The John Report: AEW Rampage 07/22/22 Review
This week’s AEW Rampage featured Adam Page & John Silver teaming up against The Butcher & The Blade while Jay Lethal faced the veteran Christopher Daniels in the main event.
This is AEW Rampage from the Gas South Arena in Duluth, 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. Jim Ross was on commentary with Excalibur and Tony Schiavone on commentary. It’s also that Fyter Fest Week Two thing. Whatever that means.
“Hangman” Adam Page & John Silver vs. The Butcher & The Blade
The heels isolated Silver in their corner to start the match. Lots of stomps while Silver was down in the corner. Silver countered Butcher by hitting a suplex. Page with a boot to the head, a springboard lariat, a fallaway slam and a slingshot dive on the floor. Page hit a suicide dive onto Blade on the floor. Page went up top and jumped off with a clothesline for two. Butcher pulled Page out of the ring, whipped him into the barricade a few times and the heels took over. They went to a picture-in-picture break.
(Commercial)
The match returned with Silver getting the tag as he hit a running uppercut on Blade, who was busted open around the right eye. Silver with an Angle Slam for two with Butcher making the save. After the save, Butcher tossed Silver onto Blade’s knee and Blade hit a sitout Powerbomb for two. Page got the tag while both heels were in the ring, so Page dumped Blade over the top to the floor. Page and Butcher exchanged moves, Butcher wanted a German Suplex but Page landed on his feet and Page hit a clothesline. Silver hit a somersault dive onto Blade on the floor. Silver into the ring illegally, he hit a jumping enziguri kick on Butcher and Silver hit a German Suplex. Does the referee even try to enforce rules? Anyway, Page hit the Buckshot Lariat on Butcher for the pinfall win after eight minutes.
Winners by pinfall: “Hangman” Adam Page & John Silver
Analysis: *** A solid tag team match for the time given. The illegal double-teaming by the faces is what helped them win, but nobody in AEW cares that much. Butcher and Blade are a good team that rarely wins important matches. Page is the biggest star in this match, so he was the obvious choice to get the win. I hope he gets a storyline soon because right now they have nothing for him.
A video aired featuring ROH Pure Champion Wheeler Yuta and Daniel Garcia at the ROH Death Before Dishonor PPV on Saturday.
Claudio Castagnoli made his entrance.
(Commercial)
Let’s Hear From Claudio Castagnoli
Claudio started off by mentioning his ROH World Title match against Jonathan Gresham at Death Before Dishonor. Claudio mentioned that a World Championship has been eluding him his whole career. Claudio thinks he’s the best because the fans support him and believe in him. Claudio mentioned that Gresham has never stepped in the ring with him and told Gresham that nobody can hold a candle to what he can do inside this ring. Claudio said that he was going to be the new Ring of Honor World Champion. They showed Jonathan Gresham looking on with Tully Blanchard with friends.
Analysis: It was a fine promo, but there hasn’t been much effort put into building this match. It’s a World Title match. Why not do some face-to-face promo or an attack that makes people care about this more? Of course the match will be good, but you can at least do more than give Claudio three minutes to make us care about it. Poor effort by the creative team.
A video aired about how Wardlow likes being the TNT while saying he’s going to “beat the shit” out of anybody that gets in his way. That’s nice.
Dante Martin (w/Matt Sydal) vs. Lee Moriarty
They are two talented young guys who lose to the bigger names, but now they get to face eachother. They did some mat wrestling early on, Lee avoided a move with the legs, but then Martin got a headscissors takedown. Lee took over with knees to the body, then he sent Martin into the air and Martin hit a dropkick that sent Lee out of the ring.
(Commercial)
The match came back with Martin doing a hurricanrana while Lee was sitting on the top rope. Stokely Hathaway walked onto the ramp to watch Martin, who hit a cross body block off the top rope. Lee avoided a move, then he got a rollup and Lee applied the Border City Stretch submission leading to Martin getting to the ropes. Lee stomped on Martin’s back and went for a suplex, but Martin hit a Full Nelson side suplex for a two count. Martin went for the Nose Dive off the top, but Lee avoided it. Martin with a rollup sitting on top, then Lee rolled through and Lee held onto the rope for the cheap pin since the referee didn’t see it. The match went about nine minutes.
Winner by pinfall: Lee Moriarty
Analysis: **3/4 It was an okay match with no story. Both guys are babyfaces, so it’s not as interesting as if one of them was a heel. I don’t get why they are so reluctant to push Martin. I thought Martin stood out a lot more in this match. Moriarty is a solid wrestler, but Martin can do things in the air that nobody else can and they should put him over.
Matt Sydal did a post match promo saying he believed in Lee and he didn’t think he would take the low road. Sydal said he’ll face Moriarty on Rampage next week. Stokely Hathaway wanted to give Lee his business card, but Lee walked away.
A video aired about Mercedes Martinez defending the ROH Women’s Title against Serena Deeb at Death Before Dishonor on Saturday. Serena said there are no women that can touch her. Martinez said she’s walking in as champion and walking out as champion. Those were the most generic lines wrestlers say.
Dr. Britt Baker D.M.D. & Jamie Hayter (w/Rebel) vs. Skye Blue & Ashley D’Amboise
Baker with a hair takedown on Blue. It sure sounds like they were using some fake crowd noise for this match. Baker kicked the arm leading to a superkick. Hayter tagged in to stomp away. Blue avoided a charging Hayter, then Britt made a blind tag and tripped up Blue on the apron. Baker with a neckbreaker on Blue on the floor. Baker loves staring right into a camera after she does a move. Blue finally got some offense with a kick. Ashley tagged in with punches to Hayter, then a neckbreaker against the top rope. Hayter avoided a move from Ashley, Baker into the ring illegally with a superkick and Hayter kicked Ashley down. Baker, who was still illegal, hit Ashley with a ripcord elbow and Hayter hit a backbreaker. Baker put the glove on, so she tagged in with the double underhook. Hayter with a lariat to the back and Baker applied the Lockjaw submission and Ashley tapped out. It went about four minutes.
Winners by submission: Dr. Britt Baker D.M.D. & Jamie Hayter
Analysis: * A squash tag team match. The fake crowd noise during this match was annoying. I guess the fans were dead for it other than Baker pointing for her initials. Dynamite hat a very short match too, so this was an especially bad week for women’s wrestling in AEW.
(Commercial)
A video aired about Ari Daivari coming soon to AEW. He’s been on the Youtube shows.
Rap Battle: Max Caster vs. Austin Gunn
The judge of the rap contest was rapper Lil Scrappy, who also was a moderator for this. Austin ripped on Caster saying he looked like Bobby Lashley’s sister and mocked Caster for dating Kris Statlander. Austin mocked Caster because his dad had a short career in the NFL compared to Billy Gunn’s career. Austin ended it with a “suck it” with the help of others.
Max Caster said he’s untouchable while saying that Austin rapping is cultural appropriation and used the “Ass Boys” name. Austin got to go again for some reason while telling Max that John Cena wants his gimmick back. Lil Scrappy thought that was harsh.
Max said that he’s been hot since Billy was called The One. Caster said that serving him is the only way he’s owning a gun. That didn’t get a response. Caster ripped on Austin more and told him to go for hair replacement surgery while saying he was holding the bill. It said “ASSBOY” on it. Caster ripped on Billy for showing his ass and being on a reality show that nobody watched. Caster mocked Austin for not making it in ROH, so then Tony bought the whole company to buy rap footage. Caster ended it by calling them The Ass Boys as you would expect.
When Austin Gunn got a chance to reply, he wasn’t able to do more and screamed that he wasn’t an Ass Boy. Lil Scrappy said Caster won. It turned into a brawl between the wrestlers and the random indy guys that were standing around the ring. Austin hit Caster with a trash can while Bowens was already knocked down before that.
Analysis: It went on a bit too long. I feel like Caster has better raps on his way to the ring a lot of the time. Some of this was good, but I wouldn’t call it great. Gunn was fine in his role. They obviously wanted the heels to stand tall so that when they have the tag tea match, the babyface team of The Acclaimed should get the win.
It was main event interview time by Mark Henry talking to Jay Lethal and Christopher Daniels, who didn’t like Jay mocking Samoa Joe. Jay and Sonjay Dutt spoke a bit, so then Daniels told Mark to do his catchphrase.
Next Wednesday on AEW Dynamite:
* AEW Women’s Championship: Thunder Rosa vs. Miyu Yamashita.
* FTW Championship: Ricky Starks vs. Danhausen.
Fast-talking Excalibur also talked about some ROH Death Before Dishonor matches.
Christopher Daniels made his entrance for the main event. He doesn’t wrestle in AEW much anymore after a 29 year career. Caprice Coleman joined commentary for this match. Jay Lethal had Sonjay Dutt and Satnam Singh with him.
Jay Lethal (w/Sonjay Dutt & Satnam Singh) vs. Christopher Daniels
Lethal with a kick to the chest along with a kick to the head. Lethal worked over Daniels with punches, then he missed a splash and Daniels hit a body slam followed by an elbow drop. Lethal with an eye rake. Daniels hit a jumping side kick that knocked Lethal out of the ring. It sounded like more fake crowd noise as Lethal kicked Daniels out of the ring. Lethal with a suicide dive on Daniels on the floor leading to a picture-in-picture break.
(Commercial)
Lethal was in full control after a hiptoss followed by a low dropkick. Lethal went for a Muscle Buster like Samoa Joe, but Daniels fought out of it and a Daniels dropkick missed because Lethal moved. Lethal with a superkick that knocked Daniels down. When Lethal went for a hiptoss, Daniels countered with a knee to the head. Daniels worked over Lethal with punches, then he did an STO trip and a Blue Thunder Bomb for a two count. Lethal hit the flatliner, then he went top and jumped off with nothing as Daniels got a boot up, but Lethal caught it. Daniels with an inside cradle for two. Lethal came back with a boot to the face. Daniels avoided the Lethal Injection, Lethal with a back body drop and Lethal hit the Lethal Injection for the pinfall win.
Winner by pinfall: Jay Lethal
Analysis: **3/4 A decent match between two veterans. Daniels putting over the younger guy was the obvious result. Daniels still moves around like a much younger man, so kudos to him for that. The finish was set up well with Daniels bumping into the right spot for that Lethal Injection finisher.
Post match, Satnam Singh slammed Daniels off the apron onto the floor. Lethal taunted Samoa Joe by applying the Rear Naked Choke on Daniels on the floor. Sonya Dutt was screaming about how Joe was going down. Nobody cared to save Daniels, so it only ended when Lethal let go.
The trio of Lethal, Dutt and Singh celebrated. That was the end of Rampage this week.
Three Stars of the Show
- Adam Page & John Silver
- Jay Lethal
- Max Caster
The Scoreboard
This Week: 5.5 out of 10
Last Week: 6.75
Final Thoughts
I thought was an average, uneventful show for the most part. Sometimes Rampage has some great matches to at least make it more interesting. This time around, it just wasn’t that exciting to me. A couple of three star matches, but they can do better.
They tried to promote the ROH Death Before Dishonor show a lot. I don’t know if it was that successful, but at least they tried.
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John Canton
Email: mrjohncanton@gmail.com
Twitter: @johnreport