The Day AEW Rampage Died

Ari Daivari Orange Cassidy
AEW

He has given up on the time slot.

It's clear that Rampage has developed the dreaded skippable stigma, and Khan appears to feel that wasting valuable Dynamite-calibre matches on it is a waste. The trend has formed for several months now; if Khan were that concerned, he'd have done something drastic like, for example, switching around the Trios title tournament brackets. He hasn't. The death of Rampage is affecting AEW on the other six days of the week, too, which is...suboptimal. Remember when the Young Bucks proclaimed, during the Double Or Nothing 2019 press rally, that they were intent on bringing back tag team action as a hugely important fixture of North American mainstream wrestling?

You'd be forgiven for forgetting, on recent evidence; Rampage in 2022 has acted as a dumping ground for the doubles division, on which Jurassic Express and Swerve In Our Glory have defended the gold in - yes - good if predictable matches. Belts that are defended mostly on the less prestigious show now feel less prestigious. It's a self-fulfilling prophecy.

The show has sparked into life on occasion in recent months - Eddie Kingston Vs. Konosuke Takeshita was an excellent war, the Young Bucks Vs. Lucha Bros. mind-blowing aerial warfare - but Rampage still carries connotations of solid TV...if you can make time for it.

CONT'D...(5 of 6)

Advertisement
In this post: 
AEW Rampage
 
Posted On: 
Contributor
Contributor

Michael Sidgwick is an editor, writer and podcaster for WhatCulture Wrestling. With over seven years of experience in wrestling analysis, Michael was published in the influential institution that was Power Slam magazine, and specialises in providing insights into All Elite Wrestling - so much so that he wrote a book about the subject. You can order Becoming All Elite: The Rise Of AEW on Amazon. Possessing a deep knowledge also of WWE, WCW, ECW and New Japan Pro Wrestling, Michael’s work has been publicly praised by former AEW World Champions Kenny Omega and MJF, and surefire Undisputed WWE Universal Champion Cody Rhodes. When he isn’t putting your finger on why things are the way they are in the endlessly fascinating world of professional wrestling, Michael wraps his own around a hand grinder to explore the world of specialty coffee. Follow Michael on X (formerly known as Twitter) @MSidgwick for more!