AEW Rampage Review - September 2, 2022

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

"Hangman" Adam Page and The Dark Order (John Silver and Alex Reynolds) def. Best Friends (Orange Cassidy, Trent Beretta and Chuck Taylor) in an AEW World Trios Championship Tournament Semifinal Match

Page replacing Preston "10" Vance in this tourney was the twist everyone saw coming and, honestly, it makes sense. He probably should have been in it from the get-go. That would've eased the blow of House of Black losing to Dark Order last week on Ramage. Nonetheless, this was the fast-paced, enjoyable affair you'd expect from these six stars. I don't think every trios match in AEW needs to follow the same chaotic formula, but I get the sense that's what will happen.

Rey Fenix def. Blake Christian

Christian has been regularly featured on the AEW shows as of late and this marked his Rampage debut. As I've said quite a bit, he's talented in the ring, but despite all the promotions he's wrestled for in the last year or two, I've had no reason to care about him as a character. He's pretty bland in that respect, but as a spot-fest, this was fun while it lasted. It was simply meant to be a showcase for Fenix ahead of the Casino Ladder match at All Out.

Ortiz and Santana def. AAA Mixed Tag Team Champions Sammy Guevara and Tay Melo (Non-Title)

This feud has been furthered logically over the last two months, but I truly can't bring myself to care about it. Ortiz looks lost out there, the pairing of Guevara and Melo is beyond obnoxious (to the point where they're channel-changing material), and Soho has lost whenever it has mattered most. This was on the same level as their original encounter from last week in that it was well wrestled but not a ton to it. The babyfaces winning sets up a rubber match for the All Out pre-show, a rubber match I have no desire to see.

Jay Lethal, Sonjay Dutt, Satnam Singh and The Motor City Machine Guns Interrupted AEW TNT Champion and ROH/IWGP/AAA World Tag Team Champions FTR

I know Wardlow and FTR won a six-man tag team squash match on Wednesday's Dynamite, but that didn't really accomplish anything other than establish them as a unit. AEW really needed to get some heat on this match and that's what this was supposed to do. I was happy to see and hear from The Motor City Machine Guns and I applaud their attempt, but this was fairly tame. The match should be great, though.

Ricky Starks def. QT Marshall

I don't understand why there's been a side story to Starks vs. Powerhouse Hobbs involving The Factory. The faction sucks and whatever their new gimmick is supposed to be isn't overly interesting. Starks and Marshall had a solid match and I'm glad Starks got to build more momentum ahead of All Out, but it wasn't worthy of the main event spot. I didn't like how Chris Jericho and Bryan Danielson took the attention away from Starks and Hobbs brawling, either.

Overall Show

Tony Khan was on a media conference call this week where he acknowledged that Rampage has been in a slump this summer due to several stars being out injured. Well, almost all of those injured stars have returned and this show was more of the same. I was somewhat optimistic coming in because it was live, but there wasn't much to write home about whatsoever. The build to All Out has been a total mess, but I have no doubt it will deliver given what's on tap.

SEE MORE: Rampage Reviews