4 Ups & 3 Downs From AEW Rampage 100 (July 7)
Ups...
4. This Got The Job Done
Sometimes, all you need is a rapid fire exchange of strikes and hard-hitting moments. That's what Hikaru Shida and Marina Shafir provided a little over halfway through Rampage. Their match never outstayed any welcomes, and it zipped along at a decent rate before Shida scored the win.
This was one of Shafir's better efforts since joining AEW too, and that's great to see. She's a bit of a "jobber to the stars" in a way, but that's alright so long as she's sporadically given some shine so she still comes across as a threat. The good news? Hikaru was willing to do some selling for Marina here, and didn't just eat her alive.
The bout came out looking like an actual struggle (in a good way).
Side note: Excalibur called this Shida's "sixth straight singles victory here in AEW", but that wasn't true. It was her fifth. Minuscule detail, sure, but it's important All Elite gets these things right if they're gonna draw attention to them in the first place.