1 Up & 6 Downs From AEW Rampage (March 29 - Results & Review)
1. The Brutal Lack Of Oomph
Time to bang the same drum as the intro.
Tony Khan knows he's negotiating for a new TV deal, and yet this is the kind of content he's gleefully pumping out onto TNT? AEW shows, including Rampage, should be front loaded, bursting with star power and dressed to impress right now. Unfortunately, a lot of it is subpar paint-by-numbers wrestling booking like some 14-year old kid is scripting an e-fed from 2002.
Where are the actual incentives for people to tune in? Is anyone actually going to willingly choose a show like Friday's over WWE SmackDown? It's WrestleMania season, so AEW is fighting a losing battle there anyway, but Khan has to at least try. Instead, he's sending out 4am tweets about Eric Bischoff's second string podcast like that'll sell tickets to his shows.
Sorry for going so hard here, but this fan is very discouraged by All Elite's product at the moment. Dynamite offers some good wrestling and little else, Collision is an erratic weekly headache that flits from decent to boring, Rampage is a total mess, and "game changing" new signings haven't moved the needle.