3 Ups & 5 Downs From AEW Rampage: Slam Dunk (Feb 17)

3. “Serious” Title Match

The Young Bucks Top Flight AEW Basketball
AEW

Fun is fun, but there was a real disconnect between JR hyping up the Trios Title match as serious and the way it started. That basketball tip off was silly, obviously, and it seems no-one backstage thought it wise to brief the announcers on it. As a result, they all looked even sillier for preambling as though this would be a super-serious affair.

It wasn't.

AR Fox and Top Flight also came out looking like morons by repeatedly falling for basketball tricks from The Elite. The worst example of this came when Fox followed some passes like a dog watching a ball, then tried to catch it and got hit. Wasn't he watching the opening spot with Dante Martin?!

Chris Jericho summed it up with one line: "I love how this match is all about the basketball". Yep, and that was the biggest problem with it. Such hijinks have their place, but only when they're minimal and don't outright ruin a match.

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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.