5 Ups & 5 Downs From AEW Rampage (Nov 18)
2. Some Poor Production
All Elite taped some pre-recorded comments from Madison to try and sell how much she was looking forward to taking Athena down a peg or two. Her promo was full of statements like, 'I've known Athena since day one' and, 'I don't like how she's been acting lately'. Then, Rayne tied the story together and the match started.
Or not.
Athena jumped Rayne before her pre-taped promo had finished, which meant Chris Jericho had to cut her off on commentary and the bout began. Hmm, that really should've been timed out a bit better. That's nitpicky, but true - it's fine if AEW wants to suggest that anything can happen at any time, but this felt amateurish.
Rayne was clearly building up to some parting shot to end the promo. Fans watching at home didn't hear it though, and it was jarring to suddenly go from that to live action without seeing the sneak attack from Athena either.