Rampage - 4/22/2022

[Hector]

I guess that Jade/Shafir match was like what Bischoff had envisioned when he booked Goldberg vs. Regal. I don't think Jade will get to look so dominant against someone like Deeb though. Also, credit to Ishii for making me enjoy an Adam Cole match.

[HarryArchieGus]

8 hours ago, Matt D said:

I always knew she had the work ethic and the trainers and the natural athleticism but this is the first night where I'm really on board on the idea that the act has legs and most of the roster should probably be fed to it now and not two years from now.

I felt the same.  I actually thought Marina Shafir looked more of complete wrestler too.  One of the keys to her act might be strangely fighting from underneath.  She comes across more natural when she's not awkwardly killing her opponent.  I liked this bout.  

5 hours ago, chriskbrown50 said:

Jade's lack of selling in this match was really noticeable. She sold the knee strikes at first, but no sold everything after. Also, there was an obvious edit when the did this ridiculous fast replay, and suddenly Jade appears outside the ring.  

Interesting, I think that cut was just weak production.  They sometimes do these replays on the post produced shows that make the action look like its awkwardly jumping ahead.  If you watch tho, there wasn't much that could have happened inbetween - she throws her out, cut, she picks her up.  Again, this has been a noticeable feature in a lot of the post produced AEW.  I think you're completely right about Jade's lack of selling here.  Especially noticeable during any holds that got locked in.

2 hours ago, A_K said:

RE: Jade -- UFC champs like Jones or Khabib would go year(s) without showing weakness against inferior competition. There's no reason to try and give her a narrative 'weakness' for the sake of it in a vain effort to get over some nobody at her expense: find some more women talent that actually merit being in the ring with her & physically/athletically could be perceived as threats, and go from there.

I think you're onto something there.

6 hours ago, (BP) said:

I’m assuming Nese and whoever else joins Sterling’s team attack Hook and Danhausen during their match and we get the beginning of the mismatched tag team angle. 

Nese could be an effective tag wrestler.  And the right partner could be the key to him breaking his own ceiling.  I'm patient on the Hook-Danhausen feud, but I am not quite digging any of these pre-tapes.  That Baker-Toni-Hayter pre-tape was also weaker than I would hope for.  I also wish Lance Archer squashes were more fun.  I love good squashes, and especially Hoss squashes, but I generally skip Lance's.  Maybe in part it's because I know he's always going to lose to whichever bigger star he's sending a message to.  They should have Lance work some of the bigger boy enhancement talents they book for Dark.  Or Bear Country.  That's what would showcase his strength to me.  And his strengths (he can work!).  I wish they introduced some of these squash segments as stuff that happened 'earlier in the night.  Here's the highlights'. And then shorten it to the essentials and add in some promo highlights.  These lesser enjoyed portions aside, the wrestling was good on this show.  Ishii might be my favorite wrestler.  And Adam Cole has (at least in these parts) become terribly underrated.  I do think Cole would benefit from a slight refresh, a bit less repetition, but overall I accept and enjoy what he does.  Also, his character work/promos are far too good for him to be dismissed as the jabroni some suggest.  Eddie Kingston looks great coming to the ring in his t-shirt.  I wish the majority purists hadn't gotten their way post-ECW.  Some wrestlers simply have a better presentation wearing a t-shirt.  Further, Kingston almost always chooses great t-shirts.  No surprise, he and Garcia had another terrific match.  Post match promo was a nice touch.  Eddie's one of the few guys in AEW that can make me truly look forward to an upcoming Jericho match.  Swerve/Lee-Hobbs/Starks is a feud I am game to see go long.  I am thoroughly convinced they are all gonna walk away from this making each other look like even bigger stars than they already all are.   

Edited April 23, 2022 by HarryArchieGus

[zendragon]

16 hours ago, Technico Support said:

Yep.  Also, for as great as TK is at old school booking, he forgot about the one where if your heel champ shits on a challenger, they’re supposed to get comeuppance by losing or barely escaping with the title.  This was HHH/Booker levels of burying a challenger and then giving them nothing.

I wonder if you run "Jade doesn't take her opponents seriously" bit for a while with her winning in dominate fashion only to have it bite her after a bit

[NoFistsJustFlips]

2 hours ago, just drew said:

So when I say this stuff it’s a problem, but not when anyone else does?

I mean, a lot of folks here insist that size doesn’t matter in 2022, but I think the correlation between “overall health of the business” and “presence of dudes who legit look like they will kick your ass” is stronger than some folks are willing to admit….

I guess I'll bite. The poster you quoted didn't say Adam Cole was doing Road Warrior offense or doing a Steiner Brothers tribute like you say about The Bucks. His complaint was a very specific one about one move that looks bad on bigger opponents coming from a smaller Cole. He didn't blatantly lie and say Cole was ripping off Goldberg offense. Or mowing through people without selling. He had a real criticism relating to the size of someone, while you make shit up to validate your arguments. Pretttttyyyyy different if you ask me.

Wrestling is a visual business. Size does play into those visuals. It's fine to have an opinion on those visuals. And the physics involved. But at a certain point when your criticisms turn into lies (like saying The Bucks are doing Steiner tributes when nothing they do is Seiner like at all) you lose the benefit of the doubt. Your complaints are personal complaints about people you don't like, not valid ones about the actual visuals.

[eikerir]

“Death Rey”

Kingston going out of his way to acknowledge kid fans in the crowd is one of my favourite recent things I’ve seen about him. A simple gesture that will be remembered forever.

 

That Archer match was as close as you can get to a perfect squash match. I loved that minute of Serpentico being murdered.
 

 

“Brome ass Kenan and Kel” made me pop. Thanks Ricky.

 

That main event over delivered, that was a pretty damn good match with both ladies looking good except for some selling issues by Jade. But I enjoyed it.

Edited April 23, 2022 by eikerir

[JLowe]

4 hours ago, Hector said:

I guess that Jade/Shafir match was like what Bischoff had envisioned when he booked Goldberg vs. Regal. I don't think Jade will get to look so dominant against someone like Deeb though. Also, credit to Ishii for making me enjoy an Adam Cole match.

Funny you mention that because I was wondering what would’ve happened if Shafir’s frustration led to her stretching Jade.

[AxB]

I never knew Sara Del Ray was dating Claudio CSRO Castagnoli. But people are thinking that Eddie was wearing the shirt as some sort of shout out to/ call out of Sara's partner.

[JLowe]

3 hours ago, zendragon said:

I wonder if you run "Jade doesn't take her opponents seriously" bit for a while with her winning in dominate fashion only to have it bite her after a bit

I’m realizing one of the big disconnects between the two viewpoints on the main event is whether the story/angle called for Jade to get some comeuppance versus those who think it was good for her to show (awkward, no-selling) dominance.

[Technico Support]

I think the underlying issue here is that TK only knows how to book female heel champions one way and doesn’t know how to book female face champions at all.

The prospective Britt/Jade feud should be fun, as we’ll get months of promos with each one getting successively more and more dismissive of the other until they reach the logical conclusion of calling the match off since neither cares about wrestling the other

[Curt McGirt]

Ishii (and I always thought it was Ishi-ee too) has really underrated selling. Also, good on having the cheap finish to save some face.

"I'm a Sports Entertainer, I know what to do!"  Yeah sure kid. Eddie Kingston is a god, so you got what you got. Good try though. 

Jade Cargill is a fast learner. The heat on these matches is always during the PNP but she's really good at it. 

[Just Dave]

5 hours ago, NoFistsJustFlips said:

I guess I'll bite. The poster you quoted didn't say Adam Cole was doing Road Warrior offense or doing a Steiner Brothers tribute like you say about The Bucks. His complaint was a very specific one about one move that looks bad on bigger opponents coming from a smaller Cole. He didn't blatantly lie and say Cole was ripping off Goldberg offense. Or mowing through people without selling. He had a real criticism relating to the size of someone, while you make shit up to validate your arguments. Pretttttyyyyy different if you ask me.

Wrestling is a visual business. Size does play into those visuals. It's fine to have an opinion on those visuals. And the physics involved. But at a certain point when your criticisms turn into lies (like saying The Bucks are doing Steiner tributes when nothing they do is Seiner like at all) you lose the benefit of the doubt. Your complaints are personal complaints about people you don't like, not valid ones about the actual visuals.

I don't recall ever saying the Jacksons were doing Steiner spots. I vividly recall (and still stand by) saying they were "presenting like the Steiners," ie no-selling their opponents and jacking up their own level of badassery to levels their physical appearance can't come close to backing up. I feel like your lack of reading comprehension might lose you the benefit of the doubt...

[Coletti]

I'm not remotely huge on Adam Cole but y'all acting like he's fighting Andre. Dude is literally taller than Ishii, and maybe 20lb lighter, 30 max. Ishii wrestles like a beast but the two standing next to each other isn't some drastic, unbelievable difference.

Plus folks are also somehow constantly ignoring that Cole and The Young Bucks almost always cheat to win - like smashing Stone Pitbull's stones - and almost always lose when the circumstances are fair. 

Also, a bony-ass knee to the back of the head's gonna hurt

Edited April 24, 2022 by christopher.annino

[Coletti]

Oh and Shafir did the Italian Fuck You to The Baddies so a billion stars.

[Firebreaker Chip]

I stand to be corrected but I think Ishii is pronounced "Ishi-e" but the ii is more like one elongated syllable, doesn't really make sense to segment it to the point of saying two separate sounds

eesh-YEAHHH

 

 

[Matt D]

Ok, enough of the Cole argument for a while. It's simple pro wrestling physics. When he he drops the kneepad, the very small surface area of his skipped legwork knee means that all of the impact of the blow hits with concentrated force at a smaller point knocking out his opponent for the three count. Totally believable and really could beat any person on the roster.

[Shartnado]

I was rather preoccupied during Rampage, but that backfist by Kingston was fucking brutal! That's good storytelling.  The evil little dick absolutely will get you every time there is an opportunity for fuckery, but when it's just the two of you, it is still a tough fight, but that's when you will just cut...him...down!

Edited April 24, 2022 by Shartnado
there were two "you's" back to back

[HarryArchieGus]

1 hour ago, Firebreaker Chip said:

I stand to be corrected but I think Ishii is pronounced "Ishi-e" but the ii is more like one elongated syllable, doesn't really make sense to segment it to the point of saying two separate sounds

eesh-YEAHHH

I think you're right, but can we pretend you're not.  I just love E-SHE!

[zendragon]

[Peck]

I may or may not have been high at the time but I think they gave Shafir her original music back and that made me content.

[username]

From the Observer site daily update:

Quote

Reports from those live were that the Eddie Kingston vs Daniel Garcia match on Friday's Rampage show was heavily edited. You could see the show was basically forcing as much in the hour because segments didn't have time to breathe to give you as much match time as possible. Kingston vs. Garcia was 22:00 live but about nine minutes less on television

Obviously the natural response to this is that we all must demand the release of the Kingston/Garcia cut!

[(BP)]

That makes sense. It always seems weird when they go from PiP to full screen commercials before they cut back to the match. 

[zendragon]

Never thought I'd say this but less wrestling on the wrestling shows please. Tony K stop trying to over stuff ever hour of television 

[twiztor]

Your Honor, please strike that last comment from the record.

[Go2Sleep]

I think it's fair to say someone should've probably told Garcia and Kingston to not go 22 minutes on a 1-hour show with 4 advertised matches. Not that I don't want to see Garcia and Kingston go for 22 minutes, but there's a time and a place. If you could make Rampage 2 hours, as basically Dynamite Part 2 with zero overlap of talent used for a given week, that would probably help the roster a lot.

I think Marina's problem is that she looks like a really good athlete but is purposely working at a snail's pace in an attempt to look more intimidating by being so methodical. Sort of like early Taker, except her gimmick doesn't compensate for anything. Jade's biggest problem is that crowds want to cheer her, but she's stuck in a heel role and none of the presentation works that well together. I'm glad Thunder Rosa is getting a moment in the sun, and I do think there's some life to her reign (give Deeb the next program please), but I'm starting to think they should've just gone full Goldberg with Jade and had her steamroll Britt on a random Dynamite.

[hobo joe]

The only way the booking of that Jade - Shaffir match makes any sense to me is if they soured on Marina after the lack of a reaction on Dynamite and decided their best course of action was to just make her look like a geek. Fucking baffling.