We take a trip to Manchester (virtually) for a look at one of Rampage Brown’s first matches back on the UK indies.
It’s a heck of a turnaround this – the folks at CATCH released this onto YouTube within 24 hours of the main event happening. I feel like Cagematch may be missing some dates, but this was definitely one of Rampage’s first matches since November last year, where he picked up an injury in a NXT UK title match against Ilja Dragunov.
Commentary comes from Mark Adams and Isaiah Quinn…
Brady Phillips vs. Rampage Brown
Phillips has a new nickname – “Bulletproof” – and is the current holder of CATCH’s GMAC Championship.
Opening with a tie-up, Rampage pushes aside Phillips, who came back with a side headlock that was pushed off. Phillips’ shoulder tackle was ineffective, as Rampage just barged him away, so Phillips just begins to club away on Rampage, who returned with a dropkick instead. A snap bodyslam and an elbow drop dumps Brady on the mat, but he’s up at one from that quick blast.
Phillips returns with a dropkick of his own, only for Rampage to catch him off the ropes with a spinebuster before he took things to the corner. A boot knocks Brady down, but Rampage misses a shoulder tackle off the middle rope before a leaping knee knocked him through the ropes to the outside.
Rampage gets thrown twice into the ring post by Phillips, then rolled back in for a two-count as a chinbar restrained Rampage, ahead of a Trailer Hitch submission that Phillips switched into an Indian deathlock. Rolling free, we nearly get a double pin as Phillips and Rampage bridged on the mat, before a uranage from Rampage got him back in it.
Going for the leg, Phillips has Rampage down for a Figure Four, but it’s broken apart as Rampage punched and kicked his way free. Phillips tries to stay ahead, but leaps into a powerslam off the middle rope, before the pair began to trade strikes. A knee to the midsection from Phillips led to him running into a Samoan drop as Rampage needed to stop the tide… only to get charged into the corner.
Rampage scores with the shoulder block off the middle rope for a two-count, but another dropkick from Phillips leads to a roll-through into a brainbuster-onto-the-knee for a near-fall. From there, Phillips looks for a piledriver, but Rampage blocks it and booted Brady away instead, leading to a Doctor bomb that bought him some time.
Phillips rolls outside to avoid a pin from Rampage… who just went out to roll him back in. Another piledriver from Rampage is blocked, as was a second Doctor bomb as Phillips took him into the corner. Phillips adds a clothesline before he hauled up Rampage for a piledriver, and that’s enough to get the win.
Result: Brady Phillips pinned Rampage Brown in 12:43 (***½)
Post-match, Phillips got the mic as he told the crowd how he waited for years for Rampage to get released so they could have the match… before the pair shook hands to close out the show.
Rampage looked like he’s not missed a beat despite that long lay-off, and it’s never not a bad thing to hear that Hatebreed song for his matches. Phillips has been cultivating this reputation as a “well kept secret” for a while, and held his own here, with the story of the match being Phillips matching Rampage, then winning with his own finish.