AEW Rampage Thread 2023

[JLM]

What a thoroughly entertaining episode of TV. Opening six man was a belter. I've said it before and I'll say it again, I love me some Jeff Cobb. His hoss levels are unmeasurable. Didn't get a tour of the islands but otherwise I was more than satisfied with the serving of beef I received.

Six person tag was fantastic feel good goofiness. Perfectly laid out and everything was executed as well as you could possibly expect. Had a great time here and the crowd did too. I'd been skipping Rampage for a bit but this match was genuinely a draw for me and it was every bit as fun as I'd hoped it would be. God bless Jeff Jarrett. 

I thought the Taya match was fine. I think she'll work better as a heel. Don't mind her as a feud for Statlander as long as she doesn't win it. Hope the TBS title doesn't go the way of the TNT one in this post Jade streak era. 

Spectacular main event. It was always going to be with these two. Two guys I will always go out of my  way to watch and I've never been disappointed by either of them, this was a guaranteed banger. One of those classic AEW match graphics where you go "oh holy shit they have this insane dream match on their roster as well". I think Takeshita sliding so naturally into the heel role made it even better though. This is one of those matches they'd have put on during Takeshita's excursion just because it'd be brilliant and that's a reason enough., but the crowd rooting for Bandido more than Takeshita added some welcome extra heat. 

Was a bit worried about heel Takeshita as he is such a likeable performer in all aspects, but he's doing great with it at this early stage. I still look forward to his eventual redemption and face turn though. They'll keep harping on it all being Callis' manipulation so the out is pre-written for him and it will be a huge pop. For now though this is a great direction and I love that he's involved in something he can sink his teeth into rather than just being the guy who has great matches. 

 

Edited June 21, 2023 by JLM

[BomberPat]

What I really loved about the six-person tag was that they actually incorporated the "women fight the women, men fight the men" rule into the structure of the match really well. Usually that's a really clunky rule that kills any semblance of traditional tag team psychology, but the Jarretts were doing a really good job of using it to cut off babyface momentum and control the match like a proper heel team. Loved it.

[Infinity Land]

This might be the best thread to mark the departure of Fuego Del Sol from AEW. Since the couple of matches against Miro at the start of Rampage's run might be amongst his most memorable moments.

 

[LaGoosh]

This is very cool.

[Jazzy G]

Massive pop for him saying that. Brilliant moment. I dread to think how it would have been handled in WWE.

[Chili]

Harley Cameron actually being rather good at rapping was a surprise. Also it's just fantastic seeing a crowd in any promotion embracing a gay performer and chanting like that. Lovely stuff.

[Merzbow]

That's awesome, it's taken far too long for such positive representation but I'm so glad we're finally there.

[Tim Healys Chutney Spoon]

Also shows how far AEW have progressed inclusivity that Bowens is comfortable enough to stand in front of a crowd and TV cameras and say he's gay and that noone batted an eyelid about it in a negative way seemingly. 

 

And if you couldn't love Daddy Ass anymore, got loads of respect for him for going straight over and putting his arm around Bowens and basically saying 'proud of you and I've got your back'.

[SuperBacon]

4 hours ago, jazzygeofferz said:

I dread to think how it would have been handled in WWE.

Unnecessary comment. Not everything has to involve WWE being mentioned.

 

 

[Jazzy G]

No, I agree, and I don't tend to mention them, but seeing how well this was done and received on Rampage had me wondering how it would have been dealt with in WWE. Likely better now than under Vince, I was just expressing curiosity. 

[The King Of Swing]

7 hours ago, Chili said:

Harley Cameron actually being rather good at rapping was a surprise. Also it's just fantastic seeing a crowd in any promotion embracing a gay performer and chanting like that. Lovely stuff.

I thought Harley was great in that segment, hope she gets a more prominent role.

Her rapping caught me off guard. Sure it was cheesy which was obviously the point but great delivery. 

Edit. 

Also is someone new helping to book things now? Rampage has been on a surprisingly good run recently imo.

I usually enjoy it but never lost any sleep if I missed an episode but lately I've found myself really looking forward to it. 

Edited June 24, 2023 by The King Of Swing

[JLM]

Yep, two weeks in a row I've had a blast watching Rampage. Another wild multi man cracker to start. Not quite as much Cobb as I'd like but otherwise loads of fun. 

Short and sweet Cole/MJF segment. MJF's music hitting to stop the Adam Cole Baybay was a fantastic dick move. MJF live commentating the "save" was funny. 

Genuinely heart warming Acclaimed segment out of nowhere, wonderful to see. Echo the sentiments about Harley Cameron too, fantastic presence and delivery throughout. Really difficult segment with an extremely hostile crowd and she killed it. 

Fantastic that Athena is in the Owen tournament and on the PPV, nobody deserves a bigger platform more than her right now,. Fine match between Anna Jay and Skye Blue. Skye has improved a lot over the past few months, been nice to see her get a bit of extra shine on these Chicago shows. I think she's overtaken Anna Jay quite comfortably in ring, just needs to work on promos. She should stick with the Code Blue as her finish, the Skye Fall never looked very good and was a struggle when she's smaller than most of her opponents. 

Instantly a fan of Douki after the main event, some spectacular moments and great chemistry with Jungle Boy. As wild as the springboard DDT and the senton to the outside were, I liked the gory bomb turned into a seated backslide the most. Never seen that before, what a cool idea. Also loving Jungle Boy's turn to the dark side. A loss to Sanada (and with it the failure to secure a title, as he's promised he'll do this year) will help move this story along nicely. He knows he should have hit MJF with the belt and every subsequent failure will reinforce that. 

They add a whole new two hour show to ask for more of my time each week and now they've got me enjoying Rampage as well. Very rude. 

 

 

Edited June 25, 2023 by JLM

[David]

On 6/24/2023 at 9:37 PM, The King Of Swing said:

Also is someone new helping to book things now? Rampage has been on a surprisingly good run recently imo.

I usually enjoy it but never lost any sleep if I missed an episode but lately I've found myself really looking forward to it. 

It might be wide of the mark, of course, but I'd heard they'd moved Danielson into a part-time creative position with both Collision and Rampage as of a month or so ago.

That's been the only thing I've read regarding new input to creative, so maybe that's it. 

[The King Of Swing]

Not quite upto the last few weeks imo but still a watchable show. 

Claudio/Komander went on way too long imo but I liked the finish. 

Don’t see QT and TV going far. Harley is great value though.

Surprised that Shida picked up the win, thought for sure that Taya was due a rebound and Shida is barely around so expected her to take a loss 

Wonder if TS is already having second thoughts about signing Taya. 

[LaGoosh]

On 6/27/2023 at 3:15 PM, David said:

It might be wide of the mark, of course, but I'd heard they'd moved Danielson into a part-time creative position with both Collision and Rampage as of a month or so ago.

That's been the only thing I've read regarding new input to creative, so maybe that's it. 

Jimmy Jacobs and Will Washington are now working in creative too.