ALL ELITE WRESTLING RAMPAGE PREVIEW 1/28: Championship Friday Edition, Jurassic Express vs. Private Party for Championship, Moxley vs. Bowens, Johnson & Anderson vs. FTR, Cargill vs. Julia for TBS Championship

ALL ELITE WRESTLING RAMPAGE PRIMER
JANUARY 28, 2022
CLEVELAND, OH. AT THE WOLSTEIN CENTER
AIRS ON TNT NETWORK, 10:00 p.m. EDT, 9:00 p.m. CDT
BY FRANK PETEANI (@FrankPeteani), PWTORCH.COM CONTRIBUTOR

Announcers: Excalibur, Chris Jericho, Taz, Ricky Starks (various combinations)

Match Results and Key Segments from Last Week

• Jon Moxley defeated “All Ego” Ethan Page in his return match.
• Trent Beretta (Best Friends) defeated Nick Jackson (Young Bucks).
• Hook defeated Serpentico.
• Jade Cargill defeated Anna Jay to retain the TBS Championship.

Arena

Tonight’s episode of Rampage was recorded this past Wednesday following Dynamite in the Wolstein Center in Cleveland, OH. Four matches were announced during the show, and it’s been billed as Championship Friday.

Jon Moxley vs. Anthony Bowens (The Acclaimed)

Jon Moxley steps into the ring once again as he goes one-on-one with Anthony Bowens of The Acclaimed. This was setup in a backstage segment with the Acclaimed (Bowens and Max Caster) where they claimed a beef with Jon Moxley from some time ago. Back on the May 19, 2021 edition of Dynamite, Moxley teamed with his close friend Eddie Kingston to defeat the Acclaimed, who tried to use a chain and their boombox as foreign objects in the match. Instead, Kingston hit Bowens with the boombox followed by Moxley hitting him with the Paradigm Shift for the pin. Here’s the match and some other history with Moxley:

https://twitter.com/aew/status/1486552861395804166?s=21

Frank’s Analysis: This should be a good match. I’m very curious to see the future of Bowens, who continues to be featured against top acts. Does he get split off from Caster at some point?

AAA Tag Team Championship: FTR (Dax Harwood and Cash Wheeler) (champs) vs. “Shotty” Lee Johnson & Brock Anderson

In a backstage segment two weeks ago on Dynamite, FTR (w/Tully Blanchard) issued a challenge to “Shotty” Lee Johnson & Brock Anderson (w/Brock’s father Arn Anderson) to a match, which takes place tonight. At the end of the promo, longtime former Four Horsemen members Arn and Tully shook hands. Here’s a clip of that segment:

A fight for the custody of Double A.

Arn wishes I was his son. #AEWRampage https://t.co/HwRDkjDCvi

— Uncle Dax FTR (@DaxFTR) January 27, 2022

Anderson and Johnson have won their last two tag matches on Dark where they defeated Luther & Serpentico (Chaos Project) and Jaylen Brandyn & Traevon Jordan. Johnson lost a one-on-one to Powerhouse Hobbs. FTR last wrestled on the New Year’s Smash Edition of Dynamite where they were on the winning end of a 10-man tag match.

Frank’s Analysis: With this being billed as “Championship Friday” I’m assuming the AAA Tag Team Championship is on the line. AEW needs to do a better job talking about what Johnson and Anderson have been doing and why they’re getting this match against FTR. Why would I care? I don’t watch Dark, and I shouldn’t have to go to websites to find out when they wrestled last. Maybe the announcers mentioned it and I missed it, but I don’t think so.

TBS Championship: Jade Cargill (champ) vs. Julia Hart

Jade Cargill defends her TBS Championship for the second straight week on Rampage, this time against Julia Hart, whom she chose as her next opponent this past week on Dynamite. Much to the chagrin of Griff Garrison, Julia signed a release presented by “Smart” Mark Sterling because of her injured eye. Malakai Black spit black mist in her eye on the December 8, 2021 edition of Dynamite on Long Island in the UBS Arena. Julia told Griff it was her decision to make.

Has injury affected more than just the vision of @TheJuliaHart? Against the advice of her #VarsityBlonds brother @GriffGarrison1, she signs herself up to a match for the TBS Title this Friday on #AEWRampage: #BeachBreak against the champion @Jade_Cargill! pic.twitter.com/AcviRENwdS

— All Elite Wrestling (@AEW) January 27, 2022

Here’s an interesting tweet by Julia:

#NewProfilePic #coolfanart pic.twitter.com/meqNE7xGEf

— J U L I A (@TheJuliaHart) January 26, 2022

Frank’s Analysis: Looking at that tweet, I’m wondering if it’s only a matter of time before Julia joins the House of Black. She can continue to be the designated horror movie protagonist that gets attacked every time with the Varsity Blondes, or she can go in another direction. I opt for the latter.

AEW Tag Team Championship: Jurassic Express (Jungle Boy & Luchasaurus) (champs) w/Christian vs. Private Party (Isiah Kassidy & Marq Quen) (w/Matt Hardy)

Jurassic Express puts the AEW Tag Team Championship on the line against Private Party. This match was set up on Dynamite in a backstage segment with Tony Schiavone where long-time rivals Christian and Matt Hardy spoke on behalf of their teams.

Private Party won their last two tag team matches on Dark Elevation but were on the losing end of a Trios match where they teamed with fellow HFO member The Blade and took on Matt Sydal & Lee Moriarty & Dante Martin. Private Party defeated The Young Bucks in the tournament for the initial AEW Tag Team Championship in 2019. Several months later they joined up with Hardy. Aside from being on the winning end of a 10-man tag match on the New Year’s Smash edition of Dynamite, they were on the winning end of a Trios match on Dynamite in August. You must go back to the 2020 All Out to find Private Party winning a tag match involving just them on “AEW television proper” when they defeated Alex Reynolds & John Silver of the Dark Order. If we want to get technical, they last won a match (just them) on AEW television proper on the July 2020 Fyter Fest edition of Dynamite where they defeated Santana & Ortiz. Their other wins have come on Dark, Dark Elevation, or Impact Wrestling.

Hardy and Christian are long-time rivals going back to their days in the WWE. They were involved in legendary TLC matches for the tag team championship at SummerSlam in 2000 and WrestleMania in 2001.

Tomorrow on #AEWRampage, #PrivateParty (@Marq_Quen & @IsiahKassidy) becomes THE team in @AEW. And F @Christian4Peeps.. pic.twitter.com/EduVXhlODY

— MATT HARDY (@MATTHARDYBRAND) January 27, 2022

Frank’s Analysis: Why am I excited about a tag team that hasn’t won a match on AEW television proper in almost two years getting a title match tonight? Yes, it’ll be a good match. That’s not the point. The problem is the bulk of the challengers’ success has come on a program that AEW said we don’t have to watch to follow the product. Again, if the announcers said something and I missed it, I apologize. I don’t think I did.

Follow Frank on Twitter @FrankPeteani. Thank you for reading!