AEW Rampage Grand Slam live results: Sting & Darby Allin vs. Christian & Luchasaurus

Grand Slam 2023 finishes up with a special two-hour edition of AEW Rampage tonight.

The show begins on TNT at 10 p.m. Eastern time. Sting will be in action, teaming with Darby Allin against Christian Cage & Luchasaurus. The match is airing one night before Luchasaurus defends his TNT title against Allin and Christian in a three-way match on Collision.

Two sets of Trios titles will be on the line tonight. The Young Bucks & Hangman Page are challenging Mogul Embassy for the ROH Six-Man Tag Team titles, while The Acclaimed & Billy Gunn are defending their AEW Trios titles against The Dark Order.

The Kingdom, The Hardys, The Righteous, and Best Friends are facing off in a match with WrestleDream implications. The winning team earns a shot at MJF & Adam Cole’s ROH Tag Team titles at the October 1 pay-per-view.

Kris Statlander, Orange Cassidy & Hook are set to clash with Anna Jay, Matt Menard & Angelo Parker in a trios match. Mike Santana is also set for action, Skye Blue takes on Julia Hart, and we’ll hear from Sammy Guevara & Don Callis.

Taped at Arthur Ashe Stadium in Flushing, Queens, New York.

Excalibur, Tony Schivone, and Ian Riccaboni were on commentary.

Sting & Darby Allin defeated Luchasaurus & Christian Cage (7:40)

Sting paired off with Cage and Luchasaurus with Allin to start the match. Allin hit his high-speed plancha on Luchasaurus who was sitting on the long entrance ramp (so it didn’t look as impressive as usual). Allin took a bump into the ring post and then crashed into the barricade, and the crowd chanted “Please Don’t Die!” Since it’s Darby, he got back into the ring and was worked over by the heels.

Darby fought his way back with a springboard coffin drop, but Luchasaurus cut off Sting from getting the tag. The heels worked over Allin during the split screen break. Allin backflipped out of a chokeslam attempt, but Cage snapped Allin’s back against the ring ropes and Luchasaurus hit the chokeslam anyway for a near fall. Cage missed a flying headbutt from the top, and Allin got the tag to Sting.

Sting hit a pair of clotheslines and a spinebuster on Cage. Sting hit a Stinger Splash on Cage and Luchasaurus, then took Cage out with a Scorpion Death Drop. Sting hit Luchasaurus with the Scorpion Death Drop while Allin hit a Coffin Drop simultaneously, a very cool double team. Christian came back and tried the Killswitch on Allin, but Nick Waye got on the apron to distract Cage, and Allin reserved Cage’s finisher into a cradle and got the pinfall. 

Kris Statlander, Orange Cassidy and Hook vs. Anna Jay, Angelo Parker & Matt Menard (w/ Jake Hager) (8:10 aired)

Referee Bryce Remsberg clarified in the instructions that it’s “men with men, and women with women.” Hook tossed Menard and Parker around and nearly got the Redrum on Menard, but Menard got the tag to Anna Jay, which forced Statlander into the match. Statlander caught Jay with a delayed vertical suplex. While Statlander celebrated, Hager leveled Cassidy with a forearm, and Menard ambushed Hook on the floor.

Parker got the tag (which also made Hook legal because of the same gender rules), and caught Hook with a suplex for a near fall. Menard held Hook open for a running knee for another near fall.

After the commercial, Cassidy got the hot tag and hit a dropkick on Parker and Menard, then took Hager out with a plancha. All the babyfaces suplexed all the heels in a triple suplex for a huge pop. Hook suplexed Parker and Menard, then suplexed Parker on Menard. While Anna Jay distracted the ref, Hager hit Hook with a clothesline, and Cassidy took out Hager with the Orange Punch. Jay tried to put the sleeper on Cassidy, but Statlander pulled her into an electric chair drop. Hook took out Menard with the Redrum, and Cassidy hit the Orange Punch on Parker for the pinfall.

– QTV Segment. The QTV geeks kicked it to footage of QT Marshall defending his title. QT Marshall is looking for a tag team partner for next week, and despite the description of what QT was looking for fitting Aaron Solo to a T, Johnny TV accepted the job. 

– Tony Schiavone interviewed Don Callis, with Konosuke Takeshita. The crowd absolutely booed Callis out of the building. But Callis did his promo anyway. Callis pursued Jericho, but the man he really wanted was Sammy Guevara, and that’s who he got on Wednesday. Guevara’s wardrobe budget has improved 200% since joining up with Callis, and he shook Takeshita’s hand. Guevara thank Callis for showing him a real family, and turned on Jericho for holding him back. Guevara is also done with the fans, who couldn’t decide whether to cheer him or boo him. 

Just as Guevara said he was done with Chris Jericho, here came Chris Jericho. Jericho attacked Takeshita and Guevara. Just as Jericho got his hands on Callis, Takeshita hit him from behind with a chair. Guevara took the chair from Takehsita and really worked over Jericho, then both Takeshita and Guevara held Jericho open for Callis to get his shots in. Just before Callis murdered Jericho with a screwdriver (I mean, that’s what it looked like he was going for), Kenny Omega ran in with a pipe to chase off the heels. Riccobani: “Callis is that big of a piece of garbage, he put Jericho and Omega on the same side of things.” Jericho went for a really contrived spot where he accidentally “backed into” Omega, but Omega left without shaking Jericho’s hand. 

– Alex Marvez caught up with Kenny Omega in the back, who isn’t interested in helping Jericho so much as he wanted to get at Callis. Jericho interrupted. He knows it was their rivalry that started the company, but suggested he and Omega unite to take out the Don Callis family at WrestleDream. Omega accepts, and Jericho clarifies it’s Jericho, Omega and Kota Ibushi against the Don Callis family. “Who ya got?” 

The Righteous (Vincent & Dutch) defeated The Hardy Boys (Matt & Jeff), The Best Friends (Chuck Taylor & Trent Beretta) and The Kingdom (Matt Taven & Mike Bennett) to become the #1 Contenders for the ROH Tag Team Championship (9:23).

Jeff’s facepaint with eyes all over his face freaked me out. Also it’s been almost 15 minutes since the end of the last match, almost unheard of for Rampage.

The Best Friends and The Hardys briefly took out the heels. They almost celebrated with a group hug, but the heels rebounded to break that up. Taven hit a springboard kick on Dutch, then hit a dive on a bunch of his opponents on the floor. The Best Friends (after a celebratory hug) took out all of the heels on the floor with stereo somersault planchas.

After a split-screen break, the match has settled into a standard four-corners tag match. Matt hit the Side Effect on Vincent while Schiavone points out the inherent flaw in these type of matches: you tag out to another team, you take your team out of possibly winning the match. The Hardys double-teamed Vincent. Jeff and Matt hit Poetry in Motion on VIncent, and the match seemed to settle into The Righteous vs. The Hardys. 

And just as I typed that, Taven hit a kick on Dutch and Vincent took him out with a Russian leg sweep. Dutch hit the Black Hole Slam on three of his opponents, but Beretta counterd the move with a suplex. Bennett low-blowed Taylor and the Kingdom hit a spike piledriver for a near fall. Jeff Hardy got the tag and hit the Swanton on Taylor, but not before Vincent got a blind tag. Dutch pulled Jeff out of the ring and Vincent hit his own Swanton bomb. Vincent got the pin, and the shot at Better Than You, Bay-Bay? After building up the Kingdom as the obvious next opponents for weeks, the title match goes to The Righteous? 

After the match, the Kingdom took out the Best Friend with a bunch of chair shots. And that ends the first hour of Rampage. 

The Acclaimed & Billy Gunn defeated The Dark Order (Evil Uno, Alex Reynolds & John Silver) to retain the AEW World Trios Titles (10:40)

Reynolds and Caster started out exchanging headlocks. Caster caught Reynolds with a back hand and took control with an armbar. Gunn and Bowens hit a scissor double elbowdrop on Silver, but Reynolds broke up the Scissor Me Timbers. The Dark Order took out Bowens and Gunn on the floor, and Silver got a near fall on Caster with a German suplex.

The Dark Order worked over Caster during the split screen break. Silver kept posing while screaming “I’m Freaking Jacked, Baby!” Silver cut of Caster’s comeback with a german suplex, then Uno stomped away at Caster in the corner. Uno hit an avalanche in the corner and followed up with a short-arm clothesline. Caster caught Reynolds with a cradle for a near fall, then got the hot tag to Gunn, who dumped Silver and Uno, then dropped Reynolds with a hig back body drop. Reynolds avoided the Famasser but got knocked for a loop with a clothesline. Reynolds caught Bowens with a cradle for a near fall, but Bownes came back with the four-piece combo. The Arrival and Mic Drop almost finished off Reynolds, but Silver broke up the pin attempt.

While Silver argued with referee Aubrey Edwards, Uno hit Caster with one of the trios title belts. Reynolds got a near fall off the belt shot. Gunn hit Uno with a clothesline, and Silver hit Gunn with a somersault cannonball. Silver and Reynolds went for the Wombo Combo, but Caster cut it off with a Fameasser of his own. The Acclaimed finished off Reynolds with a move that started out like a Magic Killer, but they flipped Reynolds up into a crazy high powerbomb and what even was that? Love that finish, and it got the pinfall for The Acclaimed. 

Really good trios match. 

Julia Hart (w/ Brody King) defeated Syke Blue (7:12 aired)

Hart has a 24 match winning streak and is undefeated in 2023. I would have never called any of this for Hart when she debuted as a bubbly cheerleader on Dark in 2021.

Blue and Hart played mind games with each other to start, with Blue seemingly nonplussed by Hart’s antics. Hart pulled Blue in to whisper something in her ear, and Blue responded with a knee strike and suplex for a near fall. Hart avoided a charge in the corner and tripped Blue into the turnbuckles.

After a break, Blue mounted the comeback with forearms and a knee strike. Enziguri from Blue got a near fall. Blue went to the top, but Hart cut her off. Blue and Hart brawled on the top turnbuckle. Hart superplexed Blue, with Hart’s own legs still hooked on the turnbuckle. Hart then spinder-crawled into a moonsault for a near fall. Hart hung upside down in the corner for a minute, then did a handstand out of the corner into a moonsault for a near fall. Blue countered the Hartless, but Hart countered the counter with a crucifix for a near fall. Blue got a brief comeback, but Hart hit a sliding forearm to the back of the head, then locked in the Hartless to get the tap out. That is Hart’s 25th win in a row.

After the match, Hart locked in the Hartless again until Willow NIghtingale ran in to make the save. Hart hid behind King and taunted Nightingale, who checked on Blue.  It feels like Hart just has every aspect of this character down. 

– Bullet Club Gold (with the Cardblade, which should be called the Switchboard) cut a promo on Andrade El Idolo in advance of Jay White’s match with him tomorrow night. This was an excellent promo from White. 

Mike Santana defeated “Dirty Bulk” Bronson (2:25)

Bronson is from the Iron Savages (formerly Bear Conutry). Why are the Bear Country guys doing a gym rat gimmick when they don’t particularly look like gym rats?

Santana hit a rolling cutter and a discus lariat sent Bronson to the floor. Santana followed him out with a tope suicida. The crowd was solidly behind Santana. Santana hit a cannonball senton in the corner. Santana finished Bronson off with a high angle Jay Driller.

After the match, Ortiz came out on the ramp to talk to Santana, but Santana walked away from Ortiz. 

Collision Update: Hook & RVD will face Jeff Parker & Matt Menard, and Julia Hart will face Willow Nightingale in new matches for tomorrow night’s show. No new matches were added to Dynamite or WrestleDream. 

The Elite (The Young Bucks & Hangman Adam Page) defeated The Mogul Embassy (Brian Cage, Bishop Kaun & Toa Liona w/ Prince Nana) to win the ROH World Six Man Titles.

The Elite came out to “Carry on My Wayward Son.” 

This match was just one crazy move after another.

Page hit a boot on Kaun who fell off the apron and landed in the arms of the Bucks. Page then hit a shooting star press onto Kaun while the Bucks held him off the apron.  Nick Jackson hit a springboard Canadian Destroyer on Cage. The Elite were about to hit a triple-team BTE Trigger on Cage, but Swerve Strickland’s music hit and he came out to observe from the stage. The Gates of Agony tossed Matt into a sitdown powerbomb from Cage for a near fall. Kaun hit Matt with a backstabber in the corner, and Liona dove into Jackson with an elbow while he was still hung up in the corner.

After a split-screen break (where the heels worked over Matt Jackson), Jackson hit a top rope crossbody to the floor on Liona and Kaun. Page got the tag and hit Cage with a boot. Page flipped out of a German suplex, hit a springboard lariat on Kaun and a moonsault on Cage for a near fall. The Bucks hit a pair of dives on The Gates of Agony, but Cage hit a water wheel drop (an Alabama Slam into a sitout powerbomb) for a near fall. Page countered a Cage’s attempt at death valley driver from the top with a super hurricanrana. The Bucks hit a pair of superkicks on Cage, and more superkicks on the Gates of Agony. The Bucks and Page went for the Dave Meltzer driver, but Cage caught Nick diving in. The champs hit all three of their opponents with Samoan drops (Cage’s might have been more like an F5), and Cage got another near fall on Page. 

Cage and Kaun held Page open for a middle rope splash from Liona for a near fall. The Bucks hit more superkicks, but The Gates took out the Young Bucks with clotheslines. Page hit a double Buckshot Lariat on the Gates. Page hit the Deadeye on Cage for another near fall. Strickland walked down the ramp to distract Page, allowing Cage to hit a discus lariat. Cage went for the Drill Claw, but Page countered that into a cradle for the pinfall. The Elite are once again the ROH World Six Man champions. This is the second reign for Page & The Young Bucks. 

After the match, Strickland and Page had an intense staredown while Swerve walked to the back (never breaking eye contact with Page). The Bucks encouraged Page to “celebrate the moment.” 

Final Thoughts:

Three years into this and it just occurred to me the could be calling this show “Grand Slampage.” 

This was the best Rampage of the year.