AEW Rampage Review - February 9, 2024

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

The Undisputed Kingdom (Roderick Strong and ROH World Tag Team Champions Matt Taven and Mike Bennett) def. AEW International Champion Orange Cassidy and Roppongi Vice

As I've said before, Undisputed Kingdom have completely cooled off since Worlds End, so this was a necessary win for them. It also gave Strong an additional momentum boost before he challenges Cassidy for the AEW International Championship at Revolution. This was the enjoyable, well-wrestled opener you'd expect from these six stars. Undisputed Kingdom took out Rocky Romero afterward, so that might have been their way of writing him off the show for now.

The Young Bucks def. Mondo Rox and Robbie Lit

I believe this marked the Bucks' first match since losing to The Golden Jets at Full Gear in November. They came out here wearing the same bloodied clothes they wore on Wednesday's Dynamite when they attacked Sting and Darby Allin. They have a new entrance song as well, so I appreciate the change of pace with them. This was a straightforward squash for them. Are they going to rack up a bunch of wins in the next month to climb the power rankings, or will they simply award themselves a shot at the AEW World Tag Team Championship at Revolution being EVPs?

Mistico def. Matt Sydal

Don't ask me how I remember this, but these two originally faced off on a June 2011 episode of Raw (the same night CM Punk cut his famous pipebomb promo as a matter of fact). Sydal recently ran it back with Chris Jericho on Rampage after having a few matches with him in WWE in 2010, so maybe Tony Khan wants him to face old opponents from over a decade ago. In all seriousness, this was a fun match, but I'm not sure what purpose it was supposed to serve. The CMLL stuff continues to do nothing for me.

Willow Nightingale and Kris Statlander def. The Outcasts (Saraya and Ruby Soho)

The Outcasts crap is well past is expiration date, so Soho turning on Saraya and Harley Cameron was long overdue. The match itself was irrelevant, but it was well worked and accomplished what it needed to. Nightingale and Statlander remain a cohesive unit (for now) and The Outcasts crumble. Julia Hart and Skye Blue faced off with Nightingale and Statlander afterward. It was nice to see the women showcased in the main event spot for a change.

Overall Show

This was far from an important edition of Rampage and it's certainly not one you need to seek it out, but it was serviceable and the hour had enough packed into it that it wasn't a total waste of time. Young Bucks had their in-ring return, Mistico and Sydal made the most of their time, and the opener and the main event had good action. It was a solid show by Rampage standards and I'm glad the quality has largely been consistent lately.

SEE MORE: Rampage Reviews