It might be January, but pro wrestling in 2022 has been white hot. First, WWE put on a really good pay per view in Day 1, and AEW responded with one of the best episodes of Dynamite in history. With the bar seemingly being raised every week, pressure was now on AEW Rampage 1/7 to step up to the plate and keep the good times rolling, and while it may not have been the most consequential episode of Rampage, it was filled with a lot more “highs” than “lows.”
HIGH: JAKE ATLAS MAKES HIS DEBUT
While he did have a match on Dark, this was the AEW TV debut for Jake Atlas. The former NXT superstar and well-traveled indie veteran was considering hanging up the boots for good, but when wrestling is clearly your passion, it’s hard to step away. Compared to his time on NXT, Atlas carried himself with a lot more confidence and bravado.
Being an openly gay male in pro wrestling is still quite uncommon, even in 2022, and it was great to see Jake not try to “play it straight” in order to appeal to the audience. Representation matters, and Jake is a great representative and role model for people all over the world. For many years, gay characters in pro wrestling were portrayed either as ridiculously flamboyant goofball characters meant to be laughed at, or they were creepy, predatory-type characters, that parents felt the need to keep their children away from. Jake is who he is, nothing more and nothing less. Speaking personally, it’s really nice to have a wrestler that I can look at and relate to, and I’m sure a lot of adolescent viewers would also agree.
LOW: JAKE ATLAS INJURES HIMSELF IN THE DEBUT
Atlas went up against Adam Cole (bay-bay), and the two put on a very solid match. It was a great example of what Jake can bring to the table, and obviously Adam Cole can work with anybody and get a good match out of them. Jake’s technical and athletic ability were on display early and often, as he and Cole exchanged a series of counter moves that ended in a stale mate. Atlas was able to land quite a few impressive moves, including a standing suplex that Atlas turned into a sit-out powerbomb and almost got the win.
Unfortunately, the match ended on a very sour note. Jake went to the top rope for some aerial offense, but landed awkwardly and appeared to damage his knee. Cole went for a panama sunrise and Jake wasn’t even able to support himself and make the move work. Cole, being the professional that he is, realized the situation and put a very low-impact submission move on Atlas so he could tap out quickly.
After the match, Red Dragon came down to the ring and was about to beat down on Atlas further, but Orange Cassidy, flanked by Wheeler Yuta and Chuck Taylor, chased them off. It’s safe to assume a beat down was supposed to happen, but the injury forced the performers to call a less exciting audible. The good news is Atlas is expected to make a quick recovery, and be back to action very soon.
https://twitter.com/JakeAtlasReal/status/1479654945074913281
HIGH: TONY SCHIAVONE COMPLETES AN INTERVIEW
Next we saw a moment that might be rarer than a 1980’s Hulk Hogan clean loss: Tony Schiavone completed an interview with Andrade, and nobody interrupted him!
LOW: THE INTERVIEW, ITSELF
While Andrade would definitely benefit from a mouthpiece, the only way he’s going to get better as an interview is if he gets these reps on the mic. He’s a lot better now than he was before, but the language barrier still makes for an awkward interview. We know Andrade has charisma in spades, he just needs to find a way to make it translate into his interviews.
The subject matter of the interview didn’t seem to make a whole lot of sense, either. The concept that Andrade is trying to “buy” Darby Allin and make Allin his assistant doesn’t jive for a few reasons. 1) Sting is now Darby’s boss. 2) Andrade literally has an assistant standing right next to him. 3) if he’s looking for someone to do his bidding, he has already shown an allegiance with Aleister Black, FTR, and the Acclaimed. Why does he need Darby? On the plus side, Andrade calling Sting “Mr. Sting” was hilarious, whether it was intended to be or not.
HIGH: WE GOT HOOK!
The young prodigy’s third foray into the squared circle saw him go up against Aaron Solo. It was a bit of a departure from his first two outings against Fuego del Sol and Bear Bronson, in that Solo is a heel and the other two were babyfaces. Even though he is part of Team Taz, very much a heel stable, HOOK is clearly a face (and what a glorious face it is). He’s just too over to be a straight-up heel, so AEW is wisely leaning into his tweener tendencies.
This time, we actually got to see HOOK sell a little bit, which he did just fine, but of course, there can only be one way to end this match: after a small offensive comeback attempt by Solo, HOOK laid in a few forearm shots to the side of Solo’s head, locked in the Red Rum (Tazmission sleeper hold), and Solo tapped out. After the match, QT Marshall foolishly tried to get a cheap shot in on HOOK…what a stupid man he is. His cowardly ways were rewarded by ending up on the receiving end of a chicken wing suplex (similar to Tiger Mask IV’s Millennium Suplex), and the crowd went wild.
HOOK remains undefeated, and you can’t help but wonder if Goldberg is out there somewhere, pondering his legacy and contemplating the reality that HOOK is going to break his undefeated record one day. Ok, probably not, but anything can happen. I mean, really, who is gonna stop HOOK?!?
HIGH: THE GOOD DOCTOR’S PRACTICE MIGHT BE IN TROUBLE
The next match was a very solid tag team match with Riho & Ruby Soho taking on Dr. Britt Baker, D.M.D. & Jamie Hayter. Riho and Ruby worked wonderfully together, making frequent tags and dominating a lot of the match-up. There were a few innovative spots that made the crowd really pop, including when Riho jumped on Ruby’s back, and Ruby drove herself and Riho onto a downed Britt Baker.
While the in-ring action was fine, this match was really all about the storyline. Britt Baker and her “lackeys” have been rolling over the women’s division for quite some time now, and it seemed like there was no end in sight for her reign as AEW Women’s champion. However, at the end of this match, Jamie Hayter accidentally hit her tag team partner, and was rolled up for the 1-2-3 by Riho.
This was significant for a few reasons. First, it gave Riho momentum and continued the narrative that Britt Baker has never defeated Riho in AEW. Second, it created a fracture between Baker and Hayter. If she doesn’t have the support of her girls, Britt might suddenly become very vulnerable, and not just to her opponent in the ring, but also to the people in her corner who may decide they’ve had enough of living in the shadows, and actively screw Baker over. All of these new wrinkles make it so a successful title defense for Baker is no longer a sure thing. The champion is exposed, and if you’re a challenger or a fan, that’s a great thing.
HIGH: DAN LAMBERT RAISES AN INTERESTING QUESTION
If heat were a spilled glass of milk, Dan Lambert is the extra strength Brawny paper towel that absorbs it all. Lately, the target of Lambert’s ire seems to be the entire Rhodes family in general. Lambert took shots first at Brandi, saying “there seems to be a lot of sucking going on in AEW right now. No wonder…Bambi Rhodes is in charge.” While the shots at Brandi seem to be rather shallow and surface level, Lambert’s criticism of Cody comes with quite a bit of layered truth to it. Lambert wants to know why Cody’s brother, Dustin, is taking Cody’s place in the interim TNT Championship match, instead of someone like Scorpio Sky, who is ranked in the top 5 of AEW while Dustin is not.
Speaking of Scorpio Sky, props need to go out to Men of the Year, who have been positioned as glorified jobbers for much of their run. I mean, I get it; there’s so much talent in AEW and there are roles that need to be played, it’s inevitable that talent is going to get underutilized. Instead of pretending like that’s not the case, AEW is proactive with it, and uses this to add more layers to a storyline.
Unless you’ve had your head firmly planted in the sand, you know Cody is well on his way to becoming the overt superheel he has been teasing and transitioning into for months now. Choosing his brother to take his place is another brilliant, nuanced move to furthering that character. Dustin Rhodes isn’t a heel in any sense of the word, and nobody is really mad at Dustin, per say, for getting this opportunity. He’s a living legend and he puts on great matches. However, with Cody in that “player/coach” role in AEW, it certainly comes off as nepotism, and everybody hates nepotism. For as big of a jerk as Lambert is, he speaks the truth, and that can not be denied.
HIGH: PROUD AND POWERFUL SHINE IN NO HOLDS BARRED MATCH
Eddie Kingston teamed up with Santana and Ortiz to take on 2.0 and Daniel Garcia in a no holds barred street fight in the main event of Rampage. While AEW has fallen into a familiar routine of the Mark Henry pre-match interview, the segment this week played a dual purpose. While 2.0 and Daniel Garcia were talking smack and answering Henry’s questions, we see Kingston along with Proud and Powerful walk off camera. A few moments later, Kingston and co. come crashing in and brawling with their opponents. The brawl spills out from the back and into the arena, a clever and fun way to start a no holds barred type of match.
While we knew Santana, Ortiz, and Kingston would thrive in this type of match, the real surprise was seeing 2.0 and Garcia hold their own, even if most of the match was just them getting their ass kicked. The match was chaotic, but it never felt like it was out of control. Oftentimes in these kinds of matches, there’s a lot of botched spots, simply due to the frantic pace of the match. That was not the case here, as the moves and sequences were smooth as silk.
There were plenty of violent moments, including a vicious shot from a ring bell delivered to Eddie Kingston’s head, and Daniel Garcia being suplexed through a table on the outside, but the end sequence was perhaps the most brutal, as Jeff Parker took a kick to the face, followed by an enziguri, and finally a lariat, all in quick succession. Each move looked like it could give the man a concussion, but Parker appeared just fine after the match.
Upset with their loss, 2.0 and Garcia started a beatdown on Kingston and even had him duct taped to the ropes. But before they could get their revenge, Chris Jericho came out to save the day once again. This recurring trope has grown tired for Kingston, who clearly does not want, nor feels like he needs, Jericho’s help. This has to be leading to a Kingston/Jericho match in the future, but until we get there, let’s just enjoy the ride.
