The John Report: AEW Rampage 07/15/22 Review
This week’s AEW Rampage featured Lucha Brothers vs. Private Party in the main event, the ROH World Champion Jonathan Gresham in action and House of Black vs. Dark Order to open the show.
This is AEW Rampage from the Enmarket Arena in Savannah, Georgia. It was taped after Dynamite on Wednesday. Check out the AEW PPV listing archive only on TJRWrestling as well. Follow me on Twitter @johnreport. Let’s get to it.
It’s Friday night and you know what that means. It’s the 50th episode of Rampage. I think I’ve reviewed them all except maybe two or three episodes. Excalibur was on commentary with Tony Schiavone, Chris Jericho and Jim Ross. They moved Taz to Dynamite permanently a few weeks ago. Excalibur said it was the first ever Rampage Fyter Fest as if it’s a big deal.
House of Black – Malakai Black & Brody King (w/Julia Hart) vs. Dark Order – John Silver & Alex Reynolds
Based on crowd reactions, John Silver is one of the worst booked wrestlers in AEW. The fans love the guy, he’s very entertaining and they barely put him in TV matches. Black started with Reynolds with not much going on, so King tagged in and knocked down Reynolds with a shoulder tackle. Silver tagged in, he kept trying to knock King down and after three tries he did it, but King came back with a shoulder tackle again. Silver with a running kick to the chest. Reynolds back in with a double team kick on King and a double team slam on Black. Reynolds kicked King out of the ring, Reynolds tried a dive, King blocked it and slammed Reynolds on the apron. King hit a senton splash on Reynolds. That led to a 90-second picture in picture break.
(Commercial)
Black with a sweep kick on Reynolds, who avoided another kick and got a rollup. Silver tagged in, he avoided Black’s kicks and hit a running uppercut. Silver with a running forearm followed by an Angle Slam for a two count. Black broke free from a double team, King got the tag, Black with a kick and King hit a lefty clothesline on Reynolds for a two count. Silver avoided a moonsault on the floor and sent Black into the barricade. Silver into the ring illegally (it’s an AEW tag team match so that’s normal) to save Reynolds from a move, which led to a bunch of double team moves from Silver and Reynolds. Yes, the moves look cool, but it is also happening after a guy was illegally in the ring. King fought out of a German Suplex attempt, so they hit three kicks in a row and Silver hit a German Suplex. Reynolds pinned King, so Black jumped off the top with a dropkick to break up the pin. Black, who was illegally in the ring also at this point, kicked Silver out of the ring. Black launched Reynolds onto King, who hit the Dante’s Inferno move that’s like a Rikishi Driver (bump to the ass while holding the guy) and King pinned Reynolds to win after about nine minutes.
Winners by pinfall: House of Black – Malakai Black & Brody King
Analysis: **3/4 Easy win by House of Black (or Kings of the Black Throne), who are pushed much more than the Dark Order. The final two minutes had a lot of action due to them ignoring actual tag team match rules so that there could be blatant double team moves and there was one good nearfall for the Dark Order guys. That’s when Black kicked Silver out of the ring and King finished off Reynolds for the win.
When King was on the stage, Darby Allin jumped off the entrance structure and took down King. Allin fought with King while Sting made his entrance in the tunnel. Sting had a staredown with Black while fans chanted “holy shit” for two guys staring. They each stepped away, then they moved forward and then back through the tunnels. They didn’t even show what happened to King and Allin.
Analysis: There’s a future tag team match with King and Black against Allin and Sting some day. Sting never loses in AEW, so I guess that’s another win.
Miro did a promo wondering if the House of Black was out to destroy him or to recruit him.
It was an ROH match up next with Caprice Coleman joining commentary and Bobby Cruise as the ring announcer. Lee Moriarty was joined by Matt Sydal. Jonathan Gresham was joined by Tully Blanchard and his Tully Blanchard Foundation group. Gresham turned on Lee last week on Rampage.
ROH World Championship: Jonathan Gresham (w/Tully Blanchard) vs. Lee Moriarty (w/Matt Sydal)
They did the Code of Honor handshake, then Lee did a double leg takedown and hit some punches. Gresham back in the ring, Lee punched him out of the ring and Lee followed Gresham to the floor. Lee whipped Gresham into the barricade. Back in the ring, Gresham tried to get some momentum, but he was unable to do so. Gresham threw his tape to the mat, the referee picked it up and Gresham punched Lee in the groin for a cheap shot that the referee never saw. They didn’t really follow up on it much. Gresham was in control with a side headlock leading to a break.
(Commercial)
The match returned with some more mat wrestling, then Lee bounced off the ropes and hit a boot to the face. Lee held onto the arm leading to a suplex across the ring. Gresham ran the ropes, Lee with a dropkick and Lee hit a bridging suplex for a two count. Gresham with a takedown, then he did a knee drop to the arm and Lee came back with a rollup for two. Gresham went for a pin, Lee came back with another pin attempt and that was nearly a three count. Gresham applied the Octopus hold submission, Lee tapped out and that gave Gresham the win. It went about 11 minutes.
Winner by pinfall: Jonathan Gresham
Analysis: ***1/4 It was a good match with Lee showing that he could hang with the champion since Lee got more believable nearfalls than Gresham did. A couple of the two counts near the end were really close. You could tell the crowd was getting into it more as the match went on. The finish was rather sudden with Gresham slapping on his submission for the win.
Jonathan Gresham and Tully Blanchard were interviewed in the ring by Tony Schiavone. Gresham said you’ll see him on TNT and TBS every week from now on while outclassing your favorite wrestlers. Blanchard said that what Gresham did was a textbook class of scientific wrestling. Blanchard said that Gresham was the best today and maybe ever.
Claudio Castagnoli made his entrance to have a staredown with Gresham.
Analysis: That ROH World Title match between Claudio and Gresham should be very good. Big size difference there, but I expect them to make it work by putting on an entertaining match. A win by Claudio would be cool. As for Gresham saying he’ll be on TNT and TBS every week, I doubt that very much. Nobody really is on both shows every week.
Christopher Daniels did a promo on behalf of Samoa Joe telling Jay Lethal that Joe is going to choke out Lethal at Death Before Dishonor. Daniels warned Lethal if he keeps talking trash about Joe.
Athena & Kris Statlander vs. Charlette & Robyn Renegade
Tony Schiavone said that the Renegade girls are trouble. Keep that in mind when you see how short this match is. Statlander and Athena with running dropkicks. Statlander with a senton splash on both Renegade twins. Statlander picked up one of the twins and Athena jumped off the top with a double knee attack. The bell finally rang as Athena hit a high-angle suplex. Athena went up top and hit the O Face (Stunner off the top) for the pinfall win after 27 seconds.
Winners by pinfall: Athena & Kris Statlander
Analysis: 1/4* A quickie. Way to put over the women’s division on this show.
After the match, Leyla Grey jumped into the ring to try to fight Athena and Statlander. Kiera Hogan and TBS Champion Jade Cargill went down to the ring. Hogan kicked Statlander in the knee and head. Cargill delivered a spinning slam on Athena. That was it. Stokely Hathaway continued to try to convince Jade that Leyla should join The Baddies, but Cargill and Hogan weren’t sure about it.
Analysis: They really rushed through the women’s segment on this week’s show.
Lee Moriarty and Matt Sydal were about to be interviewed, but Stokely Hathaway interrupted it. Stokely said that Lee should be doing more. Sydal ripped up Stokely’s card while saying he’s got an opportunity for him. Sydal said that next week on Rampage, Lee is going to face Dante Martin. That led to Martin saying it was about “peace, love and pro wrestling.” They shook hands.
Let’s Hear from Gunn Club
The Gunn Club trio of daddy Billy and sons Colten & Austin with fans chanting “Ass Boys” at them. Billy said that everybody loves The Acclaimed, he loves The Acclaimed too and he treated them better than his own kids. Gunn said that there comes a time where “Daddy Ass” has to drop the hammer.
The Acclaimed duo of Max Caster and Anthony Bowens made their entrance. They are faces now. They got into the ring. Billy told them everybody wants to see this one last time and they can go their separate ways. Billy wanted them to “scissor me” and Bowens superkicked Billy. Max and Anthony knocked Colten and Austin out of the ring.
Max Caster did a promo calling Billy Gunn an asshole saying he was so big, but he was hung like a tadpole. Ouch. Max said that the Ass Boys were like Dumb & Dumber while telling them to fight, you broke motherfu**ker, but Bowens pulled the microphone away before Max could finish that. Bowens got the fans chant “Ass Boys” repeatedly. Austin asked if they wanted the match right now, but then they backed away to boos.
Analysis: I think The Acclaimed will do well as a babyface team. I think the purpose of teaming these teams up for the last few months was just to set up The Acclaimed as faces. That’s fine with me. Gunn Club is okay in their roles.
There was a split-screen main event interview with Lucha Brothers on one side while Private Party (with Andrade El Idolo) were on the other side. It was just basic trash talk with some Spanish language stuff. Mark Henry wrapped it up by saying it’s time for the main event.
Next Wednesday on AEW Dynamite Fyter Fest Week 2:
* Barbed Wire Everywhere Death Match: Eddie Kingston vs. “The Painmaker” Chris Jericho. Jericho Appreciation Society will be suspended in a shark cage.
* Luchasaurus & Christian Cage vs. Varsity Blonds.
* Brody King vs. Darby Allin.
* Chuck Taylor & Trent Beretta vs. Jon Moxley & Wheeler Yuta
Next Friday on Rampage: Dante Martin vs. Lee Moriarty.
Ring of Honor Death Before Dishonor PPV on July 23:
* ROH World Tag Team Championships: FTR vs. The Briscoes in a 2 out of 3 Falls Match.
* ROH Pure Championship: Wheeler Yuta vs. Daniel Garcia.
* ROH Women’s Championship: Mercedes Martinez vs. Serena Deeb.
* ROH TV Championship: Samoa Joe vs. Jay Lethal.
* ROH World Championship: Jonathan Gresham vs. Claudio Castagnoli.
Private Party were introduced with Andrade El Idolo and Jose the Assistant. Andrade had some masks that were stolen from Penta and Fenix in the past. The good thing is the Lucha Brothers have a lot of masks.
Lucha Brothers (Penta Oscuro & Rey Fenix) vs. Private Party (Isiah Kassidy & Marq Quen)
Tony Schiavone said that Private Party has won 18 of their last 22 matches. I assume those are all Youtube wins. I don’t remember their last two on two tag that they even had on TV, much less a win. Penta was double-teamed early on, then he broke free and Fenix got the tag with some kicks. Private Party avoided double kicks, so Lucha Bros kicked eachother and PP sent them out of the ring. Private Party hit double suicide dives on both opponents on the floor. Back in the ring, Fenix avoided a diving attack and jumped up with a Cutter for two. Lucha Brothers hit double superkicks on Quen. Private Party did their double team move Silly String with a DDT. Kassidy into the ring illegally to knock Penta off the apron to the floor.
(Commercial)
Penta was still the face in peril as the heels from Private Party were in control. Penta made the comeback with a Slingblade, a backbreaker and Fenix tagged in with an armdrag into a double foot stomp. Fenix hit a Gory Bomb while doing a leg drop on Kassidy at the same time. Fenix chopped Kassidy hard a few times. Fenix with a jumping kick, Quen (into the ring illegally with the referee seeing it) pulled Fenix off the corner and Kassidy hit a cross body block for a two count. Private Party did a tag leading to an atomic drop followed by an enziguri kick. Fenix with a jawbreaker, Penta got the tag and Penta fell off the top rope. Penta hit a jumping kick on Kassidy and he gave Quen a Death Valley Driver onto Kassidy in the corner. Penta hit the Made in Japan slam for a two count. Jose tried to get involved, Alex grabbed him and Penta superkicked Andrade off the apron. Rush ran down to the ring to hit Penta with a forearm. They actually fell into the referee, who almost comically didn’t turn his head and had to keep looking at the guys on the floor. Then Penta is back up with a Canadian Destroyer on Quen. What? What was the point of Rush hitting Penta in the back? So weird. Fenix got the tag and hit the Black Fire Driver for the pinfall win after 10 minutes.
Winners by pinfall: Lucha Brothers (Penta Oscuro & Rey Fenix)
Analysis: *** It was more of a traditional tag team match with Penta as the face in peril for most of the match until Fenix got the hot tag and the action picked up from there. I don’t think anybody watching this thought that Private Party had a chance to win. The Lucha Bros are one of my favorite teams in AEW. They also deliver great matches. That finish was messed up. Rush went into the ring, hit Penta in the back, Penta no sold the damn thing and hit a Canadian Destroyer. So why should we believe in Rush ever if he can’t even hurt a guy? It was a strange spot. Anyway, it was another predictable result on this show with Lucha Brothers getting the win.
Andrade El Idolo was mad about the loss. It seems like all he does is lose whether he’s in the ring or on the floor.
Lucha Brothers celebrated in the ring, Jericho called Kingston a loser and that was the end of the show.
Three Stars of the Show
- Lucha Brothers
- Malakai Black & Brody King
- Jonathan Gresham
The Scoreboard
This Week: 6.75 out of 10
Last Week: No review.
Final Thoughts
There were four matches and three of them were tags. The women’s match got less than one minute. The two men’s tag team matches had predictable outcomes. It’s typical for what Rampage is most weeks. It’s not a must-see show ever, but it has solid matches. This wasn’t as good as most Rampage episodes in terms of match quality.
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John Canton
Email: mrjohncanton@gmail.com
Twitter: @johnreport