5 Ups & 4 Downs From AEW Rampage (Sept 16)
Chris Jericho challenges for the ROH Title; AEW Rampage sets up 'Grand Slam'.
Tony Khan must've known that he had to get back to basics with Rampage.
The second show had become a miserable watch, which is alarming for any one-hour wrestling program that should flash past in the blink of an eye. Rampage's strength (that 60 minute duration) turned into a major weakness when the card was littered with too many meaningless matches and a clear lack of interesting plot development for stories that fans actually cared about.
This week, there was a concerted effort to stick some top stars on TNT and push the product towards next week's bumper 'Grand Slam' specials. Chris Jericho lined up a crack at the ROH World Title, Samoa Joe worked a stellar main event, and WWE's past collided with the future of All Elite in the opener.
You'll spot the count for those 'Downs' though. Often, it was the little inconsistencies that dragged Rampage down. Is pointing them out a display of nitpicking? Well, yeah, but AEW does them with such frequency that they really should've learned some lessons by now.
Here's all the good and bad from Friday's latest.