AEW Rampage Review - April 8, 2022

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Bryan Danielson def. Trent Beretta

This has been the case since the start of AEW, but Beretta consistently shines in singles competition. I've always been a Best Friends fan, but it may be time to split them up with Wheeler Yuta now doing his own thing and Beretta clearly being better off without them. This was a very entertaining opener, but of course, you can never expect anything less than that from Danielson. They worked well together and I thought Beretta had a solid showing in defeat.

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

Cody Rhodes and whatever he was doing was among the worst things in all of AEW toward the end of his time there, but now that he's gone, this storyline has taken his spot. Seriously, this stuff is awful. God bless Guevara and Conti if they're a happy couple in real life, but they're insufferable on the show, and putting them with Lambert and his legion of losers hasn't helped. Sadly, Scorpio Sky is still an afterthought despite being the AEW TNT Champion. Boston actually booed Guevara and Conti over Lambert, which I thought was impossible. This was a really lame segment. Less of this crap, please.

Swerve Strickland def. QT Marshall

Marshall works well in the gatekeeper role for AEW, but he isn't terribly exciting, so I don't know if he's the best person to be putting people like Strickland with because I'm someone who immediately loses interest when Marshall shows up on my screen. The match was serviceable and was fine was as a showcase for Strickland. The focus was really on Ricky Starks' post-match promo where he challenged Strickland and Keith Lee to a tag team match against himself and Powerhouse Hobbs for next week.

Red Velvet def. Willow Nightingale to Qualify for the Women's Owen Hart Cup

Willow just appeared at Ring of Honor's Supercard of Honor last Friday where she fell short against Mercedes Martinez in a match to determine the interim ROH Women's World Champion (a.k.a. a number one contender's match). She's made a handful of appearances before on the Dark shows as well as in ROH and MLW. I'd be stunned if AEW doesn't eventually sign her. I wasn't bummed she didn't advance, but I'm glad she looked good in defeat and that the Boston crowd was behind her. Props to Velvet for playing into the boos. Hopefully she actually turns because she seems to be more of a natural heel.

Jon Moxley def. ROH Pure Champion Wheeler Yuta (Non-Title)

Much like FTR, Yuta has had a hell of a week. He wont the ROH Pure Championship at Supercard of Honor last Friday and headlined Rampage with Moxley a week later. His last two matches with Moxley were glorified squashes, but this was way more competitive and featured a breakout performance from Yuta. I was skeptical of him losing his first match as champion, but it was nice exposure for the title and he was protected in defeat after kicking out of the Paradigm Shift twice. Between that and the blood, they really went all out, and while I'm not typically a fan of that sort of stuff in a random TV match, it worked here and the crowd ate it up. Now the key is following up with Yuta and to continue booking him strongly.

Overall Show

Between the opening and closing matches and William Regal sitting in on commentary at one point, this episode was all about the Blackpool Combat Club and I'm not complaining. There typically isn't a ton to go out of your way to see on Rampage, and although that was once again the case in the middle, the two aforementioned matches are worth seeking out, specifically that excellent main event. We need that sort of star power on Rampage more consistently.

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