Fuck it, another show today. Trying to see if I can stay ahead of the pace of real-life AEW which means I'd need to hammer out Collision and Forbidden Door by the weekend.
AEW Rampage
June 23, 2023
The Dark Order (Alex Reynolds and John Silver) w/ Evil Uno and Stu Grayson vs. The Workhorsemen (Anthony Henry and J.D. Drake)
Dark Order kicking off Rampage for a second week in a row. The Workhorsemen are the kind of team that probably would get the "already in the ring" treatment in entrances. They are among a handful of talent on the roster who are actually pretty talented in-ring wrestlers but nobody would know them unless they watched AEW Dark when that was around. This is reflected in their very low overness, like high 30s/low 40s.
At the same time, they also indy veterans who are nearly 40 years old each so there's no point in sending them down to ROH to build overness. And much like the real AEW I probably won't be future endeavoring people unless they cause issues or I start losing money in-game. So they will likely just top out at solid hands to put against my regular tag teams to get a decent match. 80 quality for this one but the lack of a crowd reaction impacted the star rating.
The announcers speculate on if Hangman was able to make contact and amends with the Dark Order on Wednesday, but their questions are seemingly answered with Reynolds and Silver showing the same mean streak the group showed last week. Reynolds puts away Henry with a Fisherman Buster for the victory.
After the bell, Drake returns to the ring for a cheap shot but Uno and Grayson hop in to save their mates and they hit him with a Fatality for his troubles. The Dark Order stand tall and as pissed off as we've seen them in a long while.
**3/4, 68% overall
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TBS Championship: Kris Statlander (C) vs. The Bunny w/ Penelope Ford
Kris Statlander has been keeping herself busy. First a Shida title defense, then being confronted by Thunder Rosa, and now issuing a challenge to either Bunny or Ford after they interjected themselves into the Best Friends' trios match on Dynamite.
The Bunny aka Allie is a veteran of the ring wars and her styles ended up gelling quite well with Kris'. Competitive all-around match ends with Stat finishing off Bunny with the Big Bang Theory. Penelope cheap shots her afterward, apparently wanting a chance against the champ too.
***, 73% overall
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Next up we have a video package hyping up the matches for Forbidden Door. It couldn't be that I created a stable called "Forbidden Door" featuring all of the AEW talent on the card and ran a stable video for it. Nope not at all!
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Konosuke Takeshita w/ Don Callis vs. Bandido
Well last week I put Takeshita against a luchadore and the match was solid but suffered from crowd reaction. I'm giving it another go here, Bandido is not only more over than Takeshita's last opponent but the styles on paper seem they should mesh well.
And mesh they did. 92% quality match with Scott Keith admitting he was considering giving it 4 stars. Sadly, the crowd reaction did still play a part in this but not to the extent of last time. These two have a banger with Takeshita of course winning via Zahi Knee.
***1/2, 75% overall
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[The arena is raucous after that competitive match. BANDIDO is slumped in a corner of the ring, spent and beaten. KONOSUKE TAKESHITA stands victorious in the center, his breathing heavy but his stance unbowed. DON CALLIS makes his way into the ring, microphone in hand, a devilish grin on his face.]
CALLIS: [Raises mic, his voice booming over the cheers and boos of the crowd] "Ladies and gentlemen, what you just witnessed was not an upset. It was not a surprise. What you saw was an inevitability!"
[The crowd reacts, with boos filling the air. Callis raises a hand, waiting for them to quiet. Takeshita remains stoic, silently standing guard.]
CALLIS: "Look around you, at the landscape of AEW and New Japan Pro Wrestling. Think of the names. [He chuckles] Adam Cole. Kazuchika Okada. Hiroshi Tanahashi. 'Hangman' Adam Page. Tremendous talents, no doubt about it. But there's a new force rising. A man who stands tall above them all!"
[He places an arm around Takeshita, squeezing his shoulder.]
CALLIS: "This man, my 'son', Konosuke Takeshita! He didn't just defeat Bandido tonight, no... he made a statement. A statement that he will be making over and over again from this day forward that says he's better. Better than all of them. And, most importantly, he is certainly better than you, Kenny Omega!"
[The crowd roars, a cacophony of boos flooding the arena. Callis pauses, soaking in the reaction, then continues.]
CALLIS: "So Kenny, listen up. You've got a mountain to climb this Sunday against Will Ospreay. And let me tell you, that's a steep climb. But even if you make it to the summit, even if you somehow keep hold of your IWGP United States Championship... what then, Kenny?"
[He pulls Takeshita in closer.]
CALLIS: "You'll find another mountain waiting. A mountain named Takeshita. And he's not just any peak, Kenny. He's Everest. He's K2. And when you're spent and gasping for breath... Konosuke by god Takeshita will be there, ready to cast you down."
[Callis drops the mic, the sound reverberating throughout the arena. He leaves the ring with Takeshita, their silhouettes receding under the blinding lights as the crowd's reactions continue to pour in.]
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Darby Allin vs. "The Machine" Brian Cage
In my last EWR game I had these two wrestle and was impressed with how well they gelled, they have opposing stats but the big meaty but still agile powerhouse dude gelled well with the small underdog guy who throws his body around with reckless abandon. Now that Darby's involved himself in Mogul Embassy business, I can try running it back.
And sure enough, it still works! I imagine Darby spends most of the match getting ragdolled as he usually does, with maybe a few flash nearfalls that nearly take the big man out.
As one point, Cage is lying on the apron and that mad bastard Darby goes off for a Coffin Drop. He leaps up and...Swerve Strickland slipped into the ringside area and pulled Cage away! Darby lands onto the apron back first, bah gawd that's gotta hurt.
Darby is writing in the ground in pain and Cage slides into the ring before the 10 count for a cheap victory!
Swerve instructs Cage to bring Darby back into the ring to inflict more punishment. As Swerve heads up top for a Swerve Stomp, the lights go out. When they come back on, Sting is in the ring with his trademark baseball bat. The Mogul Embassy leave well enough alone and exit the ring. Sting checks on Darby as Rampage goes off the air.
****, 80% overall
78% overall show rating