As of late, it feels like Tony Khan is hitting his stride again, a fair bit in part due to Collision allowing his booking some breathing room. Due to this, Rampage has been getting good. Last night’s episode was especially a standout, with promos that furthered current angles, a great squash, and a killer main event.
Starting off the night, we had a trios match between The Hardys and Keith Lee against the commonly grouped up Butcher, Blade, and Box Man, AKA Kip Sabian. The match was enjoyable, if not the most exciting thing on Rampage. The wear and tear on Matt & Jeff’s bodies sadly shows, but they have their moments, especially Matt, in this match. Kip, Butcher & Blade Continue to be an enjoyable trio, and I’d love to see them get more of a shine in the ROH six man tag team division.
After this match, we had a Young Bucks promo backstage, where they declared that, after all of their recent multiman bouts, it was time to re-enter the tag division. The Hardys had walked up during that time, and, seeing as they both want to raise their position in the division, a match was made for next week on Dynamite.
Their last match left some to be desired, but I suspect the Bucks will pull out more tricks to make this a good one.
After this, we had a singles match between Anna Jay and Skye Blue. It was a pretty fine match, a few notches above their previous bout. Anna won via interference, and, while I’ll live with the result, I would’ve preferred a Skye Blue win, as her stock seems worth raising at this moment in time in AEW, more than Anna’s.
After this, however, we got what was my favorite match in arena of the night. Mogul Embassy has been on a roll, and have become one of, in my opinion, the best factions in AEW/ROH. The addition of AR Fox already seems to be a positive one for both sides, as Fox has an edge to his character he lacked, and the faction has added one of the best high fliers available on the roster. The match was short, but perfectly told the story of Swerve having assembled a near unbeatable faction to surround himself with, allowing him to watch as AR Fox delivered perfect move after perfect move to grant them the win.
After this, we had a set of two promos. The first of which was an episode of QTV. Now, I’ll admit: I am probably one of the people most accepting of QTV. I don’t think it’s high art by any means, but I enjoy it, and find it’s odd, meta stylings entertaining. This episode was no different, with QTV being in the slumps after their last loss, Harley having ended up with the hat of a (indy) god, and Johnny TV issuing a challenge… to anyone that has been on television. The second of these promos was a great hype promo leading into tomorrow nights’ world tag title match between FTR and Brian Cage/Big Bill. Prince Nana has become one of AEW/ROH’s best managers, and proved it again here, leading in perfectly to each of the competitors promos, which they both delivered with more charisma than some once thought they had. I’m definitely looking forward to that tag title match.
Finishing off, we had our second ever Parking Lot Fight, once again taking place at Daily’s Place. The match was a truly bloody one, giving great, major moments to each competitor. Jumping forward, we had gotten to a point where The Best Friends really looked as though they might win the big one, but it was at that point that the dastardly Wheeler Yuta got involved. Despite a later surprise appearance from Orange Cassidy, who rode in on top of Sue’s van, the strategy and brutality of the Blackpool Combat Club was too much to beat, and, after destroying Sue’s car, they destroyed the hopes of a perfect Parking Lot Fight record for the Best Friends. The match helped to truly reestablish the BCC as the killers that they have shown themselves to be. as they won, they will be facing the Lucha Bros, who are a man down after Pac suffered an injury. Still, I suspect the fight between the Best Friends and BCC is far from over.