7/29 AEW RAMPAGE FIGHT FOR THE FALLEN TV REPORT: Page vs. Ruffin, Soho vs. Ana Jay main event

AEW RAMPAGE FIGHT FOR THE FALLEN TV REPORT
July 29, 2022
RECORDED AT THE DCU CENTER, WORCESTER, MA
AIRED ON TNT
REPORT BY PATRICK MOYNAHAN, PWTORCH CONTRIBUTOR

Announcers: Excalibur, Jim Ross, Chris Jericho, and Tony Schiavone

Ring announcer: Justin Roberts

– The opening of Rampage aired, and JR welcomed us to the show. Ross was joined by Excalibur, Chris Jericho, and Tony Schiavone.

(1) JAY LETHAL & SONJAY DUTT & SATNAM SINGH vs. ORANGE CASSIDY & CHUCK TAYLOR & TRENT BERRETTA

Orange Cassidy grabbed a french fry from a fan on his way to the ring. The commentary team hyped the upcoming Trios Tag Team Titles tournament as this trios match kicked off. Trent and Lethal kicked things off, with Trent going for a pin attempt early on. Lethal swept Trent’s leg as the two went back-and-forth, ending in a stalemate. Lethal called for Cassidy to tag in, and Trent obliged. Cassidy called out Singh to tag in, which excited the crowd and surprised the commentary team.

Dutt tagged in instead. Dutt was still decked out in full suit, along with the pencil by the ear. Dutt passed the ref his jacket, and Cassidy placed his sunglasses on him as well. Singh quickly tagged in and Cassidy went for a dropkick that had no effect. Singh picked up Cassidy and placed him in the corner, then slapped him across the chest. Taylor and Trent attacked Singh, who hit a double cross body on both men. Lethal tagged in and took it to Cassidy. [c]

Cassidy evaded Lethal and tried making it to his corner to tag out. He leap frogged over Lethal, then slowly walked to tag in Taylor. Taylor hit a belly-to-belly suplex on Lethal, then hit him with a high knee. Trent tagged in and helped Taylor double team Lethal. Singh attacked both men from the apron but was double teamed with a dropkick to the knees to take him out. As Best Friends hugged, Lethal hit them with a double Lethal Injection. Cassidy came off the top onto Lethal, then hit him with a tornado DDT.

Dutt was about to attack from behind with a pencil but Cassidy stopped him in his tracks. Dutt kicked Cassidy in his shins, then Cassidy took his pencil and broke it in half. Cassidy followed up with the Orange Punch for the win.

WINNERS: Best Friends in 8:30

– After the match, Singh attacked Best Friends and Cassidy, and Lethal hit Cassidy with the Lethal Injection. Wardlow’s music hit as he made his way to the ring. He faced down Lethal and his crew as the three of them backed down.

(Moynahan’s Take: A good opener, that seemed to get cut a bit too short in my opinion. An interesting development as Wardlow faced off with Lethal after the match; which seems to mean Lethal is his next TNT challenger.)

– Clips from last week;’s ROH PPV were shown, which focused on the 2 out of 3 falls match between FTR and The Briscoes.

(2) ETHAN PAGE vs LEON RUFFIN

Ruffin charged at Page from the bell but Page caught him and rammed him into the turnbuckle. Page threw Ruffin across the ring, then hit him with a shoulder tackle. Ruffin was tossed into the corner again and was able to initially evade Page’s follow up. Page caught him with a clothesline, then hit Ego’s Edge for the win.

WINNER: Ethan Page in 1:30

(Moynahan’s Take: An easy win for Page, but the interesting part was a quick camera shot of Stokely Hathaway in the crowd nodding approval for Page.)

– Cole Carter was being interviewed in the back as The Factory walked up, led by QT Marshall. Marshall asked him to join The Factory, and let him think on it before receiving his answer.

(3) MATT SYDAL vs LEE MORIARTY

This was the Teacher vs. Student match, as clips were shown of Moriarty’s match last week where he cheated to win. The two shook hands as the match kicked off. Moriarty headbutted Sydal out of nowhere, then went on the attack. The crowd booed its disapproval as Moriarty hit an over-the-head suplex. Sydal ducked a clothesline, then hit a knee strike. Sydal nailed Moriarty in the knee and went for a pin attempt. [c]

Moriarty countered Sydal’s counter into a pin attempt for two. Sydal caught Moriarty’s kick attempt and fired back. The two men were down after a huge clothesline by Moriarty. Moriarty followed up with a series of knee shots but Sydal was able to fight back with a spiral suplex into a pin for two. Stokely Hathaway walked down the aisle as Sydal went to the top. Moriarty cut him off and went for a superplex attempt. Sydal knocked Moriarty off but Hathaway distracted Sydal behind the ref’s back.

Moriarty attacked Sydal’s leg, which made him fall to the mat. Moriarty hit a move, then went for a pin for a very close two. Moriarty locked in a submission hold as Sydal tapped out.

WINNER: Lee Moriarty in 7:30

– After the match, Moriarty took Hathaway’s business card and seemed to officially join his ranks.

(Moynahan’s Take: Match of the night so far, with a solid showing by both men. Moriarty’s heelish antics throughout the match, plus the full on heel turn post match was well done.)

– Britt Baker and Rebel were backstage talking about ThunderStorm. They hyped up their upcoming tag team match on Dynamite.

– Tony Schiavone welcomed Claudio Castagnoli to the ring. Claudio was joined by William Regal as the crowd chanted “you deserve it” in regards to his recent ROH World Title victory. Claudio thanked the fans and promised then this was just the beginning. He then welcomed fellow BCC member and ROH Pure Champion, Wheeler Yuta. Yuta took the mic but was cut off by Chris Jericho. Jericho was annoyed by the fans chanting for Yuta and “you deserve it” for Claudio. He said Claudio deserved his boot straight up his ass “because a Sports Entertainer always beats a Pro Wrestler.” Yuta cut him off and told him to shut up. Yuta said that didn’t work out at the ROH when he beat Daniel Garcia. Yuta then said he could beat Jericho as well. Both Claudio and Regal agreed that Yuta could beat Jericho, as did the fans. Jericho made a challenge to face Yuta on the next Dynamite, and Yuta simply replied “nah.” Jericho doubled down and said he’d put up his title match against Jon Moxley for a match against Yuta on Dynamite this coming week. Yuta accepted.

– The Acclaimed debuted their new music video, which mainly focused on ragging on the Gunn Club. Following the video, Excalibur announced the two teams will face off in a Dumpster Match on this week’s Dynamite.

– Mark Henry was backstage on split screen with Anna Jay and Ruby Soho. Anna said no one wanted to hear from Soho and was happy she no longer had to pretend to like her. She said slamming Soho’s head into the ringpost was the best decision she’s made thus far. Soho said Jay was entitled and thinks she knows everything. Soho suggested they faced off tonight one-on-one without anyone by their sides. Henry announced that it was “time for the main event.”

– Excalibur ran down new matches for Dynamite, which included the aforementioned Dumpster Match, Powerhouse Hobbs in action, Orange Cassidy vs. Lay Lethal, and Chris Jericho vs. Wheeler Yuta.

– Battle of the Belts III on August 6 was also mentioned, which will include Claudio Castagnoli defending the ROH Title against Konosuke Takeshita.

(4) ANNA JAY vs. RUBY SOHO

Soho was still sporting the arm brace. Jericho named Anna Jay his Sports Entertainer of the Week. The two locked up and Jay slammed Soho’s face to the mat. Soho backed off to the corner to regroup. Soho hit a shoulder tackle then moved out of the way of an elbow drop attempt by Jay. Soho hit a few chops and a huge knee strike to Jay’s face. Jay blocked a move in the corner, then kicked Soho right in Soho’s injured hand. [c]

Jay focused on Soho’s injured arm, and even removed her arm brace. Soho fought back with her good arm, but failed to hit a side suplex. Jay hit a thrust kick but Soho fired back with a successful suplex on the second attempt. Jay got back to her feet and immediately attacked Soho’s injured arm again. Soho fired back with a number of headbutts, then a knee to the face. Soho hit a kick to the side of Jay’s face, then took her down with a back heel trip. Soho covered for a two count.

Soho went for her finish but Jay countered and slammed Soho face-first to the mat. Jay went for a few covers but could only manage two. Jay locked in Queen Slayer but Soho countered into a pin attempt. Soho hit No Future but Jay kicked out. Soho went to the top but missed when Jay moved. Jay hit a number of crossfaces on Soho, then used Soho’s arm brace as she locked in Queen Slayer for the tapout.

WINNER: Anna Jay in 9:00

(Moynahan’s Take: This really picked up after the commercial break and ended up a lot better than I would’ve guessed. Solid main event for what it was, with Jay getting the necessary win after the recent heel turn.)

FINAL THOUGHTS: Another ho-hum episode of Rampage. Again, nothing inherently bad, just more of the same from the last number of weeks. The opening Trios match was good but was much shorter than I would have imagined, and the Moriarty/Sydal match was easily the match of the night. I enjoyed the simple hype for Jericho and Yuta, especially with the title shot stakes on the line. I’m also hyped for the Battle of the Belts III matchup between Claudio and Koneshita. Oh, and next week’s Rampage will be live, which always seems to make for a more exciting show. Until next week, stay safe everyone!