Saturday, November 27, 2021

AEW: Rampage Review - November 26th, 2021

AEW: Rampage (Black Friday edition)
November 26th, 2021
Chicago, Illinois


Commentators - Excalibur, Taz, Chris Jericho, & Ricky Starks 

Ok y’all sorry for no live instant recap this week. I work retail and it was simply not feasible considering it’s Black Friday. However I am here now with my usual written review so let’s diiiiive in. 

1) Adam Cole & Bobby Fish vs. Orange Cassidy & Wheeler Yuta (w/ Chuck Taylor & Kris Statlander)

Cole looks like an absolute beautiful hunk of a man.. a superstar. Bobby Fish looks.. like shit and boring. So yeah, the usual for both fellas. Best Friends are here and they are as adorable as always. Cole & Fish had a very fun tag last week so hopes are high on this one as well. Fish & Yuta start and it’s a fun technical exchange. Cole & Orange have an awesome showdown as they trade taunts. The two most over men in the match so seeing this rocked. Yuta ends up getting isolated by Cole & Fish which makes sense and Yuta is good in that role, takin a beatin and makin ya feel for him. Orange ALMOST gets the hot tag and Cole cuts it off. Orange eventually gets it though, and it rocks. He hits all his stuff and the crowd goes nuts. This is really basic, good tag pro wrestling. I didn’t care for the finish with Fish hitting the avalanche falcon arrow on Orange for the pin. I guess that’s a finisher of his now? It’s a cool move and all, but I’ve had rather had Cole pin Cassidy. Someone else the caliber of Orange or higher. Fish pinning Orange, a man who has victories over Chris Jericho and one of the best win - loss records in the company just seems bizarre. Then again, TK views Fish much more highly than myself. Solid ass lil tag none the less.

Match rating - **3/4

Tony Schiavone is backstage with the “Premier Athlete” Tony Nese. He says he’s been scouting and he’s done his homework and he is 100% sure he can beat Sammy Guevara for the TNT Title. Sammy runs up and gets in his face and accepts the challenge. Nese cheap shots him as he walks off. Nese then crouches down by him and says the only reason he’s champion is because people like him weren’t available yet.. ok. That was just awkward. Not a fan. 

FTR video package. They hype that they are 2-0 against the Lucha Bros disregarding the “fluke” victory at Full Gear. They challenge the Lucha Bros to a 2/3 Falls Match for the AEW Tag Team Titles on Rampage next week.

2) Britt Baker vs. Riho 

There’s really and truly so much backstory here. Riho is the inaugural AEW Women’s Champion. Her first defense as champion was a successful one against DMD herself before she came into her own. When Riho lost her title to Nyla Rose, she never received a rematch, not even to this day. And to top that all off, she was never actually eliminated from the Women’s Casino Battle Royal at All Out back in September. So, yeah, lots on the line here as Riho battles the Women’s Champion with a chance to get a championship match against her if she wins. Truthfully, I think this should’ve just been a title match considering all the things I mentioned and since Riho is pretty high in the rankings system, but we will take what we can get because it’s been WAAYYYYY too long since we’ve seen Riho on TV god dammit. I truly don’t understand why she isn’t more featured, she delivers every time out and this was no different. Britt worked the aggressive heel role and really laid it in here, and so did Riho, but that’s pretty much normal. They do some Jamie/Rebel interference behind the ref’s back. Riho builds a comeback and it’s awesome. In the midst of some back & forth stuff, Riho catches Britt in a flash pin for the victory. RIHO GETS A TITLE SHOT.

Match rating - ***

They replay the recent events of Cody and friends. After the 8 man tag main event on Dynamite went off air, Andrade hit Cody with DDT on the exposed concrete so next week on Dynamite, they will face off in an Atlanta Street Fight.

3) Eddie Kingston vs. Daniel Garcia (w/ 2.0)

This match came about on Dynamite last week. They did a really good job of making this seem like a big deal, which I mean, Eddie Kingston is in it so of course it is. It’s nice seeing Dan and 2.0 pop up after a few weeks out of the limelight and I can’t think of a more enjoyable angle than what they’ve ran here. King is beat up from his epics with Danielson & Punk and young Garcia is as cocky as ever in being able to beat up the wild veteran. This is a really unique match and it shouldn’t come as a surprise because these two are very unique wrestlers. King has the advantage early in a match filled with strikes, only for his knee to begin to give out on him and Garcia takes aim like a shark that smells blood in the water. As they worded it on commentary, “Garcia is breaking down Eddie Kingston”, the story and style was simple. A grapplefest that ends with a dramatic flurry of strikes and a spinning backfist. Kingston wins a great main event. 

Match rating - ***1/4

No comments:

Post a Comment