The John Report: AEW Rampage 01/27/23 Review

This week’s AEW Rampage featured “Hangman” Adam Page in singles action, plus AEW Women’s Champion Jamie Hayter wrestling in the main event.

As usual for Rampage, I’ll do a summary review of the matches and then play-by-play for two matches this week. Some weeks I do it for just one match.

This is AEW Rampage from the Rupp Arena in Lexington, Kentucky. 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.

It was “Hangman” Adam Page and Wheeler Yuta already in the ring at the start of the show. Page faces Yuta’s buddy John Moxley next Wednesday on AEW Dynamite.

“Hangman” Adam Page vs. Wheeler Yuta

I’ll go play-by-play for this one. Yuta hit a running dropkick right after the bell rang. Yuta tied up Hangman’s legs in a submission leading to Page reaching for the rope to force a break. Page ran over Yuta with a running forearm to the head. Page knocked Yuta down with a sliding lariat for two. It sure sounds like they pumped in some fake crowd noise for Yuta kicking out of that pin attempt. Yuta did a necksnap against the top rope, but Page caught him and hit a fallaway slam. Page hit a lariat on the apron followed by a slingshot cross body block onto Yuta on the floor. Yuta came back with a suicide dive onto Page on the floor. When they went back into the ring, Page to the floor again and he caught a diving Yuta leading to a Powerbomb on the apron. Page hit a Ligerbomb (sitout Powerbomb) for a two count.

(Commercial)

Page ran into a boot from Yuta, who followed with a missile dropkick off the ropes. Yuta hit a running knee in the corner followed by another kick off the ropes. Yuta hit a running bulldog for a two count. Yuta to the ropes, Page headbutted him a few times and Page hit an Avalanche Death Valley Driver for a two count. Page with two straight German Suplexes. Yuta came back with three straight German Suplexes, Page to the ropes and Page hit a back elbow to block another suplex. Page to the apron, Yuta hit him with elbow strikes, Page with headbutts while on the apron and Yuta gave Page a German Suplex on the apron. Yuta gave Page a German Suplex on the floor with Page flipping over to sell it. Page nearly hit his head on the floor, which would have been scary. Yuta jumped off the top with a cross body block onto Page. Back in the ring, Yuta jumped off the top with a splash, but Page got the knees up. Page hit a running clothesline. Page to the apron, he went for Buckshot Lariat, but Yuta countered it with a slam. Yuta went up top and hit a top rope splash for two. Yuta with elbows to the head, Page avoided a boot and hit a rolling elbow. Yuta barely sold it, then he punched and bit Page in the face. They each went to the apron, Yuta went back in the ring and had to wait there with Page hitting a Buckshot Lariat. Page hit a Deathrider suplex that looks very safe for the pinfall win after 15 minutes. That was Jon Moxley’s finisher.

Winner by pinfall: “Hangman” Adam Page

Analysis: ***1/4 A very good match as usual for any Hangman match that goes this long. I understand wanting to make Yuta look competitive by lasting 15 minutes with Page, but sometimes you need to book a guy strong like Hangman strong and have him win in a more decisive manner. A more decisive win by Hangman would have been better for him. This is just what AEW does, though. Hangman winning was the obvious result.

They showed a promo from Ricky Starks & Action Andretti complaining about how they lost to Chris Jericho & Sammy Guevara on Dynamite because Daniel Garcia used a bat. Action said that he can beat Sammy and Ricky said he can beat Jericho. Ricky said that’s the absolute truth.

(Commercial)

Eddie Kingston said he’s done keeping his emotions in check. Eddie talked about how Ortiz was just in the way. Eddie said that he understands the House of Black and said he’s ready to go home.

Analysis: One of the problems with AEW is they don’t show replays of previous stuff to remind people what happened. They should have taken 10-15 seconds to show what Eddie was talking about (when he attacked his friend Ortiz) because you can’t assume every viewer remembers every small thing.

Jeff Jarrett, Jay Lethal & Satnam Singh (w/Sonjay Dutt) vs. Best Friends (Chuck Taylor, Trent Beretta & Danhausen) (w/Orange Cassidy)

Danhausen has a ukulele to counter the guitar by Jarrett. Singh broke the ukulele. Trent knocked down Jarrett with a back elbow, Chuck tagged in, Danhausen also tagged in and Danhausen hit a clothesline in the corner. Trent suplexed Lethal across the ring. The three faces worked together to knock Singh off the apron. After Satnam tagged in, he whipped Trent into the turnbuckle leading to a bump to the floor as the heels took over.

(Commercial)

The match continued with Trent breaking free leading to Taylor tagging in with a jumping knee and flatliner on Lethal. After Jarrett tagged in, Taylor put the Figure Four Leglock on Jarrett and Singh was able to reach to make the tag. Danhausen tagged in against Singh with the fans cheering loudly for Danhausen. Singh no sold all of Danhausen’s punches, then all of the Best Friends attacked Singh in the corner. Jarrett hit Danhausen with a Golden Globe award (the referee never saw it) that they stole and Singh pinned Danhuasen with one foot on his chest.

Winners by pinfall: Jeff Jarrett, Jay Lethal & Satnam Singh

Analysis: **3/4 It was a solid tag team match with a chaotic, cheap finish to give the heels the win. Even though Singh is a giant that barely sells anything, he didn’t do much in the match. The Best Friends guys other than Orange Cassidy lose most of their TV matches, so it was more of the same here.

Ruby Soho was interviewed by Renee Paquette with Britt Baker showing up for the interruption. Baker applauded Ruby for the win after Britt provided a distraction. Baker told Ruby to pick a side because there’s a divide in the women’s division and if you’re smart, you’ll know what side to pick.

Analysis: They started the story of the AEW original women division (they are the faces) against some of the imports like Saraya & Toni Storm, who are heels now, so Ruby could fall on either side.

Powerhouse Hobbs vs. Tony Mudd

Hobbs ran over Mudd with a clothesline along with some running clotheslines in the corner. Hobbs had Mudd on his shoulders and slammed him down hard into the mat. It went about one minute.

Winner by pinfall: Powerhouse Hobbs

Analysis: 1/2* A squash match win for Hobbs showing off his intense power.

A video aired featuring Top Flight talking about how they have taken it to some of the best teams in AEW and they beat the Young Bucks. Top Flight said they want to team with AR Fox against The Elite for the Trios Tag Team Titles.

Dustin Rhodes was interviewed by Renee Paquette. Dustin thanked the fans for their prayers saying it was a terrible month and the best way to move forward was to come back to work. Swerve Strickland interrupted with his big buddies beside him. Swerve mocked Dustin for taking his TV time, Swerve threatened Dustin like another “old head” Billy Gunn. Swerve mocked Dustin, his brother and his father, so Dustin told him to never mention his father (late, great Dusty Rhodes). They had a staredown with referees showing up to break it up.

Analysis: The terrible month that Dustin was referring to is that his mother died recently. That’s awful.

(Commercial)

There was a video that aired about Jamie Hayter facing Emi Sakura in the main event. Instead of a main event interview, Hayter talked about how she needs to beat Emi and Hayter said she hits hard. Mark Henry said it was time for the main event.

Next week on AEW Dynamite Jade Cargill defends the TBS Title against Red Velvet. It was set up in a backstage segment with Red saying she’ll be the one in 49-1 instead of having Jade going 50-0.

Analysis: I’ll go with Jade winning.

Jamie Hayter (w/Dr. Britt Baker & Rebel) vs. Emi Sakura

This was an AEW Women’s Title Eliminator match meaning if Sakura won then she would get a title shot.

I’ll go play-by-play here since it’s a title match. Hayter with a shoulder tackle, Sakura with a hair pull and they exchanged strikes. Hayter charged, Sakura pulled the rope down and Hayter bumped to the floor. Sakura whipped Hayter into the barricade/ring apron consecutively. Sakura hit a cross body block against the guard rail. Back in the ring, Sakura with a hair whip along with a cross body block against the turnbuckle. Sakura blocked a kick leading to an elbow drop to the back. Sakura applied a surfboard submission for a few seconds.

(Commercial)

There were about six minutes left. Sakura was on offense with punches, but Hayter came back with three Exploder Suplexes in a row as the fans came alive. Hayter with a clothesline in the corner followed by punches. Sakura hit a backbreaker for a two count. Sakura came back with a chop. Sakura held up Hayter upside down leading to a backbreaker for two. Hayter tried a sliding lariat, but Sakura countered it into a pin attempt. Hayter with a slam into the backbreaker followed by a sliding lariat for two. Hayter set up Sakura on the top rope leading to a Cutter. No pin attempt. Hayter went up top, she jumped off with a moonsault and Sakura rolled her up for two. Sakura hit a Tiger Driver for a two count. Sakura jumped off the top with a moonsault for two. After Sakura hit some strikes, Hayter hit a clothesline. Sakura hit a German Suplex with a rough landing, but Hayter barely sold it and hit a running clothesline. Hayter hit another lariat called the Hayterade for the pinfall win after 13 minutes.

Winner by pinfall: Jamie Hayter

Analysis: ***1/2 It was very good with Hayter making the comeback in the final minutes after Sakura dominated the first part of the match. They hit eachother pretty hard with some of the chops/clotheslines that they did because you could see some scarring on Sakura by the end of the match. Sakura is really impressive as a veteran with 27 years of experience (the announcers mentioned it) and she’s very good at building up a match. Hayter is great as well and also very popular with the fans these days. There are some instances where I wish they would sell moves a bit more, but in AEW some people just don’t like seeing that. I’ve seen many older wrestlers complain about it and I agree with them.

Jamie Hayter celebrated the win with her friends while Excalibur quickly plugged some matches on Dynamite including Hangman Page vs. Jon Moxley and Darby Allin defending the TNT Title against Samoa Joe. End show.

Three Stars of the Show

1. Jamie Hayter
2. “Hangman” Adam Page
3. Emi Sakura/Wheeler Yuta

The Scoreboard

This Week: 6.25 out of 10

Last Week: 5.75

Final Thoughts

The show was pretty good in terms of having two matches over three stars, but nothing that will blow you away if you missed it. Going into the show you know Hangman is going to beat Yuta and Hayter is going to beat Sakura in their matches. To their credit, they did work very hard and the fans were into the matches.

There was also a tag team match with some comedy and chaos involving Danhausen working with the giant Satnam Singh. At least the fans care about Danhausen, who lost due to a cheap shot from Jeff Jarrett. Powerhouse Hobbs also won a squash match.

I know some people that bleed AEW think every show is amazing or whatever, but Rampage is very average a lot of the time. I just don’t think it’s that interesting of a show overall.

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John Canton

Email: mrjohncanton@gmail.com

Twitter: @johnreport