On the second half of a two-night pro wrestling television event, AEW Rampage aired an extended two-hour presentation on TNT.  Following Wednesday’s nights AEW Dynamite Grand Slam, where several titles changed hands, the pressure was on for AEW to air another great night of wrestling and continue to amp up their storylines.

Let’s get into some of the highlights of AEW Rampage Grand Slam.  The opening match featured high-flyer Darby Allin and the icon, Sting going up against ‘House of Black’ members, Buddy Matthews and Brody King with meddling Julia Hart at ringside. The match was a No DQ bout, so anything goes, and did.

While Allin and Matthews were beating up on each other with moves off the AEW set scaffoldings, Sting was handcuffed in the ring, with no one to help him. Ah, but cue the music! In a great cameo appearance, The Great Muta came down to the ring, and no one knew whether he would be there to help Sting or the ‘House of Black’. Longtime wrestling fans know that Sting and The Great Muta have had a storied career in bouts together dating as far back as 1989; whether it would be facing each other or teaming up together.

At ‘Grand Slam’ once Muta entered the ring, he turned and spit green mist into Buddy Matthews eyes and it was revealed he was there to make a save for Sting! The blinding mist backed-up Matthews right into Julia Hart, who went crashing through a table. Next, breaking free of his handcuffs Sting secured the victory over Matthews.

In an update on Saturday, it has been announced by Japan’s Pro Wrestling Noah that Sting will participate in The Great Muta’s retirement match.  The organization put out this statement on the event: “We are pleased to announce the participation of AEW superstar and international pro wrestling legend Sting at the GREAT MUTA FINAL ‘BYE-BYE’ event, which will be held on Sunday, January 22, 2023 in Yokohama. It was The Great Muta who came to the unexpected rescue of Sting on AEW Rampage: Grand Slam this week. This incident triggered him to partner with Sting at the Yokohama Arena event.”

Later in the night, in the Golden Ticket Battle Royal, where the winner would get a title shot at the AEW World Championship currently held by Jon Moxley, the melee featured many of the AEW stars trying to throw each other out of the ring and over the top ropes.  From the very beginning, Hangman Adam Page was a target, being attacked on his way to the ring, and now the main question was, would the former champ last through the entire Battle Royal?  In storyline, Matt Hardy was reunited with Private Party, as they worked together in the ring and were all eliminated outside of the ring.  When the smoke cleared, Hangman Page and Rush were the last men standing, and both trying to ‘hang’ on for dear life on the ring ropes and not hit the concrete floor and be eliminated.  In the end, Page scored the victory over Rush earning his title shot.

The main event featured Absolute Ricky Starks vs. Powerhouse Hobbs in a rematch of the former tag team partners feud.  Last time out, Hobbs beat Starks in less than five minutes. However, this time it was a ‘Lights Out’ match where anything goes. Coolest part of the night belonged to Starks with his entrance video.  You can check it out below.  After beating each other up with tables, chairs, chains and a light fixture rod (yup), in the end, Starks scored the victory over the much larger and towering Hobbs.

I’m a visionary.

Absolute visionary.

No one else like mepic.twitter.com/TIWb794V4y

— Ricky Starks (@starkmanjones) September 24, 2022

Honorable mention match goes to Jungle Boy Jack Perry (son of the late 90210’s Luke Perry) and his match with Rey Fenix.  The bout was filled with high-flying maneuvers as only these men can do, and the crowd was into it.  In the end, it was Jungle Boy who secured the win.  However, he ultimately faced a beatdown by his former partner, Luchasaurus, who attacked him in the ring at the command of Christian Cage, who entered the ring with his arm in a sling. Cage blames his injury on Perry from the All Out pay-per-view, and as always, Cage continued to trash Perry and his family.

The second honorable mention goes to Eddie Kingston and Sammy Guevara as they continued their feud. Guevara started the match by calling out how out of shape he believes Kingston is, which played on their previous backstage controversy.  In the end, Kingston went berserk after securing the victory over Guevara, by refusing to let go of his winning hold.  Security came out to extricate the two men.  That instance, made the referee change the decision and award the match to Guevara by disqualification.

AEW Owner/CEO and GM, Tony Khan took to Twitter on the decision and shared: “It’s unfortunate that Sammy Guevara of all people was the beneficiary of your screw-tightening, @RefTurnerAEW In hundreds of AEW shows, we’ve literally only had a few DQs ever, you hate to see it, but Eddie Kingston also put you and your officials in an impossible decision.”

So, what did you think of AEW Rampage Grand Slam two-hour event? What was your favorite match? Share your thoughts in the comment section below.