Wednesday night was a tumultuous one for sure, and the chaos continues tonight on RAMPAGE as we head towards GRAND SLAM 2024 at the historic Arthur Ashe Arena! We will see ROH World Champion Mark Briscoe face “Bad Apple” Bryan Kieth as the wars between The Conglomeration and The Learning Tree continue, Hikaru Shida face The Outcasts' Harley Cameron, Roderick Strong unite with The Beast Mortos for tag team action, a Four-Way fracas, and a sullen Wheeler Yuta in action against The Butcher!
RAMPAGE begins tonight at 10pm ET/9pm CT on TNT so make it a point to visit the official AEW YouTube channel to watch highlights from recent episodes of DYNAMITE, RAMPAGE, and COLLISION, as well as the Nigel McGuinness Timeline, to get prepared for tonight's event! Then join us in New York at GRAND SLAM 2024 () next Wednesday night for an absolutely loaded night of action with Jon Moxley versus Darby Allin, The Young Bucks defending their tag titles against Will Ospreay and Kyle Fletcher, FTW Champion HOOK facing Roderick Strong, and hopefully Nigel McGuinness versus Bryan Danielson for the first time since 2009!
ONE-ON-ONE...
ROH World Champion Mark Briscoe vs. “Bad Apple” Bryan Keith
The issues between The Conglomeration and The Learning Tree are certainly not over, Chris Jericho made that very clear in his interview after being defeated by Orange Cassidy on DYNAMITE. Will it mean Jericho and OC end up fighting once again? Time will tell with that one, the immediate future sees ROH World Champion Mark Briscoe meeting “Bad Apple” Bryan Keith in their first singles encounter!
The championship may not be on the line, but there is still a great deal at stake given the bigger Conglomeration/Learning Tree rivalry; which man will get the advantage for their unit and where will this path take all six men involved?
SINGLES MATCH...
Wheeler Yuta vs. The Butcher
Wheeler Yuta is, understandably, in a very dark place following ALL OUT 2024. He watched two of his mentors attack his other mentor as his Trios Championship partner prevented him from helping. It was heartbreaking to see Yuta's face as PAC held him at bay, and quite disturbing to see just how out of it he was heading into that fight with Anthony Henry last Saturday on COLLISION. The Workhorsemen brought out the BCC in Wheeler by the end of the fight, but that interview with Alex Marvez embedded above is a clear indicator that that was an exception rather than a sign of improvement.
Well, tonight on RAMPAGE, Yuta better be able to find that inside himself again and focus on the fight at hand because he's got The Butcher waiting to carve him up! These two last faced off on the August 2nd edition of RAMPAGE, a bout where a fiery Yuta actually managed to submit Butch with a Cattle Mutilation, but does he have it in him to do it again? Is that fire inside Yuta or was it doused by the actions of Jon Moxley, Claudio Castagnoli, and PAC?
And how will those words effect his mindset?
ONE-ON-ONE...
Hikaru Shida vs. Harley Cameron
“The Ace” Hikaru Shida wants the fight and if no one is going to step to her, she is going to bring the fight to them, and that's why The Outcasts' Harley Cameron is going to be in the ring with the 3-Time AEW tonight during RAMPAGE! Shida isn't looking for Saraya, been there and done that in her mind, but she's more than happy to use Harley as a message to the rest of the Women's division. If it means taking down every single person in that locker room to solidify her “Ace” status, than that is what Hikaru Shida will do, and perhaps it will lead to a fourth championship reign in her future!
FOUR-WAY BOUT...
Kip Sabian vs. Lio Rush vs. Nick Wayne vs. Rocky “Azucar” Romero
Perhaps Nick Wayne thought he'd be rid of Kip Sabian after beating him last month on RAMPAGE, but clearly Kip is not done with Christian Cage's “Prodigy”, or maybe it's Cage himself he's trying to get closer too. Whatever the case may be, the two men will be in competition once again during tonight's RAMPAGE, only this time as part of a Four-Way bout also featuring Lio Rush and Rocky “Azucar” Romero!
There's also a good amount of history between the other two men competing in this Four-Way, and not just because Rush beat Romero during ROH ON HONOR CLUB #81 last week. They're tied together by New Japan, by both being members of CHAOS at different points, and by Romero being somewhat of a mentor to Lio as he familiarized himself with NJPW. Lio holds the victories in both of their singles matches, so there is that factored into this Four-Way bout, and then there's the other instances where these four men have engaged. Nick Wayne holds a victory over Lio from January, albeit a bout outside of AEW's auspices, while Romero holds a 2018 victory over Kip Sabian for RevPro. But Kip and Lio have never faced each other before, nor have Rocky and Nick Wayne. Suffice to say there's a lot of intriguing engagements to be had from this Four-Way bout, but which combatant will it be that emerges victorious?
ALSO FEATURING:
-Roderick Strong & The Beast Mortos in tag team action!
-And more!!