AEW Rampage results: Roderick Strong shuts down Matt Menard’s title hopes

March 29, 2024 Jack Wannan NEWS

While some AEW talents competed over at CMLL in Mexico on Friday night, the promotion aired a four-pack of matches from the Centre Videotron in Quebec City, Quebec, Canada. Here’s what took place on this week’s episode of Rampage.

Dustin Rhodes earns win, Billy Gunn discovers unwelcome guests

A matchup between Dustin Rhodes and The Butcher kicked off the night. The pairing of these two was set up on Wednesday’s episode of Dynamite. The match was back and forth, although it was Rhodes who was able to eventually put together a win. After hitting the Cross Rhodes twice, he scored a pinfall to defeat The Butcher.

In a pre-recorded segment, Jay White and The Gunns broke into Billy Gunn’s house in an attempt to send a message to The Acclaimed. Just before White was about to use his golden baseball bat to break a TV in the house, Billy Gunn entered through the front door. The segment ended with Bullet Club Gold attempting to flee.

Deonna Purrazzo, Mariah May win in singles appearances

Deonna Purrazzo earned a quick victory in the second match of the card, beating Rose. The bout was Purrazzo’s first singles appearance since losing a title shot against Toni Storm at Revolution.

Rose was able to piece together a series of strikes at one point, but the culmination of the combo was countered. Instead, Purrazzo landed a nasty front kick. Purrazzo took Rose down and applied the Fujiwara Armbar to win the match in just under four minutes.

Mariah May returned to singles competition in the next singles match, getting paired up against Nikita. Toni Storm got on the mic before the match, saying May is replacing her in a singles match tonight.

May and Nikita received more time than Purrazzo’s match, although it did go through a commercial break. May escaped a move from Nikita by landing a headbutt. She landed a corner hip attack on Nikita, then ended the match with a Mayday.

Backstage, Zak Knight was attacked by Cool Hand Ang during an interview segment. Ang hit Knight over the back with a steel bar a couple of times, causing him to run. Ang turned around after the fight and realized Ruby Soho saw the brawl. Soho said that she brought Ang into this, but wants nothing to do with it. She kissed Ang before leaving the scene.

Roderick Strong stops Matt Menard from earning title shot

This week’s main event saw AEW International Champion Roderick Strong face Matt Menard in a title eliminator fight. If Menard won the match, he would earn a shot for Strong’s belt. Menard received a noticeable reaction from his home province crowd.

The match had a few minutes of crowd work to start, with the audience and Menard both heckling Strong and the Undisputed Kingdom. Menard gained some momentum with a pair of arm drags. Strong tried rolling out of the ring to cause a break in the match, but Menard followed him to the ringside and landed some punches.

Menard scored with a shoulder tackle off the second rope right before the match went to a commercial break. The picture-in-picture broadcast showed that Menard took a ring apron bump at one point, being dumped flat on his back by Strong.

Strong had control of the match as the bout returned from commercials. Menard powered up after escaping a submission, rattling off a few punches and then landing a trio of clotheslines. Menard connected with a series of punches to Strong in the corner. The Quebec crowd counted the punches in French.

Strong landed a backdrop, escaping a powerbomb attempt from Menard. Strong scored a Rib Breaker, although Menard kicked out at two. Menard tried for a Boston Crab, but Strong got to a rope break. Menard hit a cutter after Taven standing on the ring apron distracted Strong. A pin attempt was stopped after The Undisputed Kingdom threw Strong’s leg onto the ropes. After the Kingdom distracted Menard, Strong scored a flying knee for the win in just under 13 minutes. Menard won’t receive a shot at Strong’s title.

The Kingdom attacked Menard after the match. Trent Berretta and Orange Cassidy made the save, but soon would have to deal with a whole different problem. The opponents of Berretta and Cassidy next week on Dynamite, The Young Bucks, came into the ring and attacked them just as the show was came to a close.

Quick results

  1. Dustin Rhodes def. The Butcher (10:36)
  2. Deonna Purrazzo def. Rose (3:47)
  3. Mariah May def. Nikita (7:09)
  4. Roderick Strong def. Matt Menard (12:49)
About Jack Wannan 467 Articles
Jack Wannan is a journalist from Toronto, Ontario, Canada. He writes and reports on professional wrestling, along with other topics like MMA, boxing, music, local news, and more. He graduated from Toronto Metropolitan University in 2023 with a bachelor's degree in journalism. He can be reached at [email protected]
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