SPOTLIGHTED PODCAST ALERT (YOUR ARTICLE BEGINS A FEW INCHES DOWN)...
ALL ELITE WRESTLING RAMPAGE PREVIEW
MAY 13, 2022
ELMONT, N.Y. AT THE UBS ARENA
AIRS ON TBS NETWORK, 5:30 p.m. EST, 4:30 p.m. CST (Special Start Time)
BY FRANK PETEANI (@FrankPeteani), PWTORCH.COM CONTRIBUTOR
Announcers: Excalibur, Ricky Starks, Taz, Chris Jericho (various combinations)
Last Week
- Toni Storm & Ruby Soho defeated Jamie Hayter & Dr. Britt Baker.
- Hook defeated J.D. Drake.
- Riho defeated Yuka Sakazaki to qualify for the Owen Hart Cup tournament.
- Jay Lethal (w/Sonjay Dutt and Satnam Singh) defeated Konosuke Takeshita.
Arena
This week’s Rampage was recorded following Dynamite in the UBS Arena in Elmont, NY. As it may be known by now, my wife and I were in attendance. I’ll compose this without spoilers but give some overall thoughts on the matches and experience. PWTorch VIP members look for another special edition of Pro Wrestling Then and Now where I will document my in-person experience
#AEWRampage TOMORROW at a SPECIAL TIME 5:30pm ET/4:30pm CT
-TNT Title @ScorpioSky v @FrankieKazarian
–#OwenHart Quarterfinals @riho_gtmv v @realrubysoho
–#TheButcher @andycomplains/@BladeofBuffalo/@Marq_Quen v @PENTAELZEROM/@ReyFenixMx/@BASTARDPAC
–@ShawnSpears v @bear_boulder pic.twitter.com/K1BH6DAgTv— All Elite Wrestling (@AEW) May 12, 2022
Death Triangle (Pac, Penta Oscuro, and Rey Fenix) vs. The Butcher & The Blade and Marq Quen of Private Party.
Trios action was in order for Death Triangle, wrestling together for the first time since Rey Fenix returned from injury. He returned on the April 27 edition of Dynamite in a segment with House of Black (Malakai Black, Brody King, and Buddy Matthews). Both sides have been in a feud since earlier this year and even worked a match on the Buy-In show for Revolution, which saw Erick Redbeard stand in for the injured Fenix. This week they take on The Butcher & The Blade and Private Party’s Marq Quen, all members of the Andrade Family Office.
Butcher & Blade most recently lost to the Hardys in a Tables match on Dynamite. Quen himself was part of an eight-man Tornado Tag match where he teamed with his regular partner Isiah Kassidy and Butcher & Blade to take on the Hardys and Darby Allin & Sting. Quen, Butcher, and Blade are all from New York.
Frank’s Analysis: We had to pick a time to get shirts so, we chose this match. We tried when we arrived, but when we walked into the building the line was out the door. That said the match went as expected from what we could see on the TVs in the concession area. They ran a post-match angle which also wasn’t surprising. It was tough to get excited about this match as there was no real build for it, but I understand wanting to see Death Triangle get featured.
Shawn Spears vs. Bear Boulder
After standing by the side of MJF earlier in the evening for Dynamite, “The Chairman” Shawn Spears took on Bear Boulder of Bear Country. Boulder is another local product of Long Island, hailing from West Islip, N.Y. located in the more central part of Long Island and about a 40-minute drive from the UBS Arena.
In somewhat of a wink towards his WWE character Tye Dillinger, where he claimed to be the “perfect 10,” he put up 10 fingers indicating to Wardlow that he would be getting 10 lashes from MJF as a condition of their match at Double or Nothing. Bear Boulder last appeared on the March 16 episode of Rampage, where he was on the losing end of a Trios match against the House of Black
Frank’s Analysis: Nothing came out of this match that was a talking point. One can only assume they did this match to get Spears some action before he steps into the cage against Wardlow.
Women’s Owen Hart Cup Quarterfinal: Ruby Soho vs. Riho
We were aware of this match already from last week. This is an Owen Hart Cup quarterfinal match between former AEW Women’s World Champion Riho and Ruby Soho, who debuted for AEW back at the All Out PPV. She won the women’s Casino Battle Royal and went on to unsuccessfully challenge Dr. Britt Baker for the title at the Grand Slam edition of Dynamite. Later in the year, she took part in the TBS Championship tournament and went to the finals, coming up short to Jade Cargill, the current champion.
Riho was the inaugural champion, winning the title on the debut episode of Dynamite, but lost to Nyla Rose on a February edition.
Frank’s Analysis: I wasn’t sure how to call this match, but I didn’t have a strong feeling either way about the result. There was oddly a “Let’s go Riho, Riho sucks” dueling chant. I got that for John Cena and Roman Reigns through the years but found it a little strange for Riho, even for a Long Island crowd.
TNT Championship: Scorpio Sky (champ) vs. Frankie Kazarian
In the main event of Rampage, Scorpio Sky put the TNT Championship on the line against long-time SCU partner Frankie Kazarian. This match had been built up for a while with last week’s in-ring promo involving Scorpio & Ethan Page & Dan Lambert with Frankie interrupting the proceedings. He said he was always his biggest supporter but now he was his greatest threat. After Page said that SCU was dead, Scorpio said he wanted to bring respect back to the TNT title by being a fighting champion. A video package was run on Dynamite, which we saw in the building, where Sammy Guevara & Tay Conti told Frankie he couldn’t trust Scorpio.
SCU were the first AEW Tag Team Champions via winning the inaugural tournament back in 2019, defeating the Lucha Brothers in the finals. They held the titles until January of 2020 where they lost to Kenny Omega & “Hangman” Adam Page. Scorpio is a two-time TNT Champion after swapping the title twice with Sammy.
Former #AEW World Tag Team Champions, @FrankieKazarian and (current TNT Champ) @ScorpioSky, share a deep history. But this Friday, their paths will collide when the TNT title is put on the line at #AEWRampage!
Tune in NOW to #AEWDynamite LIVE on TBS! pic.twitter.com/DZMP9m3CaL
— All Elite Wrestling (@AEW) May 12, 2022
Frank’s Analysis: The post-match is interesting and odd. I’m not sure how people are going to take it, but I’m curious to hear what people say after the show airs.
Non-Wrestling Segments Announced
We Hear from Jade Cargill and The Baddies. Tony Schiavone interviewed Jade Cargill and the Baddies (Red Velvet and Kiera Hogan). After what happened to “Smart” Mark Sterling, Jade questions what happened to him. I guess she wasn’t watching Dynamite. That said, there is a development in this interview as it relates to the Owen Hart Cup tournament.
Follow Frank on Twitter @FrankPeteani. Thank you for reading!
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