The First Dance
Jim Ross replaced Chris Jericho on commentary as Jericho was selling the effects from his match against MJF.
Rampage opens with the broadcast team hyping up the big announcement to kick of the show. Excalibur mentions the 15,000 plus in the audience who are already chanting for CM Punk. Cult of Personality hits and the crowd go insane as CM Punk makes his way out onto the stage. Punk is soaking in the atmosphere as he finally hits the ring. We cut to a quick commercial break and come back with CM Punk standing in the middle of the ring.
This was an exceptional promo by Punk and immediately shows he hasn’t lost his touch on the mic. He mentions how when he left Ring of Honor in 2005, it was him also leaving professional wrestling and now in 2021 he has returned. He speaks about his passion for the business, how for a while he lost that feeling and how he is looking to work with some of the young talent in the back.
He brings up Darby Allin and the cameras cut to show Darby and Sting watching from the rafters. He puts over Darby but also says that the most dangerous thing Darby can do is wrestle him especially when that match will be in Chicago at All Out. Punk ends with telling everyone in the audience that they will be getting a free ice-cream bar after the show. As the segment ends the commentators are shown with legit CM Punk ice-bars with Taz biting into his.
There is much more to this than what I’ve wrote and would recommend anyone that hasn’t seen this yet to seek it out. They dedicate around twenty minutes to Punk and really allow it to be a great moment with the air to breathe. It never felt rushed, and it was smart to have it open the show. There were parallels to the ‘pipebomb’ promo with how sat he sat cross-legged in the ring, but whereas that promo was him expressing everything he felt was wrong about WWE, this promo was about a man rediscovering the love for what he has dedicated a chunk of his life to.
There’s a backstage promo with Christian and Jurassic Park. Christian continues to hype up his upcoming match with Kenny Omega and fires up Jungle Boy & Luchasaurus for their match.
Jurassic Express vs Private Party
Before the match begins The Young Bucks and Brandon Cutler make their way out to the stage. The Bucks set up some seats to watch the match. We also see the Lucha Bros and the Varsity Blondes sitting in the front row.
They had a good match, and it was a fun way to start the tournament. It’s been a while since we’ve seen Private Party compete in a big match, and while they are still a team with room for improvement, it was a reminder of the raw talent they possess. There is a nice exchange in the beginning between Isiah Kassidy and Jungle Boy, before Private Party take control and get the heat on him. I like seeing Private Party work as the heels and it adds another dimension to their matches as they cut the ring in half, keeping Jungle Boy away from Luchasaurus. Back from the commercial break is when the match hits the next level as Jungle Boy makes the hot tag.
There are two big spots in the match: the first when Isiah Kassidy hit Jungle Boy with a Canadian Destroyer off the shoulders of Luchasaurus then Marq Quen with a shooting star press to Luchasaurus from the ring to the outside floor. They exchange some close near falls until Jurassic Express are able to hit their finisher on Quen to get the victory and advance into the final of the Tag Team Eliminator Tournament. They’ll face the winners of the Lucha Bros vs Varsity Blondes match which is set to take place on Dynamite. The final will be on next week’s edition of Rampage.
Winners: Jurassic Express
There’s a quick backstage promo with Kenny Omega and Don Callis as they continue to build to All Out.
Jade Cargill vs Kiera Hogan
There’s a video package before the match featuring comments from both women. The match itself was very quick, only lasting for about a minute. Hogan got some offense in early, took her focus of her opponent for a quick moment which Jade took advantage of with a big pump kick before finishing Kiera with the Jaded. It keeps Jade Cargill undefeated, and she comes out of it looking dominant and protected as she continues to learn and work on her craft.
Winner: Jade Cargill
Before the main event we get another split screen interview with Mark Henry like the one from last week. I enjoy these and it might only be a small thing, but it gives Rampage something unique for itself and separates it from Dynamite. The interview itself was good. 2.0 sounded great along with Daniel Garcia and Jon Moxley cut another great promo filled with intensity.
Jon Moxley vs Daniel Garcia
Eddie Kingston is ringside supporting Mox with 2.0 accompanying Garcia.
It was a short match, but they were able to get a lot in and have a good match. Mox has had a few matches like this in AEW where he has taken on up and coming talent in short matches, but still giving a lot to his opponent and being able to tell a compelling story despite the length. It’s a good example that every match doesn’t have to be 10 – 15 minutes.
Daniel Garcia has the talent and the potential to be a big name someday and we get a glimpse of that in this match, but he’s still very young with a lot of time on his side and him losing to Mox in a short time doesn’t hurt him, if anything it makes me want to see them have a great 15 – 20 minute match down the line.
Garcia shows off his technical ability and works on the leg of Moxley, but Jon finds various ways to stay in the match. The ending sees Moxley counter one of Garcia’s submission moves into the bulldog clutch and getting the submission victory.
Post-match, Daniel Garcia and 2.0 jump Moxley and Kingston. Darby and Sting hit the ring to make the save and fight off 2.0 Sting gets in a Stinger Splash and Scorpion Death Drop and Darby with a Coffin Drop to 2.0. This historic edition of Rampage goes off the air with Moxley, Kingston, Darby and Sting standing tall in the ring.
Winner: Jon Moxley
Overall Thoughts: the show was based around the return of CM Punk with a large part of the show dedicated to him. The wrestling took a backseat, but there was still a good tag team match and a fun main event. With Rampage being only 1 hour it’s very hard for it to be a show that is going to drag and just like last week the episode flew by. Mark Henry again didn’t really stand out much on commentary and maybe it’s going to take time for him to find his voice, however, I do enjoy him in interview segments and think his strength could be doing more sit-down style interviews. AEW has been on a wave of momentum since returning to the road and the debut of CM Punk will continue that as they roll into All Out next month.