5 Ups & 0 Downs From AEW Rampage (Oct 8)
CM Punk elevates another young star; Rampage gets bloody; AEW produces the perfect hour.
"Urgh, 0 Downs".
That'll be a prevailing response to this article from some, and maybe rightly so. After all, it's rare for a pro wrestling show to run without at least one negative, but AEW's Rampage was such a delightfully easy watch this week. So, yes, this writer has given the program ye olde 0 Downs treatment.
This doesn't happen often, but WWE received it for their awesome 10 September SmackDown too. That was a special broadcast. Was Friday's Rampage special? Nah, not particularly, and yet those 'Ups' get a clean sweep because this hour whizzed past and left yours truly yearning for more.
AEW kept things simple too - they ran four matches, one of which was a clearly-presented squash, and bookended the night with two lengthier battles that established a new rising star and helped blow off a feud that's been running for months. It was all just great stuff, and that's why (much to Twitter's chagrin, no doubt) there's next-to-no negativity here.
Tony Khan and company don't get everything right, but they've started nailing what Rampage should be every week.