Sanders’ AEW Rampage Review 9.10.21

TGIF Everybody! The weekend draws near and we are days removed from AEW ALL OUT and DYNAMITE. Tonight brings us a new AEW RAMPAGE and the card is loaded as PAC vs Andrade El Idolo. Darby Allin & Sting are in the house as The Icon responds to Tully Blanchard. Trios action as Britt Baker, D.M.D., Rebel & Jamie Hayter vs. Ruby Soho, Riho & Kris Statlander. Meanwhile, Max Caster faces Brian Pillman Jr.

We’re going right to in- ring action as Taz, Tony Schiavone, Jim Ross, and Mark Henry greet us.

Match 1: PAC vs Andrade El Idolo

Both men start off staring each other down as Andrade pushes PAC, PAC pushes back as the two exchange forearm shots on one another. Andrade sends PAC into the ropes and gives him a strong shoulder block. PAC no sells it in seconds as he does a kip-up. PAC. Andrade follows up with a shotgun drop kick as he sends PAC into the corner where he stomps on him for a bit. Andrade soon finds himself on defense or at least looking for some as PAC arm whips him to the canvas followed by a spinning hurricarana, followed by a dive outside the ropes. Fans are loving this! Both men are brawling outside for a bit before the action goes back into the ring. Taz gets questioned about his hostile comments towards CM Punk this week and Taz tells them Punk pushed his button. Andrade connects with a DDT onto PAC that sends him crashing outside the ring. El Idolo does a lot of showboating before running to the rope turnbuckle on the other side and does an insane spinning corkscrew body splash! Action goes back inside the ring as Andrade and PAC are fighting on the top turnbuckle, PAC slips as his legs get caught between the ropes, El Idolo tries to stomp on PAC but he barely connects as both men go crashing to the ground outside the ring. After a commercial break PAC is over the shoulders of Andrade. Not sure what he’s looking for but PAC counters with a unacurrana! PAC follows up with a running pump kick followed with a clothesline. Both men are looking pretty exhausted as the ref begins to count to ten before PAC is back to his feet. Nice, strong-style action right here as PAC tried to look for a powerbomb to Andrade but he doesn’t budge. Andrade drops to stand on his feet outside the ring as PAC superkicks him. PAC goes to the top turnbuckle again but his legs get caught up like before. Andrade looks for his double stomp but misses as PAC does a flying moonsault. Back inside the ring as PAC is back on the top rope and connects with a spinning 450 splash pin but El Idolo grabs the rope for a near fall. PAC is gassed out as Andrade capitalizes with a pele kick but PAC comes right back on offense and connects with a sweet belly to belly suplex. Series of counters now as PAC applies the brutalizer as Jose has a stun gun in his hands trying to distract the ref as the Lucha Bros pull him down. Chavo Guerrero attacks PAC and Andrade manages to pin PAC to get his second victory in AEW.

WINNER: Andrade
RATING: 8/10
THOUGHTS: Great opener for RAMPAGE and I for one am happy to see this match get the respected time it deserved. It would’ve been great to see this match at ALL OUT but it would’ve been lost in the shuffle honestly. PAC and Andrade have great chemistry together and hopefully this isn’t the last we’ve seen of them. Also, Andrade came to AEW in July and he only had one match since then? Happy he got the victory here tonight but now let’s string more victories together for the man already. Hopefully tonight was the building block to make it so. We’ll see…

Post match Andrade slugged Chavo and threw Chavo’s tablet back at him as the Lucha Bros superkicked Chavo once he turns around. Lucha Bros drag him back into the ring where PAC applies the Brutalizer as officials come to try and break it up. PAC finally lets it go as Death Triangle stands tall.

We’re back now as Darby Allin makes his way inside the ring to join Sting and Tony Schiavone. Darby has a message for Shawn Spears which is without Tully Blanchard he is absolutely nothing. Sting grabs the microphone and tells the Cincinnati crowd it’s good to be back. Sting questions whether or not Tully rode the coattails of Ric Flair and Arn Anderson. He welcomes him to the ring as he calls him out. Tully Blanchard appears and tells Sting how he’s always liked the numbers game but we see Shawn Spears attack Darby from behind and drags him outside the ring. Great surprise attack as Tully tells Sting to look into his eyes now.

Next up is a video package featuring Adam Cole. He calls The Elite a brotherhood, a special group of powerful people showing how good they really are. Cole talks about trusting all the members of Elite before turning his attention towards Bryan Danielson and Christian. Adam Cole isn’t in his prime yet as he knows he can mop the floor with them. We now hear words from Bryan Danielson as The Elite in his eyes are insecure and how he’s only going after one man in the group, Kenny Omega. Bryan is excited to be in AEW and wants to fight Omega. He’s looking for his first match against Omega or somebody in AEW as he’s all game.

Match 2: Trios-Britt Baker, D.M.D., Rebel, Jamie Hayter vs. Ruby Soho, Riho, Kris Statlander

Riho and Baker are exchanging nice series of holds as there was hesitation on Riho continuing her attack as Britt comes back with punches to Riho who awkwardly tags in Statlander. Statlander does a nice roll through followed by sending Baker into the ropes and connecting with a power slam. Baker manages to escape a near fall as she tags in Rebel. Riho tags herself in and gets on the back of Statlander to do a Mortal Kombat bicycle kick on Rebel. Hayter gets tagged in as Riho goes to town on her with a 619 that connects. Rebel attacks Riho to help Hayter rebound as we go into another commercial break. We’re back as Riho is able to make the tag to Soho who’s laying in punches to Hayter followed with a nice back sweep takedown. Tag to Statlander as both girls tried to look for a double team move but Hayter fights them off as she connects with a back breaker on Statlander for a near fall. Rebel is tagged in as they try to do a double team on Statlander but instead settle for beating her down. They try the double move again but Statlander counters with a double suplex. Statlander gets a roll up on Rebel as Baker breaks it up. Both girls are exchanging shots as Statlander ones through with a spinning falcon arrow. Riho is now on the shoulders of Statlander as Rebel tries to cover Baker. Riho double stomps on the lower back of Rebel. Riho follows up with a flying crossbody off the rope to Hayter. Ruby is tagged as she comes in with a pele kick to the face of Rebel to get the victory.

WINNER: Ruby, Riho, Statlander
RATING: 7/10
THOUGHTS: This match would be one number higher but the weird exchange between Riho and Baker in the opening, I can’t ignore that. It was if Riho wasn’t sure what she was supposed to do with Britt. Other than that I felt Ruby and Hayter redeemed themselves from the match they had on DYNAMITE this week. If this was the match they had first before their DYNAMITE match, then it kind of makes sense as they may have not had enough time to recharge. Statlander continues to impress me each week now that she’s getting away from the Alien finger pointing gimmick. Hayter is slowly coming along as a powerhouse. Ruby getting the win for her team makes all the sense as it appears she’s the next threat to Baker’s title.

Mark Henry is now getting words from Max Caster and Brian Pillman, Jr prior to the main event. Caster’s issues is that Pillman has fake friends around him as he’s going to beat his SAVED BY THE BELL looking behind. Pillman wonders if Caster can walk the walk, he knows Caster can talk the talk as we saw how far that got him. Pillman knows he has the hometown crowd behind him he’s going to come at Caster at full throttle.

Match 3: Max Caster faces Brian Pillman Jr

Pillman pounces right on Caster with strong punches to his face as he hasn’t even taken off his vest. Pillman connects with a drop kick between the ropes to Caster and Anthony Bowens. Pillman is looking for a move off the top rope as instead he goes crashing face first thanks to Anthony Bowen. Caster is now on the offense as the fans are booing Caster big time. Bowen’s continuing his side antics of interference as the ref doesn’t see his cheap attacks. Caster gets in a cover for a pin attempt but he only gets a near fall. Caster comes with a back suplex and follows up with a hard kick to the back of Pillman. Bowens continues assaulting Brian as the referee is missing all of his attacks. Lazy cover attempt by Caster gets him another near fall as the crowd is trying to will Pillman back to life. It works as he comes in with a series of clotheslines followed by chops, and an Irish whip into the ropes. Ten punches to the back of the head and neck as Pillman is looking for a high risk maneuver but once again Bowens interferes to help. Pillman fights off Caster as he does a diving body to crash into Bowens. Caster comes in with a drop kick to Pillman as he goes tot the top. Access denied as Caster looked for a flying elbow drop that doesn’t connect. Pillman takes advantage of the opening with a flying clothesline to pick up the victory.

WINNER: Brian Pillman, Jr.
RATING: 7/10
THOUGHTS: Really awesome Pillman got to close out RAMPAGE in front of his hometown and family. I said months ago on my podcast AEW should’ve capitalized off the DARK SIDE OF THE RING episode featuring his dad and built a nice story for him. There was so much buzz when that episode was released. As great of a feeling as it was to see Pillman here in a decent main event you just feel this may be a one-time thing. At least for now considering all the people that recently came on board AEW in recent months. I hope I’m wrong but regardless he has a bright career ahead of him and can truly be that breakout original star for AEW.

Post victory Pillman celebrates with his family before going back to the ring. Bowens attacks him from behind as Mosley comes in to lay out Bowens with his own boombox followed up with a paradigm shift on Caster to close out RAMPAGE as Mosley and Pillman celebrate.

7.5

The final score: review Good

The 411

Overall I enjoyed this episode more so then last week. What jumped out to me most was the building blocks accomplished for this episode. Women’s division, tag division, the continuation of storylines that were introduced to us on Wednesday’s DYNAMITE like Tully and Sting which still has me scratching my head even as we speak. Where does Chavo Guerrero go from here? Does he try to explain himself and win back over Andrade? Or does he find that Latino Heat and go Mano y Mano with Andrade? RAMPAGE really helped flush out guys like Brian Pillman and The Acclaimed too as these are men that’s possible of helping the carrying the company in the years to come as they’re homebred original AEW talent. Great building blocks in that aspect overall while also setting up why you should check out the next batch of AEW shows. Mark Henry interviewing the stars for the main event each week gives me a UFC meets Bellator type of feel as it’s become one of my favorite highlights each week.