What a night we had on Wednesday with DYNAMITE: GRAND SLAM 2024 where we witnessed Bryan Danielson defeat Nigel McGuinness to open the show, and then get into a brawl with Jon Moxley, Claudio Castagnoli, PAC, and Marina Shafir after Mox bested Darby Allin in the main event! Plus The Young Bucks retained their World Tag Titles, Mariah May kept her hands on the AEW Women's World Title, and FTW Champion HOOK retired that historic title after beating Roderick Strong. Oh yes, and then this happened:
After all that action, All Elite Wrestling isn't letting up as RAMPAGE comes your way tonight at 10pm ET/9pm CT on TNT and features Konosuke Takeshita battling Angelico, The House of Black in tag team competition against Lio Rush and Action Andretti, Anna Jay returning from her tour of Stardom to face Robyn Renegade, The Acclaimed in tag team action, and Willow Nightingale squaring up with Taya Valkyrie! It's going to be one exciting night in Springfield, MA as the best professional wrestling on the planet takes over your Friday night!
Before the action begins, drop by the official AEW YouTube channel to watch highlights from recent editions of DYNAMITE, COLLISION, and RAMPAGE, then join us tomorrow on TNT for a loaded COLLISION: GRAND SLAM 2024 featuring the Tornado Trios Bout pitting The Learning Tree versus The Conglomeration, a Lumberjack Strap Match between Jeff Jarrett and Adam Page, Saraya versus Jamie Hayter, a Continental Championship Eliminator bout between Kazuchika Okada and ROH World Tag Champion Sammy Guevara, and more!! Then returns to to Pittsburgh for DYNAMITE's 5TH ANNIVERSARY episode featuring Will Ospreay versus Ricochet for the AEW International Title and Dr. Britt Baker D.M.D's homecoming against “The Professor” Serena Deeb!
TAG TEAM BOUT...
House of Black (Buddy Matthews & Malakai Black) vs. Action Andretti & Lio Rush
The House of Black have been on top of the Trios Division before, 175 days with eight defenses, and they know that makes them one of the primary targets in the division, but that's not all they represent. Given that The House is comprised of three top-tier athletes, they are also capable of creating dynamic tag teams by mixing up their ranks. Brody King and Malakai Black: 10-3, Brody and Buddy Matthews at 4-2, and for tonight's purposes, Malakai and Buddy Matthews at 2-1. Whatever combination The House puts together, they're a deadly force in tags and trios, and tonight they'll be tested by another group capable of putting together multiple combinations.
Top Flight, Action Andretti, and Lio Rush are a group of superb athletes that, much like The House, can create a number of tags and trios for competition. Tonight on RAMPAGE we will see Action and Lio come together for their first outing as a duo, and they'd be hard-pressed to find stiffer competition than any House combination. We've seen Andretti tussle with these two in trios competition while Lio Rush is an unknown commodity to Malakai Black. As for Buddy, suffice to say he and Lio are quite familiar with one another from matches dating back to 2017, with their most recent contest taking place during Pro Wrestling Guerrilla's BATTLE OF LOS ANGELES 2022 tournament.
With both teams eyeing the Trios prize around the waists of Claudio Castagnoli, PAC, and Wheeler Yuta, this tag team contest may have an effect on how contention looks in that division. Will The House of Black assert its dominance of Lio Rush and Action Andretti, or will the high-flying, high-speed pair take down their foes tonight in Springfield?
A STAR RETURNS...
Anna Jay vs. Robyn Renegade
It's been three months since we last saw Anna Jay compete inside an AEW ring, and that night she was on the losing side of a trios bout against then-AEW Women's World Champion Toni Storm, Mariah May, and Mina Shirakawa. Tonight Anna Jay returns home to a very different Women's Division where Mariah May dethroned “The Timeless One” in violent fashion, and the relationship between May and Mina Shirakawa is...strained...to say the least. That being said, this is not the same Anna Jay who left Buffalo's KeyBank Center on June 26th on the losing end of the fight, but rather a woman who spent the month of August embroiled in her first Stardom tour of Japan, specifically as part of the A Block in their 5Star Grand Prix Tournament. Competing in seven tournament matches, Anna Jay picked up six points along the way, scoring wins over Artist of Stardom Champion Saori Anou, Miyu Amasaki, and Koguma, as well as a non-tournament victory over Momo Kohgo on the final night of her tour.
It was a tremendous learning experience for Anna Jay, and now that she's back in All Elite Wrestling, she aims to put those lessons into action starting tonight on RAMPAGE! Robyn Renegade has stepped up as the first woman looking to put Anna to the test, and hopefully score her first singles victory of 2024. Though Robyn didn't travel overseas, her year-to-date has been one high level test after another with bouts against Mina Shirakawa, Kris Statlander, Deonna Purrazzo, and even a TBS Championship challenge against Julia Hart. Robyn hasn't backed down from a single fight, and she's grabbed every opportunity presented to her, all with the intent of improving her game, moving up the ranks, and cementing a position alongside that aforementioned collection of world-class competitors!
ONE-ON-ONE...
“The Alpha” Konosuke Takeshita vs. Angelico
It's been almost two years since the last time Angelico and Konosuke Takeshita faced off with Takeshita winning that January 31, 2023 DARK bout. Since then fans have watched Takeshita bloom into “The Alpha” that stands before us now, unfortunately with Don Callis at his side to take credit for getting Takeshita the opportunities. Callis likely takes credit for Takeshita traveling to New Japan Pro Wrestling to enter this year's G1 Climax Tournament, claiming his connections made it all possible for “The Alpha” rather than the man's exceptional skills, but that's the price one pays when aligning with that human-shaped parasite.
Angelico has spent the majority of the time since that bout competing alongside Serpentico, standing out from the pack in the Ring of Honor landscape, even challenging for the ROH World, Pure, and Television Titles, as well as facing Orange Cassidy for the AEW International Championship. Unfortunately it's been an inconsistent fight for this master of the Llave Style, but he persists nevertheless, always looking to improve, always looking for opportunity, and taking on this rematch with Takeshita represents both.
Takeshita is 5-1 since returning from NJPW, his only loss coming in the Continental Championship Four-Way at ALL OUT 2024 where he was not the man Okada pinned to retain, as well as five consecutive victories in one-on-one bouts since his loss to Jon Moxley at DOUBLE OR NOTHING 2024. He was already a beast before the G1 experience, yet Takeshita used that time to level up his game, to introduce a new maneuver to his repertoire with Raging Fire, and has looked like a world-beater in his outings. Tonight is going to be a hard one for Angelico, but that unpredictable Llave style may just be the ticket to finding a weak spot in The Alpha's game.
SINGLES MATCH...
Willow Nightingale vs. Taya Valkyrie
It's been a couple years since Willow Nightingale and Taya Valkyrie last went one-on-one inside the squared circle, but tonight on RAMPAGE they meet again after the former TBS Champion was confronted by Taya and Deonna Purrazzo during DYNAMITE. It truly felt like “The Virtuosa” and “La Wera Loca” were picking a fight with Nightingale, poking the bear after the back-to-back blow of losing the Chicago Street Fight to Kris Statlander at ALL OUT 2024 and then the CMLL World Women's Championship to Zeuxis just six days later. They didn't need to get involved in Nightingale's business as she expressed support for Yuka Sakazaki's championship bid this past Wednesday at DYNAMITE: GRAND SLAM 2024, and yet there they were questioning the very notion of Willow's friendship to “The Magical Girl”.
After months of dealing with Statlander and Stokely Hathaway, of hearing them question Willow's commitment to her firend despite them being the ones who betrayed her, Willow was not hearing any of their garbage and so we've got a fight on our hands tonight on RAMPAGE! Can Nightingale get it back on track after two devastating losses, or will the alliance between Taya and Deonna Purrazzo pay off for “La Wera Loca”?
ALSO FEATURING:
-The Acclaimed in tag team action!
-And more!!
RAMPAGE comes the AEW faithful tonight at 10pm ET/9pm CT on TNT with Takeshita versus Angelico, Anna Jay versus Robyn Renegade, The Acclaimed in action, HOB taking on Andretti & Rush, and capped off with Nightingale versus Valkyrie! It's going to be a hard-hitting night of professional wrestling, so before it gets started, visit AEW's official YouTube channel to catch-up on recent editions of DYNAMITE, COLLISION, and RAMPAGE, then return to TNT tomorrow night at 8pm ET/7pm CT for a stacked COLLISION: GRAND SLAM 2024 card ! Fans will see The Learning Tree versus The Conglomeration in a Tornado Trios, Jeff Jarrett and Adam Page facing off in a Lumberjack Strap Match, Saraya instituting her own rules against Jamie Hayter, Continental Champion Kazuchika Okada facing ROH World Tag Champion Sammy Guevara in an Eliminator match, and so much more!! After that, AEW heads off to Pittsburgh and the Petersen Event Center to celebrate DYNAMITE's 5TH ANNIVERSARY where AEW International Champion Will Ospreay defends versus Ricochet and Dr. Britt Baker D.M.D returns to her alma mater to fight “The Professor” Serena Deeb!