AEW: Who Should Win the First Ever Royal Rampage?

This week’s edition of AEW Rampage will kick off with the first-ever Royal Rampage as twenty men will compete in a battle royal to determine the number one contender for Jon Moxley’s newly won interim AEW World Title.

This battle royal will be a little different than the ones we have seen in the past.  Since this will occur with the Blood and Guts ring set up the Royal Rampage will use two wrestling rings placed side by side.  The competitors will be split into two groups of ten,  with each group of ten being assigned to just one ring.  The lone survivor from each ring will then compete (with Battle Royal rules still applying) to determine a sole winner.

The twenty men that will participate in the Royal Rampage are as follows: Frankie Kazarian, John Silver, Rush, Orange Cassidy, “Hangman” Adam Page, Konosuke Takeshita, Penta Oscuro, Powerhouse Hobbs, Ricky Starks, Keith Lee, Swerve Strickland, Darby Allin, Blade, Butcher, Dustin Rhodes, Max Caster, Tony Nese, Matt Hardy, Dante Martin, and Brody King.

Who will win the inaugural AEW Royal Rampage?

Let’s start by narrowing the field down to those that create a compelling matchup with Mox for the interim AEW Title.

That takes the field down from twenty to eight with Rush, Orange Cassidy, Adam Page, Powerhouse Hobbs, Ricky Starks, Keith Lee, Swerve Strickland, and Darby Allin remaining.

It feels safe to eliminate both Rush and Adam Page from this list.  AEW had the opportunity to set up Page vs Moxley before Forbidden Door and chose not to do so.  To further diminish Page’s momentum by having him drop a match to Moxley seems counterproductive right now.

Rush has yet to compete in an AEW ring since he came on the scene as Andrade El Idolo’s business partner.  So having him lose his first singles match in the promotion is most likely not the route the AEW has in mind for him, even if that loss would take place in a title match.

We have also seen Darby Allin and Jon Moxley go at it before, once for the AEW Title during Moxley’s first title run, and a fresh matchup makes more sense in this spot.  And as good as they are, it doesn’t feel like a spot where Hobbs or Starks will come out on top.

That leaves us Orange Cassidy, Keith Lee, and Swerve Stickland.

Coming off what was widely considered to be his best match as a member of AEW at Forbidden Door with Will Ospreay, Orange Cassidy could absolutely pick up a win here.  It would create a fresh matchup with Mox and help to further the in-ring recognition that Cassidy is now beginning to finally get credit for.

But the outcome that makes the most sense here, based on the last battle royal that AEW held for the right to face Jon Moxley is for Keith Lee and Swerve Strickland to win their respective groups and then meet up to determine an overall winner.

This would help further the storyline of the tension between the two tag partners, and would actually serve to help put the past behind them as eliminating Swerve to earn a shot at Moxley would help ease a lot of the feeling Lee is carrying around with him of owing Strickland a receipt.

On Friday night, while there is a myriad of ways AEW can play it, the most interesting outcome would be Keith Lee getting some retribution on Swerve Strickland and going on to face Jon Moxley for the interim AEW Title in what would be an extremely intriguing match.