AEW Rampage Review - December 2, 2022

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Darby Allin def. Cole Karter

Karter cost Allin a match against Jay Lethal on Dynamite a month or two ago. Was it explained that Lethal hired him to do that? I honestly don't remember. Either way, this was a well-wrestled opener with nice energy. Karter is impressive, but being a member of The Factory will not benefit him in the long run, at least as far as being taken seriously by the audience. Allin will challenge Samoa Joe for the AEW TNT Championship on Dynamite, which I'm looking forward to.

ROH/IWGP/AAA World Tag Team Champions FTR Accepted AEW World Tag Team Champions The Acclaimed's Challenge

The Acclaimed are going to need more character development beyond the scissoring stuff to stay interesting and over as champions. That said, this was a simple segment to set them up to defend against FTR on Dynamite next week. I'm actually surprised we getting the match this soon without any real build, but hey, it's a plus that FTR are getting a title shot at all considering they've been number one contenders for most of the year and haven't gotten a single shot. The involvement of Jay Lethal, Jeff Jarrett and Gunn Club in this segments means both teams are unfortunately still in the mix.

Jay Lethal and Jeff Jarrett def. Private Party

As I've said before, I have zero desire to see Lethal and Jarrett continue teaming. Jarrett should have had his moment to shine at Full Gear and then transitioned into a backstage role with the company full-time, but instead, he and Lethal lost at the pay-per-view and are chasing the tag titles, anyway. Make it make sense. This was decent, but I hate that the push for Lethal and Jarrett comes at the expense of a team with actual promise like Private Party.

Ember Moon def. Dani Mo

The new aggressive streak from Athena continues to pay dividends. This is the most compelling she's been as a character in years, though it's odd we haven't heard her cut many promos on television explaining her actions as of late. This was a total squash as it should have been. Athena practically begged Mercedes Martinez to come out afterward to save Mo, but Martinez never showed. They'll battle for the ROH Women's World Championship next Saturday at Final Battle.

AEW All-Atlantic Champion Orange Cassidy def. QT Marshall in a Lumberjack Match

This was a Rampage main event if I had ever seen one. That isn't to say there was anything necessarily wrong with it, but I couldn't bring myself to care even if I tried, especially with the pointless Lumberjack stipulation. They tried to convince fans that Marshall might win with Kip Sabian's help, but that was the only mildly interesting nearfall of the match. Afterward, House of Black laid waste to the remaining lumberjacks, so I appreciate that they were featured this week (albeit briefly) after returning on last Wednesday's Dynamite.

Overall Show

AEW really tried to shove a ton into this hour, including the two major match announcements for Wednesday's Dynamite. There was also a sit-down interview with Renee Paquette and Saraya along with several other backstage promos and the random AEW debut of Shane Taylor. In other words, nothing had much time to breathe, but at least the show wasn't as inconsequential as it normally is. That said, none of the matches themselves are worth seeking out. You can probably catch most of the important highlights on social media.

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