5/19/23 AEW Rampage Recap
Hey guys it’s Chris with a recap of AEW Rampage! The program is airing at a special start time tonight of 6:30pm EST due to the NBA playoffs.
Rampage kicks off with Blackpool Combat Club (Jon Moxley, Claudio Castagnoli, Wheeler Yuta) vs. Best Amigos (Bandido, Chuck Taylor, Trent Beretta) in a trios match. All 6 competitors are in the ring already so we avoid the ring entrances. Trent takes Moxley out with three German suplexes early on in the fight. All three Amigos take flight over the rope to nail the BCC on the outside of the ring. Claudio takes control of the match through the commercial break.Trent knocks Mox on his feet with a tornado DDT. Bandido tags in and hits Yuta with a high boot to the face. He trades blows with Claudio in the middle of the ring. Bandido shows off his power, catching Yuta in mid air. Best Friends use their tandem offense to put Wheeler down. Best Amigos give the people what they want with the three way hug. Mox gets in there and gets his team back in it with a powerful lariat. Mox hits Death Rider on Taylor. Wheeler comes off the top with a splash for the pin fall victory for BBC. Decent match to start the show.
Kyle Fletcher cuts a promo on Orange Cassidy. He’s coming for the AEW International championship. Promo was pretty average.
Jade Cargill comes out to the ring for a TBS championship open challenge. Danni Bee answers the challenge. Cargill lays a haymaker in on Bee right out of the opening bell and puts her down with a fallaway slam. She follows up with a pump kick and pins Danni standing with one foot on her for the very quick squash. Mark Sterling now brings out another opponent for another open challenge and brings out Genesis. Cargill makes fast work of her too, spearing her and moving to 59-0 with the Jaded finishing move. Sterling wants her to go 60-0, so he brings out another jobber. Taya Valkyrie suddenly comes out and wipes out the jobber. She makes her way to the ring. Jade charges in for a lariat but Taya ducks out of the way. Valkyrie lays out Jade with Road to Valhalla. Taya holds up the TBS title and says she’ll see Jade at Double or Nothing. Cargill is an absolute stud. She has the look. She has the power. She has the athleticism. She’s going to be great for a long time.
The Acclaimed and Daddy Ass make their entrance for a match against Varsity Athletes (Ari Daivari, Tony Nese, Josh Woods), who are waiting in the ring. Max Caster ( I worked with him at SiriusXM. Yes, I worked with him before he was famous!) raps about Tucker Carlson and Josh Woods’ tiny balls.
Daddy Ass & The Acclaimed defeat Varsity Athletes. Daddy Ass makes fun of Woods’ mouth guard while the crowd chants his name. Nese poses in front of Ass. Ass takes off his shirt to pose right back, but Nese goes for a cheap shot. It doesn’t matter, as Ass takes him down heading into the commercial break. Josh Woods is working over Caster coming back from the break. Anthony Bowens gets the hot tag and is on fire, attacking all of the Varsity Athletes. Bowens puts Nese down with a slam, and Caster gets the win after the top rope elbow drop.
The latest episode of QTV is here. QTV has signed them up for the Blackjack Battle Royal at Double or Nothing. Marshall celebrates Powerhouse being a featured star on AEW Collision. The real story for Hobbs begins on June 17. Blahh segment.
Tony Schiavone is in the ring to interview Brother Zay and The Hardys. Matt says their trios match against The Gunns and Ethan Page is official for Double or Nothing. Matt will control Ethan’s contract after they win. Jeff speaks up and says they want to win the AEW tag team titles. Ethan Page interrupts. He never wanted his contract to be put on the line. He’s dealt with Matt for way too long and says he’s done with it all. Ethan tries to appeal to Brother Zay, reminding him of how they bonded and how he supported Zay’s moaning gimmick. He goes for a hug, but Zay pushes him off. Ethan grabs his hand and pulls him in for a handshake. With Zay’s hand occupied, The Gunns come in and attack the Hardys from behind with chairs. Page tosses Zay to the wolves as well. They wrap a chair around Zay’s neck and Ethan Page Pillmanizes him. Ethan says he will never be able to moan again. They’ll see them at Double or Nothing. Brutal promo. Matt Hardy just isn’t good. He was never the popular Hardy. He lacks the promo skills. He lacks the wrestling skills. He’s just ehh.
Chris Jericho cuts a promo on Adam Cole from the announce desk. He calls Cole a coward and says if he was there right now, he would beat his ass. Adam shows up on the big screen and says he will make Jericho’s life a living hell by beating his ass every time he leaves an arena. Jericho says the legal ban is null and void, because he’s challenging Cole to an unsanctioned match at Double or Nothing. That means Adam is allowed back in the building. Cole charges in the doors looking for Chris as they go to commercial break. Back from the break,Adam Cole’s music hits and he walks down towards the announce table. He jumps the barricade and meets Chris on the ramp for a fight. Security and other officials rush in to try to keep them apart, but each man breaks loose at one point to squeeze in a few more punches.
Mark Henry says it’s time for the main event match of Dustin Rhodes vs. Bishop Kaun. Dustin Rhodes defeats Bishop Kaun. Kaun gets the jump on Dustin right from the opening bell, ramming his head into a ringside camera. Dustin is busted open (listen to them on SiriusXM) and spilling blood going into the commercial break. A Bloody Dustin fires up after the commercial break, stunning Kaun with an uppercut and catching him in a powerslam. Dustin almost wins the match with Code Red. He gets another near fall with a piledriver. Blood loss begins to affect Dustin, and Kaun shotgun dropkicks him in the corner. Bishop charges in but Dustin avoids him and puts him away with Final Reckoning. Brian Cage attacks Dustin after the match. He powerbombs Rhodes, with Swerve Strickland sauntering up the stairs into the ring. Keith Lee comes out and makes his way to the ring. He takes out Kaun and Cage on the ramp. Swerve smiles in the ring as Lee enters. Cage and Kaun get back in there before Lee can get his hands on Swerve. Kaun hits Lee in the spine with a chair. Cage lifts Lee up and drops him down onto the chair. The heels sit Lee in the chair, setting him up for Swerve’s foot stomp from the top rope. Dustin is helpless to do anything about, as the heels stand tall to end the show.
Final thoughts: Keith Lee is just horrendous to watch. His performance is not believable. He was the next big thing in NXT. He has floundered big time in AEW. Dustin Rhodes can still go and obviously with Cody all over WWE, they are milking Rhodes. There are stars on AEW. But a lot of jobbers. And watching squash matches just isn’t appealing. With another show starting up for AEW, they MUST know how to work these guys in. If not, you’ll have too many guys lost in the shuffle and have nothing but squash match TV. And you can’t build a brand like that. Only time will tell. Until next time, see you around the ring!!
Chris
