Jon Moxley and Bryan Danielson of the Blackpool Combat Club will team up again to face Dante Martin and Matt Sydal in the main event of another early edition of AEW Rampage.
William Regal and Chris Jericho will be on commentary for the match ahead of the BCC vs. Jericho Appreciation Society Anarchy in the Arena match at Double or Nothing that was set up Wednesday.
Kris Statlander will take on Red Velvet in the final Owen Hart Tournament quarterfinal match with the winner facing Ruby Soho in a semifinal bout this Wednesday. Soho will be on commentary.
Ahead of his steel cage match with Wardlow Wednesday, Shawn Spears will take on "a giant."
The House of Black (Malakai Black, Buddy Matthews & Brody King) will take on Fuego Del Sol and Dark Order's Evil Uno & Ten.
The show will feature several promos as TNT Champion Scorpio Sky will demand his belt be returned by former champion Sammy Guevara. Danhausen & Hook will also be heard from in addition to Britt Baker and Toni Storm ahead of their match Wednesday.
This week's Rampage starts at 7 PM Eastern due to the NBA playoffs.
From Houston, Texas and on TNT at a more reasonable hour this week, it’s time for AEW Rampage.
Excalibur, Taz, and “The Wizard” Chris Jericho were on the call.
The House of Black defeated Evil Uno, 10 and Fuego Del Sol (9:24)
Brody King and Uno were in the ring to start the show. I watched Uno and 10 on Dark this week and thought they had some potential as a power team, which they showed here again with a solid double team on Malakai Black. Fuego Del Sol tagged himself in to face off with Black and got predictably destroyed. He should officially join the Dark Order as “1/2.”
Buddy Murphy got the tag and gave Del Sol a Penta Oscuro style arm breaker. Uno tagged in and was double teamed by Murphy and Black. King went for the Gonzo Bomb on Uno, but Uno escaped. King sent Deo Sol to the floor with a body block. The House of Black dominated as the show went to a split-screen break.
Del Sol hit Murphy with a Spanish Fly. 10 got the hot tag and was a house of fire, suplexing Black and clotheslining King to the floor. 10 got Black up in a wheel barrol position, and Uno snapped Black’s neck against the ropes into a German suplex for a near fall. 10 went for a full nelson, but Black escaped. Black targeted 10’s knee with a knee bar. Uno made the save. Black dispatched Uno, but 10 hit a discus lariat on Black.
Uno and King got the tags from their respective partners. Uno hit a series of running boots on King and set up a powerbomb, but King escaped with a backdrop. Del Sol tried to run in, but Murphy hit him with a double arm DDT on the ramp. Black hit a top rope moonsault to the floor on 10, and King hit the Gonzo Bomb on Uno to get the pinfall. Fun match.
After the match, Death Triangle taunted the House of Black on the stage, revealing a tombstone for House of Black with a Double or Nothing logo. Excalibur confirmed House of Black v. Death Triangle for Double or Nothing.
– Lexi Nair interviewed Billy Gunn, Max Caster and the Gunn Club. Anthony Bowens was injured after their Elevation match on Monday. “What will we do father?” “Well, son,” Billy said to Max Casater, all factions have to go through this kind of adversity. But when Anthony Bowens is ready, there will be a big old scissors party to celebrate his return!
Billy Gunn ignoring his own kids in favor of the Acclaimed is awesome. And also the correct choice.
– Tony Schiavone is with FTR. FTR accepted the challenge from Roppongi Vice for Wednesday. Cash Wheeler made it clear that FTR also wants the AEW and IWGP World Tag team championships to go along with the titles they already have. That is exactly what should happen! I’ll be shocked if they don’t have all four sets of titles by Forbidden Door.
Shawn Spears defeated Big Damo (1:34)
Big Damo (the former Killian Dane) made his AEW debut. Excalibur on commentary said that MJF picked Damo as Spears' opponent as a showcase for Spears. It looked pretty bad at first. Damo hit a body press on the floor, a slam out of a fireman's carry in the ring and a cannonball. But, Damo missed a Vader Bomb and Spears capitalized. Spears hit a running knee and the C-4 to get the victory.
After the match, Spears cut a promo on Wardlow. The Spears/Warldow cage match is the main event on Dynamite Wednesday.
– Undisputed Elite cut a backstage promo. Cole and O’Reilly are convinced they’ll be meeting in the finals of the Owen Hart tournament. The Young Bucks challenged The Hardys to a match at Double or Nothing. So I guess that’s happening.
Kris Statlander defeated Red Velvet (6:42 aired) to advance to the semi-finals of the Owen Hart Tournament.
Ruby Soho joined the commentary team.
Statlander press-slammed Velvet out of the corner, holding her up at one point with one arm. Velvet went for a head scissors, but Statlander overpowered her again and sent her to the floor. Statlander went for a sliding dropkick, but Velvet tied her up in the ring skirt. Statlander got out of that, overpowered Velvet and slammed her on the ring apron. Statlander taunted the Baddies as the show went to another split-screen break. During this segment, Jericho named Red Velvet his "Sports Entertainer of the Week."
Statlander got a near fall after a German suplex. Velvet escaped a suplex attempt and clipped Statlander’s knee. She hit the Final Slice on Statlander but it only got two. Statlander hit the blue thunder bomb for a near fall. Velvet went for a cazadora and planted Statlander face-first into the mat for another near fall. Velvet went for a hook kick, but Statlander caught the boot. Statlander went for the Big Bang Theory (which is now the Saturday Night Fever), but Velvet countered that into a rollup, but Statlander reversed that rollup and got the pinfall. Statlander advances!
After the match, the Baddies attacked Statlander. Ruby Soho ran in but was overwhelmed by Jade Cargill. Anna Jay ran in, took Sterling's crutch, and chased off the Baddies.
– A training video aired for HookHausen v. Tony Nese and Mark Sterling and it was fantastic. Hook still may be waiting for DanHausen to finish that pull-up. Nese did push-ups with his feet elevated on a chair while Sterling had his knees on the floor. They’re really leaving money on the table by putting this on the free pre-show.
– The Men of the Year and Dan Lambert cut a promo in the ring. Sky wanted his TNT title belt back. Sammy Guevara and Tay Conti interrupt from the parking lot. They smashed the TNT title belt with a sledgehammer, with help from Frankie Kazarian. (I believe this was the "extra" TNT title belt that Sammy "unified" back in January). Guevara wants “the match” with Scorpio. This might be the mixed tag match Scorpio cancelled a few weeks ago (he did say "give us the match") but it wasn't made clear. It also sounded like the crowd was muted (likely because they were booing Sammy and Tay making out behind Kazarian).
– Tony Schiavone (the second hardest working commentator in AEW behind Excalibur) interviewed Dr. Britt Baker D.M.D and Toni Storm about their upcoming Owen Hart Cup Semi-final match. Baker asked Toni if she could handle the pressure of a big match, or would she have to run away? Storm asked if Baker could handle the pressure of a big match, and promised to rearrange Baker's teeth if there was any funny business. Strom stole Baker's "D M D" catchphrase, and Baker left.
– Mark Henry interviewed the principals of tonight’s main event. Dante Martin wants a big win, and Matt Sydal wants to show the Blackpool Combat Club how to properly mentor someone (i.e. by not beating them). Sydal wants “peace, love and pro wrestling.” “Did he really say that?” asked Moxley. “Abandon all hope.”
Rampage Next Friday (5:30pm EST start time according to the graphic on screen):
Quick interruption of the run-down from Jade Cargill, who toldSchionve to cut the stuff and threw out a challenge to Anna Jay. Which is made official. Now back to the run down!
Excalibur got through all this in one minute and thirty seconds (minus the time for Jade's promo) and I think only two breaths. Impressive!
William Regal has joined the commentary team, and Jake Hager also came out to watch Jericho's back.
Bryan Danielson & Jon Moxley defeated Matt Sydal & Dante Martin (11:59)
When Taz is the voice of reason, trying to calm down Jericho, you know there is going to be trouble.
Danielson and Moxley have their way with Dante Martin in the early goings, while Regal taunts Jericho and Hager on commentary. Moxley missed a charge and Sydal got the tag. He got a quick nearfall on Moxley with a cradle, and got another nearfall with a standing moonsault. Sydal got drawn into a slugfest with Moxley, and paid for it. Moxley caught Sydal with a hot shot and sent Sydal to the outside. Danielson came off the apron with a running knee strike, and the show went to its last split-screen break.
Back from break, Martin got the hot tag from Sydal. He hit a crazy over the ropes tope to the floor on Moxley and Danielson, then got Danielson with a crossbody off the top for another near fall. On the floor, Moxley looked Sydal in a choke. Back in the ring, Danielson hit a double underhook superplex from the top rope and floated right into the Lebelle Lock. Martin almost got to the ropes, but Danielson turned the hold into a variation on the Rings of Saturn. Martin then got to the ropes with his foot. Danielson kicked Martin about the chest and head.
Moxley and Danielson set up a double-team, but Sydal broke it up. Sydal and Martin hit a double team dropkick. Sydal hit a meteora on Danielson on the ring apron, and Martin hit the double jump Nosedive moonsault on Moxley for a near fall. Moxley went for the Paradigm Shift, but Martin escaped. Martin went for a poison rana off the ropes, but Moxley locked in a choke. Martin escaped with a push off rolling cradle for a near fall. Martin came off the top with a dropkick, but Moxley caught him and stuffed Martin with a piledriver. That only got two.
Moxley rained down on Martin with hammer and anvil elbows. Danielson locked Sydal in a choke and did the same. Moxley hit Martin with the Death Rider to get the pinfall.
Dante Martin got to look great here. They need to find a way to get him some wins though.
After the match, the Jericho Appreciation Society attacked Danielson and Moxley 5 on 2 on the ramp. And the show cut to black as Excalibur said “the tape machines are rolling!” so footage of what followed may be shown next week.
So the big news out of the taping was Danielson got his leg caught between the ring and the entrance ramp, but maybe two seconds of that was shown and you had to look really hard to find it. It's possible footage of that could make it to the YouTube shows or Dynamite next week, or it could be a complete non-story.
Update: After the show Tony Khan tweeted out a video of the post-match and Danielson getting his leg "stuck." You can watch it here.
The show followed it's now-familiar pattern of two hot matches book-ending the show, a woman's match and squash in the middle, and a cluster of non-wrestling segments before the main event.
New Wrestling Observer Newsletter plus tons of downloadable podcasts every week
Get breaking news alerts & weekly roundups sent to your inbox
The couple were married Friday in Mexico.
Sky's custom title has purple and gold accents in the style of the Los Angeles Lakers team colors.
VanZant's first match is one of two new bouts announced for Sunday's show.
The Attitude Era WWF star made his second AEW appearance during Friday's episode.
Soho will face Britt Baker in the finals at Double or Nothing this Sunday.
The Brawling Brutes will take on The New Day and a mystery partner.
The Double or Nothing go-home show will feature an Owen Hart Tournament semifinal.
Mike Sempervive gets you ready for Double or Nothing weekend.