Here’s where we landed with this week’s much improved Rampage from Austin. Curious how we rank matches? We’ve got a rubric for that.

Jon Moxley def. Konosuke Takeshita: ★★★★1/2
Hikaru Shida def. The Bunny: ★★
Lee Moriarty and Bill Bill def. Izzy James and Clayton Bloodstone: ★
Orange Cassidy def. Trent Seven to retain the AEW All-Atlantic Championship: ★★★

Show Highlight—

Mox vs. Takeshita. Give this man a goddamn vacation. Jon Moxley continues to produce for AEW when they’re in need, this week’s ask is making Rampage must-watch and like clockwork, Moxley pulls it off. Moxley leaned into his heel-ish persona which contrasted perfectly with babyface Takeshita, whom, even though he’s not a rookie, can still be portrayed as a new guy. Mox borrows in all the best ways from Terry Funk—violent, believably insane, perpetually bleeding, and as a professional, a mentor that can make his opponents look great. Don Callis lurked from afar to presumably recruit Takeshita, whom in kayfabe we can assume Kenny Omega would be keeping close attention to. Takeshita has expert timing and can make things like a knee-strike into a brainbuster sequence a match-making false finish. Takeshita is this perfect amalgam of Okada, Tanahashi, Ibushi, and Cinnabon. Give him a win, now, though. Dante Martin and Dax already have the market on the helluva hand that never wins a singles match territory. Oh, and for as much as the announce booth loves to reference Takeshita writing a thesis paper on the German suplex, there’s gotta be some sort of skit they can make out of that, what with Takeshita’s general adorableness we see on Twitter.

What Worked—

Rampage mattered. Last week’s half-assed effort needs to be the bottom of the barrel for Rampage and this ought to be the model for what Rampage could be when Tony focuses on it. Storyline progression for stories that the fans are actively invested in (Hangman/Mox; Hayter/Shida) isn’t too much to ask for. Sprinkle in some more violence and naughty words to make usage of the time-slot. The crowd was clearly into this show too, and wasn’t interested in fucking off like far too many episodes of Rampage have been all year.
Stokely’s conspiracy theory promo. Fucking brilliant. This was irreverently all over the place in high and lowbrow references with a Zapruder film line but then there’s text that read, “Shout out to my homegirl Keisha for the footage.” Add that to Stokely making a point to make the showiest reference to Malcom X before bringing up Waffle House. He’s so the second coming of Heenan with these great, funny contradictions with his character. I know plans changed with The Firm but Hathaway can make the proverbial chicken salad out of chicken shit.
Orange Cassidy. I love how that big sell on Trent Seven’s chop was to build to a high five as a defensive maneuver. OC has certainly made the most of his push and brings some good, goofy shit to the show each week. You can make your own Jonah Hill japery reference to Trent’s current look.

What Didn’t Work—

The Butcher and The Blade entrance. Just a preference, nothing more, but I hate guys interrupting matches with their entrance as if it’s supposed to suspend time in the ring and mean something revelatory.

Show Cringe—

AEW Rampage 12/9/2022 Match Ratings and Commentary

AEW Winter Is Coming 2022 Match Ratings and Commentary