Rampage – December 10, 2021: All About The Rush

Rampage
Date: December 10, 2021
Location: UBS Arena, New York City, New York
Commentators: Excalibur, Taz

We’re still in New York and this time there is a pretty big match on the card, as the Lucha Bros are defending the Tag Team Titles against FTR. Other than that, we have the in-ring debut as Hook, which should be a heck of a moment in its own right. This show tends to do well with the faster pace so let’s get to it.

Here is Dynamite if you need a recap.

Opening sequence.

Tag Team Titles: Lucha Bros vs. FTR

FTR, with Tully Blanchard, is defending. Fenix grabs Harwood by the wrist to start and takes Wheeler down at the same time. Penta comes in to help take FTR down and it’s time for a breather on the floor. Back in and Penta takes off his glove but manages to roll Wheeler up for two. Now the glove is tossed to Wheeler, allowing Penta to catch him with a superkick. Fenix springboards in with a high crossbody but the momentum sends him outside.

That means Harwood can drop Fenix back first onto the apron and the champs are in trouble. Back in and Harwood knocks Penta off the apron but takes too long going up, allowing Fenix to snap off a super hurricanrana. We take a break and come back with Wheeler rolling Penta up for two but getting caught by Made In Japan for two. It’s back to Fenix for a slingshot Liger Bomb so FTR loads up the belts. Fenix takes it away and hits Harwood by mistake (allowing us to get in the required Eddie Guerrero tribute), setting up rope walk kick to the face.

The frog splash only hits belt though, giving Harwood two of his own. The Big Rig connects but Penta dives in with a high crossbody to Wheeler to break up the pin. They strike it out until Fenix tries the rolling cutter. That’s countered into a Gory Bomb from Wheeler, who has to block Penta’s Fear Factor. Instead, the spike Fear Factor retains the titles at 13:56.

Rating: B. They went with the all action format here and it worked well. This should wrap up the feud, but it wouldn’t surprise me to see one more match between them to really blow it off. The teams have developed better chemistry together over the last few matches though and this was another good one.

Nyla Rose/Bunny/Penelope Ford vs. Anna Jay/Tay Conti/Ruby Soho

Vickie Guerrero is here with the villains. Bunny takes Conti down to start and hits a chop, allowing Penelope to drive Conti into the corner. Rose comes in to hold Conti in said corner, allowing Bunny to yell at Conti’s partners. Back up and Jay forearms Ford, who takes her down with a faceplant. The hot tag brings in Soho to clean house, including an STO for two on Ford.

We take a break and come back with Jay hitting a basement crossbody for tow on Rose as everything breaks down. The parade of secondary finishers kicks off and everyone is left laying. Vickie slips Bunny the brass knuckles to knock Jay silly, leaving Rose to hit the Beast Bomb for the pin at 10:20.

Rating: C. Not too bad here as everyone was putting in the effort. There wasn’t a lot of interest here though as they put everyone into a match and let them go, with the main story being the TBS Title tournament. That’s fine on its own, but the tournament feels like it has been going on for the better part of ever and it’s hard to build up that much interest until we get to the end.

Sting and Darby Allin are being interviewed about a show in two weeks when FTR and Tully Blanchard jump them. This is really becoming a tired deal for AEW and they need to drop it for a good while.

Hook vs. Fuego del Sol

Hook takes him down by the head to start and flips him over with a headlock takeover. Fuego has to elbow his way out of something like an STF so Hook takes him into the corner for some shots to the ribs. Another suplex rocks Fuego but he’s back up with a dropkick into the corner. The tornado DDT is blocked though and Hook clotheslines him down. Some crossface shots set up the Tazmission to finish Fuego at 3:19.

Rating: C+. Well who saw that coming? Hook destroyed him and looked smooth doing so, which was quite the surprise. Hook knows his grappling and does feel like a Taz inspired wrestler. They were smart to keep this short and to the point and the match worked pretty well as a result. Total surprise, and nicely done at that.

The Elite is ready to destroy the Best Friends, who aren’t sure what this promo should be about. They steal the Bay Bay catchphrase though and Adam Cole is ready to fight.

Adam Cole vs. Wheeler Yuta

The Best Friends and the Elite are here, because you need ten people for a one on one match. Cole elbows him in the face to start but la majistral is countered into a rollup to give Yuta two. Back up and Cole hits a superkick out of the corner before avoiding a high crossbody to send Yuta crashing. Cole kicks him down again and sets up a neck crank, followed by the fireman’s carry backbreaker for…no cover as Cole is a bit too confident.

Yuta is sent outside so Cole can stare Orange Cassidy down. Back in and Yuta counters the Panama Sunrise into a cradle for two. Now the high crossbody can connect but Yuta can’t cover. An enziguri sends Cole into the corner and a top rope forearm gives Yuta two. A bridging German suplex gets the same but Cole catches him on top. Yuta gets in a slam, only to have his top rope splash hit raised knees. The Boom finishes Yuta at 7:09.

Rating: C. There wasn’t and shouldn’t have been much drama with this one, as Yuta wasn’t going to be a threat to Cole. The best part was the lack of a big brawl or all kinds of interference from everyone on the floor. It was little more than a squash for Cole, so this could have been a lot worse under some different circumstances.

Post match everyone gets in the ring but Bobby Fish comes in to take out the Best Friends. The Elite beats everyone down and Cole poses to end the show.

Overall Rating: B-. Not as good as some of their previous shows but still a rather nice hour of wrestling. As has been the case in recent weeks with AEW though, they are trying to put too many people and too many things on a show and everything feels rushed. That can get annoying in a hurry, along with the interrupted interviews. It’s ok to not do the same thing time after time and it would be nice for AEW to learn that with those concepts.

Results
Lucha Bros b. FTR – Spike Fear Factor to Wheeler
Nyla Rose/Penelope Ford/Bunny b. Anna Jay/Tay Conti/Ruby Soho – Beast Bomb to Jay
Hook b. Fuego del Sol – Tazmission
Adam Cole b. Wheeler Yuta – Boom

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