4/14/23 AEW Rampage Recap
The opening credits roll. Excalibur, Jim Ross, and Tony Schiavone are on commentary from Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
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Match #1 – IWGP Tag Team Championship Match: Aussie Open (Kyle Fletcher and Mark Davis) (c) vs. Best Friends (Chuck Taylor and Trent Beretta)
Beretta and Fletcher start the match. Fletcher works over Beretta’s arm, and then Davis tags in. Beretta applies a side-headlock, but Davis sends him off the ropes. Davis drops Beretta with a shoulder tackle and tags in Fletcher. Fletcher knocks Taylor to the floor, but Beretta kicks him in the face. Beretta kicks Fletcher to the outside and drops Davis with a DDT. Taylor comes back and flips onto Davis and Fletcher on the outside, and then gets Davis back into the ring. Davis delivers shots to Beretta and Taylor, but Taylor comes back and throws Fletcher into him in the corner. Beretta comes off the top with a cross-body and goes for the cover, but Fletcher kicks out. Beretta chops Fletcher into the corner and goes up top, but Fletcher trips him up. Fletcher kicks Taylor in the face and Beretta and Taylor get sent to he outside. Davis and Fletcher slam Beretta and Taylor on the apron, and then run around the ring and slam them back-first into each other. Davis and Fletcher double-team Beretta back in the ring, and Davis connects with a senton. Davis kneels on Beretta and goes for the cover, but Beretta kicks out.
Davis picks Beretta up as Fletcher tags in, and then hands Beretta over to Fletcher, who drops him with a delayed vertical suplex. Fletcher goes for the cover, but Beretta kicks out as the show heads to a commercial.
Back from the break, Davis and Fletcher continue double-teaming Beretta. They slam him down and Fletcher goes for the cover, but Taylor breaks it up. Davis takes Taylor to the outside and slams him into the barricade, but Taylor counters and slams Davis into the ring steps. Fletcher and Beretta go up top, but Taylor comes over and drops Fletcher with an assisted superplex. Beretta and Taylor double choke-slam Davis and hug in the ring. Beretta and Taylor deliver the Doomsday Kneestrike to Fletcher and Beretta goes for the cover, but Fletcher kicks out. Taylor kicks Davis to the floor, but Fletcher sends Beretta into the corner. Taylor tags in and Davis kicks him in the face. Fletcher drops Taylor with a spinning Tombstone Piledriver, and then double-teams Beretta with Davis. Davis and Fletcher deliver Coriolis to Taylor and Fletcher gets the pin fall.
Winners and still IWGP Tag Team Champions: Aussie Open
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Sonjay Dutt hypes up his guys backstage, but Mark Briscoe says this isn’t what he signed up for. Dutt tells Briscoe that he and Jay Lethal go back twenty years, and that he and Jeff Jarrett are a couple of good old country boys. He gives Briscoe a shirt with all of their faces on it, and then puts it over his head. They leave the locker room and Briscoe throws the shirt against the lockers.
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Tony Schiavone is in the ring and he introduces the AEW World Tag Team Champions, FTR. Cash Wheeler says it took them two years and five months to get the AEW World Tag Team titles back and then says there has been some speculation about their futures. Wheeler says they are still All Elite and will be for the next four years. Wheeler says it was a hard climb back to the top, and they will be done with wrestling when those four years are up. Wheeler says they are not stopping right now and they won’t until they are the greatest tag team of all time. Dax Harwood says people aren’t supposed to like them, but they do anyway. Harwood says just like all of the fans, they fought for everything that they have and this is their redemption story. Harwood says it is time that they pay the fans back and give them every ounce of energy that they have for the next four years.
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Lexy Nair interviews Hook, Isiah Kassidy, and The Hardys. Jeff says it feels amazing to be back and he has been climbing out of his own personal hell over the next nine months. Matt says The Hardys are back and it feels good. Matt says they are ready for the match against The Firm, and says it will be the four of them against Big Bill, Ethan Page, Lee Moriarty, and Stokely Hathaway. Matt says the match will take place at the Hardy Compound and that The Firm will be deleted.
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A vignette airs for the ongoing feud between Powerhouse Hobbs and Wardlow. Hobbs will defend the AEW TNT Championship against Wardlow on the April 19th Dynamite.
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Match #2 – Eight-Man Tag Team Match: Jay Lethal, Jeff Jarrett, Mark Briscoe, and Satnam Singh (w/Sonjay Dutt) vs. Jake Manning and The Spanish Announce Project (Angelico, Luther, and Serpentico)
Lethal, Jarrett, and Singh attack the other team as Briscoe watches, and Jarrett continues the beat down on Manning. Briscoe wants one-on-one, but Jarrett trips up Manning. Luther gets taken out and then Jarrett drops Angelico with the Stroke. Serpentico takes Jarrett down, but Singh grabs catches him and throws him into Angelico and Luther. Singh choke slams Manning and Briscoe goes up top. Briscoe hits the Froggy-Bow and gets the pin fall.
Winners: Jay Lethal, Jeff Jarrett, Mark Briscoe, and Satnam Singh
-After the match, Briscoe leaves the ring and doesn’t celebrate with the rest of his team.
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A vignette airs for the ongoing feud between The Blackpool Combat Club and The Elite.
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Match #3 – Singles Match: Emi Sakura vs. Taya Valkyrie
They lock up and Valkyrie backs Sakura into the corner. Sakura turns it around and delivers a chop, and then Valkyrie does the same. Valkyrie delivers another chop, and then Sakura goes for a few shoulder tackles. Valkyrie doesn’t fall, and then drops Sakura with a shoulder tackle of her own. Valkyrie delivers a back elbow and a clothesline in the corner. Valkyrie delivers a running double knee strike in the corner and goes for the cover, but Sakura kicks out. Sakura comes back and bites Valkyrie’s hand and applies a waist-lock. Sakura goes for the Full Nelson, but Valkyrie gets free and drops Sakura with a clothesline. Valkyrie goes for the cover, but Sakura kicks out. Valkyrie sets up for the Road to Valhalla, but Jade Cargill and Leila Grey come to the stage to watch the match. They mouth at her and Valkyrie gets distracted. Sakura slams Valkyrie down as the show heads to a commercial.
Back from the break, Valkyrie drops Sakura with a German suplex from the ropes. Valkyrie turns her attention to Cargill and Grey, who are at ringside now, and then Sakura slams her into the ring steps. Sakura delivers another shot on the outside and then rolls Valkyrie back into the ring. Sakura goes for the cover, but Valkyrie kicks out. Sakura goes for a right hand, but Valkyrie blocks it and delivers a few shots of her own. Valkyrie delivers a Blue Thunder Bomb and goes for the cover, but Sakura kicks out. They exchange shots, but Valkyrie drops Sakura with a Spear. Valkyrie delivers the Road to Valhalla and gets the pin fall.
Winner: Taya Valkyrie
-After the match, Grey gets into the ring, but Valkyrie drops her with the Road to Valhalla. Cargill gets into the ring and brawls with Valkyrie. Valkyrie goes for the Road to Valhalla, but Grey attacks her from behind. Cargill drops Valkyrie with a pump kick, and then delivers Jaded and stands over Valkyrie with the AEW TBS Championship.
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Jose the Assistant issues a challenge on Dralistico’s behalf. Jose challenges El Hijo del Vikingo to put the AAA Mega Championship on the line against Dralistico.
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Angelo Parker, Jake Hager, and Matt Menard are in the ring, and they perform a rap about The Acclaimed. The Acclaimed and Billy Gunn interrupt and charge the ring to attack the Jericho Appreciation Society. Anthony Bowens and Max Caster hold Menard down and Gunn goes after him with an actual pair of scissors, but Hager and Parker make the save. Bowens makes a challenge for a Trios Tag Team Match for the April 19th Dynamite.
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Announced for the April 19th Dynamite:
-AEW TNT Championship Match: Powerhouse Hobbs (c) vs. Wardlow
-Trios Tag Team Match: Angelo Parker, Jake Hager, and Matt Menard vs. Daddy Ass and The Acclaimed
-Dr. Britt Baker, D.M.D. and Jamie Hayter vs. Ruby Soho and Toni Storm
-Jay White vs. Komander
-We will hear from The Elite
-Adam Cole and Chris Jericho will meet face-to-face
Announced for the April 22nd (Saturday) Rampage:
-AAA Mega Championship: El Hijo del Vikingo (c) vs. Dralistico
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Match #4 – Singles Match: Jack Perry vs. Shawn Spears
They exchange wrist-locks, and then Spears takes Perry down and taunts him. Perry comes back and an arm-drag and a dropkick, and then taunts Spears himself. Spears rolls to the floor, but Perry follows him out. Spears delivers a shot and follows Perry around the ring, but Perry delivers a kick to the midsection. Perry slams Spears into the barricade, but Spears comes back and throws Perry over the barricade as the show heads to a commercial.
Back from the break, Spears puts Perry up top and delivers a chop. Spears climbs up, but Perry delivers a few shots to knock him back down. Perry connects with a cross-body and goes for the cover, but Spears kicks out and delivers a shot to Perry. Spears delivers a big boot, but Perry comes back with a few kicks of his own. Perry drops Spears with a shot, but Spears comes back and sends him to the apron. Perry delivers an enzuiguri, but Spears comes back with a knee strike. Spears drops Perry with an draped DDT and goes for the cover, but Perry kicks out. Spears goes for C4, but Perry rolls through and gets a two count. Perry drops Spears with a Flatliner and goes for the cover, but Spears kicks out. Perry gets a roll-up for a two count, but Spears comes back with a back-breaker. Spears grabs Perry, but Perry counters with a pinning combination for the three count.
Winner: Jack Perry
-After the match, Perry and Spears shake hands and hug, and Spears raises Perry’s arm in the air as the show comes to a close.