The Day AEW Rampage Died
How Tony Khan busted your trust in a show once considered better than Dynamite.
When AEW Rampage premiered, on August 13, 2021, the praise was glowing.
Tony Khan is used to critical acclaim at this point, but even he must have been astonished by the takes. Many fans thought it was even better than his Dynamite flagship: the most revered North American episodic wrestling show since the halcyon days of WCW Nitro or the Chris Kreski-penned Raw product of 2000. One phenomenal hour of momentous, superb and emotive action and storytelling, with not one solitary second wasted, it was up there with the very best of AEW's output. Christian Cage defeated Kenny Omega for the Impact World Title in a superbly built match in which their arsenals complemented one another perfectly for counter-driven drama; Fuego Del Sol won an AEW contract following a dramatic and gutsy noble effort before Miro killed him; Dr. Britt Baker sent her home city fans home deliriously happy after she beat Red Velvet in one of her best in-ring offerings. The show was so white-hot that even killed an enduring narrative dead: Pittsburgh isn't a sh*tty crowd when they are offered exceptional pro wrestling worth shouting about.
Rampage started strong and maintained form. The First Dance was the site of CM Punk's return to wrestling, one of if not the loudest ever pops recorded, and a beautiful, moving moment in his candid promo. It was iconic. Unforgettable. For a while, Rampage was ostensibly a third hour of Dynamite in terms of match quality and narrative importance, only not on a Wednesday.
The audience wasn't exhausted by third hour but rather thrilled by it as, in parallel, the hype before and after All Out promised a bumper-sized golden age.
CONT'D...(1 of 6)