AEW Rampage Fight for the Fallen Results: Winners, Live Grades, Reaction, Highlights
Doc-Chris Mueller@@BR_DoctorFeatured Columnist IVAugust 19, 2023AEW Rampage Fight for the Fallen Results: Winners, Live Grades, Reaction, Highlights
- Sammy Guevara is in action.
- Aussie Open vs. Brother Zay and Ethan Page
- Komander vs. Rey Fenix
- Toni Storm and Ruby Soho vs. Skye Blue and Hikaru Shida
Welcome to Bleacher Report's live coverage and recap of AEW Rampage's Fight For The Fallen special on August 18.
This week's Dynamite and Rampage were held with proceeds going toward the Maui wildfire relief efforts.
This week's show featured a wide variety of AEW talents across four matches.
Let's take a look at what happened on Friday's episode of Rampage.
Komander vs. Rey Fenix
- Komander hitting a hurricanrana and landing on his feet like it was no big deal was such an impressive feat of agility.
- Fenix and Komander can probably claim to be among the top high-flyers in the world. This could have been a PPV match and people would have been happy to pay to see.
- Both of these guys can walk across the top rope and make it looks easy. You just don't see that kind of thing very often.
Komander and Fenix were in the ring when the show began, so the match got started within 60 seconds of the opening. They immediately started trading fast-paced counters and takedowns.
Trying to summarize the action in a match between two skilled luchadors is impossible. They were moving at impressive speeds throughout the entire match except when they were taking a moment to sell something.
If you dislike the lucha style of wrestling, this match isn't for you. If you do like that kind of thing, then this is going to put a big smile on your face.
They hit plenty of high spots and had a few great fake-out two-counts, but it was Fenix who scored the win with an awesome modified muscle buster.
Winner: Rey Fenix
Grade: A-
Notable Moments and Observations
Aussie Open vs. Ethan Page and Brother Zay
- Aussie Open being the ROH tag champs is great but we just had a run where the champs were almost never there. Let's hope this defense on AEW is a one-time thing and they do most of their defenses on Thursdays.
- Davis is such an underrated striker. That guy leaves people with bruises.
- Page embracing the Hardy stuff has been fun, but he needs to get back to being a solo act eventually.
Kyle Fletcher and Mark Davis put the ROH tag titles on the line against Zay and Page this week. The champs immediately took control by attacking their opponents as they were deciding who would start the match.
Once All Ego and Brother Zay recovered, they began to build some momentum and show some cohesion as a team.
Zay and Page may not have the same level of teamwork that Aussie Open has, but they aren't supposed to. They are a team that was just thrown together facing a team that has held gold in multiple promotions.
All of this played out exactly as it should. Zay and Page were good, but they were no match for Fletcher and Davis in the teamwork department. It made sense and it was entertaining, so it made for some good television.
Aussie Open picked up the win despite the best efforts of Matt Hardy's associates.
Winners: Aussie Open
Grade: B
Notable Moments and Observations
Guevara vs. Cruz, the Outcasts vs. Shida and Blue
- Storm has become so much more interesting since she lost the title, which is pretty impressive.
- Shida has some really nice kicks, and Storm was selling like a pro every time she got hit.
- Soho and Shida have such good chemistry as opponents. A singles feud with them would be great.
Sammy Guevara defeated Jon Cruz in a match that was shorter than Guevara's entrance.
Winner: Sammy Guevara
Grade: Incomplete
The main event of the night was the women's tag match with Soho and Storm of The Outcasts taking on Shida and Blue.
The Outcasts took advantage of Shida and Blue's inexperience as partners to control the pace for most of the match. Even when it seemed like Shida or Blue was about to make a comeback, they were usually stopped in their tracks.
This match had some solid wrestling and told the story it wanted to tell, but it didn't seem to have much of a flow to it. It felt like they were going from sequence to sequence instead of having a spontaneous fight at times.
Shida and Storm both had some great spots, but Blue and Soho held their own, too. Shida was able to pin Soho for the win but Saraya and Storm immediately pounced on them once it was over.
Britt Baker came out to make the save and fight alongside Blue and Shida and close the show with a brawl.
Winners: Shida and Blue
Grade: C+
Notable Moments and Observations
The Final Word
This week's Rampage was a decent episode from an in-ring perspective, but it wasn't without its faults.
The match Guevara had was not necessary at all and could have given another match a few extra minutes.
Aussie Open and Fenix's wins were easily the biggest highlights of the night and definitely worth checking out if you didn't watch live.
With All In and All Out right around the corner, AEW is doing a lot of planning. Things seem to be shaping up, so AEW might be able to pull off back-to-back PPVs that make the fans happy.
Grade: B-