![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Entry tags:
Rampage (08.13.2021)
I'm not quite sure how, but I somehow managed to get six straight hours of sleep last night and I feel like one million dollars adjusted for inflation. It's shaping up to be a nice quiet Saturday (halfway through the week!), going to the movies tonight so I have popcorn and butter and diet cherry vanilla coke and candy to look forward to (if maybe not Don't Breathe 2: I Guess It Actually Is About Making The Horrifying Sex Criminal An Antihero?? as much as I wish), Rampage last night (well, this morning, I crashed before a download was available) was fantastic, I'm gonna catch a ton of Eevees, it's hot as hell outside, I'm feeling good! Things are good! Hooray!
archerrampage.gif
First of all, I really loved this format and hope they stick with it; the way almost all of the action takes place in-ring with just quick interviews before or after matches combined with the one-hour runtime really makes it feel like there is MEAT on these bones, I am getting a NUTRITIOUS MEAL out of my wrestle show. It offers a really nice contrast to the more variety show feel of Dynamite, instead of just being hour 3 of that show, a couple of days later. All killer, no filler, you know? Secondly, I know it's just because they want to start the new show with a bang, but this week's crazy card along with the First Dance special next week really give a BIG FIGHT FEEL to the show, curious to see if they maintain that vibe going forward. Thirdly, oh my fucking god get Chris Jericho off of commentary, he spent at least half the show SCREAMING over all three other guys and it was fucking insufferable.
Kenny Omega (c) vs. Christian Cage for the Impact World Championship: Holy shit, they actually did it. The maniacs did it. Kenny has come out wearing his four-belt carapace for the final time. I mean, I knew there was a chance Christian could win it! He's got enough of a history with TNA that it still feels like somebody's bringing the title home even though he's an AEW guy now, and having him lose to Kenny ahead of their All Out match made no damn sense. But still! Holy shit! Things are NOT looking good for his fight with Andrade at Triplemania tonight, it's really looking like Kenny might well end the weekend three belts lighter! Anyway, as for the match itself, I'd say this was Christian's best showing in AEW yet; the one issue he's had has been getting gassed pretty quickly but he's either been working on his cardio or getting better at playing through the pain because while he looked exhausted by the end, he never slowed down for a second, and I think this went almost as long as his inaugural match with Kaz.
Additional thoughts: that powerbomb of the top rope was sick. I really like that they brought Brian Hebner in to call this as well as the Good Brothers/Dark Order match on Wednesday (the same way I like that they use New Japan rules whenever the IWGP belt is defended), it really lessens the treatment of Impact as a side attraction. The Killswitch really is a PERFECT counter to the One Winged Angel, and I like that they went to that well a couple of times. Some people are probably upset that this means Hangman won't be the first person to defeat Kenny in singles action, but I'm okay with it; they'll have months after this weekend to rebuild Kenny as a threat (I am WORRIED for Christian at All Out now tbh) and he'll be more desperate to retain than just cocky, so he'll be even more dangerous this way (also he can still be the "first" person (Kenny still ignoring Kota's existence) to kick out of the OWA, so). Kenny is also protected somewhat in this loss by the chair finish and the fact that he's wrestling three huge matches in two countries across four fucking days after months of putting out regular bangers and racking up injuries. Good shit! Such good shit! I cannot WAIT for BTE on Monday to see what's going on with the Elite after this, I cannot imagine the fact that Kenny lost in part due to the Bucks' interference is going to go over... well. IMPLOSION IMMINENT???
Miro (c) vs. Fuego Del Sol for the AEW TNT Championship: Well this was just perfect. Short, because it's Miro vs. Fuego lol, but not a total squash; Fuego got to look like a li'l lucha badass in his biggest match ever. Three! Three! Three tornado DDTs he hit! He wants that contract so bad, y'all! AND THEN THE AFTERMATH. When Tony and Sammy come out and he just IMMEDIATELY starts crying and you KNOW he didn't know that this was coming beforehand and oh my gooooooooood this was just the goodest, most wholesome shit, I can't even! FUEGO DEL SOL IS #ALLELITE, YOU MADE IT, BUDDY. Like yeah, it makes the stipulation that he was fighting for a contract along with the belt kinda worthless, and it's a little weak that he gets it before people like KiLynn King or Baron Black who have been out there hustling just as hard, but it's a memorable, feel-good moment, so who gives a shit? We got the fakeout of Miro tearing up the first contract out of it, it all worked out. It's so sweet to see someone get rewarded not for being a particularly good wrestler (and nobody is pretending otherwise), but just because people LIKE the guy, because he happened to show up on a vlog a bunch of times. Precious Fuego. Mobile, Alabama's favourite luchador. ;___;
Britt Baker (c) vs. Red Velvet for the AEW Women's World Championship: Solid! A solid women's main event, which rules, though I'm not ready to call it anything more than an empty gesture unless things change drastically for the division going forward! The whole basis for the match was super flawed to begin with, the booking for Britt's reign has been completely ass backwards and I think has kinda helped to undermine her whole identity, but these two ladies did the best they could with what they were given and put on a solid show to end the night. Like... when Mox fought Lance in Lance's hometown for the IWGP title, Mox had to slide into more of a heel role like he had the first time he feuded with Kenny in 2019, and it was masterfully done. The difference in levels of experience between Mox and Red Velvet is ridiculous though, and she's such a pure natural babyface that no matter how well she did playing the bad guy for the Pittsburgh crowd, talking shit and working over Britt's broken wrist, it just felt super awkward and forced and unnatural to see her get booed THAT hard, she should never have been in that position. Whyyyyyyy would they have Britt feud with Nyla first?? She would have made SO much more sense here, and Red Velvet being first up would have let Britt firmly re-establish herself as a nasty bitch, no matter how much crowds love her. She's just kind of awkwardly towing a line now, wanting to play to the crowds because she's so over, but she struggled so much to get over as a face when AEW was starting out, I'm really worried she's gonna lose everything that finally made her click in her attempt to be a tweener like Lance (again, someone with way more experience). I GUESS TIME WILL TELL. Anyway, Jamie Hayter coming out as her new heater was a HUGE surprise, I really thought she was destined to follow her former tag partner Bea Priestley over to NXT UK and I'm even more psyched about her signing than Fuego's! She's back and she's RIPPED, goddamn at least somebody spent their pandemic productively.
Anyway this show fucking flew by and I can't wait for next week!
okay eevee time
archerrampage.gif
First of all, I really loved this format and hope they stick with it; the way almost all of the action takes place in-ring with just quick interviews before or after matches combined with the one-hour runtime really makes it feel like there is MEAT on these bones, I am getting a NUTRITIOUS MEAL out of my wrestle show. It offers a really nice contrast to the more variety show feel of Dynamite, instead of just being hour 3 of that show, a couple of days later. All killer, no filler, you know? Secondly, I know it's just because they want to start the new show with a bang, but this week's crazy card along with the First Dance special next week really give a BIG FIGHT FEEL to the show, curious to see if they maintain that vibe going forward. Thirdly, oh my fucking god get Chris Jericho off of commentary, he spent at least half the show SCREAMING over all three other guys and it was fucking insufferable.
Kenny Omega (c) vs. Christian Cage for the Impact World Championship: Holy shit, they actually did it. The maniacs did it. Kenny has come out wearing his four-belt carapace for the final time. I mean, I knew there was a chance Christian could win it! He's got enough of a history with TNA that it still feels like somebody's bringing the title home even though he's an AEW guy now, and having him lose to Kenny ahead of their All Out match made no damn sense. But still! Holy shit! Things are NOT looking good for his fight with Andrade at Triplemania tonight, it's really looking like Kenny might well end the weekend three belts lighter! Anyway, as for the match itself, I'd say this was Christian's best showing in AEW yet; the one issue he's had has been getting gassed pretty quickly but he's either been working on his cardio or getting better at playing through the pain because while he looked exhausted by the end, he never slowed down for a second, and I think this went almost as long as his inaugural match with Kaz.
Additional thoughts: that powerbomb of the top rope was sick. I really like that they brought Brian Hebner in to call this as well as the Good Brothers/Dark Order match on Wednesday (the same way I like that they use New Japan rules whenever the IWGP belt is defended), it really lessens the treatment of Impact as a side attraction. The Killswitch really is a PERFECT counter to the One Winged Angel, and I like that they went to that well a couple of times. Some people are probably upset that this means Hangman won't be the first person to defeat Kenny in singles action, but I'm okay with it; they'll have months after this weekend to rebuild Kenny as a threat (I am WORRIED for Christian at All Out now tbh) and he'll be more desperate to retain than just cocky, so he'll be even more dangerous this way (also he can still be the "first" person (Kenny still ignoring Kota's existence) to kick out of the OWA, so). Kenny is also protected somewhat in this loss by the chair finish and the fact that he's wrestling three huge matches in two countries across four fucking days after months of putting out regular bangers and racking up injuries. Good shit! Such good shit! I cannot WAIT for BTE on Monday to see what's going on with the Elite after this, I cannot imagine the fact that Kenny lost in part due to the Bucks' interference is going to go over... well. IMPLOSION IMMINENT???
Miro (c) vs. Fuego Del Sol for the AEW TNT Championship: Well this was just perfect. Short, because it's Miro vs. Fuego lol, but not a total squash; Fuego got to look like a li'l lucha badass in his biggest match ever. Three! Three! Three tornado DDTs he hit! He wants that contract so bad, y'all! AND THEN THE AFTERMATH. When Tony and Sammy come out and he just IMMEDIATELY starts crying and you KNOW he didn't know that this was coming beforehand and oh my gooooooooood this was just the goodest, most wholesome shit, I can't even! FUEGO DEL SOL IS #ALLELITE, YOU MADE IT, BUDDY. Like yeah, it makes the stipulation that he was fighting for a contract along with the belt kinda worthless, and it's a little weak that he gets it before people like KiLynn King or Baron Black who have been out there hustling just as hard, but it's a memorable, feel-good moment, so who gives a shit? We got the fakeout of Miro tearing up the first contract out of it, it all worked out. It's so sweet to see someone get rewarded not for being a particularly good wrestler (and nobody is pretending otherwise), but just because people LIKE the guy, because he happened to show up on a vlog a bunch of times. Precious Fuego. Mobile, Alabama's favourite luchador. ;___;
Britt Baker (c) vs. Red Velvet for the AEW Women's World Championship: Solid! A solid women's main event, which rules, though I'm not ready to call it anything more than an empty gesture unless things change drastically for the division going forward! The whole basis for the match was super flawed to begin with, the booking for Britt's reign has been completely ass backwards and I think has kinda helped to undermine her whole identity, but these two ladies did the best they could with what they were given and put on a solid show to end the night. Like... when Mox fought Lance in Lance's hometown for the IWGP title, Mox had to slide into more of a heel role like he had the first time he feuded with Kenny in 2019, and it was masterfully done. The difference in levels of experience between Mox and Red Velvet is ridiculous though, and she's such a pure natural babyface that no matter how well she did playing the bad guy for the Pittsburgh crowd, talking shit and working over Britt's broken wrist, it just felt super awkward and forced and unnatural to see her get booed THAT hard, she should never have been in that position. Whyyyyyyy would they have Britt feud with Nyla first?? She would have made SO much more sense here, and Red Velvet being first up would have let Britt firmly re-establish herself as a nasty bitch, no matter how much crowds love her. She's just kind of awkwardly towing a line now, wanting to play to the crowds because she's so over, but she struggled so much to get over as a face when AEW was starting out, I'm really worried she's gonna lose everything that finally made her click in her attempt to be a tweener like Lance (again, someone with way more experience). I GUESS TIME WILL TELL. Anyway, Jamie Hayter coming out as her new heater was a HUGE surprise, I really thought she was destined to follow her former tag partner Bea Priestley over to NXT UK and I'm even more psyched about her signing than Fuego's! She's back and she's RIPPED, goddamn at least somebody spent their pandemic productively.
Anyway this show fucking flew by and I can't wait for next week!
okay eevee time