AEW Rampage: Two men’s Grand Slam tournament matches

We’re just a few weeks away from Grand Slam. The show is one of AEW’s biggest non-pay-per-view events. That means that the men and women’s world champions will be defending their titles. Of course, Saraya’s opponent will be determined by a 4-way women’s match. On the other hand, the men get a whole tournament to determine MJF’s opponent.

Tony Khan loves his tournaments. In ROH, he has had two consecutive tournaments to find opponents for Samoa Joe. One was for Death Before Dishonor and the other was for ALL OUT. This time, the ROH World Television Champion is competing in a tournament in hopes of wrestling MJF. More on that later.

Rampage started out with Jay Lethal versus Penta El Zero Miedo in a tournament match. Lethal was accompanied by the ring by Jeff and Karen Jarrett, Satnam Singh, and Sonjay Dutt. Karen and Satnam attempted to help Lethal by tying the back of Penta’s mask to the rope while Jeff distracted referee Stephon Smith. Once Smith realized what was happening, he threw them all out.

Later, Lethal unmasked Penta. While Smith helped him cover his face, Lethal attempted to use Jarrett’s guitar. However, he was stopped by Alex Abrahantes. Despite the obstacles, Penta won and advanced to the next round of the tournament.

The main event of Rampage saw Joe take on Jeff Hardy. Fun fact: They have now wrestled each other in IMPACT, WWE, and AEW. They are very familiar with each other’s games. Early on, Joe attempted to get a count-out victory.

Hardy hit the Whisper in the Wind but couldn’t cover his opponent. Hardy was relentless in his pursuit of beating his old foe.

In the end, though, Hardy couldn’t get the victory. “The King of Television” advanced to the semi-finals and will face Penta on Collision. He looked into the camera after the match and sent a message to MJF by saying, “I’m coming for you.”

The Grand Slam World Title Eliminator Tournament is very predictable. One could argue that it’s a waste of time, as we all know that it’s just adding a few obstacles for Joe to get to MJF. They could’ve had a 4-way match to determine MJF’s opponent just like the women are getting. But, AEW invests more in the men’s division than the women’s. It’s just as predictable as the tournament winner.

At least we’re getting good tournament matches and MJF vs. Joe will deliver.