5 Ups & 1 Down From AEW Rampage (July 22)
4. Some Well-Received Hype
Claudio Castagnoli's time as Cesaro in WWE will always be looked back on with a 'what might have been' attitude. In-ring, he was flawless, but it's obvious that Vince McMahon felt the guy should be The Rock on the mic, and that was just never going to happen. Can he talk? Yeah, but promos aren't Claudio's strength.
That's why this gets an 'Up'.
Castagnoli built towards his upcoming ROH World Title bout with Jonathan Gresham at Death Before Dishonor by putting over how much winning the big prize would mean to him. Honestly, this came across as the kind of segment that could've taken place on Dynamite, and that's not always the case for Rampage promos.
Showing Tully Blanchard Enterprises looking on from the rafters with disgust was a nice touch too. Fans in attendance seemed to dig what Claudio was saying, and they clearly want him to succeed in AEW. This is just step one, people.