BRM Reviews the 11/11/2022 Rampage

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Big Red Machine
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BRM Reviews the 11/11/2022 Rampage

Post by Big Red Machine » Nov 13th, '22, 12:46

CHRISTIAN CAGE (W/LUCHASAURUS) CALLS OUT JUNGLE BOY TO KNOW WHAT HIS CHALLENGE IS- didn’t like it
First of all, I thought this would have worked A LOT better if they had an army of security separating them. You can’t have them talk relatively calmly to each other, then tell me the rivalry is “so intense.”
Anyway, Christian said that Jungle Boy must be stupid. Jungle Boy then proved Christian right by saying that he was going to stack all the odds against himself by facing Luchasaurus in a steel cage at Full Gear. That actually gives Jungle Boy much better odds because Christian won’t be able to interfere. And come on! “You keep stacking the odds against me, so I will take that power away from you by stacking the odds against myself?” What a dumb statement.
Christian made a comment about Jungle Boy’s mom and about his dead father, so Jungle Boy tried to choke him. Luchasaurus saved Christian by hitting Jungle Boy so hard one of his shoes came flying off. Christian gave Luchasaurus a chair, and Luchasaurus chokeslammed Jungle Boy onto the back of the open chair.

LEXI NAIR INTERVIEWS DEATH TRIANGLE- great!
Lexi asks Fenix what is next for him after failing to win the All-Atlantic Title. Pac interrupted him and gave quite the speech about how they need to start using “any means necessary,” and he almost made it seem like a babyface thing. You could buy that the Lucha Bros (and especially Penta) would be drawn in by it.
I liked him referencing not just Fenix failing to win the All-Atlantic Title but also Penta failing to win the AEW World Heavyweight Title. That’s the sort of supporting detail-work that has been missing in many other AEW stories (for example, when LAX cut their big promo telling Jericho he was only out for himself and was just using them to fight his battles and was never there for them).
That being said- and I cannot stress this enough- that does not post-facto justify Penta having been given that title shot. “Because it’s going to affect another storyline” is not a kayfabe reason for someone to receive a title shot. Just like Tony used that title shot as a strengthening detail in this storyline, Penta getting that title shot needs to be supported by details (like him winning matches to show is that he is worthy of a shot at the world title).
Lexi moved the mic back to Fenix, who said nothing. Pac left going one way, and the Lucha Bros. left going the other. I don’t comment on this much, but I thought that Lexi did a good job with her facial expressions, seeming shocked and a little nervous that the Lucha Bros. might agree with Pac.

The only thing I didn’t like here was Pac saying that Eddie Kingston was the Lucha Bros. “best friend.” This would be the same Eddie Kingston who tried to break them up, and who they turned their backs on because of that and rejoined with Pac.


They gave us an update on Ricky Starks’ condition after being attacked by Lance Archer. Their match has been rescheduled for Wednesday.

AEW WORLD TITLE ELIMINATOR FIRST ROUND MATCH: Dante Martin vs. Brian Cage (w/Prince Nana)- 6.5/10
Page won a solid power vs. speed match.

LEXI NAIR INTERVIEWS LEE MORIARTY & STOKELY HATHAWAY- bad
After losing to Moxley, Lee thinks he deserves a shot at someone’s title. Hook showed up to non-verbally volunteer. Well… at least the undeserving loser will only be getting a shot at a fake title.

HOUSE OF BLACK VIDEO- snore
They’re reborn now and they’ll be meaner than ever. Sure, buddy.

AEW WORLD TITLE ELIMINATOR FIRST ROUND MATCH: Bandido vs. Rush (w/Jose the Assistant)- 6.75/10
Rush got all of his Rush crap out of the way before the bell. This was good. Jose tried to rip Bandido’s mask off, but John Silver came out to make the save. This distracted Rush, allowing Bandido to roll him up for the win. I imagine this will cause tension between Silver and 10… which, if it happens, needs to result in 10 going heel because being upset that Silver stopped someone from cheating because that cheating might eventually benefit you is absolutely not something you can do and remain a babyface.

EARLIER TODAY, BEFORE AN INTERVIEW RENEE PAQUETTE CONDUCTED WITH CLAUDIO CASTAGNOLI, THE CAMERA RECORDED JAKE HAGER TRYING TO RECRUIT CLAUDIO TO THE JERICHO APPRECIATION SOCIETY- bad
Either in kayfabe or out of it, I cannot see anyone possibly thinking that Claudio might join them.
Also… what about the interview? Do we get to see that? Because if we don’t, it feels a lot like this supposed interview was only ever booked as an excuse for the camera to catch this supposedly unscripted interruption. And making this even weirder is that fact that they could have completely erased this plot-hole by just having Hager interrupt the actual interview… which is something they do all the time on this show. It feels like this segment was a result of Tony Khan getting self-conscious about the amount of interrupted interviews on AEW programming, so he came up with another way to accomplish the same goal, but didn’t put the effort in to make sure his new idea didn’t create any new issues.

KYLA SPARKS vs. NYLA ROSE (w/Vickie Guerrero & Marina Shafir)- no rating, decent segment
Nyla squashed Sparks using Jade Cargill’s moves. Jade and the Baddies attacked. The Baddies got laid out but Jade knocked Nyla down. Then security came out to once again stop Jade Cargill from reclaiming something that was stolen from her.

MARK HENRY INTERVIEWS THE PEOPLE IN THE MAIN EVENT- snore

AEW ALL-ATLANTIC TITLE MATCH: Orange Cassidy(c) (w/Best Friends & Danhausen) vs. Lee Johnston (w/the Factory)- 5/10
Lots of crap happened on the outside. Apparently this is Johnson’s first match after a long layoff due to an injury. And somehow he’s getting a title shot.
More fighting happened after the match, seemingly just so OC could hit the Orange Punch on someone after the match because he didn’t get to do it during the match. Then we got “comedy” where OC and Best Friends all hugged the guy OC had punched (Cole Karter) and he liked it and celebrated, but then they beat him up. Anyone who find this entertaining cannot possibly be smart enough to figure out how to buy a ticket or turn the TV on, so why book it?



This would have been a decent episode of Rampage if it hadn’t been brought down by the poor (and quite frankly pointless) main event.
Hold #712: ARM BAR!

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