AEW Rampage Review - November 5, 2021

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Bryan Danielson def. Anthony Bowens

Between this match and the match he has coming up next week with Rocky Romero on Dynamite, I'm starting to think Danielson has it built into his contract that he has to wrestle at least once a week. I mean, has anyone else in AEW wrestled with such consistency over the last month and a half? It's either that or this matchup was only added to the show because Tony Khan wanted Max Caster to get that WWE dig in there during his pre-match rap. Either way, you'll get no complaints out of me. Some of the WWE digs are dumb and unnecessary, but that one was actually funny (and arguably well deserved). The match was nothing special, but it was solid. Bowens doesn't get enough credit for being a competent competitor in the ring, but it's hard to care about him on his own. I honestly think Danielson should've beat him quicker than he did. Despite that, Danielson has been giving it his all lately, so this was a treat of an opener. It also served as a warm-up for him ahead of Full Gear where he'll face Miro in the finals of the AEW World Championship Eliminator Tournament.

CM Punk and Eddie Kingston Brawled

This was everything you could have hoped for from these two. I had high expectations for this verbal exchange following their brief interaction last week on Rampage and it definitely delivered. Both guys were great, but Kingston cut the stronger promo of the two. The dude is the real deal and showed some incredible emotion and passion in this promo. This is the type of segment that sells people on pay-per-views. The match at Full Gear should be entertaining, but what I'm truly excited for is more promo battles between these two. My only nitpick is that Kingston didn't add any context to what he was talking about when he referring to his history with Punk and the problem he has with him, though it is worth noting the crowd was more behind him than Punk. That alone is impressive.

Red Velvet def. The Bunny in an AEW TBS Women's Championship Tournament First-Round Match

If we're going to complain about the Queen's Crown tournament matches in WWE getting virtually no time, then the same has to be said for this match. I wasn't expecting a barn burner from these two, but they got all of three or four minutes for a first-round tournament matchup. How good could this have been with the time they were allotted? Bunny is decent, but I find it difficult to care about most of her matches, while Velvet is still improving. On the bright side, the right woman won and now we have Velvet vs. Jade Cargill II to look forward to in the next round.

Adam Cole def. John Silver

The Budge bullshit is pretty dumb. I find it funny on Being The Elite, but not everyone who watches Dynamite and Rampage also watches the YouTube show, so I wouldn't lean too much into that because everyone else must feel lost listening to the constant references. Other than that, this was an enjoyable main event. Silver is damn good and I'm all for him getting singles opportunities. I'm sure he'll be a breakout star once The Dark Order breaks up down the line. He actually came close to beating Cole on a few occasions, but Cole went over as he should have. We found out earlier in the evening it will be The Super Kliq vs. Christian Cage and Jurassic Express in a Falls Count Anywhere six-man tag team match at Full Gear.

Overall Show

We got two more match announcements for Full Gear on this show between the aforementioned six-man tag team affair and Punk vs. Kingston. Between that, the three quality matches and the hot face-off between Punk and Kingston, this was an easy thumbs-up edition of Rampage. I'm glad they took advantage of one of the few times the show is actually live and delivered a fun night of action for a crowd that was supposed to get St. Louis had the schedule not shifted.

SEE MORE: Rampage Reviews