4 Ups & 3 Downs From AEW Rampage (Aug 13)

3. Starting Off Hot

Pittsburgh was aching to see an All Out preview between Christian Cage and Kenny Omega, and AEW's top brass were only too happy to oblige. Again, it's worth giving praise where it's merited here: Tony Khan and pals are weaving a wonderful piece-by-piece story by chipping away at Omega's armour before the pay-per-view.

Rampage, as a totally brand new program, needed something like this to open it.

Sure, it's slightly weird that the first match on AEW's new show was for the IMPACT World Title, but let's roll with that and just enjoy the ride. Perhaps the most pleasing aspect about this, beyond Cage's title win, was the idea that Christian and Kenny can produce an even better match at All Out.

They've got chemistry by the bucketload, and it was almost like they were knowingly holding back just a little here. Nobody can blame them for that, and Cage even alluded to this during his promo afterwards by saying that Omega will go up a notch when the AEW belt is on the line.