AEW Rampage Review - July 12, 2024

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

The Kings of the Black Throne def. Premier Athletes (Tony Nese and Ariya Daivari)

There's no denying that Nese and Daivari are good wrestlers, but it's impossible to give a shit about them with the way they've been booked since arriving in AEW. They've never once been a threat to anyone and that includes Kings of the Black Throne. With that in mind, I have no idea why this had to be as competitive as it was. Malakai Black and Brody King really should've won quicker than they did, but it was a win for them, nonetheless.

Roderick Strong def. ​Ben Bishop

The Conglomeration (what the trio of Orange Cassidy, Kyle O'Reilly and Mark Briscoe are calling themselves now) sat in on commentary. Strong will face Dalton Castle on Saturday's Collision where the winner will challenge Briscoe for the ROH World Championship at Death Before Dishonor. Thus,  this was supposed to serve as a squash for Strong before then and was exactly what it needed to be.

Rey Fenix def. AR Fox, Komander and Angelico in a High-Flying Four-Way Match

Yes, this was billed as a "High-Flying" four-way match. It made sense for the four-way we got on the April 20th edition of Collision for obvious reasons, but this was just random. It felt like something you'd see on an episode of ROH TV, where this sort of stuff happens often without stakes. Yes, the action was fun and the crowd was into it, but AEW TV is full of above-average action, so this didn't stand out at all. Fenix winning was pretty predictable since he was the only competitor to get a televised entrance.

Thunder Rosa def. Rachael Ellering

These two had a decent match. There was nothing wrong with it whatsoever, but Ellering is essentially an enhancement talent and I want to see Rosa do something more meaningful. I've enjoyed her feud with Deonna Purrazzo, but I've been ready for it to wrap up for a while. I thought their No Disqualification match on Collision last month was the end of it, but apparently not. I liked the vignette that aired for Purrazzo earlier in the episode, though.

Shane Taylor Promotions (Shane Taylor, Lee Moriarty and Anthony Ogogo) def. Action Andretti and Top Flight

What a weird main event. Don't get me wrong, I like both of these trios, but the feud hasn't been hot enough to warrant this going on last. Despite that, they had a quality contest that was nicely paced. Shane Taylor Promotions winning a televised match for a change was refreshing, but it won't matter if there's no follow-up. Them challenging for the Unified World Trios Championship would be logical, but we'll see if that actually happens.

Overall Show

It looks like the five-match format is here to stay and that's unfortunate. I can see some fans looking at a card like the one we had for this show and thinking it's great to have so much wrestling, but every single one of these matches was inconsequential. Storyline stuff was acknowledged, but nothing was truly furthered. In other words, it was an episode that existed and there's no need to check out anything from it if you missed it.

SEE MORE: Rampage Reviews