AEW Rampage Review - August 30, 2024

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Jeff Jarrett & Jay Lethal def. The Undisputed Kingdom (Matt Taven and Mike Bennett) and Private Party in a Three-Way Tag Team Match

I genuinely do not understand what the point of these multi-tag team matches are other than to get everyone on the show. Why not put a future AEW World Tag Team Championship opportunity at stake? All three of these teams are as cold as ice at the moment, but Jarrett still has some momentum. This was a well-worked three-way tag match, but I couldn't bring myself to care considering the outcome was irrelevant.

RevPro British Women's Champion and BBW Women's Champion Mina Shirakawa def. Missa Kate (Non-Title)

I'm only acknowledging Shirakawa as RevPro British Women's Champion and BBW Women's Champion because she came out with both belts. If she doesn't come out with the belts, I won't acknowledge them, but I'd rather she didn't only because AEW has so many damn titles as it is and the excessive amount of belts can get confusing. As for Kate, she's a former NWA talent. In fact, she was in action on Tuesday's NWA Powerrr, though I assume that was filmed a while ago because she announced at one point her time with the promotion was over. I'm actually surprised this lasted as long as it did considering it was supposed to be a squash.

Grizzled Young Veterans def. The Outrunners

This technically wasn't Grizzled Young Veterans' AEW in-ring debut as they lost to The Acclaimed not too long ago. This did mark their first AEW win, though. I have no idea why it took them as long as it did to put away The Outunners, who are the ultimate enhancement team. There was nothing wrong with this from an in-ring standpoint, but it would've been better to put over the new team quickly and decisively in order to establish them as a threat.

Nyla Rose def. Aminah Belmont

Apparently Rose's rivalry with The Outcasts is already over and I'm not complaining. The Outcasts have set their sights on the returning Jamie Hayter, and Rose is back to working meaningless squashes. It's been cool to see Rose show more personality as a babyface, but I have zero faith these wins will ever amount to anything. Unlike Grizzled Young Veterans vs. The Outrunners, this was kept short and sweet as it should have been.

Konosuke Takeshita def. Komander, Lio Rush and The Beast Mortos in a Four-Way Match

You can throw this in the same category as the opener in that this had no reason to exist. Don't get me wrong, the action was awesome, but it would be wonderful if there was actually something at stake. I'm baffled that Takeshita wasn't an entrant in the Casino Gauntlet match at All In (what a fall from grace he's had over the last year from an on-screen standpoint), but at least he was able to pick up a victory in the main event of Rampage, for whatever that's worth these days.

Overall Show

When the most newsworthy part of your show is Grizzled Young Veterans having a match, it's probably not a show worth watching. The main event was very entertaining, but it was completely random, much like the opener. The other three matches were squashes. I hate that Rampage now follows a five-match format because this is what it's been reduced to: a forgettable show with some solid matches that serve no purpose.

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