5 Ups & 4 Downs From AEW Rampage (Sep 24)

1. Fans Didn't Care About The MMA Crew

American Top Team AEW
AEW

Crossover angles can work in wrestling.

Bad Bunny's work in WWE during WrestleMania season was tolerable, and AEW's business with both Mike Tyson and Shaq has ranged from decent-to-fun at times. This UFC invasion though? Nah, New York's hardcore wrasslin' fanbase wasn't interested in it. Not even slightly.

Jorge Masvidal, Andrei Arlovski and Paige VanZant joined Scorpio Sky, Ethan Page and others in putting the boots to Chris Jericho and Jake Hager. Meanwhile, Arthur Ashe Stadium's residents sat on their hands and wondered if MMA fighters kicking lumps out of Inner Circle members was really the way to go.

AEW deserve the chance to make this work, but this wasn't a hot start. Names like Masvidal and Arlovski don't have the kind of mainstream appeal that makes them household names to wrestling-centric folks, so the angle loses any easy brownie points it'd have there.

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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.