A whole host of MMA personalities participated in a big pro wrestling match last night on AEW Rampage.
All Elite Wrestling’s Friday night show, Rampage, was all about MMA fighters last night. Five of the participants on last night’s show have competed in MMA, and all did their best to shine under a different spotlight.
The first to make an appearance on the YouTube opener for the show was the co-founder of Pancrase, 49-fight veteran Minoru Suzuki. He is long since retired from MMA, fighting just once since 2002, but he is still a major star for New Japan Pro Wrestling and has recently been showing up in AEW for some dream matches. This particular one was against someone who has trained at Xtreme Couture for years, and is one of the best wrestlers in the world – The American Dragon, Bryan Danielson.
Suzuki didn’t hold anything back, as usual.
That sound though pic.twitter.com/afH9noImJC
— Marc Raimondi (@marc_raimondi) October 16, 2021
In the end, Danielson outlasted a game Suzuki and got the win.
Things moved to the main show with UFC veteran CM Punk, who recently made his return to pro wrestling, taking on the high-flying Matt Sydal. As expected, Punk picked up the victory.
Finally, it was onto the main event. The show was capped by a six-man tag team match between the Inner Circle (Chris Jericho, Sammy Guevara, and Bellator veteran Jake Hager) and Dan Lambert’s American Top Team (Scorpio Sky, Ethan Page, and Junior dos Santos making his pro wrestling debut). Accompanying them to the ring were UFC superstar Jorge “Gambred” Masvidal, and current BKFC fighter Paige VanZant.
Dos Santos didn’t look too out of place in a pro wrestling ring, but they did their best to protect him and not have him do too much. He did land some hard body shots on the Demo God though.
.@junior_cigano bludgeons @IAmJericho with body shots! Tune in NOW for #AEWRampage LIVE on @tntdrama pic.twitter.com/owyDqu0s2l
— All Elite Wrestling (@AEW) October 16, 2021
And he got slammed through a table by Hager.
.@RealJakeHager sends @junior_cigano through a table! This main event is WILD – Tune in NOW for #AEWRampage LIVE on @tntdrama pic.twitter.com/uhVANBNON3
— All Elite Wrestling (@AEW) October 16, 2021
Masvidal got a little trash talk in on Jericho too.
.@IAmJericho gets in the face of Jorge Masvidal (@GamebredFighter) and @OfficialEGO takes advantage – Tune in NOW for #AEWRampage LIVE on @tntdrama pic.twitter.com/8MmLKjyWW9
— All Elite Wrestling (@AEW) October 16, 2021
The finish came with VanZant jumped onto the apron to distract the referee, allowing Masvidal to slide in and catch Jericho with a running knee.
A distraction from @paigevanzant and @GamebredFighter just knocked out @IAmJericho with a running knee strike – Tune in NOW for #AEWRampage LIVE on @tntdrama pic.twitter.com/iFn83Lqr17
— All Elite Wrestling (@AEW) October 16, 2021
JDS’s team got the win, and some of MMA’s finest stood tall to celebrate.