AEW Rampage Review - September 17, 2021

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

AEW World Tag Team Champions The Lucha Brothers def. The Butcher and The Blade

I honestly didn't know this was for the titles until the bell rang. This match came out of nowhere. Apparently Butcher and Blade are/were the number one ranked team in all of AEW for being undefeated in 2021, yet they only started teaming again earlier this week on the Dark shows. How do they go from not being ranked to being ranked just because Butcher returned? That's strange to me. Nonetheless, this was a solid match where the titles never felt like they were truly in jeopardy. Santana and Ortiz saved Lucha Brothers from the rest of the H.F.O. afterward, setting up an eight-man tag team match for next week's Rampage.

Anna Jay def. The Bunny

I knew there be nothing overly special about this match from an in-ring standpoint, but it was well-worked and I'm glad they didn't go overboard with the interference from Penelope Ford and Tay Conti on the outside. This has been a logical feud since it started and it's nice that we actually have a secondary storyline in the women's division for a change, so I have no complaints about this. Jay winning was the right call as she now prepares to face Ford next week on Rampage. I can see Ford winning that one before these four meet in tag team action.

AEW Women's World Champion Britt Baker and Ruby Soho Exchanged Words

I was worried that we wouldn't get anything more from these women before their big title match on the Grand Slam edition of Dynamite, so this was excellent. It was definitely the most memorable verbal exchange we've seen from the women in AEW in recent memory. Both of them had some strong lines and the audience was into it. It was mission accomplished as they left people looking forward to their upcoming championship clash on Wednesday night. Soho shouldn't and won't win the title this soon, but I've been happy with how she's been presented as a star so far.

AEW TNT Champion Miro def. Fuego Del Sol in a Title vs. Car Match

Yes, you read the stipulation correctly. We found out on Dynamite that Fuego spent some money on a fancy new car after getting signed by AEW last month and decided to put it on the line for another shot at Miro's TNT title. This was as predictable as their original encounter and a lot less fun despite being longer. The story just didn't work as well in this case and I didn't care about a car being up for grabs. I didn't need to see a rematch between these two, but I realize that it was designed to set up Miro vs. Sammy Guevara as a future feud.

Overall Show

I don't know if I'd call this the weakest Rampage yet, but it'd definitely be up there (and I'm well aware there's only been five or six episodes up so far). We got two title matches, but I never genuinely thought we'd get new champions crowned. We got average action on this show and nothing too consequential happened. The dead crowd (because this was taped after Wednesday's Dynamite in the same building) didn't help. Much like with Dynamite, I assume AEW didn't put forth the strongest effort this week because both shows next week are absolutely loaded.

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