Arena: Agganis Arena
City: Boston, MA

It’s Saturday morning, and you know what that means…  it’s time for our Rampage Review!

With Tony Khan promising to return to his ‘ruthless roots’ ahead of his upcoming mixtape tour, we saw some marquee names return to the show.  ‘My palms are sweaty, knees weak, arms are heavy…’

BRYAN DANIELSON VS TRENT?

Story going in: The Best Friends are annoyed at the BCC for trying to poach Wheeler Yuta, Trent vowed to show Yuta what he could still learn from them

A cagey start filled with mat-work and headlocks ended with a Trent back-elbow to the face as Danielson rebounded off the ropes.  Both landed kicks to the spine as they searched for the upper hand.

‘You’re gonna get your ****** head kicked in!’

After trading chops, Trent countered a hanging front chancery into a northern lights as Regal put over Excalibur, Taz and Starks’ commentary.  Trent then damaged his already injured neck after colliding with the ring steps.

After the ads, Danielson was dominating in the ring, aiming strikes and kicks at the neck of his opponent, ending with Trent countering with a superplex as Bryan scaled the ropes.  Regal said the BCC didn’t respect anyone, they might admire certain people but no respect.

Scrambling to their feet, chops were exchanged until Danielson got a two-count after a shoulder capture suplex, following with a dragon sleeper which Trent shook off by reaching the ropes.  A tornado DDT out of the corner got Trent a two as he prepared Danielson on the top buckle.  Another two resulted as Trent countered a back suplex from the top.

Hard strikes ended with another close count after a lariat, Trent thoroughly in control as Bryan lay on the mat.  Exploding off the ropes with a busaiku knee, Danielson followed with a gotch-style piledriver before this one reached its end with Danielson kicking Trent’s head in and submitting him with a neck lock.

Very good opener.

WINNER: Danielson

Lexi was with Hook, who ate chips while ignoring her questions.  Finishing, Danhausen popped up out of the bin to curse Hook.  Again it didn’t work.  Danhausen ate the remaining chips out of the bin, theorizing they were the source of Hook’s power.

In the ring, Scorpio Sky reminded us of his undefeated record.  Until he was interrupted.  Tay Conti translated ‘Sexist piece of shit’ as ‘Dan Lambert.’  Lambert told them to focus more on the ring than the bedroom.

Page cut an excellent promo – as he often does, Lambert’s a little redundant here – telling them were ‘a PR nightmare waiting to happen,’ then talking to his little girl at home: ‘I pray you don’t end up like Tay Conti.’

Sammy vowed to make their life a living hell until he gets the match he wants.

Now, according to arena reports, Sammy and Tay were booed heavily in Boston.  Loudly enough that a rattled Sammy had to acknowledge the boos.  Not to mention chants of ‘Shut the **** up!’  None/Very little of that came through here, so whether this was sweetened or the reports were just wrong?  I guess we’ll find out at upcoming live shows.

Excalibur calling them ‘America’s favorite couple’ is certainly is not going to help.

SWERVE STRICKLAND VS QT MARSHALL 

Story going in: None

QT received the Sports Entertainer of the Week.  This thing’s dead already.

Displaying his athleticism, Swerve landed a headscissors before landing on his feet after being flung outside.  Back from break, this continued with a rolling flatliner and a leaping heel-kick to the back of the head as Swerve took the victory.

Grabbing the mic, Starks interrupted the celebrations to make a challenge for a tag match next week: he and Hobbs vs Lee and Strickland.

WINNER: Swerve

Quick hype video for Marina Shafir.

WILLOW NIGHTINGALE VS RED VELVET, Owen Hart Qualifier

Story going in: Winner gets a spot in Owen Hart tournament

This didn’t look a strong one on paper: Velvet’s still pretty inexperienced.  But she did a good job going along with a crowd determined to cheer Willow Nightingale (who went to college locally), perhaps the most popular performer on the show.

Starting quickly, Velvet’s speed lost out to Nightingale’s strength as the former was repeatedly sent to the mat.  After missing a senton, Velvet took advantage with chokes in the corner until Willow cartwheeled out, this time landing the senton for two.

Missing a moonsault from the top, Velvet exploded with leaping takedowns, double knees, culminating with Just Desserts a for a close two.  Fighting back, Willow got a two of her own via a spinebuster.

A Pounce brought the crowd to their feet before a corner cannonball again nearly brought the victory for Willow.  Slightly awkward ending sequence brought Red the victory after a Corkscrew Kick.

Pretty good match.

WINNER: Red Velvet

Lexi was with Tony Nese, who complained about a lack of respect.  ‘Smart’ Mark Sterling agreed, asking Nese to walk with him.

JON MOXLEY VS WHEELER YUTA

Story going in: After winning over both Danielson & Regal, Yuta now has his chance against Mox

Wasting no time ‘impressing’ his opponent, Moxley was blasted with a tope through the ropes before even reaching the ring.  The newly crowned ROH Pure Champion then set about going after Mox at ringside.

Back inside, Mox took over with suplexes and chops in the corner.  A big boot brought a one-count.

Dueling chants rang out as the match continued.  Before turning in very AEW fashion: Yuta bleeding a gusher after being introduced to the ringsteps by his opponent.  Whereafter the youngster was woozy and wobbly-legged, though rejecting referee Paul Turner’s attempts to check him.

As we returned, Yuta was fighting out of crab.  Then sending Mox to the outside and drilling him through a ringside table with a splash.  Despite this, Yuta was last back into the ring, where he fought off Moxley repeatedly with suplex counters and kicking his head in, another splash for two, and a crossface which Moxley barely broke.  Exploding with a king kong lariat, Mox got a close count of his own.

Covered in blood, Yuta repeatedly refused to stay down, continually fighting back even when Moxley bit him.  But he got caught diving from the top, right into the Paradigm Shift for the 1,2, kickout!  Huge reaction from the crowd after which Moxley lost it with the ref.

Suckering Mox in, Wheeler rolled through into the Bulldog choke.  Annoyed, the former AEW champ unloaded with vicious elbows to the head, a Regal knee and a high-angle Paradigm shift.  Another kickout!

Unfortunately, that was all the fight Wheeler had left, passing out rather than tapping out in the clutches of a Bulldog Choke.

Which brought out the rest of the BCC, who appeared to be preparing more misery for the youngster.  Instead, Regal shook his hand, Yuta using his own blood to spell out ‘BCC’ on his chest, as fans chanted ‘Let him in!’ and Moxley told him ‘Now, the real work begins,’ as the show ended.

Once again, the company did a stellar job in their efforts to get behind a young star.  After a weekend where the opposition spent much of the show featuring the ageing or just plain old, AEW is developing a crop (Yuta, Garcia, Swerve, Starks) beneath a crop (MJF, Darby, Jungle Boy, Sammy).

WINNER: Moxley

There’s no doubting this was an improvement over recent shows: more stars, bigger stars and a match forwarding a storyline with one of the company’s top acts.  There’s also no doubting this was formulaic: I filled in the winner of each match prior to watching, as could have been done on Wednesday too.

Which isn’t to say a bunch of ‘swerves’ are necessary, but in three hours of television, at least one of the matches should have its outcome in doubt.

Though at least both shows finished strong with excellent matches whose outcomes forwarded feuds and rivalries.

GO OUT OF YOUR WAY TO WATCH…

• Wheeler vs Mox

Thanks for reading.  Have a great weekend!