Happy Fantastic Friday, everyone! I am Lee Sanders, and if it’s Friday, you know what that means! It’s AEW RAMPAGE time! On days off of AEW BIG BUSINESS, Mercedes Mone made her anticipated AEW debut. Sadly, the total viewership for the entire program didn’t do well, but no doubt AEW is moving in a more positive direction. Tonight’s card features Roderick Strong & The Kingdom vs. Top Flight & Action Andretti. Elsewhere, Orange Cassidy & Trent Beretta vs. Dark Order. Meanwhile, Konosuke Takeshita faces Komander. Finally, Toni Storm & Mariah May vs. TBD.

Side note: who’s ready for the premiere of X-MEN 97 next week on Disney Plus? Let’s jump into the action!

Location: Boston, MA
Venue: TD Garden
Commentators: Excalibur, Tony Schiavone, and Chris Jericho (bring back Matt Menard)

MATCH 1: ORANGE CASSIDY & TRENT BERETTA VS. DARK ORDER’S JOHN SILVER & EVIL UNO

Cassidy and Uno start things off as Uno offers a handshake before sending him into the ropes. Uno drops him as Cassidy comes to his feet, feeling unphased. Rollup by Cassidy for a near fall. Cassidy is about to put his hands in his pockets when Silver stops him! Silver puts his hands in Cassidy’s pockets as soon Cassidy and Beretta combine for some double team action on him. Uno is back in the ring as he gets a double-shoulder tackle. The big hug is about to go down when Silver and Uno attack them. Silver and Uno are soon sent over the ropes, where Best Friends share a hug. Nice drop toe-hold by Trent. Trent follows it up with a lateral press for a near fall. Cassidy tagged as he climbed to the top. Silver grabs up for a gorilla press toss. Beretta catches him with his knees to the face as Cassidy hits a stunner on Uno. Uno with a kick to the head as he attempts a cover. We get another near fall as we head into our first set of commercials. We are back, as Cassidy kicks Silver and Uno repeatedly before Trent is tagged. Trent hits Silver and Uno with a couple of back suplexes. Beretta with a cover attempt on Silver as Silver kicks out. Silver with consecutive kicks as Trent tries for the strong zero. The move is countered as Uno kicks Beretta in the face. It sets up Silver for a cover, but it’s a near fall. Action spills briefly outside the ring, where Uno connects with a senton. Meanwhile, Cassidy hits a DDT from between the ropes. Back inside the ring, Beretta hits Uno with a big elbow strike. Silver and Uno combine for some excellent combo signature moves as Cassidy stops the pin attempt. Silver and Cassidy are now going at it as Cassidy hits the Orange punch! Trent hits the strong zero on Silver for the victory.

Winner:Best Friends (9 minutes)
Rating:***
Now that was good. I hate to sound like a broken record, but in 2024, I need to see more Dark Order matches. I need to see them become tag champions. These guys are always entertaining. It’s gotten to a point where if I know they are wrestling, it will be a good time. Tonight was no exception as they delivered another classic one.

A video package of The Righteous is shown. Meanwhile, Saraya and Harley are with Zack, who continues picking on people. Angelo Parker arrives to knock his block off as security breaks it up. Programming note: RAMPAGE will be on at a special day and time this coming Wednesday at 10 p.m. ET. Set your DVRs. This is happening because of NCAA March Madness.

MATCH 2: MARIAH MAY & TONI STORM VS LITTLE MEAN KATHLEEN & PLAYER NO. 4(PLEASE HIT START)

LMK was isolated by Mariah and Toni early on here. Kayla Sparks is tagged now as Toni kicks her in the head. A hip attack follows as Mariah is tagged and delivers a hip attack of her own. Toni tagged back in as the storm zero was hit, followed by a piledriver for victory.

Winner:Best Friends (2 minutes)
Rating:SQUASH…SQUASH…SQUASH!
All about the story arc.

Post-match, Deonna Purrazzo comes out to reveal her mystery tag partner in a future match against Toni, and Mariah will be…Thunder Rosa! Nice pick! Meanwhile, a video package of Queen Aminata is shown. It’s a great video package that amplifies how undefeated she is in Ring of Honor. She’s looking to beat Red Velvet for the ROH Women’s TV Championship. Excellent package and long overdue! Elsewhere, the AEW World Tag Team Championship Tournament has been revealed. Round 1 sees Young Bucks vs Private Party. Undisputed Kingdom awaits the winner from a wild card match between Best Friends and the Don Callis Family. Ricky Starks & Big Bill will face Top Flight. FTR awaits the winner of the second wild card match between Infantry and House of Black.

MATCH 3: KOMANDER VS TAKESHITA

Komander is pushing a goatee now, and it looks fabulous on him as he looks like an evil sorcerer. Komander with a knee drop and a lionsault for a quick kick out. Komander takes a big boot to the face. Takeshita follows up with a low kick on Komander’s face. Big forearm strike to the head of Komander followed by kicks to the midsection while in the corner. Takeshita with a swing and a miss but an excellent rebound of an overhead toss as we head into our next set of commercials. We are back as Komander hits a moonsault off the top rope to crash into Takeshita. Nice springboard hurricarana follows for a two count. Takeshita catches him and throws him across the ring. A blue thunder bomb follows as Takeshita gets a near fall. Takeshita with a big forearm to the face as Komander returns with a destroyer! Komander hits another destroyer as Takeshita hits a powerbomb and a kick to the face, followed by a spinning falcon arrow for the dub. WOW!!!

Winner:Takeshita (6 minutes)
Rating:***
GAWD DAMN THAT WAS GOOD. It’s easily my favorite match of the night.

Another Serena Deeb video package is shown as we head into another set of commercials.

MATCH 4: RODERICK STRONG & THE KINGDOM VS. TOP FLIGHT & ACTION ANDRETTI

Dante with a clothesline on Taven. Rollup follows, but Taven breaks as soon Mike Bennett is tagged.mDsriusnisntagged as he clotheslines Taven over the rope. Bennett soon follows with the same move. Darius has a cover on Bennett as Bennett quickly kicks out. Both men are now trading chops as Roderick is tagged and chops Darius so hard that the man falls to the ground. Darius is sent into the ropes as Darius comes back with a Manhattan drop. Action Andretti is tagged as he almost gets a near fall via rollup. Nice neckbreaker/backbreaker combo by Action Andretti as we head into our last set of commercial breaks. We are back as Taven misses a lionsault which pisses off Chris Jericho as he wants royalties. Dante tagged as he took forearm shots at Bennett. Nice crossbody on Bennett for a near fall. Sidekick to the face of Bennett, followed by a springboard 450 by Andretti. The cover attempt is broken up as Taven and Strong are looking for a spiked piledriver combo, but it’s no avail. Andretti and Darius try for a double-team move, but Strong catches them with a running knee. Andretti becomes victim to a spiked piledriver, followed by Roderick Strong adding the cheery on top for the win.

Winner:The Kingdom (11 minutes)
Rating:***
GAWD DAMN THAT WAS GOOD TOO. I might not care too much for them as a stable, but this match was entertaining and a good pick for a main event.

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 you all!

THE FINAL SCORE:  REVIEW

VERY GOOD

A pretty solid week of AEW programming continued on here with this weeks RAMPAGE. I found myself enjoying this episode as the matches were on point as far as quality goes. This episode had a little bit of something for everyone and is a nice winning formula. Tony Khan and crew can build off of this and I feel they will especially with the tag tournament that’s about to commence. Looking forward to seeing how they do Collision this weekend. Go out of your way and check out Rampage as you’ll thank me later. 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 you all!