AEW Rampage 9/9/2022

AEW Rampage 9/9/2022

AEW Tournament of Champions First Round - Sammy Guevara vs Darby Allin

They stare down and lock up. Sammy slaps him and Darby slaps him back. Darby gori special submissions him over his back and puts Sammy into an armbar which is broken up. Darby is on the top and takes a jumping kick from Sammy then Sammy superplexes him and holds on for another suplex. Sammy goes for a 3rd and Darby holds on and they go over the top rope into a Darby suplex on the floor. Darby goes for a tope and Tay Conti is in the way then Darby goes for a tope but takes a cutter on the floor.

We go to PiP break and return and Sammy hook kicks him. Sammy lands on his feet on a top rope SSP attempt then Darby code red's him. Tay distracts Darby outside and Sammy kicks him from the steps. Tay and Sammy go to kiss and Darby flip topes Sammy through the ropes. Darby takes off Sammy's wedding ring and Tay asks for it. Darby goes to give it to her and Sammy attacks him from behind then takes the ring. Sammy then does a double springboard cutter for 2.

Sammy goes for a top rope coffin drop and misses. Anna Jay comes down and distracts the ref then Darby takes a low blow. Darby is powerbombed onto his skateboard then takes a GTH for the Sammy win.

This was very tame by their standards. The crowd wasn't too much into this and the pace was slower than you would expect. The suplex spot looked dumb and I didn't like the floor moves not really counting towards anything. There was also a bunch of shenanigans which did nothing for this.

 

Samoa Joe came out. He said it feels good to be back. He said he apologizes and owes us much more violence. He said the ROH TV champ is in the house and he's open for business. Mark Sterling comes out with Nese and Josh Woods. Mark says Nese has more abs than Joe has AEW matches. Mark says Nese deserves a shot at the title and puts over Woods as well for a title shot. Joe said he agrees about Woods and Joe offers to defend the title right now. Mark says no and says they will do it next week on Rampage.

Miro does his usual promo. He says God took the devil out before he could. He complains about not being in the title tournament, says he is flawless and says something else before the promo ends.

Madison Rayne vs Serena Deeb

With such a bloated roster, I really don't think this is a match that needs to be happening. Deeb wristlock takedowns her then is armdragged. Rayne goes for a pin off a back drop and they do a stand off. They argue and push each other then Deeb lariats her. Deeb pounds on her from the mount and then swinging neckbreakers her for 2. MR step up enzugiri's her and chest forearms her down. Rayne hits a sliding lariat for 2. Deeb throws her off then preps her for the serenity lock and then puts that on to win it.

It was short and not good. Rayne's been around a longtime and sure did not look like a vet.

The Baddies are interviewed. Jade said she beat Athena like she said she would. She said she is giving out work and told the women wrestlers to come apply.

Powerhouse Hobbs is interviewed. He takes offense at Lexi saying he had an unexpected win. Hobbs said QT and the Factory couldn't ge tthe job done, so he put Starks 6 feet deep at the PPV. He said he will show the world why he is that killer and said he is the "Monstar" Powerhouse Hobbs. Short and good promo.

Claudio and Dax do split screene promos. Regal said he hired Dax 13 years ago as an obscurity. He said he knows everything about Dax and knows how good he is. He says Cesaro is the ultimate competitor and says he is on his side. Claudio says Dax will win singles titles, but not his tonight. Dax says he knows he is the underdog. He said he will fight Regal if he has to and says he will be the ROH champ.

ROH Title - Claudio Castagnoli vs Dax Harwood

They have a bunch of time for this one. CC side headlocks him and Dax tries some pin attempts. Dax headlock takeovers him then CC forearms him. They trade euros for chops and Dax goes down. Dax short arm lariats him then they do the suplex over the top to the outside spot for the 2nd time this show.

We go to PiP break then full break. They trade forearms and Dax is thrown into the post under the bottom rope and takes an unusual landing outside. CC baseball slides him outside. They trade more shots and CC abdominal stretches him. Dax hiptosses him out of it and gets lariated. They fight up top then Dax top rope headbutts him. Dax hits punches and takes a euro. Dax piledrivers him for 2.

Dax goes up top and takes a euro then CC top rope superplexes him for 2. We go to our second PiP break and they trade forearms. Dax backslides him and is facekicked. Dax reverses a facekick into a slingshot sitout powerbomb for 2. Dax hits 2 germans on CC then sits him up top. Dax goes for a top rope backdrop but Cesaro reverses it and Dax reverses CC's pin attempt. They trade shots and CC hits left and right hand euros. CC giant swings him then sharpshooters him. CC lets go then Dax sharpshooters him. CC breaks the hold and hits upkicks. CC then forearm flurries him and elbow flurries him. CC then wins it with the sharpshooter.

There wasn't much of a story to it but it was a solid wrestling match.

Overall thoughts: The main was the only worthwhile thing on this show. It felt like a quick hour of wrestling but I wouldn't really recommend going out of your way to see this.