AEW Rampage Live Coverage - February 25th, 2022
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AEW Rampage
This week on RAMPAGE, it's Orange Cassidy vs Anthony Bowens in the Face of the REVOLUTION Qualifier. Dr. Britt Baker and Thunder Rosa in the AEW Women's World Championship contract signing. Plus, Andrade El Idolo challenges TNT Champion Sammy Guevara!
:aew:
– This week's show kicks off after the "This Is Rampage, baby!" cold open video package. We then shoot inside the Webster Bank Arena in Bridgeport, CT. where we follow-up after the YouTube "AEW Exclusive Entrance" footage that showed the ring walks for Sammy Guevara and Andrade El Idolo for their scheduled TNT Championship contest.
– We hear the commentary team of Excalibur, Chris Jericho, Taz and Ricky Starks welcoming us to the show as we get right down to action with our aforementioned opening contest featuring the TNT Championship at stake.
TNT Championship: Sammy Guevara vs. Andrade El Idolo
The bell sounds and we're off-and-running with this one, which sees Guevara and Andrade fighting to a stalemate at out of the gate. It isn't long, however, before "The Spanish God" of the Inner Circle turns up the heat a bit after connecting with a wild Spanish Fly for a close near fall.
Guevara continues to dominate the offense after coming up short on the pin attempt, and then we see things start to get competitive again as we head into a mid-match commercial break with Andrade in the midst of shifting the offense into his favor.
When we return from the break, we see Guevara in the middle of hitting a big spot that slows down the momentum that Andrade built during the break. Jericho points out on commentary that Andrade connected with a vicious suplex on Guevara on the steel entrance ramp.
Back in the ring, we see Sammy build on the aforementioned momentum-shifting spot that slowed down Andrade upon returning from the break. Andrade ends up on the floor at ringside, where he turns just as Guevara sailed through the ropes with a big splash after running off the ropes and building up a full head of steam.
We see the TNT Champion once again look to hit a Spanish Fly, however this time things don't work out as planned for him. Instead, we see Andrade end up back in the offensive driver's seat. As Guevara is laid out, we see Andrade begin the process of taking off the protective turnbuckle padding in the corner of the ring. He is stopped by the referee, however while the ref is dealing with him, we see Matt Hardy sneak up at ringside and finish removing it.
As the action resumes, Andrade hits a big hip-toss that sends Guevara into the exposed steel in the corner. Andrade ends up trying to finish Guevara off, but he hangs on and starts to fire up for a comeback. He goes for the cover, however Andrade gets another assist from Hardy at ringside. Afterwards, the two exchange some back-and-forth offense until a big back elbow and follow-up spot decks Andrade.
With Andrade laid out, we see Guevara begin his climb to the top-rope. He ends up getting stopped by Hardy, which allows Andrade to recover and stop him before he can do anything. They duke it out in the corner but Andrade ends up taking a bump on the exposed steel buckle in the corner. Andrade ends up getting spiked on the mat by Guevara moments later for a match-ending pin fall. With the win, Guevara retains the TNT Championship in another stellar in-ring contest.
Winner: Sammy Guevara
Once the match wraps up, we see Hardy and Private Party hit the ring for a beatdown of the TNT champ until Guevara's partners in the scheduled six-man tag-team match at the upcoming AEW Revolution pay-per-view hit the ring to make the save.
We see Darby Allin connect with his crowd-popping Coffin Drop finisher, as well as Sting hitting a Scorpion Death Drop to clear the ring of the heels and stand tall as the commentators talk us into another commercial break.
– When we return from the break, we hear the familiar voice of QT Marshall as he makes his way out from the back with a microphone in-hand.
As he surfaces at the top of the entrance ramp, we hear him begin talking trash about Hook.
Marshall ultimately demands that he come out and thank him like the man he is, otherwise he will "stretch him in front of his daddy," referencing Taz on commentary.
We see the segment start to take shape after this, as Hook emerges from the locker room and as he goes to confront Marshall, the brawl is immediately on.
By the time things get going, we see Hook lock in his Red-Rum finisher as the crowd erupts with a big pop. Out comes Jay Lethal, who stops Marshall's help from getting involved.
– We go backstage after this where Dan Lambert and The Men of the Year -- Scorpio Sky and "All Ego" Ethan Page.
Lambert says he tried to secure a title shot but after talking with Tony Khan, the best he could get is a shot to qualify for the "Face of the Revolution" ladder match at AEW Revolution.
Page speaks up next and vows to get Sky the title match and the TNT title. Sky doesn't speak but nods in approval and the segment wraps up on that note.
Wardlow vs. Nick Comoroto
We head back to the ring where Excalibur informs us on commentary that we're getting right down to business with our next match.
Already in the ring, without their ring entrances being aired on the broadcast, are Wardlow and Nick Comoroto.
The bell sounds and we're off-and-running with this one-on-one contest. We see these two big behemoth's collide and get right after it straight out of the gate.
Wardlow ends up locking his arms around the equally massive Comoroto and he launches him over his head with a throw-style suplex. He continues the beatdown on Comoroto as the commentators talk us into a mid-match commercial break as the action continues.
As we return from the break, we see Wardlow manhandling Comoroto en route to a symphony of power bombs, which leads to another easy pin fall victory for The Pinnacle member.
Winner: Wardlow
Once the match wraps up, we see Aaron Solo hit the ring looking for justice for his fellow Factory member after his loss to Wardlow.
Instead, he leaps off the top-rope into his own first-hand account of the muscle of The Pinnacle's second symphony of power bombs of the evening.
From there, Shawn Spears hits the ring and "The Chairman of AEW" does his thing with the steel folding chair as usual, before getting on the mic for a quick verbal interaction with Wardlow.
Spears tells Wardlow that this doesn't seem to be working out. He claims the power bomb thing isn't getting over. Assuming Wardlow doesn't follow the obvious remark, he follows up by telling him that it means the fans aren't digging it. The fans obviously laugh, knowing he couldn't be more wrong and that it's clearly Wardlow's entire identity.
He then goes on to act like he's the only one who actually does care and support about Wardlow and tries in a faux emotional way showing that he does care about him.
Spears tells him he appreciates him, like a proud father would do his son, before closing in for the real thing -- a teary-eyed hug. Wardlow reacts as one would expect, with a look of total befuddlement on his grill. That's how the post-match scene wraps up.
The Professor's 5-Minute Rookie Challenge: Serena Deeb vs. Kayla Sparks
We head to the latest installment of The Professor's 5-Minute Rookie Challenge, as Serena Deeb heads to the ring.
Joining her across the ring in the squared circle for this edition of her five-minute challenge from a lesser-known women's wrestling performer is Kayla Sparks.
The bell sounds and we get this one off-and-running. Within seconds we see the writing on the wall, as Deeb easily dominates the action and ultimately yanks a hold of a submission for the tap out victory.
Winner: Serena Deeb
– After another quick commercial break, we return to the ring, which is decked out with a table, chairs and the competitors for the scheduled AEW Women's Championship match at the AEW Revolution 2022 pay-per-view set for March 6, 2022.
Thunder Rosa isn't interested in doing a lot of talking, as she grabs her pen and begins inking her "John Hancock" on the necessary documents to make her title match at next month's PPV official after making only one brief comment to the champion.
Dr. Britt Baker then takes her time, as she is kicked back in her chair seated at the desk. She goes on to talk about how Rosa pretends to not like Baker, but instead she concludes that she is actually jealous of her.
Once she wraps up her pseudo psychology lesson, we finally see her pen-to-paper signature take place. After that, we get the always customary contract signing segment-brawl that is virtually guaranteed in any pro wrestling TV show -- regardless of the promotion booking it.
Mercedes Martinez and some other outside figures, most notably Jamie Hayter, get involved in the mix and then order is restored while we shoot backstage for our weekly pre-main event split-screen interview conducted by "The World's Strongest Man" Mark Henry.
Face Of The Revolution Qualifying Match: Orange Cassidy vs. Anthony Bowens
We hear Anthony Bowens and Max Caster on one side of the ring giving some deep verbal cuts to the "Freshly Squeezed" one, who is accompanied by Wheeler Yuta.
After that, Cassidy makes it clear he hasn't been listening for hours now, and Henry deduces that enough talk has taken place, and it is, in fact, time for this week's main event!
On that note, we head to the commentary team, who runs down some of the scheduled action for next week's AEW programming.
Orange Cassidy makes his way out and settles in. His music dies down and he awaits the ring walk of his opponent for this Face Of The Revolution Qualifying match.
Now the hip-hop beat drops and it's time for everyone in Bridgeport to, "Liiiisten! Liiisten!" according to Max Caster. He verbally hypes up his Acclaimed tag-team partner, Anthony Bowens, in off-the-top rhyming fashion, of course.
He then sets up Cassidy for a response as the beat keeps playing. Cassidy, in his always humorous monotone, uninspired fashion, hypes up his retort. His isn't verbal, however, until after he does his limp-kicked "sweet shin music" routine, which he follows up with a robotic sounding line: "Word to your mother."
The bell then sounds and we are now officially off-and-running with this qualifier for the Face of the Revolution ladder match for a shot at the TNT Championship at the AEW Revolution 2022 pay-per-view on 3/6.
As the action gets underway in the ring for our main event of the evening here on this week's AEW Rampage show, the commentary team of Excalibur, Chris Jericho and Taz talk us into a mid-match commercial break.
When we return from the commercials, we see Cassidy on the receiving end of a beatdown from the bigger, stronger Bowens. This remains the case for the next few minutes. Cassidy gets in some hope spots, but is ultimately screwed over by Caster in some recurring moments of outside interference.
Finally we build to the finishing sequence, which sees the distractions from The Acclaimed duo stop after someone with a hood covering his face gets involved. We discover that it is none other than Danhausen, who seemingly puts a spell on Caster.
This allows Cassidy to get back into the ring after connecting with an Orange Punch. He then does the same once inside the squared circle, this time following it up with a three-count for the victory.
With the win, the "Freshly Squeezed" one advances into the Face of the Revolution ladder match at AEW Revolution.
Winner: Orange Cassidy
The commentary team wraps up the evening and take us off the air.
