AEW Rampage: Winter Is Coming Review - December 13, 2024

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Matt Cardona def. Bryan Keith

To AEW's credit, they have managed to cram in a bunch of build for Cardona vs. Chris Jericho for the ROH World Championship in Final Battle in just over a week and the pay-per-view isn't until next Friday night. Keith rarely wins on his own, so the outcome was never in doubt, but it was a competitive contest before Cardona picked up the victory. This was good stuff and it's nice to see Cardona getting strong crowd reactions so far.

Toni Storm def. Harley Cameron

I saw a lot of complaining about Storm's bout back being on Rampage. Honestly, I don't think it makes much of a difference, especially since I'm one of those people who constantly complains about Rampage being meaningless and this was an attempt to add some star power to the show for a change. My bigger issue is that we should've heard from Storm following her return on Dynamite 

Deonna Purrazzo def. Shazza McKenzie

Purrazzo is one of the most talented women on AEW's roster, yet it's almost impossible to care about any of her matches at this point considering she's been in a holding pattern for a while now. I was interested in the idea of her forming a faction, but recruiting Taya Valkyrie (who has been directionless herself for over a year) isn't enough. I appreciated that this was kept short and sweet, but I fail to see what purpose it was supposed to serve.

Don Callis and Kyle Fletcher Addressed the Audience

Konosuke Takeshita and Lance Archer were also in the ring but didn't speak (they were there for their tag team match that immediately followed this). Callis hyped up Fletcher's recent wins over Will Ospreay and Kazuchika Okada before Fletcher addressed Mark Briscoe, who he'll be facing in a Continental Classic match on Collision. This could've easily been a pre-taped promo or happened backstage, but Fletcher's on a roll right now and this gave him a chance to boast about it.

Powerhouse Hobbs and Mark Davis def. The Don Callis Family (Lance Archer and AEW International Champion Konosuke Takeshita)

The lack of follow-up with Hobbs since his return a month or so ago has been abysmal. He's clearly still feuding with The Don Callis Family and I'm glad he won here, but I can't recall a single promo he's cut since he's been back and that's a problem. As a match, however, this was solid stuff and they made the most of their time. Hobbs pinning Archer was the right call.

Overall Show

We didn't get any Continental Classic matches this week, so that automatically meant this show would be a step backward compared to last week, but it wasn't a total throwaway edition of Rampage by any means considering Storm and Cardona were in action. The main event was also more significant than what we usually get on Rampage, so I'm confident in calling this a thumbs-up episode.

SEE MORE: Rampage Reviews