AEW Rampage 6/23/2023

AEW Rampage 6/23/2023

Last week's show is here: https://prowresblog.blogspot.com/2023/06/aew-rampage-6162023.html 

Yoh, Best Friends and Rocky Romero vs Will Osperay, Swerve Strickland, Jeff Cobb and Kyle Fletcher

Everyone brawls to start and everyone but Will and Yoh go out to fight. Will hits corner punches then gyrates in Yoh's face on the ropes. Yoh trips Will into a baseball slide then gyrates back at him. Swerve and Chuck get in. chuck rolls him up and basement dropkicks him. Swerve takes a double back elbow then a double elbow drop. Trent hits chops on Kyle then takes a back body drop. Kyle blocks a tornado ddt then takes a half-nelson suplex. Kyle slams him then Kyle takes a jumping double knee. Kyle is hung over the top rope and top rope dropkicked by Rocky.

The faces go to hug but are pulled out then Swerve rolls in and hits a flatliner on Yoh. Will spinning backbreakers Rocky. Cobb then lariats and standing moonsaults Rocky for 2. We go to break and return. Swerve 2nd rope euros Rocky in the back of the head then takes a reverse enzugiri. Yoh hits forearms on Will then Will handspring corkscrew enzugiri's Yoh. Yoh does a flying forearm and a single underhook on Will. Will takes a soul foot into a half nelson then is lariated by Rocky. The faces then all hug and Yoh superkicks and falcon arrows Will.

Swerve backdrops Rocky to the floor then pump kicks him from the apron. Yoh takes double boots a tour of the islands backdrop for 2. Will hidden blades Yoh and wins it.

This was Yoh's AEW debut and in typical AEW fashion, he lost. He looked like a dork here and him losing did little to fix that. This was your usual AEW multi-person tag with people coming in and out at a fast pace. It only had around 10 minutes and obviously, there's only so much you can do with it.

Toni Storm does a promo on Willow Nightingale. She said it will be champion vs champion, though Willow isn't defending her title. Toni said her title is the only one that matters, because she is holding it. She said she is the greatest AEW women's champ to ever live.

Adam Cole comes out and MJF follows. MJF thanks him for giving him the confidence to accept the match vs Tana. He said he figured he'd do him a solid as his new tag partner and got him a match at Forbidden Door against Tom Lawlor. Tom then clips Cole with Royce Isaacs. MJF says he will come save him, but is clearly goofing around. Tom leglocks Cole while Royce armbars him. MJf gets in the ring and Tom/Royce leave. MJF says he almost had 'em and was "this close". MJF tells him to have fun at Forbidden Door. This was kind of funny.

The Acclaimed and Billy Gunn vs Jobbers

Billy punches a jobber and Bowens superkicks another. Bowens hits a back body drop then the Acclaimed and Billy scissor. A jobber gets slammed and Bowens hits his 2nd rope crotch legdrop. Bowens hits the arrive and Max hits a top rope elbow drop and wins.

This was a short squash and they gave no hints as to who the jobbers were.

Harley Cameron from QTV comes out and asks for the music to be cut. She says she is not only an amazing journalist, but also an amazing musician. The crowd chants, "who are you?". She starts signing and Billy stops her. Billy said they have the greatest rapper in the world. Harley said she knows they are great rappers and that's why she wrote a rap. Harley said she thinks Bowens is into him and Bowens says he is gay. QT Marshall comes out with Aaron Solo. He compares Max to John Cena and said he didn't have to have his head up daddy's @ss to get over. The people with Harley take off their masks and John Hennigan superkicks Billy. They call him Johnny TV and Harley tells Billy to suck it. This was terrible on many levels. 

Prince Nana and Swerve talk. They said they make their debut on Collision this weekend. Swerve said he's going to shoot his shot and take out Tana for MJF and said he will do what he's gotta do.

Owen Hart Women's Tournament Quarterfinal - Skye Blue vs Anna Jay

They lock up and Anna piefaces her. She slides out and Skye chases her. Menard nearly lariats her out there. Anna bangs her hip into her headthen Skye jaw breakers her. Sky then hits her with her hip and Anna spin kicks her as she is on the ropes. Skye takes a nasty self-inflicted bump out then is ddt'd on the floor.

Anna bangs Skye's head off the apron and footchokes her. She then chokes her on the ropes. We go to PiP break then full break. Anna ddt's her as we return. They trade forearms and Skye forearm flurries her. Skye step up knees her then sweeping kicks her in the head from the mat. Skye bangs her head off the top buckle then Skye pushes Angelo Parker on the apron. Skye top rope crossbodies Anna for 2. Anna side kicks Skye and hits a backcracker for 2. Anna hits a gori special drop for 2. She sleepers her and Skye throws her into the buckles. Skye superkicks her then hits a code red from the side to win.

It wasn't anything special as expected.

Punk talks about Jay White. He said fighting his friends in Chicago isn't a dream, it's a nightmare. Jay says his team will show they are a cut above. The Gunn's say Collision is now a Gunn show and FTR say they will be there.

Jungle Boy says he doesn't know much about Douki and tells him to do what he's gotta do. Douki talks under his mask and it's hard to hear, but I think he said if you want to get to Sanada, you have to go through Douki.

They run down the cards for Collision and Forbidden Door. They also say there will be a pre-show for Forbidden Door with Athena vs Billie Starkz. 

Jungle Boy vs Douki

Justin Roberts calls Douki "dookie". There were no packages or anything for Douki, just the quick line before this.

JB shoulders over Douki then Douki armdrags him. JB walks up the buckles and flips off the ropes to armdrag him. JB then dropkicks him and headflips. JB charges at him and goes out then Douki topes him. Douki is whipped into the rails outside then backdropped on the apron.

We go to a long PiP break and return. Douki enzugiri's him then flying headbutts him. Douki double stomps him then gori special drops him for 2. JB pumphandle gutbusters Douki then tiger drivers Douki. Jericho says he's going to bed that Tony Schiavone is a dumb idiot on the Draft Kings bet.

A table is set up outside and Douki senton elbows him through it from the top rope. Douki slingshots in and is hit then JB lariats him. Douki brainbusters him for 2 as the crowd chants, "holy dookie". We get another "dookie" chant then Douki slingshot ddt's him for 2. JB rolls up Douki then superkicks and poisonrana's him. The crowd boos JB and JB elbows Douki from behind. JB then does Sanada's skull end dragon sleeper and wins it.

This was a hilarious disaster. The announcer got Douki's name wrong leading to the crowd chanting for "dookie" and turning on JB. JB got visibly mad at this. The two did match up well but this did not go as planned and it was entertaining for all the wrong reasons. And to top it all off, Douki lost in his AEW debut.

Sanada's music hits and he comes out. They go head to head and Sanada holds his title up.

Overall thoughts: This was a terrible show that was entertaining for the wrong reasons. We had a worst segment of the year candidate with The Acclaimed and QTV. Two people lost on their debuts, Justin Roberts messed up Douki's name and JB got upset at the crowd turning against him.