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The first ever episode of AEW Rampage was a stacked show, with three championship matches. The Impact World, the TNT and the AEW Women's World Championships were all on the line. Fuego Del Sol may have been squashed in just two minutes but earned himself an AEW contract at long last. Britt Baker's hero's reception in Pittsburgh culminated in a successful title defence against Red Velvet.
However the most significant part of the night came in the opening match which saw Christian Cage best Kenny Omega for the Impact World Championship. Not only is this significant because the AEW World Champion lost but Kenny Omega lost a singles match in AEW, or indeed a wrestling ring for the first time since Full Gear 2019.
That's 643 days.
Christian Cage vs Kenny Omega - Impact World Championship Match
Interestingly, Omega's only advantage against Cage was in Strikedowns and this seemed a deliberate tactic from Omega as he went to chops early and often. This is highlighted as a very deliberate plan by his use of 3 Strikedowns in the third minute.
Despite being outgunned by Christian for most of this match, Omega still Taunted at any opportunity especially in the middle of the match. minutes 5-8 saw 4/12 of Omega's Taunts after he took control via nefarious means. This was also during the commercial break, so Omega was stalling too.
Christian Cage's booking here is fascinating, the Out Work Everyone moniker is a widely interpretable. He's beyond obviously put in the work to get back in the ring. This is admirable and he deserves to be in this position for that alone. However within kayfabe he seems to suggest that that moniker is about him out-witting his opponents as much as physically out-lasting them.
But in this match he did both.
Cage both turned the tables on Omega thwarting The Elite's attempted cheating and outdid Omega between the ropes in almost all statistical metrics.
As you may notice from the Flow of Offence the story is a little more complex than Christian's Total Offence advantage. Throughout the match there is a lot of see-sawing of who is in control, however it is usually Omega who makes the most of his advantage. The obvious outlier is Christian's three minute spell from minutes 9-12.
The other way of looking at things is that although Kenny Omega controlled huge chunks of the match, he did not make the most of those spells. On the other hand Christian achieved huge offensive assaults on Omega during his periods of control, most notably in the middle of the match.
The Cumulative Flow of Offence shows how the match evolved over time. Christian started off well but Omega quickly took control. The afore-mentioned 9-12 minute period was key, Christian repaid the offence dished out by Omega earlier in the match with interest.
Interestingly, Cage's advantage came mostly in the form of simple Strikes. Often this is a statistic that doesn't count for much, which is why we often highlight the importance of Grapples, Dives, Strikedowns and longer Submissions as 'Big Offence'. Omega did manage to find more opportunity to land these, mostly in the form of Strikedowns.
In the end, Christian managed to hang with Omega and push him and the Bucks to do something stupid. Which he of course took advantage of and turned to his advantage.
You may wish to spend some time looking at the different usage of in-ring metrics between the two title matches on Rampage.
Dr Britt Baker D.M.D. vs Red Velvet - AEW Women's World Championship
