AEW Rampage Review - July 8, 2022

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Eddie Kingston def. Konosuke Takeshita

Kingston may not look like your prototypical pro wrestler, but he works wonderfully with just about everyone. He especially thrives against those who hit as hard as he does, so this was a highly enjoyable opener. Takeshita has been super impressive in the handful of matches he's had on AEW TV so far (as well as on the Dark shows), so hopefully we continue to see more of him. We found out from Kingston later in the show that he will face Chris Jericho in a Barbed Wire Death match (ugh) on Dynamite's Night 2 of Fyter Fest. Fingers crossed that actually marks the end of their long-running rivalry.

Gates of Agony def. ROH World Champion Jonathan Gresham and Lee Moriarty

Toa Lion and Kaun (Gates of Agony) are a part of Tully Blanchard Enterprises along with Brian Cage. If you have no clue who they are, I don't blame you one bit. The only exposure you would have had to them as a team was at Ring of Honor's Supercard of Honor pay-per-view back in April and in that quick video package that aired on Rampage a week or two ago. They're a talented tandem, but we just need to see more of them. The same can be said for Gresham, who has done nearly nothing on AEW TV as ROH World Champion. This was a well-worked tag team match, but this was more about Gresham betraying Moriarty than anything. Turning Gresham heel seems like a questionable choice, but I'm willing to see where it goes.

ROH Women's World Champion Mercedes Martinez and Serena Deeb def. Kayla Sparks and Christina Marie

Martinez and Deeb have been doing the "feuding partners" gimmick in recent weeks where they'll team up and attempt to one up each other. They haven't faced any real competition, mind you, so these have been total squashes for them. Afterward, Deeb finally attacked Martinez, so here's hoping that leads to a bout between them for the ROH Women's World Championship being made official for Death Before Dishonor.

Orange Cassidy def. Tony Nese

I'm sorry but this felt like a main event match for Dark or Elevation, not Rampage. At the very least, it could have been a midcard showcase match for Cassidy on Dynamite. I know they're trying with Nese by putting Mark Sterling with him, but I simply can't bring myself to care about the guy. That said, Nese can obviously go and Cassidy is over, so the live crowd didn't seem to care about the obvious outcome. I wasn't a fan of all the shenanigans here and definitely didn't need to last as long as it did, but it was a quality contest on the whole.

Overall Show

I feel like Rampage is starting to become ROH TV with how much we've seen Gresham, Tully Blanchard Enterprises and others in recent weeks. Maybe that will continue to be the case until ROH gets its own weekly program? Rampage is clearly AEW's secondary show compared to Dynamite, but it's better than nothing, I suppose. Nonetheless, this was solid stuff from Rampage. Kingston vs. Takeshita was easily the best thing on the entire episode, but the matches in the middle built toward Death Before Dishonor and the main event was serviceable.

SEE MORE: Rampage Reviews