By Don Murphy, ProWrestling.net Contributor (@DonThePredictor)
AEW Rampage (Episode 149)
Taped June 12, 2024 in Des Moines, Iowa at Wells Fargo Arena
Aired June 14, 2024 on TNT
The Rampage opening aired… Excalibur, Tony Schiavone, and Matt Menard were on commentary. AEW Women’s Champion Toni Storm made her way to the ring for the opening match. Justin Roberts was the ring announcer….
AEW Women’s Champion Toni Storm defeated Alex Windsor in roughly 8:00.
Storm celebrated with May after the match…
Don’s Take: A good competitive win for Storm, who continues to be the most popular talent in the women’s division. I can’t say the Storm-May-Mina Shirakawa love triangle is producing compelling television for me, but it’s a decent enough hook. I’m more intrigued by the prospect of May winning the Owen Hart Cup tournament and earning a shot for Storm’s title at All In.
Arkady Aura was backstage with Harley Cameron. Cameron cut a rather nonsensical promo, with the gist being that Saraya would win the Owen Hart Cup Tournament and go on to challenge for the AEW Women’s Title at All In. Cameron noted that Saraya won the championship at last year’s event and would do it again… [C]
A video package aired with Thunder Rosa and Deonna Purrazzo previewing their No DQ match scheduled for the one-year anniversary episode of Collision…
3. Rocky Romero vs. Shota Umino. Good chain wrestling to start with Umino concentrating on Romero’s leg. Romero retaliated and sent Umino to the floor and dove onto him as the show went to a picture-in-picture break. [C]
Coming out of the break, Romero was in the middle of hitting Umino with his trademark series of running clotheslines in the corner. Umino retaliated with a dropkick and a DDT on the apron. Down the stretch, Romero hit a running sliced bread for a near fall. He went for a second one but Umino blocked it and hit a knee strike and a neck breaker for a near fall. Umino hit an uppercut to the back of the neck followed by a Paradigm Shift DDT for the win.
Shota Umino defeated Rocky Romero in about 10:00.
Don’s Take: AEW may possibly positioning Umino for a match against Jon Moxley on Dynamite or Collision so the win here makes sense. Romero has officially settled into his role as a glorified enhancement talent.
Excalibur ran down the Forbidden Door, Collision and Dynamite lineups. [C]
4. Satnam Singh (w/Sonjay Dutt, Jay Lethal) vs. Rosario Grillo. Singh offered a handshake which Grillo accepted. Singh held on to Grillo’s hand and trapped him in a bear hug for the immediate submission…
Satnam Singh defeated Rosario Grillo in about 0:20.
After the match, Jay Lethal grabbed the match and congratulated Singh for winning his match in record time. He added that he had a side bet with Dutt that he could win his match faster and asked for his opponent to come down to the ring. PAC made his entrance…
Don’s Take: Similar to when WWE would take this approach with Omos, I’m fine with this kind of match. Singh is not a great worker, but watching a giant destroy a jobber once in a while is never a bad thing.
5. PAC vs. Jay Lethal (w/Sonjay Dutt, Satnam Singh). The two immediately traded moves to start. The match was fairly even to start with the highlight being PAC diving onto Lethal on the floor. Lethal gained the advantage when Dutt distracted the referee, allowing Singh to pull PAC to the floor. The referee ejected Singh, but this allowed Lethal to ram PAC’s back into the ringside barricade, the steel post and the ring steps as the show went to its final picture-in-picture break. [C]
Coming out of the break, PAC mounted a comeback but Lethal eventually swung the match back in his favor by going back to the leg and applying the figure-four. PAC eventually got to the ropes. The finish saw PAC block a power bomb from the second rope with a back drop to Lethal. PAC went for the Black Arrow but Dutt distracted him from the apron. PAC kicked Dutt off the apron. Lethal missed with a Lethal Injection but hit a cutter. He went for a second Lethal Injection but PAC hit a clothesline followed by his Brutalizer finisher for the submission win.
PAC defeated Jay Lethal in roughly 13:00.
PAC celebrated the win as Rampage went off the air…
Don’s Take: A solid TV main event. The outcome was no mystery, but I’m actually liking the formula we’ve seen over the past couple of weeks of 2-3 squash matches along with 1-2 competitive matches. It takes me back to when WCW used to have the Friday Night Power Hour.
Not a bad episode from the standpoint of Rampage officially establishing a “C show” identity. Adding squash matches with a little competition and recaps of current events while pulling back on lower card storylines that go nowhere could be the way to go here. Is it needed given everything else available? No, but it’s decent shoulder content, like WWE Heat, Velocity, or Main Event, if a fan has an hour to spare.
That’s all from me for tonight and I’ll be back tomorrow to cover Collision. Until then!
This is not a smart ass comment I promise
Who watched shows like this? (Or say NXT “Level Up”)
There is so so so much wrestling available on TV and other platforms. I would think you would have to be some type of real wrestling addict to watch these C-level and below shows.
This show usually gets like 300-400k right? That makes me wonder if you can really trust ratings. Do we really think there are 400,000 people actively watching this show? Or did people just fall asleep with the TV on? (And this isn’t an AEW dig, is anyone watching a TWO HOUR pre-game show for the B-level PLE Clash at the Castle?)
First, I’d never call anyone with the name Ken Patera a smartass.
Yeah I’m not an expert on how ratings are calculated. But yes, unless you’re someone covering the show for a news site, making Rampage “must see” would likely put you at addict status.
I’m pretty close. I watch pretty much everything (WWE, NXT, AEW, TNA, MLW) except Level Up, Speed, Main Event and ROH, but that’s more due to lack of time.