And a very Good Friday to you all! Lee Sanders here and we are just less than 24 hours away from AEW FULL GEAR the ppv but first up is tonight’s AEW RAMPAGE. Tonight’s lineup features Orange Cassidy vs. Matt Hardy in a lumberjack match.
Jungle Boy vs. Bobby Fish. Jade Cargill vs. Santana Garrett, and finally, Dante Martin vs. Ariya Daivari

Friendly reminder, I’ll be celebrating my 10th anniversary of doing my podcast this Sunday, November 14th at 8pm ET. If around this weekend come hang out as I’ll be streaming on my YouTube channel which you can check out by clicking here.

Commentators: Taz, Excalibur, Ricky Starks, and Chris Jericho

MATCH 1: JUNGLE BOY VS BOBBY FISH

Match opens up white hot as Jungle Boy charges at Fish with a nice underhook leg takedown as he comes in flying with punches. Jungle Boy tried to skin the cat off the ropes but Fish wrenched Jungle Boy’s arm and sent him crashing outside the ring to the canvas. Action gets back inside the ring as Fish continues to be in control. Great series of counters by both men as Jungle Boy tried skinning the cat off the ropes again. This time he connects as he does a beautiful armdrag takedown of Fish. Fish finds himself looking for a dangerous German suplex from the outside ring-apron. Jungle Boy fights out of it as Dish delivered a strong roundkick that takes Jungle Boy off his feet and crashing to the outside. Jungle Boy sends Bobby face first into the ring post but it only phases him briefly. Fish comes in with knee strikes to Jungle Boy and manages to get back in the ring in time before a count out only to go back out to reset the count. Fish has been on the offense during the Picture in Picture break as Jungle Boy comes in with a clothesline on Fish. Fish connects with a hammerlock followed by a backdrop as he’s been working on Jungle Boy’s arm pretty good. Jungle Boy comes back with a German suplex with pin attempt! It’s a near fall! Fish hammerlocks Jungle Boy and whips him into the ring post. He tries looking for a spinning roundhouse kick and misses! Jungle Boy gets in a roll up but it’s a near fall. Jungle Biu tried looking for a DDT off the ropes but Fish sends him crashing into the ropes with an exploder. Fish only gets a near fall as Jungle Boy appears to be out cold. Fish comes in with strong kicks to Jungle Boy’s left arm. Fish tries looking for one more kick buy Jungle Boy counters with the snare trap as he shockingly gets in the victory as he chokes out Bobby Fish! Damn impressive! Post-match Adam Cole races down to the ring as he and Jungle Boy are swinging haymakers at one another. Fish somehow has quickly recovered as he joins Cole in a beatdown. Christian Cage and Luchasaurus come in for the save as Bobby Fish has been left to the wolves. Cage connects with the Killswitch and leaves him laying knocked out.

Winner: Jungle Boy (13:00)
Rating: ***
Thoughts: An excellent match that really showcased how great of a singles competitor Bobby Fish is as sometimes we need to be reminded. Even though Fish has been at the receiving end of a few defeats in AEW, he’s continuing to be booked in a challenging way. And if you’re a fan of Jungle Boy, well I’ll say this was a fantastic showing for him against the veteran in Fish. His father would be proud!

Recap of the AEW World championship contract signing between Kenny Omega and Adam Page is shown.

Young Bucks and Adam Cole are getting ready to cut a promo but Adam Page interrupts. He wants to speak to the Bucks alone as Cole reluctantly leaves per Bucks. Hangman Page tells the Bucks he’s sorry for everything that’s happened, even costing them the tag titles. He knows they had nothing to do what went down Wednesday. Page feels he’s been an ass to them for a long time but that they costed him his world championship match opportunity earlier this year. Far as he’s concerned they are even as if they even try to interfere in his match this Saturday, he will end them. Hangman walks off as Bucks call for the cameraman to stop filming.

MATCH 2: JADE CARGILL VS SANTANA GARRETT

There’s a yummy cake at ringside that reads Happy One Year Anniversary to Jade. Wonder if it’s going to get messed up as Red Velvet is at ringside watching the match. Cake..Red Velvet…You follow me? Very little offense from Santana as Jade pretty much connects with the Jaded finisher to end the match. Post-match Red Velvet spears Jade Cargill as she then turns her attention to Mark Sterling. Sterling has the cake in his hands as Red Velvet tosses the cake in his face. Looks like the cake is chocolate. Should’ve been Red Velvet. Anyway both women co rinse brawling as officials are doing their best to separate them.

Winner: Jade Cargill (2:00)
Rating: NR
Thoughts: All about the TBS Tournament finals. Nothing more and nothing less. The greatest sin I personally feel is that Santana didn’t get in more offense. She is an extremely gifted wrestler and this was a rare TNT appearance and yet she honestly didn’t get in any offense. Really hope down the road this can be worked on as in this match it should’ve been more competitive but it is what it is.

Recap of CM Punk and Eddie Kingston is shown.

MATCH 3: DANTE MARTIN VS ARIYA DAVARI

Hook and Hobbs are with the commentating team as they stand in silence. Taz feels they may need to have a conversation with one of the men in the ring after the match is over. Fast and high paced action so far that’s full of counters as the fans are eating it up. Davari delivers chops and a side kick to Martin as Martin is tangled in-between the ropes. Davari goes to the top rope and connects with leg drop to the back of the head. Cover attempt is made as Martin kicks out. Davari connects with the kitchen sink followed by a dropkick to only get a near fall. Davari still on the offense as Martin floats over Davari and connects with a sunset flip followed by a step up enzaguri. Davari connects with a neckbreaker followed by a hammerlock clothesline! Davari connects with a frog splash as Dante kicks out! Dante picks on the ankle of Davari as he quickly tries to get in a pin but it’s a two count. Action goes outside the ring where Martin flies over the top rope to crash into Davari. Martin quickly tosses Davari into the ring as he connects with a high risk nose dive from the top rope for the victory! Post-match Ricky Starks commends Dante for the hit streak he’s been on. Hobbs and Hook offer Martin a Team Taz contract to look over and strongly consider. Ricky tells Dante to read the contract as good as he can and get back to them. Where is also Rush when you need him as sadly he is not here tonight.

Winner: Dante Martin (8:00)
Rating: ***
Thoughts: Dante Martin continues to impress me week in and week out. Really happy he’s been getting more tv time on TNT as this match was pretty solid. Davari even has an impressive RAMPAGE debut to the point I’d love to see more of him.

Mark Henry gets pre match comments from Orange Cassidy and Matt Hardy. This honestly was the weakest pre match segment I’ve seen so far as usually they are solid. This could’ve been something special and memorable here but fell way short. Maybe next week!

MATCH 4: LUMBERJACK MATCH-ORANGE CASSIDY VS MATT HARDY

Matt Hardy proclaims he’ll give anyone $20,000 if they take out Orange Cassidy. I’ll take some of that! The Lumberjacks are brawling with one another as Cassidy takes Hardy off his feet and is coming in with a flurry of punches. Hardy sends Cassidy in-between the ropes but Cassidy gets back in the ring quickly but soon finds himself back out again where The Blade does a number on him. Hardy comes in with a few leg drops followed by a cover as it’s a near fall. During the commercial break Best Friends take out the lumberjacks as they get in the ring and setup Cassidy for a high backflip over the ropes to crash into more lumberjacks. Cassidy connects with a big crossbody on Hardy who’s in the ring. Hardy recovers and connects with the Side Effect to get a near fall. Hardy tries to look for the Twist of Fate but it’s countered by a DDT. Isiah Kassidy attacks Orange Cassidy from behind. The Blade enters the ring but right as he does, Wheelee Yuta takes him out. Kassidy kicks Yuta in the face while Chuck Taylor hits him with a piledriver. Hardy attacks Taylor with the Twist of Fate. Hardy tries to attack Cassidy but is countered as soon Hardy’s lumberjacks one by one try to attack Cassidy but he takes them all out one by one with an Orange Punch. The Blade plants Cassidy with a pair of brass knuckles that the ref doesn’t see because he’s distracted by Kris Statlander and The Bunny brawling in the ring that helps give Matt Hardy the victory. Post- match HFO celebrates the victory as they lay out Best Friends and Statlander with the brass knuckles.

Winner: Matt Hardy (8:00)
Rating: **
Thoughts: Honestly this was a glorified spot fest. Nothing more and nothing less. I’ve seen better lumberjack matches that had better pacing and storytelling. This felt very rushed considering the time remaining on the show.

End of Show

THE FINAL SCORE:  REVIEW

AVERAGE

Main highlight this week was Dante Martin in action as he continues to deliver week in and week out. I’m very excited to see him involved with Team Taz as I’m curious to see where this story arc takes him. Great emphasis on the TBS tournament finals as this episode was a nice little go-home show to FULL GEAR. In retrospect though the show honestly didn’t need to be live as a taped episode would’ve been just fine. Especially since this was only going an hour long. Jungle Boy continues to build momentum as it feels as though he’s getting closer and closer to remaining a permanent singles competitor which I’d be okay with. I personally would love to see Team Taz try to court him as well as he and Dante would make a nice alliance a,long with Lio Rush against Starks, Hooks, and Hobbs. It seems HFO vs Team Cassidy has just been floating around with no definitive direction. I’m ready to see something else honestly. A very uneventful episode before a pay-per-view otherwise tonight. Good hype but that’s about it.