AEW Rampage Results: Winners, Live Grades, Reaction, Highlights Before WrestleDream
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Rampage.AEW
Welcome to Bleacher Report's live coverage and recap of AEW Rampage on September 29.
We are just two days away from the first-ever AEW WrestleDream pay-per-view, but a handful of talents who will appear at the event also worked this week's TV tapings.
The Acclaimed and Daddy Ass put their Trios Championships on the line against The Hardys and Brother Zay, and we also saw Eddie Kingston defend his NJPW Openweight Championship against Rocky Romero.
Ruby Soho battled Hikaru Shida with the winner getting a shot at the AEW women's title on October 10, and The Righteous were in action ahead of their ROH tag title match this weekend.
With the PPV fast approaching, AEW also made sure to spend some time hyping up the matches that will occupy the card.
Let's take a look at what went down during Friday's show.
The Acclaimed and Daddy Ass vs. Hardys and Brother Zay (Trios Titles)
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- Rampage usually doesn't show the entrances for the first match of the night, but both of these teams are popular, so it made sense to show them coming out this week to get that pop.
- Matt and Jeff were shown clapping after Bowens hit a series of moves on Zay. Even though it wasn't their partner, they looked impressed.
- Jeff's Swanton looked good.
- Bowens has been showing a lot more of his technical ability recently. It's been great to see.
Rampage.AEW
This week's Rampage opened with the trios title match between the champions, Max Caster, Anthony Bowens and Billy Gunn, and their challengers, Brother Zay, Matt and Jeff Hardy.
Bowens and Zay started things off with a quick exchange of counters and takedowns to show off a little technical ability.
Caster and Jeff eventually tagged in and had an exchange, but they didn't stay in too long before Matt and Daddy Ass squared off. There is a lot of history between these men, so they did a lot of taunting and posturing before making contact.
This is one of those matches that is fun despite the outcome being predictable. We all knew The Acclaimed and Daddy Ass were leaving with those belts, but the way we got there was entertaining nonetheless.
This gave the champions a successful title defense and a win over two guys who are already certified legends in this business. After Jeff almost won with a Swanton, the champs made a comeback and took out Zay with a big double-team move for the win.
Winners: The Acclaimed and Daddy Ass
Grade: B+
Notable Moments and Observations
Eddie Kingston vs. Rocky Romero (NJPW Openweight Title)
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- Kingston is more technically sound than he looks because he is also a brawler. Even the way he does simple things like a wristlock shows how good he is.
- Romero was unloading on Kingston with some of his chops. You could see Kingston wince because he was actually in some pain, not because he was trying to sell it.
Before Kingston came out to defend his openweight title against Romero, he was confronted by Jay Lethal and his stable. Kingston laughed at them before heading to the ring.
Romero was looking to take the NJPW Openweight Championship away from The Mad King before he had a chance to defend it against Katsuyori Shibata at WrestleDream, but Kingston had other plans.
After countering a suicide dive with a suplex, it felt like the champ had the upper hand for the majority of what we saw, which makes sense. Romero still looked like a threat, but this was designed to give Kingston a well-earned victory heading into this weekend.
Much like the trios match, this bout's outcome was never in question for a single second. The match was solid from bell to bell, but if you expected Romero to win the belt, we have some swampland in Florida to sell you.
The Mad King picked up the win by making Romero tap out. This was a hard-hitting and physical match that is absolutely worth watching.
Winner: Eddie Kingston
Grade: B+
Notable Moments and Observations
The Righteous vs. Two Local Talents, Ruby Soho vs. Hikaru Shida
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- We got a short video for the Santana vs. Ortiz feud before the main event. They used audio from someone talking about them in an interview.
- Dutch and Vincent could be one of the best acts in AEW if booked right, but it could also crash and burn with one wrong move, so management has to tread lightly.
- The mounted punches Shida hit in the corner did not look good. They should not have had a close-up shot of that.
- Why did Shida carry Soho up the ramp knowing they would just have to run back to beat the countout? It makes no sense unless what she had planned was obvious, which it wasn't.
Rampage. AEW
Vincent and Dutch were fed two local talents in a squash match before they fight MJF for the ROH tag titles on Sunday. This was short, but it's more excusable because The Righteous are still new to AEW fans.
Winners: The Righteous
Grade: Incomplete
After Excalibur gave us a blazing-fast rundown of the WrestleDream card, Shida and Soho met in the main event to see who would get a shot at the AEW women's title on October 10.
Saraya came out on the stage with Soho but did not accompany her to the ring, so Shida had a rare fair match against one of the Outcasts.
This match started off like any other bout, but it got progressively better as they became more aggressive. The ref stopped Soho from using the kendo stick and the spray paint, but he ended up getting taken out in the process.
Soho hit her finisher but there was nobody to count for her. Shida also had the match won after hitting her finisher, but the new official was too slow getting to the ring for her to get the pin.
Even though this match wasn't perfect, the fact that it had zero interference and ended clean helped make it better. Shida scored the win and Saraya immediately came out to confront her as the show went off the air.
Winner: Hikaru Shida
Grade: B
Notable Moments and Observations
The Final Word
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Rampage.AEW
This week's Collision will likely carry more of the load when it comes to building up WrestleDream on Sunday, so Rampage was able to put most of its focus in the ring.
With the exception of The Righteous squashing two jobbers, the matches we got this week were all worth taking the time to see if you did not watch the show live.
Shida closing out the show with a win was nice, but Kingston and Romero definitely had the best match of the night.
Rampage is always an easy watch, but when the action is good like it was this week, it's even easier.
Grade: B+
