It was a St. Patrick's Slam night this week, and the stars of All Elite Wrestling were looking to have the luck of the Irish in chilly WinnepegIt was a St. Patrick's Slam night this week, and the stars of All Elite Wrestling were looking to have the luck of the Irish in chilly Winnepeg
Sometime late on Friday, after Florida Atlantic had finished eliminating the Memphis Tigers in the NCAA Tournament, AEW Rampage took to the air. It's the St. Patrick's Day Slam edition of the program... So by the time the show finally aired in the States, many of the viewers were already full of green beer.
They also got drunk on the action, as Rampage had plenty of in-work from the stars of All Elite Wrestling. We started off the show hot with a title match, and things stayed fairly solid from there.
It's no secret to anyone who pays attention that Rampage is considered the 'poor, sick cousin' of Dynamite, and it doesn't draw huge ratings. Part of that has to do with its time slot. But a LOT of it - at least for a time - was because it featured a lot of throwaway matches and performers who were just passing through, In some ways, it almost felt like a smaller, disjointed segment of the AEW metaverse.
But that has changed as of late, and the show has been slowly improving. Tony Khan seems to be employing more of the prominent personalities, and fewer 'non-characters' from the ranks of Dark or Elevation. That's not a shot at those wrestlers, and they certainly have a place on TV from time to time, but they shouldn't be taking up time that could be reserved for big-money performers.
With all those matters out of the way, here's a closer look at this St. Patrick's Day Slam edition of AEW Rampage, and five things that really stood out:
#1 - Powerhouse Hobbs continues to build his golden resume
The show kicked off this week with the freshly-minted TNT Champion Will Hobbs taking on a very worthy opponent in Fenix. While it's not often that we see the high flyer in solo action, he's one of the most electric athletes in the ring today. Even if he actually spends most of his time soaring above it.
Powerhouse is o