AEW Rampage Review - March 10, 2023

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Sammy Guevara def. Action Andretti

Ricky Starks wrapped up his rivalry with Chris Jericho at Revolution. Was it necessary to continue this crap, too? I know Andretti thwarted Guevara's interference during that match, but Guevara beating Andretti accomplishes nothing. Yes, Andretti is in a better spot than he was before this storyline started considering he's not signed to the AEW roster, but he barely wrestles on Dynamite (which is where it matters), doesn't have many important wins under his belt and we still know very little about him as a character. So far, this "push" of his hasn't panned out. He and Guevara had a quality contest, but the interference from Daniel Garcia made for a lame finish.

The Acclaimed def. Jack Cartwheel and Starboy Charlie

Cartwheel won a lot of people over with his Dark match against Konosuke Takeshita this week, but I'm definitely in the vast minority of those who didn't care about his acrobatic act and thought it was goofy. That's just me, though, because the crowds seem to enjoy him. That said, this was all about Acclaimed and giving them a rebound win following their failure to reclaim the AEW World Tag Team Championship at Revolution. I'm glad they have some direction and aren't off the show completely, but a storyline with Jericho Appreciation Society? I'll pass.

Konosuke Takeshita def. Preston Vance

As I've said before, Vance had a ton of heat after betraying The Dark Order and even disrespecting -1 (Brodie Lee's son), but the follow-up has been less than stellar. He's had a few impressive showings here and here but can't seem to win when it matters most. I can't complain about a victory for Takeshita, though. The guy is great. This was a quality contest from what we saw because a decent chunk of it happened during the commercial break.

Mark Briscoe Announced a Reach for the Sky Ladder Match for the Vacant ROH World Tag Team Championship at ROH Supercard of Honor

Briscoe has been coming out with the ROH World Tag Team Championship since Jay's passing in January, and as cool as that's been, there was the question of what would eventually happen with the tag titles once ROH TV got going. Well, he announced here that four teams will vie for the vacant belts in what he called a Reach for the Sky Ladder match (an awesome tribute to his brother) at Supercard of Honor later this month. That's an excellent way of determining new champs and it should be an incredible match to boot, especially since The Lucha Brothers were announced as the first entrants here.

Riho def. Nyla Rose

What a weird match to have headline Rampage. I know it's Rampage and I shouldn't be surprised, but these women have barely been on AEW TV as of late and thus it was hard for me. The crowd was more into it than I thought and it's not like it was a bad match, but I'm not excited about the idea about another Riho push so she can be inserted into this AEW originals vs. newcomers storyline. That became clear afterward when Saraya's group (who I believe are now known as The Outcasts) emerged and did their silly spray-painting gimmick on Riho.

Overall Show

This was pretty par for the course for Rampage, and I don't say that as a compliment. There were some well-wrestled matches, but there was less star power and storyline-significant stuff than there has been in recent weeks, and the fact it wasn't live didn't help. The Mark Briscoe announcement was easily my favorite thing on the show and everything else made it feel like a glorified edition of Dark. It wasn't a total waste of time, but you didn't miss much if you didn't tune in.

SEE MORE: Rampage Reviews