Wednesday night certainly delivered for anyone with an appetite for world class professional wrestling and tremendous verbal battles, plus it set the table for a second helping coming this Friday night on RAMPAGE, as well as meals to come in the near future!
Between the Danielson and Hangman confrontation, the wild eight-man main event, and the TBS Women's Tournament bout, DYNAMITE gave fans plenty to look forward to moving forward, but it also established the Best Friends and Cole/Fish tag team bout and Baker/Riho contest happening Friday night! On top of that, 2point0 and Daniel Garcia did their best to antagonize Eddie Kingston prior to Garcia's bout with “The Mad King”! It is going to be an intense night on this RAMPAGE: BLACK FRIDAY edition starting at 10pm EST/9pm CST on TNT, and at AEWPlus.com for our international audiences!
And while you're enjoying your leftovers, prepare for Friday night by visiting the official AEW YouTube channel for DYNAMITE highlights, the latest editions of DARK: ELEVATION, AEW DARK, as well as this week's ROAD TO episode! Also, be sure to follow the official Twitter for the latest breaking news, even highlights AS THEY HAPPEN, divisional rankings, and more!
INTERRUPTIONS...
Eddie Kingston vs. Daniel Garcia
It seems that Eddie Kingston can not get a word out of his mouth these last couple weeks without Daniel Garcia, Jeff Parker, and Matt Lee interrupting the moment. As seen above, it happened on DYNAMITE last week when Tony Schiavone tried to talk to Kingston about the epic CM Punk match at FULL GEAR 2021, and that intrusion directly led to this one-on-one battle being set for this RAMPAGE: BLACK FRIDAY edition.
Clearly though, one week later, that obnoxious trio still hadn't learned any kind of lesson as they decided to track “The Mad King” down in catering and interrupt his dessert. This time though, as you can see below, their intent became clearer. This behavior, with all its ridiculous rude theatrics, seemed targeted at leveraging a psychological advantage over Kingston heading into this Friday night.
Why else throw Jon Moxley's name out there before throwing a drink in Eddie's face? Neither Garcia nor 2point0 made an attempt to actually attack Eddie there, they just casually let others in the room “hold them back” as if they had any intent to assault Kingston. The point was made, the message was sent, this trio had gotten into Eddie's head, and yet, they still weren't done with their night.
It seems as if Parker, Lee, and Garcia just want to be a thorn in the side of as many people in the AEW locker room as humanly possible, and with adding Jericho to the list of those they've antagonized, the trio was batting 1000 on Wednesday night alone. Unfortunately for Garcia, he is going to have to be the first one to answer for these shenanigans when he steps into the ring with “The Mad King” on Friday night. Now Daniel has proven time and again that he's an amazing grappler, with mat skills reminiscent of a young Bryan Danielson, but this one is not going to be about hold-for-hold or catch-as-catch-can, this is going to be Kingston punching Garcia in the face repeatedly until “Red Death” relents or figures out how to counteract the fists. It's going to be Eddie dropping Daniel on his head until he cannot stand, or until he finds a way to reverse the punishment. This one is about Garcia reaping what he and his compatriots have sown and as the verse says “The one who sows to please his sinful nature, from that nature will reap destruction”...
BLACK FRIDAY DEAL MATCH...
AEW Women's World Champion Dr. Britt Baker D.M.D vs. Riho
***IF RIHO WINS, SHE EARNS A FUTURE TITLE MATCH***
So it's a moment that essentially ran under the radar until this past Wednesday night when, as seen above, Tony Schiavone had to be the bearer of bad news (yet again) to the Women's World Champion. Apparently during the Women's Casino Battle Royale at ALL OUT 2021, Riho was not technically eliminated by Jamie Hayter and thus could make an argument for being deserving of championship challenge consideration. A similar situation played out in 2020 when Lance Archer's elimination of Eddie Kingston was called suspect by “The Mad King”, but unlike Riho, who may not have even been aware her elimination was invalid, Eddie was extremely vocal about the situation and would eventually parlay it into a World Title challenge against Jon Moxley on the 9/23/20 DYNAMITE.
Well AEW GM Tony Khan has ruled that Riho DOES in fact deserve that opportunity and this Friday night will get it when she faces Dr. Britt Baker one-on-one in a Black Friday Deal match! At stake is a guaranteed title match down the line, similar to the Trick Or Treat match with Abadon weeks ago (but with rules this time), yet the past of the Good Doctor and Riho does not lean favor into Baker's camp.
On October 16th of 2019, Riho made her first defense of the AEW Women's World Championship against Baker, and topped the challenger in a little over 8 minutes. Three months later, on the 1/1/20 HOMECOMING edition of DYNAMITE, Riho pinned Britt to retain the title in a Four Way bout that also included future champions Nyla Rose and Hikaru Shida. But those two bouts aren't the extent of their relationship; they've been tag team partners, they've been on opposite sides of tag team affairs as well, and in the five times they've been foes, the balance tips 3-2 in favor of Riho. It's not a huge advantage at all, and while the fact that Riho holds the sole one-on-one victory does carry some weight, it is reasonable to say that Baker has evolved greatly as a competitor, perhaps moreso than her Friday night foe.
In a rematch over two years in the making, this time with the championship shoe on the other foot, will Riho secure her first title match since losing it to Nyla Rose on the 2/12/20 DYNAMITE? Or will Dr. Britt Baker continue to “clean out the division” of challengers to her championship reign?
TAG TEAM BOUT...
“Freshly Squeezed” Orange Cassidy & Wheeler Yuta vs. Adam Cole & Bobby Fish
It may be poking the bear, but the fact that Adam Cole and Bobby Fish took a moment to whine about their recent disappointments on camera, in front of a worldwide audience, pretty much left them open for someone to respond. The fact that they obtusely did it in front of Chuck Taylor, Orange Cassidy, and Wheeler Yuta (while declaring themselves best friends) just further opened up that door for the latter trio to say something about it.
While Chuck Taylor is no stranger to Adam Cole or Bobby Fish, neither Orange Cassidy nor Wheeler Yuta have stepped into the ring with either man over the course of their respective careers. That being said, it makes for quite an intriguing first-time ever collision taking place this Friday night on RAMPAGE. In light of his recent record, a win is greatly needed by Adam Cole, especially given how he told Kenny Omega he's “got this Cleaner” when the recently deposed AEW World Champion stated he was taking a leave of absence from AEW and The Elite. Fish needs it as well to try and redeem himself after losses to CM Punk, Jungle Boy, and the last tag team bout with Cole as his partner.
For OC and Yuta, this one is more about the moment, the match itself, and just being able to say after the fact that “hey, WE are better friends than you guys”. The HFO situation still lingers on the peripherals, but after Cassidy and Ishii defeating The Butcher and The Blade last week, there seems to be some peace for “Freshly Squeezed” on that front. He and Wheeler can focus on Cole and Fish, and aim to keep those two on the losing path!
RAMPAGE: BLACK FRIDAY edition kicks off at 10pm EST/9pm CST on TNT, and at AEWPlus.com for our international audiences, and is going to be the hottest hour of wrestling on TV! With Eddie Kingston in action, the AEW Women's World Champion competing against a former champion, and The Elite facing Best Friends, Friday night is going to be one fabulous night for fighting!
Before RAMPAGE, after you're done enjoying your Thanksgiving leftovers, you can get set for Friday night by heading over to the official AEW YouTube channel to peruse DYNAMITE highlights, the latest episodes of DARK: ELEVATION and AEW DARK, plus the newest ROAD TO offering!