AEW Rampage

Sanders’ AEW Rampage Review 11.4.22

Good Friday everybody! Lee Sanders back with you all and I hope you all have had a fantastic week as we’re officially in the holiday season! We got ourselves a new and live AEW RAMPAGE as Iron Mike Tyson makes a special appearance! Also, Dr. Britt Baker DMD & Jamie Hayter vs. Madison Rayne & Skye Blue. Meanwhile we’re treated to an AEW All-Atlantic Title match as Orange Cassidy defends against Katsuyori Shibata! This should be a solid episode and welcomed rebound from last week. On that note let’s gooooooooo!

Commentators: Mike Tyson, Jim Ross, Excalibur, and Tony Schiavone

We begin with Mike Tyson coming out in a nice grey, black, and white pin-stripped suit as he gets a great ovation from the crowd.

MATCH 1: AEW ALL-ATLANTIC CHAMPIONSHIP: ORANGE CASSIDY(C) VS KATSUYORI SHIBATA

Both men size each other up as Shibata grabs onto the head of Cassidy and goes for a nice takedown. Both men begin to exchange a series of counters when Cassidy delivers an elbow strike to send Shibata outside the ring. Cassidy soon leaps over the rope to take flight and crashes into Shibata! Cassidy tosses him into the steel barricade when Shibata no-sells it and tosses Cassidy across a couple of barricades. Both men are going at it swinging fists on one another as they just managed to hear the referee in time as he’s counting them down. The referee is almost at the count of ten when both men get back into the ring in time as we head into our first commercial break. We are back as Cassidy connected with a beautiful DDT to have Shibata dazed and confused. Cassidy follows up with a double dropkick. Cassidy tries to kick him but gets caught up in a back-heel trip aka STO. Shibata regaining control now as he stomps on the back of the head and neck of Cassidy. Shibata now delivering to Cassidy light kicks, mocking Freshly Squeezed as they both sit in the ring Indian-style, slapping each other! Shibata follows up with an elbow strike and barrage of strikes followed by a dropkick to Cassidy in the corner. Pin attempt made by Shibata as it’s a near fall. Shibata gets Cassidy in a rear-naked choke as Cassidy reverses and applies a backdrop. Shibata tries looking for another one but Cassidy gets out of it in time as both men punch each other in the face at the same time to both lay on the canvas. Cassidy kicks Shibata in the chest repeatedly when Shibata delivers a flying punch!! It was almost Orange Punch style as Shibata goes for an abdominal stretch, followed by an Octopus stretch. Cassidy manages to get to the ropes in time to break it. Cassidy gets an opening to apply the stundog millionaire when Shibata delivers a death valley driver! Cassidy manages to come right back with a hurricana followed by the beach break for a Shibata kickout. Cassidy applies the Orange Punch but it only stuns Shibata who applies a suplex. Shibata comes off the ropes when Cassidy goes for another Orange Punch to end this great opener.

Winner:Orange Cassidy (14:00)
Rating: ****
Fantastic opener. Probably the second to third best singles match for Orange Cassidy this year. I don’t know anything about Shibata but understanding his history, the injury he went through, I’m surprised this man is still walking! If anyone had any doubt about whether this man can still go, let me tell you he still can. I look forward to seeing more of this man whether in AEW, New Japan, or wherever he appears.

Lexi is backstage chatting it up with Toni Storm. Toni wants to know when did Jaime Hayter become a bully. She feels Britt Baker is manipulating Hayter but that at the end of the day Hayter is responsible for her decisions. Hayter will pay come FULL GEAR.

Back from another set of ad breaks. Lexi is backstage with Claudio Castanogli, Bryan Danielson, and William Regal. Claudio demands to have a rematch against Chris Jericho since a rematch is still owed to him for the ROH Championship. Danielson meanwhile tells Lexi that his list of reasons why he hates Jericho is too long for RAMPAGE. Danielson tells Lexi that he too is a former ROH World Champion and he wants another shot at Jericho as he promises he’ll get the job done next time. We shall see…

MATCH 2: BRITT BAKER & JAIME HAYTER VS MADISON RAYNE VS SKY BLUE

Sky Blue manages to climb to the top turnbuckle and delivers a cross body to Hayter for a near fall. Hayter manages to capture Blue from off the ropes to plant her neck first onto the top rope as Sky Blue is stunned. Hayter immediately takes a cheap-shot at Madison Rayne as Britt Baker continues attacking Sky while the referee is distracted. We’re back from a picture-in-picture break as Britt and Hayter have been double teaming on Sky the entire time. Hayter comes from off the ropes and gets a kick to the face by Sky as Britt Baker gets tagged in. Britt gets a roundhouse kick to the face as Sky Blue tags in Madison Rayne! Madison is coming in white hot as she catches Baker in a cutter when Hayter catches Madison in a backbreaker! Sky Blue comes from behind Hayter for a backstaber when Britt delivers a superkick to her face! Madison tries to rollup Baker for a near fall. Britt comes back with a swinging neckbreaker, and a pin attempt that’s broken up by Sky Blue. Nice ripcord elbow strike by Baker as she and Hayter deliver double thrust kicks! Step-up enziguri by Madison on Britt as Hayter plants her with the ripcord lariat for the victory!

Winner:Britt Baker and Jaime Hayter (9:00)
Rating: ***
The team of Britt Baker and Jaime Hayter continue to be an impressive tag team. I’ve had my eyes on them teaming up for a while now. If a women’s tag team division was ever introduced, these girls would be great as champions. At the same time the seeds continue to be planted of an ultimate breakup between these girls. That to the side though this was a highly enjoyable women’s match, more enjoyable then what went down Wednesday…Cough cough…

Toni Storm comes out post match as Rebel tries running towards her and gets a punch to the face to lay her out! Britt Baker soon follows as she’s rammed into the barricades! Toni goes right for Hayter as the girls are laying down punches on one another! Toni manages to get in a Texas cloverleaf on Hayter when Baker uses the AEW Women’s title to knock Toni upside the head with it! Both girls look on mocking Toni Storm to end this segment.

Tony Schiavone is with Chris Jericho now as Jericho doesn’t like the idea of facing Danielson or Claudio 1 on 1. Jericho wants to take them both on as he wants to bring in Sammy Guevera to make it a Fatal-4-Way for the ROH World Championship. Jericho knows that at the end of the day his “Little Buddy” Sammy will do the right thing after Claudio and Danielson beat the holy crap out of each other. As Jericho walks off, Sammy looks on with a sly grin and look of confusion.

Ricky Starks has asked for mic time as he reveals he’s entering the AEW Full Gear Eliminator Tournament! He mentions how he likes the idea of facing Jon Moxley and gives him props for spilling his blood so much for this company. Starks wonders however what happens when all that blood has dried up? Starks then turns his attention to MJF as maybe it will be him that Starks will face for the championship. Either way Starks is putting both men on notice! Starks is looking to win it all with the launching point being by winning the tournament!

We’re back from commercial break as Tony is interviewing Sammy Guevara. Tony tries to follow up on the facial expressions Sammy made from earlier and if maybe Tony was maybe reading too much into it. Sammy tells him he’s not going to get into that as he wants to talk about Full Gear. Sammy is confident that the ROH Championship is going to stay with the JAS. Sammy turns his attention to Bryan Danielson as he wants a rematch against him in a 2 Out of 3 Falls match against Danielson on this weeks DYNAMITE!

MATCH 3:GATES OF AGONY’S BISHOP KHAN AND TOA LIONA VS SAMOA JOE AND WARDLOW

Wardlow tries to clothesline the Hell out of Bishop off the break but Bishop slides out of the ring. Bishop gets back in as Wardlow tackles him into the corner, and drives his shoulder into Bishop’s midsection. Bishop strong arms Wardlow into the opposite corner as Wardlow explodes from out of it and clotheslines Bishop! Wardlow gets on top of him and is clubbing him with right hands as Samoa Joe asks for a tag. Bishop tags in Liona as these big beefy men circle one another. Joe gets backed up in the corner as he comes out with jabs and chops on Liona! Liona delivers knee strikes to Joe’s midsection as Joe comes back with a leaping kick! Toa bites on the ear of Joe as Bishop takes a cheap-shot at Joe while the referee is distracted as we head into our last set of ad breaks. Toa has been working on Joe during the commercial break, denying Joe an opportunity to tag in Wardlow as Bishop gets tagged in now. Bishop has Joe in a headlock as Joe breaks free and is able to get in a standing STO to tag in Wardlow! Wardlow delivers a series of belly-to-back suplexes! Toa gets a back suplex as Wardlow afterwards spikes Bishop to the ground! Wardlow goes for a pin attempt but it’s broken by Toa! Samoa Joe gets Toa in a sleeper hold as Wardlow delivers his delayed double axle club on Bishop! Prince Nana tries to interfere and gets a right hand to the face! Wardlow delivers a headbutt to Bishop, followed by not ONE powerbomb, not TWO powerbombs, but THREE powerbombs to end this one!

Winner:Wardlow and Samoa Joe (9:00)
Rating: **
I really went into this match with high expectations because of the four men in this one. The way this match was designed it was all about putting over Wardlow and Joe while beginning to plant seeds of Joe and Wardlow eventually splitting given what happened after the match. Gates of Agony has a great look and are a solid tag team but they spent most of this match getting their asses kicked. A bit inconsistent from the standpoint of it was just a few weeks ago it appeared Gates of Agony, and The Kingdom had some type of an alliance. Now it seems maybe that’s on the backburner? Don’t get me wrong I’m all fine for things being simplified if that’s where we’re going but at least put a proper bookend to things is all I ask. In either case, having Wardlow be obsessed with getting his hands on Powerhouse Hobbs is a nice touch as the team of Wardlow and Joe has never really clicked for me. This tag match though wasn’t terrible but at the same time was mostly one-sided.

Post-match Powerhouse Hobbs comes out as Wardlow demands for Hobbs to come into the ring. Joe tries to cool Wardlow off but Wardlow pushes him as he demands Hobbs come down to the ring as he head off the air with both men staring at one another to end this episode as Joe looks on at Wardlow like; “Did you really just shove?.”

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

VERY GOOD

I gotta say Mike Tyson felt very comfortable at commentary. I was disappointed that he was only doing it for one match. Literally he was there for one match and that was it folks! He was calling holds and did a great job in not talking over the other commentators. He picked his spots rather well to chime in and did a great job in passing the ball to Jim Ross and crew. He did a good enough job for me to want to see more of him at the booth. Whatever deal Tony Khan has with Iron Mike, I welcome it as tonight was a great experiment. I don’t think we need Iron Mike for a whole show. Have him come out to a maximum of three matches and that’s all. If he’s to only do RAMPAGE then that’s where it gets tricky. I say if it’s RAMPAGE then have him on the entire hour, boost those ratings! Speaking of matches, damn good matches this week as Shibata vs Cassidy alone was worth the admission tonight. The girls did a fantastic job as well as Baker and Hayter continue finding their groove as a tag team. Really wish we could’ve gotten an appearance of some type from MJF but high marks to Tony Khan for resting Moxley this week for RAMPAGE. Moxley was doing overtime past few weeks. 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!

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