A packed, if middling and top-heavy, Rampage gave us a huge trios battle royal, another win for Jade Cargill, more of Team TNA (for some reason), and some awkward promos from various members of the AEW roster.
Highlights
- Jade Cargill, with the help of the Baddies, defeated Vertvixen. Typical Jade squash, although it did get a little more time and as a fan of Vertvixen from her cosplay days, I’m happy to see her getting some TV time with AEW. Vertvixen’s look and size could make for a fun pairing with Kris Statlander after her return from injury if AEW decide to keep her around.
- AR Fox and Top Flight won the Three Kings Christmas Casino Trios Royale with the best spot being the forceful ejection of Tony Nese to a big crowd pop. We also got the expected interference from Hangman helping eliminate Jon Moxley. Although the match was missing multiple top factions in both the House of Black and the JAS not taking part, the battle royal offered plenty of ring-filled messy match action, including some nice spots from Claudio, matches like this are known for.
Lows
- During a call-out segment, House of Black insinuated (sort of) that Eddie Kingston can’t trust Ortiz. Nice presentation of the House, and fun Eddie-being-Eddie moment calling them out, but the idea of Ortiz siding against his friend seemed out of place and the awkward delivery of the idea through Malakai Black‘s cryptic riddle didn’t help things (even with the commentators confused attempts to make sense of the segment).
Other
- Short taped promo from Ruby Soho calling out Tay Melo and Anna Jay setting up a tag match with Willow Nightingale for next week’s Dynamite. Could be fun.
- Short taped promo response from Wardlow to Samoa Joe setting up their match for next week’s Dynamite. Didn’t do much to help build the match, but fine.
- Powerhouse Hobbs beat up some random person outside the arena. Um, okay?
- While I wouldn’t call it a low, it was a fine match (especially given the ages of half the men involved), I can’t put the main event in the highlight category either as Anthony Bowens and Daddy Ass took on, and lost to, Jay Lethal and Jeff Jarrett. Lethal and Jarrett continue to take up valuable airtime from more talented members of the AEW roster, and to make things worse they get a win over Bowens and Gunn here.