By Briar Starr, ProWrestling.net Contributor (@briarstarrtv)
AEW Rampage (Episode 92)
Taped May 10, 2023 in Detroit, Michigan at Little Caesars Arena
Aired May 13, 2023 on TNT
1. The Butcher, The Blade, and Kip Sabian vs. Daddy Ass and “The Acclaimed” Max Caster and Anthony Bowens. Caster rapped about The Blade having the worst mustache since Vince McMahon down to the ring. Sabian and Bowens began the match respectively for their teams. Sabian hit a hip toss on Bowens, while Bowens countered by using a Fameasser-like move. Caster and Bowens then doubled up on The Blade after Caster tagged in for a brief moment. Bowens landed a shiver-me-timbers move from the top rope onto The Blade.
Sabian landed a moonsault on the outside of Bowens. Afterward, The Butcher, The Blade, and Sabian made cohesive tags back and forth to prevent Bowens from making the tag. Sabian used a running cannonball to continue his momentum on Bowens. Bowens finally regained momentum with a kick to The Blade and tagged out to Daddy Ass. Daddy Ass landed a power slam to The Butcher while Caster planted Sabian with a flat liner. Eventually, The Acclaimed would win with the Mic Drop finisher from Caster onto Sabian for the victory…
Daddy Ass and The Acclaimed defeated The Butcher, The Blade, and Kip Sabian via pinfall.
Briar’s Take: A great match to open up Rampage. Both teams got their stuff in and The Acclaimed continues to be over with the crowd. Surprisingly, The Butcher and The Blade didn’t really see too much action, as Sabian was the one who was doing most of the work for the team. When Sabian had his moments, his moves looked good. People still love to sing “Woah, scissor me daddy.”
A new edition of QTV was shown. QT Marshall was raving about AEW ticket sales for All In in London, England at Wembley Stadium. Hobbs was interviewed by Harley Cameron about what’s next for him and he held up the Book of Hobbs…
Briar’s Take: A pointless segment that didn’t really explain much. Hobbs only spoke for a few seconds and it was hard to hear what he saying. I’m over QTV and wish it would end.
2. Allysin Kay vs. Toni Storm (w/Ruby Soho, Saraya). Kay threw a punt kick to take Storm off her game as the bell rang and stomped her into the corner. Saraya provided a distraction on Kay, which allowed Storm to get the upper advantage. Storm hit a hip attack that sent Kay to the outside and Saraya, and Soho attacked Kay while the ref was distracted. Kay then hit a swinging neck breaker and followed up with a lariat to nearly get the upset victory. Kay would’ve got the victory, however, Soho distracted the ref and Storm hit a release German suplex followed by the hip attack, Storm Zero to put Kay away for the win.
Toni Storm defeated Allysin Kay via pinfall.
Briar’s Take: An okay match, but man, I’m so tired of the referee being distracted in these matches. It’s way overdone in every promotion and brings the matches down. Kay looked good for what she was able to do and provided a few near falls that looked believable.
A pre-taped segment aired with Austin and Colten Gunn saying they were pissed off about losing the AEW Tag Titles and were mad about Swerve In Our Glory getting a rematch before then. Ethan Page intervened and said he’s needs help and The Gunns followed him.
3. Kyle Fletcher (w/Mark Davis) vs. Action Andretti. Andretti landed a torpedo moonsault off the bottom rope. Shortly thereafter, Fletcher attempted a half-in-half suplex. Andretti landed a scoop slam in the middle of the ring. Andretti looked for a split-legged moonsault but missed. Fletcher rocked Andretti with a kick and a brainbuster. Andretti regained momentum with a superplex. Andretti executed a 450 splash and went for the pin, but Fletcher kicked out. Fletcher fired back with a kick. Fletcher spiked Andretti and got the pin…
Kyle Fletcher defeated Action Andretti via pinfall.
Briar’s Take: Solid back-and-forth match action. I was hoping this would’ve been the main event instead of the tag match. Nonetheless, this match was a momentum-building victory for Fletcher who will eventually challenge Orange Cassidy for the AEW International Title. Going into the show, I was hoping this match would land in the main even slot.
A quick recap was shown from the ending of Dynamite with Don Callis turning on Kenny Omega…
Tony Schiavone interviewed Matt Hardy in the ring about The Firm deletion. Hardy said he had a wonderful week. He added ‘The Firm contract has been deleted.’ Jeff Hardy said now that he’s back, they can get back to challenging for the tag team titles and have one final run.
Austin Gunn and Colten Gunn came out to interrupt. The Gunns said they and Ethan Page want to kick their asses. Matt Hardy replied to The Gunns that if Matt wins the match against The Gunns, he would control Ethan’s contract. The Gunns accepted on Ethan’s behalf and that as long as they’re here, The Hardys will never win the tag titles.
Briar’s Take: Good storyline follow-up from The Firm Deletion. With The Gunns accepting on Ethan’s behalf, I assume we’ll be getting a No. 1 contender’s tag team title match with The Gunns vs The Hardy’s in the near future. I thought the Firm Deletion was okay but it wasn’t as good as the cinematics they did in Impact Wrestling…
4. Swerve Strickland and Brian Cage (w/Prince Nana, Bishop Kaun, Toa Liona) vs. John Silver and Alex Reynolds (w/Evil Uno). Cage and Silver traded huracanranas until Silver dropped Cage with a body slam. Strickland struck with a diving back elbow from the top rope to Silver. Strickland and Cage prevented Silver from making the tag out to Reynolds multiple times until Silver dropped Cage and tagged out.
Reynolds hit a rolling back elbow and a tiger driver before planting Strickland with a piledriver. Reynolds and Silver performed their combination finisher, but Cage slid Reynolds into the ring post to break up the pin. Eventually, Cage landed the Drill Claw on Reynolds to pick up the victory…
Swerve Strickland and Brian Cage beat John Silver and Alex Reynolds via pinfall.
Following the match, The Embassy ganged up on the Dark Order until Keith Lee and Dustin Rhodes came to make the save and cleared the ring to close the show…
Briar’s Take: An okay tag match from what we were able to see. Most of the action took place during the picture-in-picture break. The action that aired was competitive and both teams tried their best. At this point though, I couldn’t care less about the Dark Order team, as they feel like they’ve run their course. The story was mostly about Lee and Rhodes coming out to further their storyline with Cage/Strickland.
Overall, it wasn’t a bad episode of Rampage. All four matches were solid. I really believe Fletcher and Andretti should have gone on last and been given more. If you are on short time this week, I’d recommend the last two matches of the show and maybe The Gunns/Hardy’s segment.
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