Reviews

The John Report: AEW Rampage 02/10/23 Review

By John Canton • Published 11th February 2023
aew rampage feb 10

This week’s AEW Rampage featured the Blackpool Combat Club in action along with Orange Cassidy defending the All-Atlantic Title.

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

This is AEW Rampage from the El Paso County Coliseum in El Paso, Texas. 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.

Blackpool Combat Club – Jon Moxley, Claudio Castagnoli & Wheeler Yuta vs. The Butcher, The Blade & Kip Sabian (w/Penelope Ford)

Best wishes to The Blade’s wife The Bunny (aka Allie), who was hurt on Dynamite. Yuta and Sabian started off with some gymnastics going on leading to Claudio tagging with a press slam on Sabian. Butcher tagged in with his new bald look as he exchanged forearms with Claudio, Moxley tagged in and worked over Butcher with kicks to the body. Yuta chopped Butcher, but Butcher hit a back body drop followed by a cross body block. Sabian tagged in with a lift into a Stunner along with a cannonball attack in the corner. Butcher and Blade hit a double team double axhandle on Yuta to knock him down. Blade drove his knee into Yuta’s face against the turnbuckle. Yuta broke free with a boot to the face followed by a missile dropkick. Moxley worked over Sabian with chops, a bite to the forehead and Moxley hit a belly-to-back suplex. Sabian blocked a move leading to a knee. Moxley kicked his way out of the corner, but Butcher & Blade tripped Mox leading to them sending Moxley into the ring post groin-first. Butcher suplexed Moxley on the floor. Sabian with a kick to the jaw along with a moonsault off the middle rope onto a standing Moxley on the floor. They went to a picture-in-picture break.

(Commercial)

Sabian was in control of Moxley going for a superplex off the top, but Moxley fought back with a Powerbomb. Butcher tagged in leading to Moxley hitting him with a lariat. Claudio tagged in with repeated forearms on Blade, Ford jumped on the apron and Blade chopped Claudio. Claudio with a dropkick, then more uppercuts on Blade and Claudio hit Blade with a clothesline. Sabian went into the ring illegally and Claudio gave him a swing. Blade tried a rollup on Claudio that got a two count. Claudio came back with a Sharpshooter on Blade, Butcher kicked Claudio and punched him. Moxley with a Cutter on Butcher, Sabian with a dropkick on Moxley, Claudio kicked Sabian and tossed him out of the ring. Butcher was still in there illegally (because it’s AEW where they don’t care about this stuff) for about 30 seconds as Blade hit Claudio with a knee and Butcher hit a clothesline for two with Yuta saving Claudio. Yuta hit a German Suplex on Butcher and Blade dumped Yuta out. Claudio had Blade on his back for a spinning slam for two as Sabian made the save. Sabian tried a springboard attack, Moxley pushed Claudio out of the way and Moxley hit a Cutter. Claudio launched Blade into the air leading to an uppercut for the pinfall win after 14 minutes.

Winners by pinfall: Blackpool Combat Club – Jon Moxley, Claudio Castagnoli & Wheeler Yuta

Analysis: ***1/4 It was a good match with not a lot going on before the break, but then it really picked up in the second half. Like a typical Rampage match, one team is pushed (BCC) and the other team is not, so the result was very obvious for this match. Moxley hit a bunch of Cutters, Claudio did a lot of uppercuts and Yuta was there too. Lots of illegal action too because that’s AEW.

Darby Allin was shown doing a promo with Uncle Sting. Allin said he’ll return a favor to Ortiz for helping him. Sting said they are going to out in a blaze of glory.

Adam Cole will be interviewed on Dynamite. They showed a very brief clip.

(Commercial)

Ricky Starks did a promo about how he’s going to embarrass Chris Jericho and next week he’s going to beat Daniel Garcia.

The Impractical Jokers Are Here

Two of the Impractical Jokers were there – Q and Murr, who had Jericho’s bad Floyd. Murr commented on how cute Jericho’s little bat is. Q led the crowd in a “small bat” chant. Jericho got up from commentary saying at least he has big balls. Jericho said his friends will take the bat from them, so the Jericho Appreciation Society showed up. Matt Menard grabbed the bat. The JAS guys did some weak punches, kicks and a poor bat choking attempt too. The JAS set up a table by the entrance. Q was put on the table. Hager lifted up Murr and gave him a Powerbomb onto Q to break the table. Nobody helped The Impractical Jokers.

Analysis: So you invite guests to the show that are not wrestlers and nobody tries to help them from a 6 on 2 attack? Nice company. I have no idea if this is going to lead to anything, but it sure seemed excessive for some balding dudes that took a 52-year-old millionaire’s bat. Nobody cared to help these poor Impractical Jokers. I have seen the TV show Impractical Jokers, but not that often. I wouldn’t say it’s a regular show in my TV watching cycle. I also can’t believe I wrote that much analysis about this segment.

Dustin Rhodes was interviewed by Lexy Nair with Dustin saying Swerve Strickland has crossed the line by taking shots at his family. Dustin said that he has been doing this since before Swerve was alive. Dustin told Swerve he will not tarnish the Rhodes name. Dustin told Swerve he is coming for his soul, which led to Swerve and his goons confronting Dustin. The goons beat up Dustin a bit with Parker throwing him into some wooden plank. Swerve told Dustin they’ll have a match next week and wished him a Happy Black History Month.

Analysis: This started during a random backstage segment, so now we get a match.

Ruby Soho vs. Marina Shafir (w/Vickie Guerrero)

They did not show their entrances. Shafir wrestles in her bare feet now. Shafir worked over the left arm a bit with a takedown. Ruby came back with punches, a shoulder tackle and a clothesline. They went to a PIP break.

(Commercial)

Ruby hit a shoulder capture suplex for a two count. Ruby went for the No Future kick, Shafir blocked it and hit a headbutt to the back. Ruby hit headbutts (onto her hand). Ruby hit a knee and the Destination Unknown neckbreaker for the pinfall win after seven minutes.

Winner by pinfall: Ruby Soho

Analysis: *1/2 Easy win for Ruby. They went a bit longer than I thought they would go, but that’s because of the commercial in the middle of it.

Saraya and Toni Storm showed up for a promo with Saraya telling the fans to shut up to reinforce that they are heels now. Britt Baker and Jamie Hayter attacked Saraya and Storm. Referees and security quickly showed up to break it up.

Analysis: Let me just point out that the referees quickly showed up to break up women wrestlers fighting within ten seconds, yet nobody gave a shit when six wrestlers beat up two Impractical Jokers and put them through a table. Poor Jokers.

Mark Briscoe was interviewed by Lexy Nair with Mark saying he was feeling good. Smart Mark Sterling gave Mark his card, then Mark turned him down and Mark suggested that Mark could make money for the first time in his career, but perhaps he wants to remain a chicken farmer. Josh Woods got in Briscoe’s face, so that set up a match.

“Jungle Boy” Jack Perry vs. Ryan Nemeth

Jack with a dropkick sending Nemeth out of the ring along with a suicide dive. Back in the ring, Nemeth caught a cross body block and got a two count. Nemeth hit a DDT. Jack with a superkick and a Sliced Bread neckbreaker. Jack hit a running elbow to the back of the head for the pin in just over one minute.

Winner by pinfall: “Jungle Boy” Jack Perry

Analysis: 1/2* A squash match to put over Jungle Boy. Nemeth hit one move, but that was pretty much it for him. Jungle Boy getting a push is fine with me.

Brian Cage showed up on the stage for some long distance trash talk to Jungle Boy.

Ortiz was featured in a promo saying he messed up his friendship with Eddie Kingston and suggested match.

(Commercial)

A video aired about Orange Cassidy facing Lee Moriarty. Mark Henry shouted it’s time for the main event.

There was an interview with “Hangman” Adam Page conducted by Renee Paquette, who pointed out that Page has lost two of the three matches against Jon Moxley, who is Renee’s husband. Page didn’t like how the last match ended. Kip Sabian interrupted the promo with his wife Penelope Ford. Sabian told Page to grow up, Page shoved him and left.

Analysis: That set up a match for Dynamite next week. It should be an easy win for Hangman.

Next week on AEW Dynamite it’s Jon Moxley & Claudio Castagnoli vs. Rush & Preston Vance in a Texas Tornado Tag Team Match. That’s all they mentioned although there was more stuff advertised later by fast talking Excalibur.

AEW All-Atlantic Championship: Orange Cassidy (w/Danhausen) vs. Lee Moriarty (w/Stokely Hathaway)

Excalibur called this a “big time main event.” I don’t agree. They did a comedy bit with Lee putting on Orange’s sunglasses. Orange put his hands in his pockets like he tends, then some comedy kicks and a dropkick. Orange went for a top rope move, Lee moved and Lee kicked the arm. They went to the apron, Lee hooked the arm and tripped up Orange on the apron leading to a break.

(Commercial)

Orange hit a Michinoku Driver on Lee for a two count. Orange countered a move with a Stundog Millionaire. Lee hit a slam while Orange was on Lee’s back. Lee delivered repeated forearms to Orange’s right arm. Hathaway with his fake cast blocked a Danhausen punch leading to some comedy selling. Orange gave Lee a suicide dive into a DDT on the floor. That was good. Back in the ring, Orange hit a diving DDT off the top. Lee hit a clothesline and Orange hit a Beach Break slam. Orange hit the Orange Punch, slow cover attempt and Lee applied the Border City Stretch submission. Orange got out of that with a cradle pin for the win after 12 minutes.

Winner by pinfall: Orange Cassidy

Analysis: **3/4 It was an average match with Orange doing his usual schtick throughout the match. Lee is a good technical wrestler that is trying to show off more personality. It’s just hard to get excited about a main event when one of the guys is barely on TV. There was a bit of a story with Lee working on the right arm for some of the match and Orange sold it well.

Jeff Jarrett’s music hit leading to Jay Lethal and Jeff Jarrett showing up from behind Cassidy while Satnam Singh was on the stage. Lethal hit Cassidy and Danhausen with the Golden Globe award. Chuck Taylor and Trent Beretta tried the save, but they got beat up too. Jarrett tried a guitar shot, but The Acclaimed and Billy Gunn made the save so the heels retreated. End show.

Analysis: A quick post match angle to set up a match on Dynamite.

That interaction led to Tony Khan announcing this eight-man tag team match on Dynamite next week.

Three Stars of the Show

  1. Blackpool Combat Club
  2. Orange Cassidy
  3. Ruby Soho

The Scoreboard

This Week: 5 out of 10

Last Week: 5.5

Average: 5.9

Final Thoughts

It’s another week of Rampage where I am writing about how average it was. The opening six-man tag team match with the Blackpool Combat Club turned out to be good although there’s no story going into the match and you know who’s going to win. The same thing could be said about the rest of the card too.

There was a 6 on 2 beating by the Jericho Appreciation Society putting Impractical Jokers through a table where nobody helped the Jokers for about two minutes. That was all because a 52-year-old millionaire was upset about a bat. I understand it’s sort of a comedy angle, but it’s not like it is that funny. Later in the show, four women got into a fight around the ring and referees were there within five seconds. Strange booking.

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Thanks for reading. You can contact me using any of the methods below.

John Canton

Email: mrjohncanton@gmail.com

Twitter: @johnreport