AEW Rampage: The Kingdom Comes to AEW

AEW made their long-awaited debut in Canada this week. They closed out the festivities with Rampage. 

This was an ROH heavy show. Earlier in the night, one-third of the ROH Six-Man Champions, Dalton Castle challenged ROH World Champion, Chris Jericho. Jericho is currently facing past ROH champions for his title. The two will face off next week on Dynamite. 

More ROH wrestlers were in the main event when Gates of Agony and Brian Cage (accompanied by Prince Nana) took on FTR and Shawn Spears. This was Spears’ first match since losing to WARDLOW in a steel cage match back in May.

Spears got the pin over The Embassy. While celebrating, The Kingdom appeared. “The First Lady of Professional Wrestling”, Maria Kanellis-Bennett, said that FTR call themselves the “Top Guys”, but they’ve never faced them. She reminded the champs that Mike Bennett and Matt Taven held both the ROH Tag Team titles and IWGP Tag Team titles first. “This company, and everything it was built on, was built on our backs and we never get the credit we deserve.”

While they were distracted, The Embassy took the opportunity to attack FTR and Spears from behind. Are they in cahoots with The Kingdom or just taking advantage of an opportunity?

Samoa Joe and WARDLOW, also known as #WarJoe, came out to even the score. If you’re keeping track, Joe is the ROH Television Champion.

After the show, Lexy Nair interview The Kingdom. Taven had been rumored to have interest from WWE. He mentioned that the “interwebs had been has been chatting, ‘where are they going to show up?’ The reason they showed up at Rampage that they never got their tag team rematch for the ROH Tag Team Championships.

AEW has been more ROH heavy as of late. It seems like a TV or streaming deal is either imminent or they are heavily shopping the brand. They are building feuds and introducing AEW audiences to ROH mainstays in order to bring recognition. Until they get a deal in place, fans will likely see more ROH matches on TV and at Zero Hour and Full Gear next month.