The John Report: AEW Rampage 01/20/23 Review
This week’s AEW Rampage featured Jungle Boy facing Ethan Page, plus Daniel Garcia faced Action Andretti in the main event.
I didn’t do a Rampage review last week. As usual for Rampage, I’ll do a summary review of the matches and then play-by-play for one match. This week I’ll do that for the first match.
This is AEW Rampage from the Save Mart Center in Fresno, California. Check out the AEW PPV listing archive only on TJRWrestling as well. Follow me on Twitter @johnreport. This was taped after Dynamite.
It’s Friday night and you know what that means. The commentary team was Excalibur, Jim Ross, Chris Jericho and Tony Schiavone.
“Jungle Boy” Jack Perry vs. “All Ego” Ethan Page (w/Stokely Hathaway, Matt Hardy & Isiah Kassidy)
The story is that Ethan owns the contracts of Hardy and Kassidy. Ethan tried Ego’s Edge right away, but Jack avoided it and Jack got a headscissors takedown. Jack hit a suicide dive on Kassidy after Ethan put Kassidy in front. Hardy argued with Page about it, so Jack hit a suicide dive on Ethan on the floor. Back in the ring, Jack countered a move with a headscissors followed by a dropkick. Jack with a kick to the chest, then Hathaway grabbed the foot (Jack had to look at him to let him know the cue) and then Ethan knocked Jack out of the ring. Ethan sent Jack into the barricade. Back in the ring, Ethan hit a backbreaker. Jack got a boot to the face, but Ethan hit a clothesline over the top to the floor. They fought on the floor a bit with Ethan sending Jack into the ring post. Back in the ring, Ethan did a press slam that led to him dropping Jack to the mat. They went to a picture-in-picture break for 90 seconds.
(Commercial)
Jack tried to get some offense going as he broke free from Ethan’s grasp leading to Jack hitting a clothesline off the ropes. Ethan hit a back body drop to counter something that Jack was trying. Ethan with a slam off the ropes right into a powerslam for a two count. Ethan mocked some Matt Hardy mannerisms, then Jack got out of a Twist of Fate attempt and Jack worked over Ethan with punches (he was punching his own hand). Jack punched Hathaway off the ropes, so Ethan hit a Twist of Fate for a two count because Jack put his foot on the bottom rope since he was right there. Hook’s music hit as Hook made his entrance to a big pop. Jack got a pin attempt, Ethan grabbed Matt’s hair, then Matt shoved the hand and Jack turned it into a sunset flip pin on Ethan for the pinfall win after 10 minutes.
Winner by pinfall: “Jungle Boy” Jack Perry
Analysis: *** It was a pretty good match between two guys that I like a lot. Ethan used his power for a lot of the match, Jack sells well all the time and then they built to an exciting finish. I always mention Ethan is fun to watch since he’s got a lot of different moves in his arsenal while working at a slow pace as well. Jack got the win, but it wasn’t a decisive win.
Post match, Stokely Hathaway and Ethan Page yelled at Matt Hardy about costing Ethan the match. Ethan challenged Jungle Boy & Hook to a tag team match on Dynamite with Ethan teaming with Matt. Hathaway told Matt he’s on timeout.
Analysis: A simple way to set up a match. Hook doesn’t lose, so his team should win.
(Commercial)
Let’s Hear from Ortiz & Eddie Kingston
Ortiz was interviewed in the ring by Tony Schiavone. Ortiz said that his friend Eddie Kingston has completely lost it because he has had his mind messed up by House of Black and he nearly hit a woman last week. Ortiz told Eddie they need to talk face to face.
Eddie Kingston made his entrance with a steel chair as he got into the ring with Ortiz and Tony left. Ortiz talked about how Eddie nearly hit a woman last week and he knows that Eddie’s parents didn’t raise him like that. Ortiz wondered what their mentor Homicide would say and said that he would say that Eddie was coward and a fake tough guy. Eddie jabbed Ortiz with a chair to the ribs followed by a chair shot to the back.
Analysis: That’s the end of that friendship for now. Eddie isn’t being pushed much, but at least he has a story with House of Black playing mind games against him. AEW also needs to show a quick video before a segment like that to remind people of the problems between Ortiz-Kingston too. You can’t assume everybody watches every show.
A video aired featuring TNT Champion Darby Allin talking about his recent title wins. Allin said that House of Black is back while mentioning he’s beaten Malakai Black and Brody King, so he wants to defend the TNT Title against Buddy Matthews to prove he can beat them all. Allin challenged Buddy to a match on Dynamite next week.
Analysis: That should be another win for Allin as usual.
Brian Cage (w/Prince Nana) vs. Willie Mack
Cage faces Bryan Danielson on Dynamite next week so the result should be obvious here. Mack got some offense in the first minute, but Cage stopped that with a running kick along with a German Suplex. Cage hit a running kick in the corner. They went to the apron with Cage hitting a uranage slam on the apron. They went to a picture-in-picture break.
(Commercial)
Mack got some offense going with a jumping kick with a hard leg slap to make some noise. Mack hit a forearm followed by a Sky High spinebuster for a two count. Cage with a superkick plus his own version of an F5 got a two count. Cage hit a Powerbomb followed by the Drillclaw for the pinfall win after about nine minutes.
Winner by pinfall: Brian Cage
Analysis: **1/4 It was a decent match to put over Cage since he’s against Danielson next week on Dynamite. Bryan should win that match. I would have had Cage win in under five minutes to make him look more impressive, but they went nearly ten minutes with Mack getting plenty of offense. Cage is the one that’s under contract, so give him a more decisive win. That’s all I’m saying.
The announcers put over Cage along with the story that MJF told Cage to break Bryan Danielson’s arm on Dynamite.
Jade Cargill & Leila Grey v. Jaida & Jordyn Vanity
Cargill has been the TBS Champion for over one year now with a 48-0 record going into this match. Grey hit a running shoulder tackle on one sister, then brought in the other sister and hit a dropkick. The fans reacted to Jade as a star when she tagged in and Jade tagged out quickly. Grey hit a facebuster, but Jade told her not to pin. Jade hit her Jaded slam for the pinfall win after three minutes. Jade is 49-0 now.
Winners by pinfall: Jade Cargill & Leila Grey
Analysis: 1/2* A squash match to put Cargill over as usual. Nothing much to it. The AEW women’s division is not that interesting aside from a few people.
(Commercial)
A video aired about Action Andretti saying he beat Chris Jericho and he can’t seem to get the Jericho Appreciation Society off his back. Daniel Garcia said he remembers when he was the new kid on the block, but people humbled him, so that’s what he’ll do to Andretti. Action spoke confidently about beating Garcia.
Mark Henry did his catchphrase without doing an actual interview. I’m sure he’s paid well to barely do anything.
This Wednesday on AEW Dynamite:
* Jungle Boy & Hook vs. Matt Hardy & Ethan Page
* TNT Championship: Darby Allin (c) vs. Buddy Matthews
* Toni Storm vs. Ruby Soho vs. Dr. Britt Baker D.M.D.
* Billy Gunn will try to do some Family Therapy for The Acclaimed and The Gunns
* Bryan Danielson vs. Brian Cage
* Chris Jericho & Sammy Guevara vs. Ricky Starks vs. Action Andretti
Daniel Garcia vs. Action Andretti
Garcia was wearing black leather pants that Sammy Guevara got him. Sammy was on commentary while Tony Schiavone was gone. Action is 1-0 in 2023 with his win over Chris Jericho. Action was on offense early with a twisting splash off the ropes for a two count. Garcia went to the floor, so Action hit him with a suicide dive. Garcia came back with a clothesline on the floor.
(Commercial)
There were about five minutes left with Garcia in control. Andretti came back with a forearm along with some more offense. Garcia went to the floor and Andretti barely grazed him with a moonsault. Back in the ring, Andretti hit a split-legged moonsault for two. When Action went for a handspring move off the ropes, Garcia went for a choke submission. After they exchanged some moves, Action came back with a neckbreaker off the shoulders for two. When Action tried a springboard attack, Garcia hit him with a palm strike and a sitout slam. Action got an elbow along with a twisting dive off the ropes that barely connected. Action hit a running SSP on Garcia for the pinfall win after 11 minutes.
Winner by pinfall: Action Andretti
Analysis: **3/4 It was okay. Lots of high-flying moves by Action trying to show off and some of the moves he did barely touched his opponent, so it didn’t look great to me. Garcia really didn’t get much offense, nor did he come close to winning at all. I thought it should have been more of a 50/50 type match, but Action dominated most of it.
Action Andretti celebrated the win while they pushed Dynamite with Jericho & Sammy facing Andretti and Ricky Starks in tag team action. End show.
Three Stars of the Show
- “Jungle Boy” Jack Perry
- Ethan Page
- Action Andretti
The Scoreboard
This Week: 5.75 out of 10
Last Week: No review
Final Thoughts
It was an average show that was majorly lacking in terms of star power. I don’t think the Andretti-Garcia match felt like a main event level match, but that’s what we got. I liked the Jungle Boy-Ethan Page match the most although it wasn’t a standout match.
They advanced the Eddie Kingston-Ortiz a bit. It wasn’t a long segment, though. No words from Kingston. As for the women’s division, it was barely featured on the show. Not good.
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John Canton
Email: mrjohncanton@gmail.com
Twitter: @johnreport