ALL ELITE WRESTLING RAMPAGE PREVIEW 3/25: Dustin vs. Lance, Angels & Vance vs. ReDRagon, QT Gives Hook Certificate, Nyla in Action, Starks vs. Swerve

ALL ELITE WRESTLING RAMPAGE PRIMER
MARCH 25, 2022
CEDAR PARK, TX. AT THE H-E-B 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

• Darby Allin defeated Butcher via count out.
• Red Velvet defeated Leyla Hirsch.
• House of Black (Buddy Matthews, Malakai Black, and Brody King) defeated Bear Country and Fuego Del Sol.
• Keith Lee defeated Max Caster of The Acclaimed.

Arena

Tonight’s episode of Rampage was recorded this past Wednesday following Dynamite in the H-E-B Center in Cedar Park, TX. The show returns to its regular start time of 10:00 p.m. EDT, 9:00 p.m. CDT

Four matches are advertised along with a talking segment.

#AEWRampage TOMORROW 10/9c on @tntdrama!

-FTW Title @starkmanjones (c) v @swerveconfident
–@DustinRhodes v @LanceHoyt
–#DarkOrder’s @Alan_V_Angels/@pres10vance v #reDRagon @theBobbyFish/@KORcombat
–@QTMarshall Certificate of Accomplishment to @730Hook
–@NylaRoseBeast In Action pic.twitter.com/N7zry0vRjf

— All Elite Wrestling (@AEW) March 24, 2022

Dustin Rhodes vs. Lance Archer

Dustin Rhodes goes one-on-one with the “Murderhawk Monster” Lance Archer. In a backstage promo, Archer’s manager Dan Lambert said they have a chance to end the curse of the Rhodes family. Dustin retorted by saying he’ll kick Archer’s ass in his hometown, and “monsters die too.” Lambert was recently involved in a feud, so to speak, with the now-departed Cody & Brandi Rhodes, Dustin’s brother and sister-in-law.

Since losing to “Hangman” Adam Page in a Texas Death match for the AEW World Championship on February 9, Archer has worked mostly on Dark Elevation. Prior to that he defeated Frankie Kazarian on the January 19 edition, after returning from injury. Dustin last lost to Sammy Guevara for the Interim TNT Championship on the January 8 Battle of the Belts show.

Let's kill some monsters #AustinTx https://t.co/oXBKgiFnph

— Dustin Rhodes (@dustinrhodes) March 24, 2022

Frank’s Analysis: I’m cheating here a little bit, but I echo Wade Keller’s word from his hotline in that I wish Dustin was used more. I get the sense with his age he’d rather appear sporadically, which is fine as well. It makes us appreciate him and wrestling is always better when you have some acts that don’t appear regularly on television. This is pretty much a “get back on track” win for Archer.

ReDRagon (Bobby Fish & Kyle O’Reilly) Dark Order’s Alan Angels & Preston “10” Vance

Alan Angels and Preston Vance are in tag team action tonight as they take on ReDRagon. Fish and O’Reilly have mostly been on the winning side lately having teamed with Adam Cole last week on the St. Patrick’s Day Slam edition to defeat AEW World Champion “Hangman” Adam Page and the AEW Tag Team Champions Jurassic Express.

Vance & Angels took part unsuccessfully in the Casino Tag Team Battle Royal back on March 2 for the right to face the tag champs. Vance has been on AEW television proper a bit more lately, albeit on the losing end. He lost to Cole on the February 18 airing of Rampage followed by FTW Champion Ricky Starks on Dynamite. Prior to taking part in the Casino Battle Royale, Angels lost to Bryan Danielson on the December 1, 2021 edition of Dynamite when Bryan was rolling through the Dark Order enroute to his challenge of “Hangman” Adam Page for the world title.

I’ll call you Red Dragon but you have to call me Night Hawk. #AEW #DarkOrder #X #HandPicked #Rampage #TNT pic.twitter.com/iGMylH9hcb

— Pres10 (@Pres10Vance) March 24, 2022

Frank’s Analysis: This is a straight-forward win for ReDRagon. On one hand it’s unfortunate that a lot of these matches don’t have any drama and the outcome isn’t in doubt. On the other I’m the first one to complain about WWE not having enough matches like these on TV to build up their bigger acts. I guess what I’m saying is I can’t be a hypocrite and complain. I’m curious where things go for Vance. People are high on him.

QT Marshall Gives Hook Certificate of Accomplishment

Last week during a backstage promo with protegee Aaron Solow, QT Marshall talked about his recent loss to Hook on the Buy In show for Revolution. He said his own mother called him out of concern because of the loss. No matter, because he said he was going to invite Hook out to present a Certificate of Accomplishment.

Hook was previously a trainee of Marshall.

Frank’s Analysis: I don’t see how this doesn’t lead to some sort of shenanigans, setting up Hook’s next feud. He hasn’t worked Nick Comorato or Anthony Ogogo, so one of them has to be up next.

Nyla Rose in Action

It’s been a minute or two since we had seen former AEW Women’s Champion Nyla Rose, but that changed this past Wednesday night on Dynamite. When new AEW Women’s Champion Thunder Rosa was being interviewed by Tony Schiavone, Vickie Guerrero interrupted. After they went back and forth, Nyla attacked Rosa from behind.

Nyla has been working mostly on Dark and Dark Elevation and was last on Dynamite on February 2 beating Ruby Soho. Nyla took part in the TBS Championship tournament but lost to Ruby in the semi-finals. She defeated Riho for the AEW Women’s Champion in February 2020 and lost it to Hikaru Shida at the 2020 Double or Nothing.

Frank’s Analysis: Jesse Velasquez had me on his “Unplugged and Undeniable” podcast this week, and we talked about potential challengers for Thunder Rosa. We concluded that Nyla Rose has come a way recently. She’s a perfectly good first challenger with credibility as they build Rosa’s run.

FTW Championship: Shane “Swerve” Strickland vs. Ricky Starks (champ)

Swerve Strickland has been pulled into issues with Team Taz and tonight, he and Ricky Starks go at it for the FTW Championship. Last week, after Keith Lee defeated Max Caster, Starks and Hobbs came out to attack Keith furthering their recent issues. Swerve made the save with a chair, and he shook hands with Keith to close out the show.

Swerve made his debut, signing an AEW contract at Revolution, and defeated Tony Nese two weeks ago on Rampage. Ricky has been the FTW champion since defeating Brian Cage at the 2021 edition of Fyter Fest. The FTW Championship is not an officially recognized championship, but still defended as such.

https://twitter.com/starkmanjones/status/1507081507067899916?s=21

https://twitter.com/swerveconfident/status/1507057903022264328?s=21

Frank’s Analysis: It’s been a while since I’ve looked forward to a match on Rampage, and this one is it. I’m not particular invested in the FTW Championship, but I see its purpose. I think we’re headed towards something with Keith and Swerve vs. Team Taz, perhaps as soon as next week’s Dynamite.

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