AEW Rampage Review - November 12, 2021

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Jungle Boy def. Bobby Fish

This stemmed from Fish attacking Jungle Boy on Wednesday's Dynamite at the behest of Adam Cole. Fish not receiving a televised entrance wasn't a great indicator of his current status on the show, but at least he's been featured fairly consistently lately. Now all we need is Kyle O'Reilly alongside them and we're good. The actual match was well-wrestled in the time allotted albeit unspectacular. At the very least, Jungle Boy built more momentum ahead of the Falls Count Anywhere six-man tag team match at Full Gear.

Jade Cargill def. Santana Garrett

It's crazy to think that Cargill's AEW debut (which was a wild segment, to say the least) was one year ago yesterday. She's progressed a lot in that time, and while I wouldn't go far as to say that she's championship material yet, she's nearly there and I'm sure she'll be holding gold by her two-year anniversary. Garrett is a notable name in women's wrestling, but this was a slight step above a squash match. The focus was more so on all the brawling that Cargill and Red Velvet did at ringside to promote their upcoming clash in the next round of the AEW TBS Women's Championship Tournament.

Dante Martin def. Ariya Daivari

I can't say I was clamoring to see Daivari in AEW, but I have no problem with him being brought in for a one-off seeing as how this was his home state and he faced a fellow Minnesota native in Martin. Speaking of whom, the crowd was very much behind the high-flier throughout, which means his increased television time over the last two months is working. This was a nice little sprint. It's nice that AEW/Tony Khan gave Lio Rush the night off to grieve the passing of his grandmother from earlier in the week. There was also the invitation to Martin to join Team Taz, which obviously isn't happening. The group has been nearly nonexistent lately.

Matt Hardy def. Orange Cassidy in a Lumberjack Match

Cassidy was right when he said beforehand that it feels like this feud has been going on forever. Seriously, Best Friends have been at odds with the H.F.O. since the summer and it's currently November. The only saving grace to this match is that it should have been the payoff, but now I'm not entirely sure with Hardy winning. I'm all for Hardy picking up a rare, meaningful singles win, but I see no reason to do a rubber match. It was a typical Lumberjack match mess with everyone at ringside getting involved the entire time and there being constant shenanigans. The finish was a pleasant surprise, but please, let this be it between these two.

Overall Show

It didn't may for a strong close to the show, but the best thing I can say about that main event is that it wasn't saved for Saturday, either on the main card or the pre-show. The two matches in the middle were brief but what they needed to be and the opener was enjoyable for what it was and furthered that feud. It was more of a middle-of-the-road edition of Rampage than anything, but I'm already excited for Full Gear, so there wasn't much this show could've done to change that. If you missed it, check out the Countdown to Full Gear special that aired afterward instead. That was much more compelling than this Rampage was based on the 10 minutes I caught of it.

SEE MORE: Rampage Reviews