Philadelphia played host to a tremendous edition of Dynamite on Wednesday night that began to set the stage for Double or Nothing 2022 in announcing CM Punk's World Title challenge against Hangman Page! Plus the two members of FTR went head-to-head for a spot in the Owen Hart Foundation Tournament, The BCC continued to show AEW their violence language, Serena and Shida had a violence party of their own in Philly, and The Undisputed Elite came together in victory!
Plus Wardlow managed to overcome Lance Archer, The JAS and the Kingston/Ortiz/Santana trio had their sit-down, and the TNT Title found a new, albeit familiar, home in the arms of Scorpio Sky following a wild Ladder Match with Sammy Guevara!
Now this Friday night the City of Brotherly Love welcomes Rampage and the next Qualifying Match for the Owen Hart Foundation Tournament match! It's Swerve Strickland versus Darby Allin for the first time since March 8, 2019, plus Samoa Joe defending the ROH World TV Title, Jade Cargill and her Baddies in trios action, and Keith Lee goes head-to-head with Colten Gunn! It all starts at 10pm EST/9:00pm CST on TNT, as well as at AEWPlus.com for our international audience! Before Friday night, be sure to visit the official AEW YouTube channel to catch up on all the Dynamite highlights, plus the latest episodes of Dark: Elevation, AEW Dark, Road To, and Control Center with Tony Schiavone!
ROH WORLD TV TITLE MATCH...
Samoa Joe(c) vs. Trent Beretta
And so it begins; the last day Samoa Joe held a Ring of Honor Championship was August 27, 2005 and it was the ROH Pure Title currently held by Wheeler Yuta. It was a title he wrestled away from then-protege Jay Lethal, defended against challengers like Christopher Daniels, Colt Cabana, James Gibson, the late-Jimmy Rave, and ultimately lost to Nigel McGuinness.
Joe was the first man to have held both singles championships in ROH, but he departed the company before the introduction of the World Television Title, and his brief 2015 return was focused on reclaiming the World Title. So when Joe stepped into the ring with Minoru Suzuki two weeks ago with the TV Title at stake, it was a truly electric feeling partly do to the dream match nature of the fight, and partly due to the prospect of Joe joining the ranks of past ROH Triple Crown champions like Eddie Edwards, Roderick Strong, Christopher Daniels, current ROH World Champion Jonathan Gresham, and the only other man to hold the World, Pure, and TV title in ROH's history, Jay Lethal.
Joe and Suzuki would absolutely tear one another apart over the course of twelve minutes, but it would be the ROH Legend who survived the experience to emerge as the new World Television Champion. Unfortunately Joe's celebration was marred by Jay Lethal, Sonjay Dutt, and their gigantic gift to the new champ, Satnam Singh. This trio has now become a massive thorn in the side of both Joe and ROH World Champion Jonathan Gresham, two men bonded by their histories with Lethal, but on Friday night Joe is going to have to set that off to the side when faces Trent Beretta for the very first time!
See Beretta has himself a wealth of experience under that ROH banner as well; over the course of four years, he challenged for their World Tag Titles, their Six Man Titles, even the World Title when Dalton Castle held it, but he never found the key to victory in his championship challenges. This Friday night, Beretta gets a chance to change all that when he faces Samoa Joe with that World Television Title at stake! Although primarily focused on tag team wrestling during his AEW tenure, Trent has been inside the ring with Bryan Danielson, Jay White, Nick Jackson, and Adam Cole over the last few months, and has plenty of experience in the singles ranks throughout his career.
In front of the diehard Philadelphia audience, only 7 miles away from the Murphy Rec where ROH was born, and just five miles away from the 2300 Arena where the TV Title was first established, Samoa Joe and Trent Beretta will go to battle to see who will reign as champion!
OWEN HART FOUNDATON MEN'S QUALIFYING MATCH...
Darby Allin vs. Swerve Strickland
Darby Allin and Shane Strickland have some history, nearly five years worth of it looking over their careers, and crossing across boundaries of multiple wrestling promotions. They have fought in singles, tags, and three ways, they have fought without rules, and they have fought over championships, but none of those contests were as high stakes, or as high profile, as what will take place this Friday night on Rampage.
To the victor of this contest comes the spoils of entering the Owen Hart Foundation Tournament alongside Samoa Joe, Adam Cole, Kyle O'Reilly, Dax Harwood, and the winner of Bobby Fish versus Jeff Hardy next Wednesday night.
Darby is coming off a tremendous Coffin Match victory over Andrade El Idolo and has hopefully shed the monkey of The AFO off his back. Strickland, on the other hand, seems perpetually entangled with Team Taz since he arrived in AEW at Revolution 2022, but hopefully that will not be the case when this rivalry renews in Philly! It's been just over three years since their last fight in Seattle for DEFY, one in which Darby was victorious, and both have been itching for a chance to run it back ever since. That opportunity is coming on TNT this Friday night, and with one of the coveted Owen Hart Foundation Tournament slots on the line, both competitors are going to lay it all on the line!
BADDIES TRIOS MATCH...
TBS Champion Jade Cargill, Kiera Hogan, & Red Velvet
vs.
Skye Blue, Trish Adora, & Willow Nightingale
If you can't beat them, join them; it's a idiom whose origins are lost to the sands of time, but it appears to be one that Red Velvet is adhering to as of late. It came as a surprise to many, seeing Red align herself with TBS Champion Jade Cargill, especially considering their rivalry that has lingered since Jade's debut Mixed Tag match last year, but clearly Velvet saw it more beneficial to be with the Jade brand than against it. Perhaps it was, in part, due to hearing the fans start to edge her out when she faced Willow Nightingale in their Owen Hart Foundation Tournament Qualifier. Maybe Velvet decided to be done with fans before they decided to be done with her; whatever the case may be, Red is now firmly entrenched in the Baddie Section. With that in mind, for the very first time, Jade will step into the ring for a trios match and will have Velvet and Kiera Hogan at her side!
Standing across the ring from Jade and her Baddies will be the aforementioned fan favorite Willow Nightingale, along with another fan fave in Skye Blue, and making her return to AEW action, independent sensation Trish Adora. Jade is riding high after that TBS Title victory over Marina Shafir that also notched her thirty straight wins, but for the first time since her debut, Cargill's record books are not just in her control! Can the TBS Champion and her Baddies make it 31-0 for Jade, or will their trio of fan fave foes be able to end that streak this Friday night?
ONE-ON-ONE...
Keith Lee vs. Colten Gunn
Just as Swerve Strickland, Keith Lee has found himself perpetually bombarded by Team Taz since his arrival in All Elite Wrestling, but this Friday night he has freedom from FTW when he faces Colten Gunn in singles competition! Now while Colten Gunn may have one of the strongest records in all of AEW at 48-5, and the longest unbeaten streak in company history as well at 35 straight wins, all but one of those matches has been in tag or trios competition. Now while Colten's one singles match may have been a victory over Sonny Kiss, it is in fact the only one-on-one match of his entire wrestling career.
So to say Colten is a massive underdog coming into this fight would also be a massive understatement; compared to his foe, Colten is undersized and under-experienced, but he's got two potential game changers in his corner in the form of his brother and his father. If one, or both, of those men get involved, it certainly balances out the equation for Rampage. So will we see Keith Lee get a fair fight this Friday night, or will he be dealing with the same numbers game Team Taz has tried to employ against The Limitless One?
TO CURSE OR NOT TO CURSE...
Danhausen has something in common with the AEW fanbase as of late in that both have developed a fascination with “The Cold Hearted Handsome Devil” HOOK. While the fan's interest has stemmed both from seeing the young rookie smash his way through all seven of his AEW opponents, as well as this silent charisma HOOK exudes, the obsession of Danhausen seems to stem from his inability to cast a curse on the man.
Danhausen has popped up during Lexy Nair's multiple attempts to interview HOOK, he has popped out in the arena when HOOK has competed, and through most of it, the devil has managed to brush it all off like inconsequential dirt on his shoulder. He even blew off Danhausen's challenge to a fight after HOOK made his Dynamite debut in a victory over Anthony Henry. Still everyone has a breaking point, and as can be seen in the video embedded above, Danhausen finally found HOOK's with just a simple bag of potato chips.
Danhausen has HOOK's attention now, and this Friday night on Rampage, they will have themselves a face-to-face confrontation inside the squared circle! Will Danhausen finally get the fight he thinks he wants?
Rampage get underway this Friday night at 10pm EST/9pm PST on TNT, and AEWPlus.com for international audiences! We've got the ROH World TV Title on the line, an Owen Hart Foundation Qualifying bout, the TBS Champion and her Baddies in Trios competition, and Keith Lee in action!The best place to get ready for it all is the official AEW YouTube channel for Dynamite highlights, as well as the latest episodes of Dark: Elevation, AEW Dark, Road To, and the latest Control Center with Tony Schiavone!