AEW Rampage Preview for September 16, 2022

The finals of the Grand Slam Tournament of Champions were set for next Wednesday (Buy Tickets) at Arthur Ashe Stadium when Jon Moxley and Bryan Danielson won their Semi-Final Tournament matches! Now it's a clash of Blackpool Combat Club members, a rematch of their violent Revolution 2022 bout, and it will be for the AEW World Championship!

In addition, Swerve In Our Glory managed to maintain their grip on the AEW World Tag Team Titles in a bout with The Lucha Brothers, the bad blood between Powerhouse Hobbs and Ricky Starks continued to flow, Maxwell Jacob Friedman delivered some nasty verbiage to the fans as well as the men involved in the World Title scenario, and Stokely Hathaway delivered his mission statement to the AEW faithful!

This Friday's edition Rampage, beginning at 10:00pm ET/9:00pm CT on TNT as well as at AEWPlus.com for our international audiences, presents Darby Allin in action against Matt Hardy, Willow Nightingale back in action against Penelope Ford, “All Ego” Ethan Page looking to make an example out of Danhausen, and the ROH World TV Champion Samoa Joe defending his title against former ROH Pure Champion Josh Woods! Before the action begins, make sure to hit up the official AEW YouTube channel for Dynamite highlights, Dark: Elevation, AEW Dark, Road To, and this week's Control Center with Tony Schiavone!

HEAD-TO-HEAD...

Darby Allin vs. Matt Hardy

There is plenty of history between Darby Allin and Matt Hardy heading into this one-on-one battle Friday night on Rampage. In April of 2021, during Allin's record-setting TNT Title reign, the two men battled in a wild Falls Count Anywhere Match in which Darby emerged triumphant.

Nearly a year later, after Andrade tried to convince Darby Allin to sign on with The AHFO, he would face Andrade, Hardy, and Isiah Kassidy in Trios action with Sting and, of all people, Sammy Guevara at his side. Darby's unit was victorious at Revolution 2022, but in a wild twist of fate (pun absolutely intended) Allin would put himself in a position as Matt's partner just weeks later. See that Rev '22 loss did something to Hardy, forced him to look at the error of his ways with The AHFO, and the subsequent assault he would endure from his former associates would actually bring Darby and Sting to Matt's aid.

That peacemaking move would unit Darby and Sting with The Hardys in battle against The AHFO, and bring them together in a ten-man tag against The Undisputed Elite a few months later. It was clear their differences had been smoothed over, and that Matt Hardy was going to continuing traversing this path to redemption for his actions the last several years.

That path has now brought Matt and Darby back together in combat, not as allies, but once more as opponents, only now without the rancor that has come before. This fight is about the competition of professional wrestling, about seeing who is the better man, and it goes down this Friday on TNT. Will it be Darby or Hardy who walks out of Albany with their hand raised?

ONE-ON-ONE...

Danhausen vs. “All Ego” Ethan Page

Poor Luigi Primo; he gets an opportunity to introduce himself to the world on Dynamite and “All Ego” Ethan Page ruins his moment. Apparently no one can have a little fun when this wannabe “King of The Atlantic” is in the area without fear of getting kicked in their face.

Thankfully Danhausen was right there on the spot to interrupt Page's rant about “taking this job seriously”, but perhaps not so fortuitous for the man Ethan referred to as “The Jester” as he now has to fight “All Ego” on Rampage.

Danhausen may live to regret walking into the picture at that moment because “All Ego” Ethan Page is going to use him as an example to the All-Atlantic Champion, be it Orange Cassidy or PAC following Dynamite: Grand Slam 2022.

SINGLES MATCH...

Willow Nightingale vs. Penelope Ford

Since returning from injury, Penelope Ford has jumped right back into the mix without hesitation. After a strong return against Heather Reckless on Dark: Elevation, Ford went right up against Athena on Rampage and fought Toni Storm in an Eliminator bout last week on Dynamite. Now this Friday night, in her fifth match in four weeks, “The SuperBad Girl” will fight the beloved Willow Nightingale in a rematch of their December 2021 AEW Dark battle.

In the six weeks since Nightingale's last AEW appearance, she has been consistently active with her independent dates, working around the state of New York, in Delaware, at the White Eagle Hall in Worcester, MA, and in Bethlehem, PA, and now she's ready to get back into the fight in Albany. Always a fan favorite, and always game to give her opponents a fight unlike any other, Willow Nightingale aims to get on the winning track in AEW in this rematch with Penelope Ford.

It's a battle of two of the Women's Divisions top talents this Friday night on Rampage!

THE CHAMP IS HERE!

Last week on Rampage, fans watched Claudio Castagnoli and Dax Harwood battle their hearts out for the right to be called ROH World Champion. While it was the defending Castagnoli who emerged from the fray still in possession of the championship, Harwood once again proved to the wrestling world that whether it be in singles action or as a tag team with Cash Wheeler, he is one of the toughest in the game today.

But with that fight now in his rear view, Claudio has to look to the future and what potential challengers may await him in the coming weeks. There are a great many men who would love to join the fighters such as Bryan Danielson, Adam Cole, Samoa Joe, Jay Lethal, and Christopher Daniels in the lineage of ROH World Champions, but who will be the next challenger to step up to the fight?

Perhaps we will find out this week on Rampage when the ROH World Champion joins the festivities!

ROH WORLD TV TITLE MATCH...

Samoa Joe(c) vs. Josh Woods

ROH World TV Champion Samoa Joe returned to the AEW landscape with a vengeance at All Out 2022, and the following Friday on Rampage was set to declare his intentions to the world while standing in the center of the ring. Unfortunately Joe barely had the microphone in his hand for one minute before he was so rudely interrupted by Smart Mark Sterling, Josh Woods, and Tony Nese.

And as seen above, Sterling made the very intelligent decision to berate Joe from the safe distance of the stage rather than confronting him in the ring, but even after the ROH World TV Champion was willing to give Josh Woods what he wanted at that very moment, Sterling still chose to turn tail and run away for a week.

Now given The Technical Beast's history it is unlikely he would want to run as Sterling did, or delay his chance to be a champion once again, and he will likely step right into the face of the longest reigning ROH World Champion in history, a former Pure Champion himself, and by virtue of Joe's current TV Title reign, also a ROH Triple Crown Champion.

Woods is a true threat to Joe's title reign given his pedigree as an amateur wrestler at the University of Central Florida, a 2011 NCWA National Champion, and a two time NCWA All-American. His credentials as a pro, having just passed his seventh anniversary a few weeks ago, include winning ROH's 2017 Top Prospect Tournament and reigning as Pure Champion for 201 days successfully defending the title seven times, including against another former ROH World TV Champion in Rhett Titus. Woods hasn't been through the wars Joe has, his body hasn't seen the bumps and bruises that come with 20-plus years of competition, but neither has he garnered the experience of a warrior like Samoa Joe.

He hasn't stood toe-to-toe with the legendary Kenta Kobashi or Mitsuharu Misawa, he hasn't carried a company on his back the way Joe did with ROH for 645 days, he hasn't traveled around the world, fought 20-plus matches in a single month, and helped define an entire era of professional wrestling. That's not to say Josh Woods can't or won't, it's just he hasn't achieved that yet in his career, and while Joe has the wear and tear that came with this accolades, so to does he have knowledge earned the hard way.

This is either a chance for Josh Woods to etch his name in the history books as the man to dethrone Samoa Joe as ROH World TV Champion, or an opportunity for Samoa Joe to send a warning to any man coming for his title! Which will it be this Friday night on Rampage?

Rampage begins at 10:00pm ET/9:00pm CT on TNT, as well as at AEWPlus.com for our international audiences, and features an ROH World TV Title Match, a battle between Darby and Hardy, Willow Nightingale in action against Penelope Ford, Danhausen taking on Ethan Page, and we will hear from ROH World Champion Claudio Castagnoli! Get prepared for all that's coming at the official AEW YouTube channel with Dynamite highlights, Dark: Elevation, AEW Dark, Road To, and this week's Control Center with Tony Schiavone