AEW Rampage Review - October 13, 2023

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Daniel Garcia, "Daddy Magic" Matt Menard and "Cool Hand" Angelo Parker def. Brother Zay and The Hardys

As I've said before, Jericho Appreciation Society is basically still a thing, just without Chris Jericho and Sammy Guevara. The group was not good to begin with and it serves even less of a purpose now. With Garcia picking up the win for his team, I'm less convinced a breakup is imminent. This was a fairly standard six-man tag team match with the usual chaotic action at times. The Hardys wrestle weekly, but rarely are their matches important. They feel quite a ways off from challenging for the AEW World Tag Team Championship.

Jay Lethal def. Trent Beretta

It was teased on Tuesday night during The Buy-In before Dynamite that Lethal was next in line for a shot at Eddie Kingston's ROH World Championship, so this felt like it earned Lethal that opportunity without it being labeled a number one contender's match. He and Beretta had the quality contest you'd expect from them. Lethal is one of the best ROH World Champions in the last decade (if not ever), so him vs. Kingston makes sense. I guarantee you it will happen on Rampage, though.

Skye Blue def. Emi Sakura

Blue continues to sport darker makeup and a gloomier attitude since being "misted" by Julia Hart several weeks ago. She's still in babyface mode, but I wouldn't be opposed to seeing how she'd do as a heel since she's essentially been the same character her entire time in AEW. She and Sakura had a well-worked match and it gave Blue her first televised singles win in AEW in months. I'm curious where this "transformation" with her is leading.

Blackpool Combat Club (Wheeler Yuta and Claudio Castagnoli) def. The Gates of Agony

My hope coming out of Mogul Embassy's run as ROH World Six-Man Tag Team Champions was that Gates of Agony could get a chance to shine in tag team competition and that's what we've seen seeing lately. Granted, they didn't win here, but being competitive with Blackpool Combat Club is an impressive feat in itself. This was a good main event, but it doesn't appear to be leading to anything more between them.

Overall Show

Of all the Rampage shows I've seen, this was one of them. That isn't to say it was bad by any means, but it certainly wasn't must-see. This was a solid effort on the whole, but nothing felt overly important. It was an hour of wrestling that existed. It's cool that Mistico vs. Rocky Romero has been advertised so far in advance for next week's episode. I don't think it will have any storyline implications, but it should be a fun attraction, if nothing else.

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