Rampage – March 4, 2022: They Stole The Show
Rampage
Date: March 4, 2022
Location: Addition Financial Arena, Orlando, Florida
Commentators: Excalibur, Chris Jericho, Ricky Starks, Taz
It’s a rare live edition this week as it is also the go home show for this weekend’s Revolution pay per view. That could make things a bit more interesting, as we also have a title match. Sammy Guevara will be defending the TNT Title against Darby Allin and Andrade El Idolo, which should be a good one. Let’s get to it.
Here is Dynamite if you need a recap.
Opening sequence.
TNT Title: Andrade El Idolo vs. Darby Allin vs. Sammy Guevara
Guevara is defending. Andrade bails out to the floor to start before being chased back inside. Allin hits a high angle springboard armdrag to take Andrade down but Sammy takes Allin down as well. Sammy loads up a superplex but Andrade turns it into a Tower of Doom, albeit after walking forward while holding both of them up at once (geez).
We take a break and come back with Andrade suplexing Sammy into the corner and a moonsault press connects to give Andrade two. Allin gets back up and helps double team Andrade, meaning it’s a superkick to send Andrade into the corner. Sammy charges at Allin but gets sent into the corner, leaving Andrade to knee Allin in the back.
Andrade gets crotched on top and Allin whips him with a belt, setting up Sammy’s Coast to Coast (over Allin in the process) to nail Andrade hard. Allin and Sammy trade rollups for two each until Andrade comes back in to kick Andrade in the face. A lifting powerbomb gets two on Guevara with Allin diving in to make a save. Guevara gives Andrade the GTH but Allin sends Guevara to the floor. The Coffin Drop connects but Sammy Swantons in for the save and pins Andrade to retain at 12:05.
Rating: B+. Aside from Allin looking a bit dumb by not going for the cover off the GTH, this was an outstanding match with three guys going nuts throughout and hitting one big spot after another. Guevara continues to remind me of the good parts of Jeff Hardy and that is some rather high praise. Allin has long since proven what he can do, and Andrade is always so much more interesting when Matt Hardy is nowhere to be seen. Awesome match here, as they packed in some amazing stuff.
Pac and Penta Obscura are in the ring with Alex Abrahantes as the Dark Priest. They want to face the House of Black on Sunday for revenge, so here is the House of Black to pop up on screen and say they are ready to fight. The House of Black pops up on the apron and seems ready, but Abrahantes says that they may be down one Lucha Bro, but they have someone else. Cue Erick Redbeard (Rowan) and the big brawl is on, with security failing to make the save. Penta breaks a security guard’s arm to prove his point. The match is official for Revolution.
Dan Lambert has gotten Scorpio Sky a TNT Title shot next week on Dynamite in exchange for bringing Paige VanZant to Revolution to sign her AEW contract.
Keith Lee vs. JD Drake
They trade chops to start with Drake getting knocked into the corner. Drake jumps over him out of the corner so Lee blasts him with the Pounce as we take a break. Back with Drake hitting a Cannonball and adding a moonsault for one. Lee runs him over again and muscles him up into the Big Bang Catastrophe for the pin at 6:48.
Rating: C+. The match didn’t get much time, but there is something to be said about watching people of this size throw each other around. Lee getting to show off that power of his is something else and it was a heck of a spectacle. It wasn’t exactly great, but dang it’s fun to watch Lee do scary impressive things.
Post match the rest of the Wingmen come in but get beaten down by Lee in short order. Team Taz comes to the ramp to stare at Lee, with Orange Cassidy showing up to stare at everyone.
After the attack on Dynamite, a bloody CM Punk applauds MJF, saying that this kind of blood makes certain people feel alive. MJF is going to learn that Punk is the master and Punk knows who the **** he is. Punk knows that MJF isn’t ready and he’s going to beat MJF until his mother doesn’t recognize him. On March 6, he is becoming a monster to fight the monsters of the world. He is CM Punk (wink) and he is better than you. This match should rock.
Jade Cargill is ready for Revolution, with Mark Sterling saying there could be no contact between Tay Conti and Cargill until 48 hours before the match. Anna Jay pops up for a distraction and Conti jumps Cargill from behind. Sterling brought that on himself.
Serena Deeb vs. Leila Grey
Grey bails to the floor to start but gets caught with a neckbreaker over the ropes. The front chancery finishes Grey at 55 seconds.
Post match the Serenity Lock goes on but Hikaru Shida returns to club Deeb with a kendo stick for the save.
Eddie Kingston has a promo (because Chris Jericho has to use insider terms, but Eddie says kayfabe may be dead but we don’t have to desecrate its grave) for Chris Jericho, who he’s ready to fight. As for now, they have that Reese’s peanut butter pie at catering so he and Tony Schiavone have somewhere to go.
Ethan Page is ready for the main event, with Christian Cage promising to make Scorpio Sky a transitional champion next week.
Face of the Revolution Ladder Match Qualifying Match: Christian Cage vs. Ethan Page
They start fast with an exchange of shots in the corner until Christian tosses him over the top. The dropkick through the ropes connects with Page and we take a break. Back with Christian throwing him back inside and raining down the right hands in the corner. Page gets in an elbow to the face but Christian’s reverse DDT gets two.
A cutter gives Page two but Christian snaps the back of his neck across the top rope. The top rope headbutt gives Christian two more, only to miss a charge into the corner. Ego’s Edge is countered and Christian hits the spear for two. Back up and Christian is sent shoulder first into the post but he’s still able to counter Ego’s Edge. The Killswitch is good for the pin on Page at 8:55.
Rating: C. There wasn’t much to this one as Page didn’t get in a ton of offense before losing in the end. Cage moving on to the ladder match makes sense for the sake of his history in such matches, but it isn’t like he has done much of anything on his own in the last few months. This felt like “we need someone else so here’s Christian”, which may be efficient but isn’t that exciting.
Post match the Jurassic Express come out to celebrate with Christian but here are ReDRagon and the Young Bucks to steal a title each. Luchasaurus takes them back and Jungle Boy adds a running flip dive to take the four of them out to end the show (with Jericho getting in one last threat to Eddie Kingston).
Overall Rating: B. That opener alone was going to carry the show and sometimes that is all you need. The rest of the show was good enough, though Shida and Redbeard returning were both nice moments. I’m looking forward to Revolution and this was the big push to get us over the edge to the show. Throw in the rather fired up Punk promo and this was a pretty great last hour before the pay per view. I can’t get over that opener though, which was so good that it deserves an extra egads.
Results
Sammy Guevara b. Darby Allin and Andrade El Idolo – Swanton to Andrade
Keith Lee b. JD Drake – Big Bang Catastrophe
Serena Deeb b. Leila Grey – Front chancery
Christian Cage b. Ethan Page – Killswitch
AEW, 2022, Rampage, Sammy Guevara, Darby Allin, Andrade El Idolo, Keith Lee, JD Drake, Orange Cassidy, Team Taz, CM Punk, Serena Deeb. Leila Grey, House of Black, Penta Obscura, Alex Abrahantes, Pac, Christian Cage, Ethan Page, Jurassic Express, Eddie Kingston, ReDRagon, Young Bucks, Jade Cargill, Scorpio Sky, Dan Lambert, Jade Cargill, Anna Jay, Tay Conti,
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