Rampage
Date: July 15, 2022
Location: Enmarket Arena, Savannah, Georgia
Commentators: Jim Ross, Taz, Chris Jericho

We’re still in Fyter Fest with the second of four shows in two weeks. I’m not sure what that is going to mean, but we do have a big time Ring Of Honor World Title match as Jonathan Gresham defends against Lee Moriarty. Odds are we’re going to be seeing some kind of a surprise challenger to come out after the match and set up Death Before Dishonor so let’s get to it.

Here is Dynamite if you need a recap.

Opening sequence.

Dark Order vs. House Of Black

Black rolls Reynolds to the mat to start but Reynolds is back up with a wristlock. That doesn’t last long as Black knees him in the ribs to set up a chinlock before it’s off to Brody King. The big chop misses though, meaning John Silver wants to try King out of a slight case of insanity. King runs him over with a shoulder but misses a backsplash. Everything breaks down and the Order gets to clean house, including a double dropkick to send King outside. Reynolds’ dive is countered into a chokeslam onto the apron and we take a break with the House in control.

Back with Black kicking King in the face by mistake so Silver can snap off a belly to back suplex. Everything breaks down again and Silver has to save Reynolds from a powerbomb. A series of strikes to the face knock King into a German suplex, with Black diving in off the top for the save (with a camera angle possibly having to hide the landing). Dante’s Inferno finishes Reynolds at 9:17.

Rating: C+. This is the kind of spot that suits the Dark Order well, as they had no chance of winning but were able to hang in there long enough to make a match out of it. That isn’t something everyone is going to be able to do against the House but they made it work well enough here. Pretty fun match too, with the House getting to crush in the end.

Post match Darby Allin runs out to jump King but Sting has to come out and even things up. Sting and Black have the big staredown.

Miro still wants to destroy the House Of Black.

Ring Of Honor World Title: Jonathan Gresham vs. Lee Moriarty

Gresham, with Tully Blanchard, is defending and Matt Sydal is here with Moriarty. They start fast with Gresham being sent outside off a double leg attempt. Back in and Moriarty strikes away to send Gresham outside again, though this time he follows for some forearms. Gresham gets back inside and they strike away again, with Gresham pulling off some wrist tape. The referee takes care of that, allowing Gresham to hit Moriarty low, because he has gone to the evil side. Some headlock takeovers have Moriarty down again and we take a break.

Back with Moriarty striking away and starting to work on the arm. A dropkick cuts Gresham down and a single underhook bridging suplex gets two. Gresham is right back to the arm with a quick snap, followed by a stomp for two. Moriarty rolls him up for two more but gets pulled into the Octopus for the tap at 10:06.

Rating: B-. This felt oddly short but they did pretty well with the time that they had. What mattered here was getting Moriarty to look like he could hang against someone like Gresham before falling to the better wrestler. Gresham is a beast and when you throw in the cheating, things are that much better. Good match, but the bigger story is coming for Gresham.

Post match Blanchard and Gresham get in the ring, with Gresham bragging about how he is the best in the world. Cue Claudio Castagnoli for the staredown and we might have a Death Before Dishonor main event. That would be the bigger story.

Christopher Daniels is tired of Jay Lethal going after Samoa Joe. Lethal will get choked out at Death Before Dishonor, but Daniels seems interested in doing it herself.

Kris Statlander/Athena vs. Renegades

Statlander and Athena jump them before the bell and the beatdown is on in a hurry. Robyn is put on Statlander’s shoulders and tossed into two top roe knees from Athena (not sure if that was supposed to be a Codebreaker). The bell rings and the O Face (Eclipse) finishes Charlotte at 27 seconds.

Post match Leila Grey runs in to offer a distraction, allowing Kiera Hogan and Jade Cargill to come in and clean house without much effort. You know, if you want Athena and Statlander to be threats to Jade, you might want them to do something other than get beaten up most of the time.

Stokely Hathaway offers his services to Lee Moriarty, but Matt Sydal isn’t having any of this. With Stokely gone, Sydal announces that Moriarty is getting to face Dante Martin next week. Cue Martin, who absolutely had to be in Moriarty’s field of vision, to shake Moriarty’s hand.

Here is the Gunn Club to explain why they turned on the Acclaimed. Billy says everyone, including himself, loves the Acclaimed, but there comes a time when Daddy A** has to drop the hammer. Cue the Acclaimed but they don’t even rap on the way to the ring. Billy says hang on and offers scissoring but gets knocked down, allowing the Acclaimed to clear the ring. The challenge is thrown out but that isn’t going to happen. It had to be done somehow and this was as good of a face turn as you could have.

Andrade El Idolo is ready for Private Party to beat up the Lucha Bros, who don’t seem to agree.

Here’s what’s coming on various shows.

Private Party vs. Lucha Bros

There are a bunch of people at ringside too. Penta and Kassidy start things off with the latter being shoved down without much effort. Everything breaks down in a hurry and the Bros hit superkicks, only to be sent outside for the big flip dives. Back in and the Bros kick Quen down before scaring Kassidy back to the floor. Silly String hits Penta and a springboard Stunner knocks Penta outside as we take a break.

Back with the hot tag bringing in Fenix to clean house, including some chops to Quen in the corner. Kassidy makes a save though and it’s a Doomsday crossbody for two. Fenix gets stomped down in the corner but he gets away for the hot tag to Penta. This doesn’t quite work as a springboard doesn’t work, with Penta slipping down in a nasty crash. Penta is fine enough to hit a Death Valley Driver to send Quen into Kassidy in the corner. The lackeys get in a fight but here is Rush to deck Penta. This has no effect as Penta is back up with the Canadian Destroyer on Quen. Fenix adds the Black Fire Driver for the pin at 11:23.

Rating: C+. It was the kind of match you would expect from these teams, which is to say there were a lot of spots and they moved through them very fast. It wasn’t exactly crisp but Fenix can be one of the most entertaining guys in the world no matter what he is doing. Fun main event here, though Private Party is the same team they were a few years ago: potential, but not much to show for it.

Overall Rating: C+. This is a good example of a show where it was fine throughout and then pretty much nothing that happened here will stick with me for more than a few hours. It came and went with some good enough action, but AEW has a tendency to fly through these shows and not let much sink in. That was the case here, though the Claudio moment was good for a smile.

Results
House Of Black b. Dark Order – Dante’s Inferno to Reynolds
Jonathan Gresham b. Lee Moriarty – Octopus
Athena/Kris Statlander b. Renegades – O Face to Charlotte
Lucha Bros b. Private Party – Black Fire Driver to Quen

 

 

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and head over to my Amazon author page with 30 different cheap wrestling books at:

http://www.amazon.com/Thomas-Hall/e/B00E6282W6

AND

Remember to check out Wrestlingrumors.net for all of your wrestling headline needs.

 

Rampage
Date: June 24, 2022
Location: UW Panther Arena, Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Commentators: Excalibur, Chris Jericho, Taz

It’s the go home show for Forbidden Door and I have no idea what that is going to mean here. This week’s Dynamite was a huge push towards the show, including several New Japan stars being added. That could mean more than a few things for this show and I’m curious to see where it going. Now to find out if that is a good thing. Let’s get to it.

Here is Dynamite if you need a recap.

Opening sequence.

Andrade El Idolo vs. Rey Fenix

After one week of including entrances for the opener, we’re right back to rushing straight to the opening bell. Jose and Alex Abrahantes are here as the seconds. They don’t bother with the feeling out process to start until it’s Fenix hitting a quick springboard hurricanrana to stagger Andrade. A boot in the corner staggers Fenix but he is right back with a kick to the ribs.

Something out of a fireman’s carry is countered into Andrade’s Three Amigos, which Fenix reverses into his own Three Amigos. That’s enough to send Andrade outside so Fenix hits a heck of a flip dive to drop him again (Jericho: “He looked like Wile E. Coyote falling off a cliff!”). Back in and a bridging German suplex gives Fenix two but a springboard something is shoved off the top for a huge crash to the floor.

We take a break and come back with Andrade hitting the Alberto double stomp for two more. Fenix tries a rolling cutter but has to settle for a springboard missile dropkick instead. Now the rolling cutter connects for a slightly delayed two but Fenix’s frog splash hits knees for two. Fenix goes up again and gets kicked off the top, allowing Andrade to take him to the apron. The running knees hit post though and a top rope double stomp to the back crushes Andrade as we take another break.

Back again with Fenix hitting a super reverse Spanish Fly for another delayed two, as Andrade got his foot on the bottom rope. Hold on though as we pause for a look at Fenix’s knee, allowing Andrade to grab the table from Jose. That’s caught so Andrade pokes Fenix in the eye and kicks him in the knee. Fenix knocks him right back to the floor and hits the running suicide flip dive for another double knockdown. As the managers fight in the ring, here is Rush (oh yeah he’s a thing) to kick Fenix low. That’s enough for Andrade to hit El Idolo for the pin at 18:43.

Rating: B. The ending felt a bit flat but they beat the heck out of each other and left it in the ring here. Fenix continues to be able to do one crazy spectacle after another while Andrade can work well with a lot of people. I wasn’t wild on having Rush pop up again but at least it makes sense after what was set up at Double Or Nothing.

Post match Andrade and Rush show of the La Faccion Ingobernable shirts before ripping off Fenix’s mask. Penta Obscuro runs in with a shovel for the save.

Eddie Kingston is ready for Forbidden Door but he also wants to see Chris Jericho bleed at Blood And Guts. Maybe he’ll even have a taste.

Swerve Strickland and Keith Lee are ready for their match with El Desperado/Yoshinobu Kanemaru at Forbidden Door. Then they can get back to normal, though Lee isn’t sure if they’re ready for that yet.

Mercedes Martinez/Serena Deeb vs. Laynie Luck/Sierra

Deeb puts Sierra in an early abdominal stretch and then chops her down. It’s off to Luck, with Deeb taking her down into an Indian deathlock. A rope is reached so it’s Martinez coming in for a running dropkick in the corner. A double drop across the top rope has Luck in more trouble but Martinez runs into Deeb on the apron. Not that it matters as stereo submissions get the double tap from Sierra and Luck at 3:36.

Rating: C-. Just a squash here with Martinez and Deeb’s issue near the end meaning nothing whatsoever. Deeb vs. Martinez could be interesting down the line, though it will need to be after everything else cleans out a bit more. It should be a good match and that is all you need a lot of the time.

Tully Blanchard brags about his monsters, who I don’t know if we’ve seen since the Ring of Honor show nearly three months ago.

Post break Tully Blanchard interrupts Jonathan Gresham and Lee Moriarty, the latter of whom seems to want a ROH World Title match. Tully Blanchard interferes and says his guys deserve a title shot first. A tag match is made.

Hook vs. DKC

Hook takes him down into a leglock to start but DKC takes him into the corner for some chops. A high crotch suplex drops DKC and the crossface shots set up Redrum to finish at 1:45.

Cash Wheeler is ready for Jeff Cobb tonight and to win the IWGP Tag Team Titles on Sunday. Cobb doesn’t like the lack of respect

Billy Gunn explains to the Gunn Club and Max Caster that they’re on the Forbidden Door Buy-In show. This requires an explanation to his kids that they aren’t going to Tokyo, but rather Chicago.

Jeff Cobb vs. Cash Wheeler

Caprice Coleman is on commentary. They lock up to start and neither can get anywhere, meaning Wheeler grabs a quickly broken headlock. Wheeler bounces off of a shoulder block attempt and there’s the suplex to send him outside. We take a break and come back with Wheeler grabbing a sleeper (not a full nelson Jericho) but getting knocked away again. Cobb blocks a backslide with straight power so Wheeler starts striking away.

That’s enough to knock Cobb outside for a slingshot dive but he runs Wheeler over again. Back in and Cobb’s apron superplex is blocked and Wheeler hits a sunset bomb. The Tour of the Islands is blocked and a doctor bomb is countered into a hurricanrana to give Wheeler two. For some reason Wheeler tries a powerbomb and gets German suplexed for his efforts. The Tour of the Islands gives Cobb the pin at 10;56.

Rating: B-. FTR gets to lose again, which has me wondering what happens to them on Sunday. I would hope that if they lose, at least they don’t take another fall in the process. Both of them can do some great things in the ring, though it starts to mean less if they never win anything to keep them boosted up.

Post match the rest of the United Empire comes in to jump Wheeler but Orange Cassidy, Dax Harwood and Trent make the save. Eddie Kingston runs out and tries to stab Chris Jericho with a pen as the big brawl ends the show (eventually, as the fight goes on for a good while).

Overall Rating: B+. Rather strong show this week, even if it went very heavy with the ROH stuff for a bit of a curve ball. After barely talking about ROH for weeks, waiting another few days to put the focus back on them wouldn’t have been the worst idea. That being said, we had two rather good matches here and they toned down some of the invasion stuff so it wound up being a solid show as a result.

Results
Andrade El Idolo b. Rey Fenix – El Idolo
Mercedes Martinez/Serena Deeb b. Laynie Luck/Sierra – Double submission
Hook b. DKC – Redrum
Jeff Cobb b. Cash Wheeler – Tour of the Islands

 

 

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and head over to my Amazon author page with 30 different cheap wrestling books at:

http://www.amazon.com/Thomas-Hall/e/B00E6282W6

AND

Remember to check out Wrestlingrumors.net for all of your wrestling headline needs.