3 Ups & 3 Downs From AEW Rampage (Oct 6 - Results & Review)

2. Message Sent

It's amazing what one move can do.

Hikaru Shida finished off Marina Shafir in the main event tag bout by using Saraya's 'Nightcap' finisher. Kudos to Excalibur and Schiavone for pointing that out too, and for wondering what the reigning AEW Women's Champ would made of Hikaru's decision when watching Rampage pre-Collision.

Again, as the intro stated, both Shida and Kris Statlander worked well as a unit. Admittedly, Shafir and Nyla Rose feel uninspired and rather lost in the shuffle, but they still combined to offer a stiff-enough test that readied Hikaru for bigger bouts to come. Job done in the end then.

If this fan was nitpicking one small thing, he'd suggest that All Elite focuses more on longer-term stories than stuffing TV episodes full of quickly-built title matches. That's a nasty habit to get into, but at least they had the smarts to show Shida beating somebody with Saraya's own move.