Written by Mike Mueller
AEW Rampage 10/22 got off to a bit of a rocky start, but a pair of strong matches and a great teaser ended the show on a serious high note. Let’s look at the Highs and Lows of this week’s AEW Rampage.
LOW: Orange Cassidy def Powerhouse Hobbs in first round of Eliminator Tournament. The match was fine for what it was. It told a consistent story with OC’s injured back, but the ref getting up in arms about Hobbs in the corner of the ring seemed very “much ado about nothing,” and the weak mouse trap pinfall by OC was underwhelming to say the least. Orange Cassidy getting the win here is fine, but the match should have ended by DQ as soon as Hobbs put his hands on the ref. We’d get the same end result, and Hobbs would have remained a little more protected. Oh well, at least we got to see Hook.
LOW: Penta’s “interview.” Once again, Tony Schiavone can’t get through one question without bedlam ensuing. This time, Pentagon Jr. came to the ring with Alex Abrahantes, presumably to talk about FTR. However, Pentagon Jr. immediately notices a couple guys at ringside sporting Las Super Ranas masks, and feels the need to go out and confront them. To nobody’s surprise, it wasn’t FTR under the masks, and while Pentagon Jr. is processing this, he gets jumped from behind by the real FTR. They issue a beatdown until Pac comes to his friends’ aid and FTR and Tully Blanchard scramble away. The segment seemed contrived from the start and didn’t really do much to build any extra heat for the inevitable rematch between Lucha Brothers and FTR.
High: Dr. Britt Baker def. Anna Jay. There is no doubt that AEW has big plans for Anna Jay, and it’s clear to see why. Chain grappling with the best female wrestler in AEW is no easy task, but Anna stayed step-for-step throughout every exchange in their matchup, including a brilliant transition from a crucifix into her Queen Slayer sleeper hold. For someone still so green, Anna Jay has a very bright future ahead of her. As for the rest of the match, the women kept a very quick pace going, exchanging a few hard shots and plenty of grappling that would make any pro wrestling fan proud. Britt, with the aid of Rebel and Jamie Hayter, ultimately got the Lock Jaw submission on Anna Jay, and that was the end of it.
High: Pac defeated Andrade. This was everything you could want from a match between these two. In a word, this match was brutal. We got the high spots that we’ve come to expect from these two: A picture perfect moonsault by Pac, a springboard DDT to the edge of the apron by Andrade, a top rope brainbuster. The moves were spectacular, but they were also vicious. Both men had welts and bruises on their bodies by the time this match was done, and it showed a level of violence we haven’t seen yet, at least by Andrade.
The match ended suddenly when, after a series of counters and near-falls, Pac was able to get a roll-up three count on Andrade for the win. However, as soon as the ref’s hand struck the mat for the third time, the lights went out. When they came back on, Malakai Black was in the ring and he spewed green mist into Pac’s eyes. It appears that Malakai is one of the “many friends around the world” that Andrade alluded to. Hope appeared lost until Cody Rhodes (preempted by an Arn Anderson finger gun) came to Pac’s aid and got his hands on Malakai. These two will face each other on Dynamite so it was a great way to end the evening, and create a smooth transition into the following night’s show.
Overall Thoughts on AEW Rampage 10/22:
While this certainly wasn’t the most exciting episode of Rampage to date, it definitely succeeded in its goal of having people tune in to Saturday Night Dynamite. Any deviation from the norm in a TV schedule is a scary proposition, so it makes sense that creative might have been more focused on making sure their audience knew to tune in the next night, versus just focusing on giving us a great hour of wrestling, like we’ve come to expect. I can’t say I was disappointed, because any time you get a 15+ minute match between Pac and Andrade, you’re going to have a great time. The main event, the great women’s match, and Jericho’s commentary all made this a very enjoyable episode of Rampage, even if it wasn’t one of my favorites.
