Rampage - 9/2/2022

[DEAN]

FOR THE STRAPS!

 

[Gordi the former AEW fan]

8 hours ago, zendragon said:

See I'm #TeamSteph  on this one. AEW does a lot of things well but they could be better at world building. I actually enjoy the promo pieces they do but feel they could be better utilized. 

That being said I do feel that this episode did a good job of "setting the table"  for the PPV. Kinda feels like one of those "Summerslam Spectaculars" where the main event was Yoko squashing Hacksaw before the PPV. 

 

I don't feel like I'm on a different team from the fine folks who would prefer more non-wrestling backstories. I'd like everyone to be happy. I'm not opposed to having the maximum number of fans drawn to the programmes I enjoy. (Though I also don't feel like the world's best storylines would really move the needle all that much. The audience is what it is).

 

Just: I personally only very occasionally give the slightest bit of a flying fig about the storylines behind the fights (and even more so about the nasty backstage gossip).

I've been thinking about why this is. 

Partly it's from watching mostly Japanese pro wrestling, often out of context, for many years. Comp tapes and so on. Random live shows. You get used to enjoying matches for their own sake.

Even more so, it's from watching mid-2000s WWE, with Katie Vick, and Mae Young giving birth to a hand, and Jericho accidentally running over Ms. McMahon-Helmsley's dog and on and on and on and on. I got used to consciously tuning out the stories and just hoping for a good match. And I eventually figured out that I just enjoyed watching "best of XYZ" comps a lot more.

So, probably, matches for matches sake works well for me. I dig interesting characters. totally dig in-ring storytelling. i like references, call-backs, and in jokes.

Still kind of half tune out the storylines, out of habit.

And Tony Khan was a tape trader, too. 

w/r/t the gossip, it's more that I tend to believe that the lion's share of it is dumb venal nimrods desperately craving clicks or likes who.are making shit up, exaggerating wildly, and so on. And then jumping all over each other's bullshit. Like that whole Malakai Black fake Meltzer deal. I don't have the energy to waste getting worked up (no pun intended) over something that's probably utter nonsense anyway.

But I don't think that necessarily puts me in opposition to those who dig all that stuff.

EDIT: Also: Sammy & Tay vs Ruby & Ortiz went 50/50 and now they are headed for a title match! Comfort food for current WWE fans!

 

 

Edited September 3, 2022 by Gordlow

[Casey]

I don't know why some people thought the finals was ever going to be anything besides Hangman & the Dark Order versus the Elite, but.... yeah, sorry Best Friends.

[GuerrillaMonsoon]

QT Marshall vs Ricky Starks going 50/50 does little for Ricky Starks and does not make me want to see Starks vs Hobbs much more.

I want to see more of the mixed titles. I think there's a lot that can be done there that seems new.

[zendragon]

Be interesting to see the quarter hour break downs. Feels like the most hyped match was the trio semi-final. That would have been the main event. Did people tune in for that match and stick around for Stark Man Jones? We will see how big of a star this kid actually is

[zendragon]

1 hour ago, DEAN said:

FOR THE STRAPS!

 

I love Tay's reaction. She's so good at the little things like emoting. They did a promo after the episode where Sammy super kicked her and she was crying

[John from Cincinnati]

Tay Melo is gonna be another historic L for the "person X should never be a heel" people. Her coming around on the floor loudly asking what Ruby thinks she's doing before taking a kick from the apron is good stuff. As are the outraged facials on the loss. Total crackup material. As much as people want to talk wrestlers off of exaggerated facial expressions, I think the money is on Tay going as Lucille Ball as possible. 

Last thing Sunday needed was another match, but I'll just need to pick and choose what order I watch things in over a couple days. Bring on the rubber match. Bring on Zero Hour. More mixed tags! More Sammy/Tay! Hoping for a great Tay-Ruby gimmick main event down the line. 

[Eivion]

15 minutes ago, John from Cincinnati said:

Tay Melo is gonna be another historic L for the "person X should never be a heel" people.

Who put her in this category? She started out as a heel in NXT and it fit her well then. Makes sense she has only gotten better at it.

[SirFozzie]

Very crash tv feel to this

[Johnny Sorrow]

13 minutes ago, SirFozzie said:

Very crash tv feel to this

Very WCW early 90's feel to me. That show was a train wreck.

[Craig H]

I don’t watch the preshows for AEW or WWE. I couldn’t care less what they add to it. I’ll just watch that stuff on Monday or something. 

[Matt D]

Let's see what we've got here.

• This was a pretty unoffensive AEW trios. For starters, it was around ten minutes. These guys were fresh opponents and fresh characters to interact with one another and Best Friends/OC were playing de facto heels which was a fresh role for them and even Page with the Dark Order felt fresh after a million Silver/Reynolds matches on Dark. There was a lot of selling here, especially the character stuff, as Page got thrown off by Cassidy and Silver dove in front of him in a pretty memorable way for a lot of nothing which was funny. There was the hug stuff, including Best Friends blind siding Silver/Reynolds when they tried it. So I overall liked the way the match started. Once it dug in, you got some heat on Silver and everything wasn't all spots just from the beginning. Then it broke down but at least things had weight and there were no errant kickouts that shouldn't have happened. Everything was broken up by someone else which is one of the strengths in a trios in protecting moves if done conscientiously. There was also a real sense of escalation in what moves were hit. Page is much less annoying and terrible in this setting since it’s not all him hitting bombs. Ultimately, they protected Cassidy and Best Friends pretty well by having Cassidy be the last one to hit a huge move but it ending on a roll up (too many roll ups lately maybe though?). I'd rather ten minutes of this than 30 minutes of that, you know?
• Fenix vs Christian was your Nitro cruiserweight sprint. All of the impressive stuff looked impressive. Christian got a bit of shine. Where it failed was that Christian didn't get to shine as his all heart sort of character. That wasn't mentioned at all and he didn't really show it. I also would have preferred Fenix win with something flashy instead of a headdrop. I'm not going back to look but I assume Fenix ate the fall on Dynamite so this was him getting heat back.
• Conti's really come along as a heel. Obviously running this match 3x is a problem but the Sammy/Kingston incident caused it and they're rolling with it. I would have preferred Sammy vs Kingston on the PPV and Tay vs Soho on the pre-show but what are you going to do. You know they're going to think really hard about the layout of the third match and how to make it special. I liked Soho wrestling with one hand and the headbutts, but I would have liked to see just a little more of that.
• Athena is as tall standing up as Jade is sitting down. I didn't love the fact both Athena and Swerve/Lee mentioned how the wins were over X years. It was a good point but a little repetitive. I know Swerve as said he doesn't like rap battles and doesn't think he really even has that skill but it does feel like a missed opportunity here?
• Here's the deal with the main event. You need to have Starks doing something over the last month to get his heat back after losing to Hook and getting bodied by Hobbs. Letting him get wins over Solo and QT is an ok way to do that, one that makes Hobbs look a little more heelish for not even wanting to deal with Starks again. It would have been even better to let him beat the giant in Comoroto though. Come on. Second thing, the way he locked up the Factory felt sort of Attitude Era to me which is how Starks should feel, with that way of outsmarting his rivals. That they then came back meant he got to overcome them anyway. Third thing, he didn't go 50-50 with QT! He went 50-50 with his own messed up neck. That will come into play vs Hobbs and will either protect him in a loss (as Hobbs shouldn't lose) where he fights valiantly from underneath despite it or will make it mean even more if he does vanquish Hobbs. Fourth, he kicked out of the diamond cutter, which is actually a really protected move and then won definitively with two big shots on a night full of roll ups.
• Yes, the whole show had a Crash TV feel, but does does Dynamite every week! What makes Rampage better most weeks is that it's a little more relaxed and not trying to accomplish something with every second. Why you don't notice as much with Dynamite most weeks is that the matches tend to be longer. Here they weren't so there was less time to breathe before each angle/segment. It's not a normal thing. It's just go home for the PPV. There was purpose behind it. It was a bit much but it's a four times a year sort of thing and, I think, in part due to the chaotic build (intended and unintended) to parts of the PPV maybe?

Edited September 3, 2022 by Matt D

[Guest Stefanie Without Stefanie]

9 hours ago, Gordlow said:

I don't feel like I'm on a different team from the fine folks who would prefer more non-wrestling backstories. I'd like everyone to be happy. I'm not opposed to having the maximum number of fans drawn to the programmes I enjoy. (Though I also don't feel like the world's best storylines would really move the needle all that much. The audience is what it is).

 

Just: I personally only very occasionally give the slightest bit of a flying fig about the storylines behind the fights (and even more so about the nasty backstage gossip).

I've been thinking about why this is. 

Partly it's from watching mostly Japanese pro wrestling, often out of context, for many years. Comp tapes and so on. Random live shows. You get used to enjoying matches for their own sake.

Even more so, it's from watching mid-2000s WWE, with Katie Vick, and Mae Young giving birth to a hand, and Jericho accidentally running over Ms. McMahon-Helmsley's dog and on and on and on and on. I got used to consciously tuning out the stories and just hoping for a good match. And I eventually figured out that I just enjoyed watching "best of XYZ" comps a lot more.

So, probably, matches for matches sake works well for me. I dig interesting characters. totally dig in-ring storytelling. i like references, call-backs, and in jokes.

Still kind of half tune out the storylines, out of habit.

And Tony Khan was a tape trader, too. 

w/r/t the gossip, it's more that I tend to believe that the lion's share of it is dumb venal nimrods desperately craving clicks or likes who.are making shit up, exaggerating wildly, and so on. And then jumping all over each other's bullshit. Like that whole Malakai Black fake Meltzer deal. I don't have the energy to waste getting worked up (no pun intended) over something that's probably utter nonsense anyway.

But I don't think that necessarily puts me in opposition to those who dig all that stuff.

EDIT: Also: Sammy & Tay vs Ruby & Ortiz went 50/50 and now they are headed for a title match! Comfort food for current WWE fans!

 

 

So I'm a pescatarian, and not by choice. Around twelve years ago, my body started having some significant trouble digesting beef proteins. This doesn't stop me from having an occasional Reuben or burger, but it's always a gamble on whether I'll get extremely sick from doing so. Like I usually will set aside an afternoon if the cravings are hitting me hard enough to want one of those in case I get sick because I know I'll be wiped out for the rest of the day.

A few years later, my body decided "ha, you suck, Stefanie" and developed the same problem with chicken and pork. I don't always get sick, but I get sick enough that it's usually not worth the risk.

(Why this isn't a problem with cheese, or cow's milk, or eggs? I have no idea.)

But because I used to travel a lot for work and side projects, I'd end up eating with people I wouldn't normally eat with, and I'd always stress that I'd need to eat somewhere with a decent set of meatless options, because sometimes you just get tired of eating sides and appetizers or all day breakfast. And there'd always be someone in the group who would get ridiculously offended that I didn't eat meat.

"WELL I'M GOING TO ORDER A STEAAAAAAAAAK ARE YOU UPSETTTTTTTTTTT?!!?!"

Almost as if they've wrapped their entire personality around the fact that they eat meat, and the fact that I didn't was somehow a fatal blow to their sense of self. And I'd just sit there like "why would I? Enjoy your meal." The especially obnoxious would make comments like "MMMMM THIS STEAK IS SO GOOD, STEFANIE ARE YOU SURE YOU DON'T WANT ANY?!"

Some of you, when told that people's views don't 100% align with yours when it comes to pro wrestling, act exactly like that. And it's just as childish and tiresome.

All I said was that AEW was putting forth matches that may be mechanically great, but weren't connecting with me on an emotional level. I wasn't suggesting drastic changes. I wasn't suggesting mid-2000s WWE storylines. Nearly all the wrestling I watch is joshi, to the point where I learned phonetic Japanese to understand the promos. (I can't understand written Japanese, but I'm trying!) The only reason I picked up AEW in the first place was to give American wrestling another shot and because they were bringing in some joshi folks, plus there was the thought that maybe, just maybe, they might feature women more. The Hangman Page angle hooked me and made me more interested in the men's side.

But all that interest is gone now, and they're not making steps to change it more towards something I enjoy, and if folks are happy with the direction that AEW is taking, then...

T H A T   I S   F I N E.

It's not for me anymore and that is fine. I've got plenty of other wrestling I can watch. But can I at least say "hey, this used to be something I enjoyed and now I don't, and here's a way to get me interested" without getting a bunch of people making sarcastic cracks at me? Is that fine too? Or if I check in on this side of the board to see if people are chatting about things moving in a direction I might be interested in, am I still going to see "lol why are they wrestling I need an explanation" six months from now?

Good grief.

[HarryArchieGus]

Cram-page is in need of some deep breathing. I dig everybody in that opener, but the shenanigans to begin took me out, and I was more concerned with making breakfast, and only barely did I return. I did like the Besties laying Page out on the tablah. Kenny and the Bucks can have great matches with anybody and these three will be no different. That said, I 'cringe' when forced to watch or think about the Page-Elite storyline. EDIT: Second view of the opener was much better. I especially dug that later half. Tho, what was with the goofy 'are you guys serious?' from a seemingly too fresh to be taken down by his foes Hangman before the Besties tabled him? Blake Christian's an excellent punching bag. AEW continues to build an excellent lower card always prepared to make the rising star shine brighter. I suspect Blake has a potentially higher ceiling than say Vet Sydal tho. More Rey Fenix squashes pleez! Jade-Athena head to head was fine. A perfect example of an overstuffed PPV match better used for say, I don't know, a Rampage!!! Hoping for the upset so we can a) get Jade back in squash mode and b) so the TBS title can be defended by a really good worker. Dug the Mixed tag. Is Tay finally, slowly being accepted as a heel? Clearly, she ought to be. Further love to 'Sam'. Ruby looked good here. I don't need a third match of this, but I guess AEW's backstage morale suggests everyone and their acceptable-TV-feuds need to be on the PPV! What a treat to get a random Don Callis promo - lots for Hanger to think about! That was easily the best part of the angles portion of the Page-Elite storyline. Sorta neat seeing the MCMGs heeling on the mic. Another excellent TV match on the overstuffed PPV. Dax's frustration with dirt sheet writers stating opinons on the relevancy of their PPV match booking and all his emotional ramblings have slowly burned/turned from inspirational (that's certainly questionable) or real(!!!) promo guy to flat out irritating turd. But he's still a Fantastic wrestler! Not sure why Wardlow and Cash would be concerned about holding him back from the team they'll be fighting Sunday? I'm all for QT working a Rampage Main Event (I'm a QT fan), but the need for a live Rampage going into the Sunday PPV is certainly being questioned with this week's entry. The Countdown followed, so the complaint for video packages feels like a moot point. That said, not sold on watching All Out live. I'm into seeing every single match on this 15 match card, but watching live feels like a bad idea for me. I want every match to matter and it won't when (typical overlong AEW PPV) exhaustion sets in. I'll take the alternative option of a two, maybe three, part show on tape delay.

Edited September 3, 2022 by HarryArchieGus

[AxB]

The "friends of Jay Lethal cut a heel promo" segment was like a reunion of Paparazzi Productions, only with Satnam Singh playing the role  of Kevin Nash.

[twiztor]

my favorite part of this show was after the trios match, the camera lingered on Trent & Chuck. Their faces showed disappointment, but like expected disappointment? As if they always knew they weren't going to win, but really hoped they could pull it off. When they didn't, it just sunk in. This was such a minor moment, but spoke volumes to me. This is the kind of thing i miss when AEW is all 'that match is over and now we're cutting to the back to cram in an interview before the commercial break'

[Matt D]

14 minutes ago, twiztor said:

my favorite part of this show was after the trios match, the camera lingered on Trent & Chuck. Their faces showed disappointment, but like expected disappointment? As if they always knew they weren't going to win, but really hoped they could pull it off. When they didn't, it just sunk in. This was such a minor moment, but spoke volumes to me. This is the kind of thing i miss when AEW is all 'that match is over and now we're cutting to the back to cram in an interview before the commercial break'

I also liked the very brief moment right before they double chokeslammed Page through the table when he looked at them with a sort of. "Aw, c'mon guys, we really don't have to do this, right?" look. That's what bums me out about Page. There's a lot of little things he does that I like and he's very confident in his performances.

[HarryArchieGus]

21 minutes ago, Matt D said:

I also liked the very brief moment right before they double chokeslammed Page through the table when he looked at them with a sort of. "Aw, c'mon guys, we really don't have to do this, right?" look. That's what bums me out about Page. There's a lot of little things he does that I like and he's very confident in his performances.

I didn't quite understand that double Chokeslam bit. To me it read like Page was completely fresh and allowing his opponents to double team him without a fight. Not sure the 'psychology' there?

[Curt McGirt]

4 hours ago, Matt D said:

I know Swerve as said he doesn't like rap battles and doesn't think he really even has that skill but it does feel like a missed opportunity here?

As a rapper and a wrestler he should have been embarrassed at that last line. "Paper beats rock"? Get outta here with that shiiiiit.

[Dog]

2 hours ago, HarryArchieGus said:

I didn't quite understand that double Chokeslam bit. To me it read like Page was completely fresh and allowing his opponents to double team him without a fight. Not sure the 'psychology' there?

It looked to me like he was incredulous. As in, "Really? YOU guys are gonna put me through a table?"

[zendragon]

5 hours ago, Matt D said:

 

• Here's the deal with the main event. You need to have Starks doing something over the last month to get his heat back after losing to Hook and getting bodied by Hobbs. Letting him get wins over Solo and QT is an ok way to do that, one that makes Hobbs look a little more heelish for not even wanting to deal with Starks again. It would have been even better to let him beat the giant in Comoroto though. Come on. Second thing, the way he locked up the Factory felt sort of Attitude Era to me which is how Starks should feel, with that way of outsmarting his rivals. That they then came back meant he got to overcome them anyway. Third thing, he didn't go 50-50 with QT! He went 50-50 with his own messed up neck. That will come into play vs Hobbs and will either protect him in a loss (as Hobbs shouldn't lose) where he fights valiantly from underneath despite it or will make it mean even more if he does vanquish Hobbs. Fourth, he kicked out of the diamond cutter, which is actually a really protected move and then won definitively with two big shots on a night full of roll ups.

I'm pretty sure DX did that to Los Boricuas at one point. I feel like when I see a bit of The Rock in Stark Man Jones or Austin in Mox it must be like someone who watched Billy Graham in the 70's seeing Hogan in 84.

 

52 minutes ago, Dog said:

It looked to me like he was incredulous. As in, "Really? YOU guys are gonna put me through a table?"

Does he not watch the product? Going through a table is nothing those MFErs pulled out a chainsaw!

[GuerrillaMonsoon]

Close - it was that weird angle where the Nation barricaded the DX locker room, and there was strong gang-rape implications with Chyna being surrounded by the Nation, until Shawn came off commentary and made the save. 

[JLowe]

8 hours ago, Curt McGirt said:

As a rapper and a wrestler he should have been embarrassed at that last line. "Paper beats rock"? Get outta here with that shiiiiit.

Rock beats scissors, I thought it was a pretty good closing line.

[John E. Dynamite]

18 minutes ago, GuerrillaMonsoon said:

Close - it was that weird angle where the Nation barricaded the DX locker room, and there was strong gang-rape implications with Chyna being surrounded by the Nation, until Shawn came off commentary and made the save. 

Watched this episode last year. This is a 100% accurate description of the episode and it was fuckin gross, especially since we now know who the real group rapists were. (Shawn Michaels, I'm implicating Shawn Michaels).

Edited September 4, 2022 by John E. Dynamite

[JLowe]

Had a very strong WCW Thursday Thunder feel. Good opener trios, lots of stories being told, good build. Then you have your random cruiser sprint with a couple of nice spots. Lots of backstage stuff to sell the random matches on the PPV. Mixed tag was much better than I expected, again stories being told, lots of character moments, good build. Main event had the tricky moment with Starks locking up, and then a disappointing match that made Starks look weak AF against a guy who doesn’t even win all his matches on YouTube. Show ended with a brawl in one area and a face-off on another area just to add that extra WCW touch.

All that to say, I enjoyed it a lot for the most part, and was really let down by the end.