wrestling / TV Reports
Sanders’ AEW Rampage Review 9.2.22
Image Credit: AEW
Loading...Happy Friday ya’ll! Lee Sanders here and man oh man what a busy week for wrestling fans! AEW ALL OUT is this weekend but first we got ourselves a live AEW RAMPAGE! I love it when RAMPAGE is live as we don’t have to worry about any leaked spoilers! Hope you all have been having a great week so far and from all of us here at 411MANIA, and from my family to yours, happy Labor Day in advance! Let’s talk AEW RAMPAGE!
Commentators: Jim Ross, Excalibur, and Chris Jericho
MATCH 1: Trios Tag Team Tournament Quarterfinals-Orange Cassidy & Best Friends vs Hangman Adam Page, John Silver, Alex Reynolds
Poor Danhausen found himself ejected off the break as he tried to put a curse on Hangman and the Dark Order. Best Friends do a combo on John Silver in the corner as they try to set him up on the ropes. Beretta and Taylor are thinking about a superplex on Silver when Hangman gets in and fights them off. Page hilariously has Silver in his arms like a baby when Cassidy comes in and does light kicks to Hangman’s ankles. Hangman turns around, and places Silver down as Cassidy pretends to be going for a full force superkick! Silver pushes Hangman out the way as instead it turns out to be a pretend light kick from Cassidy. We see a series of kicks and spots from everyone as it culminates with Silver connecting with a spinning clothesline from off the ropes and onto Taylor as we head into our first set of ad breaks. And we’re back as Hangman delivers a fall-away slam to Cassidy. He leaps over the top rope to crash into unintentionally, Alex Reynolds as Taylor and Beretta double chokeslam him through the table. Meanwhile back inside the ring, Reynolds delivers a haymaker to Cassidy and goes for a cover. It’s a near fall as Silver gets tagged in but is sent over the ropes as Silver delivers brutal kicks, and an inside out clothesline. Cassidy comes right back with the beachbreak as Best Friends hold Silver to set up Cassidy to leap off of them and stomp on Silver! It’s another near fall as Hangman gets the tag now. He’s coming in hot as he climbs to the top turnbuckle and is grabbed by Trent. Trent tries looking for a super back suplex as Hangman lands on his feet, and delivers an elbow. Cassidy gets an elbow as well followed up by the deadeye as Hangman looks for a pin attempt but it gets broken up. Silver and Reynolds do a beautiful combo on Cassidy when Cassidy somehow manages to get an inside cradle for a two count. Strong Zero is applied to Reynolds by Chuck and Trent. Silver is in the corner tangled up when Chuck gets him and delivers a running reverse headspike, only for it to be broken up by Hangman! Hangman looks and misses the buckshot lariat as Cassidy gets him with the orange crush to get sent out the ring. Silver comes from behind Taylor for a quick rollup to score the pinfall for his team. Hangman and Dark Order advance!
Winners:Dark Order & Hangman Adam Page (12:15)
Rating: ***
Thoughts:The right team went over here although I quietly was rooting for Best Friends and Cassidy. I think any other night you could’ve banked on them but with Hangman being added into the mix, you just knew there was no way this trio would lose. Solid trios tag opener that went as you thought it would with all these respected men as it’s always fun and entertaining.
MATCH 2: Blake Christian vs Rey Fenix
Fenix is coming out the corner hot as he tries to go for a lateral press. Christian comes right back with a beautiful series of reversal that culminates in a dropkick. Fenix now with a nice chop to Blake’s chest as he is bouncing off the ropes like Spider-Man to do a nice outside armdrag takedown while never letting Blake’s arm go. Fenix gets sent over the ropes as Christian goes over the top to crash into him. Somehow Blake Christian lands on his feet. Action back inside the ring now, Fenix delivers a strong sidekick to Blake’s face, followed by a series of chops, and a finally a knee to the face and a piledriver to end this one.
Winners:Rey Fenix (4:00)
Rating: **
Thoughts:Haven’t seen Blake Christian in a good minute. At one point this kid was on TV almost weekly, more than what’s been happening recently that’s for sure. Fenix has been taking his game to another level. He looked like an absolute beast right here. Every time I watch this man he defies gravity like a young Rey Mysterio. I could’ve watched these two guys go at it for another ten minutes honestly. Sucked that it was such a short one. Maybe next time…
Lexi is backstage interviewing HOOK when Cool Hand and Matt Mernard appears and demands to know what is HOOK gonna do once the FTW Championship comes their way as they want a taste of the title!!! HOOK takes his shirt off ready to fight when he backs off telling him he’ll see him on Sunday. Nice dig by Chris Jericho as he proclaims how stupid it was for HOOK to take his shirt off for no reason as Jericho is on commentary without a shirt on for no reason!
MATCH 3: Ortiz & Ruby Soho vs Sammy Guverra & Tay Conti
Sammy has been having his way with Ortiz as during a picture in picture break we saw that Conti slammed Ruby’s arm against the steel steps to sideline her for a bit. Sammy delivers a shoulder tackle to Ortiz midsection, followed by a side kick to the back of his bead. Sammy tries jumping off the top rope and misses Ortiz as he connects with a powerslam to tag in Ruby. Ruby connects with a couple of backheel trips, followed by a series of headbutts to the face. Manhattan drop by Ortiz on Sammy, followed by a lariat as Ruby and Ortiz deliver a nice combo sequence to receive a near fall after connecting with a senton. Ortiz tags in Ruby as Ruby now delivers a headbutt to Sammy! Ruby tries looking for a bulldog but gets caught up as Tay plants her with a ddt. Ortiz breaks up a pin attempt by Tay as the newlyweds try to double up on him with a suplex. Ortiz lands on his feet as he German suplexes Sammy outside the ring, while Ruby rolls up Conti for the victory.
Winners:Ortiz and Ruby Soho (6:00)
Rating: ***
Thoughts: Very entertaining tag match! Much better than what they did last week honestly. For some I may have been too critical on Ortiz last week but I still feel tag teaming is the way to go for Ortiz as opposed to a singles run. Ortiz and Ruby is growing on me as a team.
Lexi is backstage chatting with Hangman and Dark Order when Don Callis interrupts. Callis likes the way Hangman is handling his business. Callis can’t believe Hangman turned down teaming with best friends, screwing them in the process all in the name of power. Don tells Hangman it gets easier screwing people over to get to the top as Hangman tells him to get out of his face.
Leila Gray, Jade Cargill, and Kiera Hogan are with Athena as Mark Henry is trying to conduct a sit down interview. Jade wonders how they should address Athena and Kiera thinks Athena should be known as No. 37. Athena promises to beat Jade for every woman in the back. Nice and intense segment right here as we get a full rundown of the ALL OUT card for this weekend. That Jade and Athena segment was straight fire though folks! Check it out below!
The TBS Championship is on the line as Athena finally gets her shot against Undefeated TBS Champion Jade Cargill at #AEWAllOut this SUNDAY September 4 LIVE on PPV!
Tune in NOW to #AEWRampage LIVE on TNT! pic.twitter.com/3z2Q61G83V
— All Elite Wrestling (@AEW) September 3, 2022
Swerve in Our Glory Hole is backstage with The Acclaimed and Billy Gunn. Far as the champs are concerned The Acclaimed have 48 hours to step up and get the job done. Swerve takes note of The Acclaimed hyping up how many wins they’ve been tallying up in AEW. It’s impressive as The Acclaimed have the most tag wins in AEW. Far as Swerve is concerned for three years now, Accliamed been making crappy rap jokes. Meanwhile, Bowen has let his partner down every time by being injured. Talk about a burn!!! Swerve looks at he and Keith as the Mountains of the tag division. They consist of rock, gravel and stone. And last they checked? Rock beats scissors! Well done sir, well done!
FTR and Wardlow are in the ring now. Dax recalls a time where he felt worthless, felt like nobody loved him. Then 2022 happened and the fans happened. His life completely turned around for the better but he realizes not everyone loves FTR. He makes note of how some websites and journalists are writing about and criticizing why this match is happening with them at ALL OUT. Before Dax can go any further Chris Saban, Alex Shelley, Jay Lethal, Satnam Sighn, and Sunjay Dutt crash the party. Shelley admits that what FTR has done so far has been impressive but that they’ve been together for over twenty years and seen it all. They are a real family as Dutt proclaims they are going to mess with Dax’s friends, money, and family. Dutt wonders if Dax is going to fight like his (Dax’s daughter) eight year old brat as Dax tries charging at Dutt but is held back to end this segment.
MATCH 4: Ricky Starks vs QT Marshall
Mark Henry gets words from Ricky and Marshall now. Marshall tells Starks how he doesn’t need the Factory as he’s ready to fight 1 on 1. Ricky smiles and tells him he knows he’s all alone as apparently he locked the rest of the Factory members inside a room by sabotaging their locker room door. QT quickly tries to go find them but is jumped by Starks eventually. The brawl continues from the backstage area and spills to the outside, through the crowd and eventually in the ring. The bell rings as we head into our last commercial break. Nick Comoroto and Aaron Solow somehow managed to get free as they are now at ringside. Nick hands a watch to QT to use as QT swings and misses Starks and almost hits Solow.
QT sees Starks coming from off the ropes and moves as Starks spears Solo off the apron. QT gets Starks in a rollup and uses his legs up on the ropes for leverage but the ref sees this and stops him. Cole Karter gets clotheslined by Starks as afterwards Nick crashes into the steel steps. Starks gets inside the ring where he attempts a backslide pin attempt. It’s a near fall as QT connects with a diamond cutter for a two count! QT bounces off the ropes now as Starks spears him and sets him up for the ROSHAMBO for the victory.
Winners:Ricky Starks (6:00)
Rating: **
Thoughts: This was nothing special. Sorry I am just not a fan of QT Marshall and am tired of seeing him on my TV. Appreciate how this match was booked though as it was all about building up Starks going into the PPV but this fight did nothing for me whatsoever.
Post-match, Starks isn’t able to celebrate that long as Powerhouse Hobbs arrives and comes down to the ring as both men begin brawling. Referees are doing their best to separate the men as Jericho uses the time to bash Bryan Danielson. Speaking of the Devil! Danielson arrives to get in the face of Jericho by the commentary table as the show comes to an end without these men touching each other. BOO!
End of Show
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