With AEW heading towards the Owen Hart Foundation Tournament Finals this Saturday night in Calgary , RAMPAGE is coming in hot this Friday night at 10:00PM ET/9:00pm CT on TNT, as well as at AEWPlus.com for our international audiences! The final Semi-Finals match in the Women's Owen Hart Foundation Tournament is going down, as is Naturally Limitless taking on The Jericho Appreciation Society, as well as Takeshita heading into action, and we anticipating hearing from AEW Women's World Champion Toni Storm and The Dark Order!
Before the night begins, be sure to drop by the official AEW YouTube channel for highlights from recent episodes of DYNAMITE, RAMPAGE, and COLLISION, as well as the latest edition of THE CONTROL CENTER, plus a little AEW: FIGHT FOREVER tease, and so much more!
OWEN HART FOUNDATION WOMEN'S TOURNAMENT SEMI-FINAL...
ROH Women's World Champion “The Fallen Goddess” Athena vs. Willow Nightingale
Originally slated to take place last week, but postponed due to an injury sustained by Willow in her NJPW STRONG Women's Championship loss to Giulia, the last Semi-Final bout in the Owen Hart Foundation Tournament will go down this Friday night on RAMPAGE, with the winner facing Ruby Soho in the Finals less than 24 hours later on COLLISION!
This bout is a rematch from the second of ROH ON HONOR CLUB, a ROH Women's World Title fight won by Athena, and as such is going to be quite heated. This is Willow not only needing to rebound from her championship loss, but also wanting to prove no ill effects from the injuries that kept her from competing last Saturday night on COLLISION. As for “The Fallen Goddess”, she has designs on continuing the monumental roll she's been on since last Fall when she last tasted defeat!
Athena is heading into this one with yet another Proving Ground victory from Thursday's ROH ON HONOR CLUB, while Willow Nightingale has had some time to rest and recover from the bout with Giulia. Which woman will be the one to who take their respective experiences, and roll them into a fight with Ruby Soho this Saturday? Will it be Athena heading into her first AEW match with Ruby, their first singles encounter since August 2018, or Willow looking for vengeance against Soho for her betrayals?
TAG TEAM BOUT...
Naturally Limitless (Dustin Rhodes & Keith Lee) vs.
The Jericho Appreciation Society (Angelo Parker & Matt Menard)
The Jericho Appreciation Society and its assorted members are not unfamiliar to Keith Lee or Dustin Rhodes, each has had their share of run-ins with Jericho and his minions, but this is the first time Dustin Rhodes has ever had to deal with these two particular nuisances, and the first time Naturally Limitless has teamed up against The J.A.S.
That being said, Rhodes and Keith had made a stellar tag team in their outings thus far, the rich knowledge and ring savvy of Rhodes being complemented by the power of Lee have made for a tough combination for opponents to tackle. Still, Dustin and Keith have yet to face a pair of combatants with as much tag team experience as Angelo Parker and Matt Menard. As a duo whose experience together predates their arrival in All Elite Wrestling by many years, Parker and Menard are certainly the most finely tuned tag team Naturally Limitless has faced in their short time together, and that may be the key to their undoing.
Can the tag team experience of this J.A.S. duo prove better than the veteran knowledge and power Naturally Limitless brings to the table? Or will “The Natural” and Keith Lee add another “W” to their resume as they build their tag team reputation up one bout at a time?
SINGLES MATCH...
“The Murderhawk Monster” Lance Archer vs. Trent Beretta
“The Murderhawk Monster” Lance Archer has been on quite the tour since his last AEW appearance back in April on DARK: ELEVATION; not only did he dip his toes in the ROH pool, he took part in the IWGP United States Heavyweight Title #1 Contender Tournament that ultimately led to Ospreay/Omega at FORBIDDEN DOOR 2023, and also traveled to the 1PW promotion in the UK to take part in their World Heavyweight Championship Tournament, swung by RevPro for a few bouts, and competed for NJPW STRONG in Korakuen Hall.
On the other hand, Trent Beretta has been on a downward slide in terms of victories in his AEW career, having not won a televised match since the March 31st edition of RAMPAGE, but at least he was victorious in his last singles bout, one against Tony Nese that took place back on DARK #184 in February. Still, not the best time to run up against a wrecking machine like Lance Archer, or perhaps its the perfect time, a match that's the necessary kick in backside to get everything back on track for Trent.
Despite having clashed a few times over the years in New Japan, this will mark the first time Beretta and Archer will meet in a singles bout, giving each man a little extra motivation to be the one getting his hand raised at the end of the fight!
If Trent can survive the onslaught of Archer and find a way to put the big man down for a three count, it will absolutely be one of the biggest wins of his AEW singles career, and hopefully lead to something bigger for this Best Friend down the line. But if Archer is the one taking home the victory, what other destruction will he have in mind moving forward now that he's back on the AEW scene?
TAKESHITA IN ACTION!
With less than a week to go before he enters into the Blood & Guts cage, Konosuke Takeshita will be in action this Friday night on RAMPAGE! The man who Don Callis has decided to dub “The New God of Professional Wrestling” hasn't ever entered into this kind of atmosphere before, so a fight this close to AEW's Boston return may not be the smartest choice for Takeshita, but clearly the man (or at least Callis) has a reason for stepping into battle on RAMPAGE. Whether it's to get into the right head space ahead of entering TD Gardens, or to send a message to The Golden Elite, Takeshita's coming to fight so whoever is standing across the ring best be ready to throwdown.
THE WOMEN'S WORLD CHAMPION SPEAKS!
After successfully retaining her AEW Women's World Championship at FORDBIDDEN DOOR 2023 against Willow Nightingale, Toni Storm is on the lookout for new challengers to her title. Given all the enemies she has made since aligning with Saraya, and later Ruby Soho, to form The Outcasts, it won't be hard for Toni to find another woman in All Elite Wrestling who wants to punch her in the face and take that title.
Is that what the AEW Women's World Champion is coming to RAMPAGE to address this Friday? Or does she have something else on her mind to share with the world? Tune into TNT beginning at 10pm ET to hear what Toni Storm has to say!
THE DARK ORDER SHARES THEIR THOUGHTS...
Last week on RAMPAGE, The Dark Order of Evil Uno, Alex Reynolds, and John Silver scored a rather tainted victory over The Elite, specifically pinning Hangman Page, as a result of The Blackpool Combat Club's involvement in their Trios affair.
This week on RAMPAGE, we will hear from the three remaining members of The Dark Order, and hopefully they will address that victory, as well as their current standing when it comes to Hangman Page and The Elite. Do they still consider Page a friend, or is that a bridge already burned to ashes? Perhaps we will all have the answers this Friday night on TNT!
RAMPAGE is coming your way this Friday night at 10:00pm ET/9:00pm CT, as well as at AEWPlus.com for AEW's international fans, and features the last Semi-Final bout in the Women's Owen Hart Foundation Tournament pitting Athena against Willow Nightingale! Plus, Naturally Limitless will be in action against The JAS, Lance Archer and Trent Beretta collide, and we will hear from The Dark Order, as well as AEW Women's World Champion Toni Storm! Before the night begins, head over to the official AEW YouTube channel for highlights from this week's episode of DYNAMITE, as well as previous episodes of RAMPAGE and COLLISION, plus the latest edition of CONTROL CENTER, and more!