AEW Rampage Results: Winners, Grades, Reaction and Highlights from April 29

Welcome to Bleacher Report's coverage and recap of AEW Rampage on April 29.

The Owen Hart Cup qualifying matches kept rolling this week with two big showdowns. Dax Hardwood defeated Cash Wheeler to earn a spot in the tournament on Wednesday, and Darby Allin and Swerve Strickland fought for another one of the spots on Friday.

Samoa Joe looked to continue his winning ways in a match with Trent Beretta for the ROH TV title, Colten Gunn had the misfortunate of having to face the dominant Keith Lee, and Jade Cargill teamed up with Red Velvet and Kiera Hogan to take on Willow Nightingale, Trish Adora and Skye Blue.

Last but not least, we got an in-ring segment with Hook and Danhausen. Let's take a look at everything that went down during Friday's episode of Rampage. 

Darby Allin vs. Swerve Strickland

Credit: All Elite Wrestling

Rampage started with Swerve and Allin in the ring for their Owen Hart Cup qualifying match. They shook hands before locking up as a sign of respect due to their long history as friends and rivals. 

While they had a competitive exchange, they kept it technical for longer than expected. Allin is known for his risk-taking style and smashmouth offense, so seeing him focus on things like hammerlocks and takedowns was a nice change of pace. 

They continued to keep the same pace through the break and into the second half, but they were slowly picking up the intensity as they went along. Each move had a little more impact than the last. 

A distraction from Ricky Starks ended up leading to Allin picking up the win, but it wasn't exactly interference, so Swerve only has himself to blame. This was a strong opening contest with a result some people might call surprising, but it also feeds into the whole Swerve and Keith Lee vs. Team Taz story, so it worked out fine. 

Grade: B+

                                         

Notable Moments and Observations

• The crowd already loves to chant for Swerve and he's barely been in AEW for a cup of coffee. That says a lot about how popular he was before he ever stepped foot in an AEW ring. 
• The way Swerve countered Allin's suicide dive was brutal. Allin looked like he hit a brick wall and fell straight to the floor. 
• The suplex Swerve hit from the apron to the floor was nasty and maybe a little unnecessary. Not every match needs to have a spot when Allin almost kills himself. 

Jade Cargill and the Baddies vs. Nightingale, Blue and Adora

Credit: All Elite Wrestling

Jade, Velvet and Hogan got a nice entrance for their first match as a trio against Nightingale, Blue and Adora. The TBS champion started out for her team against Blue, but quickly tagged out as if she wasn't worth her time. 

The match had a couple of minutes of competitive action, but it quickly ended with Jade hitting Adora with her finisher for the win.

While everybody looked good, there wasn't enough. This match was too short to properly feature the three winners, let alone all six women. 

Grade: C+

                               

Notable Moments and Observations

• The speed and which Velvet hit a heel kick early in the match was nuts. 
• The pounce Willow hit on Hogan looked awesome. She sent that girl flying across the ring.

Keith Lee vs. Colten Gunn

Credit: All Elite Wrestling

Austin Gunn was at ringside to support Colten in this futile effort against Lee. Colten tried to push Lee after their first lockup, but The Limitless One didn't budge.

Lee was momentarily distracted by Austin to allow Colten to take control during the break. The Gunns kept using the ref's blindspots to attack Lee, but the big man was not easy to take down. 

Once he had firmly established his dominance, The Limitless One scored the win. While it was nice to see Colten get some TV time, this is one time when AEW should have switched the matches and times.

The women's trios match should have been in this spot and given more time while Lee and Gunn had a quicker squash that made Lee look dominant. At this point, Gunn shouldn't be posing a threat to somebody like Lee, so a quicker bout would have made a lot more sense. 

Grade: C+

                             

Notable Moments and Observations

• Lee's two-handed chop was probably about 10 times louder than Gunn's on the decibel meter. 
• Colton accidentally cleared Lee when he went for a Famouser that was supposed to be turned into a powerbomb, but they quickly recovered. 

Samoa Joe vs. Trent Beretta (ROH TV Title)

Credit: All Elite Wrestling

Hook and Danhausen had their big face-to-face confrontation, but it was interrupted by Tony Nese. After Hook and Danhausen sent him packing, they parted ways. It looks like we might get a Hookhausen tag team before we see them fight, but we'll have to wait and see. 

The main event featured Samoa Joe putting the ROH TV title on the line against Trent of The Best Friends. Orange Cassidy and Chuck Taylor were there for moral support. 

The challenger may have been able to get in a few bursts of offense here and there, but most of this bout consisted of different displays of dominance by The Samoan Submission Machine. 

After he failed to hit the Muscle Buster, Joe locked Trent in a rear-naked choke to score the win and retain his title. This was easily the best match of the night and probably one of Trent's best performances since he returned from an injury. 

Grade: A-

                            

Notable Moments and Observations

• The crowd is already chanting "Hookhausen." If AEW doesn't make them a tag team for at least one match, it's leaving money on the table. 
• It's nice to see the Code Oh Honor handshake being carried on when ROH belts are defended on AEW television. 
• The way Joe beat Trent down in the corner at one point looked so convincing. It really looked like he was connecting hard with every hit. 
• The tornado DDT Trent hit on Joe was perfect.