AEW Rampage: Homecoming Review - January 12, 2024

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

AEW Continental Crown Champion Eddie Kingston def. ROH Pure Champion Wheeler Yuta (ROH Pure Championship Was Not Defended)

I'm sorry but the AEW Continental Crown Championship already feels like another midcard title AEW doesn't need. We have the AEW International Championship, so what's the difference between that and this? I can't complain too much because it gives Kingston more gold, but we have to be realistic about this. With all of that said, this was the very well-wrestled match you'd expect from these two. Yuta was never going to win, but at least he felt like a credible threat with all of the wins he's been racking up on Rampage as of late.

Swerve Strickland def. Matt Sydal

As seen on Wednesday's Dynamite, Strickland is finally in the AEW World Championship picture where he belongs. My guess is still that we're going to get Strickland, Adam Page and Samoa Joe in a three-way for the title at Revolution. Keeping Strickland's momentum rolling in the meantime is key and this accomplished that. It went a little longer than I thought it would, but Sydal is obviously talented, so I didn't overly mind the length.

Hikaru Shida def. Queen Aminata

Apparently these two previously faced off on an October 2022 edition of Rampage, which I have no collection of. That was back when AEW would infrequently use Aminata in an enhancement role. She was reportedly signed as of a week or two ago, so it's smart to have her make more appearances on AEW TV to get fans familiar with her. She and Shida had a damn good match. I actually would've liked to see Aminata win because she's the fresher face and I have no idea what Shida does from here.

The Dark Order (John Silver, Alex Reynolds and Evil Uno) def. Jake Hager, "Daddy Magic" Matt Menard and "Cool Hand" Angelo Parker

Normally, I'd scoff at the idea of a Dark Order main event (regardless of what show it is), but it made sense in this scenario given that a lot of their biggest moments came at Daily's Place when they were with Brodie Lee. That's why -1 accompanied them to ringside. This was your average Rampage main event and featured nothing out of the ordinary, but it was another Brodie tribute match and the crowd enjoyed it.

Overall Show

I thought the Homecoming edition of Dynamite on Wednesday was way more fun than this despite also emanating from Daily's Place, but it was still a perfectly acceptable edition of Rampage. It was definitely a filler show in that nothing was furthered in a meaningful way, but I've also seen AEW shows that were far more boring and/or inconsequential than this, so it wasn't a total waste of time by any means.

SEE MORE: Rampage Reviews