AEW Rampage was taped on Wednesday from the HEB Center in Cedar Park, Texas. Ricky Starks defended the FTW Championship against Swerve Strickland in this week’s main event. Lance Archer battled Dustin Rhodes to begin the show.
Rampage Results (3/25)
- Dustin Rhodes def. Lance Archer
- reDRagon def. Dark Order
- Nyla Rose def. Madi Wrenkowski
- Ricky Starks def. Swerve Strickland to retain the FTW Championship
Here are the takeaways from this week’s show:
Dustin Rhodes def. Lance Archer
Dustin Rhodes faced Lance Archer in the first match of the night. Before the match, Archer attacked one of Dustin’s students and had him in the Electric Chair on the ramp. Dustin broke it up and a brawl broke out. The match officially started once both wrestlers battled to the ring. Rhodes sent Lance Archer to the outside and went for a Senton but missed. Rhodes had blood coming from his ear and Archer beat him down as Rampage went to a commercial.
When Rampage returned, Archer connected with a Full Nelson Slam and went for the cover but Dustin kicked out. Dustin battled back and hit Cross Rhodes but Archer powered out at two. Lance connected with a Chokeslam for a two count and then went for the Black Out but Rhodes escaped. Dustin sent Archer into the exposed turnbuckle and rolled him up for the win.
After the match, Dan Lambert encouraged Lance Archer as he attacked Dustin. Archer threw Rhodes into the steps and then attacked some of his students. Lance then put Rhodes through a table to end the segment.
Dark Order Confronted House Of Black
Fuego del Sol came to the ring and thanked the fans for their support. Fuego wanted to get revenge on House of Black and called them to the ring. Malakai Black, Buddy Matthews, and Brody King made their way to the ring and beat the hell out of Fuego. Dark Order then confronted House of Black on the entrance ramp for a stare down.
Dan Lambert and Men of the Year were interviewed backstage. TNT Champion Scorpio Sky announced that he will not be continuing the tradition of open challenges for the title. Sky claimed that the TNT Championship is too prestigious for people to be given a chance without earning it.
reDRagon Picked Up A Win, Adam Cole Stole The Tag Titles
ReDRagon (Bobby Fish & Kyle O’Reilly) faced Dark Order’s Alan Angels (5) and 10 tonight. Dark Order controlled the first minute of the match before Rampage went to a commercial break. When Rampage returned, the action went back and forth. Angels hit both O’Reilly and Fish with a Crossbody. 10 followed it up with a Spinebuster on Bobby Fish but reDRagon battled back. Fish and O’Reilly hit Chasing the Dragon for the pinfall victory.
After the match, reDRagon beat Dark Order down some more before AEW Tag Team Champions Jurassic Express (and Christian Cage) made the save. O’Reilly & Fish retreated and distracted the tag champs. Adam Cole took the opportunity to sneak down the entrance ramp and steal the tag titles. Cole stole the AEW Championship from Hangman Page on Dynamite two nights ago.
Nyla Rose Dominated
Nyla Rose was advertised as “in action” tonight, which is essentially AEW’s way of saying it will be a squash match. Rose faced Madi Wrenkowski and defeated her with ease. Chris Jericho was on commentary and declared Nyla Rose as his “Sports Entertainer of the Week” during her entrance.
HOOK Wasn’t Interested In QT Marshall’s “Certificate of Accomplishment”
QT Marshall made his way to the ring to present HOOK with the “QT Marshall Certificate of Accomplishment”. HOOK strutted to the ring and didn’t seem pleased to receive the certificate. Marshall claimed that the certificate signified the student surpassing the teacher. Aaron Solo was in the ring and shot off a confetti gun to celebrate. HOOK bashed Solo over the head with the glass encased certificate and exited. Danhausen showed up to try and curse HOOK but he just walked right by him. Danhausen was in disbelief to end the segment.
Ricky Starks Retained, Keith Lee & Swerve Strickland Sent A Message To Team Taz
Ricky Starks defended the FTW Championship against Swerve Strickland in this week’s main event. Mark Henry interviewed both competitors before the match. Starks mocked Swerve’s “whose house?” catchphrase and joked that he got evicted from his last house (fired from WWE). Swerve Strickland vowed to take the FTW Championship from Starks and got the crowd to chant his catchphrase during the promo.
Starks and Swerve both got chants before the bell rang. Strickland started off the match in control and connected with a Dropkick. Starks responded by slamming Stickland’s head into the turnbuckle as Rampage went to the final commercial break of the show.
When rampage returned, Ricky connected with a DDT and went for the cover but Swerve kicked out at two. Swerve sent Starks to the outside and hit a Shooting Star Press off the apron. Back in the ring, Strickland followed it up with a Double Stomp off the top rope for a near fall. Starks knocked Swerve to the outside and Powerhouse Hobbs leveled him with a shoulder tackle while the referee was distracted. Hobbs rolled Swerve back into the ring and Starks hit the Roshambo for the pinfall victory. Ricky Starks remains the FTW Champion.
After the match, Team Taz came down the ramp to celebrate with Ricky Starks with a banner. When they lowered the banner, Keith Lee showed up and attacked them. Keith Lee and Swerve Strickland sent Team Taz on the retreat to close this week’s edition of Rampage.