AEW Rampage Results: Winners, Grades, Reaction and Highlights from October 22

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The first match of the night saw Cassidy take on Hobbs in a World Title Eliminator Tournament bout. Their last encounter ended with Cassidy having his hand raised, so Hobbs was looking for revenge in addition to a title shot.

Powerhouse ducked the Orange Punch and hit a spinebuster for a quick two-count. He took Cassidy out of the ring and punished the ribs he had taped up from a previous injury. 

Hobbs continued to dominate the action as Matt Hardy laughed at OC from the crowd. He maintained control through the commercial break, but Cassidy began to show signs of life when the show returned. 

Hobbs caught him during another attempted Orange Punch and planted him in the corner. The ref got in Hobbs’ face and yelled at him to make a clean break. He picked the official up and planted him in another corner. While he was distracted, Cassidy came over and rolled him into a pinning combination for the win. 

Grade: C+

                         

Analysis

This was a decent match with some good physicality from Hobbs, but it was by no means the best we have seen from either competitor. At times, it felt a little sluggish.

The first half was much better than what took place after the break. The stuff with the ref was unnecessary and seemed to go against AEW’s own trend of allowing referees to be more lenient with the rules. 

Hobbs should have won this with some help from Hook. He is the member of Team Taz who should be getting a push but it looks like we will have to wait a little longer for him to be in the hunt for gold again.