‘AEW: Rampage’ Review (Jul 26th 2024)
It’s Monday so you know what that means, it’s time for our weekly review of AEW: Rampage! This week’s show emanated from the Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, and featured Tony Schiavone, Excalibur and Matt Menard on commentary. Now let’s get to the review…
Match #1: The Royal Rampage Match – Winner: Darby Allin
The following is courtesy of allelitewrestling.com:
There are 10 total entrants. The last man standing in each respective ring will then go on to battle it out to determine who will challenge for the AEW World Championship at Grand Slam coming up this September. “Freshly Squeezed” Orange Cassidy came to the ring first! Blackpool Combat Club’s Claudio Castagnoli was out to the ring next! House of Black’s Brody King, who won the inaugural Royal Rampage, walked out third. Next…Komander. Komander and Claudio began in one ring, while Cassidy and Brody began in the other. Komander chopped at Claudio with kicks. Claudio blocked an arm drag attempt from Komander while Brody blocked one from Orange. Claudio gave Brody a thumbs up, showing a little nod of approval to the House of Black member. After a minute interval, The Conglomeration’s Tomohiro Ishii came out next! Tomohiro and Brody traded chops. Brody blasted Ishii with a massive forearm. Ishii and Orange teamed up to take down Brody with a school boy lariat. “The Machine” Brian Cage was the next entrant and went right after Claudio with an area code shot! Cage planted Komander with a half nelson slam. The Butcher entered the fray and he and Brody teamed up to drop an elbow on Ishii! Brody and Butcher slugged it out, their alliance short lived. “Daddy Magic” Matt Menard was the next participant, jumping up from the broadcast booth and entering the match. Daddy Magic jabbed at Brian Cage! Roderick Strong entered the Royal Rampage next and clobbered Brody with stomps and then a big knee strike! Roddy nailed Butcher with the Sick Kick. “Superbad” Kip Sabian came out and dropkicked Claudio. Sabian followed up with a cannonball to Claudio. Brandon Cutler walked down to the ring next. Ishii immediately eliminated Cutler with a running lariat. Out next: Nick Wayne! Nick went right after Kip Sabian, hitting him with a flying European Uppercut.
The Conglomeration’s Kyle O’Reilly was the next participant, and he went right to Roderick Strong, turning Roddy inside out with vicious kicks. Jeff Jarrett got a huge hometown reaction as he made his way down to the ring! ROH World Tag Team Champion Matt Taven jumped in and drilled Cassidy with a DDT! Komander was eliminated by Nick Wayne. Jay Lethal jumped in and he and Nick Wayne duked it out. Kip Sabian flipped Nick Wayne over the top rope and down to the arena floor! The Patriarchy watched on backstage as Wayne was eliminated. ROH World Tag Team Champion Mike Bennett came down to even up the odds for the Undisputed Kingdom. Bennett chopped at Ishii, but Ishii didn’t budge. The Beast Mortos jumped into the ring and wiped out Cage and Claudio. He cracked Lethal with a headbutt! Jeff Jarrett wasn’t intimidated and took down the Beast. Jay Lethal and Jeff Jarrett sent Kip Sabian packing! Darby Allin was the next participant. And the final man entering the ring was Lio Rush! Brody and Darby brawled through the stands, neither man having been eliminated. Lio Rush rocked Brian Cage with a DDT! Lio Rush knocked the Beast Mortos out of the ring with a handspring kick! Darby flew at Roderick Strong with a forearm shot. Claudio hurled Lio out of the ring and then Claudio eliminated Jay Lethal. Darby used his body as a battering ram, eliminating Brody King! Darby was the last man standing in his ring! “Hangman” Adam Page jumped into the ring, out of nowhere, and ambushed Jeff Jarrett. Brian Cage threw Jeff Jarrett over the top rope and Hangman Adam Page continued the assault on Jarrett! Claudio and Cage battled on the ring apron. Claudio nailed Cage with the Neutralizer and eliminated Cage. Claudio and Darby were the last two men in the match. Claudio press slammed Darby over the ropes of one ring and sent him flying into the second ring! Claudio put Darby in the Giant Swing and swung Darby into the steel ring steps. Claudio went for a German Suplex, but Darby landed on his feet! They jockeyed for position on the ring apron! Darby nailed Claudio with the Coffin Drop and won the match!
My Score: 3 out of 5
Match #2: Kris Statlander def. Leila Grey
The following is courtesy of allelitewrestling.com:
Grey ducked a back elbow from Statlander, but Statlander rocked Grey with a kick. Statlander muscled up Leila, spiked her with the Friday Night Fever, and pinned Leila Grey!
My Score: 0 out of 5
Match #3: Lance Archer def. Alejandro
The following is courtesy of allelitewrestling.com:
Archer carried his already knocked out opponent to the ring! Archer decimated his opponent with a spinebuster! Archer choke slammed his opponent twice, dominating him! Archer put things to an end with the Blackout and then scored an easy pinfall victory!
My Score: 0 out of 5
Match #4: Four-Way Tag Team Match – Rush & Kyle Fletcher def. Private Party (Marq Quen & Isiah Kassidy), The Outrunners (Truth Magnum & Turbo Floyd) & The Righteous (Vincent & Dutch)
The following is courtesy of allelitewrestling.com:
Don Callis joined the broadcast booth for this match. The Outrunners used tandem offense on Vincent with a double elbow drop. Dutch tagged in and bulldozed the Outrunners with a shoulder tackle. The Righteous worked over the Outrunners! Brother Zay tagged in and went for a springboard, but Dutch countered with the Bossman Slam. Private Party gained the upper hand on the Don Callis Family with beautiful tandem offense. Quen splashed Dutch with a 450 from the top turnbuckle! Turbo Floyd stunned Quen with a shot. Fletcher charged in and brutalized the Outrunners. Rush and Kyle punished the Outrunners, picking them apart. Fletcher won the match with a belly to back tombstone piledriver to Truth!
My Score: 2.5 out of 5
Final Verdict: 2.5/5
Yet another disappointing week for Rampage, Though I did enjoy the Royal Rampage this time round. But yet again AEW fumbled the ball and had two back-to-back squash matches when one would have sufficed. What’s worse is that the main event felt rushed – taking out a squash match would’ve given it more time and this made it a better match. Still, this week’s episode better than last week has to account for something, even if it’s still not up to par IMHO.
