AEW Rampage Thread 2023

[Infinity Land]

I have no problem with Reba/Rebel she's basically just a manager. She's meant to have a backstage role which is what she was hired for. It's not like she's stealing a wrestler's wage.

I don't think it helped Anna or Tay last year where they had very little to do. They both had early matches against Jade which probably meant a lot of prep went into those matches considering how green everyone would be. Then Tay got to hide in the occasional mixed tag for the most part. They're both people that would really benefit from the talk of house shows.

The Bunny's the Bunny at this point as she's been around long enough.

[BrodyGraham]

I've said before but the way Tay Conti moves around, with her arms flopping around like a stroppy teenager who's been asked to put the bins out, really pisses me off. It's the most egregious, petty bugbear I've had in wrestling since Cody Rhodes' freakish pigeon knees.

[RedRooster]

This is a bit of a hot take, but Action Andretti is the worst character in wrestling right now. I hate everything about him. Perhaps one day he’ll find an identity that works, but as it stands, the sooner he fucks off to dark, the better.

Outside of that, I’m assuming that wasn’t an attempt to turn Eddie Kingston heel, otherwise the chair attack would have been more brutal than that, but this entire angle just isn’t working. 

While Dynamite is highly entertaining right now, Rampage feels a bit like a home for bad ideas.

[Merzbow]

Yeah, Andretti is pretty awful as a character and on the mic so far. I can see him going down to Dark after the Jericho deal is all done, get him time to properly find himself.

I can't believe I'm so cold on Eddie Kingston right now, this angle just isn't working and the crowd weren't all that hot for it either.

[RedRooster]

20 minutes ago, Merzbow said:

I can't believe I'm so cold on Eddie Kingston right now, this angle just isn't working and the crowd weren't all that hot for it either.

To be fair, given that it’s played out entirely on Rampage, I’d question how many of them are even aware of it?

Same goes for the Ethan Page/Matt Hardy stuff. Just reform Men of the Year, already.

[LaGoosh]

45 minutes ago, RedRooster said:

Same goes for the Ethan Page/Matt Hardy stuff. Just reform Men of the Year, already.

Couldn't agree with this more. They would be absolutely perfect opponents for The Acclaimed right now.

[The King Of Swing]

Real dud of an episode. 

[TobyK]

6 hours ago, Merzbow said:

I can see him going down to Dark after the Jericho deal is all done, get him time to properly find himself.

Hopefully. He was very forced down our throats by the commentators and company in general…maybe in a couple of years time he won’t be so generic and will get himself a character. It didn’t feel that special when he beat Jericho a few weeks back. 

[King Mal the Glorious]

Flattest Rampage in a while. I don't mind Andretti but he's got to get more accurate with his flips, felt like he missed half of them.

[Merzbow]

Another banger of a match from Jamie Hayter, easily the most consistent woman on the roster. I could imagine it being weird for some seeing Emi getting just so much offense on her though, she may be the Queen of Dark but the average TV watcher doesn't know that.

Edited January 28, 2023 by Merzbow

[RedRooster]

9 hours ago, Merzbow said:

Another banger of a match from Jamie Hayter, easily the most consistent woman on the roster. I could imagine it being weird for some seeing Emi getting just so much offense on her though, she may be the Queen of Dark but the average TV watcher doesn't know that.

I was about to post about this - the opening match was also very good, but I enjoyed this much more, partly because it was so unexpected.

I didn’t mind Emi getting in the amount of offence that she did, upsets happen in sport all the time, and we’ve seen a run of them in AEW recently. I actually ended up buying into the match far more than I expected to. Is Serena Deeb injured or has she simply fallen victim to the curse of Tony Khan being bored of her? I’d quite like to see her wrestle Hayter at some point. 

[Infinity Land]

12 minutes ago, RedRooster said:

Is Serena Deeb injured or has she simply fallen victim to the curse of Tony Khan being bored of her?

No one seems to have reported an injury. Fightful do an occasional roundup of injuries/absences. Last one earlier this month she just had hasn't wrestled since October.

https://www.fightful.com/wrestling/exclusives/wwe-impact-njpw-roh-injury-report-expected-returns-more

Doesn't seem to be active on social media since then either.

 

[Supremo]

Great little show this week. Hard hitting opener with Hangman and Yuta, great comedy multi-man match with best Friends and Double J's cronies, fun squash with Hobbs, then a belting main event with the women. Perfect Saturday/Sunday morning pro-wrestling TV.

Danhausen with the ukulele to counter Jeff's guitar was inspired. Santim Singh continues to be top quality, too. Punching the ukelele, using his hilarious long arms to tag in despite Jeff being half way across the ring in a Figure Four, and then celebrating at the end, holding Lethal and Jeff like small children. Really good stuff. Of everything in this company right now, this is the one feud I want to see continue all the way up to Revolution. Perhaps even beyond.

Dustin Rhodes vs. Swerve is the match I never knew I needed. Pure babyface in Dustin, horrible little bastard in Swerve. Fascinated as to how their styles will clash, too. I'm assuming this will see the return of Keith Lee.

Forget Raw or Smackdown showing hints of Vince being back, Will Hobbs now carrying an actual book around is the most Vince McMahon thing I've ever seen! Those Book of Hobbs vignettes were so great. I can't believe someone thought the best way to capitalise is to have him walking around with an actual book, like a complete wally. Rubbish!

What a waste of Jade Cargill's fiftieth match, going against Red Velvet. The only thing stopping The Baddies saga from being the shittest thing in wrestling is the endless contractual adventures of Matt Hardy.

Jamie Hayter is the best Women's champion this company has ever had, by a significant margin. She's awesome.

Next week's Dynamite looks tasty. Samoa Joe vs. Darby, No DQ? I wonder if we'll see Wardlow return with a shaved head. Whatever it takes, I want them to re-heat Wardlow to where he once was. It seems a lifeitme ago he had the potential to be the next world Champion!

 

Edited January 28, 2023 by Supremo

[RedRooster]

 

5 minutes ago, Supremo said:

Dustin Rhodes vs. Swerve is the match I never knew I needed. Pure babyface in Dustin, horrible little bastard in Swerve. Fascinated as to how their styles will clash, too. I'm assuming this will see the return of Keith Lee.

Ah yeah, I forgot about this. That really is an interesting pairing, and Swerve is a brilliant heel. I genuinely think there’s a case to be made for him being the best signing AEW has made from WWE - not so much because of what he’s done so far (which has been strong, for the most part) - but because of the potential he has going forward. 

Edited January 28, 2023 by RedRooster

[The King Of Swing]

Really hard hitting main event.

Amazing that Sakura is still able to go at that level in her 40's when many before her in the Joshi scene were completely broken down by their 30's.