Happy Fantastic Friday everybody! Lee Sanders with you all to cover another edition of AEW RAMPAGE! Hope you all been well and ready for Halloween weekend. It’s my favorite time of the year not just for the costumes but the candy, lots of candy! Hey before we get into coverage, I want to remind you all that aren’t aware that I saw WWE Hall of Famer and Olympic Gold Medalist Kurt Angle! It went down last weekend at the Squared Circle Collectibles store in Winchester, Virginia. This was my second time seeing the wrestling legend. Read more about my experience and visiting the store by clicking here.

Also, rest in peace to veteran actor Richard Moll who passed away today at age 80. Moll had a television & film career that spanned almost 40 years. Moll provided some of the best tv moments growing up. From Two-Face in Batman: The Animated Series, to being Bull, the towering bailiff on Night Court, Scorpion on Spider-Man the animated series in the 90s, Slan Quince on Highlander the tv series, so many hit shows from 1970s to 2010s. Great range and will be missed. let’s talk RAMPAGE!

Location: Philadelphia, PA
Venue: The Liacouras Center
Commentators: Excalibur, Ian Riccobani, and Tony Schiavone

MATCH 1: SANTANA VS ORTIZ ORANGE CASSIDY

Santana throws an elbow as Ortiz answers with a dropkick followed by a tope as the action spills to the outside. Ortiz with a a trash can and lid to the body of Santana. A kendo stick to the body follows repeatedly as he also takes it to the legs of Santana. Ortiz is cold blooded as he focuses on that surgical repaired knee. Steel chairs are spilled all over the place as the two now exchange hard shots to the face. Santana brings him over the top with a suplex, followed by a moonsault, dropping Ortiz to the floor. Santana wants to keep the action outside of the ring as he sets up a table. Santana with a trash can over the head of Ortiz. Ortiz with a powerbomb of Santana onto that table bedore tossing him back in the ring. First pinfall attempt made as Santana kicks out! Ortiz back out to the apron as he’s looking for a suplex but Santana reverses it and sends him crashing through those pile of steel chairs from earlier! Mama Mia as we go into our first set of ad breaks. We are back as both men are in the ring exchanging closed fists to the heads and body. They are at a vertical base now as Ortiz suplexes him. Santana with a suplex of his own as both men connect in identical spots to lay each other out. Great opening contest so far as some rapid fire action commences followed by Santana connecting with a rolling cutter! Nicely done as Santana picks up a near fall. Ortiz with the powerslam followed by a brain buster for a kickout. Exchange of slapping as it comes off like a great hockey fight! Ortiz thinking cutter off the top rope but Santana pushes him off. Santana pushes Ortiz into the referee who almost gets bumped. Ortiz with a stand and switch to setup a pin for a near fall. Santana with a rollup followed by a spinning lariat that rocks Ortiz. It’s followed by a cannonball and a powerbomb for the win.

Winner:Santana (10 minutes)
Rating:***
Great opener and effort by both men. Im very impressed with Santana as I’ve watched him and Ortiz for years. I mean it goes as far back as TNA. I’m really loving him as a singles competitor and excited to see what the future holds for him. Curious to see how far it goes as I see a big upside in him. His transformation is pretty awesome. Personally I’d love to see CJ Perry and him cross paths as a match with him and Miro would be awesome. Heck make it a short term program.

Santana offers a fist bump to Ortiz but Ortiz isn’t having any of that as Santana makes his exit. Sunjay Dutt comes out to cheer up Ortiz who looks on complexed and wants nothing to do with Dutt. Interesting development here. From here a recap of MJF and Kenny Omega’s indie careers are highlighted leading up to joining AEW as their match at Saturday’s Collision is going to be fire! From here footage is shown of Switchblade Jay White catching up with Kenny Omega backstage. Jay wishes him luck. If Kenny wins it’s going to be epic for their 1-on-1 match. Obviously this would change the main event for Full Gear. Oh the drama! Meanwhile, Don Callis tries pitching to MJFmhow they should join forces. MJF passes on this as he tells him to get his forehead checked out. It looks like a vagina! Love that MJF!

Kris Statlander has called a conference backstage with Willow Nightingale and Skye Blue. Kris wants to know what’s going on with them as Skye is only concerned about her upcoming match. Cue Metallica’s And Nothing Else Matters…

Kip Sabian is with Penelope Ford as they are taking time to mock the city of Philadelphia. This is brutally bad. If ever a time for Wardlow…

Watch out now! Mark Briscoe is back in the house as he’s been out on injury. Mark gets a great pop from the crowd. Kip throws a few insults as Mark has heard enough as he lays him out with a big elbow strike to the jaw and clotheslines him over the ropes. Nice stuff here. Meanwhile, Rene Paquette is with Anna Jay who feels good about her upcoming chance at becoming no.1 contender to face Shida for the Women’s title. Don Callis comes in with a proposal as he wants for Hager, Menard, and Parker to consider helping him take care of his Jericho & Omega problem. As this is going on, Ruby Soho shows up to give Parker his switchblade that she just found. Parker is appreciative as he tells her if she ever wants to talk about her recent defeat to Shida, he’s there for her. She’s not interested…yet!

MATCH 2: ABADON VS WILLOW NIGHTINGALE VS ANNA JAY VS SKYE BLUE

Skye and Willow gang up on Abadon while Anna rolls out of the ring. Abadon with a German suplex on Skye while Anna gets in forearm strikes on Skye. Abadon with a jawbreaker to Anna to send her off the ropes while Willow gets in a rollup for a kickout. Willow picks her up as Skye almost kicked Willow in the face. Abadon with a double chop block on the girls followed by a double face buster. Timeless Tony Storm arrives to see all the action as we head into our next set of commercials. We’re back as Abadon and Skye exchange strikes as Willow delivers a double dropkick on them from the top rope. Willow with the hip attack to the corner on both girls. A clothesline follows on Abadon as Anna Jay plants Willow with a forearm to the face, derailing her big time! Willow with the pounce on her as Skye jumps off the top rope to connect with a crossbody on Willow! Willow kicks out as Abadon hits Skye with a knee strike. Willow hits Anna with the spinebuster as a pin attempt follows but is stopped by Skye. Skye tried for code blue but Willow counters. Willow is sent shoulder first into a steel post corner as Skye and Anna double team on Abadon. Abadon trying to fight both girls off when Anna locks on the queenslayer. Skye comes out of nowhere with a superkick to Anna’s head! Skye off the ropes as Willow drags her outside the ring by her ankles. Anna tries for the queenslayer again as Abadon reverses and hits her with a modified STO to setup the victory.

Winner:Abadon (7 minutes)
Rating:**
Decent match but the wrong person won. Hear me out folks, the match was solid and worked its way to 3-stars in my book but the wrong person went over. Now before anyone screams Skye Blue, I actually wasn’t looking for Skye to win this match. I was looking at Anna Jay to pick up the win. As a whole, it seems that the former JAS members haven’t had luck on their side since ditching Jericho. I’ve always loved the idea of better things happening for them for leaving Jericho while Jericho continues to go deeper in a downward spiral. That just hasn’t been happening sadly. No disrespect to Abadon who I love but she has rarely been on AEW television. Last time she was on television? May 17th 2023. You feel where I’m coming from? Not enough proper buildup whatsoever Television wise to build up Abadon vs Shida properly. Their match? Nothing more than a throwaway sadly.

The Acclaimed want for MJF to join them this coming week on DYNAMITE for their 69 Celebration. Oh my!!!

MATCH 3: KYLE FLETCHER VS TAKESHITA

Takeshita with a chop and shoulder block followed by a nice armdrag. Some early reversals and fast paced action here. Fletcher with a scoop slam as Takeshita tries to go outside for a breather. Fletcher sends him over the guardrails and back into the ring. Fletcher misses a spot off the rope as Takeshita catches him with a spinning blue Thunder Bomb as we head into our final set of commercials. We are back as this main event continues. Takeshita with an elbow to Fletcher, Fletcher comes back with a kick to the head to send Takeshita outside the ring. Fletcher with a dive between the ropes to crash into Takeshita. Fletcher follows it up with a crossbody to receive a near fall. Both men now at a vertical base exchanging forearm strikes. Fletcher with a back snap suplex as Takeshita comes back with a running clothesline. Fletcher with a brain buster for a near fall. Both men now in the corner as Takeshita sets up Fletcher over his shoulder for a hooked modified piledriver. Not a fan of that spot as that was insanely crazy. Takeshita misses a running knee as the two play a series of reversals. Takeshita with a knee to the face followed by a running knee to the face for the win.

Post-match Fletcher takes a steel chair to the back of Hobbs who no-sells it as he chokes the living hell out of Fletcher. Callis comes in to smooth things over as Callis tells him all is good as the hate, the anger is what he wanted. Callis tells Fletcher that all is good as they are family. It would appear Fletcher is part of the Don Callis family as we head off the air.

End of Show

Winner:Takeshita (11 minutes)
Rating:***
Solid main event match but some of the spots made me cringe. A lot of the spots I saw were unnecessary and overkill for my personal taste. Some of the moves you saw you thought for sure the match was over and yet there was a kickout and the match continued. I’m really glad that another match didn’t follow this one because those people would’ve had a tough time following this one. Sometimes less is better. That to the side however I enjoyed the boys chemistry as Fletcher is really carving out a nice niche for himself as a singles guy in AEW.

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!

THE FINAL SCORE:  REVIEW

Good

Another fast hour as three matches was on the card this week. Sadly it was really a two-match show as the women’s match you just go really? They literally threw that one away in my book. Some decent story developments with MJF as he continues being the most wanted man in AEW. I personally would’ve used this episode and future Rampages to put over Wardlow and his quest to stick it to MJF. Tony Khan and crew are continuing to drop the ball with him. Also, I’m not sure how to feel about Fletcher with Callis. They just got Hobbs not long ago who destroyed Jericho some weeks back. Hobbs is already feeling like he’s being pushed into the background. Not really liking that and Callis reaching out to Menard, Parker, and Hager. That just comes off bipolar as they shouldn’t even be entertaining the idea of joining him. Heck, Callis is the one who essentially broke up the JAS in the first place. This can be saved and validated if the Callis family strings even more wins and win some gold. Still early but we’ll see how it all plays out in the coming weeks. What say you 411MANIACS? Sound off! For now, I’m going to play with my new addition of the family as I just got another dog. She’s a small, blonde terrier named Hollie. She’s adapting pretty good as my oldest dog likes her. My middle dog, yeah not so much. We’ll get there! 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!