4 Ups & 4 Downs From AEW Rampage: Road Rager (June 17)

Sting shocks AEW; Tony Khan takes the p*ss out of his own title rankings.

by Jamie Kennedy
Sting AEW 2022
AEW

"IT'S STIIIIIIIIIING!".

Excalibur couldn't wait to do his best Tony Schiavone impression on this week's Rampage. It's 2022 and a full 25 years since he started doing it, but there's still something wonderful about the lights dimming then the Stinger showing up unannounced. AEW got a lot of mileage out of that on Friday night's 'Road Rager' special.

"Special" isn't something one could call most of the 60-minute episode though. The opener was good, and the women's bout had merit, but literally everything else suffered due to poor refereeing or poor presentation. Also, what was up with Tony Khan making a mockery of his own title rankings here?

That was so odd to see, especially as "top ranked contenders" suddenly became important again when hyping Forbidden Door. This is something All Elite must be careful of, because they don't want to sh*t all over the things that help them stand out.

Come for Sting's return, stay for some young workers getting to shine and then shake your head at more of the same annoying problems that blight AEW's booking.

Here's all the good and bad from Rampage.

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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.