AEW Rampage: Wheeler Yuta becomes a star

It’s Friday Night, and you know what that means? No, not to find out about a bot attack on All Elite Wrestling, nor to face the Nightmare of the aftermath of WrestleMania. It’s AEW Rampage, and this night will be a fun time for a beat down with the Blackpool Combat Club, as Wheeler Yuta faces in one on one action with John Moxley. Will the current ROH Pure champion be able to beat respect into Moxley?

We’ll find out later tonight at the Agganis Arena in Boston, MA.  Excalibur, Taz, a Starks, and William Regal have the call on commentary, and we waste no time as the First Match is in progress with…

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Bryan Danielson vs. Trent Beretta

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Danielson just starts in on the Best Friend beat down, with a kick to his back, but Beretta returns the receipt.  Danielson gets a hanging front chancery, and Beretta manages to slam him hard to the mat. However, the American Dragon chops and kicks away, but Beretta gets on his shoulders to an electric chair and dumps him outside the ring.  Beretta goes to a suicida and Danielson’s educated feet catch him midair.   Now he goes for a tope suicida, but Beretta dodges and hits a suplex on the floor.  He rushes but Danielson manages to slam him onto the steel steps.

During Picture in Picture, Danielson slows down the tempo and takes time to bring the hurt to Beretta, by getting a snap front headlock suplex.  He goes up top but Beretta catches him and gets a superplex.  Chops abound between the combatants, and Beretta hits a deadlift German suplex.  He attempts a tornado DDT, but Danielson reverses to a discus elbow to a side suplex, and he quickly transitions to a dragon sleeper, but Beretta gets to the ropes to break the hold.  He sends Beretta to the corner and rushes at him, but the Best Friend steps away, and now lands the tornado DDT for a two count.  Beretta goes high risk on the top rope, but Danielson knocks him off the ropes for what Taz calls “Yambag Yahtzee”, and he goes for an awkward superplex that has both men crashing hard, and Danielson pins but for another two count. A half and half suplex to a lariat gain Beretta a pin cover, and it’s another two count.  Beretta rains elbow hammers down on Danielson.  He hits the ropes, but The American Dragon gets his signature Psycho Knee to a Gotch-style cradle piledriver. 

He follows with stomps to his head and then goes into the most painful LaBelle Lock, wrenching hard on Beretta’s neck to make him tap out.

Your Winner via Submission: Bryan Danielson

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Lexy Nair is with Hook backstage with an exclusive interview but…nothing.  He just eats his chips and walks out, but out of a trashcan pops Danhausen.  He curses him, but…nothing again, except tossed chips.

Well that was…yeah.

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Dan Lambert, Scorpio Sky, and Ethan Page are in the ring.  Sky announces that the open door challenge is closed because no one stepped up to give him a fight.

That prompts Sammy Guevara and Tay Conti to come out and call BS on Sky since he’s doing nothing for the title.  He calls Lambert a Sexist piece of s***, and The Spanish God asks Conti what that means in Portuguese.  Interestingly, it means “Dan Lambert” as well, according to Conti.

(Note to self:  Check with my Brazilian peeps if that is the case.)

Page calls Guevara a “PR Issue waiting to happen.”  But all name-calling aside, Guevara promises to make America’s Top Team miserable and he’ll come out every week until they give in to a title match.

I can’t wait (?)

 

 

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Chris Jericho gives his patented Sports Entertainer of the Week award to QT Marshall. Guess it’s appropriate since it’s…

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Swerve Strickland vs. QT Marshall (w/ Nick Comoroto and Aaron Solo)

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The leader of The Factory has no answer early in the match for Swerve’s innovative offense, and that is still the case as the match goes to Picture in Picture, where it’s more of the same.  Swerve goes high risk with a leap, but Marshall connects with a lariat, and goes to beat down on Strickland, and then…

Ads (again, what is the gods’ damned point of Picture in Picture if you’re still doing ads in the middle of a match?!)

We come back where Strickland gets back is in control, nailing a leaping European uppercut to Marshall’s back. 

Strickland attempts a half nelson suplex, and Marshall reverses to a hip toss and then nails a pop-up elbow, but it’s not enough as Swerve gets his groove back and delivers the Whose House kick to the back of Marshall’s skull, and that’s enough to get the win.

Your Winner via Pinfall: Swerve Strickland

After the match, Rickey Starks is on the mic calling out Strickland.  He says there’s unfinished business with him and Keith Lee.  He challenges the both of them to face him and Powerhouse Hobbs next week in his hometown of New Orleans.  Bon chance, Swerve!

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Marina Shamir promo, and she’s gunning for Jade Cargill.  Strange she never got the same type of push in NXT.

(Did I say the quiet part out loud?  I do that sometimes)

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Next up is another qualifier for the Owen Hart Women’s Cup tournament, and it’s between…

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Red Velvet vs. Willow Nightingale 

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As of this writing, Hikaru Shida, Jamie Hayter, and Toni Storm have all made their mark in entering the tournament, and Nightingale makes the case for her bid, displaying her power to counter Velvet’s speed in the ring.  Fans are solidly behind Nightingale with “Let’s Go, Wil-low!” chants and she goes up top for a moonsault press that misses the mark, and that leaves her open for Velvet to nail the Just Desserts spinning kick for a two count.

Red Velvet boots Willow Nightingale at AEW Rampage at the Agganis Arena in Boston, Mass., taped on Wednesday, April 6, 2022, and airing on Friday, April 8, 2022. Photo by George Tahinos, https://georgetahinos.smugmug.comNightingale answers back with a spinebuster for a two count, and then she hits The Pounce and a cannonball in the corner to cover, but still gets a two count.  Nightingale goes on the attack, but Red Velvet trips her up and hits Just Desserts, and this time she stays down for the three count.

Your Winner, and Advancing in the Owen Hart Women’s Cup:  Red Velvet

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Lexi Nair is backstage with Tony Nese, and he questions her lackluster enthusiasm since she was all hyped for guys like Hook and Danhausen.  That brings Mark Sterling into the picture, and he offers Nese some proper legal representation as he did with MJF and Jade Cargill.

Again…a very underwhelming segment.

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Thankfully, that is tempered by Mark Henry, as he gets some final words with Wheeler Yuta and Jon Moxley. The current ROH Pure champ says he is not scared of Moxley and will earn his respect. Mox retorts that it’s not his job to show respect, adding this ain’t under ROH “Pure Rules.”  Moxley promises to spill his guts to see what he’s got inside.

Vivid imagery aside, Henry says it’s time for the Main Event, and it is…

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Jon Moxley vs. Wheeler Yuta

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As Mox heads to the ring via the crowd, Yuta dives and takes the fight straightaway to the former AEW champ.  They brawl through the crowd and into the ring when the bell finally rings to signal the start of the match, and Moxley gets a suplex to Yuta, and he slows down and just manhandles Yuta.  There are dueling “Let’s Go Yu-ta/Mox-ley” chants in the arena, and Mox is in his element dragging Yuta to the outside he stomps his head on the steel steps and he gets color on his forehead.

We go to Picture in Picture, and Mox further inflicts injury to his wound, and now Yuta is wearing a Crimson Mask, to the point I’m debating if I should dub him “Great YUTA.”  Moxley rushes at Yuta, but the Pure Champion sends Moxley to the same steel steps.  Yuta goes up top for a high-risk maneuver, but Moxley catches him and brings him down hard with a superplex for a two-count.  He gets Yuta in a straightjacket submission, but he fights out to a vertical base, only for Moxley to send him down with a backbreaker and it’s…

Ads (What in the name of Hiroshi Hase is this happy horses***?!  Again, why even have this feature if this is the bulls*** I have to deal with.  I’m now starting to believe that the bot theory by Tony Khan is looking more and more like a plausible reality, and…)

Oh, we’re back.  Best end this rant, and get to the business at hand.

Moxley has Yuta in a sharpshooter as he grabs the bottom ropes to break the submission hold.  Moxley sends him to the outside, but he skins the cat on the bottom rope, and he sends Moxley out of the ring.  Yuta goes up top and comes crashing down on Moxley with a crossbody to a table on the outside, and now Yuta is truly on the Great Muta Scale for bloody satisfaction.  Back in the ring, he gets Moxley in two German suplexes, but Moxley blocks the hat trick for a backdrop.  Yuta comes back and gets Moxley for Danielson-style stomps and a flying splash for a two count, but then transitions seamlessly to a crossface.

He’s got it clinched in but Moxley reverses to a pin until Yuta breaks the hold.  Moxley fires back hard with a King Kong lariat that still gets a two count.  Yuta gets caught in Moxley’s Paradigm Shift finisher for one, two…Yuta kicks out, and Moxley cannot believe it.  He goes to his patented bulldog choke, but Yuta fights it off and then gets Moxley in his own submission.  Moxley fights up and gets Yuta in a rear-naked choke, and then Moxley rains down with MMA-style elbows to his neck.  A high-end Paradigm shift and Yuta still kicks out. Moxley is done playing around and goes back to the rear-naked choke, and finally, Yuta is out like a light.

Your Winner: Jon Moxley

After the match, Bryan Danielson and William Regal enter the ring.  Yuta comes to, and gets prepared to fight off all of the Blackpool Combat Club…but Regal offers his hand, and Yuta shakes it to the delight of the fans.  Event Moxley gives praise to Yuta, apparently earning his respect, as a star-making match concludes.

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TOP PHOTO: Wheeler Yuta with William Regal. Photo by George Tahinos, georgetahinos.smugmug.com