Hello folks! Lee Sanders here and another Friday night is set as it’s AEW RAMPAGE time baby! We have ourselves a solid card this week as all the matches are singles matches focused on the AEW World Title Tournament plus an All-Atlantic title defense from Orange Cassidy. On behalf of myself and everyone here at 411MANIA, we just want to say Happy Veterans Day. Shout out to those currently serving or used to serve in the military. Thank you for what you do and your sacrifices to keep America safe.

Commentators: Jim Ross, Tony Schiavone, and Excalibur

We are kicking things off with Christian and Luchasaurus as they walk down to the ring. Christian is baffled and appalled by the fact that Jungle Boy has a challenge for them but that they won’t know what it is unless JB meets them face to face. Jungle Boy comes out now as the talking is underway. Christian reminds JB how they have already humiliated JB before. JB reminds them how they’ve cost him two of his most important matches in his AEW career thus far, his friendships, and wasting three years of his life with Luchasaurus. JB tells Luchasaurus he wants him one more time at FULL GEAR but inside a Steel Cage. Christian tells JB maybe he isn’t a pillar of AEW any more contrary to the hype. That maybe it’s his right hand man in Luchasaurus that is the true hype. Christian accepts the challenge but wants a favor and that’s to make sure JB’s mom is nice and cozy at ringside. Once Christian and Luchasaurus is done with him, all Jungle Boy will have left his good looks. Much like JB’s father, Luke Perry, he’ll be all looks but no–as Christian is interrupted by hands being put around his neck from JB when Luchasaurus attacks him. JB gets chokeslamed on top of a steel chair to end this segment.

Lexi is backstage with Death Triangle trying to find out what’s next for them. PAC interrupts and tells them all that they need to be smart. They need to take advantage of every opportunity that comes their way. That they need to defend themselves by any means necessary.

MATCH 1: AEW WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP TOURNAMENT: DANTE MARTIN VS BRIAN CAGE

Dante charges at Cage with a double shotgun dropkick! Dante over the ropes but lands into the hands of Cage who does curls with Dante. Dante maneuvers his way out as he goes off the ropes a few times with a few elbow strikes followed by another dropkick. Dante follows up with a dive from in-between the ropes as Cage catches him outside the ring and gives him a suplex as we head into our first commercial break. We’re back now as Cage catches Martin in a twilt-a-whirl slam for a near fall. Dante’s head is rammed into the turnbuckle as Cage picks him up. Cage is looking for maybe an F5 but Dante counters midair for a ddt! Dante firing off elbow shots now to the face of Cage. Dante looking for a hammerthrow but Cage is too big as Dante uses his speed to connect with a diving cross body for a quick kick-out! Dante tries to leap off the ropes but Cage stops him! Cage charges at Dante and misses as he goes crashing onto the canvas. Dante plants him with a diving cross body! Dante follows up with a big splash onto Cage who’s back in the ring now. Dante Martin tries looking for another pin attempt but Cage kicks out. Dante gets Cage in a step-up enziguri but misses the 450 splash as Cage gets him the spinning lariat! Dante kicks out! Dante kicks out! Cage picks him up and connects with the weapon x to advance.

Winner and advancing:Brian Cage (7:30)
Rating: ***
I appreciate them trying to book this as a competitive match and not having Dante be squashed. It was a fun opener and to see Cage advancing is a nice touch. I’m sure most Brian Cage fans are happy for this as it means they’ll be seeing more of the big guy on TV.

Backstage, Lexi is with Lee Moriarty and Stokley Hathaway as Lee feels he is ready for title shot opportunities. Lee wants gold as he is willing to take on any newcomers! Right as Lee finishes we see the FTW Champion HOOK stop to look at him and walk off. Now this match I can get into! BRING IT!

Another vignette is shown of highlights from the House of Black as we continue being teased by the rebirth of Malakai Black. It would appear that Buddy, Brody and Malakai have all been cleansed and reborn. Interesting…

MATCH 2: AEW WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP TOURNAMENT: RUSH VS BANDIDO

RUSH doesn’t even wait for the bell to sound as he blindsides Bandido with a vicious assault! After being rammed into a few steel barricades, RUSH takes some extension cords and chokes Bandido with it before tossing him back into the ring. The bell finally rings as RUSH enters and is looking on at Bandido. RUSH tosses him into the corners and delivers a series of clotheslines and a kick to the jaw as we head into another set of ad breaks. We’re back as apparently during commercials Bandido got back on the offense as he connects with a frog splash for a kick out! Bandido calls for the three amigos but RUSH stops him as he delivers a series of hard chops and a spinning elbow! Cocky cover attempt by RUSH with his boot on the chest of Bandido as Bandido kicks out! RUSH connects with a flying dropkick from the top rope as Bandido kicks out yet again! RUSH comes from off the ropes and lands into the arms of Bandido who connects with a military press slam! Man this move came from out of nowhere as Bandido goes for the cover and RUSH kicks out! Both men now exchange German suplexes on each other as both men go down from applying lariats on one another. RUSH connects with a body splash, followed by a piledriver for a kickout! Jose the Assistant tries throwing a chair in the ring. Referee is distracted as Jose goes behind the ref and is on the other side of the ring as he tries to take the mask off of Bandido! DARK ORDER’s John Silver comes out and slugs Jose! Meanwhile Bandido comes from behind RUSH for a schoolboy pin for the victory!

Winner and advancing:Bandido (9:40)
Rating: ***
I’m not sure how I feel about this one. For me I think AEW messed up and should’ve had RUSH advance. RUSH to me felt as though he needed this win more considering he really hasn’t been doing much since Andrade has gone on hiatus. Sparingly RUSH has been making TV appearances. Maybe with John Silver interfering will keep RUSH still appearing on TV to make them pay for meddling in his business. We shall see…

Footage is shown of Jake Hager talking to Claudio as he reminds him how much of a great tag team they were back in the day. Hager tells him to think about being a Superstar again and maybe think about the two of them picking up where they left off. Where is Dutch Mantell when you need him? WE THE PEOPLE!!

MATCH 3: NYLA ROSE VS CREATE-A-WRESTLING #41

ANNNNNNNND it’s over!
Winner: Nyla Rose (40 seconds)
Rating: NR
All about the story angle between Nyla and Jade Cargill. Speaking of Jade…

Jade comes out with Kiera Hogan and Leila Grey as they all charge for Nyla! Nyla takes out Kiera and Leila as Jade gets in a nice pump kick on Nyla! Security staff for Nyla come out to separate Jade and her baddies from Nyla as somehow this woman still has Jade’s damn TBS Championship.

MATCH 4: AEW ALL-ATLANTIC CHAMPIONSHIP: ORANGE CASSIDY(C) VS LEE JOHNSON

And we begin with a lockup as Cassidy pulls off a arm takedown. Cassidy into the ropes as he’s shoulder tackled. Cassidy goes in for the cover and it’s a one count! Series of counters and leap frogs, arm drag takedowns as Cassidy puts his hands in his pocket and lightly taps on the back of Lee. Cassidy dropkicks Cole Karter as Lee takes advantage with a dropkick of his own to Cassidy! Cassidy comes right back by ramming Lee’s head into the turnbuckle posts as we had into a commercial break. Looks like Nick Comoroto attacked Cassidy from behind as we head to commercials. We’re back now as there is less than three minutes of action left for this hour of RAMPAGE. Cassidy delivers a spinning corckscrew as he takes out Lee and other members of the Factory! Cassidy connects with a diving cross body! Cassidy tries looking for a ddt but gets a blue thunder bomb from Lee! It was a near fall as Nick Comorto tries attacking Cassidy. Trent Beretta attacks Comorto as Chuck Taylor crashes into QT Marshall with a dive off the ropes! Meanwhile Cassidy tries looking for the orange crush but gets rolled up into a pin! It’s a near fall as Lee comes off the ropes and delivers a thrust kick! Cassidy connects with beach break for the victory! And with that Cassidy picks up his 75th win in AEW.

Winner: Orange Cassidy (08:20)
Rating: **
I was really trying to get into this match because it involved two of my absolute favorites on the roster right now. The sudden commercial break was serious buzzkill. Tony Khan and crew really got to work on having championship matches be presented commercial free or get an additional ten minutes of an overrun. If it wasn’t for that I’d gladly give this match a higher rating.

Post match Kole Carter tried attacking Cassidy and gets his behind handed to him. I guess they beat him too silly upside the head because Carter thinks he’s on their side and that they are friends. Not so fast as they lay him out again to end this episode.

End of Show

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

Kudos to Tony Khan and crew for allowing Moxley to rest as they had the man doing back to back episodes of RAMPAGE for a few weeks there. This was a better change of pace. Great seeing personal favorites in Brian Cage, Lee Johnson and Bandido seeing in-ring action this week. We honestly should’ve seen an appearance from Wardlow looking for an explanation from Samoa Joe attacking him on this weeks DYNAMITE. For some maybe that would’ve been overkill but I love when a story overlaps multiple episodes instead of just being exclusive to one show. This episode was used quite well in bridging towards AEW FULL GEAR with the announcement of the steel cage match between Jungle Boy and Walking Dead’s Beta (see what I did there?). It would’ve helped to do a vignette on Jeff Jarrett attacking Darby Allin and getting folks more familiar with him. Perhaps even setting up something for next weeks worth of AEW programming. All and all a decent hour that went by pretty fast and was enjoyable. What you 411MANIACS think? Sound off! 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!