AEW Rampage Thread 2023

[Fatty Facesitter]

👍 Hook/Page - Some great visuals of Hook battering EP in the middle of an adoring crowd. I like how they actually brawled through the rows of the crowd as opposed to inbetween the walkway sections which are normally covered with a big security presence (for obvious reasons). Fun plunderfest. As a baldy in progress, Hook gives me serious hair envy. 

👍 JAS/Acclaimed business - More of an angle than a match and part of me is slightly upset that there won’t be continued horseplay between the two teams, but the turn (if you can call it that?) was well executed and now I’m looking forward to the Acclaimed getting revenge. I really enjoyed JR’s commentary through this as well - half joining in ('Listen!'), half ‘What are they bloody like, eh?’ like a northern dad looking at his sons behaving like loveable pillocks, like his reaction to Bowen doing the Scissor Me Timbers. 

👍 Darby/Moriarty - Match was fine and action-packed but you have to question the overall sanity of Darby for working a match like that the day after getting hit by a motor - flinging himself around like a human pin cushion. I still don’t buy any of MJF’s ‘pillar’ challengers as a genuine threat to his title, mind. 

👎 Anna Jay/Julia Hart - Execution was really lacking here for me and the lack of intensity in the spots was far too noticeable. Odd choice for a main event (which I suppose wasn’t really the main event when you combine the two back-to-back shows). How long did Anna wait to take the Moonsault towards the end as well? Deary me. Lots to work on for both I’m afraid. Excalibur, Ross and T-bone did their best to promote them as two talents who were early in their careers trying to make the most of the opportunity, but the standard here was simply too low to cover up for that. 

Overall - Lots of good stuff apart from the last match. No classics but an enjoyable hour of wrestling tele with my breakfast. 

[JLM]

Yeah very ambitious to give Julia Hart and Anna that much time. Julia’s YouTube matches are literally “Stall, hit one move, apply submission” so this was quite a leap. Anna Jay is a bit further along but she is still ultra green and this match up is still the blind leading the blind. You’d think after that Britt/Anna business they’d be a bit more wary of exposing them like that. 
 

 

[The King Of Swing]

Gave QTV a chance but it can get in the bin.

[Fatty Facesitter]

1 hour ago, The King Of Swing said:

Gave QTV a chance but it can get in the bin.

I'm the opposite - QT and those pricks are growing on me! It's so cringeworthy but I think this is more by design rather than it being poorly executed. The 'break a leg like Dante' bit was so overtly crap that it kinds of works because of the copious amount of cheese they exude. It's incredibly annoying, but that's as it should be. I like the crap corporate-style-banter-by-the-watercooler theme they have going on, which I also think makes it quite relatable to a lot of people that have to endure the monotony of the fake pleasantries that come with office life. I enjoyed the tag match as well following this - I went into it under the impression there was absolutely zero chance the Lucha Brothers would lose the titles 6/7 days after winning them against challengers in a thrown together TV match. Yet as it picked up down the stretch and the heels engaged in all sorts of shithousery, I actually thought the champs were in jeopardy, even if it was just for a fleeting moment or two. 

I want the same hair transplant as him as well. 

Edited April 8, 2023 by Fatty Facesitter

[Loki]

I love the effort that has gone into Julia Hart’s new gimmick but imo she’s just far too cute to really pull it off.  She goes for a scowl but her little cherub face just looks like a kid having a strop.  I guess if HoB go fully face it’ll work - she was working face in this match at least.

Also, it’s bad enough me lusting after a 21 year old wrestler, but when J.R is being super thirsty on commentary it’s really off putting.  He was banging on about Anna’s bottom during one of the picture in picture breaks.

” That Jezebel” he drools as the other two look awkwardly at each other.  He really needs to be just doing interviews and such now.

Edited April 9, 2023 by Loki

[Toby_K]

8 minutes ago, Loki said:

I love the effort that has gone into Julia Hart’s new gimmick but imo she’s just far too cute to really pull it off.  She goes for a scowl but her little cherub face just looks like a kid having a strop.

Agree, head scratcher from the start. Anna Jay also doesn’t work as a heel. Doesn’t help that neither are nowhere near national TV ready. 

[Lorne Malvo]

I didn't mind Anna Jay/Julia Hart that much, it wasn't really a main event what with BOTB coming right afterwards and both girls need matches like this if they're ever going to get better.

However Anna Jay does seem to have regressed in-ring. At the very start of her career she had a few decent matches against Hikaru Shida and had a really good little match against Brandi Rhodes of all people, but since joining the JAS and getting less Dark/Elevation ring-time she's fallen off.

It looks like she only works AEW but is one of those young stars there who could probably do with being loaned out to indies while AEW don't really do house shows.

[Lorne Malvo]

He's never done anything truly great but Shawn Spears is one of my AEW guilty pleasures, I'm happy to see him back. I'm all in for a 'Shawn Spears gets frustrated by constantly losing the right way so reverts back to his vicious shit' story. 

A decent enough Rampage. I'm already bored of Taya Valkyrie and Jeff Hardy was on the show, but other than that it was a fine watch over my omelette this morning. 

[ReturnOfTheMack]

28 minutes ago, Lorne Malvo said:

He's never done anything truly great but Shawn Spears is one of my AEW guilty pleasures, I'm happy to see him back. I'm all in for a 'Shawn Spears gets frustrated by constantly losing the right way so reverts back to his vicious shit' story. 

A decent enough Rampage. I'm already bored of Taya Valkyrie and Jeff Hardy was on the show, but other than that it was a fine watch over my omelette this morning. 

100% agree with all of this! I keep hearing about how amazing Taya is, but she's, well, she's just there. She's not bad, but Jade is a hundred times the star 

[Fatty Facesitter]

Overall - I'm actually going to swap the order for this and just say that this was an absolute ripper of a show - I too enjoyed this with my morning breakfast and after watching this I'm full of beans (both literally and metaphorically). Bell-to-bell - this might have been the show of the week in terms of action, promos and easy viewing. This is Rampage, baby. 

👍 Spears/Jungle Boy - Smashing main event and I echo the sentiment around the warm welcome back for Spears. Lovely moment which I think took place during the picture-in-picture break - Jungle Boy got a kid in the front row to help hold Spears against the rail for a chop and you could tell it absolutely made his year (Spears then gave him the evils afterwards when he recovered). Great execution and a nice ebb and flow about this one. Only downside for me? It ended too soon! I was really enjoying it and although I think the surprise roll up was the right call in terms of the ending, would love to have seen them get a few more minutes to further build up to it. But then again there isn't much else on the show I would have binned to make up the time either. Lovely jubbly. 

👍 In stark contrast to my esteemed fellow forumers @ReturnOfTheMack and @Lorne Malvo, **I really like Taya Valkyrie and this match with Emi Sakura was absolute filth. They leathered the living daylights out of each other. Emi's almost too much fun to watch to be a heel, but the way she was dishing out those slaps and crashing into Taya when she was prone by the ringsteps was all rather vicious. Ten hard-hitting minutes between two game birds. Taya looked superb I thought - she's got a great energy about her, a winning smile and some great facials for the cameras. The post-match confrontation with Jade was another good bit of business and although the build before tonight hasn't been amazing, it's really turned for me this week and I'm bang up for the eventual TBS title match now. 

👍 Best Friends/Aussie Open - I'll almost always give tag matches a thumbs up if they start a show because they're such a cheat code for the live audience and the rest of the viewing public to get them pumped up for the night's festivities. Some good chemistry between all four lads here and a convincing clean win for the champs against established oppos. 

👍 Eight-Man - More of an angle but I really, really like this bit of business between Briscoe and the heels and the will he/won't he nature of joining them. Hope they keep playing this out for a bit longer. Also, any Double J sighting is probably an automatic thumbs up. 

👍 FTR promo - This was great. In stark contrast to their Twitter output, this came across as heartfelt and they had the audience in the palm of their hand and they looked and sounded like two huge stars. Just not the sort of promo or platform you could see them getting in WWE if they went back there, so I'm all for their AEW contract extension. 

👍 Acclaimed/JAS - The rap from the heels was so bad it was brilliant. I love the audience participation element of all of this and I'm bang up for it continuing. Somebody in another thread said they weren't too big on the JAS - to me though these supporting characters to Jericho are daft, silly and good fun. I do wonder how many of those new 'SCISSOR ME' t-shirts the Acclaimed will sell though! 

👎 I see we're going back to the Hardy Compound for more of that nonsense. How must Hook feel being a side character in this bollocks? Not for me, Clive. 

👎 What were those jobbers wearing during the eight-man tag 😂 What an eclectic mix of attires! 

** I will admit that perhaps my Taya praise is slightly obscured...by the fact that I actually quite fancy her. Oh to the be on the receiving end of that double knee stomp she did in the corner, also effectively battering Emi full in the face with her snatch. Goodness, gracious me. 

Edited April 15, 2023 by Fatty Facesitter

[Supremo]

Solid little utility show.

For a company that supposedly, “doesn’t tell stories,” it was outright ridiculous how much they managed to squeeze out of what was essentially a Sunday Night Heat main event. Jungle Jack hoping to keep his momentum going as he tries to earn a title shot. Shawn Spears coming in with the MJF history, perhaps looking for his own title shot, as revenge for being dropped by Max last year. Spears coming in as a new Dad, hoping to make a splash and earn the  big bucks for his new baby. Jack testing himself against one of MJF’s oldest friends. Great stuff all around.

I think that’s a huge benefit to this Four Pillar thing that they’re building. Not only does it feel super fresh, and not only will the match likely bang, but it calls back to a better time in AEW, when they had rankings. The glory days when even the smallest, nothing of bouts could have a bigger meaning down the line. Everything mattered, even if it didn’t. You could smell a hot streak and realise it was leading somewhere. That’s what this is. Jungle Boy, Darby and Sammy’s matches all feel a million times more important now they’ve got this direction they have to adhere to. Hell yeah. Being back the rankings!

The only bad part of Shawn Spears returning? It reminded me that when we last saw him he was losing to a red hot Wardlow, who looked like the next Batista. How depressing to see how things went.

Double J vs. Mark Briscoe is the new dream-match-you-never-knew-you-wanted. Fantastic bit of silly nonsense.

Similarly, this JAS vs. Acclaimed thing is brilliant lower card fun. Babyfaces gonna cut a man’s nipples off with scissors? When you’re as hot as The Acclaimed, everything works. Love them.

Conversely, it takes someone really special to do something as classy as put Jay Briscoes name on his tag belt, and yet I still found myself thinking, “ah, shut up, you knobhead,” as Dax droned on. Listing why people love him. Fuck off. There’s a default heel turn coming for that chubby idiot. They’ll have no choice. So unlikable. Maybe Bret wasn’t so great after all. Team Shawn. Bret screwed Bret.

I hate Matt Hardy. I hate Jeff Hardy. I want them both to fuck off forever. However, Hook playing the straight man as a bunch of stupid bullshit goes down at the Hardy Compound? That has potential. People exploding amongst fireworks, falling out of trees and getting launched into lakes. Meanwhile, Hook’s in the background scoffing some crisps. I’m in.

Plus, if nothing else, I can think of the PERFECT use of the Dilapidated Boat! Imagine this being the closing shot at the Hardy Compound!

Was that the first time they aired how bad Don Callis’ cut was? Fucking hell! Gave Finn Balor a run for his money! I know there’s fortuitous juice, where someone bleeds accidentally and it adds to the drama of a story, but this was a fortuitous vagina on someone’s head! Jesus Christ!

Taya Valkyrie and Emi Sakura had absolutely no right having such a belter. I was half tempted to fast forward it, but thank fuck I didn’t! This was great. Emi is hugely underrated and this thing with Taya is easily becoming the best thing Jade has done in forever.

Overall a tidy show. Perfect accompaniment to some Frosties on a Saturday morning.

Edited April 16, 2023 by Supremo

[JLM]

Emi Sakura is a treasure honestly. She could be doing more if required but she is such a great utility player, and I'm sure a lot of the younger talents have learned loads from being around her too. Think she's quietly been one of AEW's better signings even if she hasn't been heavily pushed. She'll get potatoed by an 18 year old and smile whilst trying to get the best match possible out of her, make all of her Youtube jobber squashes way more fun than they need to be and then put on violent belters against an Athena or Taya when they need a showcase match. She has a little bit of that RUSH factor where she seems to genuinely want the opponent to match her intensity and have a good old scrap with her.

Generally just a really seasoned pro in what is a pretty inexperienced division. In the match with Taya there was one bit where she wanted Taya to feed her for a chop, Taya didn't see her, so she did a back rake instead to keep things moving and not just be stuck standing there like a lemon. Another bit where she was about to pick Taya up for her next move and then stopped to let a "Let's go Taya" chant breathe. When you see Skye Blue/Anna Jay/Julia Hart hurrying between their planned spots and going into full on deer-in-headlights mode if there's any deviation from the plan, she's who they need to be watching. I'm not sure what Madison Rayne is teaching any of them but it's incredibly obvious what they can learn from Emi. 

One of the many things I enjoy about Daddy Magic's commentary is how much he loves The Queen. He's quite right. 

 

 

Edited April 16, 2023 by JLM

[Guest]

18 hours ago, Fatty Facesitter said:

 

 

👎

** I will admit that perhaps my Taya praise is slightly obscured...by the fact that I actually quite fancy her. Oh to the be on the receiving end of that double knee stomp she did in the corner, also effectively battering Emi full in the face with her snatch. Goodness, gracious me. 

you know people can read this right? There’s forums for that kinda chat but it’s not here and it’s not on topic 

[Fatty Facesitter]

One other nugget I forgot to mention for the show - I’ve no idea how Excalibur is able to so easily rattle through all the different matches/cards coming up for the next Dynamite/Rampage and other things they have coming up with such ease. He does it every week, but on this episode in particular there were some real tongue twisters to spit out, like when he talked about the Triple A title matches, the stables, etc.

It’s not just the fact he rattles through them with ease, but he’s given such a short timeframe to actually get through them, especially on Rampage where everyone is pushed for time as it is. He’s absolutely fantastic at what he does even if there’s no way I can remember each match coming up off the top of my dome. 

[Lorne Malvo]

8 hours ago, Supremo said:

 

I think that’s a huge benefit to this Four Pillar thing that they’re building. Not only does it feel super fresh, and not only will the match likely bang, but it calls back to a better time in AEW, when they had rankings. The glory days when even the smallest, nothing of bouts could have a bigger meaning down the line. Everything mattered, even if it didn’t. You could smell a hot streak and realise it was leading somewhere. That’s what this is. Jungle Boy, Darby and Sammy’s matches all feel a million times more important now they’ve got this direction they have to adhere to. Hell yeah. Being back the rankings!

I couldn't agree more with this. A lot of people didn't like the ranking system but I personally loved it. Seeing guys pick up momentum, climbing up the ladder so that by the time they get the title shot they are red hot is so much better than people being arbitrarily gifted championship matches. 

It's also why I didn't mind the 'Danielson has to beat MJF's handpicked opponents' because while it's been done to death, at least there's a sense of progression and struggle there.