{"id":127420,"date":"2021-09-25T12:48:53","date_gmt":"2021-09-25T17:48:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/?p=127420"},"modified":"2021-09-25T12:48:53","modified_gmt":"2021-09-25T17:48:53","slug":"aew-rampage-hits-misses-9-24-punk-vs-hobbs-a-hit-matty-hardy-and-hfo-not-clicking-more","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/2021\/09\/25\/aew-rampage-hits-misses-9-24-punk-vs-hobbs-a-hit-matty-hardy-and-hfo-not-clicking-more\/","title":{"rendered":"AEW RAMPAGE HITS &#038; MISSES 9\/24: Punk vs. Hobbs a hit, Matty Hardy and HFO not clicking, more"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"pwtor-2158797438\" 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>C.M. Punk vs. Powerhouse Hobbs: HIT<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Solid opening match. Punk looked alright, and he gave Hobbs quite a lot for someone who mainly wrestles on AEW\u2019s shoulder programming. The only \u201cugly\u201d part was a top-rope hurricanrana that could have ended badly for Powerhouse Hobbs.<\/p>\n<p>I wish Punk didn\u2019t visibly pat Hobbs\u2019s chest after the match. When the feud has involved vicious sneak attacks, and the match itself isn\u2019t a spectacular contest, leave the congratulations for backstage or find a more subtle way of doing it. Moments like that need to be reserved for when it&#8217;s warranted in the storyline.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Thunder Rosa\/Nyla Rose\/Jade Cargill Video: HIT<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>This was fine. I\u2019m glad they are now trying to feature Thunder Rosa and Nyla Rose on TV instead of relegating them to shoulder programming.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Adam Cole and the Young Bucks vs. Christian Cage and Jurassic Express: HIT<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>This is the match I was most looking forward to, and it didn\u2019t disappoint. Very exciting match that generated good heat for an eventual Adam Cole vs. Jungle Boy singles match. I just hope their rivalry has more dimension than just \u201cyou super kicked me.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I also noticed that Luke Gallows was the only member of the Good Brothers at ringside. Based on Karl Anderson\u2019s behavior on social media recently, this is a good thing.<\/p><div id=\"pwtor-1284079956\" 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><strong>Ethan Page and Scorpio Sky vs. Chris Jericho and Jake Hager: HIT<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>A good match. The Men of the Year desperately needed a television victory, and beating two members of the Inner Circle is good for them. Although Jake Hager does absolutely nothing for me, Jericho looked pretty good here.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Post-Match Beatdown: HIT<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>I don\u2019t understand why Jericho and Hager just let Dan Lambert go when they saw the army of UFC goons coming out. They could have just held him hostage, or at least gone through with the punch.<\/p>\n<p>I don\u2019t know any of the fighters involved here, but they came across like a big enough deal for me to be curious for what happens next.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Lucha Brothers, Santana, and Ortiz vs. Private Party, The Butcher, and The Blade: HIT<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The promo to build-up this match was a little over-cooked with near-death threats. However, the match itself was a fun little spot fest in the middle of the card, and exactly what it needed to be. WWE needs to learn from AEW that it\u2019s actually okay to put hometown wrestlers over.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Matt Hardy Promo: MISS<\/strong><\/p><div id=\"pwtor-2712123251\" 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>A well-delivered promo for a mid-card heel. Matt Hardy is good in his current character. However, while I understand heel Matt Hardy wanting risk his minion\u2019s hair instead of his own, Jack Evans has very little heat with me. He\u2019s largely been featured on shoulder programming. I don\u2019t even have a passing interest in seeing Jack Evans get his hair shaved.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Miro Interrupts Fuego Del Sol and Sami Guevara Cue-Card Segment: HIT<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The cue-card stuff worked better for Sami when he was a heel. However, the Miro beatdown was fun to watch. He\u2019s probably the most compelling and complete character in this company right now.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Andrade Promo: HIT<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>This was fine. Good to keep him on people\u2019s minds. I\u2019m still disappointed that he\u2019s lost Chavo, but curious to see what\u2019s next.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Anna Jay vs. Penelope Ford: UNABLE TO JUDGE<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>This match was far too short either side of the commercial break. I can\u2019t give a fair rating to it.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Post-Match Angle with Dark Order: MISS<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>I would much rather have seen more of the match than have to watch this. First off, there was no reason for Matt Hardy\u2019s faction to come out and form a wall when Bunny and Ford had no issues beating down Anna Jay previously. The men don\u2019t ever run down to interfere in the women\u2019s affairs, so that was pretty contrived on its face.<\/p>\n<p>In addition, most of Dark Order\u2019s story and individual character growth has happened on AEW\u2019s shoulder programming. However, on television, it just seems like a bunch of no-names randomly aligning with whoever. During these angles, each member wants to get in all their stuff in the short time they are given. Sometimes, they make references to obscure happenings that I either don\u2019t remember because of how packed the shows are, or because it happened on shoulder programming. This doesn\u2019t really help me understand the dynamics very well, and it feels to me that this story has more depth than what we\u2019re seeing on television. I love the Dark Order whenever I make time to watch BTE, but I can\u2019t always do that with my schedule, and other viewers shouldn\u2019t be expected to either. I\u2019m sorry, but this has to be a \u201cMISS.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>Main Event Promo: MISS<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The television build to this match has been very underwhelming. Most of it is simply \u201cyou are someone who likes to mutilate yourself, I\u2019m someone that likes to mutilate myself, so let\u2019s each grab a partner and try to out-do each other on a big stage.\u201d A match with a stipulation like this needs a more personal build for me to get invested.<\/p>\n<p>I could barely follow this promo once Kingston started talking. I feel like he gets far too excited and just isn\u2019t willing to use his gift of gab to its full potential. Your only audience isn\u2019t just the hometown crowd tonight. There are also about a million people at home, many of whom don\u2019t even know how this match came to be (apparently, an angle involving Archer took place on Dark). Instead of downplaying these interviews as \u201cjust talk,\u201d why not try to maximize the promo time you are given?<\/p>\n<p>In addition, if anyone is wondering who AEW\u2019s Big Show or Kane is going to be (in terms of back-and-forth heel and babyface turns), look no further than Lance Archer.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Jon Moxley and Eddie Kingston vs. Minoru Suzuki and Lance Archer: MISS<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The match itself was a fun TV brawl, but I just wasn\u2019t that interested in seeing any of these wrestlers take a beating. Lance Archer tried to get heat by beating up some civilians, but when the lead announcer prefers to talk about how cool his partner\u2019s theme song is, why should I care? And from the contrived, temporary light-dimming in the beginning to the babyfaces requiring a friend to help, this felt more like a match to entertain the hometown fans instead of me. If you don\u2019t have much affection for Minoru Suzuki or Homicide, this match is actually quite skippable.<\/p>\n<p>In addition, leave it to AEW to water down the concept of a \u201clights out\u201d match. They aren\u2019t doing as much damage to the stipulation as WWE is to Hell In A Cell, but it\u2019s still disappointing.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Commentary: HIT<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The commentary was mostly fine tonight, and I especially liked Taz staying true to his heel character instead of morphing into a different person. My only gripes were as follows:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>I don\u2019t appreciate Excalibur putting over the theme song of someone whose partner was knocking out innocent civilians at the exact same moment.<\/li>\n<li>Taz and Starks\u2019s cackling during the Miro segment was a bit over-the-top, but I\u2019m just happy they are sticking to character.<\/li>\n<li>Ricky Starks had some smart lines. For example, he mentioned that Chris Jericho\u2019s theme song was about Jericho turning on the fans, which is a great way for a heel to point out the ironic nature of fans singing this song. However, he immediately followed that up with a self-congratulatory \u201cI\u2019m an analysis,\u201d which makes him come off completely pathetic. Other than a few additional witty moments, Starks was quite ordinary.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Overall show: HIT<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Very good show tonight. I actually enjoyed this more than Dynamite on Wednesday. However, I really hope Rampage isn\u2019t expanded to two hours.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><strong>CATCH-UP:<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/2021\/09\/24\/9-24-aew-rampage-tv-report-punk-vs-hobbs-kingston-moxley-vs-suzuki-archer-lucha-bros-santana-ortiz-vs-hardy-family-office-cole-bucks-vs-christian-luchasaurus-jungle-boy-jericho\/\">9\/24 AEW RAMPAGE TV REPORT: Punk vs. Hobbs, Kingston &amp; Moxley vs. Suzuki &amp; Archer, Lucha Bros. &amp; Santana &amp; Ortiz vs. Hardy Family Office Cole &amp; Bucks vs. Christian &amp; Luchasaurus &amp; Jungle Boy, Jericho &amp; Hager vs. Ethan &amp; Sky<\/a><\/p>\n<div class=\"pwtor-end-article-groups pwtor-entity-placement\" id=\"pwtor-2390204591\"><div id=\"pwtor-1900199064\"><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>C.M. Punk vs. Powerhouse Hobbs: HIT Solid opening match. Punk looked alright, and he gave Hobbs quite a lot for someone who mainly wrestles on AEW\u2019s shoulder programming. The only \u201cugly\u201d part was a top-rope <a class=\"mh-excerpt-more\" href=\"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/2021\/09\/25\/aew-rampage-hits-misses-9-24-punk-vs-hobbs-a-hit-matty-hardy-and-hfo-not-clicking-more\/\" title=\"AEW RAMPAGE HITS &#038; MISSES 9\/24: Punk vs. Hobbs a hit, Matty Hardy and HFO not clicking, more\">[&#8230;]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":3838,"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-127420","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\/2015\/11\/HardyMatt.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/127420","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=127420"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/127420\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":127423,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/127420\/revisions\/127423"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3838"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=127420"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=127420"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=127420"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}