Sanders’ AEW Rampage Review 9.30.22

Hey hey hey! Lee Sanders here! Hope you all are going into the weekend with big smiles as a new AEW RAMPAGE is going down this week! Nothing to promote this week> I want to extend thoughts to those affected by Hurricane Ian. Thinking about you all in the areas this storm is affecting. Also, thoughts and prayers to the family, friends and colleagues of rapper Coolio who shockingly passed away this week at age 59. What a crazy week I tell you guys. Hopefully we here at 411MANIA can help take your mind off of this news and your own personal life for a bit as we’ve got a nice episode of great wrestling underway! Let’s talk RAMPAGE!

Commentators: Jim Ross, Taz, and Tony Schiavone

MATCH 1: AEW World Tag Team Championship-The Butcher & The Blade vs Private Party vs The Acclaimed(c)

Isiah Kassidy and Anthony Bowens kick us off on this tag match with a quick lockup. We’re seeing a great series of hammerlocks, backlside pin and rollup attempts as it’s all near falls. Butcher and Blade are demanding a tag from Kassidy who isn’t budging as he trash-talks them real quick. Nice knee stomp to Kassidy’s knee, followed by a chop, and a dropkick as Caster becomes the legal man. Caster takes time to get a scissor from Bad Ass Billy Gunn. Caster into the ropes as he tries to attempt a sunset flip. Bowens comes in with a neckbreaker as Marc Quen gets derailed for his interference. Bowens delivers a leg drop onto Quen’s groin as Butcher and Blade destroy everyone. These boys have had enough as they force a tag courtesy of Mar Quen after dragging him into the corner to officially get a legal tag as we head into a commercial break. Annnnnd we are back as Blade has been dominating Bowens during the commercial break as he gets powerslammed by Blade for a quick kickout. Butcher delivers a big leg drop now as another cover attempt is made. Bowens kicks out as Butcher and Blade keep tagging in and out while isolating Bowens away from getting a tag. Bowens manages to land a thrust kick to Blade to find an opening but Butcher stops him from getting a tag. Back body drop by Blade soon follows as Quen gets in a blind tag and delivers a big crossbody on Blade, followed by a moonsault that takes out Butcher. Nice poetry in motion by Private Power as they deliver a senton / neckbreaker combo on Blade for a near fall as Caster breaks it up. Gunbuster by Butcher and Blade now followed up with a powerbomb as Bowens breaks it up. Kassidy rams Blade into the Butcher as he springboards onto them from the outside. Bowens gets in a tag now as Caster takes to the sky and crashes onto them as Caster tosses Blade back into the ring. Bowens connects with the Arrival as Caster delivers the Mic Drop for the victory!

Winner:The Acclaimed (12:00)
Rating: ***
A pretty fun and entertaining opener. Solid title defense for Acclaimed with the right opponents honestly. You really appreciate how far Acclaimed have come as they continue to crack away at being megastars in AEW. No complaints about this match as I also love the continued storyline developing with Private Party who are contemplating working for Andrade. You can’t help but anticipate Butcher and Blade saying to Andrade that the plan to get the tag titles didn’t work because Private Party didn’t pick up their respected load. We shall see…

Lexi is backstage trying to interview The Firms’ Gunn Club kids, Stokley Hathaway, and W. Morrisey. They are trash talking FTR as they are gonna leapfrog them and other tag teams to get their shot at the ROH and AEW Tag championship.

Back from commercial break as Lexi is interviewing Jade Cargill. Jade is still boosting about how she’s been dominating and retaining her TBS title as Nyla Rose and Marina “YOU KNOW ME-YOU DON’T KNOW ME” Shafir interrupt. Seems Nyla wants dibs as Jade tells her it’ll happen when she says it’s going to happen. Nyla walks off telling Leila Grey that’s why her eyebrows look ashy. Say what? Too funny!

MATCH 2: Lee Moriarty vs Fuego Del Sol

Lee is having it his way and I don’t mean the Burger King way as he delivers a nice arm capture to Fuego. Lee has been dominating Fuego in the opening 90 seconds of this match as he delivers the Border City Stretch to end this one.

Winner:Lee Moriarty (1:30)
Rating: NR
SQUASH…SQUASH…SQUASH!!!

Post-match W. Morrisey delivers a 7-Foot Tall chokeslam as Stokley laughs his behind off at the beautiful carnage that was just displayed.

Lexi is backstage interviewing Hangman Adam Page about his championship opportunity when Andrade steps in and has issue about Hangman getting the opportunity as he feels they had a hand in Hangman winning ultimately. Andrade wants to face 10 of the Dark Order in a match. He wants for him to put his mask on the line. 10 tells Andrade he’s down but that when he (10) beats Andrade, Andrade will have to leave AEW. Talk about stipulations! It’s not over yet as Stokley with Ethan Page appear. They are dry snitching about how Matt Hardy is doing a bit of contract tampering with Private Party and that Andrade better take care of his business. Why does this sound like a rip from the headlines? Hmmm…

MATCH 3: Willow Nightingale vs Jaime Hayter

Nice Lou Thez Press on Jaime to start this opener as the women try to reach around each other for control but it’s a stalemate. We see them try to shoulder tackle each other next as Willow gets the best of the encounter. Willow applies a powerslam followed by a running back senton! Willow is looking fantastic! Willow now with a low crossbody that gets a two count. Nice fisherman suplex follows as Hayter breaks free. Willow comes in with a series of chops as Rebel and Britt look on concerned. Willow tries to do a cartwheel as Hayter catches her with a kick to the head. Hayter follows up with the running knees to Willow in the corner as we head into a commercial break. We’re back to the action as Hayter delivers a neckbreaker for a near fall. Willow takes advantage of a misdirection from Hayter off the ropes to deliver the POUNCE as Hayter heads outside sensing danger. Willow tries to follow suit but runs into Britt and Rebel and screams at them as she gets back into the ring. Hayter regains the upper hand putting the boot to Willow. Willow comes right back with the Death Valley Driver for a two count. Willow heads to the top as Britt Baker grabs at the boot while referee is checking on something. Hayter grabs Willow from behind to apply a German Suplex, followed by a lariat to end this one.

Winner:Jaime Hayter (6:30)
Rating: ***
Damn good outing from both women. I could’ve watched them all day on this one! Jaime looked like an absolute beast in this singles match. By the way, two episodes in the same week that I get to see Willow? Man I’m in fricking Heaven! Damn she fine!

Back from a set of ad breaks. Ryan Nemeth is talking trash to the Philly crowd which doesn’t last long as HOOK comes out and destroys him. The Trustbusters soon arrive at the stage ramp as Sonny Kiss and Ariya Daivari deliver a envelope. HOOK takes it as the mystery unravels on this one. Meanwhile, footage is shown of Swerve Strickland enjoying some downtime since losing the AEW Tag titles. He appears to still be on hiatus but is enjoying himself as we see him attending a rap concert to recalibrate.

MATCH 4: RUSH vs John Silver

RUSH pushes Silver as Silver pushes back and gets RUSH in a headlock. RUSH sent into the ropes as he hits Silver with a shoulder tackle. RUSH comes off the ropes now as Silver leapfrogs him and heads into the ropes. Silver plants RUSH with a uppercut as RUSH heads out to regroup. Andrade is not liking what he’s seeing so far as RUSH goes back in and lays out Silver with a right hand. Silver sent into the corner as he receives knife edge chops now, followed by a couple of splashes and a dropkick to the back. Silver is sent to the outside as he’s rammed into a couple of barricades. Silver tries to fight back but is slugged in the face. RUSH returns him to the ring underneath the bottom rope. Another elbow strike follows by RUSH as he follows up with boot stomps to the face, followed by a kick to the face. During a picture-in-picture break we see RUSH has been destroying the living Hell out of Silver. SOMEBODY THROW THE DAMN TOWEL! Alex Reynolds appears as he’s very concerned for Silver as he tries to cheer him on. RUSH tries to go for a high risk maneuver from the top rope and misses! Silver and RUSH now exchange clotheslines as Silver gets in a low German back suplex. Silver with a hammerthrow into the ropes as RUSH is caught midair for a sit-down powerbomb that’s a near fall. RUSH getting kicks to his ribs by Silver as RUSH comes back with a suplex for a two count. RUSH now mocking Silver with low kicks to the chest as the two exchange chops and slaps to the chest. RUSH slugs Johnny Huggie silly as he’s rocked big time. Silver comes back with a brainbuster for a two count as Jose gets on the apron to talk trash. Alex takes him off as Andrade distracts Silver. RUSH comes right in and clocks Silver to the canvas as he ends this with the Bulls Horn.

Winner:RUSH(12:00)
Rating: ***
I’m loving the fact that RUSH is getting more TV time these days in AEW. I’ve scratched my head in recent weeks wondering what exactly was Tony Khan and crew going to do with this man. It seems they finally are trying to invest in this man and they should because he so damn good. Had the pleasure to see some of his work in Ring of Honor and became a fan of his quickly. John Silver was the right opponent to lock horns with RUSH as he continues to surprise the heck out of me. To the point I can’t recall the last time I’ve seen a bad performance by Silver. If Chris Jericho can have his Sports Entertainer of the Week, then allow me to present the LEE SANDERS: Underrated Gem of the Week. My first recipient of this award goes to John Silver for his hard work and dedication to not just physically look better but be an all-around better performer in the ring.

Post-match We see Andrade, Jose, and RUSH attack Silver and Reynolds as more Dark Order members come out but are negated by Butcher and Blade. Hangman Page comes out as he’s cleaning house! He goes right for RUSH and isn’t backing down. Page is about to do the Buckshot Lariat when RUSH leaves the ring quickly. Hangman does his move on Jose instead as we get a staredown of Page with Dark Order on La Faccion Ingobernable to end this episode.

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!

8.0

The final score: review Very Good

The 411

Not too shabby of an episode this week. Not as good as the GRANDSLAM edition of RAMPAGE but a decent enough episode in its own respected right. Can't go any higher or lower in my rating. RUSH vs Silver, Willow vs Hayter, the new AEW Tag champions in The Acclaimed making an appearance. This episode had a little bit of something for everyone including a cameo by Matt Hardy and an appearance by HOOK. Nice developing stories continuing to unravel such as Private Party being on Andrade's crap list. Tony Khan is even starting to utilize RAMPAGE in a way where he's hyping up 1-2 matches for the following RAMPAGE which is a great touch as well. DYNAMITE has had a few hiccups here and there in recent weeks from what I've seen. AEW RAMPAGE on the other hand has been finding its sweet spots which I'm sure makes a lot of people happy. I know I'm happy! One last thing, if you're a fan of RUSH, you've got to be excited for the week he's having. A birthday, TV appearances, officially now a full-time member of the AEW roster as he inked a deal finally. Now it's just a matter of where is RUSH going to be a few months from now. For new and old fans of RUSH, what say you? Sound off! 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!