4 Ups & 4 Downs From AEW Rampage (24 May - Results & Review)

3. Nobody Needed This Reminder

Samoa Joe
AEW

Did Samoa Joe really need to beat Dom Kubrick in around 60-90 seconds? This is Joe we're talking about. He's a veteran of the business, not some new powerhouse who needs squashes to heat him up. The dude's well-established as an absolute mauler, which made this squash a total waste of TV time.

Sometimes, it's like TK writes show scripts on a napkin in catering. AEW have put Joe on a winning run since he lost to Swerve Strickland at Dynasty, but the presentation is a little skewed. Tony Schiavone said the Samoan is 8-1 over his last 9 matches, which sounds impressive (despite the weird sample size) but doesn't tell the full story.

He lost the most important clash vs. Swerve, and his World Title with it.

Beating the likes of Kubrick, Isiah Kassidy, Dustin Rhodes, Wardlow and others doesn't make up for that. Also, the wins need to count for something, but they'll probably just peter out and everyone will move on to other things. AEW does a lot of that, after all.

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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.