AEW Rampage Review - October 27, 2023

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Mike Santana def. Ortiz in a No Count-Out, No Disqualification Match

I haven't talked about them at all in my recent Rampage reviews, but I've been digging everything I've been seeing from these two in vignette form and in the backstage segments. I was surprised that their first one-on-one encounter got such a stipulation, but they had a really fun match and showed what they can do on their own. The problem is that AEW's so stacked that I don't see either of them finding much success in singles competition anytime soon. This felt like the blow-off to their program, but I'd definitely be down for more matches between them.

Mark Briscoe Attacked Kip Sabian

Honestly, I completely forgot Briscoe's been out injured since the summer, but I'm happy he's back because he was getting consistent television time before that. Sabian's promo trash-talking the live crowd went on for a little long, but they popped for Briscoe when his music hit. I assume this will lead to Briscoe's in-ring return being against Sabian on next week's Rampage as opposed to a full-fledged feud.

Abadon def. Anna Jay, Willow Nightingale and Skye Blue in an AEW Women's World Championship No. 1 Contender's Four-Way Match

Nightingale and Blue have gotten their fair share of title shots lately and have lost all of them, so while I'm a fan of them both (and especially Nightingale), they essentially canceled each other out here. Regardless, Abadon being involved made it obvious she was winning because, well, she only ever seems to be featured on television whenever it's Halloween season and the women's champion needs an opponent. I don't care about Abadon personally, but she does have history with Hikaru Shida. This was a well-worked four-way.

Konosuke Takeshita def. Kyle Fletcher

Fletcher has made the most of every opportunity he's had on his own since Mark Davis got hurt and this was no exception. Unsurprisingly, he and Takeshita had a terrific back-and-forth main event. The action was entertaining and I appreciated that Fletcher was made to look credible in defeat. He apparently earned the respect of Don Callis, who teased recruiting Fletcher into The Don Callis Family. I don't see it happening, but it's possible Aussie Open joins to give the group a tag team.

Overall Show

Although the biggest highlight of this episode was that excellent extended video package for the AEW World Championship match on Saturday's Collision (and I wish AEW would do more of that because their production team is very talented), this was a strong show on the whole and one of Rampage's best all year. The women's match had stakes, Briscoe returned, the opening and closing matches delivered, and the video package was an awesome piece of business. It'd be wonderful if Rampage was this important more often, but I'm not holding my breath.

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