It’s Friday! You know what that means! AEW RAMPAGE time! Lee Sanders back with you all once again! It’s good to be back as I missed you all and hey shoutout to Jeremy for filling in for me last week. Nothing to plug this week as I’ve been on vacation from my podcasts this week, caught up on the Season Premiere of Better Call Saul. Man what a strong opener! Wondering what’s going to happen with Kim. Anyways onwards with RAMPAGE!

Commentators: Excalibur, Taz, and Ricky Starks

MATCH 1: OWEN HART MEN’S QUALIFIER-ADAM COLE VS TOMOHIRO ISHII

And we begin with a lockup! Adam Cole tries bouncing off the ropes to shoulder tackle Ishii, no dice as he’s not moving! Ishii does a shoulder tackle of his own to send Cole out of the ring frustrated. Cole now with kicks to Ishii’s midsection. He’s celebrating too early as he throws his hands in the air to say his name. Ishii comes from behind and chops him down to the canvas. Cole now sent into the ropes and he hangs on as he goes quickly out the ring. Ishii follows and delivers chops to Cole. Ishii tries to clothesline Cole but Cole moves out the way as Ishii crashes into the ring post. Action gets back inside the ring as Cole is on the offense. He’s got Ishii in a grounded headlock. He’s putting sum torque on it but Ishii fights out of it briefly. Cole is relentless on his offense as both men are now exchanging strikes. Cole now slapping Ishii in the face as the big man gets up and is walking into forearm strikes now. Ishii comes in with a forearm strike of his own that plants Cole to the mat. Ishii with a strong Irish whip that gets reversed by Cole as Ishii reverses with a powerslam. Big backdrop suplex now for Ishii as he gets a near fall. Ishii looks for a powerbomb as Cole fights out of it and picks up Ishii. Ishii gets out of it as the two exchange counters with Cole winning with a back suplex of Ishii into his knee. Back from commercial as Ishii got a near fall pin as he delivered a suplex from the middle rope. Sliding lariat attempt by Ishii but he misses as Cole moves out the way and connects with a kick to the knee and a side kick to Ishii’s face. Cole tried looking for the BOOM but misses as Ishii connects with his sliding lariat for a near fall. Cole with a pump kick to the jaw to setup another pinfall attempt and it’s a near fall. Cole on the middle rope as he tried looking for a Panama sunrise and misses! Beautiful counters by both men as both men are laid out on the canvas, totally exhausted! Ishii tried looking for another lariat but Cole comes in with a superkick as Ishii connects finally with his lariat! Switchblade Jay White takes out Rockey Romero outside the ring as the ref is distracted all of a sudden. Lord this is silly as Cole delivers a low blow to Ishii to set him up for the BOOM as Cole picks up the win.

Winner:Adam Cole (16:00)
Rating: ***
Nice opener and I gotta give the commentators, mainly Excalibur a lot of props for trying to clue fans in on who Ishii is as I’m all about that context. Pretty physical of an encounter, and a nice back and fourth but the ending there was downright too silly for me. Instant feud though for Orange Cassidy and Romero vs White and Ishii possibly.

Footage shown from earlier in the day of the Jericho Appreciation Society being mean to the arena security detail. Speaking of which, how about that USFL player that got fired this week? All he wanted was a slice of pizza and he asked politely. He wasn’t rude like the JSA…

HOOK is being interviewed when he cuts a corner and sees Danhausen. Danhausen is backstage enjoying some of HOOK’s Lays potato chips as he wonders if HOOK will give him a match now. HOOK tells him he’s got his attention now. All this over a bag of chips. Hate to see what happens when Kool-Aid is thrown into the mix. Wonder if Danhausen ate just one Lays…

MATCH 2:LANCE ARCHER VS SERPENTICO

Serpentico tried doing a suicide dive into the ropes into Serpentico and Archer no sells it as Serp is excited, bouncing up and down thinking he did a number on him. Archer just clubs the poor guy as he tosses him in the ring and murders the poor fella with the blackout followed by a chokeslam or two, no make that three to end this one.

Winner:Lance Archer (32 seconds)
Rating: NR
Glorified squash to setup Archer vs Wardlow

MATCH 3: EDDIE KINGSTON VS DANIEL GARCIA

Both men circle each other looking to strike. Kingston corners Garcia in the corner and lays in a few strikes. Same thing happens again in another corner as Garcia moves out the ring to regroup. Heavy hitting chops by Kingston as he sends Garcia crashing into some steel steps. Kingston hesitates as Garcia sets up Kingston to run into the steps to knock the wind out of him. Garcia gets him in the ring as he works on the upper body and spine of Kingston. Garcia shoulder tackles Eddie’s midsection followed up with a double wrist lock. Good knee strikes into the ribs of Kingston. Garcia with chops and strikes to Kingston now as Kingston begs him to come at him some more. Garcia actually bites on the head of Kingston as Kingston reverses it and bites him on the ear. Action spills outside the ring during commercial break. We’re back now as both men are inside the ring trading strikes as Garcia connects with consecutive and successful uppercuts. Garcia now beating on the ribs of Kingston as he plants him with a German suplex. Garcia now with stomps to the body of Kingston as the fans are trying to rally Kingston on. Kingston finds an opening of offense briefly but Garcia gets in a Boston crab on Eddie. Now Garcia goes for a scorpion death lock on Kingston but Eddie manages to get to the ropes in time. Garcia with a wrist lock now as he tried looking for another leg lock but Eddie hits him with a enziguri and an exploder for a two count! Kingston now with a back drop followed by a spinning back fist to pick up the victory!

Winner: Eddie Kingston (9:43)
Rating: ***
I wasn’t quite sure what to expect of this match but I loved this one. I’m not a fan of Garcia losing as I see a lot of upside in him. Surprised one of the 2Point0 guys weren’t here in Garcia’s place honestly. Great psychology in this match as Garcia was doing surgery on Kingston!

Post-match Eddie takes off his belt as he grabs a microphone and tells Chris Jericho he’s saving the whipping for him!

Keith “Frasier Crane” Lee and Swerve Strickland are backstage saying the war has just begun with Powerhouse Hobbs and Ricky Starks. Cameras come right back to Ricky who’s on commentary as he tells them that they got a check written with their name on it that he and Hobbs plan on cashing in.

Jaime Hayter, Britt Baker, and Toni Storm are trading a few words backstage in a new scene. Toni tells Jaime she’ll see her very soon and Britt later that is if she even makes it that far.

MATCH 4: TBS CHAMPIONSHIP – JADE CARGILL(C) VS MARINA SHAFIR

Jade puts her hands behind her back and welcomes the challenger to hit her. Marina tried to charge at her but Jade escapes in time. Marina kicks Jade on her lower legs. Marina charges at Jade as Jade catches her and does a release fall away slam. The champion follows up with a clothesline to send Shafir outside the ring. TBS Champion now on the offense as Mark Sterling distracts the referee. While this is going on the Baddie Section gets in their shots on Shafir. Action gets back in the ring as Jade is stomping on the back of Shafir followed by a back elbow. Cargill caps it off with a backdrop and goes for an arrogant cover. It’s a two count as Jade is on top of Marina throwing punches to the face. Marina counters back with a few strikes followed by a front chancery. Marina gets countered by Cargill with a swinging powerslam as he sadly head into a commercial break. Marina delivers a nice stiff kick to the back of Jade as we are back from commercial break. Marina is looking for an ankle lock as she transitions into a knee-bar lock. Jade manages to get to the ropes in time for the break. Marina wraps Jade’s leg around the ring post as Sterling steps in to try and save his champion. Marina judo throws him as she has a few words with the Baddie Section. Jade comes out of nowhere with a pump kick as she sends Shafir back to the ring. Jade brings her back outside the ring and chokeslams her though the timekeepers’ table. Jade now returns Shafir to the ring as she celebrates with her Baddies. Jade with a cocky cover that gets her a near fall as Shafir gets her in a knee lock. Jade takes her other leg that’s free, and kicks Shafir in the face repeatedly. Double underhook on Marina’s arms now as Jade connects with Jadded to end this one.

Winner: Jade Cargill (10:23)
Rating: **
I’m a big Cargill fan as longtime listeners of my podcast know this. It wasn’t anything Jade did wrong in this match as she was pretty on point. Shafir on the other hand was a bit sloppy at times and some of the moves she was trying to do on Jade wasn’t smooth. I think having Sterling and the Baddie Section was a nice touch to mask up some of the rough spots throughout this match. Both women are coming along but for me this was not worthy of being in the main event spot. I’ve seen better Cargill matches than this one but at least they tried building up Shafir on short notice. Also, TBS, you just showed Central Intelligence only to air it again after this episode. Did we really need an abrupt commercial break for this championship match? Heck with Picture in Picture. Minus a point for me on that one. Goldberg— I mean Jade is now 30-0 baby! WHO’S NEXT?!!

End of Show

THE FINAL SCORE:  REVIEW

GOOD

Overall some decent wrestling this week. Not a must-see episode but a well-rounded episode nonetheless. Cole vs Ishii, and Kingston vs Garcia was really what it was all about for this episode. No tag team action on this episode as it was all about singles action and I’m always down for that as not every RAMPAGE needs to be filled with tag matches. Now that Jade is 30-0 I’d like to see them focus on who could be next to face her for the championship. At the same time however who’s going to be the one that can also go toe to toe with her Baddies Section? Very interesting position the bookers have put themselves in as I’m curious how that’s going to play out on tv. Folks complaining for a few months about Danhausen not wrestling, well he was injured for while. Now he’s cleared and is going to be taking on HOOK. If you’ve never seen him wrestle before let me tell you that you’re in for a treat. For the love of Wrestling Gods can we please get a championship match that is closing out a show be commercial free if only 10-15 minutes is left? Can’t be that hard and it really gives fans that true main event good feel. 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 ya’ll!