Wednesday night on DYNAMITE: BEACH BREAK 2024 (presented by SHARK WEEK), we learned that Bryan Danielson will compete in the Finals of the Men's Owen next week in Calgary, that “Hangman” Adam Page will face Jay White in the Semifinals on COLLISION, and that Willow Nightingale will battle the winner of tonight's Hikaru Shida/Mariah May Semifinal bout! Fans also witnessed MJF be who MJF is at his core, this time at the expense of Daniel Garcia, and TBS/NJPW STRONG Women's Champion Mercedes Moné exchange harsh words with Dr. Britt Baker DMD. It's all part of what makes All Elite Wrestling the place where the best wrestle, and that continues tonight on RAMPAGE with Kyle O'Reilly in action, RUSH taking on Komander, and Private Party facing The Don Callis Family's Kyle Fletcher and Konosuke Takeshita. Then, in your main event, Mariah May faces former 3-Time AEW Women's World Champion Hikaru Shida in the second Semifinal bout of the Women's Owen!
The action starts Friday night at 10pm ET/9pm CT on TNT so before the night's festivities, be sure to visit the official AEW YouTube channel to catch up on the highlights from DYNAMITE, as well as those from previous editions of RAMPAGE and COLLISION, and post-FORBIDDEN DOOR 2024 comments from the athletes of AEW!
Then join All Elite Wrestling Saturday night at the Landers Center in Southaven, MS for an all-new COLLISION featuring “Switchblade” Jay White versus “Hangman” Adam Page in the Semifinals of the Men's Owen!
WOMEN'S OWEN HART FOUNDATION TOURNAMENT SEMIFINAL...
Hikaru Shida vs. Mariah May
***WINNER FACES WILLOW NIGHTINGALE ON DYNAMITE***
Here we are, on the precipice of knowing the finals of the Women's Owen going down next Wednesday night in Calgary, and by night's end we will see who meets Willow Nightingale with that ALL IN: LONDON 2024 championship opportunity at stake.
It's come down to this first-time match between Mariah May and Hikaru Shida, the former beating Saraya this past Sunday night during FORBIDDEN DOOR 2024: ZERO HOUR and the latter topping Deonna Purrazzo last week on COLLISION. For Shida this an opportunity to make good after the lost opportunity that was the 2022 Owen, a chance taken away from her after an injury scare got her removed from the field, though she was back in competition just twelve days after winning her Qualifying Match over Julia Hart. It was frustrating to have the opportunity to actually compete in the inaugural Owen pulled away, and now Shida aims to make up for that by running the table and moving on to the championship opportunity at Wembley Stadium.
For Mariah May this is a tournament in which her entry was given the blessing of AEW Women's World Champion Toni Storm, and done so knowing full well that her understudy could very well end up fighting her for the title on August 25th. That chance would be the fulfillment of a dream for Mariah, the opportunity to fight her idol for the most prestigious championship in Women's wrestling today, and in her home country no less, but before she can dream about that, she's got to make it past the most dangerous woman on the AEW roster. At 74-14, Shida has the best singles record in the Women's Division and is one of two women who've achieved that 100-win mark in All Elite Wrestling, the other being Nyla Rose, and is one of two competitors who've claimed the Women's Championship three times with the other being “The Timeless One” herself.
This is going to be a difficult fight for Mariah May, that much is certain, but one other thing that's for certain is the fans of AEW have only scratched the surface of what Mariah is capable of in that squared circle. When she lets herself open up like she did as part of the Stardom roster, everyone in All Elite Wrestling better take notice and recognize the threat she represents beyond being allied with Toni Storm and Luther!
ONE-ON-ONE...
“El Toro Blanco” RUSH vs. Komander
On a night of firsts, Komander will go one-on-one with “El Toro Blanco” RUSH for the very first time! The 2-Time for ROH World Champion has won four of his last five bouts since returning from injury, that loss coming at the hands of Maxwell Jacob Friedman on the June 19th DYNAMITE, but even in that defeat looked as vicious as he'd ever been.
That bears bad tidings for Komander as he looks to rebound from his tag team loss with Metalik during ROH ON HONOR CLUB last night, as well as the one they experienced versus Private Party two weeks ago, and his failure to win the International Championship Casino Gauntlet back in April. It's been a frustrating time for Komander, but an athlete with his level of skills is capable of bouncing back in any given match, even if his foe is as sadistic as Rush!
TAG TEAM BOUT...
Don Callis Family (“The Alpha” Konosuke Takeshita & “The Protostar” Kyle Fletcher) vs. Private Party (Isiah Kassidy & Marq Quen)
The Don Callis Family took quite a hit Wednesday night when “The Aerial Assassin” Will Ospreay requested he be set free from his agreement with Don. Surprisingly Callis acquiesced to the AEW International Champion's request, but the likelihood that there are no repercussions from that ask are slim to none knowing Don Callis. In fact, Ospreay already had to face one such consequence for his actions, and that was watching Kyle Fletcher walk off with Callis after the request was made. Given that Kyle was the person consoling Ospreay after his AEW World Championship loss on Sunday night, that had to be a hard pill for Will to swallow.
That long term effects of that choice will surely unfold in time, but in the now The DFC must move on from their Ospreay Era and that begins tonight on RAMPAGE with this tag team bout pitting Private Party against Fletcher and Konosuke Takeshita!
“The Protostar” comes into this fight having lost his ROH World Championship bid to Mark Briscoe last week during ROH ON HONOR CLUB, then losing his ROH World TV Title just two days later to Atlantis Jr. during a bout in CMLL while Takeshita steps into this fight having come up short in the TNT Championship Ladder Match at FORBIDDEN DOOR 2024. Suffice to say that means both these men have a lot of frustration to take out on their foes, but they'll find it easier said than done when facing Private Party, especially given the intensely frustrating month they've had! A loss during the FORBIDDEN DOOR 2024: ZERO HOUR to the House of Black, a loss to Big Bill and Chris Jericho in Allentown, and a loss to the Gates of Agony in Colorado, the only bright spot for Zay and Quen was their victory over Komander and Metalik in Fairfax, VA, but regardless of how talented those two are, that was a win over a team uniting for the very first time. There hasn't been much to be positive about since Private Party ventured back into tag team action with Quen's return from injury after three months, but perhaps this will be the night they turn it around and get to that next level they've teetered on since 2019.
ALSO FEATURING:
-Kyle O'Reilly in action!
-And more!!
AEW RAMPAGE begins this Friday night at 10pm ET/9pm CT on TNT but before you dive into the action, drop by the official AEW YouTube channel to watch highlights from this week's DYNAMITE, as well as those from previous editions of RAMPAGE and COLLISION, plus post-FORBIDDEN DOOR 2024 comments from just a few of Sunday night's participants!
Then join AEW in Southaven, MS at the Landers Center this Saturday for an all-new COLLISION featuring “Switchblade” Jay White versus “Hangman” Adam Page in the Semifinals of the Men's Owen, MJF in Memphis, and more!
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