ADAM COLE VS. TRENT
The next chapter in The Elite vs. The Best Friends saga was written as Adam Cole took on Trent. Since Trent’s return, he’s had a more serious look and approach in the ring. For a minute, a heel turn was teased for Trent, but it seems like AEW has pumped the brakes on that, which is probably for the best.
Trent got the early advantage with a series of brutal strikes, before the match spilled to the outside, where the high impact moves continued. Both men were focused on the head/neck of their opponent, as Adam Cole landed his modified brain buster just moments before Trent repaid the favor with a pile driver on the apron. However this match turned out, it was clear that the real winners were gonna be these two men’s chiropractors.
The match seemed to be over after Trent reversed Cole’s Panama Sunrise attempt and converted it into a Strong Zero, but Cole was able to get a foot on the ropes and keep the match going. After that, the inevitable “faction vs. faction” rumble occurred on the outside, as the Best Friends and The Elite started all brawling with each other. As the referee was trying to sort out the chaos on the outside, that dastardly Adam Cole hit Trent with a low blow, followed by his running knee strike to the back of the head, and Adam Cole picked up the tainted victory. This round goes to The Elite.
MERCEDES AND THUNDER PREPARE FOR BATTLE
Next we saw a short promo package hyping the eventual match between Thunder Rosa and Mercedes Martinez. Many people (myself included) believe Rosa will be the one to eventually take the title off of Britt Baker. However, Baker is doing such a good job as champion that the title change probably won’t happen for a while. So, in the meantime, AEW wisely found someone for Thunder to feud with.
A debuting Mercedes Martinez is the perfect potential foil to someone like Thunder Rosa. She’s big, mean, intimidating, and she’s newly debuted. Whenever a new wrestler comes onto the scene, there’s always a chance AEW is going to give them a nice long winning streak to get their careers started (see: Jade Cargill, CM Punk, HOOK). It probably won’t be the case here, as it is clear AEW still has big plans for Thunder Rosa, and Mercedes has had such a long, storied career that an early loss won’t derail her long-term potential.
SHAWN SPEARS VS. ADAM EVERETT
Before he gets destroyed by CM Punk next week, AEW decided to throw Shawn Spears a bone and actually let him get a victory on TV! Spears has been somewhat of a disappointment since joining AEW, as many people were hopeful that it would revitalize his post-WWE career. An allegiance with Tully Blanchard didn’t seem to pan out, but now he’s found a comfortable role as a member of The Pinnacle, and seems to be the heir-apparent as MJF’s right hand man once Wardlow finally turns on his tyrannical boss.
The match itself was a squash in the purest form of the word, made to give Spears’ finishing move, the C4, as much credibility as possible heading into his encounter with Punk. The message from the match was simple: If Spears hits his C4, it could be enough to beat CM Punk (spoiler alert: it won’t). After the match, Spears delivered what was, by far, the best promo he’s cut in either WWE or AEW. He even got a subtle dig in at Wardlow in the process. Maybe there’s hope for the Canadian heartthrob after all.
ACCLAIMED DISS TRACK
This was brilliant. Words won’t do it justice, just watch it above.
HIRSCH/STATLANDER/VELVET VS. ROSE/BUNNY/PENELOPE
Let this be a lesson to everybody: Teamwork makes the dream work. Layla Hirsch is not a team player, and selfishness cost her dearly as Nyla Rose, Penelope Ford, and The Bunny were able to work together and take advantage of the many faux pas’ their opponents made throughout the match. This was wrestling storytelling at its most basic, but it was effective nonetheless. We are all waiting for the full blown heel turn from Layla, and that seems to be coming any week now.
JAY LETHAL CALLS OUT RICKY STARKS
Since Ricky Starks won the FTW world title from Brian Cage in July, he had rarely defended it until he beat Matt Sydal on the Jan. 8th “Battle of the Belts” special. Well, now a new challenger has emerged. Jay Lethal came out to say that the FTW title isn’t in high demand, but the fact that it means the world to Ricky Starks is enough for Lethal to want to beat Starks and take it from him. Lethal implied that Starks can’t do anything without Taz’s permission, and even referred to Taz as Starks’ “daddy” which was funny and awkward all at the same time. Eventually, the men were separated by AEW officials, and a future FTW title match between these two seems to be inevitable.
JURASSIC EXPRESS VS. SILVER AND REYNOLDS
Coming off of their incredible victory against the Lucha Bros last week, Jungle Boy and Luchasaurus made their first defense of the AEW Tag Team Championship against Alex Reynolds and John Silver of the Dark Order. The match was definitely designed to showcase the new champions’ athletic ability, as high spots were plentiful, and Jungle Boy’s aerial offense was truly special. An over the top rope hurricanrana to the outside and several tope suicida’s got the crowd on their feet. It didn’t take long for the “This is Awesome” chants to start ringing through the arena.
There wasn’t a whole lot of story to the match other than “Look what these four guys can do!” which is okay, given that there wasn’t much build or story going into the match. Without a doubt, the peak of this highlight-fest was the incredible power bomb/German suplex/superplex that involved all four men. The final move, a sort of face buster/cutter combination was botched, but fortunately that was one of the few missteps in an otherwise fantastic match that saw Jurassic Express come out on top and remain the AEW World Tag Team Champions.
THOUGHTS FROM THE CLOSET ON AEW RAMPAGE 1/14:
- People seem very torn on the amount of factions in AEW. Some love it while others hate it. It harkens back to the early days of the Attitude era, when it seemed like half of the roster was in some sort of group. The difference between the factions in AEW now vs. the factions from the Attitude Era is that the factions now are (by in large) not being used as a vehicle to get a single person over. Instead, they are a product of having so much quality talent, and not enough individual storylines for everybody. Having factions feud with each other gives myriad combinations for matches and potential outcomes. This is the kind of gang warfare I like to see in pro wrestling. Fingers crossed that one day we get a “survivor series” type of event where these teams can take each other on in elimination matches.
- It is great to see AEW spending more time on building feuds within the women’s division that doesn’t revolve around the title. Between Anna Jay and Tay Conti feuding with Penelope Ford and The Bunny, Shida/Deeb, Leyla Hirsch’s heel turn, and now Thunder/Mercedes, it’s amazing to see how AEW has really turned their women’s division around in a fairly short order.
- Jungle Boy is a future world champion. Mark my words.
