AEW Rampage: Fight for the Fallen Review - July 29, 2022

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Best Friends (Orange Cassidy, Trent Beretta and Chuck Taylor) def. Jay Lethal, Sonjay Dutt and Satnam Singh

I'm shocked we actually got televised entrances to kick off the show for a change. Usually they're so crammed for time that they start the show with the wrestlers already in the ring. This was the in-ring debut of Lethal, Dutt and Singh as a trio, and it made sense for Cassidy to pin Dutt for the win. It was weird that Dutt was positioned as a total underling in his street clothes instead of the decorated competitor he was in IMPACT, but oh well. This was enjoyable and set up Cassidy vs. Lethal one-on-one for Wednesday's Dynamite.

"All Ego" Ethan Page def. Leon Ruffin

I honestly can't remember the last singles match Page had on AEW TV that he won. Ruffin was the perfect opponent for him because Ruffin has some credibility from his time in WWE NXT and made Page's offense look great, especially his finisher. This was designed to showcase Page and perhaps tease bigger things are on the horizon for him. However, it's going to take more than that for me to care about him on his own.

Lee Moriarty def. Matt Sydal

This had the basic student vs. teacher story. Unfortunately, no one in the crowd seemed to care. Then again, I can't really blame them since these guys are barely featured on the main shows. Don't get me wrong, this was a well-wrestled affair and I'm glad Moriarty picked up the win, but it's going to take more than this for fans to get invested in Moriarty. Hopefully his newfound alliance with Stokley Hathaway will help elevate him and get him more television time.

Chris Jericho Interrupted ROH World Champion Claudio Castagnoli and Challenged ROH Pure Champion Wheeler Yuta

Yuta joining Castagnoli in the ring was interesting because they closed out ROH Death Before Dishonor staring down ROH World Tag Team Champions FTR, so they may be teaming up and chasing those tag titles soon. In the meantime, Yuta has his hands full with Jericho, who he'll face next Wednesday on Dynamite with Jericho's AEW Interim World Championship opportunity up for grabs. This was a solid segment to set that bout up.

Anna Jay def. Ruby Soho

It's going to take more than what they're doing for me to buy into this new "badass" version of Jay. They tried when she first joined The Dark Order two years ago and now it's even more uncharacteristic for her. She'll technically fine in the ring, but despite Soho being a seasoned vet, this was not very good. It was perfectly passable and I appreciate the spotlight on the women in the main event slot, but I find it difficult to give a crap about anything involving Jericho Appreciation Society.

Overall Show

Rampage feels more and more like an afterthought by the week. It's an easy hour of wrestling to sit through, but nothing feels overly important. The in-ring action is always enjoyable, but it's nowhere near what we get on Dynamite and you don't miss much by not tuning in. That was basically the case with this edition. It was essentially an elongated setup show for Dynamite coming up next week. The Fight for the Fallen theme was pretty pointless here.

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