Rampage Holiday Bash - 12/23/2022

[Brandon Bones]

Great Battle Royaling!  Gimmie like two really good BRs a year and I’m good.  
 

For whatever reason the lack of effort in pro wrestling battle royals has always been apparent.  But with a little wackiness and creativity.  You can parade a bunch of plot seed or elevate a few acts without having to sacrifice much in credibility if it costs an upper tier talent.  Bonus points for a dramatic finish to remind everybody what’s at stake.  AEW (if you want to include All Ins Preshow) do battle royals pretty well.  
 

Wardlow.  Shave that shit.  
 

There is a man on my tv.  They say his name is just “Daddy Ass”.  Hopefully, nobody can see me watching wrestling.

Meanwhile, The Acclaimed make me happy.  Even when they are injured they get work done on tv without really falling out of the rotation.  Miro take notes.

Doing a mix up in the roles of the tag match makes me think of SNMEs that were designed to extend a narrative without putting too much on tv.  Lethal and Jarrett need some credit to carry them into the inevitable title match.  I’m betting some near falls from Jarrett are going to have some peeps biting their finger nails.

I also second the Lethal Injection being a particularly good bump from GrandBilly.  Old men taking a few spaced out bumps isn’t so bad.

Bring on Corpse Paint Santana.

[Dolphman 3000]

3 hours ago, The Natural said:

Jay Lethal and Jeff Jarrett. Fuck off.

I think the stable should lean into it harder and start gradually bringing in more TNA talent like a third-rate nWo

Dixie Carter in the DiBiase role as financier, etc.

[John from Cincinnati]

25 minutes ago, Dolphman 3000 said:

I think the stable should lean into it harder and start gradually bringing in more TNA talent like a third-rate nWo

Yes, Nick Aldis needs this. 

[porksweats]

3 hours ago, MoeCristyV.1.6 said:

You're sure? 

Jay Lethal and Jarrett losing to the Acclaimed? Yes.

What I'm not sure about is Platinum Satnam and Jeff Jarrett losing to The Acclaimed.

[Dog]

I was as down on Jay Lethal's signing as anyone, but he's proven he can have a great match with whoever he's paired with. I legit look forward to seeing him now, which is something I haven't been able to say in 20 years.

[LoneWolf&Subs]

On 12/23/2022 at 11:20 PM, DEAN said:

They should definitely have vignettes of the Top Flight w/AR Fox on a shopping spree. 

Yeah, they should be like “Let’s start at Macy’s”, then when they get to the register the cashier will tell them “That’ll be 300,000 Dollars”. “What, but that’s all we won.”

“Yeah honey, it’s called inflation.”

Edited December 25, 2022 by LoneWolf&Subs

[zendragon]

The Battle Royale was basically WM2 with Claudio as Andre and top flight as The Harts! But this time Andre lost!

I really hope they do something with this... AEW can be bad at following up obvious angles. Like Hangman should have been wearing Nudie suits and Matt should have been slumming it after their money match. Follow it up! You got three hot babyfaces!

Interesting that the company has Hangman v MOX and HOB v Kingston's army are both Babyface programs. I don't agree with Monsieur Cody that faces and heels are passe but I do think its okay to paint with a few more colors than black and white. I work night so I don't get out much but me and a friend made a point to go see The Whale ever character in the movie is sympathetic yet obviously flawed. IT CALLED BEING HUMAN. Just don't let Vince Russo book sades of grey, make sure ever ones motivations are logical.

Another Jade squash can't wait for HOSSlander to come back

And much like the old gray lady told Virginia "yes their is a sandy claws"

yes @Gordlow I enjoyed the main event. I'm really liking this group of Satnam and the muscle, Sonjay as the mouth, and JJ and Lethal as a couple of veteran hands. I wonder if Sonjay is agenting these matches cause who ever is, is doing a good job of not asking Satnam to do anything he can't handle. I don't hat the Letahal Injection cause it doesn't seem that overly convoluted compared to other things in wrestling these days

[Matt D]

Part of me wants them to put Jarrett and co with MJF just to see everyone’s head explode. 

[Octopus]

Naughty @Matt D strikes again, and I love it!

[Cobra Commander]

I once saw an enjoyable tag team match with Jeff Jarrett and Abyss against Beer Money at a TNA house show, but that was in 2010, so I don't know how much Jeff Jarrett can do these days. I suspect there's a certain amount of Memphis stuff that he watched for his entire childhood that would be relatively fresh in a tag match on national TV these days?

but if you want a guy to be Ricky Morton to get a hot tag to Abyss, Jeff Jarrett's your man. Beer Money too.

[John from Cincinnati]

Jarrett and MJF should square off so Max can add being rejected by Global Force Wrestling to his backstory. 

[Shartnado]

Not much to comment on this episode, but the international feed had edited out the commercial breaks that are usually just couple of minutes of looping theme music over a Rampage/Dynamite logo. If this continues going forward, it will be like I actually got one Xmas present this year! Because those things are annoying and when I won't bother fast forwarding them, they are long enough for me to doze off and miss some of the action. So that's a definite positive for me.

[JLowe]

Battle Royales are what they are, at best you get some angle advancement and a good final showdown. We got that, along with a surprise win, so I’m fine with it. Happy for the ongoing elevation of Top Flight.

HOB, specifically Malakai, are so bad they can ruin a fucking Eddie Kingston segment. Free Brody King.

Jade is regressing. Vertvixen either sold like a champ or took some legit shots. Please get well soon Stat.

Caster’s rap was perfect. Buried the other team, relevant shot at Texas, and then a hometown shoutout. Pop for governor of Texas!

Bowens looked good and the announcers put him over. Billy Gunn is largely immobile but has good punches and bumps well. Lethal is what he is, an excellent wrestler with a hit-or-miss finisher and what I learned is a sketchy past. And as my fellow Texans shouted, Jarrett sucks. Fine match, but Jarrett leeching heat from the hottest act in pro wrestling is bullshit.