Professional wrestling on Christmas night is a lost tradition.
During the territory days it was not uncommon for promotions — whether it be WWF, AWA, Jim Crockett Promotions, or World Class — to run big-time events on the biggest holiday of the year in front of sold-out crowds. These shows would be loaded with top stars, title matches and sometimes shocking moments.
However, in recent years, if WWE wasn’t running a RAW or Smackdown on Christmas night, wrestling was not happening live, on a large scale, in the continental United States (although it’s still huge business in Mexico).
All Elite Wrestling is not shy about embracing pro wrestling history. So it made all the sense in the world that they embrace this Christmas night tradition by airing the second part of their Christmas series — AEW Rampage Holiday Bash from a venue steeped in wrestling history, The Greensboro Coliseum (along with a cameo from JCP’s David Crockett).
It was a very strong card — Jungle Boy vs. Isaiah Kassidy, Kris Statlander vs. Leyla Hirsch, a HOOK match and Cody Rhodes vs. Sammy Guevara for the TNT Title.
We all know HOOK was the draw for this show, but the big eye-brow raiser was Cody vs. Sammy — a rematch of the first Dynamite match ever. Would AEW put the belt on the fourth dimensional chess-playing son of a son of a plumber or would they use the match to elevate the Spanish God?
Let’s break down AEW Rampage Holiday Bash…
Jungle Boy w/Luchasaurus & Christian Cage vs. Isaiah Kassidy w/The Hardy Family Office
On paper this match is the definition of a holding pattern match. Jurassic Express is destined to fight The Lucha Brothers, at some point, for the AEW World Tag Team Titles. Will it happen in Newark for the TBS debut? Will it happen at Battle of the Belts? Will it happen at the long-awaited AEW West Coast debut? Who knows when, but this match will happen.
Side tracking for a minute… Jurassic Express winning the tag team titles, in my opinion, will serve as the vehicle to get us to Jungle Boy vs. Christian Cage. The seeds of Christian Cage’s heel turn have been planted for the past few weeks — in particular stating he’ll do anything it takes to help Jurassic win the belts. Christian will eventually do something, which can be interpreted in numerous ways, to help them beat the Lucha Brothers. Christian will become obsessed with them retaining the belts that he begins to blatantly cheat for them. This leads to eventual dissension in the team that blows up when Jurassic loses the belts and Christian blows up on both of them — or maybe just Jungle Boy. This will ultimately lead to Christian and Jungle Boy squaring off at a PPV (likely All Out).
Regardless of my theories, this was a very fun match. It kept Jungle Boy fresh in people’s minds, it was a nice reminder of how good Isaiah Kassidy can be, and it also got Matt Hardy out in front of the Carolina crowd (and taking a spear from Christian).
A solid, fun match that’s worth your time.
The Promos:
Ricky Starks: If there’s someone AEW needs to put the focus on more in 2022 it’s “Absolute” Ricky Starks. The dude is a star and obviously with his neck issue AEW is being extremely cautious. We do see him weekly on commentary for Rampage, but we need more of him in the ring and/or on the mic. His promo on Dante was simple and effective.
Miro: Only “The Redeemer” would cut a promo on his God on Christmas Day. I don’t know what direction Miro goes in in 2022, but they need to re-establish him right quick and get him into the mix with contenders.
The Kingston/Garcia Saga: AEW has trained us to get out of the constant rematch mode that WWE has programmed us to accept for the past 20 years. However, when you have really good wrestlers cutting really good promos and then backing it up in the ring — I’m totally fine with it.
HOOK vs. Bear Bronson:Â HOOK is legit. At times his ascension to this white hot stratosphere of popularity doesn’t actually make sense. He obviously started as this post-modern/ironic cult figure that reached meme status heights. But somewhere along the way it turned into this legit curiosity and then fervor for the wild-haired son of a Tazmaniac. While it might not compute in the traditional wrestling sense, my thought is this…
Who cares!
HOOK is over and for a good reason. While he might not be the biggest dog in the fight, his in-ring ability and acumen is undeniable. He has a crispness and grace in the ring that few have this early in their career. Rarely do we see someone with this magnetism, confidence, swagger and connection with an audience this early on in a career. Very few have had this and it is special to watch it unfold.
AEW also has been very, very smart on how they book HOOK. Fuego del Sol has an uncanny ability to make anyone he steps into the ring with look amazing. Bear Bronson, who also trains at Create-A-Pro (like HOOK) is an extremely underrated member of AEW’s roster as he has an uncanny ability to sell for smaller opponents. Both of these men were the right men to make HOOK look like he was something special. However, they didn’t carry HOOK — HOOK looks, acts, and performs like a star. He performs like he is Taz reimagined for the 2020’s millennial audience and it works. The much-criticized no-sell of Bronson’s Owen Driver on HOOK was absolutely a jump out of your seat moment.
HOOK’s future in AEW is going to be extremely interesting. AEW does not have an NXT so they can’t have him work in the PC like WWE is doing (and doing effectively) with the likes of Bronn Breaker. They do love a good slow burn (see Wardlow), but this HOOK movement is undeniable and it’s exciting to see where it’ll go.
Kris Statlander vs. “Legit” Leyla Hirsch
This was an awesome match that people will sleep on because of HOOK and the main event. Statlander has hit a whole other level since returning from injury and has truly become the go-to in the women’s division. If you need a great, competitive match with an invested crowd — go to Stat. You need someone tested for a potential signing (e.g. Marina Shafir on Dark) — go to Stat. She’s developed into the unsung ace of this burgeoning division and as the kids say — you love to see it.
Leyla Hirsch has been a longtime favorite dating back to seeing her wrestling for CZW in Asbury Park, New Jersey in front of 50 people (and that’s being generous). It’s not a shock that she showed out, but what I loved was she put aside the babyface role at the end of the match and slapped Statlander’s hand away. I want to see a frustrated Leyla. I want to see her ripping through people. I want to see her in Team Taz or teaming with Marina Shafir. I want her to have a deep run in The Owen. AEW’s Women’s Division is light years better than it was a year ago and it’s time for them to start getting behind more in-house talent like Leyla so we’re treated to even more potentially incredible matches, especially given the amount of free agents out there.
TNT Title Match: “The American Nightmare” Cody Rhodes vs. “The Spanish God” Sammy Guevara (C)
Earlier in this piece I mentioned controversial finishes on Christmas Day. While this might not on the level of The Freebirds turning on Kerry Von Erich in World Class — the result here was quite intriguing.
On one hand, the TNT run for Sammy Guevara was definitely not on the level of Miro or Darby Allin. There were good matches, but ultimately it never got out of first gear. I blame it on his inclusion in the non-sensical American Top Team vs. Inner Circle feud (although the Full Gear match was fun). Sammy didn’t need to be in that and it definitely hurt him more than it helped. Now, if we’re going to get a prolonged Chris Jericho and Sammy Guevara feud out of this, I’m all for it. Guevara has way too much upside to be a one-time TNT champion and that’s all his resume has to show.
On the other hand, boy oh boy this just fuels the Cody fire doesn’t it? Putting the belt on him just furthers the Triple H comparisons. It just intensifies the boos. It makes people want to hate this guy more. Cody leans into this so hard that, that it’s almost high art. It’s absolutely brilliant and I feel these seeds have been planted long, long before he first got boo-ed. I would love for him to have a short run with this title, doing the open challenge thing and then dropping it to someone deserving like maybe a newly signed Johnny Gargano in Cleveland (there’s no facts stating Johnny has signed, but one can hope).
As for the match itself, this was really, really good. Sammy and Cody have terrific chemistry and they really sold that it took Cody three Cross Rhodes and a Tiger Driver to beat The Spanish God. It was strong booking and I can’t wait to see the fall out.
AEW Rampage Holiday Bash was an unexpected Christmas present that was an absolutely fun time. Let’s hope AEW can keep this tradition alive!
