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AEW Rampage Results and Review (10/21/22): A New Star Gets Signed

Mark Izzo / AEW, Professional Wrestling / October 22, 2022

AEW Rampage Results And Review (10/21/22): A New Star Gets Signed

AEW Rampage featured a ton of high-stakes matches. There were multiple title matches and a star who was in search of their title. It’s fairly obvious that Rampage has been lacking and doesn’t even come close to Dynamite in terms of the quality of the show. AEW lacks to put any effort into the show and it’s easy to tell. It mostly feels like Rampage is filled with filler matches that don’t have any real build toward them. Nevertheless, I’m here to review the show, and review the show I shall.

Results

The Acclaimed def. Varsity Athletes

HOOK def. Ari Daivari

Willow Nightingale def. Leila Gray

Orange Cassidy def. Number 10 & Rush

Review

AEW Tag Team Championship Match

Varsity Athletes vs The Acclaimed (c)

While this match was really fun, it was also fairly sloppy. There were a few times during it when the timing was off or the move was just not hit properly. Nevertheless, I still think this match did one important thing that it should have done. It showed that the Acclaimed can win without Billy Gunn interfering in the match. Billy Gunn got tossed from ringside when Varsity Athletes outsmarted the referee to make it seem like he attacked Tony Nese. This was important for the Acclaimed to prove that they can win on their own. Since Billy Gunn helped them win the tag titles, we were under the impression that they needed him to win. But AEW helped the Acclaimed by starting to prove that wasn’t the case. Although the match was sloppy at times, it was still a damn blast to watch.

FTW Championship Match

Ari Daivari vs HOOK (c)

This is the type of match I have been waiting for HOOK to have. Prior to this, he has dominated just about every opponent he faced. But Ari Daivari got in some really good offense and had HOOK against the ropes on AEW Rampage. Since this wasn’t the usual squash fest we get with a HOOK match, fans were finally able to see how he reacts when he’s getting beat up. I’m a big fan of HOOK, but you can only watch the same exact match a certain number of times. So this was refreshing to see and proved that HOOK has some resilience. I still want to see him talk more during interviews and promos, but he’s young and still has a lot to learn.

Leila Grey vs Willow Nightingale

The match itself was fine. It was pretty sluggish, but I think it was mostly on Grey’s side. Willow Nightingale constantly proves she is an extremely talented wrestler week in and week out. The best part of this match was Nightingale hitting her finisher. She hit it to perfection and it looked nasty in the best way possible. After the match on AEW Rampage, Tony Schiavone went into the ring and announced that Willow Nightingale was officially a part of the AEW team. This is a big signing for the company. She deserves it and should play a big part in the women’s division at AEW.

Congratulations @willowwrestles! Welcome to the team!

Willow Nightingale is ALL ELITE!#AEWRampage pic.twitter.com/widLMwgyAf
— Tony Khan (@TonyKhan) October 22, 2022

AEW All-Atlantic Championship Match

Rush vs Number 10 vs Orange Cassidy (c)

While the making of the match was a bit odd, it was pretty decent overall. It seems like AEW always finds a way to put on really good triple-threat matches. And it’s not easy to do with someone who wrestles in Orange Cassidy’s style. With wrestlers who are as physical as Rush and Number 10, it’s always interesting to see how they clash with someone like Orange Cassidy. That being said, I think these three had good chemistry in the ring. While there were some spots that were a little off, it was pretty good for the most part. Also, Mark Henry doing the pre-match interviews will never get old. And with Cassidy stealing his catchphrases, it made the segment even better. Overall, this was a solid match to end the night for AEW Rampage.

Overview

AEW has some really good foundation pieces to set them up for the future. Recently, they signed Jon Moxley to a contract extension as well as Chris Jericho. They have a lot of talented young wrestlers along with real locker-room leaders in the company. Furthermore, they have a fantastic women’s division, they just need to book them properly. Overall, this was an underwhelming Rampage that had some bright moments in it.