AEW Rampage live results: Bryan Danielson vs. Nick Jackson

For the first time since May 2009, Bryan Danielson will wrestle Nick Jackson in the featured match on AEW Rampage.

Danielson and Jackson have never had a singles match, but competed against each other once in a PWG tag team match. On Wednesday’s Dynamite, Danielson challenged any member of The Elite to a match after World Champion Kenny Omega declined a rematch.

Friday’s taped show from Rochester, New York, will also see a three-way women’s match with former Women’s Champion Nyla Rose vs. Thunder Rosa vs. Jade Cargill. All three have been at odds since the women’s Casino Battle Royale. Cargill will look to remain undefeated since her debut while Rosa is looking to maintain her status as the number one contender to the title.

In AEW’s first-ever hair vs. hair match, Orange Cassidy will take on Jack Evans of the Hardy Family Office. Cassidy and Matt Hardy originally appeared set for this match instead, but Hardy volunteered the TH2 member instead.

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Your hosts are Excalibur, Taz, and… oh just these two? Well, not for long. 

Bryan Danielson defeated Nick Jackson (w/ Matt Jackson & Brandon Cutler) (15:35) 

A brief rundown of the six-man from last Friday is shown before this match. 

Jackson worked a side headlock early on and took Danielson down with a shoulder tackle. Jackson taunted Danielson by jumping to the floor and fooling with the cold spray, so Danielson hit him with a tope through the ropes. Back in the ring, Danielson hit a shotgun dropkick off the top and clawed away at Jackson’s face (“I have till five!”) before putting him in the Dragon sleeper. Jackson escaped quickly and exchanged forearms with Danielson before flooring the American Dragon with a rebound lariat. 

The crowd chanted “Your gonna get your f*cking head kicked in!” at Jackson, who got caught in a butterfly suplex. Danielson worked over Jackson’s arm, then tied him up the ropes to lay in a series of forearms. Back suplex (with the arm trapped) got a near fall, and Bryan continued to work over the arm. Danielson tortured Jackson’s arm, bending it at the wrist and elbow, then stepping back on Jackson’s arm into a pin attempt. Jackson mounted a brief comeback, but Danielson came back relentlessly with forearms, chops, and kicks. Jackson got a armdrag on Danielson, dodged a dropkick in the corner, then dumped Danielson to the floor. Matt Jackson hit Danielson with a spear on the floor and the show went to a picture-in-picture break. 

Back from break, Nick Jackson hit a high knee in the corner and bulldogged Danielson out of the corner. Jackson laid heavy kicks in Danielson’s chest, but he absorbed them all, and started leaning into the kicks. Danielson got up and spit in Jackson’s face, then battered him with kicks and chops. Danielson hit the flying clothesline, then laid into Jackson with heavy kicks to the chest and shoulder while the crowd chanted “YES!” A big round kick to the head for the finale got a near fall. 

With Jackson slumped in the corner, Danielson hit two running dropkicks, but on the third, Jackson came out with a pair of superkicks and got a near fall. Jackson went for a 450 splash, but Danielson got his knees up and locked in the LeBell lock. Jackson quickly got the ropes and rolled to the apron. Danielson followed and battered Jackson with more kicks, but missed the last one and kicked the ringpost. Jackson hit a superkick and then a release german suplex on the ring apron (Danielson clearly landed on his shoulder). Jackson followed up with the escalara on the floor. 

Back in the ring, Jackson locked in the sharpshooter. Danielson escaped to the ropes and rolled to the floor. Jackson went for a kick on Danielson, who ducked and Jackson’s kick found Brandon Cutler instead. Danielson suplexed Nick Jackson on the floor, then took out Matt Jackson on the ring apron with a forearm. Nick Jackson rolled up Danielson for another nearfall. Danielson came back with a tiger suplex into a series of elbow smashes onto Jackson’s chest. Danielson then transition into the cattle mutilation and got the tap out! Excellent, excellent match! 

After the match, Kenny Omega and Adam Cole ran out to check on Nick Jackson, and Christian and the Jurassic Express followed to make sure the Elite didn’t try to attack Danielson. Of course, this broke down quickly with Omega running away, Matt Jackson getting the Killswitch from Christian, and Cole getting locked in the snare trap by Jungle Boy. Omega tried to run in to make the save, and wound up caught in the LeBell Lock from Danielson! Both Omega and Cole “tapped out” to Danielson and Jungle Boy. Great post-match segment to add heat to the 8 man tag on Wednesday’s Dynamite. 

– Hook and Powerhouse Hobbs cut to a Ricky Starks promo that was more like a car commercial about how much Starks hates Brian Cage. 

And back from break, Ricky Starks is now on commentary. 

– CM Punk interview. He has started to settle into the groove at AEW, and is ready for whatever is next. Just a brief pretape from Punk. 

Jade Cargill (w/ Smart Mark Sterling) defeated Nyla Rose (w/ Vicki Guerrero) and  Thunder Rosa in a Triple Threat by pinning Rosa (5:24 aired)

Clips of Rose and Cargill jumping Rosa before All Out last month are shown, as well as the eliminations between the three at the All Out Casino Battle Royal to help set up this match. On that night, Rose eliminated Cargill, and Rosa eliminated Rose. 

After Rose powerslammed Rosa to take her out of the match, Cargill and Rose exchanged forearms in the ring. Cargill hit Rose with a pumpkick and then clotheslined her to the floor.  Cargill then turned her attention to Rosa, who flew off the top rope with a shotgun dropkick. The show went to break. 

Back from break, there’s a trash can in the ring and Rosa dropkick Cargill against the ropes. Rosa dropkicked the trash can into Cargill’s chest and got a near fall. Rose went for a chokeslam on Rosa, but she shoved Rose away and into a spinebuster from Cargill. Rose came back and locked in a single leg crab on Cargill. Rosa broke that up by dropkicking Rose and got a near fall. 

Rosa went for a dropkick in the corner on Rose, but missed. Rosa and Rose fought on the apron where a table was set up during the break. Rose set up Rosa up for something off the turnbuckles, but Rosa slid out and powerbombed Rose through the table. 

On the other side of the ring, Mark Sterling slipped Cargill a steal chair. As Rosa tried to drag Rose back into the ring, Cargill attacked Rosa from behind with the chair. Cargill went to town beating on Rosa with the chair, and just pinned Rosa after several chair shots. I liked that finish. 

– Malakai Black cuts a pretaped promo from a dark stairwell. He’s tired of the Nightmare Family and Cody Rhodes, and is ready to move onto the other souls in this company. 

– Sammy Guevara promo about his TNT title win. There were brief clips of the celebration after Guevara’s title win. Guevara now has the classic TNT title back (not the retired version, the black strap version of the title). 

– Dynamite Rundown: No new matches since Wednesday, but Pac, Jon Moxley, Andrade El Idolo and Lance Archer are all announced for the Casino Ladder match on Wednesday. Two more will be announced later, plus the Joker to come the night of the show. 

Mark Henry with the face-to-face promo with Evans and Matt Hardy face-to-face with Orange Cassidy. Cassidy: “What’s this match? What am I doing?” Henry explains the terms to Cassidy, that if he loses he’s getting his head shaved. “Oh. I guess I’m not going to lose then.” 

Orange Cassidy defeated Jack Evans (w/ Matt Hardy) in a Hair vs. Hair match (10:47) 

Starks put his money on Evans, despite Taz’s advice to not bet on wrestling. Cassidy tossed Evans around by his hair. Hardy pulled Cassidy out of the ring and hit him with a right hand, and Evans followed up with a 450 splash onto the floor. Let’s take a picture-in-picture break, featuring a Rhodes to the Top commercial! 

Back from the break, Cassidy dodged a handspring elbow from Evans, and then hit a pair of planchas on both ends of the ring, one on Evans and one on Matt Hardy. Cassidy went for the spinning DDT, but Evans countered into a Northern lights suplex and transitioned into the Michinoku Driver for a near fall. Standing skytwister press from Evans gets another two count. Evans went to the top for a Skytwister splash off the top… but missed. Cassidy hit the spinning DDT, then came off the top with a diving DDT for a very close nearfall. 

The Butcher, Blade & Bunny are out for moral support. But the Best Friends sneak though the crowd and stand between the HFO members and the ring. This brought out the rest of the HFO (Private Party, Angelico and Jora Johl) but the Dark Order join the Best Friends. Amid this standoff, back in the ring Orange Cassidy hit the Orange Punch on Evans and got the pinfall. 

While the Best Friends prepare to give Evans a haircut, Hardy sends Angelico to try and get through the wall of people protecting the ring.  The Dark Order dispose of him easily, and rather than try and stop the hair cut, Matt Hardy and the rest of the HFO retreat. “For the greater good!” 

Cassidy and the Best Friends gave Evans a haircut. While all this is going on, Orange Cassidy and Matt Hardy (WHAT?) are the last two announced participants for the Casino Ladder Match on Wednesday. Finally, in the best finish they could possibly do, the Dark Order and the Best Friends all give -1 a big group hug to end the show. 

Final Thoughts: 

The Danielson/Jackson match was excellent, and the finish to the show was great. Matt Hardy in a ladder match sounds like a terrible idea to me, and we still have the Joker to figure out for that match. 

Overall, a fun show.