{"id":126214,"date":"2021-09-05T13:23:24","date_gmt":"2021-09-05T18:23:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/?p=126214"},"modified":"2021-09-05T13:23:24","modified_gmt":"2021-09-05T18:23:24","slug":"aew-rampage-hits-misses-9-3-black-vs-johnson-a-good-next-step-in-story-successful-all-out-hype-2point0-missed-on-the-mic-more","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/2021\/09\/05\/aew-rampage-hits-misses-9-3-black-vs-johnson-a-good-next-step-in-story-successful-all-out-hype-2point0-missed-on-the-mic-more\/","title":{"rendered":"AEW RAMPAGE HITS &#038; MISSES 9\/3: Black vs. Johnson a good next step in story, successful All Out hype, 2point0 missed on the mic, more"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"pwtor-2988334521\" class=\"pwtor-before-content pwtor-entity-placement\"><hr \/><b>SPOTLIGHTED PODCAST ALERT (YOUR ARTICLE BEGINS A FEW INCHES DOWN)... <\/b>\r\n\r\n<iframe src=\"https:\/\/widget.spreaker.com\/player?show_id=3076978&theme=light&playlist=false&playlist-continuous=false&autoplay=false&live-autoplay=false&chapters-image=true&episode_image_position=right&hide-logo=false&hide-likes=false&hide-comments=false&hide-sharing=false&hide-download=true\" width=\"100%\" height=\"140px\" frameborder=\"0\"><\/iframe>\r\n<hr \/><\/div><p><strong>Malakai Black vs. Lee Johnson: HIT<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Although I continue to feel nothing but apathy for the Nightmare Family, this served its purpose of continuing to get Malakai Black over. Malakai\u2019s mannerisms are very compelling, and Lee Johnson made a better foil for him than Brock Anderson. I also thought this sort of match is a nice of change of pace for Rampage openers; we don\u2019t need a spot fest every single week.<\/p>\n<p>My only criticism of the match is that it went too long. A wrestler who non-Dark\/Elevation viewers barely even know got too much offense against someone who steamrolled through Cody Rhodes.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Miro-Kingston Segment: HIT<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>This is exactly the segment that should have aired last week instead of an illogical brawl. Miro explained his heelish case against Kingston well and Kingston delivered the best response he could. I\u2019m not really a fan of this God-bashing; I\u2019d rather deities play a more background role to these sorts of stories. However, I like that there is a sports angle as well, revolving around Miro\u2019s neck.<\/p>\n<p>I do wish this feud had more time to breathe. Eddie Kingston\u2019s strength is his promo skills, and AEW needs to let him shine in multi-week promo battles as part of lengthy, personal feuds.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Kris Statlander vs. Rebel and Jayme Hayter: HIT<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The match itself did a fine enough job of making Kris Statlander look strong going into her title match against Britt Baker. They managed to get the crowd into it by the end. However, Kris Statlander is another AEW wrestler whose character\u2019s story just hasn\u2019t been told well enough on the television shows. I love her eccentricity and enjoy seeing her segments, but I can\u2019t bring myself to be as emotionally invested in her as I need to.<\/p><div id=\"pwtor-1305893749\" class=\"pwtor-content pwtor-entity-placement\"><div align=\"center\" data-freestar-ad=\"__336x280 __336x280\" id=\"pwtorchcom_test_300x250\">\r\n  <script data-cfasync=\"false\" type=\"text\/javascript\">\r\n    freestar.config.enabled_slots.push({ placementName: \"pwtorchcom_test_300x250\", slotId: \"pwtorchcom_test_300x250\" });\r\n  <\/script>\r\n<\/div><\/div>\n<p>I\u2019m also not sure if letting Statlander manhandle Jayme Hayter does justice to the energy they put into selling Hayter\u2019s return a few weeks ago. Perhaps they now understand how heavy-handed they were in trying to sell the return of someone very few fans remembered.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Main Event Promo Battle: MISS<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>2.0 and Daniel Garcia continue to elicit nothing but apathy from me, and this wasn\u2019t Darby\u2019s best mic work either. I can\u2019t blame him though; the story going into the match has very little substance for him to chew on.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Darby Allin vs. Daniel Garcia: HIT<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>My problems with Daniel Garcia\u2019s character aside, I think the work in this match was fine. Daniel Garcia brings a different, more technically-adept brand of professional wrestling to AEW, which I appreciate. In addition, Darby Allin is always going to deliver a serviceable match.<\/p>\n<p>It was nice to see C.M. Punk with Chris Jericho on commentary, but I don\u2019t think it added to the match. Punk\u2019s current \u201chappy to be here\u201d character just doesn\u2019t do much for me.<\/p>\n<p>Note: I may have a more positive impression of this match because my feed on the TSN live stream in Canada did not have a commercial in the middle of the match.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Post-Match Brawl: HIT<\/strong><\/p><div id=\"pwtor-3454854257\" class=\"pwtor-content-1 pwtor-entity-placement\"><!-- Tag ID: pwtorchcom_test_300x600 -->\r\n<div align=\"center\" data-freestar-ad=\"__336x280 __300x600\" id=\"pwtorchcom_test_300x600\">\r\n  <script data-cfasync=\"false\" type=\"text\/javascript\">\r\n    freestar.config.enabled_slots.push({ placementName: \"pwtorchcom_test_300x600\", slotId: \"pwtorchcom_test_300x600\" });\r\n  <\/script>\r\n<\/div><\/div>\n<p>I don\u2019t usually like these, but this week\u2019s brawl was fine.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Commentary: HIT<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>I\u2019ve provided a detailed analysis of Rampage\u2019s commentary in previous columns, so I\u2019ll keep my thoughts brief this week: Excalibur was fine, Jericho was more tolerable, and I am able to convince myself that Tazz basically has two separate television characters. In addition, Mark Henry\u2019s role is largely to provide a couple of short comments in the first match, and then disappear backstage for interviews. If you can accept these caveats, Rampage\u2019s commentary is fine.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Overall show: HIT<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>This show did a serviceable job of promoting All Out and progressing some television stories. If you are looking for quick hits, check out the final two minutes of each match, and the Miro-Kingston segment. However, if you are looking to get hyped for All Out, watch only the Miro-Kingston segment and then skip to the Countdown to All Out show.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><strong>CATCH-UP:<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/2021\/09\/03\/9-3-aew-rampage-tv-report-moynahans-coverage-of-darby-vs-garcia-with-c-m-punk-on-commentary-rebel-jamie-hayter-vs-statlander-malakai-vs-lee-johnson\/\">9\/3 AEW RAMPAGE &amp; ALL OUT COUNTDOWN TV REPORT: Moynahan\u2019s coverage of Darby vs. Garcia with C.M. Punk on commentary, Rebel &amp; Jamie Hayter vs. Statlander, Malakai vs. Lee Johnson<\/a><\/p>\n<div class=\"pwtor-end-article-groups pwtor-entity-placement\" id=\"pwtor-516398984\"><div id=\"pwtor-2516420037\"><div align=\"center\" data-freestar-ad=\"__336x280\" id=\"pwtorchcom_medrec_3\">\r\n  <script data-cfasync=\"false\" type=\"text\/javascript\">\r\n    freestar.config.enabled_slots.push({ placementName: \"pwtorchcom_medrec_3\", slotId: \"pwtorchcom_medrec_3\" });\r\n  <\/script>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\nTHANK YOU FOR VISITING<\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div class=\"mh-excerpt\"><p>Malakai Black vs. Lee Johnson: HIT Although I continue to feel nothing but apathy for the Nightmare Family, this served its purpose of continuing to get Malakai Black over. Malakai\u2019s mannerisms are very compelling, and <a class=\"mh-excerpt-more\" href=\"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/2021\/09\/05\/aew-rampage-hits-misses-9-3-black-vs-johnson-a-good-next-step-in-story-successful-all-out-hype-2point0-missed-on-the-mic-more\/\" title=\"AEW RAMPAGE HITS &#038; MISSES 9\/3: Black vs. Johnson a good next step in story, successful All Out hype, 2point0 missed on the mic, more\">[&#8230;]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":49222,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","itunes_episode_number":"","itunes_title":"","itunes_season_number":"","itunes_episode_type":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[52,28,27],"tags":[6121,6558,6120],"class_list":["post-126214","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-opnionandanalysis","category-specialists_hitsandmisses","category-specialists","tag-aew","tag-aew-rampage","tag-all-elite-wrestling"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/post\/2017\/10\/BlackAleisterTeschJoel3x2_600.png","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/126214","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=126214"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/126214\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":126215,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/126214\/revisions\/126215"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/49222"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=126214"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=126214"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=126214"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}