This past Wednesday night, AEW celebrated the four year anniversary of DYNAMITE, and ushered in the Rated R Era with the DYNAMITE debut of Adam Copeland! He confronted Christian Cage, attempted to reforge their long-time partnership, and was instead rebuked rather rudely. Fans also witnessed “Switchblade” Jay White challenge MJF to a title fight at FULL GEAR 2023, Roderick Strong and The Kingdom put Adam Cole to work, and AEW International Champion Rey Fenix top Nick Jackson in a title match!
This Friday the action continues with RAMPAGE, featuring a big 8-Man Tag teaming The Hardys with Best Friends to take on the former members of J.A.S, a shot at the ROH World Championship will be at stake in a Four Way bout, and TBS Champion Kris Statlander will team up with Hikaru Shida to face Marina Shafir and Nyla Rose!
The night gets underway at 10pm ET/9pm CT on TNT, as well as at AEWPlus.com for our international audiences, so visit the official AEW YouTube channel before RAMPAGE begins to see highlights from this week's DYNAMITE, from WRESTLEDREAM, as well as previous episodes of RAMPAGE and COLLISION, plus THE CONTROL CENTER, and much, much more!
EIGHT MAN TAG...
Best Friends (Chuck Taylor & Trent Beretta) and The Hardys (Jeff & Matt) vs. Angelo Parker, Daniel Garcia, Jake Hager, & Matt Menard
As they continue to search for their path separate from Chris Jericho's machinations, the former J.A.S. members will unite in competition this Friday against the unique team of The Best Friends and The Hardys!
One thing all eight of these men have in common is a desire to find their path forward in All Elite Wrestling, and this is the kind of fight that can help them all towards that goal. Are there championship challenges in their futures? Is it a quest for something else? All we can say is that given the eight man involved in this bout, and the presence of Anna Jay with her quartet, this is going to be one unpredictable situation! How will The Best Friends and Hardys function as a unit in their first time out? Will the former J.A.S members prove as cohesive now as they once were when that “J” was still a party of their careers? Tune in Friday night to find out!
TAG TEAM TUSSLE...
TBS Champion Kris Statlander & Hikaru Shida vs. Marina Shafir & Nyla Rose
Hikaru Shida is set to challenge Saraya for the AEW Women's World Championship next week during DYNAMITE: TITLE TUESDAY, her shot at regaining the title she lost at ALL IN: LONDON, lost without being pinned or submitted by Saraya. But before she gets there, Shida will unite with TBS Champion Kris Statlander for the first time since 2020 to take on two of women who long to get a championship back in their camp.
Nyla Rose and Marina Shafir, the former having once held the AEW Women's World Championship herself, would both love nothing more than to be challengers for either the TBS or AEW Women's World Championship, and taking home a victory on Friday night would help them both get towards that goal. Pinning Statlander could set one of them up for a shot at her TBS Championship, pinning Shida would put them in a prime position should she defeat Saraya on Tuesday, and Nyla Rose would love nothing more than to get one over on the woman who ended her title reign back in 2020.
ROH WORLD TITLE SHOT ON THE LINE...
Johnny TV vs. Komander vs. Lince Dorado vs. Penta El Zero Miedo
Coming off his hard-hitting ROH World Championship defense against Katsuyori Shibata at WRESTLEDREAM, Eddie Kingston is ready to face his next challenger, and this Friday night on RAMPAGE, we will all find out just who that man will be! Four men will clash in a single fall contest, commonly referred to in ROH Land as a Four Corner Survival, and to the victor goes a bout with Eddie Kingston and a shot at his ROH World Championship.
To Eddie, both Johnny TV and Komander are unknown entities having never clashed with either in a head-to-head situation, in fact between the two he's only set foot in the ring with Komander as part of the Face of the Revolution Ladder Match earlier this year. As for the AEW newcomer, Eddie and Lince Dorado have a great deal of history, dating back to 2007 with their shared days in CHIKARA, and Dorado actually being connected to some of the issues between Kingston and Claudio Castagnoli. Then, of course, there is all the shared history between Kingston and his best friend Penta El Zero Miedo. They've been allies, they've fought, they even challenged The Young Bucks for the AEW World Tag Titles several years ago, so it's reasonable to say they know one another better than any other men involved in this fight.
Which man would Kingston rather face? Well the ROH World Champion will be joining the team on commentary for this fight so perhaps we will all hear it directly from the mouth of the man himself!
RAMPAGE gets started at 10pm ET/9pm CT on TNT, as well as at AEWPlus.com for our international audiences, so drop in on the official AEW YouTube channel prior to the show for highlights from Wednesday's DYNAMITE, as well as previous episodes of RAMPAGE and COLLISION, plus THE CONTROL CENTER, and much, much more!