AEW Rampage: Beach Break Review - January 28, 2022

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Jon Moxley def. Anthony Bowens

There was never a single doubt that Moxley was winning here, but as opener, it was solid. I was especially impressed with Bowens and the showing he had. He's looked credible in defeat the last few singles matches he's had and it's been nice to see him improve over the last year. That said, Moxley is a much bigger star than Bowens and should be running through his opponents at this point, so he definitely should have won quicker than he did.

FTR def. Lee Johnson and Brock Anderson

This match was originally supposed to happen last week on Dynamite but I believe was bumped for COVID-related reasons. This was a well-wrestled match but nothing spectacular. Then again, FTR are one of the best tag teams in the world today, so anything they're involved in is bound to be at least enjoyable. I feel like they've lost more than they've won lately, so this was a necessary victory for them.

AEW TBS Champion Jade Cargill def. Julia Hart

This was set up through a backstage segment on Wednesday's Dynamite. And yes, Hart is still wearing the stupid eyepatch. How lethal was that mist?! It's comical to me that the TBS Championship has only been defended on TNT so far while the AEW TNT Championship was defended on TBS this past week. This only existed to extend Cargill's undefeated streak and give her a quick win as champion. Unfortunately, it wasn't very good and that was largely due to Hart's inexperience.

AEW World Tag Team Champions Jurassic Express def. Private Party

If the rumors are true and Marko Stunt is indeed done with AEW on a full-time basis, I can't say I'll be shedding any tears. I'd rather see Christian Cage doing his own thing than managing Jurassic Express, but at least this alliance is obviously leading to him turning heel on Jungle Boy at some point. Nonetheless, this was a fun main event. I never bought into the possibility of Private Party becoming champions, mind you, but they gave it a hell of an effort before losing. Gunn Club laid out Jurassic Express afterward, so that appears to be the next program for the tag titles.

Overall Show

Is it really a "Championship Friday" when only two titles were defended and neither of them were truly in jeopardy of changing hands? Rampage has had an issue with coming off as a second-rate Dynamite lately, and while that didn't change with this show, it was an entertaining hour of wrestling. I'm curious if Moxley will be more of a Rampage guy for the time being, but either way, he was a welcome addition to this episode. We got some top-notch wrestling in the main event and the middle of the show was serviceable, so this was an efficient edition of Rampage.

SEE MORE: Rampage Reviews