AEW Rampage Review - December 1, 2023

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Danhausen, FTW Champion Hook, AEW International Champion Orange Cassidy and Trent Beretta def. "Daddy Magic" Matt Menard, "Cool Hand" Angelo Parker and The Dark Order (Evil Uno and Alex Reynolds)

This was the epitome of a Rampage match in that it featured a few fan favorites and thus the crowd had fun with it, but it was a waste of time otherwise. That's not to say it was bad, and undercard comedy has its place in AEW and wrestling in general, but this accomplished nothing and did more to drag down Cassidy than anything. I understand he has alliances with the people he teamed with, but he just beat Jon Moxley clean at Full Gear and shouldn't be subjected to this sort of stuff. That's in addition to how it's virtually impossible to care about anything involving Dark Order at this point.

Sting and Ric Flair Addressed the Audience

Flair did a lot of local media for this Dynamite/Rampage taping heading into Wednesday night, so I suppose it made sense to put him in some sort of segment to get him in front of the live crowd, but this easily could have passed as a post-show dark segment because he and Sting were out there to say a whole lot of nothing. I'm glad AEW is making the most of Sting while they have him, but Flair absolutely does not need to be along for the ride. As most people are aware by now, Flair said something absurdly dumb during his promo that was obviously edited out when it aired. He hasn't been in AEW very long and he's already proving to be a liability.

The Don Callis Family (Powerhouse Hobbs, Konosuke Takeshita and Kyle Fletcher) def. Three Local Athletes

Don Callis Family lost their big Street Fight against The Golden Jets, Kota Ibushi and Paul Wight right before Full Gear, so this short-and-sweet squash was designed to get them back on track. Unsurprisingly, their feud with the babyfaces isn't over based on Don Callis' post-match promo. I have little interest in seeing another multi-man match involving the two groups when the focus should really be on Konosuke Takeshita vs. Kenny Omega.

Skye Blue, Kris Statlander and Hikaru Shida def. The Outcasts (Ruby Soho and Saraya) and Anna Jay

Statlander and Shida spoke in a backstage segment beforehand after losing their respective titles at Full Gear, so it's possible they'll seek rematches soon (as they should). Meanwhile, Blue will challenge Toni Storm for the AEW Women's World Championship on Wednesday's Dynamite, so it was logical to put her over before then. This was a decent six-woman tag team match, but I have no idea why The Outcasts are still a thing.

AAA Mega Champion El Hijo del Vikingo, AAA Cruiserweight Champion Komander and Penta El Zero Miedo def. ROH World Six-Man Tag Team Champion Brian Cage and The Workhorsemen

Cage partnering with The Workhorsemen was pretty pointless. That immediately made it obvious his team wasn't winning, especially after the luchadors teased facing off with Top Flight and Action Andretti backstage on Dynamite. This only existed to give them a credibility-boosting win before then. This was the usual spot-fest from the babyface trio. It was a hell of a sprint, but it was yet another Rampage main event that lacked storyline substance.

Overall Show

If you're a tag team enthusiast, then you probably loved this show. Hell, even Sting and Flair had a segment together like they're a tag team (and thank God they're not). Even with them appearing, this was another average edition of Rampage with nothing worth seeking out. The wrestling was serviceable as always, but there was no meaningful storyline progression. It was an enjoyable albeit inconsequential hour of wrestling, which has been the norm for Rampage for a long time now.

SEE MORE: Rampage Reviews