**CONTAINS SPOILERS**
Tonight’s AEW RAMPAGE: New Year’s Smash was broadcast from the 1stBank Center in Broomfield, CO!
It’s Friday and you know what that means!
The show opened with a graphic paying tribute to Don West: 1963-2022.
Tonight’s announce team was Excalibur, Tony Schiavone, and “No More B.S.” Paul Wight.
Kip Sabian joined the broadcast booth for this match.
All-Atlantic Championship Match!
“Freshly Squeezed” Orange Cassidy (c.) (with Danhausen) vs. Trent Beretta (with Chuck Taylor)!
Orange used arm drags to take Trent down. Trent fired back with a hip toss to Orange, sending Orange spilling outside the ring. Orange got back into the ring and shoved Trent to the arena floor.
Trent attempted a tope suicida but Orange moved. Chuck Taylor was there to help absorb Trent’s dive, helping his best friend.
Chuck and Trent brawled outside the ring, with Trent whipping Orange into the barricade. Trent attempted a spear but Orange evaded it, sending Trent crashing hard. Orange came back with a dropkick to Trent.
Trent used a delayed superplex to bring Orange Cassidy back into the ring!
“They are literally destroying each other out here. This is everything I could have dreamed of,” said Kip Sabian.
Orange and Trent traded strikes in the center of the ring. Orange blasted Trent with a thrust kick. Trent got to his feet and rocked Orange with a lariat and then a half-and-half. Orange rallied back with a Michinoku Driver for a near fall!
Trent flew into Orange in the corner with a back elbow. Orange shifted gears with a DDT and then a diving DDT on Trent for a two-count!
Orange attempted the Orange Punch but Trent intercepted it. Trent nailed Orange with the twisting tombstone piledriver for a near fall.
The fans chanted “This is awesome! This is awesome!”
Trent spiked Orange with a piledriver for a two-count. Penelope Ford walked down the ramp to ringside. She jumped on the ring apron. Trent turned to confront Penelope, which gave Orange enough time to drop Trent with the Beach Break for a near fall. Orange capped it off with the Orange Punch and then pinned Trent!
Kip Sabian stood up, cackled and clapped at Penelope Ford’s intervention.
Footage played from last Wednesday after DYNAMITE when Tony Schiavone caught up with Darby Allin and Sting!
Tony Schiavone: “Next week in your hometown of Seattle, Tony Khan has made the announcement that you will get a TNT Title shot against the champion Samoa Joe.”
Darby Allin: “I’m glad it’s in Seattle. I don’t know if my own hometown believes in me, as a matter of fact, I don’t even know if Sting believes in me. Do you think I got what it takes against Samoa Joe?”
Sting: “What if I say no, Darby? Then I’ll be the guy that doubted you, like everybody else. If I say yes, you’re going to lose the chip on your shoulder. I don’t want you to lose the chip on your shoulder. Why? Because Joe is a killer. And because I know you’re going to have to dig deep, deep inside to a place maybe you’ve never been to before inside of yourself. You gotta stop worrying about what everybody thinks. Now go out there and win your title back.”
Darby: “Alright.”
Kip Sabian (with Penelope Ford) vs. Atiba!
Kip headbutted Atiba in the chest. Sabian swept out Atiba’s legs and then delivered a big cannonball strike. Kip followed up with diving foot stomps, right on target!
Penelope Ford tossed Orange Cassidy’s elbow pad to Kip, who then tossed it down, mocking Cassidy. Kip clocked Atiba with the Orange Punch and then pinned Atiba!
Lexy Nair interviewed Preston Vance backstage!
Vance now wants to be referred to as Perro Peligrosos. “Do I look like a man that has any remorse? I belittled a child on national television. If that’s all I needed to do to get in the spotlight, I would have done that three years ago,” he said.
In the ring, Tony Schiavone interviewed Jon Moxley!
Mox: “It’s been a hell of a few years. In the first three years of AEW, two men stood above all the rest and beat everybody except each other: Jon Moxley and Hangman Adam Page. So it was inevitable that there’d be a showdown one day. And I proved there was only one last man standing and that was going to be me. I hit Hangman Page so hard I knocked him in another dimension.
“He woke up in a hospital that night but I slept like a baby. Because the Blackpool Combat Clubs works harder than everybody else. When the bell rings, we don’t necessarily care about the safety of the athlete.
“Hangman is hurt and can’t get the doctors to clear him. I’ve been hurt for 10 years. Big deal, get over it. Hangman, January 11th, you want it at the Forum in Los Angeles, well, see your doctors and see what you can do about it. I’ll be there waiting for you.
“People seem to forget these days that this is a tough business. If you make it to the Forum on January 11th, I’m going to remind everyone how tough this business is.”
Backstage, Jeff Jarrett, Sonjay Dutt, Satnam Singh, and Jay Lethal addressed their upcoming match taking place this Wednesday on DYNAMITE against AEW World Tag Team Champions The Acclaimed!
Lethal: “I’ve been waiting a very long time for gold and right now the time for waiting is over. How dare you talk about me and Jeff like that?”
Jarrett: “Max Caster, I’ve been in this business 36 years. I’ve got more shower time than you’ve got ring time. You will regret that rap. I’m coming for you Wednesday on DYNAMITE.”
TBS Championship Match!
Jade Cargill (c.) (with The Baddies—Red Velvet & Leila Grey) vs. Kiera Hogan!
Jade booted Kiera in the midsection. Jade shut down Kiera with a back elbow. Cargill chokeslammed Hogan!
Kiera jumped off the turnbuckles but Jade caught her. Hogan escaped but Jade answered with a pump kick. Outside the ring, Grey held back Kiera while Jade went to slap Kiera, but Red Velvet grabbed Jade’s arm to stop her. Kiera seized the opportunity to kick Jade in the stomach.
Jade wasted no time with a thrust kick to Kiera though. Kiera reversed Jaded with a bulldog and followed up with a hip attack on the ropes. Kiera clocked Jade with two thrust kicks and a sliding dropkick in the corner.
Kiera connected with a diving cross body press. Jade rallied back with Jaded and pinned Kiera Hogan!
After the match, Red Velvet walked up the ramp, leaving Jade and Leila in the ring.
“Smart” Mark Sterling was backstage with Josh Woods and Tony Nese.
Sterling said he was tired of Bryan Danielson messing with his best client, MJF.
Nese: “Next week in Seattle, Bryan Danielson, you have the greatest opportunity of your career. You get to share the ring with the Premier Athlete. And I’m going to beat you in your hometown!”
Main Event Time!
Swerve Strickland (with the Mogul Affiliates) vs. ROH Pure Champion Wheeler Yuta!
They chain wrestled at the start, both men jockeying for position. Swerve grabbed a single leg crab but Yuta countered with up-kicks. Yuta sat out with a senton on Swerve.
Yuta grabbed a single leg crab of his own, but then transitioned to a bow and arrow stretch on Swerve. Yuta jumped out with a tope on Swerve. As the Affiliates tried to intimidate and misdirect Yuta, Swerve dropkicked Yuta from the apron into the back of the knee.
“Wheeler Yuta is in a lot of trouble right now,” said Paul Wight.
Swerve slammed Yuta’s leg with a corkscrew leg driver. Swerve followed up with a back breaker, and then a second back breaker, and then a third! Wheeler fought on one leg with back body drops to Swerve.
Yuta nailed Swerve with a German Suplex for a near fall. Swerve smashed Yuta with a brainbuster for a two-count! Swerve swarmed Yuta in the corner and the dropkicked Yuta on the inside of the knee.
Yuta was looking for the seat belt but Swerve kicked Wheeler in the head. Swerve was looking for the JML Driver but Yuta pushed him back, inadvertently knocking Swerve into the ref. As the referee tended to himself, Swerve kicked Yuta with a low blow! Swerve finished off Wheeler with the JML Driver and pinned Yuta.
Catch AEW DYNAMITE on TBS next Wednesday live at 8/7ct from the Climate Pledge Arena in Seattle, WA!
And remember…the home of professional wrestling is All Elite Wrestling!
Happy Holidays!