4 Ups & 3 Downs From AEW Rampage (Nov 12)

2. Ye Olde Lumberjack Gimmick

A friend of yours truly once decreed that "WWE's lumberjack matches blow". Nah, pretty much all lumberjack bouts are a difficult watch, because they normally turn into lazy brawls that make wrestlers hit the pause button on their own storylines to pretend care about someone else's.

That was the case again on Rampage.

It must be tough to do anything special when there are so many moving parts out there, in fairness. Also, it didn't help that AEW's cameras were darting around like Kevin Dunn had invaded the production truck with a caseload of energy drinks.

That Matt Hardy vs. Orange Cassidy main event wasn't top stuff, in other words. They were hampered by the lumberjack gimmick though, and AEW's focus ended up being more about that than any sort of cohesive story between the key pair.