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It’s Saturday, and you know what that means…it’s time to recap Rampage! Once again, on top of the Rampage Report, we’ll also get a lil Side of SmackDown! We’ll touch on highlights from that show after our regularly scheduled programming.
Opening Contest: Lucha Bros vs Young Bucks
The Bucks are out representing California in some cool gear with big California flag patches. California has #2 in my top three flags - Chicago, Cali, Colorado is the list! This match opened with a face off, some Cero Miedos, and no less than ten reversals between Penta and Matt, and it never slowed from there. About midway through it was revealed that the Hardys and Jurassic Express were in the crowd for this one.
There were so many good spots, a little writeup hardly does the match justice. It was just wall to wall action, it was a pleasure to watch. The Bucks did end up resorting to shenanigans to win, though. They yanked Penta’s mask and hit him with a double superkick before finishing Rey with the BTE Trigger.
Match #2: Ricky Starks and Powerhouse Hobbs vs oh, dear God, nevermind, it’s over
That was just a quick, brutal squash for Team Taz. As Jericho said, the pre taped segment of Starks and Hobbs talking themselves up lasted longer than the actual match!
I imagine this was the contest that got shortened for Punk’s segment coming up, but you never know.
Speaking of Punk, a quick video recap of his win at Double or Nothing followed.
Match #3: Kiera Hogan (w/Red Velvet, Jade Cargill, and Stokely Hathaway) vs Athena
This was a decent match in the middle of the show, with Stokely talking trash to Athena via video package before the match and Red Velvet interfering on behalf of her fellow baddie. Athena was able to stay strong and stay focused throughout, aside from a couple interactions with Cargill. In the end Athena was able to hit Hogan with the Eclipse (Excalibur called it a swan diving cutter) for the 1-2-3.
Jade sold a little concern after watching Athena, although she’s been calling Athena out so really this is kinda Jade’s own fault.
House of Black did a short vignette next with excellent scary lighting. Malakai Black told us that we should not be surprised that the house always wins. It was a carefully plotted plan. Julia Hart, the newest member of the House, told us to celebrate! “Isn’t this what you wanted? These are the fruits of your labor!”
Cult of Personality hit and my fears were realized. To be honest, I hadn’t heard anything about an injury until Friday night while I was watching Joe Bob’s Last Drive In on Shudder, and was live tweeting with my fellow horror fans. Once I saw Punk was trending, I feared the worst.
Punk was headed to the arena earlier and wanted to just go home, and hug his wife and dog. But we deserved an explanation so he’s here.
He said he would give us his all until the wheels fell off. Turns out one of the wheels is broken, so he’s going to need surgery. “The wheels are still there, they haven’t fallen off!”
He told Tony Khan he didn’t want to hold the company up, and there are plenty of guys in the back who could fill his shoes. He was willing to relinquish the title but Tony said he believes in CM Punk. “I’m champion for a reason, and I’m gonna show you exactly why. I will come back bigger, faster, stronger, and hungrier than ever before. And God dammit, I’ll prove exactly why I’m the best in the world!”
Woof. That sucks! I am immensely bummed about this, but Punk seems pretty optimistic. It looks like AEW has a plan for what to do next already, as they put this statement out Saturday morning:
So this will be a busy week! I was looking forward to Tanahashi vs Punk but maybe we’ll get something just as fun? WHO’S TO SAY.
Back from commercial, it’s Dante Martin and Scorpio Sky doing the double screen interview with Mark Freakin’ Henry. Dante says he’s already better than Sky and he has Matt Sydal watching his back tonight. Dan Lambert says that’s all Martin is, talk and potential. Sky tells Mark to hit his line, because he can’t wait to kick this kid’s teeth in, and…
IT’S TIME…FOR THE MAIN EVENT!!!
Scorpio Sky © (w/Ethan Page and Dan Lambert) vs Dante Martin (w/ Matt Sydal) for the TNT Championship
They feel each other out for a while, with some quick kicks from both and some light lockups. After the PIP break, Martin got an energy boost with a HUGE springboard drop outside on Sky, followed by an equally huge top rope shotgun dropkick. Scorpio recovered and hit the TKO, but Taz did point out a hurt ankle on Sky after the win.
Excalibur did his best to explain the battle royale scheduled for Dynamite as Sky celebrated, and our work here is done!
Another hour of Rampage that is completely worth seeking out, although if you’re pressed for time I would suggest skipping the Team Taz squash. The Punk promo was heartfelt and really had some nice sentiments. Athena’s first match in AEW was solid, although it was a little overshadowed by commentary pushing Punk’s announcement. The main event was good as well, and the opener was definitely the match of the night, an all out spotfest we’ve come to expect from the Bucks and the Bros.
Wait! Before you go, let’s do our lil half review of WWE’s Friday night product with a segment I like to call…
A SIDE OF SMACKDOWN!
Drew McIntyre straight up challenged Roman Reigns for Clash at the Castle in a few months, which strongly implies to me that they have no plans to even have him defend in the meantime. Which, fine, he has time off scheduled, but it’s kinda bleak when the WWE itself acknowledges that the belt will be on the same guy in two months.
Drew teamed up with the New Day for a opening talking segment slash six man tag match with the Brawlin Brutes, which the Brutes won by way of Xavier Woods getting distracted and Bitter Ended by Butch, the guy Drew just helped Woods defeat last week.
Shanky continued his “character development” as a guy who dances. He accompanied Jinder Mahal in a match against Humberto Carillo, and managed to distract both his partner (into a near fall) and the referee, resulting in a surprise rollup win for Jinder. Shanky then danced with the ring announcer, and we moved on.
Natalya won a six pack challenge to become number one contender after Shotzi tried locking Aaliyah in the locker room again. Ronda vs Nattie has been done before, and I would have liked to see Shayna Bazler but maybe we’re saving that? WHO’S TO SAY?
Madcap Moss has a new gimmick and it’s Create A Wrestler template #4, complete with new generic music. He called out Corbin, which led to a match but Corbs ran away. Corbin returned with a chair, which Moss kicked and then beat Corbin with, getting Happy the DQ win. Moss beat him up more, and a backstage interview later let us know Happy and Moss have a No Holds Barred match for Hell In A Cell.
Riddle looked great in another Tag Team Championship match against the Usos, but Nakamura went down with an injury mid-match. Riddle held his own regardless, and only the power of Roman Reigns’s theme music was able to distract Riddle. That led to a sneaky tag by the Usos, and a splash win for them as well. After the match we learned that Samy Zayn was in the production truck and knows how to operate the sound board. He went to the entrance to celebrate with the Usos, and a brawl between all of them and Riddle ensued.
And that’s it! You’re all caught up. Tomorrow I’ll write a full predictions and preview post for
WWE Hell In A Cell, and I’d love it if you shared your thoughts and predictions as well. It’s nice to know you’re out there, picking up what I’m putting down.
I appreciate you stopping by, and would love it if you drop your thoughts in the comments section below. You can also follow me on Twitter @ElOsoPequeno, where I try to remember to post whenever I update the blog. I recap Raw, Dynamite, and Rampage weekly, and recap anything else I happen to watch. There’s also a weekly wrap up on Fridays, and I’ll do predictions before any big AEW or WWE pay per premium live events.
Have a Good One!
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