{"id":149657,"date":"2022-11-20T16:00:46","date_gmt":"2022-11-20T22:00:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/?p=149657"},"modified":"2022-11-20T16:00:46","modified_gmt":"2022-11-20T22:00:46","slug":"aew-rampage-hits-and-misses-28","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/2022\/11\/20\/aew-rampage-hits-and-misses-28\/","title":{"rendered":"AEW RAMPAGE HITS &#038; MISSES 11\/18: Starks and Archer hit, Akiyama 50-50, more"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"pwtor-306692740\" 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>Lance Archer defeated Ricky Starks to advance in the AEW World Title Eliminator Tournament (+pre-match brawl): HIT<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The match portion of this may not get a good rating, but the pre-match backstage brawl leading to the ring played into how they hyped this match. All told, this was an energetic start to the show.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Post-Match Beatdown: HIT<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>If Ricky is dealing with a real-life injury, this is an effective of a way to keep his tournament matches compelling without them needing to be mat classics.<\/p>\n<p>Starks vs. Cage will be interesting for long-time AEW fans who remember the Team Taz debacle. What an underwhelming feud that was. I have no doubt they will put on a better showing tomorrow.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Chris Jericho and Sammy Guevara Backstage Interview: MINOR HIT<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>A decent job at subtly stoking tensions between the two ahead of the fatal four-way match. Could have been better, but no one\u2019s believing that Guevara is splitting from Jericho again so soon.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Hook defeated Lee Moriarty to retain the FTW Title: HIT<\/strong><\/p><div id=\"pwtor-941083035\" 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>This was the longest I\u2019ve ever seen Hook wrestle, and I thought it was a solid outing. It felt like a rare spectacle to see Hook selling and playing to the crowd. Moriarty was a good foil too, but I still don\u2019t get his \u201ctiger style.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The timing of this match may not have been great as the Firm was single-handedly laid out by MJF just two nights ago. Things don\u2019t bode well for Hathaway\u2019s faction, but this was good nonetheless.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Rush, Jose the Assistant, John Silver, and 10 Backstage Interview: HIT<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Easily the strongest (and arguably the only good) segment I\u2019ve seen in this entire storyline. Jose actually acknowledged my gripe from last week\u2019s episode when John Silver basically cost 10 a World Title match. In addition, we finally have some character development with 10 who wasn\u2019t willing to team with John Silver to face Rush and Jose. Rush himself was intense and seemed to wipe the smile off Silver\u2019s face, which made the segment more compelling than it had any right to be. Good stuff.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Athena defeated Madison Rayne: HIT<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Athena hasn\u2019t been on television in a number of weeks, so, on paper, this looked like it\u2019d be a filler, token women\u2019s match for a Rampage show. However, it ended up being a bit more. We were shown highlights of AEW Dark where Athena has been displaying heelish antics, attacking her opponents after the match. The announcers played it up, as did Madison Rayne in a taped pre-match promo.<\/p>\n<p>For Rampage\u2019s standards, this is a win. Instead of another mediocre Madison Rayne match, she was actually involved in something rather meaningful. Hopefully this will lead to some televised character evolution for Athena.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Post-Match Beatdown: HIT<\/strong><\/p><div id=\"pwtor-1585305014\" 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>Consistent with the tone set at the before of the match, Athena beat on Rayne afterwards as well. To top it off, when referee Aubrey Edwards tried to intervene, Athena decked her too! That\u2019s probably the first bump I\u2019ve seen Edwards take! Mercedes Martinez then came out to scare Athena away (quite random, but okay).<\/p>\n<p>Whether you like this or not, it certainly was more unique than an average AEW post-match angle.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Best Friends and the Factory Backstage Interview: CONFUSING<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>So, Best Friends, Rocky Romeiro, and Danhausen want to face the Factory at the PPV. The Factory was shown a spooky Danhausen video. I assume this means Danhausen is angry, serious, and tapping into a darker persona after QT Marshall laid him out with a piledriver? I don\u2019t know.<\/p>\n<p><strong>House of Black Video Package: HIT<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Another well produced video package. Two in a row on Rampage now, and both different. You can argue that some of the \u201cfighting\u201d in this looked contrived, but it didn\u2019t bother me.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Main Event Promo: MINOR HIT<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>I\u2019m commenting on this as someone who has no idea who Jun Akiyama is, and I only know Takeshita from his few AEW matches.<\/p>\n<p>We\u2019ve been told that Akiyama is someone who Kingston really respects and has been wanting a match with. Both Kingston and Akiyama were silent during this promo, while Ortiz and Takeshita did all the talking. I thought that was quite badass.<\/p>\n<p>AEW still deserves condemnation for being really poor at introducing new and visiting faces to audiences like me. I can\u2019t, in good conscience, give this a \u201cHIT\u201d for that reason. However, the way they did this promo segment actually drew me in a little. Maybe the quality of the rest of the show put me in a better-than-usual mood watching Rampage, but still.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Jun Akiyama and Konosuke Takeshita defeated Eddie Kingston and Ortiz: 50-50<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Okay, so this was fine as a tag-match Rampage main event. However, when it came down to it, the Akiyama-Kingston interactions didn\u2019t do much for me at all. The chop exchanges felt very slow, plodding, orchestrated, and repetitive, and the crowd enthusiasm didn\u2019t quite match the hype. Given how little the two of them interacted, I\u2019m sure we are getting a one-on-one match between them at some point. However, this match did very little to excite me for that.<\/p>\n<p>On top of that, the visitors from DDT scoring a victory over established AEW talent got very little room to breathe. Excalibur went right into hype mode for the PPV within a few seconds, and the show ended not long after.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Commentary: MINOR HIT<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Jim Ross, Excalibur, Tony Schiavone, and a returning Chris Jericho tonight. They were fine. A different commentary team or Jim Ross from 15 years ago might have helped the main event feel more special than it did, but alas.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Overall Show: HIT<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Easily my favorite one-hour episode of Rampage in the last six months. A lot of things clicked at a fundamental level, and we even got to see Aubrey Edwards take her first bump!<\/p>\n<p>Maybe it wasn\u2019t a \u201cgreat\u201d show. The main event certainly didn\u2019t match the hype, and the storylines featured were mostly undercard, but it was a serviceable match to cap off a good hour of professional wrestling.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><strong>CATCH-UP:<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/2022\/11\/18\/aew-rampage-tv-report-15\/\">11\/18 AEW RAMPAGE TV REPORT: Jun Akiyama makes AEW debut, Starks vs. Archer, more<\/a><\/p>\n<div class=\"pwtor-end-article-groups pwtor-entity-placement\" id=\"pwtor-1625304997\"><div id=\"pwtor-2913419617\"><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>Lance Archer defeated Ricky Starks to advance in the AEW World Title Eliminator Tournament (+pre-match brawl): HIT The match portion of this may not get a good rating, but the pre-match backstage brawl leading to <a class=\"mh-excerpt-more\" href=\"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/2022\/11\/20\/aew-rampage-hits-and-misses-28\/\" title=\"AEW RAMPAGE HITS &#038; MISSES 11\/18: Starks and Archer hit, Akiyama 50-50, more\">[&#8230;]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":127094,"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-149657","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\/2021\/09\/Ricky-Starks.jpeg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/149657","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=149657"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/149657\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":149658,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/149657\/revisions\/149658"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/127094"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=149657"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=149657"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=149657"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}