Welcome to Bleacher Report's coverage and recap of All Elite Wrestling Rampage Fyter Fest on July 29.
Following his huge win over Jonathan Gresham at Death Before Dishonor, the new ROH champion Claudio Castagnoli addressed the crowd.
After joining up with The Jericho Appreciation Society last week, Anna Jay did battle with her former friend, Ruby Soho, this week.
We also saw Ethan Page take on Leon Ruff; Matt Sydal faced Lee Moriarty; and The Best Friends faced Sonjay Dutt, Satnam Singh and Jay Lethal in a trios match.
Let's take a look at what went down on Friday's show.
Unlike most weeks, Rampage did not begin with the competitors in the first bout in the ring. Everyone got full entrances for this match.
Singh, Lethal and Dutt were out first. Since he is not a competitor anymore, Dutt decided to keep his suit on. He didn't even take off his tie or jacket until he was tagged in.
After Lethal and Trent Beretta had a brief exchange, the former Macho Man impersonator requested Cassidy tag in and face him. Once he did, Cassidy called out Singh, but Dutt tagged in instead.
This match was mostly a series of quick exchanges and comedy spots for the first several minutes. It had a few good spots, but it was mostly focused on the entertainment aspect, not the sports.
Was this match great? Not really, but it seemed like the crowd had fun, and that is ultimately going to help it come across better on TV.
Winners: Best Friends
Grade: C+
Notable Moments and Observations
Somebody in the crowd had a great Best Friends sign with everyone drawn as cartoon characters.
Cassidy taking a french fry from a fan who offered him one should not have been as funny as it was.
Dutt may end up being a great stooge. He might even give Brandon Cutler a run for his money.
Wardlow coming out to confront Lethal, Singh and Dutt was an interesting twist. Let's see where this goes.
Following a match on AEW Dark, Ruff and Page met for a rematch on this week's Rampage.
From the moment the bell rang, All Ego was in control. Ruff gave up a lot of size and power to his opponent, so Page made sure to use those traits to his advantage.
Stokely Hathaway was shown to be scouting this match as Page picked Ruff up and launched him across the ring to score a quick win. This was basically a squash match, so there isn't much more to say about it. The finish looked good.
Moriarty extended his hand out of a show of a respect, but he ended up hitting a headbutt to take control of his former mentor right away.
While Sydal was able to get in some offense at times, this felt like it was all about Moriarty establishing his dominance.
The high-flying veteran almost won with his finisher, but Moriarty got his shoulder up. Hathaway came to the ring and began cheering for Moriarty. He provided a distraction that allowed Moriarty to regain the upper hand and eventually win.
This was a fun sprint of a match, but it felt like they left a lot of room to improve if they have more encounters in the future. Both men put their unique skills on display here.
Winner: Lee Moriarty
Grade: B
Notable Moments and Observations
The way Moriarty was smiling was making him look like the heel before they even made contact.
It's so easy to forget how long Sydal has been doing this. He is a pro who has been in most of the big companies at one point or another.
The running boot Moriarty hit to send Sydal over the barricade was wild.
The main event of the night saw the newest member of the Jericho Appreciation Society, Anna Jay, take on Soho.
While Soho may have a significant experience advantage, Jay's height gave her more leverage in certain situations. It felt like this was all about making Jay look strong as a heel, and Soho did a good job selling to make her look good.
While most of this match was serviceable, there were a few moments toward the end that stood out for the wrong reasons. Soho was selling like a champ, but Anna no-sold a little too much.
Anna ended up getting the win by choking Soho out. She used the cast Soho was wearing on her wrist, but the ref did not see it.
This bout is not something people will be talking about by next week, but Anna getting the win is a step in the right direction for her character.
Winner: Anna Jay
Grade: C
Notable Moments and Observations
Anna and Soho's pre-match promos were decent, but Soho had a slight edge.
How is Jay with a guy who is claiming to be a wizard without her magician's outfit? It was a slam dunk.
Jay was showing a lot more aggression than usual, and it helped sell the character change.
Anna took several headbutts in a row and basically acted like nothing happened.
