Wednesday night was BIG BUSINESS indeed as “The CEO” Mercedes Mone made her debut for All Elite Wrestling, and immediately made her presence felt following Willow Nightingale's victory in the main event! It's clear that Mercedes has big plans in mind for AEW, and her history with Willow in NJPW STRONG may play a factor in that; however she goes, it's safe to say that business has picked up with her arrival on the AEW stage! Plus, we saw Samoa Joe retain his AEW World Championship against Wardlow, Lion HOOK defeat The Gates of Agony, The Elite score trios victory over Kingston & Death Triangle, and witnessed how Jay White's victory over Darby Allin led to the violent dissolution of The Bang Bang Scissor Gang!
Beginning at 10pm ET/9pm CT this Friday night, RAMPAGE goes down before the fans at TD Garden, and features a bout between two teams with the AEW World Tag Title Tournament on their minds, The Undisputed Kingdom in Trios Action, the AEW Women's World Champion and her protege in tag team action, and Komander battling Takeshita! Before the action begins, visit the official AEW YouTube channel, as well as AEW's other social media sites, to get caught up on highlights from Wednesday night's DYNAMITE: BIG BUSINESS, as well as previous episodes of RAMPAGE, COLLISION, and the latest CONTROL CENTER! Be sure to join AEW this Saturday night in Ottawa, ON, Canada at the Canadian Tire Center for an all-new COLLISION featuring Kyle O'Reilly's return to in-ring competition!
TAG TEAM TOURNAMENT PREP...
Orange Cassidy & Trent Beretta vs. Dark Order (Evil Uno & John Silver)
The AEW World Tag Team Championship Tournament is fast approaching, and it's been made abundantly clear by Orange Cassidy and Trent Beretta that they aim to run the table in Chuck Taylor's absence! In fact, the former 2-Time AEW International Champion and his best friend have made it a point to hone their tag team efficiency over the past week, scoring a victory over Kip Sabian and Butcher on the last RAMPAGE, traveling to ROH for a tag team win over Cole Karter & Griff Garrison, and now they're back on RAMPAGE for another tag team contest!
Their opponents this week are a team that, rather surprisingly, are uniting for the very first time: Evil Uno and John Silver! Shockingly this is a Dark Order pairing that has never occurred before despite all their years standing together in The D.O., though they've been part of numerous trios and multi-man affairs. It is a similar situation to Trent and OC, this is only their third tag team outing, so essentially we've got two brand new teams trying to get prepared for the tag team tournament! Will this be a night for The Dark Order to rise up, or will the CHAOS Friends add another win to their growing resume?
TRIOS BATTLE...
The Undisputed Kingdom (AEW International Champion Roderick Strong & ROH World Tag Champions Matt Taven & Mike Bennett)
vs. Action Andretti & Top Flight (Dante & Darius Martin)
REVOLUTION 2024 was a landmark night for The Undisputed Kingdom with Roderick Strong defeating Orange Cassidy to become the new AEW International Champion and Wardlow winning the All-Star 8-Man Scramble to earn a shot at Samoa Joe's AEW World Championship. Unfortunately for Wardlow and The UK, BIG BUSINESS was not his night to ascend to the top of the mountain as Samoa Joe emerged victorious in their TD Garden clash. It's disappointing for The United Kingdom as a whole, of that there is no doubt, but at least on RAMPAGE they can try to reclaim a piece of the joy they felt on March 3rd.
This Friday night in Boston, Roderick Strong, Matt Taven, and Mike Bennett will step into the ring for Trios competition and standing across from them will be Top Flight and Action Andretti! Now all three of these men have some history (Taven and Bennett fought Action and Darius in a Fight Without Honor during HONOR CLUB #12 last year, Roddy claimed Action aggravated his neck injury in their singles match last November), and after the incident between BC GOLD and The Acclaimed on Wednesday the Trios Division is certainly experiencing a shake-up, making this quite the intriguing fight!
SINGLES BOUT...
Komander vs. “The Alpha” Konosuke Takeshita
Takeshita is coming off one of the most unforgettable matches in AEW's history with his bout at REVOLUTION 2024 against Will Ospreay, and though it may have been a loss for “The Alpha”, it still marked him as belonging in the upper echelon of professional wrestlers. For any who may have doubted his skill, that fight showed the world Takeshita gives as good as he gets with those considered the best in the world, and it's only a matter of time before he claims a spot atop everyone's list! This Friday night on RAMPAGE, “The Alpha” has an opportunity to add another battle to his list of memorable match-ups when he faces someone whose skill set swings the opposite direction of Ospreay, the high-flying, gravity-defying, rope-walking Komander!
The two actually met once in singles competition back in January 2023 during PWG's BATTLE OF LOS ANGELES event, a bout won by Takeshita, and each was a participant in the 2023 Face of the Revolution Ladder Match won by Powerhouse Hobbs, so this is a chance for Komander to even the score with Takeshita for that BOLA loss, and score the biggest victory of his AEW tenure! This is sure to be a match showcasing the best of professional wrestling styles, so do not miss on in this clash between Komander and Takeshita on Friday night!!!
ALSO FEATURING:
-AEW Women's World Champion Toni Storm & Mariah May in tag team action!
RAMPAGE comes your way this Friday night at 10pm ET/9pm CT on TNT, and it's quite the loaded hour of action! The Undisputed Kingdom will be in Trios Action against Top Flight and Action Andretti as Orange Cassidy and Trent Beretta face The Dark Order in tag team action! Plus AEW Women's World Champion Toni Storm and Mariah May will also be in tag team competition as they prep for Deonna Purrazzo and her mystery partner, and Komander will take on The Don Callis Family's Takeshita! Prior to bell time, stop by the official AEW YouTube channel, as well as AEW's various social media platforms, to get caught up on highlights from DYNAMITE: BIG BUSINESS, plus previous episodes of RAMPAGE, COLLISION, as well as the latest CONTROL CENTER! Then this Saturday night AEW kicks off a four stop swing through Canada at Ottawa's Canadian Tire Center for an all-new COLLISION featuring Kyle O'Reilly's return opposite “Bounty Hunter” Bryan Keith!