AEW Rampage: Holiday Bash Review - December 25, 2021

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Jungle Boy def. Isiah Kassidy

This was a good, well-wrestled match, but it came completely out of nowhere, especially when you consider that Jurassic Express are currently chasing the AEW World Tag Team Championship. Jungle Boy isn't doing anything on his own at the moment, but I guess I can't complain about seeing him get the singles spotlight for a change. Private Party and the entire H.F.O. for that matter have been total afterthoughts for a while now, so this just seemed to exist to get the babyfaces on the show, even though I enjoyed this for what it was.

Hook def. Bear Bronson

Bronson was a totally different opponent for Hook than Fuego Del Sol, who Hook faced in his in-ring debut two weeks ago. Bronson's a significantly bigger dude, which is why it was more impressive that Hook was able to throw him around with some of those suplexes. Hook is very much over with the AEW audience, and while I don't fully understand the Hook phenomenon, there's no denying he has skills. It's possible he's being built up for a big match of some sort, but I don't want him to get overexposed by wrestling every week or two. It might be better if AEW attempts to keep him special by having him wrestle occasionally and not regularly.

Kris Statlander def. "Leyla" Leyla Hirsch

This was another random match, but I'm all for women outside of the title picture getting television time for a change, specifically these two. Statlander had a strong showing in her match with Ruby Soho on Dynamite a few weeks ago but lacked direction coming out of that loss. As for Hirsch, we haven't seen much of her at all in recent months and she really should be focused on more. They made the most of the time they had here and had an entertaining outing.

Cody Rhodes def. Sammy Guevara to Win the AEW TNT Championship

Cody and Guevara faced off in the first match in Dynamite history all the way back in October 2019. Guevara has obviously come a long way since then and is much more of a star. Not only did he hold his own against Cody again, he arguably had the better performance. They have quality chemistry together and thus it wasn't shocking that this was as terrific as it was. Of course, my biggest issue with it is that I'm no fan of Cody becoming a three-time AEW TNT Champion. I don't find his character interesting at the moment and putting this belt back on him (because he can't contend for the AEW World Championship) won't solve those issues. We'll see how they handle it, but I'm not sold yet.

Overall Show

Although the undercard was decent and they filled the time nicely, this was basically a one-match show, and it was made newsworthy by the championship changing hands in the main event. I believe this is only the second time ever an AEW title has changed hands on a taped show with the first being when Kenny Omega and Adam Page won the AEW World Tag Team Championship on the Jericho Cruise in January 2020. It was a top-notch main event to boot and I'm happy they actually ended the night with that instead of starting with it like they usually do. Make time for Cody vs. Guevara but feel free to skip the rest. Merry Christmas!

SEE MORE: Rampage Reviews