Orange Cassidy vs Powerhouse Hobbs
Rampage opened with the first round of the World Title Eliminator Tournament. They aired a highlight video from Cassidy and Hobbs’ first encounter from last year which ended in under a minute. I though it was a nice touch and adds to the story of the match, with Hobbs having more experience now and looking for revenge.
They played on that match in the early part with Cassidy going for his Orange Punch only for Hobbs to counter it into a spinebuster and he himself almost getting a quick upset win. The rest of the match was decent, but it never got to that next level. Hobbs was good in the bully role beating down his smaller opponent.
There wasn’t much doubting who was going over though especially since the tease of the Mox and Cassidy match last week. Orange got the roll-up victory and advances into the next round of the tournament while Hobbs still got to look dominant throughout the match.
Britt Baker vs Anna Jay
They had a really good match and Chris Jericho said on commentary that it’s probably the best Anna Jay match he has seen, and I agree with him. It was the kind of match that shows the talent Anna Jay has and the more time she works in the ring the better she is going to get. A more experienced Anna Jay down the line in a rematch with Britt Baker, then I think this match will be even better, however this was a nice glimpse of what could come.
They allowed Anna Jay to use a lot of her strengths in the match with a lot of chain wrestling on display. She got to be competitive with the champ and go back and forth for around ten minutes, but ultimately Bitt Baker was able to hit a superkick and put Anna into the Lockjaw for the win.
Post-match Baker and her friends look to add further damage to Jay, but Tay Conti runs down to make the save. Conti holds up the Women’s Title and signals that she will be next in line with a shot for the AEW Women’s Title against Britt Baker at Full Gear.
Other Segments
Penta and Alex came out for an in-ring interview with Tony Schiavone. It’s quickly interrupted though as Penta is distracted by two men in the crowd dressed in the Frog outfits. Penta confronts them but they’re random people and it’s all a distraction for FTR and Tully to jump Penta and Alex from behind and lay them out.
Pac vs Andrade El Idolo
This show was taped so there was a lot of praise that had been coming out during the week regarding this match. Some comments saying that if you took Dynamite Kid and Eddie Guerrero in their primes and had them face off then it would be something like this. It had huge expectations and it delivered.
It was pointed out on commentary how some wrestlers have chemistry with each other, and you could have them compete against each other a hundred times and it would still be great, and Andrade and Pac definitely have that chemistry with each other. This match was full of action from the beginning to the end.
With everyone else banned from ringside with the story being that Andrade is confident he can beat Pac by himself, it allowed for a straight up match with no shenanigans. Some of the standout spots of the match included Andrade hitting the three amigos for a nearfall and an Eddie chant breaking out, a DDT from Andrade to Pac on the edge of the ring and a huge avalanche brainbuster from Pac to Andrade.
Pac would get the victory by countering a Hammerlock DDT into a small package for the three count and to level up their singles matches with both men scoring a win over each other, and it continues a fantastic series of matches they’ve had now on Rampage.
Pac doesn’t get any time to celebrate his win as the moment the match is over, we get a blackout. Malakai Black is standing in the ring with Andrade and Pac as the lights come back on for a big pop. Black spits the mist in the face of Pac and beats him down as he aligns himself with Andrade.
Before they can do anymore damage with a steel chair, Arn Anderson comes down with targets the figurative Glock at Black. Cody comes in from behind and starts unloading on Black as Andrade and Malakai eventually bail leaving Cody Rhodes to stand tall in the ring to end Rampage.
Final Thoughts: most of the show revolved around the in-ring action, with a great main event. I thought the crowd kept up the energy despite it being a taped show. Rampage continues to be an enjoyable hour of professional wrestling and is building its reputation with some of the standout pay per view qaulity matches since its inception.