6 Ups & 1 Down From AEW Rampage (April 8)
5. Willow Nightingale & Red Velvet
Don't sleep on this one, folks.
Both Willow Nightingale and Red Velvet looked great here. It was a smart move to stick the popular Nightingale in there as Velvet's opponent; AEW plan to turn Red, and Willow has some credit with fans after the recent ROH comeback pay-per-view so was always gonna get cheered.
This was a tidy little match, and now Velvet gets to move onto the Owen Hart tournament after beating a credible opponent. Here's hoping Tony Khan was paying attention to how into Willow his fanbase was too. Sure, Rampage's crowd is a small portion of the wider audience, but they were right behind her.
It'd be cool see Nightingale's performance rewarded with a sustained run on this roster. She has the chops and poise to be a real asset to the women's division. Yeah, someone should pitch sticking Nightingale in a program with Jade Cargill to help the TBS Champ keep learning.