1 Up & 6 Downs From AEW Rampage (Aug 26)

2. An Odd Finish

Dustin Rhodes is an industry treasure who deserves all the respect in the world, but he's not a great fit for main event ROH World Title matches in 2022. Well, at least not when the build is one week long and doesn't even come into play during the match itself. Where was the old stager story mid-match here?

He and Claudio Castagnoli worked a basic TV bout.

Whilst the match was hardly bad, it didn't need to happen. Also, that leapfrog low blow spot sucked the air out of the crowd before a sudden uppercut scored the win for Claudio. Was that deliberate? Unintentional? Either way, it failed to hit home with the fans. They all just sort of stood around looking miffed.

Keep in mind what this was: A RING OF HONOR WORLD TITLE MATCH. People are right to expect better from Castagnoli's title defences than this. The competitive technical showcase he worked with Konosuke Takeshita at Battle Of The Belts III worked. This did not.