Dark and Dark: Elevation can be inessential by design because they're the closest AEW has to any kind of functioning on-screen developmental, and they're on YouTube. Completists can enjoy seeing everything, records can get padded out for that day somebody needs a push, and try-out guys and girls can maximise some minutes. It's a cool system, but not required viewing.
Rampage is, though, and it has to be.
Dynamite was so good for so long that fans begged for more AEW. This is a rare feeling in the content super-service era, and the new show only being an hour was an incredibly shrewd way of satisfying that need without over-exposing the brand and the wrestlers. But inadvertently, they appear to have done that anyway.
Rampage: Grand Slam was the most obvious example of this, but is perhaps an unfair comparison as it was the first edition to double up on the traditional 60 minutes. The Network asked for it, and AEW - full Arthur Ashe Stadium and all - obliged, but the show felt like a slightly flabby accoutrement to a special Wednesday rather than a mega-event on its own steam.
Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation for nearly 10 years. He primarily produces written, audio and video content on WWE and AEW, but also provides knowledge and insights on all aspects of the wrestling industry thanks to a passion for it dating back over 35 years.
As one third of "The Dadley Boyz" Michael has contributed to the huge rise in popularity of the WhatCulture Wrestling Podcast and its accompanying YouTube channel, earning it top spot in the UK's wrestling podcast charts with over 70,000,000 total downloads. Within the podcasting space, he also co-hosts Benno & Hamflett, In Your House! and Podcast Horseman: The BoJack Horseman Podcast.
He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, Fightful, POST Wrestling, GRAPPL, GCP, Poisonrana, 411Mania and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling, and has provided in-person coverage of some of the biggest pay-per-views and Premium Live Events in wrestling history, including WrestleMania, Survivor Series, All In & Double Or Nothing in destinations such as New York, New Jersey, Chicago, Dallas, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, London and Cardiff. Michael's background in media stretches beyond wrestling coverage, with a degree in Journalism from the University Of Sunderland (2:1) and a series of published articles in music and culture magazines The Crack, Pilot as well as Sunderland AFC's premiere fanzine A Love Supreme. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it every other Saturday at the Stadium Of Light, and at Cribs gigs nationwide.
