In the absence of the backlog of Dynamite on Bleacher Report, my plan was to skip ahead to some of the newest episodes available, which did feel very odd. AEW is very careful with their long-form storytelling, making it a product that's difficult to jump in and jump out of whenever you want. So instead of attempting to digest a whole bunch of change at once, I'm going to cover their newest show, Rampage, which I can at least start from the beginning of. The absolute windfall of success that had followed AEW since the debut of Dynamite quickly had TNT hungering for more, and they initially proposed adding a third hour onto Dynamite. But AEW head honcho Tony Khan, having paid attention to the struggles of both WCW and the WWE after the expansion of their shows to 3 hours, elected instead to add a second weekly televised show, which found a home on Friday nights, airing just after the end of WWE's SmackDown. It's a timeslot with a glaring negative, as traditionally, late Friday night is considered the worst slot on the weekly schedule, with most potential viewers out having fun and enjoying the start of the weekend. To get viewers from Wednesday night to come with them two days later, AEW had to bring something big to the table, and loaded up the first Rampage card with three title matches. That could've been enough of a draw on it's own, but Khan had one of the most potent weapons any promoter could utilize hidden up his sleeve, with the rumor lighting on fire in early-July after reports of a return for CM Punk began to circulate. If Punk was indeed to show, his return would happen on the second episode of Rampage, which was airing from the United Center in Chicago, in front of the largest crowd in AEW's history. While anything to do with Punk was still a week off, there's no doubt that it had an impact on the perception of this debut episode, as anyone interested in checking out AEW in advance of Punk's potential arrival might want to see how the company was presenting the show he would return on. With AEW now under the harshest spotlight possible, could they start Rampage's lineage with a bang?
- The August 13th, 2021 episode of AEW Rampage comes to you from the Peterson Events Center in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on the campus of the University of Pittsburgh. On the call for tonight is the four-man team of Excalibur, Taz, Chris Jericho, and Mark Henry, and I know that I personally was extremely apprehensive when I saw the announcement of Rampage getting this announce desk. Four people calling a show is generally too many, and Henry and Jericho don't have a ton of experience doing commentary, setting this up for a potential trainwreck. All in all, though, I actually didn't mind what they brought to the table. Excalibur and Taz were as entertaining as ever, Jericho is charismatic and I didn't find his screaming too grating, and Henry was also there, getting drowned out by his three bombastic colleagues. Mark does at least get some time to shine with his own interview segment before the main event, so I thought AEW handled this about as well as they could've.
- Our opening contest is for the Impact World Championship, as Kenny Omega defends against Christian Cage. Neither man is actually signed to Impact Wrestling, with this match tying into the ever-growing web of companies sharing talent and titles from across the globe in partnerships started by AEW and NJPW, referred to by many as the "Forbidden Door". Omega has been gobbling up gold since turning heel near the end of 2020, taking Impact's top prize away from Rich Swann back in May, and Cage, a TNA original, looks to take it back for the company that he helped put on the map back in the mid-2000's. The crowd here in Pittsburgh is insane for this match, a huge one to be given away on free TV, as both men are scheduled to main event All Out about a month later. These two absolutely killed it here, working a smart match that continuously built drama, keeping those in attendance on the edge of their seat throughout. Christian and Kenny are two of the best I've ever seen at timing their moves, executing everything perfectly, and effectively toying with the audience's emotions. There is some gorgeous offense to be found in this one, I loved Christian's sunset flip bomb, and the sequence where he ran straight into a big knee from Kenny, which Omega followed up with a spine-rattling powerbomb and a sick V-Trigger. That sequence is followed up with one even better, as Cage rolls Omega through on a sunset flip, Omega charges into the corner, whiffing on a V-Trigger, and Cage bounces off the ropes for a slashing Spear, a move Cage executes even better than his former tag partner, and it gets a huge pop. The crowd bites on everything, going wild for a Frog Splash by Cage, and letting Omega here it after a low blow, which was set-up by a distraction from Don Callis, Omega's executive partner in Impact Wrestling. Matt and Nick Jackson waltz down to slide Omega a chair, looking to end Cage's night for good, but a One-Winged Angel can't connect, and Omega gets plastered on the chair with a Killswitch. Kenny's neck twisted sell looks brutal, and works as a super convincing finisher for a world champion to go down to, as Cage becomes the first to pin Omega since his heel turn. A wonderful way to begin the legacy of Rampage, with a monumental title change, and a harbinger of things to come for Cage, who now gains significant cred heading into his challenge of Omega and the AEW World title at All Out.
- Fuego Del Sol became one of AEW's unsung heroes during their "pandemic era" at Daily's Place, consistently entertaining on Sammy Guevara's vlogs while making AEW stars look good during his role as an enhancement talent. Del Sol's trusty tornado DDT is on full display here on Rampage, as he looks to finally earn an AEW full-time contract, which he can get should he defeat TNT Champion Miro, who is in the midst of a dominant reign since dropping his "Best Man" gimmick and becoming "The Redeemer". One aspect of AEW that I greatly appreciate is their understanding of their audience and how to work them to get a particular reaction, which in this case, is a huge rally of support behind plucky underdog Del Sol. The crowd at "The Pete" would likely be solidly in Del Sol's corner anyway, but AEW cleverly books him to look like an unexpectedly serious threat, immediately catching Miro with three of his tornado DDTs. The commentary team quickly conveys the story, as Miro has shown a weakness to the DDT, and even put over Fuego's intelligence, as he hangs back in the hope that Miro will be counted out, rather than attempting to fight fair like an idiotic babyface. It shouldn't be refreshing to see a fan favorite be smart, but it is, and this moment doesn't denigrate Fuego at all, winning is all that matters and that contract has to be won, by any means necessary. Of course, Miro powers through this unexpected hurdle, getting back in the air and quickly crushing Fuego, ending the masked man's night with a vicious Savate Kick and the Game Over submission (a torqued version of The Accolade, his finishing move as Rusev in WWE). Everything about this squash was booked to perfection, and ends in pure emotion for Fuego, who's fighting spirit and passion get him a contract anyway, which Tony Khan hands over to Sammy Guevara, who gets to surprise his good friend by bringing him onto the team.
- Main event time, as Dr. Britt Baker, D.M.D., defends her AEW Women's Championship against Red Velvet, who enters enemy territory with Baker as the overwhelming fan favorite in front of her hometown of Pittsburgh. Baker looks like a megastar here in "Britts-burgh", entering to an arena-shaking pop, with Terrible Towels flying from every angle and the crowd roaring for her "DMD" taunt. Velvet is traditionally a stereotypical white meat babyface, but with absolutely nobody in the building hoping for a title change, she instead embraces a more villainous role, working on Baker's broken right wrist, which plays an integral role in this match. The story of this one didn't really land for me, it's obvious that both women are very comfortable in their normal roles, and having them reversed wasn't the right fit. Their actual wrestling was solid enough, Red Velvet's moonsault was impressive, and I loved the finish, as a resourceful Baker switches to her left hand to apply the Lockjaw and force a tap. Baker immediately turning back into scumbag heel mode, attempting to Curb Stomp Velvet on the title belt was odd, as there was no way the crowd was going to boo anything Baker did on this night, and that resulted in heat for Kris Statlander making the save. For as smart as AEW was in their approach to the TNT title match, everything about this was booked in reverse, making my praise for their understanding of their audience look foolish. It all leads up to a return for Jamie Hayter, the woman who fought Baker the last time AEW was in Pittsburgh (you can read my review here), who is completely transformed in the last year and a half, with added muscle mass and her hair now dyed strawberry blonde. Hayter's emergence drew apathy from the Pittsburgh crowd, the reference to her previous clash with Britt was probably too smart for the room, and also took place far enough in the past that newer fans of the promotion might not be familiar with it. I am a huge fan of Hayter's work, though, so this alliance with the top star in the division seems extremely promising.
8/10
Rampage got off to a quality start, with three distinct and entertaining matches, all helping make the hour fly by. This was AEW near to it's best, and only really faltered with the odd booking of the main event, which really should've had a more clear heel in it to work with Baker, no disrespect intended to Red Velvet, but she was too far out of her comfort zone there. Still, this was more than worth checking out for the awesome reaction Baker got, plus the opening title match, and the entertaining Miro/Del Sol competitive squash.
Next time on AEW Rampage: We head to Chicago, where the wrestling world holds it's breath on the anticipation of the return of a divisive, yet iconic, hero. See you soon.
- Henry
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