Rampage – August 18, 2023: It’s The Rampage Way

Rampage
Date: August 18, 2023
Location: Bridgestone Arena, Nashville, Tennessee
Commentators: Excalibur, Tony Schiavone

We are less than ten days away from All In and the show is really starting to come together. There was a lot of stuff advanced on Dynamite and there is a good chance that the same thing will take place on Collision. That being said, they need to do something with this show and that can be a tricky situation. Let’s get to it.

Here is Dynamite if you need a recap.

Opening sequence.

Rey Fenix vs. Komander

They go tot he mat to start and exchange some rollups, with Komander getting the better of things but not quite well enough. Back up and Komander flips over a monkey flip attempt, giving us another standoff. Fenix sends him to the apron and kicks away before missing the rope walk kick to the head. This time it’s Fenix being sent outside for the big flip dive so Komander loads up the rope walk, only to have Fenix get back in.

That leaves Fenix to just jump back down, leaving Fenix to hit a double springboard double stomp for two. We take a break and come back with Fenix striking away until Komander snaps off a headscissors. Fenix’s superkick rocks Komander again but he spikes Fenix with a hurricanrana for two. A rolling cutter gives Fenix two and there’s the rope walk kick to the head for two more.

Komander’s crucifix bomb gets the same but Fenix hits one heck of a spinning kick to the head for the double knockdown. Another kick sends Komander outside but he’s back up to shove Fenix down. A springboard Canadian Destroyer plants Fenix and the rope walk shooting star gives Komander two. Komander misses a 450 and the Black Fire Driver gives Fenix two (nice fake out there). With nothing else working, Fenix chops him down in the corner and hits a spinning Muscle buster driver for the pin at 13:00.

Rating: B. This was a fun one as you had two people out there doing their flying all over the place and it made for a heck of a fight. Sometimes you need to just let people go out there and let it all hang out for awhile and that is what they did here. Very fun match and by far the best Komander singles match so far in AEW.

Claudio Castagnoli and Jon Moxley aren’t happy in the back.

Britt Baker was at the first All In and it would be a great moment for her to win the title again at the second one.

QT Marshall is the new AAA Latin American Champion.

Johnny TV (with dog) congratulates Marshall on his title win.

Ring Of Honor Tag Team Titles: Brother Zay/Ethan Page vs. Aussie Open

The Aussies are defending and double team Zay down to start without much trouble. A hurricanrana puts Fletcher down but Davis is right there to cut him off. Zay enziguris his way to freedom and hands it off to Page for the house cleaning. The champs are knocked to the floor and Zay hits the huge flip dive, setting up a powerslam for two on Fletcher inside. Everything breaks down and the Aussies ram them into each other as we take a break.

Back with Page hitting a brainbuster on Fletcher, allowing the tag back to Zay. A springboard moonsault drops Fletcher on the floor as everything breaks down. Zay’s Swanton hits raised knees though and it’s a superkick into a kick to the face. The elevated middle rope cutter gives Fletcher two and the stereo clotheslines hit Zay. The Coriolis finishes Zay at 9:21.

Rating: C+. It’s a good idea to give the Aussies a win as they are on the way to a huge match in London and could use the boost. The Aussies are a heck of a team, but they haven’t exactly gotten a huge push on AEW TV. Boost them up as fast as they can, even if they might be losing the titles next week.

Post match the Aussies promise to keep the titles at All In because they’re that awesome.

The Righteous (from Ring Of Honor) are coming.

The Hardys want the Ring Of Honor Tag Team Titles so they’ll be challenging on Dynamite. So you lose to the Bucks and get a title shot?

Sammy Guevara vs. Jon Cruz

Sammy shoulders him down to start and then flips over a charge into a dropkick. Cruz is sent outside for the big flip dive, setting up the GTH for the pin at 1:34. Total squash.

Video on Nyla Rose.

Here’s what’s coming on various shows.

Video on the All In Women’s Title match.

Outcasts vs. Hikaru Shida/Skye Blue

Saraya is the outcast Outcast. The outcasts jump them to start but Blue knees Soho in the face. We settle down to Blue getting double teamed in the corner but Shida comes in for a failed save attempt. The hip attack sends Blue outside and we take a break. Back with Blue kicking her way to freedom so Shida can come in and clean house. Blue gets sent flying with a suplex and everyone is down for a breather.

Everything breaks down again and Saraya gets in the spray paint to blind Blue. The hip attack gets two with Shida making the save and then unloading on Storm. Saraya grabs Shida from the floor, allowing Storm to kick her in the face. Blue is back in for the save and No Future is countered into a rollup to give Shida the pin at 10:06.

Rating: C+. This was fine enough and gave Shida the win over someone not in the title match on the way to Wembley. That’s about all you can ask for out of something like this as they need to keep Shida strong with multiple challengers coming up. At the very least, it’s nice to see the spray paint fail, as that has been done to death in Outcasts matches.

Post match the brawl is on again, with Britt Baker running down to join in. Security tries to break it up to end the show.

Overall Rating: B-. Pretty solid show here, even if it was just there for the sake of building up some matches on the way to All In. That’s Rampage in a nutshell: the action is going to carry the whole thing, because there isn’t much here in the way of storytelling. They still get it done in an hour though and that makes it a rather easy watch most of the time, including tonight.

Results
Rey Fenix b. Spinning Muscle Buster driver
Aussie Open b. Brother Zay/Ethan Page – Coriolis to Zay
Sammy Guevara b. Jon Cruz – GTH
Hikaru Shida/Skye Blue b. Outcasts – Rollup to Soho

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