AEW Rampage 7/28/2023

AEW Rampage 7/28/2023

Last week's show is here: https://prowresblog.blogspot.com/2023/07/aew-rampage-7212023.html

Tag Team Eliminator Battle Royale

Ethan Page and Jay Lethal fought to the back. Luther was in this with Serpentico which was odd. They revived the Matt Sydal and Christopher Daniels team for this one and Satnam Singh was in here. Sydal and Brother Zay did a Private Party gin and juice. Satnam took a big bump over the top with a Big Bill/Brina Cage lariat and shockingly, the last four were Bill, Cage, Butcher and Blade. Blade hit a stunner on Bill and that led to a big Butcher lariat on Bill. Blade took a lariat + powerbomb combo to leave Butcher stuck on his own. Butcher uranage backbreakered Cage then Butcher took a nasty chokeslam + lariat combo and was thrown out. Big Bill and Brian Cage win.

It was a one-ring battle royale that went about 17 minutes. There wasn't a lot of room to do stuff and battle royales are rarely anything special. Tony loves them though and they get a lot of people on the card, so we get them alot here. Singh didn't really show much in the time he got and they were clearly hurting for teams with the Spanish Announce Project and Sydal/Daniels being in this.

We get a video and promo from The Kingdom. They said ROH Gave them their first oppurtunity and did them right. They talked about a match with The Briscoes being the proudest moments of their career. They said they knew Tony buying ROH meant ROH was in good hands. They say they are the OGK but say we must call them The Kingdom.

Komander vs Kip Sabian

Kip does a taunt early then Komander stands on his arm and does a taunt. Kip shoulders him over then Komander hits armdrags. Komander is hiptossed out. Komander hits a nice dropkick off of a handspring then Komander twist dives him outside. We go to PiP break then full break.

We return and they trade forearms. Komander spinning headscissors him and does a spinning high back kick for 2. Kip hiptosses him and he bounces off the ropes then rolls him into a pin attempt. Kip knees him and Komander forearms him. Komander brings his throat down over the top then Kip avoids his rope walk SSP. Kip kicks him off the apron and sitout moonsaults him on the outside.

Kip cannonballs him in the corner then running ssp's him for 2. Komander is eye raked by Ford on the apron when the ref isn't looking then Kip hits a bridging suplex from the ropes for 2. Komander springboard canadian destroyers him then rope walk ssp's him and actually wins with it.

It was just a match. I thought the first part was okay but it lost steam after the break.

The Kingdom vs Hayden Backlund and Myung-Jae Lee

Lee is tiny and Hayden hasn't been around for a while. Taven spinning high kicks Hayden then Hayden takes a corner splash and forearm. Mike death valley drivers Gayden and Taven running knees him. Kingdom hit the protonpack and pick up the quick squash win. Lee never even got in.

Mike says to pay attention after as The Kingdom is here. 

The Dark Order said they weren't afraid to bleed together. They said they had to get dirty, dark and violent. Alex said they brought out a side of them that was buried for years. Uno says they won't flater or be disrespected and says it's time to re-build. Uno asks if we are Dark Order or if we are not.

We get a package for FTR vs MJF and Adam Cole tomorrow. We also find out Samoa Joe will face Gravity tomorrow, Vikingo/Andretti/Darius face Juice/Gunn Club, Kiera Hogan faces Merecedez Martinez, Buddy faces Andrade in a ladder match and they say we will hear from Punk.  

That's as much as I'm covering for this one.

Overall thoughts: Of what I saw, nothing was special. Battle royales are rarely ever great and this was no exception and Komander/Kip started off okay but tailed off. The Kingdom squash was quick and pointless.