AEW Rampage 4/8/2022

AEW Rampage 4/8/2022

Bryan Danielson vs Trent Beretta

No entrances for either guy. Regal is on commentary. Trent back elbows him early and DB hits some leg kicks. Bryan hanging guillotines him and is thrown overhead. Bryan hits a bunch of chest kicks and Trent gets on his shoulders then rolls him out of the ring. Trent goes for a plancha and Bryan kicks him as he comes down. Bryan goes for a tope but gets caught and saito suplexed on the floor.

Trent runs at him out there but goes into the steps as we go to PiP break. We return and Bryan half-butterfly suplexes him. Bryan goes up top, gets caught and gets superplexed. They trade chops then Trent deadlift release german suplexes him. Bryan spinning elbows him then backdrops him for 2.

Bryan dragon sleepers him and Trent hits the ropes. Trent hits a tornado ddt for 2. Trent gets crotched up top and Bryan tries to top rope backdrop him but Trent rolls around and lands on him. Bryan hits a bunch of kicks then takes a release half-nelson suplex. Trent then lariats him for 2.

Trent pounds on Bryan with forearms then takes a flying knee. Bryan gotch-style piledrivers him then holds his arm as he reverse curb stomps him. Bryan then does a lebell lock and grabs him hard by the mouth during it for an easy tap out.

It was a match. I didn't think it was particularly special or had any great logic to it. They had a possible story or thing to talk about here with both sides trying to recruit Wheeler Yuta, but they never mentioned it.

Hook is sitting in the locker room. They try to interview him but he is eating chips and not interested. Danhausen then pops out of a trash can and points at him, but Hook throws the chips at him then Danhausen eats them.

Scorpio Sky, Dan Lambert and Ethan Page are in the ring to talk. Sammy Guevara and Tay Conti quickly interrupt him. Sammy says the man is supposed to make the title and Sky is making the title look like nothing. They call Dan a "sexist piece of sh!t". Dan says maybe he is a sexist but he's also a father and Tay's parents have suffered enough humiliation. Dan tells them to talk more about what they do in the ring instead of in the bedroom. Sammy wants a match and Ethan says he only laces up his boots for big money matches. He says as a pillar, Sammy is one of the first cracks in the foundation. Ethan calls him and Tay a disaster. Ethan then talks about his daughter and says he hopes she doesn't end up like Tay. Sammy says they will make his life a living hell until he gives them a match.

This wasn't good at all. Neither side were good at being heels or faces and this did little to interest me in a match.

Chris Jericho picks QT Marshall for the sports entertainer of the week.

Swerve Strickland vs QT Marshall

QT shoulders him over early and Swerve headscissors him down from the mat. Swerve is thrown over the top but handflips off the apron and lands on his feet. We go to PiP break then a regular break and return. Swerve hits some forearms then euro's him to the back of the head off the 2nd rope.

QT pop-up punches Swerve then swerve hits a jumping flatliner. Swerve then hits a jumping kick to the back of the head and wins it.

This was a squash but it really didn't do anything for Swerve.

Ricky Starks then gets on the mic and says he wants a Starks/Hobbs vs Swerve/Keith Lee tag match.

Marina Shafir gets a video promo. She calls out Jade in a quick one.

Owen Hart Tournament Qualifier - Willow Nightingale vs Red Velvet

AEW has this thing lately where they put talent on TV without any real intro or info and expect you to know them and care. I know Willow because I'm a hardcore fan, but there is no way anyone else does. It feels like I missed an episode or something.

Red flying snap mares Willow then leg lariats her. She then armdrags her and Willow shoulders her over. Willow misses a senton then takes some shots in the corner. They went through a bunch of upcoming matches in rapid fashion, making it hard to catch all of it.

Willow sentons Red then does a moonsault and lands on the back of Red's head hard. Red makes a comeback and does a bad spin kick as she is kneeling for 2. Willow spinebusters her for 2. They trade shots then Willow pounces her. Willow then cannonballs her hard for 2. Red hits a back cracker and rolls backwards then does a tornado kick to win it.

Willow showed some potential here with some nice fat girl offense but she really could have hurt Red with the botched moonsault. Red's offense continues to not look very good.

Tony Nese is interviewed for some reason. He is mad the announcer doesn't have a ton of enthusiasm. He asks when he will get what he deserves. Mark Sterling then comes in and says he agrees, then gives him his card. Mark said he needs proper legal representation.

They do a split-screen promo. Yuta said Mox embarassed him last time they fought. He says he's not the same guy they faced before and says he isn't scared of him. He says he will earn respect tonight. Mox says it isn't his job to show him respect. He said he is not his friend and doesn't care about what Regal thinks. He says his job is to spill his guts and find out what he is made of. Mox did good here.

Jon Moxley vs Wheeler Yuta

There's been a lot of hype over this and we'll see how it goes.

Yuta does a nice tope on Mox before he enters then throws him into the steps. Yuta pounds on him and they fight into the crowd. They get in the ring and Mox german suplexes him. Mox suplexes him andh its a nice boot to the face. Mox like hits some chops to the face and smothers his mouth and nose.

Yuta gets back dropped over the top and hits his face on the apron. Mox then bangs Yuta into the steps with his foot and Yuta bleeds. We go to PiP break, which I find really hard to watch and Mox release suplexes him. Mox runs into the steps outside. Back in and Mox superplexes him as he is really busted open. We finally come back and Yuta is really bleeding.

Mox shoves him around and Yuta fights back. He saves himself from being thrown out, throws out Mox then plancha's him off the top through a table. They come back in and both are tired out. Yuta germans him and hits another. Mox hits a spinning forearm then Yuta hits a neat suplex. He then does Bryan's reverse curb stomps and top rope splashes him for 2.

Yuta crossface him then Mox comes back with a lariat for 2. Mox hits some shots and Yuta fires up. Mox bites his wound and Yuta rakes his back. Yuta comes off the top and gets a boot then a paradigm shift ddt for 2. Mox bulldog chokes him then Yuta does it back. Mox pounds on him with elbows to the chest then knees him and high angle paradigm shift ddt's him for 2. Mox then grounded chokes him to win.

The Blackpool Combat Club all comes down and teases beating up Yuta and yuta stares Regal down. Regal offers to shake hands and Yuta agrees.

This got really hyped up online but AEW messed it up. They cut to PiP break as soon as Yuta started bleeding, which was the peak of this. It just destroyed the flow here and took me out of a match that the crowd was really into. They really should just re-air this on Dynamite uncut so we can see what happened in full. I liked the general logic and layout of it though and it looked decent, but the commercial screwed it up. I thought the blood was too early into the match and the move that caused it wasn't strong enough to get a huge pop out of me.

Overall thoughts: This wasn't a real great one outside of the main, but they messed up by cutting to break during the important part of the main and it messed it up. AEW's picture-in-picture commercial issues have been an ongoing problem and they really blew it here, bringing down what looked like a good one.