New Year’s Smash continued on AEW Rampage with an All-Atlantic title defense, interviews from Jon Moxley and Darby Allin, and a main event featuring Wheeler Yuta versus Swerve Strickland. All that and we got a Paul Wright appearance on commentary.
Highlights:
- Orange Cassidy successfully defended the All-Atlantic Championship against Trent Berretta in a match that played on the pair’s friendship and on the machinations of Kip Sabian whose wife Penelope Ford interfered in the match and cost Berretta a potential victory. It will be interesting to see if there are any short or long term effects on the Best Friends.
- Darby Allin and Sting in a pre-recorded promo heading into Darby’s challenge against Samoa Joe next week. Solid work setting up how much Darby needs the win.
- In-ring promo from Jon Moxley discussing “Hangman” Adam Page and the possibility of a face-off between the pair on the January 11th edition of AEW Dynamite.
- Jade Cargill defeated former Baddie Kiera Hogan to successfully continue her undefeated streak, although the match did apparently see another defection from the Baddies as Red Velvet chose against helping Jade. We may be moving into a Jade vs. The Baddies era prior to either Jade dropping the belt or starting a program for the Women’s Championship.
- Swerve Strickland defeated Wheeler Yuta with the help of a ref bump and a low blow. Solid main event, but not as strong as the opener with Cassidy and Beretta.
Lows:
- Backstage promo from Preston Vance trying to put over his new low-card faction over his previous low-card faction. This did nothing to get Vance over or the seemingly stalled faction that’s seen its two most notable members each get suspended (one of whom seems actively attempting to get fired).
- Backstage segment featuring Tony Nese calling out Bryan Danielson for next week (yeah, that should go over well for him).
Less Notable:
- Kip Sabian beat a local jobber while mocking Orange Cassidy.
- Backstage promo by Jeff Jarrett, Jay Lethal, and Sonjay Dutt in their response to The Acclaimed‘s rap video.
- Quick pre-taped promo from AEW Women’s Champion Jamie Hayter promoting her tag match against Saraya.