4 Ups & 2 Downs From AEW Rampage (July 8)
Jonathan Gresham turns; Rampage features two awesome matches; AEW hot-shots an angle.
The ROH World Champion turned heel, but even that wasn't the most impressive thing visible on this week's AEW Rampage. Jonathan Gresham joining up with Tully Blanchard's group stood in the shadow of two excellent bouts that book-ended Friday's episode.
Both are must-see for very different reasons.
All Elite's slow-burning storytelling style fell by the wayside too, which was surprising. Yes, Tony Khan has another company's pay-per-views to think about (and Death Before Dishonor is happening later this month), but the way that split between female veterans was booked left a lot to be desired.
It's all a bit sudden, and it didn't really satisfy or hit the way Tony might've wanted it to. In fact, worse, the entire angle came across as counterproductive and nonsensical given the complete lack of a women's tag-team division in AEW. Thankfully, that glaring negative didn't eat up too much time.
The good outweighed the bad for sure; those aforementioned matches helped raise spirits and got the live crowd going. There were breakout performances for multiple workers, and one was even protected by Eddie Kingston's clever finish.
Here are all the 'Ups' and the 'Downs' from Rampage.