3 Ups & 3 Downs From AEW Rampage (Dec 25)

Ups...

3. Hook Continues Taking Baby Steps

Onto the positives.

Everybody and their gran could see that Hook was beating Bear Bronson, and probably within five minutes. Contrast this to the throwaway bout between Statlander and Hirsch; Hook is on an upwards trajectory. It feels like he's building towards something, whereas they're just spinning wheels.

That's why this gets an 'Up'. The match was a glorified squash, which is fine. Also, Bronson is a decent opponent for Hook right now, because he shouldn't be pushed right into a major program quite yet. Of course, the post-show shenanigans with Cody Rhodes (slap, potential title match and all) suggests AEW want to hurry things up.

Suggestion: Hook should rule Rampage first. Make this his show, and continue taking baby steps rather than jumping head first into something massive. It's important to remember that Taz's kid is still at the start of his career. He's 22 years old - there's no rush.