Wednesday's DYNAMITE from Indianapolis was a raucous night filled with several unexpected returns, another wild Trios match in the Best of 7 Series, and Maxwell Jacob Friedman proving beyond a shadow of a doubt that he is the biggest scumbag in professional wrestling. He may have played William Regal, admittedly a remarkable feat, in order to get the championship title off Jon Moxley, but his attack on “The Gentleman Villain” was utterly contemptible.
Plus Ring of Honor's FINAL BATTLE 2022 event got fleshed out even further as Wheeler Yuta challenged Daniel Garcia to a Rubber Match for the ROH Pure Championship while setting up a J.A.S/BCC Tag Team Battle for next week's DYNAMITE!
The action stays red hot this Friday night when RAMPAGE returns to its regular time of 10pm ET/9pm CT on TNT, as well as at AEWPlus.com for our international fans! and get caught up on the action at the official AEW YouTube channel for DYNAMITE highlights, AEW DARK: ELEVATION, AEW DARK, and the CONTROL CENTER with Tony Schiavone!
ALL-ATLANTIC CHAMPIONSHIP LUMBERJACK MATCH...
“Freshly Squeezed” Orange Cassidy(c) vs. QT Marshall
The issues between The Best Friends contingent and The Factory have been going on for over two months now, at least since Chuck, Trent, Danhausen, and Rocky Romero beat The Factory in Philadelphia, and have finally reached their zenith this Friday night on RAMPAGE.
It rapidly escalated when QT Marshall beat Danhausen in Norfolk, and led to Orange topping Lee Johnson in an All-Atlantic Championship bout, The Best Friends topping The Factory in Bridgeport, and again during the FULL GEAR 2022: ZERO HOUR, and has now brought about this Lumberjack Match here.
It's been 2.5 years since the last time QT Marshall had a championship bout, when The Natural Nightmares challenged Kenny Omega & Hangman Page for the World Tag Team Titles, and this will actually be the first time he's challenged for a singles championship since the beginning of All Elite Wrestling. As such, Marshall is going to do whatever he has to in order to walk out of Indianapolis with his first AEW title, and if that means using the men around the ring to wear out Orange Cassidy, then so be it.
Orange's projected lack of care about this fight, his nonchalance about the stipulation and his opponent, clearly it is a point of frustration for QT, but as the AEW faithful know, it's all part of the All-Atlantic Champion's game plan and it is clearly working before the two men have even set foot into the ring.
Can QT focus on the task at hand to end OC's championship reign, or will the defending champ net his 6th successful defense this Friday night?
ONE-ON-ONE...
Darby Allin vs. Cole Karter
Another Factory member who's got his hands full on Friday night is Cole Karter, and he's got a hefty price to pay for his part in Darby and Sting's issues with Jay Lethal, Jeff Jarrett, and company. As seen in the clip above, Karter chose to play dress-up at the former TNT Champion's expense, and now it may cost him dearly!
Friday night on RAMPAGE, coming off a hard-fought victory against Anthony Henry, Darby Allin will be right back in action and looking to even the score with young Mr. Karter! In his brief tenure with AEW, Karter has shown great athleticism and the potential to evolve into something great, but with just a couple years under his belt, Cole has a long way to go to match-up with the experience of Allin.
But there's always The Factory factor, there's always a Comoroto or Solo or Johnson to get involved on their friend's behalf to try and sway the match, but there's often a Sting factor to balance the scales for Darby...
HEAR FROM SWERVE IN OUR GLORY...
Things got extremely ugly at FULL GEAR 2022 in the camp of Swerve In Our Glory. Strickland pushed things too far with The Acclaimed, and laid hands on his own tag team partner in the heat of battle. Swerve's action were a large part of the reason they left empty-handed in their AEW World Tag Team Championship rubber match with Caster and Bowens, and appeared to be the end of their tag team union.
But see the above embedded tweet with Swerve Strickland looking to speak to Keith Lee privately, combine it with this promise of hearing from them on Friday night, and it actually appears Swerve In Our Glory has found common ground once again! We will all find out on Friday night on RAMPAGE.
SARAYA...
At FULL GEAR 2022, Saraya returned to the professional wrestling for the first time in five years to, not only face former AEW Women's World Champion Dr. Britt Baker D.M.D, but defeat the self-proclaimed face of All Elite Wrestling.
That's one down for Saraya, the hardest one no doubt, but there plenty more matches to be had and plenty more foes to face, some that may be dream opponents for Saraya, and some who just want to make their own name by ending the Cinderella story.
This Friday night, Renee Paquette will catch-up with Saraya about her AEW future, and what the next step will be in this amazing return to action for the multi-time champion!
EVERYBODY LOVES THE ACCLAIMED...
We heard from The Acclaimed on Wednesday night in the above embedded video, and this Friday night on RAMPAGE, the reigning AEW World Tag Team Champions will expound upon their comments in the middle of the ring!
Fans know Max Caster and Anthony Bowens want to face the best competition available, that they want to go down in history as the greatest World Tag Team Champions that All Elite Wrestling ever sees, and with Swerve In Our Glory now in their rear view, who will be the next team to rise up to the challenge?
TAG TEAM COMPETITION...
Private Party (Isiah Kassidy & Marq Quen) vs. Jay Lethal & Jeff Jarrett
Well we know one team that has already expressed their desire to be the next in line for a championship match, the duo of Jay Lethal and Jeff Jarrett would love to be named challengers to the World Tag Team Championships, but quite frankly they haven't earned it quite yet. They've had one tag team match in AEW and it was a losing effort to Darby Allin and Sting at FULL GEAR 2022, so if they want to be in the discussion, they better rack up some victories.
And that brings us to Friday night and this tag team battle with Private Party, who are stuck in a rather untenable situation of their own with The Firm and “All Ego” Ethan Page. See Stokely Hathaway's unit controls the contracts of Isiah Kassidy, Marq Quen, and Matt Hardy, but it has been Ethan Page lording it over them at every turn. He's stripped Hardy of his own Twist of Fate move and sold it off, he's threatened to take any grievances out of Private Party and leave Hardy absolutely untouched to watch his kids suffer, and now they've got to put all that out of their minds to focus on this formidable Lethal/Jarrett duo.
How will it all go down on RAMPAGE? With 57 bouts to their resume, Isiah and Quen have fought in more tag team matches than any other duo in All Elite Wrestling, but the experience has not led them to the promised land as of yet. Private Party has the edge as a team, this is only the 3rd outing for Lethal and Jarrett together in their careers and they've lost both previous outings, but Jarrett's experience alone is more than Isiah and Marq's combined. It's an intriguing situation sure to have an impact on the future of the tag team contender's picture as well; who will get their hands raised in victory in Indianapolis?
A FALLEN GODDESS INDEED...
Athena has been on an absolute tear the last several weeks in All Elite Wrestling, and it has been at the expense of many women's physical health. She has battered and bruised the competition, leading to her current 11 match winning streak, 9 of them in singles competition, and Athena aims to add to that tally this Friday night on RAMPAGE as she heads towards her December 10th collision with Mercedes Martinez at ROH's FINAL BATTLE 2022 event with the ROH Women's World Championship at stake.
Athena is aiming to make that title her own, and end Martinez's own impressive 13-match win streak, and whoever is in her way this Friday night on RAMPAGE, or any night prior to FINAL BATTLE 2022, better pray before they walk to that ring.
RAMPAGE is back in its usual time slot this Friday night on TNT! The best wrestling on Friday night's starts at 10pm ET/9pm CT and features the All-Atlantic Championship Lumberjack match between Orange Cassidy and QT Marshall, as well as a one-on-one between Darby Allin and Cole Karter, plus we will hear from The Acclaimed, Swerve In Our Glory, and Saraya over the course of the evening. And you can get prepared for the action at the official AEW YouTube channel with DYNAMITE highlights, AEW DARK: ELEVATION, AEW DARK, and the CONTROL CENTER with Tony Schiavone!