AEW held a special Championship Edition of Rampage on June 2nd, where titles from three promotions were defended in four matches. The main event of that episode saw Shibata defend the ROH Pure Championship:

ROH Pure Championship
Katsuyori Shibata vs. Lee Moriarty
AEW Rampage #97 – San Diego, CA – 6.2.2023

Shibata has been champion since 3.31.2023 this is his third defense. Big Bill accompanies Moriarty to the ring but does not stay in his corner. The Pure Rules are as follows:
*The competitors are to obey the “Code of Honor”, shaking one another’s hand before and after the match.
*Each wrestler has 3 rope breaks to stop submission holds and pinfalls. After a wrestler has used all 3 of their rope breaks, submission and pin attempts on or under the ropes by the opponent are considered legal.
*Closed-fist punches to the face are not permitted. Punches to other parts of the body are permitted, excluding low blows. The first use of a closed fist results in a warning, a second will be a disqualification.
*This match has a 60 minute time limit. If the match goes past the time limit, three judges will determine the outcome. The judges for this match are ROH alumnus and former champions Jerry Lynn, Christopher Daniels & BJ Whitmer.
*Any wrestler who interferes will have their contract terminated. This was the verbiage provided by Excalibur, so it seems this rule is back in effect.

Moriarty lunges for the ropes to escape a triangle choke, using his first rope break. Moriarty elbow strikes Shibata to break a waistlock and stomps him down in the corner. Shibata grabs Moriarty’s boot and pulls himself back to his feet, but Moriarty dropkicks Shibata’s leg out from under him. Moriarty attacks Shibata’s left leg during the commercial break. When Moriarty takes too much yelling at the crowd before applying a submission, Shibata is able to take down Moriarty and put him in a figure seven leg lock. Moriarty spends a significant amount of time looking to escape on his own, but Shibata’s firm grip forces Moriarty to use his second rope break. Moriarty is forearmed down into a sitting position, but Moriarty recovers and surprises Shibata with a double knee attack in the opposite corner. He takes down Shibata with a suplex and strikes to the side of the head. Shibata catches Moriarty coming off of the ropes with a knee to the stomach. This time, he’s able to connect with the hesitation dropkick to Moriarty after knocking him down to a seated position in the corner. Shibata grabs the top rope when Shibata goes for a sleeper hold, using his third and final rope break. He rolls Shibata into the Border City Stretch. Shibata rolls Moriarty onto his shoulders to escape. After an open-hand strike, Shibata applied the sleeper hold, bringing Moriarty down into a seated position for a PK and the pin at 9:09. I enjoy this formula of Shibata breaking down his opponents, and once their rope breaks are gone, using a sleeper hold to knock them out into the PK. Moriarty is also a rock solid technical wrestler and kept the champion on his toes just enough to make it seem like he could pull off an upset. A real good choice to main event this Rampage episode, and now that AEW has Dynamite and Collision as the two featured shows, I hope they do more creative things like this with Rampage going forward. ***½

Former Pure champion Daniel Garcia confronts Shibata after the match. Shibata holds up his title while staring Garcia down, and it looks like we have a Pure title match in our future.

Orlando, FL – 6.8.2023

Commentary is provided by Ian Riccaboni, Caprice Coleman & Nigel McGuiness.

Christopher Daniels vs. Kyle Fletcher

Daniels focuses his attack on Fletcher’s neck, beginning with two quick neckbreakers. Fletcher counters a suplex from Daniels into a brainbuster and gets a two count after a belly-to-back suplex. He also gets two with a Falcon Arrow. Daniels comes back with a flying Complete Shot. Fletcher and Daniels knock each other down with stereo clotheslines. When they get back to their feet, Daniels German suplexes Fletcher to end his onslaught of forearm strikes, but Fletcher comes right back with a half-nelson suplex. Daniels Saito suplexes Fletcher. Fletcher stops him with a running gamengiri in the corner. Daniels calls for the Angel’s Wings but Fletcher uses a backdrop to escape. He then hammerlocks Daniels’ arm before lifting him up into a tombstone piledriver for the pin at 11:19. Fletcher has quietly been amassing singles victories in ROH, and it would be neat for him to challenge for a singles title while his partner is on the road to recovery. This match was very compelling, and Daniels seemed to have no issues keeping up with the Aussie Arrow. A great way to kick off the episode. ***¼

Matt Sydal vs. Zack Clayton

Cole Karter is in Clayton’s corner. Save for a snap bodyslam, this match was all Sydal, who polished off Clayton with a Meteora in just 3:04. Sydal then gets on the microphone and challenges Samoa Joe to a TV title match. It would’ve been nice if Sydal won the tag title match two weeks ago, but he didn’t take the fall, so I can accept that he is still a credible challenger despite that lose. Him mowing through another big guy is a solid way to build him up for Joe too.

Willie Mack vs. Dralistico

Jose The Assistant is in Dralistico’s corner. Dralistico flips off Mack instead of accepting the Code of Honor, and instantly dropkicks him to the outside where he sends Mack back first into the ring steps. Dralistico keeps on top of Mack when he brings him back in the ring, arrogantly posing on the top rope after superkicking Mack in the corner. Mack uses a headstand in the corner to bait in Dralistico, superkicking him to the floor and landing a tope con hilo onto both Dralistico and Jose. Jose grabs Mack’s foot as he crawls back in the ring, and Dralistico dropkicks Mack on the top of his head. The match carries on with a couple solid momentum swings for Mack, including a very close nearfall after a standing moonsault. Dralistico gets his knees up to block a frog splash and delivers a Shining Wizard. Jose distracts the referee when Mack has Dralistico up for a powerbomb. Dralistico kicks Mack low and nails the Incinerator Knee for the pin at 7:42. Weak ending aside this was a lot of fun. The crowd was super into Mack and the action in the ring matched their energy. I just don’t see either guy making big strides in singles competition, but maybe I am wrong. ***

Tony Khan then comes out on stage. He first confirms that Matt Sydal will challenge Samoa Joe for the ROH TV Title next week. He mentions that he will continue to be the matchmaker in both AEW and ROH, but he has decided to form a Board of Directors in Ring of Honor to help make decisions and to assist with the administrative side of things. The first name on the board is Stokely Hathaway. Stokely says he loves AEW, ROH, and Tony, and gives him a hug. Stokely hesitates before also saying he loves the fans. The other board member is former ROH World Champion Jerry Lynn. He thanks Tony for the opportunity and says he won’t be disappointed. Tony thanks the fans once again. It’ll be interesting to see how this board affects the show. Hopefully it’s the first step to bring some structure to the company.

NJPW STRONG Women’s Championship
Willow Nightingale vs. Rachael Ellering

Willow has been champion since 5.21.2023 and this is her second defense. This is Ellering’s first ROH match since a pre-show loss to Kennadi Brink in 2016. Willow lands a senton splash and low crossbody early. Ellering fights out of a gutwrench. After a leaping forearm in the corner, she takes down Willow with an STO and lands a springboard leg drop for two. Willow sends Ellering to the corner with an enzuigiri and charges in with a hip attack. A corner clothesline leads to a shotgun dropkick off of the second rope for two. Willow holds onto Ellering’s wrist so she can pull her in for multiple clotheslines. Ellering shoves her to the ropes and catches her coming off with a Black Hole Slam for two. Ellering herself comes off of the ropes and succumbs to a Pounce. Ellering counters Willow’s post-cannonball senton pin with a crucifix, getting a two count for herself. Willow drops Ellering with a spinebuster and locks her in a Camel Clutch until Ellering taps out at 6:48. Neat to see Willow add a submission finisher to her arsenal, and to get a defense under her belt against someone with name value. It would’ve been nice if Ellering had some momentum coming into this, though, so the victor wasn’t so obvious. **¾

ROH World Six Man Tag Team Championship Proving Ground Match
The Mogul Embassy (Brian Cage, Kaun & Toa Liona) vs. Cheeseburger, Eli Isom & Marcus Kross

Cheeseburger, Isom, and Kross will earn a future Six Man Tag Title match if they are victorious or last 10 minutes. You could’ve basically called this match before it started. Isom got in some offense and then was beat up. Then they rinsed and repeated that process with Cheeseburger and then Kross. They wiped out Isom and Cheeseburger before taking out Kross with the modified triple powerbomb at 4:58. I think this would’ve been the perfect triumvirate to try and run out the clock instead of going toe-to-toe with the champions, and I’m a little sad it didn’t go in that direction. That said, it was a solid squash, and I’ll take a dominant victory for the champion(s) now and again.

Mercedes Martinez vs. Vertvixen

Vertvixen surprised Martinez with a rolling stunner and a Blue Thunder Bomb for two, but was shut down shortly after with a half-nelson suplex. Martinez was surprised when Vertvixen kicked out of Total Anarchy and smashed her in the back of the head with a forearm strike. This led to the Brass City Sleeper and a submission victory for Martinez at 4:16. I like both of these competitors but the opening minutes were a mild mess. However, Martinez racking up her third win since returning, possibly en route to a rematch, is a good thing.

Griff Garrison vs. Lee Moriarty

This is Garrison’s first match since October, returning after an undisclosed injury. He received a warm welcome from the Honor Zone. Moriarty was less receptive, snapping Garrison’s arm onto the top rope after being scooped up onto Garrison’s shoulders. Moriarty attacks Garrison’s arm relentlessly after this, but even so, during a comeback Garrison uses Moriarty’s momentum to pull off a powerslam. Moriarty kicks him in the arm to cut him off, but Garrison comes back with a necktie headscissors and a rolling forearm smash for two. Moriarty goes to his eyes to escape off his shoulders again. He pulls down Garrison into a clutch and holds onto his tights to score the win at 4:04. Garrison looked excellent in his return, and although he lost, the loss at least came due to nefarious means. This was a very energetic and engaging four minutes. **½

Kiera Hogan vs. Robyn Renegade

Hogan had something to prove after losing to Athena the previous week, and Robyn did not make it easy for her. Similar to Moriarty, she focused her attack on Hogan’s arm, but her method had less finesse to it. Hogan’s arm was covered in kinesio tape making it an easy bullseye for Robyn. Hogan stomped her down in the corner and nailed a hip attack and a single leg dropkick. Charlette Renegade and tries to pull a switcheroo, but Hogan catches them and crashes their skulls together. A high kick and super kick from Hogan scored her the pin on Robyn at 4:31. I appreciated the intensity brought by both competitors and the failed “sibling magic” did spice things up. Athena tries to attack Hogan after the match with a kendo stick, but it backfires, and Hogan instead sends Athena packing by using the stick on her. She holds up the Women’s title before passing it off to the referee. I’m down for that rematch.

The Dark Order (Evil Uno, John Silver & Alex Reynolds) vs. Shane Taylor & The WorkHorsemen (Anthony Henry & JD Drake)

The Dark Order do a good job triple teaming Taylor, but a surprise leg sweep from Henry to Reynolds enabled Taylor to rock him with a knee strike to the face. Reynolds is beaten down by the WorkHorsemen and Taylor, and is almost down for the count after taking an assisted stunner from Taylor followed up with a top rope double stomp from Henry. Reynolds kicks out, and armdrags his way out of a Cobra Clutch from Henry. He gives Taylor a stunner onto the top rope and rolls under a chest kick from Henry to tag in Uno. Uno fights off Drake and Henry, stomping a mudhole in Henry before pulling him into a short-arm lariat. Taylor breaks up Uno’s pin after he drops Henry with a brainbuster. Taylor ends a strike exchange with a right jab. Drake accidentally takes out Taylor with a Sick Kick. Uno blasts Henry with a haymaker, and then with Reynolds and Silver deliver the Ragnarok. Reynolds gives Drake a cutter into a German suplex from Silver, picking up the win at 7:21. I’m a sucker for a good trios match, and that’s exactly what we got. I do think we could use some more insight as to why Taylor is teaming with the WorkHorsemen, but at the very least they’ve got their team dynamic in the ring down already. Silver and Reynolds are criminally under utilized these days. ***

Backstage, Dasha Gonzalez is with The Righteous and Stu Grayson. Grayson and Dutch say they aren’t impressed with the Dark Order, and Stu says they aren’t the Dark Order that are willing to kick the door down. Vincent says he senses some aggression in the Dark Order, and invites them to tune in next week. I don’t know what I was supposed to take away from this.

AR Fox, Darius Martin & Action Andretti vs. The Trustbusters (Slim J, Sonny Kiss & Jeeves Kay)

The two moments that stood out were Kiss giving Andretti a delayed press slam as her team had him isolated, followed up by her always impressive split legged leg drop. I would center the entire group around her. Martin tagged in after Andretti fought his way out of the Trustbusters corner, and he pumphandled Slim J into a facebuster. Andretti and Martin ended up pinning Kay with a tandem uranage at 6:02. Although they featured different styles, having these trios match back-to-back was a strange choice. I mentioned before that I hoped that Andretti would continue to be affiliated with Martin and his associates, and I am glad that is the case. The Trustbusters need something more to them if they are to be viewed more than glorified enhancement talent. **½

The Kingdom (Mike Bennett & Matt Taven) vs. El Combarde & El Dragon

Maria Kanellis-Bennett is in the Kingdom’s corner. I expected this to be an extended squash, and it more or less was. Somewhere during the match, Bennett got busted open, which brought up the energy of the crowd. Cobarde and Dragon were impressive enough but hard to take seriously as any sort of threat. A Death Valley Driver and Just The Tip lead to the Proton Pack on Combarde, with Taven then getting the pin at 5:26. Solid but seemingly unnecessary.

Tony Khan, Stokely Hathaway and Jerry Lynn make their way back out to the stage. TK says Stokely has already suggested some good cost-saving ideas, but isn’t sure he is going to make all the talent cuts he suggested. Stokely then suggests that Action Andretti, because he’s been mouthing off about beating Chris Jericho, should face the entire Embassy in a handicap match. Jerry Lynn whispers something to TK, and based on Jerry’s suggestion, TK modifies Stokely’s idea and makes a Six Man Tag Title match between The Embassy and Andretti, AR Fox, and Darius Martin for next week.. Stokely says TK didn’t let him finish and that’s exactly what he was going to suggest. TK also notes that they will not be ending all Lucha action as Stokley suggested, and instead, our main event will feature Bandido’s brother, Gravity, making his ROH debut, against one-half of the tag team champions, Rey Fenix.

Rey Fenix vs. Gravity

Alex Abrahantes is in Fenix’s corner. Gravity comes out in an orange spacesuit, and has tights that look like a tribute to Buzz Lightyear. He uses an anti-gravity walk to lure Fenix into an armdrag and a flying headscissor takedown, but Fenix takes him down with a dropkick. When Gravity surprises him with a schoolboy, Fenix superkicks him after kicking out. Gravity flips shoulder first onto the top rope in order to armdrag Fenix to the outside, then follows him out with a step-up standing splash. When Fenix tries a rolling maneuver back in the ring, Gravity counters with a powerslam. He then gets two with a Death Valley facebuster. Fenix nails him with a step-up roundhouse kick in the corner and then drops him with a Black Tornado Slam for two. A series of roll-ups leads to Gravity deadlifting Fenix into a powerbomb to escape a triangle choke attempt. Gravity misses a top rope splash, and Fenix runs across the top rope to deliver a PK as he leans against the ropes. When Fenix pulls Gravity up onto his shoulders, Gravity spikes him with a crucifix driver for two. They end up trading overhand chops, leading to Fenix surprising Gravity with his roll-up Ace Crusher. Fenix then successfully delivers the Fenix Driver for the pin at 10:37. I had zero expectations from Gravity and ended up impressed. He’s as fluid as the other AEW luchadores but quite unique, and he won over the crowd with great ease. I would not mind seeing him back, especially teaming with his brother to take on the Lucha Bros. Fenix shakes the hand of the timekeeper, who is LSG, which is interesting, but I doubt it will lead to anything. ***¼

Another week of too many matches, most of which will amount to nothing. I’m tired of it!