Nobody's mentioning the incredible surprise appearance on Rampage? Is this a spoiler-free thread?

One of Sting's old rivals showed up to defend him against House of Black.

SPOILER: Click to show

THE GREAT MUTA!!!!

Sept 25, 2022 11:04:49 GMT Emperor said:

Nobody's mentioning the incredible surprise appearance on Rampage? Is this a spoiler-free thread?

One of Sting's old rivals showed up to defend him against House of Black.

SPOILER: Click to show

THE GREAT MUTA!!!!

Rampage is stuck in a bad place. No one saw it because it feels like a filler show. Even when you put bigger moments on it now people just miss it.

It is a shame Black is gone. Muta probably could help his misting skills.

Mask vs. Career next Friday. Will 10 pull a Kakashi?

10 can well go without the mask now.

Andrade will be gone. He's done nothing but tread water in AEW.

I know they want to do good by Brodie but they really need to stop changing history with Brodie Lee.

Oct 8, 2022 2:37:06 GMT X-zero said:

I know they want to do good by Brodie but they really need to stop changing history with Brodie Lee.

What did they do this time?

AEW Rampage October 7th 2022

Blackpool Combat Club (Moxley, Claudio & Yuta) vs. Rush & Private Party - This was your traditional Rampage top act vs. underneath act opener. It was largely Blackpool's match, but they gave Rush and Private Party plenty of shine and made Rush out to be a real difference maker. Claudio got a nice moment and Yuta gets the win after putting over MJF on Dynamite.

The Varsity Athletes (Woods & Nese) vs. The Blondes - The Athletes smashed the Blondes so badly, they took their name. One of those blink and you'll miss it type of matches and it appears The Blondes will be repackaged and the Athletes will put over the Acclaimed.

Tay Melo & Anna Jay vs. Skye Blue & Madison Rayne - Melo & Jay worked largely on top for the majority, but Blue and Rayne got some offence in. Kind of a sloppy match, they largely had Skye wrestle and it seemed like the timing and exution was off for most of the matches. Whenever Madison was in, it seemed more polished.

Death Triangle vs. Dark Order - This went 20 minutes and for 15 it felt like a long heat section on Reynolds. Usually Reynolds playing the babyface in peril is OK because Silver is a good hot tag but they gave it to Vance and the match may have only gotten out of neutral. I think they wanted to give Dark Order a spotlight, but the structure of the match really didn't benefit them. Even the finish took the spotlight off them with Rush seemingly forming an alliance with Pac.

Battle of the Belts - October 7th 2022

Pac vs. Beretta - They played up Pac backing up after Rampage to explain why Beretta was on top for the early duration. I thought it actually served both guys pretty well and they were having a really good back and forth match till the hammer finish. In the end, the finish kind of made it feel like a segment more than a match and they're running back OC/Pac again.

Willow Nightgale vs. Jade Cargill - Willow got more offence in, but still Jade finished up on top. After the match, Vickie distracted everyone while Nyla ran off with the title.

Gates of Agony vs. FTR - FTR had to work underneath for the majority of the match with Kaun and Liona on top. In the end Dax is just able to sneak a backslide pin on Kaun for the victory. However as is tradition, the match broke down into a huge schmozz with WardJoe helping to clear the ring to send the fans home happy.

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Despite the shmozz post-match segments, I found Battle of the Belts the better half. The Rampage opener was good fun and something you could throw into a Blackpool Combat Club highlights reel.

Oct 8, 2022 18:09:03 GMT Big Pete said:

Oct 8, 2022 2:37:06 GMT X-zero said:

I know they want to do good by Brodie but they really need to stop changing history with Brodie Lee.

What did they do this time?

He was the reason all the dark order got jobs. But he hadn't even left WWE when most of them got hired. And if AEW talked about it that far back that is contract tampering.

FINALLY

Wardlow is defending the TNT title in an open challenge tonight.

World title eliminator tournament returns. Finals will be at Full Gear and the winner will get their title shot at Winter Is Coming III on Dec 14th.

First entrant is Dante Martin.

My way-too-early prediction is that Ricky Starks wins.

Do you want to play a game in Swerve's house? Thinking the Acclaimmed reign will be short and Lee shows who he is.

Wrestling is better than the things you like

The twitter comments make it even better.

We have the World Title Eliminator Tournament brackets all set up. And the matches will all take place next week.

Eddie Kingston vs. Ethan Page (Dynamite)
Bandido vs. Rush (Rampage)

Lance Archer vs. Ricky Starks (Rampage)
Brian Cage vs. Dante Martin (Rampage)

Tonight I got to watch Orange Cassidy fight Katsuyori Shibata with Mike Tyson on commentary.

I love this company.

Tyson was a riot - I loved how dramatic he was.

Words to the effect of 'Just when I thought it was hopeless, my man, Orange Cassidy, takes it out in a legendary match!'

Curious to get your thoughts Emperor. I think you'd enjoy it, even if it was more an OC match than a Shibata.

Wardlow needs to watch interrupting Joe like that.

Nov 6, 2022 1:56:50 GMT X-zero said:

Wardlow needs to watch interrupting Joe like that.

You could argue this was Katsuyori Shibata's true return to in-ring action. He had the 5-minute exhibition against Zack. Then he had the Wrestle Kingdom match against Ren Narita. Although Shibata notoriously broke protocol to wrestle that match harder than he agreed, to me it still had the vibe of a training match, given he was wrestling his top protege whom he had been training with for years.

So Shibata's true return is challenging for AEW's All Atlantic Championship. Against a wrestler who couldn't be any less like Shibata. I was concerned that these two wrestlers would have no chemistry at all. Fortunately I was wrong. A bit of sloppiness at the start but the psychology was on point. Orange tries his shtick, Shibata wrestles completely normally as if Orange isn't doing anything wacky with his hands in his pockets.

Hardly MOTY but it was a good, fun match and there were some fun character spots. Shibata does actually mock Orange's weak kicks at one point, but he's in full control of the situation and uses it to maintain the advantage. Finishing stretch was pretty nice, I like that Shibata no-sold the first Orange Punch before being KO'd by the second when he was caught with it while running. Orange Punch is a dumb finish but that's about as acceptable as it can be.

I enjoyed it, and Shibata's looking prettty good in the ring.

Mike Tyson was fantastic as well, he did his research on Shibata in particular. Helped to make feel the match extra special.

EDDIE KINGSTON & ORTIZ vs KONOSUKE TAKESHITA & JUN AKIYAMA

FULL GEAR FRIDAY GONNA FUCK

Oh shit another dream guy for Eddie. Hope Eddie brings back the wrist clutch exploder for that.

RIP, Dark Order, fuck that soulless piece of shit Preston Vance for making negative 1 cry.

Hikaru Shida just announced that her match against The Bunny will be for the Regina di Wave title (PWW Women’s Championship).

With the way women’s wrestling has gone in AEW in recent months I think TK is finally listening to the fans. This is gonna rock.

Moxley vs Takeshita was a banger.

So Renee just posted this………

Moxley bleeding - what's new?!

Mox loves to wear the crimson mask.

Yeah nah it wasn’t your typical Moxley busted open spot. It was fucking gross.

Great match though.

The House gunning for Eddie gonna be fun as fuck.

Hayter with another amazing showing tonight. Glad she is really making the most of her time at the top.

Loving seeing the Kingdom in AEW as well.