Rampage
Date: November 10, 2023
Location: Oakland Arena, Oakland, California
Commentators: Nigel McGuinness, Tony Schiavone

It’s the rather rare live Rampage as AEW is shaking up its schedule a bit. As usual though, the card is kind of all over the place, as we’re getting a rare non-Collision FTR match. Rampage can be so random that it is hard to guess what we’ll be getting and that can make for a fun night. Let’s get to it.

Here is Dynamite if you need a recap.

Opening sequence.

Ricky Starks vs. Preston Vance

This isn’t quite as interesting as I was expecting after the RUSH graphic came on the big screen. Big Bill joins commentary as they trade chops in the corner to start. Vance knocks him to the floor but Starks rams him into the barricade. That’s enough for Starks to jump in on commentary to praise himself before suplexing Vance on the ramp.

We take a break and come back with Starks’ apron legdrop getting two. Vance hits a middle rope shoulder into a spinebuster but Starks hits a springboard tornado DDT. A Samoan driver plants Starks but he counters the full nelson into a rollup for two. Vance gets up so Bill offers a distraction, setting up the spear to finish for Starks at 7:08.

Rating: C+. This continues the interesting multi-team feud that seems to be breaking out on Collision. The good thing about a feud like that is it opens up a variety of options for matches as AEW can run all kinds of singles and tags out of there. Starks getting a win is good as well and it’s not like Vance has anything to lose.

Post match the beatdown is on but La Faccion Ingobernable makes the save.

Chris Jericho is ready to face Konosuke Takeshita in Japan and thinks Takeshita needs to be ready for one of the best wrestlers in the world. Revenge is promised.

Don Callis, with Prince Nana, is asked about who will be the fourth member of the Don Callis Family in the upcoming street fight. That would apparently be Brian Cage, who is being rented from the Mogul Embassy. Geez Sammy Guevara is still not cleared from his concussion? That’s not a good sign.

Jeff Jarrett and company are ready to see Jay Lethal win the Ring Of Honor World Title whenever he gets his title shot. Ortiz comes in to say he wants them to say what they’ve been saying from his face. Ortiz knows he’s going down, so he’s going down swinging. The fight is on and off rather quickly.

Ruby Soho vs. Red Velvet

Soho is doing this on her own, with Saraya happily heading to the back. Velvet throws her down to start and hits a leg lariat to drop Soho again. Velvet sends Soho into the corner but gets sent into the same corner for her efforts. Soho gets in a shot of her own and we take a break.

Back with Velvet making the clothesline comeback and hitting a standing moonsault for two. Some basement superkicks put Velvet right back down for two and a pair of Saito suplexes knock Velvet silly. Hold on though as someone delivers Soho flowers, allowing Velvet to strike away. A spinning kick to the head gives Velvet the big upset at 9:02.

Rating: C+. Velvet is doing a bit better than she was before the injury though it’s almost hard to fathom her beating Soho. It wasn’t a clean win but the result itself is quite the surprise. I’m curious to see where the secret admirer (assuming that’s what it is) idea goes as that could have quite the variety of options. Now just don’t screw it up.

We look back at the end of Dynamite with the masked men attacking Billy Gunn and the Acclaimed, much to MJF’s chagrin.

Kingdom vs. ???/???

Roderick Strong is here with the Kingdom and dedicates the match to his best friend Adam Cole. The Kingdom jumps them to start and finishes with the Neck Check at 50 seconds.

Post match Strong gets out of the wheelchair for a Backstabber and then gets back in for the ride up the ramp.

Daniel Garcia and pals challenges Andrade El Idolo for Collision. Ruby Soho, with flowers and Saraya, come in so the latter can accuse Angelo Parker of sending them. Storming off ensues.

The Kingdom and Roderick Strong are interrupted by Action Andretti and Darius Martin. A match is teased for some point in the future.

El Hijo del Vikingo/Komander vs. FTR

Harwood and Komander start things off with Komander grabbing a rollup for a fast two. That’s broken up so it’s off to Wheeler vs. Vikingo for a change. Vikingo kicks him into the corner and Wheeler is sent outside, setting up a suicide dive…which goes straight into the announcers’ table.

We take a break and come back with Vikingo hitting a dive off the top to drop Wheeler on the floor again. Komander hits a high crossbody on Harwood and Vikingo’s missile dropkick gets two. Harwood catches Vikingo on top with a superplex but Komander breaks up the….I guess Power as it’s part of the PowerPlex.

Wheeler catches Komander in a Gory Bomb and Harwood Tombstones Vikingo for two. Back to back slingshot powerbomb attempts are countered into hurricanranas for two on Harwood but the third attempt connects. Komander takes both of them down in the corner but walks into the Shatter Machine for the pin at 11:45.

Rating: B. Every time I start to get a little over FTR, they come up with something like this match. This was a completely different kind of match from them and it worked very well for a heck of a main event. The idea of FTR not being able to keep up with the luchadors and having all of them usual stuff getting countered was a cool way to go and I had a good time here. Heck of a match and a nice twist off of the usual.

Respect is shown….and the House of Black pops up on the screen for the staredown to end the show.

Overall Rating: B-. The main event was by far the best part of the show but the rest was good enough. I can go with having a randomly awesome main event to go with a few stories getting advanced, though it’s hard to believe that will continue. For now though, pretty nice Rampage and having more FTR around is a good thing.

Results
Ricky Starks b. Preston Vance – Spear
Red Velvet b. Ruby Soho – Spinning kick to the head
Kingdom b. ???/??? – Neck Check
FTR b. Komander/El Hijo del Vikingo – Shatter Machine to Komander

 

 

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Impact Wrestling
Date: November 24, 2022
Hosts: Tom Hannifan, Matthew Rehwoldt

It’s Thanksgiving and that means we are in for a special Best Of show around here. That’s about as logical as you’re going to get for this time of year as there is no reason to believe that anyone is going to pay attention to a show on such a big holiday. You never know what you’ll see on something like this but let’s get to it.

Opening sequence.

The hosts welcome us to the show and promise us some great Thanksgiving moments, plus a look at Overdrive.

We’ll start with Thanksgiving 2008, with Rhino pinning Alex Shelley in a triple threat match also involving Sheik Abdul Bashir. As a result, Rhino gets $25,000 and Shelley has to wear a turkey suit, as enforced by Mick Foley with threats of firings/bad history lessons.

Wrestlers say what they are thankful for (Joe Hendry is thankful for mirrors because he gets to see who he really is).

Deaner asks Eric Young if this is the end of Violent By Design but doesn’t get an answer. It’s time for an answer to the unanswered questions so they have to go back to where it all began. How about before that when the team doesn’t exist?

We go back to Thanksgiving 2007, at the Angle household, featuring Kurt and Karen as pilgrims and Jeremy Borash, Tomko and AJ Styles as guests (it was a weird time). They pray (with gold medals on the plates) and Styles eats during the prayer. People keep opening their eyes during the prayer, with Karen and JB making faces at each other. Robert Roode and Traci Brooks come in, as do James Storm and Jackie Moore (with beer). Chris Harris arrives and complains about the directions.

Eric Young shows up, a bit under dressed, and breaks a bunch of stuff. Kurt stands up to yell, revealing that he’s wearing the World Title, and sends Eric to the kid’s table (Eric gets lost on the way). Then the X-Division arrives, with Sonjay Dutt trying to get donations for starving children. Storm and Young get in a drinking contest and Styles leaves as Black Reign (Dustin Rhodes) and Rellik (that’s overused joke spelled forwards) arrive. Reign lets his rat Misty into the food and we take a break.

Back with Young and Storm rather drunk (Young has found a wig and they have both lost their shirts). Jay Lethal (as Black Machismo) arrives as Kurt looks like he wants some cyanide. Then So Cal Val arrives, so Lethal gives her his jacket to walk on. Kurt tries to restore order as Awesome Kong shows up and sits at the other end of the (really long) table. She eats food that may or may not be wax and, since there are a bunch of tables, Team 3D arrives, with food being thrown at them.

A bunch of people leave to get away from Team 3D, who were invited by someone other than Kurt. They sit at the kid’s table and take food from Kurt’s daughter, who says they suck (I would have paid to see her put through a table). Then Kevin Nash and Scott Hall arrive and Karen takes pies to the face. Everyone else shows up and the food fight is on. This was HILARIOUS in a wrestling way.

We look at Mickie James beating Taylor Wilde at Overdrive. Then Deonna Purrazzo comes out to yell at her and sets up the next match in James’ Last Rodeo.

From Thanksgiving 2016, loser wears a turkey suit.

Grado vs. Robbie E.

They slug it out to start with Grado getting the better of it off the snap jabs. A double clothesline puts both guys down as this is a little less funny than I was expecting. Robbie grabs a rollup for the pin at 2:39.

Grado is turkey suited.

We look at the end of Josh Alexander beating Kazarian with the C4 Spike to retain the World Title at Overdrive. Then Bully Ray came out, announced he was officially challenging at Hard To Kill in January, and beat up Alexander in front of his family. Then, with Alexander zip tied to the rope, Ray pulled Alexander’s wife over the barricade….and just threatened her because Alexander was loose. After the show, Ray grabbed the title but Rich Swann came out for the save. Scott D’Amore came out and threw stuff at Ray while asking what was wrong with him. Great segment. Why does it need to be Bully Ray and not someone new?

From Thanksgiving 2013.

Here are all of the winners of the matches tonight plus Velvet who is with Sabin. Roode points this out and Sabin throws Velvet out. Bobby asks everyone what they’re thankful for. Bad Influence is thankful for their intelligence and large endowment. Kaz is thankful that Park isn’t here to drink the gravy or fornicate with the pumpkin pie. Gail is thankful for being the prettiest and most dominant Knockout in the history of the company. Oh and her family too.

Sabin is thankful for his hair, being the best X-Division Champion ever and Velvet Sky. The Bro Mans are thankful for Mr. O Phil Heath, Zema Ion (officially part of the team) and for being the best team ever. Bad Influence: “I’m not sure about that.” Roode says the real Thanksgiving was last month in Canada and the fans will be thankful when he becomes the next champion.

It’s time to eat but here’s Angle to interrupt. He sees a ring full of turkeys, which are fighting words for the people in there. Roode challenges him to a fight which Angle accepts, and here’s his backup. Fernum and Barnes (a couple of losers who lost the Turkey Bowl) are still in the turkey suits. You can fill in the blanks yourself here: bad guys are destroyed, food is everywhere, Spud panics, turkeys fly. The good guys, Velvet and ODB celebrate to end the show.

More wrestlers are thankful for various things.

We look at Kenny King going after Mike Bailey at the overdrive pre-show and losing a six way match as a result.

King is going to take out Bailey before going after the X-Division Title.

From Thanksgiving 2017.

Team Edwards vs. Team Adonis

Eddie Edwards, Garza Jr., Allie, Fallah Bahh, Richard Justice
Chris Adonis, Caleb Konley, Laurel Van Ness, KM, El Hijo Del Fantasma

The loser of the fall wears a turkey suit and there’s food at ringside, along with Eli Drake. We’re not ready yet though as the teams sit down at the food tables as Drake insists that everyone has to put on the suit if they lose. He has a statement for JB to read, which pretty much just says everyone play nice.

Justice sticks his finger in Konley’s mouth to start and gets two off a rollup. Laurel comes in and jumps on Justice’s back so it’s off to the women for a change. KM and Bahh are up next with some shots to Bahh’s head taking us to a break. Back with Bahh crossbodying KM and bringing in Garza….WHO TAKES OFF HIS PANTS! I’m rather thankful.

Garza gets punched down though and it’s time for the heel beatdown. Adonis comes in for two off a legdrop and it’s time for a bearhug (on a guy with a bad shoulder). That goes nowhere and the hot tag brings in Eddie to clean house. Everything breaks down in a hurry and KM gets crushed between Justice and Bahh.

We get the big crash to the floor and Justice falls off the apron, only to be caught without much effort. Allie dives onto everyone to break up the pile and everyone is down. Back in and Adonis can’t grab the Adonis Lock, allowing Eddie to roll him up for the pin at 16:04, meaning Adonis gets to wear the suit.

Rating: C-. Oh what were you expecting here? This was all in good fun and nothing more than a comedy match. The match was just there for the sake of having a one off match for a holiday special and as a result, it’s really hard to be harsh on it. Adonis having to wear the suit is fine and it continues a (rather goofy) tradition. It wasn’t anything good, but it’s perfectly harmless.

Post break, Adonis refuses to wear the suit. Security actually stops him as the referee holds up the suit like an executioner’s ax. After a lot of persuading and a GOBBLE GOBBLE (One of us?) chant, Adonis finally puts it on and walks around a bit. Adonis isn’t cool with the chants though and the required food fight, with Adonis hitting Drake in the face with a pie, ends the show. This was actually entertaining as they just went with the simple comedy and it worked perfectly well.

Delirious and Yuyu Uemura yell at each other in….something and Japanese.

Here’s what’s coming on various shows.

Steve Maclin wants the World Title but he is being held captive by his own company. From now on, it’s mayhem for all.

From Thanksgiving 2007.

Samoa Joe vs. AJ Styles vs. Chris Sabin

This is the finals of the Turkey Bowl, with the winner getting $25,000 and the loser wearing the turkey suit. Joe and Sabin double team Styles to start and knock him to the floor. That leaves Sabin to take Joe down but a kick misses, giving us a staredown. Styles gets knocked to the floor again and we take a break.

Back with Sabin charging into a hot shot but Joe comes back in to punch Styles in the face. Styles breaks up the suicide elbow to Sabin though, meaning Joe punches him in the face some more. The drop down into a dropkick hits Joe and we take a break. Back again with Joe countering the springboard moonsault into an Air Raid Crash with Sabin having to make a save.

We take another break and come back again with Sabin hitting a springboard DDT to drop Joe. That earns Sabin a trip to the floor but Styles Peles Joe. The charge into the corner only hits kick to the face though, allowing Joe to hit the Muscle Buster for the pin at 9:33 shown (of the nearly thirty minute match).

Rating: B-. Well it seemed to be a good match, at least from what we saw of the thing. Joe was on another planet at this point and Styles was in his weird phase as Angle’s wacky goon, but it isn’t like he was going to be awful in the ring. Throw in a very talented Sabin and of course this was going to work, even if we missed almost twenty minutes.

Post match we cut to a livid Kurt Angle (AJ’s boss), storming out of his own Thanksgiving dinner. Back in the arena, AJ won’t put the suit on so here is Jim Cornette to order him to do it. After some coaxing, Styles (very slowly) puts the suit on so Tomko and Kurt come out to yell. Samoa Joe and the Outsiders come out to laugh at Angle and pals, meaning the brawl is on. The bad guys are cleared out, with Eric Young coming in to add a turkey leg to Angle to wrap things up. Then Hall got fired and Joe was given a live mic at the pay per view where he went on an all time rant against a lot of people.

Overall Rating: C. I never know what to say about these things, especially when it was a bunch of clips from what was little more than a comedy concept. There was a bit of decent action and it is fun to look back at some flashes of different times in the company’s history, but there was nothing worth seeing here. Granted that is kind of the point, but this was still a weird choice for a show.

 

 

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.