AEW Rampage Review - September 9, 2022

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Sammy Guevara def. Darby Allin in a Grand Slam Tournament of Champions Quarterfinal Match

There's no denying that Allin and Guevara work well together and have awesome chemistry. I just wish this tournament was used as an opportunity to give us fresh matches and not reruns. Regardless, this was the usual quality stuff from there, though not one of their hotter encounters (possibly due to the taped nature of the show and the crowd being tired). I hated the shenanigans with Tay Conti and Anna Jay toward the end and I was not a fan of the outcome. Guevara is obviously not beating Jon Moxley in the next round and there would have been more drama over whether Allin would score an upset over Moxey.

Mark Sterling, Tony Nese and Josh Woods Interrupted ROH World Television Champion Samoa Joe

This marked the first time we've heard from Joe in many months since he only came back for that one-off title defense against Jay Lethal at Death Before Dishonor in July before taking time off again to film for a television show (I believe). It wasn't long before he was interrupted by Sterling and his two clients who couldn't possibly mean less. This was a fine segment and I'm looking forward to Joe vs. Woods next week, but it feels like an glorified squash for Joe because of how little Woods has been focused on since signing with AEW.

Serena Deeb def. Madison Rayne

I've been saying for weeks that Deeb's presence has been missed on AEW's main programming, and I don't think it's a coincidence that she finally resurfaced on Rampage now that Toni Storm is champion. My guess is that she's being built up to be Storm's first challenger, and while that should be a great match, it's hard to take her seriously as a threat to the title when we haven't seen her on Dynamite or Rampage prior to this since July. This was a solid match for what it was, but it was kept on the shorter side and didn't have a chance to be more. Maybe that was for the best since Rayne's last televised match with Jade Cargill was rough.

ROH World Champion Claudio Castagnoli def. ROH/IWGP/AAA World Tag Team Champion Dax Harwood

It's pretty cool that we got ROH title matches as the main event on Dynamite and Rampage this week. Now let's get ROH TV going soon, please. This was a random match on paper, but during the entrances, it was mentioned that Castagnoli and Wheeler Yuta stared down FTR at the end of Death Before Dishonor. However, that hasn't been acknowledged since, which has become a recurring issue with AEW. Nonetheless, this was a wonderful match as expected. There was zero uncertainty surrounding the outcome, but they were given a ton of time (more than most main events on Rampage) and the action was excellent. Harwood continues to have a stellar 2022.

Overall Show

On a recent call with the media, Tony Khan blamed Rampage's ratings slump and string of lackluster shows this summer on a lack of star power. Well, CM Punk and Kenny Omega are once again gone, so does that mean nothing is going to change with Rampage for the foreseeable future? This was a slight step up from what we've come to expect from Rampage as of late, but I'd hardly call it a hot show. Certainly seek out the main event, but feel free to skip the rest.

SEE MORE: Rampage Reviews