1 Up & 5 Downs From AEW Rampage (Aug 19)

3. Rankings? What Rankings?

Dustin Rhodes Claudio Castagnoli
AEW

Right, here's hoping Dustin Rhodes vs. Claudio Castagnoli is a surprise package on next week's Rampage. As nice as it is that AEW wants to stand by Dustin though, something else is true: Rhodes probably shouldn't be challenging for the ROH World Title in 2022. That's quite the decision by Tony!

This isn't even part of some drawn-out retirement story, or something like that. Dustin vs. Claudio will be a routine, exhibition-style title defence for Castagnoli. It's the kind of bout that'll earn some positive tweets then be forgotten about in a fortnight.

Great. How about those famous AEW rankings, eh?!

Claudio also bungled his promo a little by making it sound like he wanted to issue an open challenge for the same night. There were audible groans when he revealed that he was actually talking about wrestling next week, which is never good for a credible babyface.

This all feels rather rushed.

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Lifelong wrestling, video game, music and sports obsessive who has been writing about his passions since childhood. Jamie started writing for WhatCulture in 2013, and has contributed thousands of articles and YouTube videos since then. He cut his teeth penning published pieces for top UK and European wrestling read Fighting Spirit Magazine (FSM), and also has extensive experience working within the wrestling biz as a manager and commentator for promotions like ICW on WWE Network and WCPW/Defiant since 2010. Further, Jamie also hosted the old Ministry Of Slam podcast, and has interviewed everyone from Steve Austin and Shawn Michaels to Bret Hart and Trish Stratus.