Malaki Black def. Lee JohnsonBlack's entrance is so damn cool live. I still prefer his WWE one, but his AEW entrance is awesome as well. In a previous promo, he promised to take his time decimating Johnson and that's exactly what he did. In fact, he's done everything he said he would do so far in AEW, so I love how he's been a man of his word. It helps him establish credibility and makes him a compelling character in general. Usually, I'm more in favor of shorter squash matches, but this accomplished what it needed to and the psychology was well done. Based on what happened afterward, Black will face Dustin Rhodes next week on Dynamite. Eddie Kingston Attacked AEW TNT Champion MiroAlthough I was looking forward to Kingston vs. Miro at All Out on paper purely from an in-ring standpoint, the match desperately needed some last-minute heat because the feud came out of nowhere and this provided that. Miro's mic work was solid per usual and Kingston was also great. Kingston getting the upper hand was necessary to send the message that Miro is in jeopardy of losing his title even though he actually isn't. Kris Statlander def. Rebel and Jamie Hayter in a 2-on-1 Handicap MatchI realize Hayter just debuted, but it would have been moronic for Statlander to lose so close to her AEW Women's World Championship opportunity against Britt Baker this Sunday. This was designed to make her look strong before then and it did just that. It was a well-worked Handicap match with Rebel taking the pinfall loss as she should have. Statlander's winning ways in 2021 have been impressive, but I still wish we got to hear more from her on the mic in the leadup to the event. Darby Allin def. Daniel GarciaThis was a rematch from a recent match they had on Dynamite, though this encounter was significantly longer and more competitive. Garcia comes off as a bit generic, but he's very talented in the ring and 2point0 help him out in the charisma and promo department. They're a riot. Plus, they get to take bumps from Sting, so they're living life right now. This was a very well-wrestled main event with the obvious outcome. Being there live, I had to go back to listen to CM Punk's commentary and, as expected, he did a terrific job. The final face-off between Punk and Allin to close the show was perfect. Overall ShowThis was my first experience at an episode of Rampage and I had a blast. For those curious, they spent about two hours before the show taping matches for Dark (most, if not all, of which are airing this Saturday I believe) and another two were taped after Rampage wrapped up. The hour-long format for Rampage is perfect and actually much more efficient than Dynamite where they try to cram as much as they can into two hours. Rampage is off to a strong start and this was a nice rebound after last week's dull edition that left me excited for Sunday.
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