AEW Rampage Review - November 4, 2022

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

AEW All-Atlantic Champion Orange Cassidy def. Katsuyori Shibata

It's funny that, if true, Shibata can't be cleared for a formal singles match in Japan but is cleared elsewhere, including in AEW. Reportedly, Cassidy was one of the people he wanted to face in AEW and he got his wish. Hopefully the other match he apparently wants (with Bryan Danielson) isn't far off. This was fun stuff as they meshed perfectly and the crowd was into it. I honestly wouldn't have had an issue with Shibata taking the title off Cassidy, but I'm all for Cassidy continuing to have quality title defenses like this one. His reign is off to a strong start.

Britt Baker and Jamie Hayter def. Madison Rayne and Skye Blue

Rayne and Blue have established a soft alliance over the last month or so and they were easy opponents for Baker and Hayter to run through here. Much like Rayne vs. Tay Melo last week, a commercial break dominated a majority of this match, but it was well worked from what we saw. Baker and Hayer beat up on Toni Storm afterward and Baker said she'd be happy if Hayter wins the AEW Interim Women's World Championship at Full Gear. I suspect that means Baker will factor into the finish and cost her the title "inadvertently."

Ricky Starks Declared Himself for the AEW World Championship Eliminator Tournament

This Eliminator tourney has received next to no attention on AEW TV until tonight, which doesn't make it feel all that important despite there being an AEW World Championship opportunity at stake. Starks competing in it does make a lot of sense and I hope he wins the whole thing. We've barely seen him on TV since he beat Powerhouse Hobbs on the Grand Slam edition of Rampage in September, so this promo was needed (despite being fairly basic). I believe Starks and Page were the only ones to cut promos on television announcing their involvement of this tourney, so I can see it coming down to them in the finals.

WarJoe def. The Gates of Agony

I'm sorry but Samoa Joe and Wardlow's feud with The Embassy has been a complete bore in recent weeks. WarJoe has killed The Embassy and I can't imagine how anyone can view The Embassy as a threat at this point. This was an enjoyable main event, but I'm looking forward to Joe and Wardlow turning on each other more than anything else. Powerhouse Hobbs and Wardlow once again stared each other down to close the show, so it looks like we're getting Wardlow vs. Hobbs first.

Overall Show

Mike Tyson's appearance was advertised in advance for this episode, but he only did commentary for the opener and didn't do anything memorable, so clearly that was solely a ratings ploy. Cassidy vs. Shibata, however, did deliver and this show was worth watching for that alone. The rest of the episode was par for the course for Rampage, but it was perfectly solid. In addition to the rest of the field for the AEW World Championship Eliminator Tournament, we also found out Chris Jericho will defend the ROH World Championship in a four-way against Bryan Danielson, Claudio Castagnoli and Sammy Guevara in a four-way at Full Gear. Why the hell is Guevara involved and not Daniel Garcia?!

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