Arena: Cable Dahmer Arena
City: Independence, Missouri

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

Eddie Kingston vs Jake Hager

Backstory: Part of the ongoing feud between the BCC/Kingston et al vs JAS, leading to the upcoming Blood & Guts match

Only Excalibur and Taz were with us on comms.  Not complaining.

Hager immediately took control in this one with short-arm clotheslines, keeping Kingston grounded with strikes, holds and suplexes, including one on the outside mats, as Jake worked the mid-section.

Complete dominance occurred for several minutes until a chop to the chest woke the Mad King, who came alive with chops and kicks of his own until being caught and thrown overhead as the ads arrived.

On his knees as we returned, Eddie beckoned Jake to bring it before poking the eye and dropping the big guy with a DDT.  Machine-gun chops and a final stiff one were countered into the Hager Bomb but Kingston kicked out.

Continuing to control things, Hager countered a spinning back fist into a suplex and followed up with the ankle lock, Eddie finally getting the ropes at the second attempt, prompting ‘Eddie’ chants for one of the few guys a fairly dead crowd cared about.

A vicious powerbomb from Kingston as Hager was hitting punches in the corner, led to two Back Fists for the win.

A ‘meh’ opener.  Surprising how badly Kingston was dominated by a guy who’s rarely featured.

WINNER: Eddie Kingston

Britt Baker was interviewed by Tony.  She criticized Toni Storm for putting her hands on the women’s belt on Wednesday, said Toni didn’t want any more of her or Jamie, while noting that the title belt misses her more than she it.

Video package promoting Wednesday’s hair match.  Ortiz said he needed to become a ‘piece of s***’ like Jericho in order to beat him.

Jay Lethal & Satnav Singh vs Davey Vega & Mike Fichett

Backstory: The big fella’s test-drive

Fitting that one of the opponents is named Fitchett.  Because that’s what anyone watching did the second this one started, whether it was with their phone, their tablet, or… whatever else 😉.

Anything but have their time wasted with this.

Singh is now going as ‘one in a billion’.  Surprisingly, he started things off as the announcers made ‘ooooh’ noises for his knee raises.  A double cross-body from the big guy took both opponents down before tagging in Jay for the Lethal Injection and the win.

WINNER: Jay Lethal & Singh

Talking to Lexi Nair, Danhausen & Hook had purchased new vehicles with their PPV winnings.

Kris Statlander vs Red Velvet

Backstory: Former friends are part of the ongoing feud between Statlander, Athena, Anna Jay & the Baddies, building to Athena vs Jade

Starting hot, Red was planted with a snap powerslam on the outside as she tried to jump Stat before she’d even reached the ring.  Following up with a gorilla press onto the ring apron and running charges in the corner, Red bailed to the outside where Jade repeatedly reassured her ‘You still look good’.  That was funny.

Back inside, Velvet slipped out of a Bulldog-style delayed vertical suplex, going to work on Stat’s injured knee as the break came.

Dominant once again as we returned, the stronger Statlander got a two after a blue thunder bomb.  Both then gained close counts after countering roll-ups before Stat again took over with a fisherman’s driver for another two.

Velvet then hit double knees after dropping Stat face-first into the bottom rope, following-up with a diving cutter from the top and then Just Desserts for 2.  Finally, Velvet was caught mid-corkscrew kick and planted with Friday Night Fever.

Short but good.  Even woke this crowd up at points.

Post-match, the Baddies flew in to assault Stat, which brought Anna Jay down to help.  When Athena tried to do the same, she was held back by officials.

WINNER: Kris Statlander

Ethan Page promo.  Promised to make Miro ‘bow down to me’ on Wednesday.  Good stuff as usual from Ethan.

On Dynamite:

• Jericho vs Ortiz, hair vs hair
• Young Bucks vs Hardys vs Jurassic Express, ladder match for the tag titles
• Ethan Page vs Miro, All-Atlantic Championship Tourney
• Wardlow vs like 20 dudes who are suing him

FTR & Trent? vs Will Ospreay & Aussie Open (Kyle Fletcher & Mark Davis)

Backstory: The NJPW guys are part of the same crew who attacked FTR & Roppongi Vice several weeks ago, then did the same on Wednesday

Now we’re talking.  After a poor week of tv, this one has potential.  There’s a build, there’s cross company competition, and there’s fresh talent.  Damn good talent at that.

FTR’s pre-match promo was excellent.  Trent continues to sound like he’s trying to lose fans: ‘the other guys with you (Ospreay) are nerd-boys.’

Kicking us off were Ospreay and Dax, who grappled to a standstill on the mat before opening up with chops and tagging in Kash who ran through Will with shoulder charges.  Quick tags brought in both of Aussie Open, Mark Davis squaring off with Trent, who grabbed a 2 after a roll-through but paid for it with a stiff chop.  Ospreay back in, he was spiked with a tornado DDT as all six entered, brawling, which the AEW guys got the better of, sending them packing to the outside where Trent hit all three with an Asai moonsault to the outside.  After which he came up clutching his knee.

You guessed it, break time.

In trouble as we returned, Trent was looking for the tag but being crushed by Davis, who got a two with an arrogant cover.  A hard landing followed as the Aussie missed a senton in the corner, Dax tagging in, exploding with strikes and clotheslines on all three, who were suplexed onto one another, then treated to uppercuts before Ospreay was smashed by a short-arm clothesline.

Back-to-back-to-back belly to backs followed until Fletcher got the switch, but this only allowed the tag to Kash, who struck immediately with a powerbomb, FTR following up with a German into a jacknife-pin for a close 2.  Excellent ‘hot tag’ tag-wrestling from FTR.

A light-speed sequence followed from the imports as they tagged in and out: thrust kick from Fletcher, Ospreay knee, Aussie Open cutter, Ospreay springboard 450; 1, 2, saved by Trent, more superkicks and finally an OsCutter for a very close 2 as Will look shocked.  ‘This is awesome’ chants as the crowd briefly stirred from their slumber.

Tagging in, Trent & Fletcher exchanged strikes in the middle, leading to a backdrop suplex and a lariat from Beretta before Ospreay slingshotted himself onto both of FTR on the outside.  This distracted Trent, allowing Fletcher to sneak a 2 with a rollup.  After kicking out, Trent got the win with Strong Zero.

Good action, very good after the break, which would’ve benefitted from a few more minutes.

WINNER: FTR & Trent?

Survey time.

Worse idea, booking Kyle O’Reilly in a no1 contenders match?  Or putting the physically broken Jeff Hardy in the same ring as a ladder?  Survey says, it’s probably booking a woman who’s appeared twice on television in a match for the Women’s World Championship.

Though perhaps it could be jamming yet another new belt in amongst the never-ending titles and tournaments.  Then again, it might be portraying the ‘Ass Boys’ as potential world champions in a match implausibly missing an endless list of top stars.

What’s certain is that there is currently not a single belt being booked well, with Wardlow openly acknowledging the state of the TNT title after admitting he doesn’t want this World Championship because it’s not the true title.  And what could have been an all-time episode on Wednesday – with not one but two nail-biting scraps featuring all the top stars – instead became a massive disappointment.

Thankfully, the idea of Hangman/Okada resuscitated a dead show.  Let’s hope that one remains mano a mano.

And while tonight was a solid hour of wrestling, particularly the last two matches, it did not make-up for a Dynamite with almost impossibly bad booking.  A missed opportunity.

Check Out…

• The main event, especially the last five or so

Thanks for reading.  Have a great weekend!