4 Ups & 1 Down From AEW Rampage (Oct 1)
Bryan Danielson taps Kenny Omega; Jade Cargill shines; AEW picks the wrong main event.
It's bloody great to see Bryan Danielson having this much fun.
His 30-minute time limit draw with Kenny Omega on last week's Dynamite was a pro wrestling thrill ride of emotions and stunning in-ring work. On Friday, the 'American Dragon' made his Rampage debut, but he did so amidst curious circumstances - Bryan wrestled Nick Jackson one-on-one.
Elsewhere, AEW looked to cement a new contender to the women's throne, and they ended the night by booking a comedic gimmick bout that was designed to both send everyone home happy and pay another quick homage to Brodie Lee at the end. It's hard to begrudge that final blink-and-you'll-miss-it moment, but the 'Hair vs. Hair' idea was suspect.
Like, really suspect. Christ knows what Tony Khan was thinking by formatting the card this way. It ended an otherwise fine episode of Rampage on a slight downer (at least in terms of the bell-to-bell work) and didn't leave much of an impression on the live crowd either.
That 60-min length always makes Rampage an easy watch though. It's a major plus that AEW returned to that here and didn't try to make two hours the norm...