They Did
Well, there were 2 rings left over from AEW Dynamite Blood & Guts, so might as well use them.
And Rampage did. This was a match where every 30 seconds? Was it? A minute? Anyway, an ”AEW superstar’ came through the tunnel to either the Red or Blue ring.
The usual over-the-top-rope to the floor deal and the last wrestlers in the two rings got to fight for the no1 contender for Jon Moxley’s interim title.
Erm… but there’s an issue.
What Did I Learn From Rampage?
Interim…
That word. 3 syllables. And what does it mean? Well, many things but for AEW it means this;
Meaningless, adjective – having no meaning.
No need for Cambridge Dictionary to define it, really.
Moxley had a very fine match with Tanahashi at Forbidden Door, but the fight to get the no1 contendership? It’s to have a fight with CM Punk, not a title shot.
And that tarnished what was a rather fine match.
Brody King Won?
Great. He deserves it, he deserves it…etc…he’s a big man who has fantastic energy and moves which defy expectations.
I would love Brody to be up for the AEW title, I really would. But he isn’t. He’s not even the leader of his group, the House Of Black. The man he beat, Darby Allin, is more of a contender. And that shows how much the win mattered.
The end of the Royal Rampage was just great. King put a sleeper on Allin, and lifted him over the ropes by his head, Allin looked unconscious, Brody just dropped him.
Classy.
Max Caster Is An Underdeveloped Talent
Underdeveloped by AEW that is. On Rampage this week, the wrestlers in the Royal Rampage ring stopped to listen to Max’s rap. It wasn’t his best this week, but it’s always good.
And he didn’t win. Not even close. Swerve put him out, he was on a bit of a tear, even managing to stare at his erstwhile partner Lee from separate rings – the long shot was a bit gorgeous.
Poor Max Caster. He deserves it…
Hook Is About To Be Wasted
AEW needs to do something with Hook. The ‘cold-hearted, handsome devil’ no longer has Danhausen to soften him and he can come across a little like a jerk.
This week he attacked Alex Marvez for making a flip remark. OK, OK, he’s a nice bloke, Hooky, leave him!
What does Hook stand for? Himself? That might be enough. Nor is eating chips (or crisps, if you like) enough to make you a smart tweener. He’ll need some memorable chat and a more serious in-ring program for that.
Time’s a-wasting. Tick tock…
Toni Storm Isn’t As Over Yet As She’s Going To Be
This week went some of the way to resolving that. And in a rather emphatic way; a double DDT on the outside, a push-off Marina Shafir on the apron to another DDT, and a Pendulum DDT for the pin.
That’s a lot of DDT. Plus she defeated Nyla Rose, which is still a big event, even though the monster is slowly being forgotten.
This show, combined with her excellent fight against Thunder Rosa at Forbidden Door shows just how wonderful her work is. We knew that, though. Time for more of us to find out.
Rampage Rather Good
That Royal Rampage created a bit of excitement and having JR with Tony S calling what was a very War Games type match added to it.
Is JR being transitioned to Rampage? Could be…
Anyway, the Bucks also didn’t allow Yoshi-Hashi and Hirooki Goto much offense and because it was the Bucks, it didn’t really seem a problem.
Rampage resurgent? Not quite, but it was a lot of fun…
You rarely see sleeper hold utilized as strongly as Brody King did to win that match.
It is true, you only need to mention it once on the internet to draw the ire of the AEW fans, but these same complains often mirror what people say about WWE.