AEW will have their entry into a busy Friday night with a new edition of Rampage, headlined by Sammy Guevara taking on Konosuke Takeshita.
Guevara is trying to position himself for an AEW World title match with MJF along with the other "pillars" that includes "Jungle Boy" Jack Perry and Darby Allin. Perry picked up a victory Wednesday over Matt Hardy.
Takeshita is looking for his fifth straight win in his first singles meeting with Guevara since 2018.
Malakai Black and Brody King (The Kings of the Black Throne) will take a break from trios competition as they face Best Friends.
Taya Valkyrie will look to go 3-0 in AEW as she takes on Marina Shafir in hopes of a future TBS title match with Jade Cargill.
Juice Robinson will strive for his sixth straight AEW win as he faces Action Andretti ahead of his clash with Ricky Starks this Wednesday.
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Taped from St. Louis, Missouri.
Jim Ross, Excalibur, Chris Jericho and Tony Schiavone were on commentary.
Sammy Guevara (w/ Tay Melo) defeated Konosuke Takeshita (9:44)
“Jungle Boy” Jack Perry and Dabry Allin were shown watching the match from the back. Takeshita hit his flying lariat and mocked Guevara’s pose. Guevara countered a suplex attempt with a knee to the head, then hung Takeshita up in the ropes and hit a senton. Takeshita tried to set up Guevara for an avalanche German superplex, but Geuvara escaped and dropkicked Takeshita, who was hanging in the ropes.
After a commercial, Takeshita dropped Guevara with a brainbuster. Guevara countered a running knee strike. Takeshita gave Guevara a release German suplex while on his knees. Guevara flipped out of a deadlift German suplex and caught Takeshita with a Spanish fly for a near fall. Guevara missed a shooting star press, but hit a Canadian destoryer for a near fall. Takeshita hit a blue thunder bomb for a near fall.
Both guys fought up to the top rope. Takeshita hit an avalanche German suplex form the top, then followed up with a lariat for a near fall. Melo grabbed Takeshita’s leg to distract Takeshita, and Guevara ran in with a knee strike. Guevara then hit the GTH on Takeshita to get the pinfall. Guevara needed to win, but Takehsita really didn’t need another loss.
– QTV segment. This was cringeworthy. They mocked Wardlow again. Marshall is using a suplex into a sitout powerbomb as his new finisher; footage of this from Dark was shown. Let’s get to the point where Wardlow destroys these guys already.
– Earlier today, Ethan Page signed the contract for a match with Hook next Wednesday in Long Island. Matt Hardy drew up the paperwork (since Stokley Hathaway is MIA), and Page has no idea how any of that works. Matt winks to the camera while Page signs, so I’m sure there’s no shenanigans there.
Brody King & Malakai Black (w/ Julia Hart) went to a no contest with The Best Friends (8:15 aired)
Trent Beretta and Black started out, and Beretta hit a nice standing meteora. Chuck Taylor got the tag and Black destroyed him with knee strikes. Brody King got the tag and floored Taylor with a clothesline. The fight went to the floor to usher in a split-screen break.
Beretta got the hot tag after the commercial. He suplexed Black and hit King with a spinning DDT. Beretta took out King with a tope con hilo, then came off the top with a shotgun dropkick on Black for a near fall. Black hit Beretta with a knee, but the Best Friends hit the half-and-half/soul food combination. They tried to give the people what they want, but King charged in to break that up. King caught Beretta going for a plancha and chokeslammed him against the ring apron. King powerbombed Taylor through a ringside table. Beretta hit King with a chair, and Black hit Beretta with a chair, and the referee called for a bell. With no winner declared, I beleive the match was thrown out.
Orange Cassidy tried to run to help his Best Friends, but Buddy Murphry cut him off. Cassidy tried for the Orange Punch on Murphy, but Murphy blocked it with his title belt, injuring Cassidy’s hand. King and Black delivered Dante’s Inferno on Taylor. The crowd chanted for the House of Black as they left.
Later in the show, it is annoucned The House of Black will defend the World Trios titles against Orange Cassidy & The Best Friends on Dynamite Wednesday.
– Keith Lee and Swerve Strickland exchanged pre-recorded barbs at each other. Swerve thinks he’s a mogul, but if Lee puts Swerve six feet under, will that just make him an underground rapper? That was a good line from Lee.
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Taya Valkyrie defeated Marina Shafir (2:37)
The ring announcer said “we have a problem” when Marina Shafir came out. Jade Cargill and her crew came out to watch the match while Valkyrie and Shafir struggled over an armlock. Shafir and Valkyrie didn’t feel like they were on the same page here. After a long two minutes, Valkyrie hit the Road to Valhalla to get the pinfall.
After the match, Mark Sterling sent his legal processor down to give Valkyrie a restraining order to keep her from using the move. Of course, Valkyrie gave the process server the Road to Valhalla too. Cargill actually sold here and tried to charge at Valkyrie, but Sterling and Leila Grey held her back.
– Anna Jay cut a promo on Julia Hart and promised to choke her out.
Juice Robinson defeated Action Andretti (9:05)
Last week, Robinson cut a promo where he said he didn’t want to wrestle in Missouri. And tonight, he wrestled in Missouri. Andretti caught Robinson with a tornio for a near fall before the commercial.
After a break, Robinson gave Andretti a stomach breaker, then buried a knee into his midsection. Robinson continued to call Andretti “Ricky” throughout the match because he’s so focused on Ricky Starks next Wednesday. Andretti came back with a forearm and elbow and a flurry of kicks that sent Robinson to the floor. Andretti followed him out with a tope. Andretti hit an Arabian Press on the floor, then a springboard lariat in the ring. Andretti hit a spinning DDT for a near fall. Juice caught Andretti with a leg lariat, then hit his forward DDT (The Juice is Loose) for the pinfall.
After the match, Robinson set up Andretti for the roshambeaux, but Ricky Starks ran him off to end the show.
Final Thoughts:
This was the very definition of a throwaway show. There's a million hours of wrestling on this weekend; you don't need to carve any time out of your schedule to watch this.