2021 was a special year for All Elite Wrestling. After producing quite staggering quality at Daily’s Place, the promotion hit the road in July, producing their finest run yet while rumours of Bryan Danielson and CM Punk emerged. Along the way, they reached Rampage’s premiere, finally adding a third hour to their television output. In fear of sounding dramatic, it was a time of great optimism and excitement, which has only made the last two years more dizzying.
This review is a request from August 13th, which marked exactly two years from the programme. My apologies for being slightly late to this, but we made it nonetheless. If you’d like to request a review of your own, and receive it two days late, you can do so Ko-fi.com/JoeHulbert! There is no minimum amount, just check that I haven’t reviewed it previously by using this gimmick. Thanks!
Anyway, Rampage got underway with one of my favourite television matches in AEW history. Immediately, I’m reminded of our announce team, with Mark Henry actually at the booth alongside Chris Jericho, Excalibur and Taz. Nonetheless, our opener is for the IMPACT World Title, as Christian Cage challenges Kenny Omega in a prelude to their All Out main event. Over three months prior, Omega had taken the IMPACT belt from Rich Swann, since appearing in the promotion for a stint that’ll only get weirder in history.
Speaking of such, this whole thing is weird. They’re wrestling on PPV in three weeks and this AEW television show is getting kicked off by an IMPACT World Title match. We were happier then, it made sense to us. Regardless, there’s “AEW” chants at the bell, with a big time stare down following suit. They wrestle with palpable caution early, sharing a feeling out process, wrestling for position as duelling chants emerge. Cage scores first, celebrating his success via triumphant middle finger.
In response, Omega roughs things up, throwing some strikes and dropping Cage. The challenger finds an answer though, forcing Omega to bail as he almost hooks his finish. Cage continues to roll, landing a big dropkick to the floor after Omega flirts with turning the tide. That cutoff soon arrives anyway, with a pretty tame Callis distraction allowing Omega to send Cage flying to the floor. Omega controls things in the ad break that follows, offering a hope spot or two along the way.
Cage fires up as we return, landing a sudden suplex as well as a sunset flip bomb thingy. As they reach a brief double down, we see Kris Statlander and Orange Cassidy in the crowd, as well as the Varsity Blonds, including Julia Hart. Howling. Anyway, Cage’s comeback continues, transitioning the match into some back and forth near falls. This produces some great fireworks, with Cage even charging into Omega’s big knee at one juncture.
It’s a really nice stretch, building on that initial atmosphere and producing something quite electric. Ultimately, The Young Bucks’ intended interference costs them, throwing in a chair that ends Omega’s night, with Christian landing a sickening Killswitch for the win. Hmmm, I hate to do this in any context, let alone a request, but this wasn’t quite what I remembered it being. I mean, it still rules obviously, it’s Christian Cage vs. Kenny Omega.
However, I left this rewatch thinking that it was closer to good than great. It’s basically two different matches, to me at least. The first is Kenny Omega working a Christian Cage WWE TV encounter. There’s a novelty to that, though it’s slightly lessened on a rewatch such as this. In addition, it feels like an outline that Omega can comfortably adjust to, but one that still limits him slightly. In the second half, they go into a more modern shootout, the kind that unlocks Omega’s explosiveness.
This is the match’s most memorable chunk, with Christian’s sheer timing and skill allowing him to slot into such a formula. Obviously, the whole match couldn’t be those bombs, but I do wish each half felt a touch more connected to the other. Even still, this is really good, and a welcome addition to both men’s catalogues. At some point, I may revisit their rematch, as many have told me that it was better, which I didn’t believe to be the case at all in real time.
Perhaps it is after all but nonetheless, a very good match here that embodied an incredibly special time. This brought back fond memories, even if the match wasn’t quite where I remembered it to be. It’s staggering to think that this was just two years ago, as it truly feels like a distant memory after all that’s followed.
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