AEW Rampage Results: Winners, Live Grades, Reaction and Highlights from June 30 (2024)

Welcome to Bleacher Report's live coverage and recap of AEW Rampage on June 30.

This week's show featured a match for the ROH World Championship when Claudio Castagnoli put the belt on the line against Komander.

Hikaru Shida stepped into the ring against Taya Valkyrie, Shawn Spears battled The Blade, and the team of Matt Hardy and Brother Zay took on QT Marshall and Johnny TV, AEW's newest signing.

Let's take a look at what happened on AEW's Friday night show.

This week's Rampage opened with Komander and Claudio Castagnoli already in the ring and ready to start this ROH world title bout.

The Swiss powerhouse controlled the first couple of minutes, but the high-flyer was able to bounce back and take him down with some risky maneuvers.

No matter how many big moves Komander hit, Castagnoli kept finding ways to regain the upper hand and overpower him. The luchador was a great underdog, but nobody expected him to win this match.

They had enough time to make this entertaining without overstaying their welcome. As great as both guys are, we didn't need a 30-minute barn burner. This bout was a chance to make Komander strong good while still portraying Castagnoli as a worthy champion. It did a good job of accomplishing both goals.

After a competitive 15-minute championship showdown, Castagnoli retrained his title when the referee declared a knockout after Komander jumped off the top rope into a huge uppercut.

Winner: Claudio Castagnoli

Grade: B+

Notable Moments and Observations

The second match on this week's show featured Spears taking on The Blade in singles competition. The Butcher was at ringside but The Bunny was nowhere to be seen.

Perfect 10 has been wrestling as a babyface during his sporadic appearances in recent months. His fellow Canadians gave him a warm welcome.

There was some taunting early on, but it didn't take them long to take the fight out of the ring and start using the environment to their advantage.

The Butcher interfered behind the ref's back to give his partner the upper hand, but it was only momentary. Spears quickly recovered and began firing back at The Blade with chest chops.

They didn't have time to make this a long match, but they used the minutes they had wisely. Spears picked up the victory with a three-count to end a quick but fun contest.

Winner: Shawn Spears

Grade: C+

Notable Moments and Observations

Harley Cameron sang the QTV crew to the ring for Johnny and QT's match against Hardy and Isiah Kassidy. Ethan Page was there as ordered by Hardy.

Hardy and Mr. TV started the match for their teams, which was appropriate because these two have the most shared history from their time in WWE together.

They were given most of two segments and a picture-in-picture commercial break, so they were able to do all of the usual tag team tropes like isolating a member of the babyface team with double-team moves.

Hardy and Zay have a mentor-like relationship, so they meshed well as partners. Marshall and Johnny are new to teaming together, so they are going to take some time to develop chemistry as partners.

This was a serviceable match to fill some time, but it won't be the bout people remember from this show. Johnny scored the win for his team with a split-legged corkscrew on Zay for the pin. Page ended up getting taken out by Johnny, so The Acclaimed ran down to run the QTV crew off.

Winners: Johnny TV and QT Marshall

Grade: B-

Notable Moments and Observations

Shida and Valkyrie stepped into the ring for this week's main event. She may have come into AEW as a babyface, but Valkyrie has firmly established herself as a heel now.

La Wera Loca used her strength advantage to force Shida to the corner and slam her to the mat, but the former AEW champion did not stay down long. She kipped up and immediately started unleashing lefts and rights on her opponent.

Even though both of these women are great wrestlers, they were more focused on strikes. It gave the match a hard-hitting feel and allowed them to show off their toughness.

Shida was able to get the pin by reversing a pinning combination, which leaves this feud open for a follow-up encounter. Valkyrie was livid as Shida celebrated in the aisle to close the show.

Winner: Hikaru Shida

Grade: B-

Notable Moments and Observations

Rampage has settled into a comfortable formula, for better and for worse. A lot of fans skip this show altogether or watch it back later, but it's always good for at least one or two good matches.

This week's show was a solid hour of pro wrestling. We didn't see much time wasted with non-wrestling segments, so each of the four matches felt like they had a decent amount of time.

Castagnoli vs. Komander was easily the best match of the night, but every bout was worth watching if you are a fan of the people involved.

Unfortunately, it rarely feels like what takes place on this show is important to the overall storylines being told in AEW. If management ever wants this show to feel important, it needs to start booking things like title changes and heel turns to take place.

Grade: B-