AEW Rampage Review - December 8, 2023

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

AEW International Champion Orange Cassidy def. Angelico

This was set up on Thursday's edition of ROH TV. Angelico unsuccessfully challenged Eddie Kingston for the ROH World Championship and I though they might be it for this short-lived singles push, but it's cool he got another opportunity to shine here. Of course, there was zero reason to believe he was taking the title, but they had a quality contest. I could've done without the Serpentico and Danhausen nonsense at ringside.

Abadon def. Trish Adora

Julia Hart recently confronted Abadon after one of Abadon's matches, confirming that Abadon is next in line for a shot at the AEW TBS Championship. If you're a fan of the spooky stuff, then their feud will probably be for you. This existed to give Abadon another win to make her look like more of a threat to the title, so Adora didn't have a chance to do much. She's a mainstay on ROH TV, but even there it feels like she spins her wheels and could be doing more.

The Don Callis Family (Powerhouse Hobbs and Konosuke Takeshita) def. Christopher Daniels and Matt Sydal

Don Callis Family has a handful of great wrestlers in it who Tony Khan should be adamant about pushing in singles competition, but because he wants to protect them and avoid booking them to lose right now, none of them are in the Continental Classic. Instead, these two have been wrestling pointless tag matches on Rampage. Yes, they're winning, but they're obviously in a holding pattern until Khan figures out what to do with them next. This was a standard showcase for Hobbs and Takeshita, but I wish they were doing more to set up a rematch between Takeshita and Kenny Omega, which I'm not sure we're getting at this point.

Bryan Danielson def. Daniel Garcia in a Continental Classic Blue League Match

These two had a terrific series of matches last year, so it was no surprise that they killed it again here. Garcia winning three straight matches disqualifies him from winning the tournament, which he was never going to win to begin with, but he's had strong performances in every single match he's had so far. We can only hope the endgame is him finally embracing the audience and doing something more meaningful, but considering Khan failed to capitalize on his momentum in the summer of 2022, I don't have a ton of confidence.

Overall Show

This was very much a one-match show. Cassidy vs. Angelico was enjoyable for what it was but hardly worth seeking out. The two matches in the middle were squashes and only the main event stood out. That's the "Bryan Danielson effect" for you, ladies and gentlemen. All in all, this was an average edition of Rampage. Meanwhile, Collision is shaping up to be a pretty good show on Saturday night, despite it being taped on Tuesday.

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