AEW Rampage: Chaotic go home show ahead of Forbidden Door

We’re two sleeps away from Forbidden Door II (well, one sleep by the time this is published) and AEW Rampage was full of chaos (literally and figuratively).

The show opened with CHAOS (Best Friends, Rocky Romero, and YOH) vs. United Empire (Jeff Cobb, Kyle Fletcher, and Will Ospreay) and Swerve Strickland. United Embassy got the win.

Adam Cole came to the ring and before he finished his signature entrance, MJF interrupted him. To “thank” him for pushing him to face Hiroshi Tanahashi, he made a match for his Blind Eliminator tag team partner. “Filthy” Tom Lawlor and Royce Isaacs attacked Cole from behind. Cole will face Lawlor on Sunday.

After The Acclaimed’s match, QTV’s Harley Cameron came to the ring using the very dated “I’mma let you finish” line to show off her “singing” skills and was nearly booed out of the building. She also “rapped”, which led to a great moment. Convinced that Anthony Bowens was attracted to her, he told her he was gay. The Chicago crowd erupted in applause.

Two masked men had accompanied Cameron to the ring. When The Acclaimed were leaving the ring, they were held up by QT Marshall and Aaron Solo. This, of course, was a distraction so one of the masked men could attack them from behind. The man revealed his identity–John Morrison, except now he’s Johnny TV. Why he’s aligned in an outdated gimmick like QTV when he could be involved with literally anyone else is beyond me.

The women’s side of the Owen Hart Cup tournament kicked off with Anna Jay and Skye Blue. Jay was accompanied by her J.A.S. cohorts, Daddy Magic and “Cool Hand” Ang Parker. They tried their best to rattle Blue, but she pushed Parker off the apron and reversed out of the Queenslayer.

Jay once again tried to finish Blue with Queenslayer. Blue was able to free herself to put her opponent in the Code Blue to advance to the next round.

In the main event, DOUKI made his AEW debut against “Jungle Boy” Jack Perry. DOUKI is SANADA’s stablemate in Just 5 Guys. DOUKI is well known to NJPW fans and made sure AEW fans remember his name. He quickly won fans over and some fans actually booed Perry. The biggest move of the match came when DOUKI did a senton to put Perry through a table.

Once back in the ring, Perry hit a poisonrana followed by an elbow strike. With fans booing him, Perry put DOUKI in the Skull End, SANADA’s submission finisher. This led to SANADA coming down to the ring to stand face-to-face with the man who answered his open challenge.

Forbidden Door II is live this Sunday from the ScotiaBank Arena in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Zero Hour starts at 7 PM ET with the main card beginning at 8 PM ET.