AEW Rampage Review - April 1, 2022

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

The Young Bucks def. Top Flight

Young Bucks had one of Top Flight's first televised matches back in late 2020, so it was cool to see them run it back here. The two teams obviously work well together and this was a blast of a bout. Yes, it was a bit of a spot-fest, but I enjoyed it and it was positioned perfectly as the opener. Top Flight didn't need to win here, but they certainly gained something in defeat.

Sammy Guevara and Tay Conti Interrupted Dan Lambert, Men of the Year and Paige VanZant

Everything about this angle has made for terrible television so far. If Guevara and Conti are a legitimately happy couple as they constantly claim to be on social media, more power to them, but they come off as obnoxious on the show. Lambert is supposed to be a heat magnet and yet the crowds seem to be cheering him over Guevara and Conti. Meanwhile, Men of the Year are afterthoughts, and while that's always been the case, it's even worse now that Scorpio Sky is AEW TNT Champion. This segment sucked.

House of Black (Malakai Black, Brody King and Buddy Matthews) def. Fuego Del Sol and The Dark Order (Evil Uno and Stu Grayson)

House of Black had so much momentum coming off their win over Death Triangle and Erick Redbeard at Revolution a month ago, and yet AEW has yet to do anything of note with them. I realize they're probably in between feuds at the moment and I'm glad they appeared on this episode, but they should be facing more credible competition than Fuego and the Dark Order goofs. This served as a solid showcase for them.

Jamie Hayter def. Skye Blue to Qualify for the Women's Owen Hart Cup

Blue has always excelled in the enhancement role for AEW and I'd like to see her actually win at some point on AEW TV, but this was not that time. Hayter was a shoe-in for the women's Owen Hart Cup, though I didn't mind that this was a competitive contest. Blue was able to score some offense before Hayter went over in the end. I'd like to see Hayter go far in the tourney, but I'm prepared for her to be bumped in the first round.

Keith Lee def. Powerhouse Hobbs

This was one the matches I was most anticipating upon Lee's arrival in AEW, and while it was far from a barn burner, it was an entertaining main event. A majority of it felt like a standard television main event and I'm sure they could do better with more time, but they maximized their minutes and Lee winning was the right outcome. Team Taz stood tall to end the show, so clearly this feud between them and the duo of Lee and Swerve Strickland will continue.

Overall Show

This felt like an afterthought of an episode with everything else going on with it being the eve of WWE's WrestleMania weekend (including the AEW-owned Ring of Honor Supercard of Honor pay-per-view), but it still turned out to be an enjoyable episode. The opening and closing matches were a treat, Hayter qualified for the Owen Hart Cup, and House of Black were spotlighted. I could have done without the stuff involving Guevara and Conti, but this was a thumbs-up show otherwise.

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