself in and sends Bennett and Taven over the ropes. Cassidy tries to dive between the ropes to crash into both men. They end up catching him and sending him crashing into the barricades. Roderick Storm hits a dropkick between the ropes, sending Cassidy staggering. We have more commercial breaks, folks. We are back, as during the commercial break, Kingdom isolated Cassidy. Strong misses a running knee as Ishii is tagged! Suplex on Bennett! Super brainbuster on Taven as Strong breaks up the pin! Strong and Reilly are exchanging shots now. Everyone is hitting their moves on one another as Cassidy is tagged. Cassidy is sent into the ropes by Bennett as Cassidy counters with a DDT. High and low from Cassidy and Reilly! Cassidy, with the orange punch on Taven, secures the win!

Winner: Orange Cassidy and friends (16 minutes)
Rating:**
Decent opener. Way too long for my taste, though, as some of the time from this match could’ve been given to other matches on the card.

Post-match, Kyle Fletcher attacks Cassidy when Mark Briscoe comes out for the save. Strong hits him with a knee to floor him as Kingdom stands tall over his body. Elsewhere, Saraya is with Harley Cameron as Saraya talks about how AEW is trying to hide her. She feels they are trying to keep her away from TV and ALL IN: London. Saraya promises she’ll be there even if she has to step on someone to get there, for she is a legend!

MATCH 2: Chris Jericho and Big Bill vs The Outrunners

Jericho is in his dress pants and is texting on his phone at ringside while wearing his watch. What an asshole! I am coming around to this persona as Big Bill is doing all the work. I wonder if Jericho is trying to find out where his Grubhub delivery is, as Big Bill is destroying the Outrunners. Big Bill splashes to both men, followed by high boots. Floyd hit with a chokeslam as Jericho comes in waving and hits a cocky pin over with a foot on Floyd’s chest for the win.

Winner: Chris Jericho and Big Bill (3 minutes)
Rating:NR
SQUASH…SQUASH…SQUASH!!!

MATCH 3: Minoru Suzuki vs Butcher

Suzuki demands Butcher chop him silly as the first few chops do nothing. Suzuki laughs in his face as Butcher puts more stank on the next one to stagger Suzuki. Butcher tries for a half-Nelson suplex, but Suzuki reverses it into a sleeper. Suzuki hits his trademark piledriver for the victory.

Winner: Suzuki (3 minutes)
Rating:NR
Love both men but this was a…SQUASH…SQUASH…SQUASH!!!

Backstage segment as Mark Briscoe hypes his upcoming match against Roderick Strong but first Ishii will face Strong coming up AEW Collision.

MATCH 4: Kris Statlander vs Sydni Winnell aka Victim 102

Spinning clothesline connects on Winnell as Statlander follows up with strikes and stomps in the corner. Back suplex follows. An uppercut connects as Sydni returns with a couple of clotheslines until she’s caught from the ropes. Winnell was looking for a crossbody as Statlander hit The Staternight Fever to end this match.

Winner: Statlander (2 minutes)
Rating:NR
The word for today is…SQUASH!!

MATCH 5: Rey Fenix & Penta Miedo vs Private Party

Fenix and Kassidy open as Fenix connects with his trademark kicks before Kassidy hits a few of his own. Kassidy misses a cutter as Quen is tagged. Quen tries for a rollup, and there’s a kickout when Penta is tagged. Everyone is in the ring now, hitting superkicks and dives from the top rope. All four men are laid out as we head into our final commercials. We are back. Kassidy hits the silly strong on Penta. Private Party hits a neckbreaker combo on Fenix. Kassidy tries covering Fenix but can’t close the deal as he kicks out! Quen tagged as they were thinking gin & juice but no mas! Penta hits a couple of sling blades as Private Party hits gin & juice on Fenix! The cover attempt is made as Penta hits a destroyer on Kassidy to interrupt the attempt. Lucha brothers with a pair of stereo kicks on Private Party. Fear factor & stomp combo on Marq Quen secures the victory.

Winner: Lucha Brothers (9 minutes)
Rating:**
Solid match but what hurt it the most was the picture-in-picture break which I look at as a commercial break. This match should’ve gotten more time as the main event. You had the right guys in place for a magical tag match.

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 you all!

4.8

The final score: review Poor

The 411

Make no mistake about it folks, the talent for this weeks AEW Rampage was there. What hurt this episode in my honest opinion though is the consecutive squash matches. When you look back on some of them you say to yourself it makes sense. There are other matches you’re looking at however and are expecting them to go much longer. Butcher and Suzuki alone should’ve gone ten minutes. Butcher has been on a whole other level as of late and this should’ve been a great moment for him while also pushing the Suzuki/Jericho feud. They went way too long with Cassidy and friends for the opener as they got three whole segments. That is essentially almost half your show. Overall not a well executed episode. Most fans will look at this episode as an afterthought. I cannot recommend folks check this episode out as this was a DUD. By far the worst produced so far this month. Long time readers know I love wrestling from all promotions. I show AEW love and offer criticism when warranted. In all my years covering Rampage (which has been since the first episode), this episode I just wasn’t feeling. Again they had the talent but when you spend too much time on mid-carders for your opener, as if they are the main event, and rush through your other matches, it hurts the overall product and talents. 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 you all!