AEW Rampage Thread 2023

[Supremo]

Cool Hand Ange romancing Ruby Soho. Julia Hart, Skye Blue and Willow feuding over spooky mist. Toni Storm and Shida feuding over the belt. And now Mariah May coming in as a Mickie James-style super fan. Three for four women’s storylines happening concurrently? You love to see it. None of it is setting the world on fire, but given how stingy AEW booking usually is to the women’s division, this is definitely an improvement.

Anything that gets Daddy Magic more TV time is a plus in my book. Imagine the inevitable stag doo vignettes! Or having Daddy Magic be the minister at their wedding! The possibilities are endless!

That main event is the most I’ve enjoyed FTR in months, if not years. Campaign starts here for FTR to become exclusive to Rampage, forcing them to do quick, tight, action-packed matches rather than the tired formula of drawing everything out and filling thirty to forty minutes on Collision.

Komander and Vikingo should become a regular team. They’d be the perfect TV match next week for the Young Bucks to build some momentum leading into Full Gear.

Highlight of the show was Big Bill’s charisma and wit at the desk. Really funny. What a career turnaround for this top, top bloke. I felt nothing for him in WWE, all reports once he was sacked from WWE suggested that his addiction problems were going to see him become yet another wrestling tragedy, and yet he’s turned it all around. He’s fucking great now. A genuine feel good story.

Edited November 11, 2023 by Supremo

[LaGoosh]

Big Bill is so good he's somehow managed to get past how stupid his name is and make it cool. Proper old school name I absolutely love it.

[WeeAl]

The first 40 minutes of Rampage was so boring and shite that I didn't make it past "The main event, for the ROH Pure Championship . . . "

The crowd wasn't hot for Dynamite on Wednesday, in Chicago. When this show started and I realised it was in Pittsburgh? Well, that was just a death sentence to my interest right there. 

[Infinity Land]

Being the precursor to the 2hr Collision really did make it feel more like a pre-show. If watched in isolation it would have been a decent enough Saturday morning watch.

HOOK working with Rocky Romero won't hurt. Its daft he's still in his Halloween costume though. Even Skye Blue made sure to ditch the Scooby Doo gear.

With Statlander and Shida no longer champions I was worried they'd be lost to catering. Stat's twitter post kind of sums up what happens with former champions when bounced from the Women's title scene.

When it was apparent there would be a post-match save I was actually disappointed it was Willow. Through no fault of her own. I just thought it might have been Shida. Willow & Stat facing off with Diamante & Mercedes Martinez just gave me Collision flashbacks from this summer. One of AEW's many half baked feuds that never really had a proper ending.

Prick Yuta's back carrying a title. I'll take it. One of those situations where he can still take losses in AEW, while saying its only because it wasn't Pure rules.

[HarmonicGenerator]

Most of this show was nothing memorable, but it’s very much worth watching Danielson vs. Garcia. Excellent match that had me really rooting for Garcia to get the upset win.

[69MeDon]

Yeah, I hardly ever watch Rampage these days but, if you're on the fence, that Danielson/Garcia match was great.

[Lorne Malvo]

Danielson being an absolute prick to his opponents after the match is an interesting wrinkle. Especially when he was courting Garcia to join him last year. Interested to see if its going anywhere or Bryan just enjoying heeling it up.

Fantastic match. The rest of the show was nothing special - it had Matt Sydal on it, for one. Danhausen isn't clicking the same since his return either. I think when he's bouncing off a straight man it's fine, but when he's paired with somebody else a bit zany like Serpentico the humour falls abit flat.

[Supremo]

Bryan Danielson wearing an eye patch and being a bit of a prick is his final form. Phenomenal. Wrestler of the year.

[d-d-d-dAz]

2 minutes ago, Supremo said:

Bryan Danielson wearing an eye patch and being a bit of a prick is his final form. Phenomenal. Wrestler of the year.

I saw a clip online of him meditating with the eye patch on and I think it was the single greatest look I’ve ever seen. He looked like a perfect bad guy.

[JLM]

Ended up watching last week's episode before this as I hadn't seen it. Hook/OC/Beretta/Danhausen vs Dark Order/2.0 was so much fun. Hook flinging Evil Uno abot effortlessly, Daddy Magic being cursed by Danhausen and yelling "WAIT! IT DOES NOTHING! YOU'RE AN IDIOT!" Then we had a bit more Cool Hand/Ruby stuff before an entertaining trios match with Statlander/Shida/Skye Blue vs Anna Jay/Outcasts. This stuff is easily the most entertaining I've found Saraya in AEW. Then a mad little sprint with Cage/Workehorseman vs Penta/Komander/Vikingo to finish. They also had Flair in the ring on the mic but I skipped that bit. Classic light and breezy little episode of Rampage that simply flew by. 

Onto this week's:

Riccabone/Schiavone/Daddy Magic on the desk? That is about what I am talking. 

Danhausen coming oút with his stepdaughter was the most adorable thing. Love that Danhausen. What a delightfully Rampage-y opener. I am a big sucker for Angelico's llave chain wrestling and convoluted submission holds. I thought Danhausen trying to use a rope break despite not being in the match was pretty great. 

My favourite thing about Trish Adora is the name "Lariat Tubman" for her finish. Genius. Fairly standard Abadon match. As Supremo mentioned elsewhere, it's nice to see Abadon getting multiple appearances and more variety in the women's division as a whole. 

Best thing about Kyle Fletcher joining the Callis family is that he isn't rocking the 1990s boyband curtains and ill-suited Ultimo Dragon cape any more. I hope Hobbs and Takeshita have something worthwhile to do soon. 

Main event was spectacular. I'm sorry but I am not buying any talk that Garcia taking losses in this tournament is diminishing him. He has been a god damn hero in every one of these fights. It's a shame Bryan was such an automatic babyface to the Montreal crowd no matter what he did here. I wanted them to be rooting for Garcia as much I was. The people have been behind him in his other two matches though, and I'm sure they will be for the remaining ones. 

The fact that the only time in this match he did the dance caused him to eat the knee and nearly lose was perfect. Huge assist to Daddy Magic on commentary again. He is adding so much to Garcia's matches. Ironic that Mr. Spots Ennurtayner himself is doing such a good job conveying and cheerleadig Garcia's transition into serious pro wrestler. Ironic but not surprising, Daddy Magic excels in any speaking role you give him. 

What a match. Agreed on evil eyepatch Danielson being his ultimate form, my goodness. Everything was masterful here. The little shit eating grin after Garcia squared up to him pre-match, taking as much time as possible/crawling under the ropes on the early rope breaks to frustrate Garcia and make him waste his early burst of adrenaline and determination. Crafty veteran, teacher and outright prick/bully all at the same time.  "DANCE! DANCE FOR ME DANNY!" Willing Garcia to find another gear for the first half of the match and then outright disdain in the closing stretch when he realised he had the better of him. The sheer disgust when Garcia collapsed before he could hit the second knee.. He is furious that his opponents in this tournament aren't raising their game enough to beat him, it's fucking brilliant.

As everyone has said, if you don't normally watch Rampage you should definitely watch this match.  

 

Edited December 9, 2023 by JLM

[JLM]

Double Post. 

Edited December 9, 2023 by JLM

[Infinity Land]

Weirdly the under card of the show had me thinking about The Acclaimed. Off screen for a month now after being attacked. Remember when the World Trios Champions were keeping track of their reign length and doing Day 69 celebrations? It got tired pretty quickly and this once hot homegrown act were spinning their wheels.

A bit like Orange Cassidy. It was a 'best of' Rampage from his highlight reel. Once he won back the International Title it felt like a change was coming. Its never really materialised. Which is a good thing. Don't need to see a heel OC valuing his championship over his friends. It would just be nice to see him in a proper feud.

Which goes onto Abadon v. Trish Adora and the Julia Hart appearance. Semblance of a nice, simple feud ticking over week to week on TV.  Happy to see Abadon get a run after it looked like little more than a Halloween themed return. The smoke machine leading to the lingering fog made a nice change from the darkness in some shots. Maybe they can break it out for Collision/ROH tapings Throwback to those smoke filled halls back in the day.

And who would be the perfect feud for a the World Trios Champions: The Callis Family. Not only because The Acclaimed v. Hobbs/Takeshita/Fletcher would be tons of fun. The Callis Family have Sammy Guevara, Mark Davis, and Will Ospreay returns on the horizon. The hodge podge of acts that Callis (and Jericho) have handicapped aren't going to survive that intact and will hopefully break free in 2024. Might as well give The Acclaimed wins over them to help drive the break up.

The main event is one of those "AEW does storytelling" examples I know I like seeing but flies over some heads as just a match. Basically all in-ring and some commentary The return of Red Death era DG as he tries to break his losing streak. Facing a man he knows he can beat if he brings his best. Danielson knowing how to push all DG's buttons. After losing on counters to the Dragon Tamer this time DG's prepared for a quick reversal of his own. I'd have preferred not doing the Dancin' Danny bit the way the did. I get why it was included, but by the time DG starts running Danielson's already back on his feet rather than prone in the corner.

I don't think I can manage 9 months of All In promotion. Can Santa get everyone a ticket? I know Tony Schiavone will be grateful.

Overall a really nice show. Felt longer than an hour. Not in a bad way. Main event went passed 15 mins and the opener got time. Usually the matches in the middle would be really quick often with a squash luckly to last 90 seconds in that situation. Whereas they both got some time.

 

 

[Supremo]

On 12/9/2023 at 7:17 PM, JLM said:

I'm sorry but I am not buying any talk that Garcia taking losses in this tournament is diminishing him. He has been a god damn hero in every one of these fights.

Spot on. It’s what I’ve found most surprising about the discussion surrounding the Continental Classic. There seems to be this crazy, outdated mindset that winning equals pushed and losing equals buried, and the only thing we’re supposed to care about are winners. I thought that died when Powerslam magazine went out of circulation.

The losses in the Continental Classic have been just as interesting as the wins. Eddie Kingston going on a heartbreaking skid he needs to break, realising it’s a far tougher tournament than he was expecting, his back now against the wall if he wants to keep his belts. Mark Briscoe delivering belters but always falling at the last hurdle, the most sympathetic, lovable weirdo alive. Daniel Garcia looking fucking amazing, clawing his way to change everyone’s perception of him, but never quite managing it, still trying to put it all together. These are all interesting stories that make me feel connected to these characters. Even beyond the tournament itself, if anyone ends up losing every single match, I’ll want to see how that affects them and if they can use that as motivation going forward. 

The only bloke I’ve felt nothing for in this tournament has been Jay Lethal, but that would’ve been the case regardless because he’s shit and boring. Whole tournament would’ve been improved ten fold if they’d used Jeff Jarrett instead. Imagine! Ain’t he great.

Edited December 10, 2023 by Supremo

[JLM]

It is gutting they didn't go with Double J. New Japan do it with Toru Yano in the G1; have a guy in the block who adds levity and gives the other wrestlers a break from wrestling so many back to back workrate-athons. With Lethal they're still doing the straight wrestling matches but they're lower quality, lower stakes and lower heat than the other matches in the block. They're not something different, they're just worse. 

Jeff trying different flavours of shenanigans against each opponent would have been absolute gold. 

 

[mim731]

20 hours ago, JLM said:

It is gutting they didn't go with Double J. New Japan do it with Toru Yano in the G1; have a guy in the block who adds levity and gives the other wrestlers a break from wrestling so many back to back workrate-athons. With Lethal they're still doing the straight wrestling matches but they're lower quality, lower stakes and lower heat than the other matches in the block. They're not something different, they're just worse. 

Jeff trying different flavours of shenanigans against each opponent would have been absolute gold. 

 

This would have bern a great plan. Could even have leant into Jerry Jarrett's old territory being the Continental Wrestling Alliance and how its Jeff's birthright (tenuous, but he's definitely have been able to make it work).