AEW Rampage (Aug. 25, 2023) emanated from Rupp Arena in Lexington, KY. The Fyter Fest special featured Hikaru Shida punching Britt Baker in a fiery women’s tag team main event, QT Marshall making Latin America proud, Orange Cassidy defending gold, and more in the go-home to All In.
Let’s jump right in with a recap followed by reactions.
The show opened with a graphic to honor Windham Rotunda.
Excalibur and Tony Schiavone were on commentary. Dasha Gonzalez handled ring announcer duties.
AEW International Championship: Orange Cassidy (c) vs. Aaron Solo
Harley Cameron sang Solo’s entrance.
Cassidy clowned his opponent by being one step quicker and one step smarter. Interference from Harley helped Solo gain control. Cassidy rallied ready for the superman punch, but Harley sang a freestyle on the mic as a distraction.
Solo executed his heavy duty moves and even hit Cassidy with Harley’s boot. That wasn’t enough to keep the champ down. Cassidy stormed back with a superman punch and Beach Break for victory.
Orange Cassidy defeated Aaron Solo.
QT Marshall sat down with Jim Ross to put over the value of the AAA Latin American Championship. He oozed a rudo attitude. QT was annoyed that AEW takes him for granted as a star, and it was AAA who offered championship opportunities. QT plans to defend that title with honor to demand the respect he deserves. QT has passion, heart, and determination to be the best.
AAA Latin American Championship: QT Marshall (c) vs. Gravity
QT was accompanied by Johnny TV, who sat in on commentary. The champ wore trunks with the colors of the Mexican flag. He cut a condescending promo in Spanish, and Gravity replied in English. Gravity heard enough sass, then he slapped QT across the face. The match was underway.
The flow of the match was Gravity using quickness to hit lucha libre moves, but QT had the power advantage to catch his opponent for hard slams. For example, QT countered a hurricanrana into a powerbomb on the apron.
Gravity gave QT fits at times. He borrowed his brother’s move to hit a 21-Plex on QT. I imagine Bandido would be smiling.
In the end, QT went to his bread and butter for a cutter. He closed with the Dirt Sheet Driver to retain the title.
QT Marshall defeated Gravity.
The Dark Order is working for themselves now. They miss violence and anger. Evil Uno, Alex Reynolds, and John Silver plan to rebuild the group with like-minded people.
Luchasaurus vs. Ren Jones
The champ was without the TNT title belt, since Christian was backstage keeping it safe. Luchasaurus did the monster mash to dominate his opponent with a chokeslam and lariat to the back of the head.
Luchasaurus defeated Ren Jones.
Mark Henry ushered in a video package hyping the main event