Here’s how we rated this week’s Rampage in an earlier timeslot. Curious how we rank matches? We’ve got a rubric for that.

Show Highlight—

Keith Lee returns. I love how Keith Lee rose outta nowhere like The Batman, cute touch. Great to see him back and back with a new look, to boot. AEW needs credible babyfaces and Keith Lee, if built properly, could have a great run chasing MJF. Also glad to see that they’re blowing off the Swerve storyline, they just have to come to a decisive finish at Revolution and not get stuck in the whole, making-both-guys-look-good-so-both-guys-end-up-worse canard.

What Worked—

Better Rampage. I couldn’t recall the last episode of Rampage that felt like it was given proper attention in some time, so this was a welcome surprise. Two, three star matches that were solid and hard to predict made this week successful (beyond some of my nitpicking below).
DQ finish. Maybe this pissed off people, I dunno, but in theory, it’s remarkable that a DQ finish is still incredibly rare for any pro wrestling company. I’m assuming the protected finish is to keep Dustin on some sort of streak so he can challenge MJF or whomever the heel TNT champion is when he “retires.” But if Takeshita can lose every fucking week and still be a credible title challenger in an Eliminator, Dustin could have lost valiantly here.

What Didn’t Work—

Infinite Jest. A spree of Chris Jericho angry replies on Twitter could be looming based on the groaning from the fanbase over how long this feud feels, but this is a perfect moment to pick apart how much it lacks momentum. So Starks wins. Does he passionately cut a live promo and challenge Jericho now? Does Jericho on commentary allude to a final culmination with Starks? Nope, Sammy gets the focus for his adjacent match with Andretti.
Where’s Trench? A missed opportunity of not giving us his tattooed face on a milk carton.

Show Cringe—

Promotional Tie-In. The basketball shit went on for way too long, and even if you actually do snicker and titter from the “Kom3dy!!!” on BTE, you’d have to admit this was a perfect distillation of what annoys wrestling fans about The Elite.
I get the logic of, if everything is important, nothing is important; but shouldn’t this much anticipated showdown between The Elite and The House of Black have a better arrival then a match full of yuk-yuks before the light switch flipped? I have no doubt in my mind that when they wrestle the match will be outstanding, but shit, what’s left for the division after this program? I always got the impression that the trios belts were made for this angle, and it should come with more weight. I get it, there were VISA issues, and yes, Kenny can’t be expected to have the physically taxing matches like the one with Ospreay all year long, but this fell really flat—so far. IF they make it about The Elite being too goofy and not taking HOB seriously that’ll redeem how this program was initiated.

AEW Rampage: Slam Dunk

WWE Elimination Chamber 2023