AEW Rampage Review - November 15, 2024

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Hikaru Shida def. Leila Grey

Much like Shida's recent Rampage match against Viva Van, this was essentially an extended showcase for Shida. Grey scored some offense, but this was all about Shida for the most part. The timing was weird because Grey is scheduled to face Athena in a Proving Ground match on next week's ROH TV and she came off like an enhancement talent here, but I'm sure Tony Khan couldn't care less about that (even though he's the one booking everything).

Mark Briscoe def. Ariya Daivari​​

Tomohiro Ishii pinning Chris Jericho on last week's Dynamite and being announced as the next challenger to the ROH World Championship in a few weeks has essentially put Briscoe on the back burner. Perhaps he can get the belt back at Final Battle (a la Claudio Castagnoli two years ago), but I'm not holding my breath. This was needlessly competitive considering Daivari is a lower-level wrestler.

Komander def. Rocky Romero

Komander never really wins when it matters most and Romero never really wins when it matters most (at least in AEW), so it was difficult to care about the outcome. Then I remembered that Komander will be facing Shelton Benjamin on Saturday's Collision, so that made it obvious Komander was winning here. They had a nice match, but nothing you haven't seen from these guys before.

La Faccion Ingobernable (Rush and The Beast Mortos) def. Richard Holliday and Alec Price

Price is a standout on the northeast indie wrestling scene, so it was cool to see him make an appearance here. However, it was depressing to see Holliday treated like just another dude after his impressive run in MLW. I'm honestly shocked WWE or AEW haven't picked him up yet. At any rate, this was a standard showcase for LFI before their Full Gear 4-Way Contenders Series match with The Acclaimed on Collision.

Ricochet def. Dante Martin

Much like during Komander vs. Romero, MVP was shown watching from backstage. The Hurt Syndicate handed Ricochet their card and he has yet to turn them down, so I like that as a potential program once Ricochet's done with Konosuke Takeshita. This was the fun spot-fest you'd expect from these two, but it was sad that the crowd was largely quiet. Ricochet on Rampage should not become a recurring pattern because that wouldn't be an encouraging sign for his future.

Overall Show

I've been saying it for weeks, but it's painfully apparent that AEW is phoning it in (or at least more than usual) with Rampage until it's canceled in a couple of months. If you were waiting for something special from this show, you did not get it. Even Ricochet vs. Martin, while enjoyable, wasn't what it could have been, especially in front of a hotter crowd. This program is truly a waste of time.

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