BRM Reviews the 12/25/2021 Rampage

[Big Red Machine]

JUNGLE BOY (w/Luchasaurus & Christian Cage) vs. ISAIAH KASSIDY (w/Hardy Family Office)- 5/10
Action happened. Jungle Boy won clean.


MIRO PROMO- good

BEAR BRONSON vs. HOOK- 4.75/10
There were “WE WANT HOOK!” chants when they though up the graphic for this match.
The crowd is insanely into Hook. Obviously that’s a good thing, but I’m not really sure how AEW is actually going to be able to convert that overness into a benefit to any kind of story when a guy is this green and is part of a heel stable.

DANIEL GARCIA & 2.0 VS. EDDIE KINGSTON VIDEO PACKAGE- ah. Now that the booking necessity of setting up Lucha Bros. vs. Jurassic Express has been accomplished, they do the logical thing and just book the six-man tag. See my comments on last week’s Rampage for my big issue with this.


LEYLA HIRSCH vs. KRIS STATLANDER (w/Orange Cassidy)- 5.75/10
Statlander won clean. Excalibur tried to claim that this match would be important for the rankings, but I don’t think we’ve seen Hirsch on TV in about six months, so it feels like Statlander beat a nobody.
Statlander offered a post-match handshake, but Hirsch slapped her hand away.

MARK HENRY INTERVIEWS THE MAIN EVENTERS (& ARN ANDERSON)- great
Mark started to ask Cody about having “one foot out,” but Arn Anderson jumped in and redirected the conversation. This might have been the first one of these that was actually good. Arn and Sammy did all of the talking.

AEW TNT TITLE MATCH: Sammy Guevara(c) vs. Cody Rhodes (w/Arn Anderson)- 8/10
David Crockett is on hand to present the belt to the winner.
They need to stop calling Brodie Lee “the greatest TNT Champion of all time.” It’s not just true. There is no difference between this and when WWE tells you that some midcarder was an “all-time great” because they want you to be excited about a Hall of Fame induction.
Lots of great action and nearfalls here, and a legitimate feeling of not knowing who was going to win. Said winner turned out to be Cody. He got the win after two straight CrossRhodeses followed by a Tiger Driver 98. At this point, there are only two possibilities. Either Cody is going heel, or Cody’s ego is now causing an actual problem and getting in the way of the booking. I’m assuming it’s the former based on 1) the fact that they actually acknowledged the boos on commentary and 2) the finishing sequence, but I do think it’s important to not be blind to the latter just in case that’s what it actually is.


POST-MATCH SEGMENT- The whole Nightmare Family came out to celebrate with Cody.



This was a very good episode of Rampage. Cody winning the TNT Title will surely become something of a major moment in AEW history, either as the beginning of a real heel turn, or as the beginning of Cody becoming a problem.