4 Ups & 3 Downs From AEW Rampage (Aug 5)

Ups...

4. Short-But-Sweet Prep

Onto the good stuff.

AEW's squash matches sometimes hit, and Konosuke Takeshita's win over Ryan Nemeth was certainly one of the better ones. These guys packed a ton into the two minutes of ring time they were given, and everything was geared towards making Takeshita look like the next big thing.

The live crowd were right into what they were seeing too, which helped, and it's obvious that Konosuke is quickly developing into a breakout star for the promotion. He's being booked well, looks strong during matches and will hopefully have another great showing opposite Claudio Castagnoli at Battle Of The Belts III.

This sort of simple setup for coming matches is something that All Elite does well. Takeshita's fierce flying knee strikes and rangy style makes him one to watch during the closing months of 2022. Fingers crossed that match vs. Claudio turns out to be a belter, because it could springboard him to bigger things.