AEW Rampage live results: Bryan Danielson vs. Matt Sydal
The final stop before Sunday’s Double or Nothing has arrived with an early edition of AEW Rampage, live from Las Vegas.
Ahead of his inclusion in Sunday’s Anarchy in the Arena, Bryan Danielson will take on Matt Sydal as the former attempts to show his knee is fine heading into the weekend’s ten-man tag street fight.
The lone remaining semifinal of the women’s Owen Hart Foundation Tournament will take place as Ruby Soho will face Kris Statlander in the show’s main event. The winner moves on to face Britt Baker in the finals on Sunday.
The Young Bucks will be in action, but their opponents haven’t been named.
TNT Champion Scorpio Sky will be given a new custom made title, courtesy of Dan Lambert. His original belt was destroyed by Frankie Kazarian and Sammy Guevara last week.
Friday’s live show will start at 6:30 PM Eastern due to the NHL playoffs on TNT.
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We are LIVE from Las Vegas, Nevada with the real go home show for Double or Nothing, it’s AEW Friday Night Rampage.
Excalibur, Ricky Starks, and Taz are on commentary, along with special guest William Regal for the opening match.
Bryan Danielson defeated Matt Sydal (11:09)
Lots of mat work to start. Regal won’t give away anything about Danielson’s condition ahead of the pay-per-view. This was a great choice to kick off the live show; the crowd was crazy hot for both guys. Sydal hit a leg lariat and a standing moonsault to gain the advantage as the show went to a split screen break.
Back from break and Sydal flipped out of a flying mare attempt to hit Danielson with a knee strike. Sydal and Danielson exchanged knee strikes. Sydal countered a suplex attempt with a rana into a cradle for a near fall. Sydal pushed Danielson off the top rope and hit the meteora, but Danielson rolled through into a single crab.Sydal nearly escaped, but Danielson kept the hold on, then twisted into a knee bar/heel hook. Sydal got a rope break, then Danielson hit the yes kicks. Danielson went for a back superplex, but Sydal countered into a sunset flip powerbomb for another near fall.
Danielson and Sydal exchanged forearms, and Sydal caught Danielson with a near fall. Danielson hit the busaiku knee, laid in the hammer and anvil elbows, then locked in a guillotine and body scissors. Sydal went out like a light and Danielson got the victory.
The Young Buckz (w/ Gangrel and Brandon Cutler) defeated Taylor Rust and Jon Cruz (2:34)
The Bucks come out as literal Hardy Boyz cosplayers, with the Hardy Boys music, Gangrel in their corner, “Matt Facts” on the screen and Brandon Cutler dressed as Lita. Nick is wearing Jeff’s facepaint, and Matt is dressed as Matt… err Matt Hardy. The crowd chanted “You still got it!” for the “Hardyz,” playing along with the joke. The Bucks hit double superkicks on both guys, Matt hit a twist of fate on Cruz, and the Nick hit the swanton bomb to get the win.
After the match, the Young Bucks beat up Gangrel after the match, then gave him the BTE Trigger. The real Hardys came out to make the save. The Bucks ran from the ring and Cutler faced the wrath of the Hardys, taking the Twist of Fate and the Swanton Bomb while the Bucks watched from ringside.
– Darby Allin challenged Kyle O’Reilly for Sunday. Allin blamed O’Reilly for Sting’s injury after last week’s Dynamite. If O’Reilly doesn’t accept, Allin will ruin Double or Nothing for all the other members of the Elite.
Dante Martin v. Max Caster (w/ The Gunn Club and Anthony Bowens) (6:12)
Lots of pre-match rap shenanigans from Caster and the Gunns. The Gunn boys tried to do Bowens’ job and call out the town name, but kept shouting “Los Angeles!” This took too long for Martin, who jump started the match by hitting a top rope crossbody on Caster and the Gunn boys on the floor. Billy Gunn rammed Martin into the ring apron (carrying him like a child… ugh). Aubrey Edwards sent all or Caster’s crew to the back to keep the match one-on-one.
After a break, Caster dropped Martin with a back suplex. Caster got a sunset flip for a near fall and an O’Connor Roll for another near fall. Martin hit a diving crossbody for another near fall. Martin hit the nose dive and got the three. Good match. I called for a win for Martin last week and AEW delivered this week!
– Run down of the finals of the Owen Hart men’s tournament.
– Dan Lambert and the Men of the Year to run down the crowd and present Scorpio Sky with a new TNT Championship belt. It’s a gold leather belt with gold plates. The commentators said it was purple and gold but I didn’t quite see the purple. Of course, Sammy Guevara, Tay Conti and Frankie Kazarian interrupted on the big screen, breaking into American Top Team headquarters. “Hanging out with you guys for one day and I’m already committing breaking and entering,” quipped Kazarian. Security seems pretty lax at a gym that trains fighters. The babyfaces (I guess?) break into the trophy case and steal a UFC title and the BMF title belt. Conti wants to “celebrate” with the belt. After this aired in the arena, Sky was finally annoyed enough to accept Guevara’s challenge. The match is Men of the Year & Paige Van Zant against Kazarian, Guevara and Tay Conti. But if Guevara’s team loses, none of them can challenge for the TNT Title as long as Scorpio is champion.
I love five hours of AEW, but Double or Nothing is officially overloaded.
The final run-down for Double or Nothing:
- Adam Page v. CM Punk for the AEW World Championship
- Thunder Rosa v. Serena Deeb for the AEW Women’s World Championship
- Jungle Boy & Luchasaurus v. Keith Lee & Swerve Strickland v. Powerhouse Hobbs & Ricky Starks for the AEW World Tag Team Championship
- MJF v. Wardlow for Wardlow’s Freedom
- Jade Cargill v. Anna Jay for the TBS Title
- Hardy Boys v. Young Bucks
- Death Triangle v. House of Black
- Owen Hart Women’s Tournament Final: Dr. Britt Baker DMD v. Kris Statlander or Ruby Soho
- Owen Hart Men’s Tournament Final: Adam Cole v. Samoa Joe
- Jon Moxley, Bryan Danielson, Eddie Kingston, Santana & Ortiz v. Jericho Appreciation Society in Anarchy in the Arena
- Darby Allin v. Kyle O’Reilly
- The Men of the Year & Paige Van Zant v. Sammy Guevara, Frankie Kazarian & Tay Conti
- Buy In Match: Hookhausen v. Tony Nese and Mark Sterling
Took about 90 seconds to run down the card. The full “Road To Double or Nothing” special will air after tonight’s hockey game on TNT.
Ruby Soho defeated Kris Statlander in the Owen Hart Tournament Semi-final (10:06)
In the face to face promo before the match, Stalander cut an impassioned promo that got the live crowd behind her. Soho’s promo frankly made her sound like kind of a loser.
The early part of the match was standard babyface v. babyface stuff, with Soho instinctively going for a punch, then stopping herself before she hit her friend. Statnalder used her power to frustrate Soho.
After a break, Soho took Statlander to the mat with a top rope hurricanrana. Statlander came back with a powerbomb for a near fall. Statlander charged into the corner and hurt her shoulder. She tried to press Soho, but couldn’t hold her up because of her bad shoulder. Soho hit the No Future, but Statlander fell to the floor. On the floor, Soho hit a rana. Back in the ring, Soho took Statlander down by her arm, then locked in a kimura lock. Statlander got to the ropes to force a break.
Soho tried to head-scissors Statlander into the turnbuckle, but Statlander countered with a reverse wheelbarrow slam, sending Soho headfirst into the buckle. Statlander hit a german suplex, then a fisherman’s falcon arrow. This only got two and the crowed was NOT happy that wasn’t the finish. Statlander floored Soho with a clothesline and went for the spider crab, but Soho escaped with a kick to the shoulder, then got an Oklahoma roll to get the pinfall. The crowd was ready for a Statlander win and you could see visible disgust from the crowd.
After the match, Tony Schiavone got in the ring to interview Soho. Britt Baker music hit as she came out, and Soho demanded they cut her music. Soho grabbed a mic from Schiavone and the crowd booed Soho hard. Soho tried calming the crowd down but they were having none of it. Soho promised Baker that she had a receipt coming, but the crowd just continued booing her. Making matters worse, Baker just laughed off Soho from the stage.
Final Thoughts:
An AEW crowd will pretty much accept anything AEW does, but they turned on Ruby Soho HARD here. As they should have! Soho sounded frankly a little pathetic in her promo before the match, while Statlander sounded great and was fantastic in the match. Statlander was fighting from underneath and had the crowd behind her. This was a pretty big swing and miss to end what had been a pretty great show.