Fort Bend County Epicenter – Houston, Texas
Commentary – Excalibur, Tony Schiavone
Rocky Romero Vs Mistico
2 out of 3 falls match
This is the debut of Mistico in AEW and it’s a 2 out of 3 falls match straight out the gate.
These two competitors have a rivalry in the CMLL promotion but this match has had no build on AEW television.
A fast paced high flying style match, Mistico wins the first fall via submission early on.
The fans in attendance were chanting Mistico’s name, these fans are the ones that know every detail about every promotion but those watching at home maybe are not a hardcore fan and would appreciate some build up and backstory to understand or know who he is. A Vignette would have been helpful.
Romero took it to Mistico after been a pin fall down a hit a sliced bread to secure the second pin fall to tie it up one a piece.
Rocky Romero hit a sliced bread off the top ropes but this time it wasn’t enough to get the three count as Mistico narrowly kicked out.
Rocky went to the top rope but was caught by Mistico who caught him with a Spanish fly off the top rope.
Mysticio spun around Romero and hit a devastating destroyer followed by a spinning arm bar to tap out Romero and win the contest.
Backstage Stokley Hathaway had Jay lethal with his entourage and Eddie Kingston, Lethal had requested time to talk, with Hathaway as mediator.
Lethal cuts a promo on Kingston how he put the ROH title on the map and it’s disrespectful that he isn’t given a title shot.
Stokley Hathaway being the ROH manager seems to have it in for Kingston and made a match for Kingston to face Jarrett and if Jarrett wins Lethal would receive a title shot.
Kingston cuts a promo on Jarrett, he said he will eat him alive on Saturday, this mean streaked Kingston is much better than the softer, hand shaking Eddie Kingston’s we have seen in recent weeks, more of this would be welcomed.
John Silver with the Dark Order vs Kip Sabian with Butcher, Blade and Penelope Ford vs Brother Zay
AEW International Title #1 Contendership Three Way Match
A match with no backstory and just seems to been thrown together to give these wrestlers a match.
Some great high flying from Zay, who has been tagging with the Hardy’s recently.
John Silver threw Brother Zay like a dart into Kip Sabian’s crotch in the post and kicked him in head followed by a pinning back suplex on Sabian who narrowly kicked out.
Brother Zay hit Sabian with a trick from the Hardy’s playbook, a Swanton bomb off the top rope, John Silver ran into the ring and kicked Zays head to break the count and pin Zay for the win.
We learn after the match that Silver now gets a shot at Orange Cassidy’s title tommorow night at Battle of the Belts.
Another Ortiz and Santana package was next hyping their eventual meeting which we find out will be next week on Rampage.
Claudio Castagnoli and Wheeler Yuta Vs “The Bounty Hunter” Bryan Keith and Exodus Prime
Tag Team Match
Keith and Prime were already in the ring, that can only mean one thing, enhancement talent.
Boy oh boy do AEW love putting jobber/squash matches on every show.
Keith came out aggressive but it didn’t last long as Yuta and Claudio started to dominate.
Claudio locked in his giant swing then a drop kick from Yuta followed by a top rope splash and it was all over.
The former Jericho Appreciation Society faction are arguing again backstage with Renee Paquette, Jake Hager storms off, Anna Jay says you have to get it together if you want any chance of winning the trios titles at Battle of the belts, they end up “Squashing it” and say they will be the new AEW trios champs.
Backstage it’s Hangman Page with The Young Bucks, they say they will defend their ROH trios championships this coming Wednesday on Dynamite.
Ruby Soho with Saraya vs Sky Blue
Singles Match
The ratings for Rampage continue to slide and it’s very easy to see why, this is the main event? no disrespect to the girls busting their asses in the ring but a match with no stakes and no backstory should not be in this spot.
Competitive match, seemed a little disjointed at times. Most of this match was chewed up by the ad break.
Twice in this match Saraya interfered right in front of the ref causing Soho to get an advantage and he didn’t do a thing and just let it happen. This kinda thing is a common occurrence in AEW makes the referee’s look like imbeciles.
Saraya once again interfered and hit Skye Blue with a can for Soho to pin her, the ref once again looking like a dummy.
Soho and Saraya continued to beat down Skye Blue after the match, Kris Statlander came out for the save. Sky Blue existed the ring not wanting any part of her.
Still their C grade show and not showing any signs of improving the star power on the show to increase viewership, if you miss Rampage you’re probably not going to miss anything important.
