AEW Rampage Results: Winners, Live Grades, Reaction, Highlights From March 8
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- Julia Hart vs. Robyn Renegade
- Kip Sabian and Butcher vs. Trent Beretta and Orange Cassidy
- Top Flight vs. Private Party vs. Bryan Keith and Komander
- Penta El Zero Miedo vs. Action Andretti
Rampage.AEW
Welcome to Bleacher Report's live coverage and recap of AEW Rampage on March 8.
We're still in the post-Revolution week, but AEW has already started moving forward with some new and existing feuds.
Here is the advertised card from Friday's show:
Let's take a look at what happened on Friday's episode of Rampage.
Orange Cassidy and Trent Beretta vs. Butcher and Kip Sabian
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- Chris Jericho was back at the commentary after some time away.
- Sabian doesn't look like a powerhouse but catching a grown man like OC who jumps at you from the ropes is still incredibly impressive.
- The Blade was at ringside but Penelope Ford was nowhere to be seen.
- We got a nice little video package for The Infantry.
Orange Cassidy.AEW
Rampage opened with Cassidy and Beretta making their entrance for the opening bout, but Sabian and Butcher were already at ringside.
Beretta made the mistake of trying to trade strikes with The Butcher early on, so he switched gears and tried to use his speed to avoid the big man.
OC and Sabian had a more evenly matched exchange, but Sabian had a clear power advantage. He focused all of his offense on Cassidy's injured back, which was heavily taped due to the injuries he's been accumulating.
This was a pretty standard AEW tag match. It had good energy, a couple of fun spots, a bit too much of all four men in the ring with no repercussions, and a predictable outcome.
Beretta and Cassidy got the win and celebrated with Chuck Taylor after it was over with a group hug.
Result: Cassidy and Beretta defeated Sabian and Butcher
Grade: B-
Notable Moments and Observations
Robyn Renegade vs. Julia Hart
2 of 5
- Jericho just throwing out random spooky references in an effort to describe Hart was kind of funny.
- The camera shouldn't be zoomed in so much when Hart is slamming someone's head into the mat. You can see that Robyn's head was nowhere near making contact with the mat. A different angle would hide it better.
Rampage.AEW
Robyn had to go solo without her twin sister Charlett this week but got a big opportunity when she faced Hart for the TBS Championship.
This was a short match designed to give Hart a pretty decisive victory. It wasn't quite a squash, but it wasn't exactly competitive.
Result: Hart defeated Robyn
Grade: C
Notable Moments and Observations
Action Andretti vs. Penta El Zero Miedo
3 of 5
- Penta's kick to stop a suicide dive was great.
- Andretti was smart not to make the water-chugging thing a big part of his character. It was funny once but quickly lost its charm. Get back to use when you can down two full beers in two seconds like that guy on The Man Show, which for younger readers, was a show on Comedy Central that wouldn't make it past the pilot phase today.
- Penta's superkick when Andretti was trying to hit a springboard was a great spot. It was almost as good as Shelton Benjamin and Shawn Michaels doing the same spot. Penta's may have even connected a bit better.
- Andretti's springboard corkscrew looked amazing.
Rampage.AEW
Two high-flyers who were part of a great trios match on Rampage a couple of months ago met for a singles bout when Andretti took on Penta.
Jericho did a lot to put Andretti over on commentary as he and the former AEW tag team champion fought in and out of the ring.
This was as high-energy and frenetic as you would expect. Andretti is one of the most agile young performers in AEW and Penta is a skilled veteran who can probably carry anyone to a decent match, so with a dance partner like Andretti, he was able to let loose and do some cool stuff.
Penta secured the win with his trademark package piledriver to end a fun bout that had the crowd on its feet.
Result: Penta defeated Andretti
Grade: B+
Notable Moments and Observations
Private Party vs. Top Flight vs. Komander and Bryan Keith
4 of 5
- The kid Isiah Kassidy interacted with at ringside looked like he was so happy to be on camera.
- Komander wearing a poncho like Keith was a nice touch. It made their pairing feel slightly less random.
- It will never look right for Quen to wrestle in an unbuttoned shirt. It looks like it would be so inconvenient when wrestling.
Rampage.AEW
This week's main event was a continuation of the feud between Private Party and Top Flight, but this time Keith and Komander were added as a third.
While Keith and Komander may have felt like a random addition to this match, they definitely added to the action in a positive way.
Private Party were the clear heels, so Top Flight would sometimes with with Komander and The Bounty Hunter for brief spurts before going back to being opponents.
As expected, there was a lot of chaos and moments when it became hard to remember which competitors were legal, but we also got plenty of multi-man spots that showed off everyone's talent.
Darius Martin scored the victory with a nice ripcord powerbomb on Komander. Andretti joined them in the ring to celebrate.
Result: Top Flight defeated Private Party, Komander and Keith
Grade: B
Notable Moments and Observations
The Final Word
5 of 5
Friday's Rampage was an entertaining hour of pro wrestling, but it wasn't exactly noteworthy for anything that happened.
We don't need title changes and big moments on every program, but there should always be more of an incentive to watch than solely the promise of a decent match or two.
Rampage is the C-show due to only being an hour long and airing at a later hour than Dynamite of Collision, but if AEW wants it to succeed, it needs to start feeling like it did during the first few months.
Rampage was where CM Punk debuted. We used to get big matches and important moments, but it feels like it's been months since anything memorable happened besides Ruby Soho and Angelo Parker finally going on a date.
Considering Friday was International Women's Day, it was even more noticeable how little ring time the women got this week.
The other three matches were all entertaining in their own way, but this week's show as a whole is unlikely to stand out.
Grade: C+
