3 Ups & 4 Downs From AEW Rampage: Holiday Bash (Dec 23)
Young stars "win $300,000"; AEW's new tag title challengers; Jade Cargill needs fresh ideas.
Don't worry, Tony Khan! Rampage's first full year as a complement to main show Dynamite is nearly over. Nearly, but not quite. The AEW gaffer still has another episode to power his way through before both Wednesday and Friday night offerings get a bit of a visual makeover in the new year.
Hopefully, that comes with some fresh ideas for Rampage generally.
The 60-minute broadcast sorely needs them. It shouldn't be so much of a chore to watch most weeks - the hour should race past, being honest. Sometimes, it does, albeit not often enough to recommend that wrestling fans go out of their way to make the thing appointment television.
This week, AEW served up a festive-themed 'Three Kings Christmas Casino Trios Royale'. That name will be a bigger mouthful than your Xmas day turkey, and it was all rather overbooked. Typically for AEW these days, the bout (said to be for a briefcase containing $300,000) came with some pros and cons.
After that, Khan killed airtime fumbling around with Jade Cargill's push, then the main event rescued things by actually delivering some sense of direction for major titles. Here's all the good and bad from this 'Holiday Bash' special.