Sanders’ AEW Rampage Review 8.5.22

Hellooooooooooooooo fellow wrestling friends! Lee Sanders here and TGIF as the weekend is finally here and no better way to enjoy it then with a new AEW RAMPAGE! Hope you all been well and staying hydrated this week as it’s been pretty hot outside. Make sure to check on your pets and the elderly during these hot summer days. Nothing to plug this week except how about the BREAKING BAD episode of BETTER CALL SAUL this week? Man what a banger as the series finale draws near. Friendly reminder, besides this recap and review, I’ll be live with you again this Saturday, August 6th 2022 for AEW Battle of the Belts coverage starting at 8pm ET. I’ll be live on Youtube and other platforms with a special post show afterwards. If around tune in! For now let’s get to the action of RAMPAGE!!!

Commentators: Jim Ross, Excalibur, William Regal, and Tony Schiavone

Match 1: Jon Moxley vs Mance Warner

Molxey goes right after Warner as he doesn’t wait for the bell to ring as he pounces on Warner with his fists. Warner gets back on the rebound with a couple of fists to Moxley’s face before tossing him in the ring as the bell finally sounds. Action quickly goes back to the outside where Warner clubs on the back of Moxley. Moxley kicks Wanrer in the gut and follows up with a snap suplex. Both men are exchanging hard chops as Mance gets the upperhand and plants Molxey on top of the barricade…crown jewels first! OUCHIE!!! Action goes back inside as Warner goes to the head of Moxley with his fists followed by chops to the chest. Moxley wants more as he’s fired up and comes in with chops of his own, followed by a dragon screw! Moxley now with a figure-four leglock as Mance gives him an eye-poke to get out. Warner hits Moxley repeatedly in the face with right hands now. Moxley comes right back with fists of his own. Warner strong whips Moxley into a corner post as the action spills to the outside. Warner strong whips Moxley into the steel steps, followed by the barricade. Warner caps it off with a snap suplex of his own onto Moxley as Moxley’s back hits an open steel chair. Warner delivers a DDT to Moxley onto some steel steps as we head into a commercial break. We’re back with our opening contest as both men are inside the ring again. Warner stomps on the ankle of Moxley, followed by knee strikes. Moxley is able to come to his feet briefly but gets hit with a spinebuster! Mance Warner only gets a couple of near falls as Moxley wants more pain from him. Moxley is telling Warner to BRING IT! Warner gets ahold of a chair as Moxley delivers a right hand to that chair that smacks Warner in the face. Warner is on the outside with a bloodied face as he stumbles to his feet. Moxley does a suicide dive from between the ropes and crashes into Mance warner. Moxley gets him back in the ring and delivers a superplex from the top rope! Insane spot man! Moxley off the ropes and connects with a Triple H inspired knee to the face as Warner comes right back with a clothesline! Helluva match as both men are exhausted but Moxley manages to go in for the cover that’s a near fall. Moxley follows up with a double-wrist lock, followed by repeated stomps to Warner’s face. Moxley delivers a piledriver, followed by stomps to the face as Moxley gets Warner in a rear naked choke for the victory!

Winner: Jon Moxley (12:00)
Rating: ****
Happy to say I’ve followed the career off and on of Mance Warner since his days in MLW. I’ve always sung the man’s praises and for me this was a fantastic AEW in-ring debut for the country boy. The level of physical violence in this match wasn’t over the top, nor was it too spotty. These two had great chemistry with one another as you felt as if you were watching Mick Foley and Terry Funk inspired guys here going in this opener. Hey that’s alright with me folks! Moxley could’ve easily used some stroke and made himself look super over in this one but he busted his ass to make Mance Warner look like a stud.

QT Marshall and his stable (Anthony Ogogo, Nick Comoroto and Aaron Solow) approach Ricky Starks and tellhim to strongly consider taking their help to balance the odds against Powerhouse Hobbs. Starks tells them to step off as he shoulders his way pass them. An interesting development here…

Match 2: Konosuke Takeshita vs Ryan Nemeth

And we start this one off hot as Takeshita delivers fists, after fists to Ryan! Peter Avalon grabs on the ankle of Takeshita as he was coming off the ropes trying to continue his offense on Nemth. Ryan takes advantage of the distraction with an attack from behind, followed by knees to the midsection before swinging his hips just like his brother in Dolph Ziggler. Takeshita comes back with a spinning Blue Thunder Bomb! Good Gawd almighty what a Thunder Bomb as Takeshita follows up with a devastating knee to the face to end this one.

Winner: Takeashita (2:00)
Rating: SQUASH
Squash but nice to continue building up Takeshita. I’m really liking this kid and can see him being AEW’s own Tanahashi if they do it right. Kid has a great look and is a solid performer.

Peter Avalon tries attacking Takeashita after the match but gets a knee to the face, Triple H style! What is with these Triple H knee strikes? A quiet salute to the Cerebral Assassin?

Match 3: Madison Rayne vs Leila Gray

We begin this one with a series of lockups before both girls start exchanging pin attempts. Madison almost got a a win with a backslide but Gray kicks out. Madison follows up with a deep armdrag as she continues working the arm, even doing an armdrag takedown. Madison gets Irish whipped into the corner as Gray charges at her. Madison moves out the way in time and delivers a shoulder to the midsection. Madison is about to attack when Stokely stomps on the steel steps causing a distraction as we head into our next set of ads breaks. We’re back now as the girls are trading off on elbow strikes. Gray tries to go for a facebuster but misses as Madison connects with the CrossRayne to end this one.

Winner: Madision Rayne (Stopwatch Issues)
Rating: **
Nice in-ring debut here for Madison Rayne who has always been one of my favorites from the TNA days. Couple of hiccups here and there but overall a decent match here and effort from the girls. Think my biggest problem is that there was no proper buildup despite commentators trying to put over Madison. They gonna have to do more than a few mentions to really get this girl over but that’s my mindset. I could be wrong. By the way I’m not a fan of the match ending less than 90 seconds after coming back from a commercial break, even if it was a picture in picture break. Come on man! That move alone lost them a whole rating in my book.

Post-match Jade Cargill comes out looking oh so fine as always! She talks about how hard it is to find good help these days. Jade invites Madison to show up this Wednesday to get her ass beat as she wants to face her 1 on 1. Kiera Hogan tries to attack Madison from behind but the veteran has it scouted as she puts Kiera in the CrossRayne to end this segment as the TBS Champion looks on. Way to not help your girl out Jade!

Mark Henry tries to setup up Josh Woods and Tony Nese vs Swerve Strickland and Keith Lee when Sterling cuts him off to takeover the buildup for this main event match. IT’S TIME FOR THE MAIN EVENT!

Rundown for Battle of the Belts is shown as nothing new is announced.
Same for next weeks’ DYNAMITE except for Jade Cargill vs Madison Rayne for the TBS Championship is official at QUAKE BY THE LAKE.

Match 4: FRIDAY NIGHT STREET FIGHT-Serve in Our Glory’s Keith Lee & Swerve Strickland vs Tony Nese and Josh Woods

These teams are slugging it out at one another as they don’t even wait for the introductions! Keith gets a bucket full of muscle milk powder in his face. Woods drives Strickland into the steel steps as Keith grabs a bottle of water from a fan to get the powder out his eyes. Nese throws a metal tool box at Keith that ones up upon contact, full of hammers and other tools as Lee goes down! Actually was a funny spot as we head into our last set of ad breaks. We’re back as Nese and Woods try to powerbomb Swerve through the table. Swerve manages to fight them off as Lee fights Woods. Nese tries to get a pin on Swerve but Lee breaks it up. Lee throws Nese into Woods in a great display of strength as he bounces off the ropes and is hit by a steel chair from Mark Sterling on the outside. Nese does a dropkick to Lee while Woods connects with a pumpkick! A double ddt follows as they make sure Lee’s head goes head first into the steel chair on the mat. Pin attempt is made but Swerve stops it with a 450 splash! Everyone is exhausted as Nese barely stands up, sets up a table in the ring as Swerve delivers a knee to the jaw of Tony Nese. Sterling attacks Swerve from behind with a wrench to the back of the head. Swerve gets put on the table as Sterling tries to climb to the top for a frog splash attempt. Lee stops him and tosses Mark as he goes crashing through the table. Woods tries to grab Lee from behind to attempt a back suplex from the side of the apron and through the table. Lee isn’t giving in when Nese comes from off the ropes and a boot to his face as Lee finally releases his hold and goes through the table. GOOD GAWD what a sick spot! Swerve tries looking for a half and half but Nese stops it with an elbow. Swerve come back with an elevated back body drop of Nese as Nese hits a steel chair, back first! Swerve capitalizes by going to the top and connecting with a Swerve Stomp to score the victory!

Winner: Keith Lee and Swerve Strickland (14:00)
Rating: ***
Great main event match for this weeks RAMPAGE. I’m not even going to lie to you guys though, I forgot Keith and Swerve are the AEW Tag Champions. I wouldn’t blame any fans that forgot as well. With everything going on with ROH, the introduction of the Trios Tag titles, ALL OUT, somehow these tag titles felt lost in the shuffle. These teams seemed to click well with one another. I could honestly watch Nese and Strickland go at it one on one for a month or two. They’ve got excellent chemistry with one another. I’m still relatively new to Josh Woods but the few opportunities he was given he landed okay. I honestly am curious enough and want to see more of him in action. Here’s hoping that Swerve in Our Glory is done with Sterling and crew as I want to see them in more serious competition. Especially since we’re heading into ALL OUT in a couple of weeks. Who would you all like to see them defend the titles against at the PPV? Sound off!
End of Show

8.0

The final score: review Very Good

The 411

Solid episode this week but I had an issue with how they brought in Madison Rayne. Sure me and a few others know about her career and all but man what the hell happened to Athena? Last we saw Athena and Kris Statlander were continuing to chase after Jade and her baddies. They were even mixing it up with Stokley and now we just abandon it to do this match between Madison and Jade? I have big issues with this as it makes the booking come looking very silly. So let me see if I got this straight, you can make an AEW Debut, get a victory and you get a shot at the champion? Seriously what the hell is the point of the ranking system then? Tony Khan and crew gotta use better logic. That whole segment stuck out to me like a sore thumb. That to the side, Mance Warner did an exceptional job in his in-ring AEW debut against Moxley. Under the right circumstances I could see Mance and Moxley as a tag team or heck give me Mance and Kingston going at it for a week or two. Now as much as I like Mance, even I must admit to have him just go in and first match is against the AEW World champion? We gotta do a better job putting video packages for these people and making fans give a damn. From the moment the matches are announced online, there should be a video package ready to go online that can be played again on the next AEW episode. Swerve in Our Glory need better buildup as champions. Think about it as they won the tag titles and then things seemed to get cold quickly for them. Can't keep doing that to talented guys like these two as enough buildup has been done. Khan and crew need to not lose track and keep at it with Swerve and Lee. I'd love to see them act like they got a chip on their shoulders and mention how they'll be watching closely what happens with those Trios titles. Maybe even tease they'll find someone to tag with them and who knows maybe go for those as well. Solid in-ring action for this week much like the previous week if you're keeping track at home. We are 8/10 again for a second week in a row. Don't forget I'll be right here with ongoing coverage of AEW's BATTLE OF THE BELTS with review as well! Also a special live post show reacting to this weeks' RAMPAGE and BATTLE OF THE BELTS, and Killer Kross returning to WWE! 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!