{"id":148570,"date":"2022-10-31T11:58:12","date_gmt":"2022-10-31T16:58:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/?p=148570"},"modified":"2022-10-31T11:58:12","modified_gmt":"2022-10-31T16:58:12","slug":"aew-rampage-hits-and-misses-25","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/2022\/10\/31\/aew-rampage-hits-and-misses-25\/","title":{"rendered":"AEW RAMPAGE HITS &#038; MISSES 10\/29: Forgettable champion matches, kidnapping hurt show"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"pwtor-3801658080\" 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>Jon Moxley defeated Matt Menard in a non-title Eliminator match: MINOR HIT<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>As predictable as this match was, it\u2019s always good to see the world champion competing on Rampage, and Matt Menard is highly entertaining (no pun intended). I also dug the finishing sequence with Matt Menard trying to mock Danielson\u2019s downward kicks but struggling because he\u2019s a \u201csports entertainer\u201d and likely doesn\u2019t have the training.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Post-Match: NARROW MISS<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>After the match, Stokely Hathaway came out to cut a promo on Moxley. He challenged him to face Lee Moriarty next week on Dynamite.<\/p>\n<p>I don\u2019t know when Moriarty started using \u201cTiger Style\u201d (knocking people out?) but his mannerisms tonight didn\u2019t lend him any extra credibility for a match with Moxley.<\/p>\n<p>The Moxley portion of this promo was decent but couldn\u2019t save the segment.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Jade Cargill Video Promo: HIT<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Cargill cut this entire promo doing pull-ups. This was very badass and a nice comeback from the underwhelming \u201cholding the show hostage\u201d last week.<\/p><div id=\"pwtor-658888640\" 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>Keith Lee defeated Serpentico: IT HAPPENED<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Extremely quick squash. The replays were indeed longer than the match, Excalibur.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Post-Match Segment with Lee, the Acclaimed, Strickland, and Gunn: MAJOR MISS<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The only good part of this segment was the Acclaimed\u2019s serious, non-rap entrance. Not that I hate their raps all the time, but it was a nice change of pace. Everything went completely downhill from there.<\/p>\n<p>The Acclaimed were concerned about where Billy Gunn was. Lee had no idea. Strickland appeared on the titantron and revealed that he had kidnapped Gunn. He then cut a very stereotypical horror-villain-type promo and we were led to believe that he chopped Billy Gunn\u2019s fingers off on live TV.<\/p>\n<p>I didn\u2019t have much of an issue with Strickland\u2019s acting, but segments like these just don\u2019t work in wrestling. What exactly is the payoff to this supposed to be? Billy Gunn gets cool prosthetic fingers to scissor again? The Acclaimed chop off Strickland\u2019s fingers, only for him to magically regrow them during his next feud? Strickland hired a Billy Gunn doppelganger to play mind games with the Acclaimed? He didn\u2019t really cut off Gunn\u2019s fingers and just twisted his fingers to make him scream instead? There is no way out of this without some kind of stupid explanation.<\/p>\n<p>This is one of the many reasons why people watch wrestling from a very detached point of view instead of emotionally investing in storylines. For several weeks, I was intrigued by the differences between Lee and Strickland and excited for a rematch with the Acclaimed. But now this feud has certainly jumped the shark. It\u2019s like the \u201cchoppy choppy your pee pee\u201d story between Val Venis and Kaientai mixed with the Seth Rollins-Rey Mysterio eye-for-an-eye stuff. The worst of WWE is manifesting itself on AEW television.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Jericho Appreciation Society Backstage Promo: IT HAPPENED<\/strong><\/p><div id=\"pwtor-1239537\" 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>Most of this promo was very similar to the interview with Schiavone two nights ago. Nothing new here, other than Jericho challenging any former ROH champion to a match next week on Dynamite and Tay Melo briefly talking up her match with Madison Rayne.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Tay Melo defeated Madison Rayne: MINOR HIT<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Another Rampage, another Madison Rayne match. Once again, decent, but you wouldn\u2019t know Rayne is good enough to be a coach from her performances thus far.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Ethan Page Backstage Interview: HIT<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s really amazing how good Ethan Page is when you give him a simple, serious feud to dig his teeth into. If utilized properly, he could be an effective leader of the Firm now that MJF is gone.<br \/>\nSpeaking of MJF, I wonder if we\u2019ll finally see him on Rampage now that he\u2019s technically a babyface.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Main Event Promo: MINOR HIT<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>I suppose Matt Taven mentioning that he won the ROH TV title on his ROH debut gives him some credibility to challenge for AEW\u2019s secondary title. However, we haven\u2019t really been given many lessons on the prestige of the ROH titles (let alone ROH itself) on AEW television. Much of that, including the history of the Kingdom itself, is presumed knowledge.<\/p>\n<p>The promo work was okay, but Matt Taven doesn\u2019t stand a chance. Considering how easily Wardlow dispatched of MJF, this shouldn\u2019t even be competitive.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Wardlow defeated Matt Taven to retain the TNT Title: MINOR HIT<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Well, this definitely was more competitive than it had any right to be. Matt Taven isn\u2019t anywhere near an established name on AEW television. I know more about Lee Moriarty than him, yet he took it to Wardlow quite a bit here.<\/p>\n<p>As a match, it was decent. Not really exciting. The Kingdom hasn\u2019t done much on AEW television to build enough heat for me to enjoy seeing Taven get powerbombed.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Post-Match: HIT<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>After the match, the Kingdom ganged up on Wardlow but Samoa Joe made the save. Powerhouse Hobbs then came out and the Embassy snuck up from behind to join him in beating down WarJoe.<\/p>\n<p>Well, for once we have heels getting some heat and standing tall to end a Rampage. Yes, most of these people are far from featured acts, but I am intrigued to see how Powerhouse Hobbs performs as a leader of a faction (assuming he is now in charge of the Embassy). Whether he fights Joe or Wardlow (or both), the matches will be great. I just hope the story is good too.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s also interesting that Powerhouse Hobbs gets new direction after losing to Starks but Starks is still off TV.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Commentary: MINOR HIT<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Jim Ross, Excalibur, and Tony Schiavone tonight. They were decent.<\/p>\n<p>Apparently, Mike Tyson will join commentary next week. O-kay? I know Mike Tyson isn\u2019t even half the celebrity he once was, but this was still an underwhelming way to announce a Tyson appearance. I hope they do more with him than just jaw-jacking with Jericho.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Overall Show: MISS<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The AEW World Champion and TNT Champions both wrestled on this show, but their matches weren\u2019t anything special. I was hoping we got our sports entertainment fill last week, but that Swerve Strickland-Daddy Ass segment was more Vince McMahon-WWE-like than anything I have seen in WWE all year. What a terrible segment.<\/p>\n<p>The only things I enjoyed on this show were the Jade Cargill promo, Ethan Page interview, and the Powerhouse Hobbs appearance at the end. Approximately two minutes of an hour-long show. One is a shining light in a backdrop to a comedy feud, and the others involve wrestlers who AEW haphazardly cycles in and out of television. In addition, this company has lost my trust in being able to follow-up effectively on with faction shakeups, so I don\u2019t expect either of these to be very consequential.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><strong>CATCH-UP:<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/2022\/10\/29\/aew-rampage-tv-report-13\/\">10\/28 AEW RAMPAGE TV REPORT: Jon Moxley vs. Matt Menard, Wardlow vs. Taven, more<\/a><\/p>\n<div class=\"pwtor-end-article-groups pwtor-entity-placement\" id=\"pwtor-2491819616\"><div id=\"pwtor-1673745164\"><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>Jon Moxley defeated Matt Menard in a non-title Eliminator match: MINOR HIT As predictable as this match was, it\u2019s always good to see the world champion competing on Rampage, and Matt Menard is highly entertaining <a class=\"mh-excerpt-more\" href=\"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/2022\/10\/31\/aew-rampage-hits-and-misses-25\/\" title=\"AEW RAMPAGE HITS &#038; MISSES 10\/29: Forgettable champion matches, kidnapping hurt show\">[&#8230;]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":148019,"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":[6121,6558,6120,6562],"class_list":["post-148570","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","tag-rampage"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/post\/2022\/10\/Jon-Moxley-Tuesday-night-war.jpeg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/148570","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=148570"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/148570\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":148571,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/148570\/revisions\/148571"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/148019"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=148570"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=148570"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=148570"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}