Just one day before the two year anniversary of All Elite Wrestling's TNT debut, RAMPAGE is coming at you from Rochester, NY and The Blue Cross Arena! Dropping on TNT at 10pm EST/9pm CST, or on AEWPlus.com for our International fans, there are three huge matches on tap to follow up on an unforgettable night of DYNAMITE last Wednesday. The escalating hostilities between The Super Elite and the Danielson/JurEx/Cage/Kazarian contingent were further amped up by Adam Cole's victory over Jungle Boy, and now Nick Jackson enters into a rare solo match against Bryan Danielson this Friday! And speaking of hostilities, they are about to explode in the Women's Division when Jade Cargill, Thunder Rosa, and Nyla Rose fight it out in a Three Way bout, and The HFO/Best Friends rivalry quite literally comes to a head when Orange Cassidy and Jack Evans fight it out in a hair match!
Before RAMPAGE gets underway, be sure to subscribe to the official AEW YouTube channel and catch up on the highlights from DYNAMITE, previous RAMPAGE editions, as well as DARK, DARK: ELEVATION, and ROAD TO episodes!
ONE-ON-ONE...
“The American Dragon” Bryan Danielson
Vs.
Nick Jackson
Only one time in the their careers have these two men ever stepped into the ring with one another, and on that night in Reseda, CA the bout was fought under the auspices of tag team competition. On one side it was the team of The Young Bucks, and the other was the pairing of Bryan Danielson and Roderick Strong. The situation was a PWG Tag Title Match, as well as the culmination of their DDT4 Tag Team Tournament, and given the nature of the beast, it would be the brothers Jackson who would come out triumphant to retain their title for the third time in one evening.
Danielson would only compete in a handful of additional matches in PWG, none of them tag, before leaving the independent wrestling scene. As with the Kenny Omega bout that took place a month prior, it seemed highly unlikely fans would ever experience “The American Dragon” engaging with The Young Bucks ever again.
Well, as All Elite Wrestling has demonstrated time and again, never say never, because not only has Bryan Danielson returned, but upon his arrival, he jumped straight into the battle with The Elite and produced one of the most talked about matches in recent memory with his 30 minute time limit draw against Kenny Omega.
But as spectacular a match as that was, it wasn't satisfying for Bryan Danielson to merely battle the AEW World Champion to stalemate, and he unquestionably has his sights on pushing for a rematch. Kenny, on the other hand, is not so willing to acquiesce which led to a rather...interesting...chant from the fans in Rochester incited by Bryan:
Well if Bryan wasn't going to get the fight with Kenny, then he wanted one with any member of The Elite this Friday night on RAMPAGE! And given the rather predictable reluctance of any member of the unit to step up to the plate on their own, AEW GM Tony Khan signed the match himself pitting Danielson against one-half of The Young Bucks, Nick Jackson! Appropriate that it would be a Jackson given the sucker-kicks delivered to Bryan by The SuperKliq after the aformentioned epic match...
...but also quite intriguing in that it is just Nick Jackson's second singles match in AEW history, the last being a 2019 loss to Rey Fenix, as well as his second one since 2015! Now Nick isn't a complete stranger to singles competition, he competed in both the 2014 and 2015 Best of The Super Juniors Tournaments in New Japan Pro Wrestling, and even challenged for the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Title against Kota Ibushi. It may not be Nick's forte, clearly he and Matt have devoted their energies to changing the tag team game throughout their careers, but it is not alien territory.
So although the advantage is absolutely in Camp Danielson, that is one that comes in the world of level playing fields and fair fights. This is The Elite we are talking about here, and although there are exceptions such as the Omega/Danielson draw, there is rarely a moment or match when these guys run alone. In all likelihood, Matt will accompany his brother to the fight but there could very well be a Brandon Cutler or Nakazawa running around as well. Even The Good Brothers could pop up to throw the numbers out of whack and lend a boot to their fellow Elite, but at least Bryan can take some solace knowing there are other individuals who will be watching his back.
They might not have a cute name for their club, or hand signals to flash around, but there is certainly a bond between Bryan Danielson, Frankie Kazarian, Jurassic Express, and Christian Cage whose roots lie in their disdain for Kenny Omega, The Young Bucks, and The Good Brothers.
ANYTHING GOES THREE WAY MATCH...
Jade Cargill
Vs.
Nyla Rose
Vs.
Thunder Rosa
There is plenty of animosity swirling around this one, all based on a desire to be the best in the Women's Division, and be the next to get a match with Dr. Britt Baker D.M.D for the World Title in her possession. Thunder Rosa, knowing she holds an unofficial victory over Baker in their instant classic Lights Out match prior to the Good Doctor's title win, has been hungry for a second chance since her last one at ALL OUT 2020 where Hikaru Shida bested her. It seemed that chance might have come in the Women's World Title Eliminator Tournament earlier this year, but Nyla Rose ended that dream in the United States bracket finals.
That February fight was the last singles loss Rosa experienced this year, and she has since gone on a 25 match winning streak all while watching Tay Conti, Red Velvet, Kris Statlander, Nyla Rosa, Ruby Soho, and Dr. Britt Baker receive championship opportunities. For some competitors, this would create jealousy and enrage them, but for Thunder Rosa it just enhanced the desire for competition, and drove the need to continually prove that she is the most deserving challenger to the throne. The fact that Nyla and Jade linked up to beat Rosa down on the 9/1 DYNAMITE certainly threw some gasoline on this fire as well.
Now, as for Nyla Rose, the issues with both of her foes on Friday stem from the Women's Casino Battle Royale at ALL OUT 2021. For one, Rose and Jade Cargill had an agreement to work together in that chaos presumably to whittle the numbers down with the intent of leaving just the two women battling it out for the title opportunity. Both Jade and Nyla had an impressive run in the Battle Royale, after 16 ½ minutes they collectively accounted for six of the eliminations, but Rose would add onto her total by betraying the agreement to dump Jade out herself. Suffice to say that did not sit well with “That Bitch”, but neither did the former AEW Women's World Champion finding herself eliminated by Thunder Rosa. Of course, before that happened, Nyla added another notch on her Battle Royale belt by eliminating Tay Conti to garner five total eliminations, but ultimately does that number matter when you're one of the eliminated combatants?
And Jade, well Jade Cargill clearly has issues with Nyla over the aforementioned ALL OUT 2021 betrayal, but the main concern for her is the AEW Women's World Championship and doing whatever it takes to get there. But what has she done so far? Well since her in-ring AEW debut in March, Jade has racked up 16 total wins, 15 of them in singles competition, including wins over Reka Tahaka, Red Velvet, Kiera Hogan, and Leyla Hirsch to name a few. She has done so with dominating power and a supreme confidence that belies her lack of experience. Jade Cargill makes it easy to forget that she is still in her rookie year as a professional wrestler! Her overall record this year certainly gives Jade the justification for wanting her championship opportunity, and if she can pull out a win here over two former World Champions, one AEW and the other NWA, that will give a huge boost to Jade's insistence that she should be next in line.
This is already quite a heated situation, now add in the fact that Anything Goes in this fight, and it is liable to get a bit more violent than your standard affair. We have seen Nyla in these situations, we have witnessed Thunder Rosa excel when the rules are a bit more lax, but for Jade this will be uncharted waters.
Which of these athletes will rise up to further cement her status in All Elite Wrestling's Women's division and continue staking a claim for a future title bout?
HAIR VS. HAIR MATCH...
“Freshly Squeezed” Orange Cassidy
Vs.
Jack Evans
After several months of hostility from The Hardy Family Office directed towards The Best Friends, and Orange Cassidy specifically, things have reached a point where one of the more humiliating stipulations in wrestling lore has entered into the picture. Imagine, after being defeated in a wrestling match, to then have to sit there and allow your foe to shave your head. There is a certain confidence (or perhaps arrogance) that has to come with accepting this stipulation, an absolute belief in your ability to win, because the result of failure is submission to the scissors. It's an amusing phrase quite honestly, submission to the scissors, but that is the gamble being taken by agreeing to this stipulation. There's a reason they are called Luchas De Apuestas in the Lucha Libre tradition, it translates to “betting fights”, and gambling is exactly what Orange Cassidy and Jack Evans are doing Friday night.
It would be a bit more accurate to say Matt Hardy is placing the bet while Jack Evans is taking all the risks, but Evans will certainly be well compensated if he manages to strip OC of his hair. Now there is a good chance Jack won't see a dime from “Big Money” if he fails in this endeavor, he will just be left in the middle of the ring with his locks shorn and nothing to show for it but The HFO's disappointment. But if he wins, now the Hardy coffers may overflow in appreciation for Mr. Evans' work!
And although it may be beating a broken record, because it must be said about every match involving HFO members, OC has to be wary of Angelico, Private Party, Jora Johl, The Blade, The Butcher, The Bunny, and Hardy himself sticking their nose in this one. Perhaps that newfound alliance with The Dark Order that was born Wednesday night, along with OC's Best Friends, can balance out the equation...
RAMPAGE gets underway on TNT at 10pm EST/9pm CST, as well as AEWPlus.com for the International audience, and with those three contests, it is definitely a night of escalating hostilites! Just be sure to visit to the official AEW YouTube channel prior to RAMPAGE for the highlights from Wednesday night's DYNAMITE, as well DARK, DARK: ELEVATION, and ROAD TO episodes!