‘AEW: Rampage’ Review (Mar 3rd 2023)
It’s Monday so you know what that means, it’s time for our weekly review of AEW: Rampage! This week’s show features Chris Jericho, Excalibur, Tony Schiavone and Jim Ross on commentary. Now let’s get to the review…
Match #1: The Blackpool Combat Club (Claudio Castagnoli & Wheeler Yuta) def. Top Flight (Dante & Darius Martin), The Dark Order (Alex Reynolds & John Silver) and Aussie Open (Kyle Fletcher & Mark Davis)
The following is courtesy of allelitewrestling.com:
The Dark Order attacked the Blackpool Combat Club as Claudio and Wheeler were making their entrance. The Kingdom were watching from the front row. Claudio was tackled by John Silver. Claudio fired back with forearms. Claudio caught Silver midflight and blasted him with a backbreaker. Rush, Preston Vance, and Jose the Assistant were shown watching the match on a monitor backstage. Claudio shut down Alex Reynolds and tagged out to Wheeler Yuta. Reynolds dropped a double stomp on Yuta. Dante grabbed a tag and took out Aussie Open with a diving body press. Top Flight used tandem offense on Fletcher. Aussie Open planted Dante with the pendulum powerbomb. Aussie Open isolated Claudio and rocked him with a sandwich lariat. Yuta jumped in a stole a pin on Darius with the seatbelt. Dark Order jumped into the ring, infuriated by Yuta and Claudio being opportunists. The two teams brawled up the ramp and to the back.
My Score: 3 out of 5
Match #2: Riho def. Emi Sakura
The following is courtesy of allelitewrestling.com:
Emi chopped at Riho, but Riho backed up Emi into the ropes. Emi grabbed Riho by the hair and whipped her across the ring. Riho hit a dropkick and then a running knee on Emi. Riho followed up with a suplex for a near fall. Riho charged at Emi outside the ring, but Emi countered. Emi squashed Riho against the barricade with a running splash. Back in the ring, Riho connected with a cross body press off the top turnbuckle onto Emi for a two-count. Emi dropped Riho in the knees and then cradled Riho for a near fall. Emi smashed Riho with a lariat. Emi attempted a moonsault press but Riho rolled out of the way. Riho rolled up Emi with a crucifix and pinned her!
My Score: 3 out of 5
Match #3: Powerhouse Hobbs def. Serpentico
The following is courtesy of allelitewrestling.com:
Powerhouse clubbed Serpentico in the back of the head and then spiked him with a spinebuster. Hobbs manhandled Serpentico and quickly grabbed the pin!
My Score: 1 out of 5
Match #4: Naturally Limitless (Dustin Rhodes & Keith Lee) def. Mogul Affiliates (Parker Boudreaux & Swerve Strickland)
The following is courtesy of allelitewrestling.com:
Parker blindsided Keith Lee at the start of the match. Keith Lee pummeled Parker in the corner. Dustin Rhodes tagged in and hammered Parker with shots to the head. Lee tagged in and backed up Parker with a big shoulder. Keith Lee pounced Parker. Keith Lee grabbed Swerve and hurled him over the top rope. Swerve kicked Keith in the face twice. Keith Lee blasted Swerve with a massive chokeslam. Swerve fired back with diving foot stomps to Lee for a near fall. Keith Lee connected with double overhand chops to Swerve. Keith Lee hit a low crossbody to Parker. Dustin Rhodes rocked Swerve with a Canadian Destroyer. Keith Lee finished off Parker with a jackhammer powerslam and pinned him!
My Score: 3 out of 5
Final Verdict: 3.5/5
This was a refreshing change for Rampage, mainly because we finally got Emi Sakura on ACTUAL television for once, facing Riho of all people in a match that was a brilliant display of Joshi wrestling and after saying for weeks that Sakura deserved to be on TV, here she was! The show opened strong with a great multi-team tag match that also continued he Dark Order/BCC feud – I hope to god, following Evil Uno’s match against Mox and now Reynolds and Silver feuding with Claudio and Wheeler, that the Dark Order are getting back to big things once more. And yes, I know I complain about AEW squeezing a fourth match into the show by having a squash match on the card but damn, I always LOVE seeing Powerhouse Hobbs doing his thing and demolishing opponents! As for the main event, overall it was good but I couldn’t help but feel Parker Boudreaux was out of his depth here. And it felt like he wasn’t willing to fall on his arse at any point of the match – there were a couple of spots where you’d expect a double-legged drop kick and instead Boudreaux went in with a single-leg “hop” type kick. It really looked out of place in this particular match TBH. However, the match overall was great and honestly, I’m really digging the team of Rhodes and Lee.
