AEW Rampage 9/8/2023

AEW Rampage 9/8/2023

Penta El Zero Miedo vs Jay Lethal

No entrances for either guy here. They shove each other and Jay headflips out of a wristlock. Penta kips up out of one and armdrags him. They then stand off. Penta hits a superkick  and they chest slap each other. Jay gets stuck hanging from the top rope and Penta double stomps him down. Jeff Jarrett tries to trip Penta but has his hand stepped on.

Penta superkicks Jay off the apron. He then topes Satnam Singh but is caught and has his back put into the post. Karen Jarrett ties Penta mask to the bottom rope then the ref throws all of Jay's buddies out. We go to break and return. Jay hits chops on Penta and bangs his head off the buckle.

Penta hits sling blades on Jay then tope con hilos him. Penta top rope double stomps him then Jay hits a lethal combination for 2. Jay tries to handspring into the ropes but is dropkicked. Jay pulls off Penta's mask and grabs Jarrett's guitar. Jay and Alex fight over it then Jay's lethal injection is reversed into a backcracker. Penta cranks Jay's arm back and hits a package piledriver to win it.

There was a lot of shenanigans here and it was just an average match. It was watchable but not much else.

They show the issues between Jericho and Sammy Guevara then Sammy comes out. Sammy says Jericho's pissing him off, but says he knows he's pissing Jericho off too. They each say they want to punch each other in the face and Sammy says he wants to punch him right now. Jericho says they are brothers and said they can't seem to get over their issues. Jericho said they need to settle this and said it's like when you punch your friend in the bar then have some beers and shake hands. Jericho said they should have a match against each other and says they should do it at AEW Grand Slam. Sammy agrees.

They show clips of the issues between Samoa Joe and MJF

Hikaru Shida, Britt Baker and Skye Blue vs Taya Valkyrie, The Bunny and Anna Jay

Skye and Bunny start us off then Taya gets in. Taya and Skye trade shots. Skye tries to springboard but is brought down. We go to PiP break and return. Skye superkicks Taya then Anna and Shida go at it. Shida hits forearms then has her head banged off the buckle. Everyone starts hitting a move in sequence then Britt superkicks Bunny. Britt butterfly suplexes Bunny then Britt is pushed into Shida. Shida is knocked out of the ring and Britt puts the lock jaw on Bunny to win it.

This was short, rushed and not good.

Shida was visibly frustrated at Britt after and both shook their heads.

We got a video on Hook. He said the FTW Title is back where it belongs in New York.

The Young Bucks vs 2.0 (Matt Menard and Angelo Parker)

Parker takes a double hiptoss into a double fistdrop. Menard takes a double dropkick. Parker is bridged on the 2nd rope and swanton'd then the Bucks pop-up dropkick Menard. Matt hits 4 northern lights suplexes in a row then does a double northern lights suplex. Jake Hager trips Matt outside then Parker dropkicks Matt.

Menard and Matt trade punches then Menard hits corner spears. Parker jumps off of Menard's back for an elbow drop on Matt's back. Nick top rope double crossbodies 2 then does a walk up the ropes armdrag + headscissors combo. Parker goes off Menard's back and si superkicked then Hager is superkicked on the apron. Menard takes a BTE trigger and is pinned it.

It was a short squash with a fast pace.

Mike Santana does a promo. He said life gives you new challenges and roads to cross and says you can't trust anyone to have the same will and drive as you. He says the road he has chosen must be taken on his own. He said he has bet on himself all of his life and says he is here to be the guy, not a guy in the game. He says he's not here to make friends but to make money. He says if you aren't down, you will get run down.

Grand Slam Eliminator Tournament Quaterfinal - Samoa Joe vs Jeff Hardy

Joe backs him up in the corner then is dropkicked in the knee. Jeff dropkicks him in the back then 2nd rope lariats him. Joe beats up on him against the middle rope and we go to break. We return and Joe sidesteps a flying forearm. Jeff goes out then Joe hits corner punches. Jeff hits whisper in the wind out of the corner.

Jeff hits an atomic drop then legdrops him in the crotch. Joe then puts him in the choke and wins it.

This was a short, waste of time. I'm kind of 50/50 on this. Jeff is done and he shouldn't be put in long matches anymore, but I do think they could have gotten more out of this. Joe won as expected.

Overall thoughts: This was a bad episode of Rampage. Lethal/Penta was the only match that got enough time, and it was average. The other matches were all short matches that were almost squashes and were wastes of time.