4 Ups & 4 Downs From AEW Rampage (31 May - Results & Review)

1. Konosuke Takeshita Qualifies

Dodgy lack of selling aside, Penta vs. Takeshita ruled.

The winner would advance to the TNT Title ladder match at Forbidden Door, and that gave an otherwise-random bout some much-needed stakes. Booking qualifiers like this, as well as tournaments and the like, is something AEW does a good job of. The straightforward knock out format works well for a product that's largely in-ring centric.

Excalibur and Schiavone repeatedly mentioned that Konosuke got the win without Don Callis at ringside too. Managers and other hangers-on are banned for these qualifier matches, which is a nice touch. This counts as character development for Takeshita - he got his hand raised without any interference from Family.

Although Penta is always handy in ladder bouts, sticking Konosuke in there was the right choice. Yes, this is yet another vacated title in AEW, but they'll hopefully make the best of a bad scenario with Adam Copeland to put on a crowd-popping dazzler for the belt on pay-per-view.

The second half of this opener, in particular, was excellent.

What did you think of this week's AEW Rampage? For more wrestling, check out 10 Exact Moments WWE Stars BURIED Their Own Careers and 10 Wrestlers Who NEED Out Of AEW!