AEW TNT Championship Match: Sammy Guevara (c) vs. Tony Nese
Nese recently signed with AEW. Good for him. Not a huge fan but he is a good worker. Sammy jumps Nese immediately at the bell and takes the fight to him. Some high risk offense early before Nese cuts Sammy off on the top. Hits a gorgeous gut buster and goes to work on Sammy's ribs and midsection.
Sammy makes his comeback using his quick strikes and agility. Match goes back and forth with Nese trying to ground and work over Sammy's legs and midsection while Sammy goes for broke on his moves. Nese starts to use some high risk offense too for a nice near-fall. Nese goes for a running knee in the corner but Sammy catches him with a big boot. GTH follows and ends it.
A good match here. Sammy looked good and sold well before making his comeback. Nese looked like a well rounded wrestler; able to use high risk, submission and power moves. Match made me excited to see more of Nese, so this was a win in my book. ***1/4
Christian Cage with Jungle Boy and Luchasaurs. Christian talks about how Jungle Boy and Luchasaurs got momentum on their side. He keeps calling them "his guys" and promises they will be tag team champions. Shame Jungle Boy didn't talk but Christian as their mouthpiece ain't bad.
Thunder Rosa joins commentary for the next match.
Jade Cargill vs. Jania Kai
Kai is one of Rosa's students which is why she is facing Jade and why Rosa is on commentary. Jade let's Kai get a headlock on, shoves her off, big pump kick and hits Jaded. SQUASH!
Jade attacks Kai after the match and Thunder Rosa rushes to ring. Jade misses a kick and Rosa takes her down and the two brawl. Referees come out and break up the fight. Nice segment to build up to their match and add some heat to it.
The Young Bucks and Adam Cole get a promo backstage. Cole insults Orange Cassidy while the Bucks challenge two members of Best Friends to a match on Dynamite. Harmless match for TV. Maybe Trent will be back.
We get a recap of Jericho saving Eddie Kingston from 2.0 and Daniel Garcia before they attacked Jericho on Dynamite.
Eddie Kingston is backstage and says he doesn't care about Jericho or that 2.0 and Garcia attacked him but he will gladly face the three of them again.
We get a video package for Bryan Danielson vs. John Silver. Nice stuff as Danielson says Silver is a joke and not serious enough while Silver says he is as dangerous as Danielson. Simple but effective package.
The Young Bucks vs. Rocky Romero and Chuck Taylor announced for Dynamite. No Trent. Bummer.
Mark Henry with FTR and PAC and Penta El Cero Miedo. PAC says his eye is no issue while Penta yells at FTR and promises revenge. FTR says they were supposed to be facing champions tonight and all the men involved start getting in a shouting match. Henry cuts them off and ends the interview. I enjoyed this. Everyone involved is a good talker and them yelling at each other felt real.
FTR vs. PAC and Penta El Cero Miedo
Penta and Cash start and we get a bit of wrestling early on before Penta takes off one of his gloves and tosses it to Alex, while Cash tries to catch it. That popped me. Babyfaces run wild early with their quickness before FTR cuts Penta off for a few but PAC gets in and takes back over.
PAC slips off the top due to his one eye and Dax jumps all over him to work him over. That was slick. FTR goes to work on PAC for the heat segment. FTR cut off the ring and kept PAC from tagging out. Penta finally gets the hot tag and runs wild!
Cash is able to stop Penta's comeback and FTR needs a variation of the Midnight Express' Rocket Launcher. Nice! PAC in to help even it up as the two teams go back and forth. PAC hits a moonsault on FTR on the floor. He rolls Dax in but Dax's knee is hurt. Malakai Black is out! He grabs PAC and mists him right into his good eye! Dax covers PAC and wins it!
A really good tag match. Excellent back and forth wrestling with both teams looking good. Loved the finish as it builds heat to the eventual Lucha Brothers vs. FTR match (and their match this weekend in AAA) while building up Black vs. PAC. Nice job turning a negative with having to reschedule this match and making it benefit the storyline. ****
After the match, Penta jumps FTR but they beat him down and steal his mask as Malakai Black gouges at PAC's eye. Nice heat segment to end the show.
A much better Rampage this week. Sammy gets a good title defense under his belt while Nese shows off why he deserves a chance in AEW, even making me want to see more of him. A nice segment to build up the Jade vs. Rosa match coming soon and a few other nice promos sprinkled in to highlight other matches and feuds going on. And then, the main event delivered very well in building up the FTR vs. Lucha Brothers rematch coming (really hope they book that match for Dynamite) and more heat for Black vs. PAC. A lot of build up for one hour of TV and top of all being good TV matches. When AEW nails it, they nail it.
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